"And so, that is the schedule. Each match will be one round with no time limit! If you fall off the stage or cry "Uncle" you will lose!" the announcer explained the rules of how the final rounds were going to proceed. "Also… Attacking the eyes or the sensitive areas will be a violation."
"What are the sensitive areas?" Goku wondered. Chayote found that question to be apt. After all, leaving something as major as a violation that might result in disqualification to such a vague description was just asking for trouble.
"In terms you might understand, it is your jewels." The announcer explained while leaning down on Goku.
"I have a question." Chayote stepped up. "What about our tails?"
"Tails?" the announcer peeked at the young woman before scratching the back of his head. Only then did the man notice the fact that Chayote had a tail.
"Yes. It is a… Sensitive area for Saiyans. Is it okay if nobody attacks us by grabbing our tails since we're giving out freebies here?" The Saiyan grumbled.
"Saiyans?" the announcer pulled out a handkerchief and began wiping his face with incessant passion.
"It's okay for me, I don't have a tail." Goku raised his hand. Chayote turned at her peer about to yell at him but only then noticed the fact that Goku was right – he was missing his tail. She spent so much time obsessing over what she had seen in Korin's water barrel that her brain had somehow automatically completed the picture of Goku with a tail. It was only when the youth pointed it out that Chayote noticed the boy's tail being missing.
Could he have not been a Saiyan? No way, Yamcha referenced too much knowledge about tails and Saiyans for Goku to not have had one. The expert on Earth's martial artists also displayed knowledge of the Great Ape transformation.
"Where did your tail go?" Chayote lost her cool. "How do you intend to conquer the planet without your tail?"
"Huh? I just woke up once and it was missing…" Goku laughed out while rubbing the back of his head, ashamed that he had managed to lose a whole appendage of his.
"Wait… Conquer the planet? I couldn't have been the only one to have heard that?" Krillin squinted while pointing his finger at Chayote. Apart from the short baldy, only Yamcha appeared to take interest in Chayote's words at all.
"Sorry, Contestant Chayote, if you are the only one with a weakness, we can't make it a universal rule. It would give you an unfair advantage!" the announcer declared.
"Serves you right, you just exposed a major weakness." Ranfan made a rude hand gesture by placing her hand in front of her forehead.
"I have a question too, when do we get lunch!?" Goku shook his hands in excitement while slobber drooled from his mouth. Due to the boy's short stature and more of a thick than tall build, it managed to reach the ground all the way from his mouth.
"Huh? You intend to eat before a fight?" the announcer raised his eyebrows but Chayote stepped in as well.
"If it's all the same, I wouldn't mind eating a decent Earthling meal as well," the Saiyan nodded. Finally, Goku reminded Chayote why she had taken him for a genius strategist conqueror in the making. He never appeared to forget to refuel his strength. It was an admirable trait.
"W-Well then, prepare these two a lunch, make one for all eight, who knows how many will decide to join in." the announcer turned to one of the staff monks.
"Krillin, won't you join in?" Goku turned to his friend. The baldy quivered.
"No way! My belly's buzzing too much to process food…" he said.
"You should be nervous. You look puny, you will get rolled over out there." Chayote nodded, affirming her declaration to herself with a confident nod while her tail flapped about in excitement for the upcoming meal.
It was fortunate that the monks prepared a meal for all eight, incorporating the massive body sizes of Kaiju Giran and Bacterian into the amount of food they had to make. It would have taken nothing less to even remotely fill the Saiyan duo's fulfillment fix.
"Wooow! I can't believe you managed to eat more than me!" Goku rubbed his blown out, like a balloon, belly.
"But of course, you somehow lost your tail." Chayote grumbled, feeling a tad bloated herself. "Who knows what effect that might have on your body. You should have known better, what on Earth were you thinking?"
This was the chance for her to have the talk with the boy, finally. The two were completely alone. Chayote gulped and leaned forward.
