Chapter 24 - Nam's Mysterious Technique

A one-day break and a good night's sleep weren't enough to heal Tien's injured hand. But at least he made it much better overnight.

He winced, as a throbbing pain hit his hand every time he tried flexing his fingers.

Master Shen hadn't returned during the night. Tien was a little worried but tried to think positively about the next fight. Going into a fight both injured and worried wasn't a good idea.

'Master Shen has survived Demon King Piccolo's Era, fighting many others over hundreds of years and outliving hundreds of martial masters. He has the lifeline of a zombie.'

"Ladies and gentlemen. The next fight is between Nam and Tien Shinhan!" The announcer's loud words coming from the speakers woke Tien up.

The crowd roared in excitement. They liked flashy battles, and his struggle against Krillin had been short but quite the sight.

'This time, I won't make the same mistake as before.' Tien thought while getting on stage, flexing the hand he had used to punch Krillin's Kamehameha yesterday.

The limb wasn't in perfect condition by a long shot, but he could still use it to punch someone. Pain wasn't something he was unfamiliar with either.

In the previous fight, if he had pursued Krillin, Tien, with his superior reach and strength, would have been able to crush him quickly. But due to losing sight of the main goal and worrying about Yamcha, Tien's opponent, despite being weaker, had almost turned the tables on him.

"Begin!" The announcement came like pulling the trigger of a gun, and Tien felt his muscles tense, and he charged at Nam at breakneck speeds.

The closer Tien got to his opponent, there seemed an invisible weight, some kind of pressure was pushing down on him like someone was standing on his shoulders.

Nam only had his hands in a prayer motion while whispering strange things.

Looking up, he saw no one there. As he turned to look back at Nam, a golden light greeted Tien, and the next thing he felt was something smash into his body and sending it flying.

He tried maneuvering himself in mid-air and attempted to use the flying technique to stop himself from falling out of the ring. It was useless. He pushed himself down with the flying technique until his feet could dig into the stage's giant stone tiles. Even then, the push was so strong that Tien felt like his legs would snap.

After he stopped himself, Tien breathed heavily and tried to formulate what he had been hit with. It wasn't a Ki beam but more like a wall. What was it exactly? He didn't know. But the attack had been so strong that blood dripped from the corner of Tien's lip. He had taken some internal damage.

Nam still stood there in a prayer stance. Since the start of the fight, he hadn't moved an inch and only kept staring at him.

Tien charged again, and halfway to reaching Namm, golden light started manifesting. But Tien's body split into three separate clones, and his power split in three too.

Nam's eyes widened, and two simultaneous blasts of golden energy slammed onto Tien's two clones from above in less than a second since their creation, destroying them. That had bought Tien the time he needed.

With his uninjured hand, Tien punched the man in the face. Blood spilled out of Nam's mouth, and his body skidded backward and almost went out of the ring. The ground below his feet cracked.

'He should be about as strong as Krillin. But that strange technique of his is unpredictable. I can't see its angles, where it's coming from, or what pattern it has.' If Tien hadn't split his power in three, he was confident he would have been able to push him off.

He hoped Yamcha copied the Multiple Body technique and used it in the fight against him because while the technique might look strong and make it seem like you could gang up on an enemy, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Tien shot a simple Ki blast at Nam. Again, a golden wall appeared in front of Nam, three times the size of a normal human. Now that Tien had a better look, he saw something more than a golden light. "A hand?"

As soon as he said that, Nam's eyes married, and Tien caught that small reaction. "Struck a nerve, didn't I?"

"No. I'm just surprised someone other than Yamcha could see through this technique. Maybe it's that third eye of yours? Legends say that those with a third eye will have special divine powers." Nam inquired. It was troubling how unpanicked and infallible he was.

The smile on his opponent's face unnerved Tien. There was something that face was hiding, and he didn't like it. Tien's eyes narrowed, and he charged again, this time even faster than before.

An attack came from a weird angle, and once he got a good look at it, he saw that it was a golden fist coming for him.

Since the range of the attack was so wide and fast. He wouldn't be able to dodge normally, so he crouched down and punched at the ground, creating a hole in the ring, and he crawled in.

The golden fist flew over his head, and then he got out and charged at Nam. 'Once an attack has been cast, it seems like he can't take it back. It was like swinging a metal bat that was too heavy. You can't just half its power mid-swing.'

'Fist and palm. This is probably not the same hand that attacked, meaning he has under control some kind of giant golden arms made of Ki?' Tien analyzed. Right then and there understood that if he wanted to defeat Nam, he would have to use his personal techniques.

He dodged the incoming palm by jumping up and flying down toward his opponent at breakneck speeds.

"Seems like there's no use hiding it anymore," Nam suddenly said, knowing his move had been seen through. The olive-skinned monk clapped his hands once, and a golden light shined behind Tien just as he was about to hit his opponent.

Tien's third eye moved, he looked behind, and what he saw shocked him. The lower body of a man, and the head of a wolf, looked like some kind of twisted take on a Buddhist statue.

The attacks that came next were too fast. Materializing the statue in reality seemed to have removed some of its limiters.

Baam! Baam! Baam! Baam! Baam!

Dozens of hits rained down on Tien. He felt his body breaking, bones cracking, and muscles ripping.

'No! I can't lose now!' But Tien refused to give up.

Seeing that Nam had decided to materialize the statue behind him and how he hadn't used other techniques before. Tien hypothesized that it must take a lot of concentration to keep up something like that. That's why Nam hadn't attacked him with other techniques simultaneously, as he had attacked him with the statue. This was all just Tien's assumption, and if he were wrong, a beating of a lifetime was waiting for him.

Though Nam was weaker than him, Tien couldn't help but be impressed by his technique.

Yamcha's words stood true, a technique that couldn't be learned or taught. Nam was the only one in the world who could use it because no one else but Nam could have the crazy mindset required to manifest God.

"It truly is a magnificent work of art," Tien said, knowing that he had already lost the tournament due to Nam. Still, he had one last trump card to play, and he flared up his Ki.

'Solar Flare!'

A bright light shined on the stadium and made Nam close his eyes. Tien gathered Ki to his finger, and as golden fists rained down on him, he shot a Dondon Beam at Nam.

The Dondon Ray was going to push Nam out of the ring. In a real battle, this would have been a draw, but here, it would be a victory for Tien.

"Well, it seems like I lost," Nam stated calmly. Shocking Tien by canceling the move, the golden statue didn't hit him. Nam then stopped his prayer, and gathered Ki in his hands.

The Dondon Ray had stronger piercing power than the Kamehameha, so Nam was still pushed off the ring. But by the smile on Nam's face, Tien wasn't 100% sure if his opponent could have really stopped the Dondon Ray from pushing him out or not.

"What an amazing fight, ladies and gentlemen! Tien Shinhan is the winner!" The announcer stated, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd, congratulating both fighters.

Tien was more confused than happy. His fights, not counting the preliminaries, had been won in such ways that made him unsatisfied. If Nam had continued his attack, Tien was sure the injuries would have added up, and he wouldn't have been able to participate any longer, so Nam, out of kindness, had stopped the attack.

"Next fight will be Son Goku against Yamcha!"

The crowd boomed even louder at that. Seemed like there was some exciting build-up from the last tournament. Even Tien, in his confused state, paid attention as he walked out of the ring.

"Are you okay?" Chiaotzu flew to his side.

"Yeah, just confused," Tien went and sat down on the corner, leaning against the wall. The cold structure touching his spine made it comforting.

"Have you ever seen a technique like that guy's, Nam's?" His friend floated and sat next to him.

"No, that ability is built on something close to mindless devotion. Believing in something so hard that his Ki and inner energies formed an entity. That statue could technically be considered a God," Tien shook his head, chuckling at the madness of it all. "It's not as good of a technique as it looks or sounds. Because the mindset to use that and have that kind of devotion, it's like creating God with your belief in them. The technique will always be just as strong as the belief."

He glanced toward Nam, who had a peaceful look on his face. Tien wasn't tricked by his outward appearance.

The way he saw it, Nam probably was the craziest amongst them all here. For a technique like that to work, you had to be just the same crazy as him. Devoted and thankful for that one thing.

That's why Tien called the technique Nam used unlearnable and unteachable to others. What made a man have such blind devotion? Tien didn't know, and didn't have time to think about it as Goku and Yamcha started fighting.

"Master Roshi," Yamcha suddenly turned to look at the arena, his eyes were no longer on Goku, but he still stopped his opponent's punch. "You asked me why I feel more relaxed, right?"

Suddenly a strange tension settled on the whole arena.

Tien felt a chill down his spine, and his hands started shaking uncontrollably. What was this? Once again, the weight on his shoulder appeared again, but unlike when he was fighting against Nam, instead of the weight of a man standing on his shoulders, it felt like he was carrying a mountain.

With his third eye, he could somewhat tell how strong an opponent was. But even if he couldn't, even a blind fool would sense what came next.

"Well, the answer is that I'm no longer as afraid as I used to be," Yamcha said with a smile.

BOOOM!

Tien couldn't call what happened next an explosion, but it might as well have been one. The air around Yamcha seemed to twist, and debris rose around him.