"You look at least in your teens. This planet does not pose much of a challenge. How come you haven't yet conquered it? I was shocked to realize there was another Saiyan here, I would have never expected it given how peaceful the planet seems." Chayote pointed her angry glare at the blown up boy in front of her who just writhed on the soft pillow he sat on while gorging himself.
"You keep on talking weird stuff. I don't get you sometimes…" Goku's expression got all flustered and annoyed. If she wanted to get this youth on her side, Chayote was doing a poor job of it.
"What are you talking about? Sometimes it seems like you don't even know you're a Saiyan, I swear to God!" Chayote growled back instead of backing off and stop being so confrontational. Then again, even when the girl was accused of being that, she usually punched the accuser in the face rather than backed off. Such was the Saiyan way.
"A what now?" Goku stood up and did some stretches.
"I can't believe it…" Chayote shook her head in disbelief. She had to stop talking, way too many questions raced to her mouth all at once, shutting the entire gate off by trying to push the others out of the way.
Was Goku a Saiyan? He must have been, the other Earthlings new way too much and attributed all of those Saiyan traits to Goku but… Goku was not a Saiyan name, the boy himself did not know nor did he acknowledge being a Saiyan even though he had the appetite, the wild hair and the passion for fighting of a Saiyan. Fighting… Chayote would need to see Goku fight before she could make an accurate shot at it. Right now, talking to this goof just raised too many questions.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your patience!" a thunderous declaration distracted Chayote and Goku. The two stood up and rushed toward where the voice came from, this time, however, Chayote did not feel robbed of the moment alone with Goku. She just felt confused and wanted to be around the shrimp a bit more so that she could understand what the hell was going on with him.
While Chayote took the boy for a Saiyan, almost certainly so, there were, in fact, more things going against that conclusion rather than for it.
"We will now commence the 21st World's Martial Arts Tournament!" the announcer spoke with previously unheard volume and might to his voice. This may have been due to the handheld gadget that he had. It made his voice as mighty and wide-reaching as that of the pilot of the Red Ribbon Battle Jacket, yet he could contain all that vocal might in the palm of his hand.
"A gadget that makes one speak really loud…" Chayote scratched her chin. "Earthlings invent the strangest things. Their military is so weak yet they waste time and effort on something so trivial."
"Are you talking to me?" Goku pointed at himself, his eyes shaking and looking a bit overwhelmed. "Because I've no idea what you're talking about."
"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the first match is about to begin – Contestant Krillin against Contestant Nam!" the announcer recounted. "Remember that the champion of this tournament will be awarded five hundred thousand Zeni in prize money! But before the match gets underway, let's hear it from the presiding monk of the martial arts temple hosting this very tournament. May his wisdom guide our Contestants all the way to glory, like a staircase to the heavens, if you will… Honorable master, if you please…"
The announcer moved aside so that a short but stout monk could stand beside him. One that appeared remarkably similar to the canine pets that Earthlings bought, sold and sometimes used for battle, as Chayote recounted.
"This monk must be strong. I've faced his kind before and they have a stronger bite than most Earthlings. If this man has monk training, he might just be a worthwhile opponent…" Chayote nodded to herself.
"WOOF!" the monk barked into the microphone before walking off without looking back once.
"Thank you, thank you very much, truly the words of a great man!" the announcer smiled in a way that betrayed that he knew just how confusing and brief the speech was yet decided to act like the opposite was the case.
"You were saying?" Krillin cheeked at Chayote before his face paled out and turned blue on the spot. Rubbing his belly, the bald plumpy recalled that his match was up next.
"Now let the games begin! Both contestants please step forward!" the announcer gave the very intense declaration his all.
Krillin walked out still rubbing his fists against each other as if he meant to grind something between the two rock-hard surfaces. Nam, on the other hand, looked perfectly calm. Krillin actually made his way to the center of the arena first, in his steps Chayote noticed the need to get it over with. She sometimes approached trivial matters with the same attitude, like when she had to make the bed every morning before training could begin. A nasty tendency, for sure, was that she had always failed at the matters she tended to wish over with sooner.