How could someone be so strong?

Ki burst out of Yamcha and formed a white flaming coat all around him. In the next second, he disappeared, faster than sound and faster than anything Tien had ever seen. Even light seemed slower by comparison.

It felt like they all skipped a second of a video, as the next thing everyone saw was Goku being held by his teal. Doing so seemed to weaken the monkey-tailed kid.

"Tonight is a full moon, and we don't want any accidents. Also, learn to train your tail next time. A weakness like this isn't good for a fighter," Yamcha said while pulling out the tail and shooting a soft Ki ball at Goku's midsection.

The kid gathered Ki and tried to stop the blast Yamcha had thrown as if throwing a ball at a kid. But that ball pushed Goku outside of the arena, slammed him to the wall, and then the Ki sizzled out.

The crowd was quiet like they didn't know what to feel about the fight, and every martial artist worth anything could sense what Yamcha had shown them. It was like an unspoken message.

'I am the strongest.' Yamcha didn't need to say those words, but no one could deny them.

Even the usually talkative announcer seemed speechless. The gap between the two fighters had been insurmountable. It was like Yamcha handling a toddler instead of a strong martial artist that stood at the apex of power.

But before anyone could say anything, a shadow covered the whole stadium. Tien immediately looked up and saw the clouds parting.

'Am I dreaming?' Tien wondered.


Demon King Piccolo was a man of action. At least, that's how he had always seen himself. That's why even though it hadn't been even six hours since his unsealing, he was already amongst the crowd in the Tenkaichi Budokai.

But seeing the young man on the stage, his name was Yamcha, and the power he showed… it made Demon King Piccolo realize one thing.

'Time has passed me.'

It was a despairing thought. One day being at the top of the world, and then the next, you're old, half-dead, and people have already surpassed you in every way imaginable.

Still, despite all this despair, he wasn't going to give up. Seeing as the fighter was quite young, Piccolo knew he had to push his plans forward quickly, or he would never be able to do anything to the young man, Yamcha.

While the young man's age showed his future prospects and talents, Piccolo had the wisdom he had built over hundreds of years of self-reflection and contemplation.

Today martial artists, while better, weren't at Piccolo's level in general. Most of them wouldn't even be a challenge, with only a handful being dangerous to his plans, even in his old age. But every generation had that genius, though this one had something more than a genius… they had a monster.

He had been cautious that a martial artist might use Mutaito's technique to seal him again.

'But seeing this, it seems like sealing should be the last of my worries.'

The original plan had been to hide a little longer and strike at a more opportune moment. That's why he had even bothered to get a human disguise to see who he would need to kill before revealing himself.

Many people saw him as the Demon King who only knew evil. But Piccolo also knew how to be cautious when he needed to be. Today was such a lucky moment because if he had acted carelessly... he shuddered to even think about it.

'Good, good, now I need just to get rid of him and grab onto a hostage. While his power was amazing, even the strongest people can turn into pudgy with the right… assistance.'

But before he did any of that, Piccolo walked out to the back of the crowd and then out of the arena. Taking out a small radio, he called on his subordinates. "Bring the ship, and make a distraction."

"Yes, Lord Piccolo," one of his creations answered from the other side. All his subordinates would be killed by Yamcha, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Still, against such an opponent, Demon King Piccolo worried. Was he going to win? Would the plan go wrong? Such thoughts plagued his mind constantly, even in his old age. In the end, such things weren't guaranteed. He had built this image of an infallible monster, but everyone could fall; Demon King Piccolo learned that lesson quite well.

An idea came to mind, but he hesitated at first. Having spent so much time sealed, he was almost at the end of his life and had little lifespan left. Though King Piccolo was confident, he could last a couple more years. But it was clear he wouldn't be able to catch up to the young man in just a couple of years.

"Humph, I'm Demon King Piccolo. Since when have I started hesitating?!" He gathered all of his Ki and lifeforce to his stomach and formed something that grew exponentially in his stomach and traveled up his throat.

Sacrificing most of his life span, cutting the years left into weeks, he spewed out an egg the size of a dog. The egg flew off in the distance, and a sense of fatigue washed over the Demon King. His body felt weaker than ever.

"If I fail, my son will succeed," Piccolo muttered under his breath, as creating his last offspring almost killed him.

But life force wouldn't matter once he had the Dragon Balls and got his wish of eternal youth… if he could get his hands on the Dragon Balls, to begin with.

Death was a word that brought a lot of fear to Piccolo. But he steadied his heart, using long life experience to control his emotions. He couldn't fail now. His ambition wasn't for nothing. He would one day rule the world, build an army, and knock on Kami's door.

Just then, a giant shadow descended from the sky, covering the whole arena building and more. The clouds parted away, and Piccolo smirked in jubilation. 'Here they come!'

A flying ship the size of a castle came down. Rafters opened below the ship, revealing old but still functional warheads. They rained, and he could hear the audience screaming. This was just the chaos he needed!

"Everyone! Walk in a line, and try not to stampede!" The announcer attempted to organize everyone desperately, but it didn't work as people were walking all over each other and trying to get out.

'Foolish,' Piccolo thought. None of these people could escape the radius of the blasts. Only the best martial artists even had a chance of pulling through. Even for them, it was a big if.

The strong guy, Yamcha, flew toward the falling warhead bombs.

Excitement burst in Piccolo's heart when he saw that. Maybe this young man was even more foolish than he had thought? While he might be able to stop the warheads, they were still mini-nukes, and the radiation would kill him.

Piccolo was curious about what Yamcha could be thinking at this time. But the old demon's mind didn't wander for long, and he spotted the green-haired woman he had been looking for. She, too, was running around like a headless dinosaur and panicking.

With his good hearing, he had heard she was something close to a best friend or possibly lover with the strong guy. Piccolo didn't understand the notion, but for humans, lovers were the most important thing in their life. He had killed plenty of couples back in the day.

Piccolo had seen the bravest of men turn into sniveling crybabies when their lover died. That wasn't even their birth parent or brother, so it was kind of gross and illogical how they acted. But he never had the notion of humans being that smart. That's why they should be either domesticated or destroyed by a stronger being, kind of like dogs were domesticated by humans.

He noted that the green-haired girl was panicking too, which was perfect. In the chaos, he swooped down and grabbed the girl without any trouble. "I'm borrowing this one."

With one strong leap, he was out of there.

"Bulma!" Yelled out a talking pig, but it was too late, as Piccolo had already made off with her.

An old man shot a Ki beam at him, but Piccolo used the girl who had started crying as a meat shield.

The beam deviated right away.

"You monster! Let her go!" The old man yelled, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Heh, as expected, humans never change," Piccolo snorted and flew off.

BOOOOOOM!

Suddenly a huge explosion rang out, so loud that it could be heard even from far away, where Piccolo was.

When the Demon King turned around, he was shocked by the sight that greeted him. "What the hell is that?"

A giant barrier of magic, in the form of a bowl, was placed under his ship.

That would block the radiation from hitting anyone. So it seemed like the young man wasn't as stupid as he had thought.

Suddenly, he felt someone touch his stomach. "Huh?" Looking down, he saw the girl had her hand pointed at his midsection and a smile that didn't suit her face.

Baam!

Next, the only sensation he felt was pain, his organs turned to mush, and he plummeted to the ground as a Ki Beam passed right through his stomach.

Piccolo's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His body lost all power, the hole in his chest was the size of his head, and it wasn't something that could just be clogged up.

The taste of dirt and dust assaulted him. The sound of his ears ringing and the blood in his mouth smelled like bronze. He had fallen to the ground, and darkness started crawling through the edges of his eyes.

'W -What happened?!' Piccolo wondered and looked up to see the green-haired girl looking down at him with disdainful eyes. His sight had gotten a little blurry after the injury, so Piccolo wondered if he was just seeing things.

"Who… are you?" Piccolo asked with great difficulty as pain assaulted his mind.

"Finally, you decided to come out," the green-haired girl stated coldly, indifferently. "For a second there, I thought you were going to keep hiding and might actually get a real hostage."

What's that supposed to mean? Piccolo wandered, but he felt his body breaking down as his age and injury finally started taking away whatever remains of lifespan he had left.

It dawned on him what had just happened, and he realized had been made a fool of. The situation was almost ironic in a way, he thought.

After all his planning, he had been outsmarted despite having the advantage of the enemy not knowing where he was or even having knowledge of his release.

Somewhere, someway, Piccolo noticed he had slipped up. Was it when he had thrown away the small demon kin who had released him from his seal? Had he gone and told Yamcha?

No, he had dropped the demon kin in a forest only a couple of hours ago. On top of that, the one who broke his seal was just another cowardly guy, his name Pilak, Film, Pilaf, or something along those lines.

But suddenly, something crossed his mind, and Piccolo couldn't help but chuckle. "I never had a chance, did I?"

The young girl only stared at him emotionlessly, with an unreadable look in her eyes.


A/N: What just happened?! Find out in the next chapter of Yamcha RPG!

P.S: From Tao, we learned to love what you do and it won't ever feel like work.

From Demon King Piccolo, we learned to never give up on your dreams, no matter your age.