"In the left, we have Contestant Krillin, who has entered the World Martial Arts Tournament at the tender age of thirteen. In the right, we have the intense and focused Nam!" the announcer yelled out into his noise-enhancing gadget.
"Why does he yell such obvious things into his gadget?" Chayote wondered. "The crowd can easily see who's in the arena."
"He's hyping them up." Yamcha's cheerful voice reached Chayote, the Saiyan turned back at the knowledgeable Earthling with confusion. "Plus, the tournament staff did not allow the crowd to observe the qualifiers, they might know less than you think."
"Huh? Why would you need to hype up fighting? It's hype already…" Chayote sighed. Some of the things Earthlings said and did still seemed lost on her.
"I suppose seeing the World Martial Arts Tournament if you are not too engaged in the arts of fighting does seem pointless." Yamcha laughed out while looking on at the match about to unfold.
"I'm rooting for you, Krillin!" Goku cheered on his pal from atop of one of the protective walls that separated the waiting building from the fighting arena.
The encouragement of his friend made Krillin a bit bolder, finally, the baldy found the fortitude to enter a fighting stance. His was an odd stance, it was neither particularly defensive nor offensive, it did not appear to enhance or prepare his body for much.
"Match one, begin!" the announcer declared the beginning of the fighting entertainment. A gong went off, declaring the beginning of the match in a more symbolic way.
Both of the two stood around in the initial stages of the match. Krillin was pissing his pants, Chayote could smell it. She had not yet had the chance to see much of this baldy but if he passed the qualifiers, at least, he should have been stronger than that "Eight-Arms" guy, at least so she presumed. Nam, on the other hand, was just not an aggressive fighter overall. He did, however, switch his stance once he realized Krillin was not about to attack him.
With a hand that appeared to be placed in a block, Nam dashed up to his opponent with aggression previously unseen in his face. This one was an oddball, he did not appear to take much enjoyment from fighting but when he did go out to a fight he unleashed all of himself out there, embraced all of the emotions he hated just to get it over with as soon as possible. Perhaps the two were closer to one another in terms of attitude than initially thought.
Krillin took the blow, Nam's transition from what seemed a defensive mock charge into a knife-edge chop at the boy's neck was flawless. This man had form, for sure. Krillin, on the other hand, he was stiff and completely frozen in his tracks when the timing was right to intercept. Then again, Chayote would have fallen for the first one too, the transition was just too smooth and she started the fight with too much of her power suppressed to measure her opponent up. The true fight was about what would develop from the chop onwards.
Nam shot his foot up, blasting Krillin into the sky like a football. Nam's bare foot let out a nasty thud when it met Krillin's face. Something that Chayote realized up front was how durable Krillin was, it was like his body was perfectly built for taking punishment. Even the initial chop may have beheaded a lesser person and knocked out a weakling but to Krillin, it was just another blow. This kick should have beheaded the kid outright but it just sent him floating with no visible damage on him.
"Contestant Nam opened up with a precise yet merciless combination of blows that has sent Contestant Krillin airborne! We are in for a show worthy of the final match right from the get-go, something tells me this will be one heck of a tournament!" the announcer did his best to hype the crowd up and he did not have to do much. He confused the deadly silence of disbelief in what the folks were seeing for disinterest. The moment that the two could make it out that Krillin was up and Nam was chasing after him, they cheered loud enough for Chayote to be taken aback.
They were not cheering for the violence. They had not seen an ounce of it yet. Not to mention the fact that they did not have a droplet of bloodlust in their reaction. Unlike the Saiyans, none of the Earthlings wanted anything to do with the battle they were watching.
Nam finished his pursuit of the airborne boy, Krillin threw a punch in mid-air, a sloppy one. It was like something made the kid keep it all to himself, all of the strength he may have had. Chayote wanted to see more from this friend of Son Goku's but she just couldn't because Krillin was locking his own potential up for whatever reason. Nam's image blurred and disappeared long before Krillin's lazy, turtle-pace punch reached him and appeared behind the boy, chopping him once again in the back of the neck.
This one connected and hurt. Krillin's stare turned blank for a second while the plumpy plummeted. Even Chayote, a battle-hungry Saiyan did not like the crunchy noise that his body made when he hit the ground and cracked the tiles that covered the arena. She could stomach this no longer.
"Say, Goku, didn't you two and Yamcha study martial arts under the same master, Muten Roshi?" she asked Goku.
"Well… Sort of. I and Krillin studied from the old geezer but Yamcha didn't," Goku shrugged.
"I self-trained, for the most part," Yamcha nodded.
"Then how come this kid knows nothing about martial arts? His stance is wrong, he even doesn't utilize his strength correctly and holds it back." Chayote growled while looking at the seemingly dead friend of Goku's.
"Begin counting…" Nam asked the announcer with a grim and all-business voice. This guy acted more like a hitman than Taopaipai even if the two were day and night in terms of skill and power.
"Very well… One, two…!" the announcer started counting. Judging from the volume of his voice, he was trying to wake Krillin up with his counting.
"Well, the old geezer didn't really teach us any real martial arts. We just kinda hardened our bodies and he taught me to read and count." Goku recounted. "Krillin is really good, he just doesn't trust himself yet…" the goofball grinned.
"Three… Four!" the announcer went on.
"Come on, Krillin!" an irritating voice came from somewhere in the stands where the crowd was. It was overpowering to the rest of the chatter. If Chayote's vision was not failing her, the voice belonged to one of the anthropomorphic animals that mixed and mingled between the more humanoid Earthlings. Even her limited knowledge of the Earth's fauna let her recognize a pig when she saw one.
"Don't give up, Krillin!" a blue-haired girl in a red and white t-shirt yelled from the stands, nearby the pig. The two looked quite invested in the fighting, more than it may have been customary for Earthlings. They must have been familiar to Goku.
"Five… Six!" the announcer was about ready to ring in the final moments for Krillin's chances in this tournament.
"You can do it, Krillin!" Goku raised his fist up with a grin, it was almost like his useful asset was not right now sprawled out in the ring, face down after eating a mouthful of tiles and dirt.
Krillin's muscles twitched before the plumpy gathered himself together and dusted his dirty uniform. This time he entered a much more offensive, positioned sideways with the right side up front while the left was reserved for defensive inputs, stance. This was more of a martial arts stance, one that Chayote would have called a decent one, even. This was not something taught by this Muten Roshi.
"Oh! Contestant Krillin has stood up and declared intent to keep going without saying a word! It appears that the cool and mysterious nature of Contestant Nam has soaked itself into Contestant Krillin through his blows!" the announcer spoke to the audience.
"Krillin studied in a martial arts temple, that's how he knows martial arts," Goku smirked at Chayote.
"And you?" she wondered.
"My grandpa taught me!" he declared.
His "grandpa" that must have been the key to all of this. Before the end of the tournament, Chayote needed to figure out what the hell was wrong with Son Goku and if any of his friends were useful.
"Do you know those two?" Chayote pointed with her chin at the sources for the energetic cheers in the front row of the audience.
"Oh, you mean Bulma and Oolong?" Yamcha smiled, "Yeah, they're friends of mine and Goku's. I should be more surprised that you don't know who Bulma is but… If you're anything like Goku, I'd be more surprised if you did know. She's the daughter of Dr. Briefs, the mastermind behind the capsule technology."
"Hmmm… So her father is an inventor, a tech wiz is certainly useful for the conquest of the planet and a pig is useful when food supplies run low. Maybe Goku's been assembling his squad these past years, that was why he made so little progress in wiping Earth clean?" Chayote wondered to herself.
"The fighters are staring each other down, normally, I'd say that stares can't kill but with these two… We may never know!" the announcer kept responding to escalating levels of hype around the audience. The first match was about to really heat up.