Without the need of a declaration to continue the bout, Krillin darted off at his opponent, headfirst. Nam blocked Krillin's strikes but Chayote noticed that his eyes were trembling – he was in pain. He could not just block the little plumpy's attacks with just his palms. If the scraps of martial arts that Korin showed Chayote were right, it was of no surprise that Nam struggled – he attempted to block force with force of his own.
The more successful application would have been to work with the opponent's force against them, everybody knew that. Everybody except Nam.
Krillin did not cease with just the few first blows. He was a shark that had just smelled blood and Nam certainly looked like the man bleeding into the waters. The previously cool and composed combatant leaned back, pushed that way by Krillin's ruthless advances. Goku's friend had skill, he was knowledgeable of martial arts before taking in whatever it was that Muten Roshi taught him. That was not to say that Muten Roshi was a bad mentor, just that his kind of training appeared to be meant for building up power level, not skill.
"Disappointing…" Chayote mumbled to herself.
"Hmm? I think Krillin's doing pretty good…" Goku turned at the Saiyan with a curious glare. He had missed Krillin landing the first strikes, after the audience's cheers, the boy turned back and cheered on his friend some more.
"Not this. Your friend is decent. It's just that… I looked up to meeting Muten Roshi for the last couple of years and there was no use for it. Muten Roshi's training is meant to build up power level, not teach martial arts." The Saiyan sighed. "May as well better check out the temple Krillin's been hardened in."
"That's not true." Goku shook his head. "Old timer didn't teach us actual martial arts but he taught us a lot of things about how to become better martial artists."
For the second time, Goku regretted turning his head away from the fight as Krillin had managed to knock Nam on his back and then took a soaring leap into the heavens to conclude the battle with a knee-strike from up above. Nam was not about to keep lying down and take it, with a windmill swing of his legs the man wrangled back up on two feet and then dived aside from Krillin's finishing blow.
Krillin, however, was one step ahead of that still, the little roll of dough did not land with his knees out front but his feet, then he repurposed his momentum into a dash to chase after Nam. Just as it seemed like Krillin's headbutt would shake the entire arena, the plumpy rolled in mid-air and pushed out his left leg up front. Nam blocked it, the force of the kick made him slide all across the arena to the very edge of it, lingering on being knocked out of bounds. His bare feet must have suffered some damage due to that slide as well.
The problem was that Krillin had run out of moves. He was winded in the middle of the arena, knowing full well where he had failed.
"You are an impressive opponent. I did not expect to hit this sort of wall so early on." Nam finally shed his shroud of silence and cool by admitting something that seemed obvious – this was not the walk in the park he had counted on this fight being.
"Heh, it felt freaky, walking out in front of so many people, fighting crazy guys like you but… I think I've come to realize that… I'm strong enough!" Krillin affirmed his somewhat shaky confidence. His voice was still shaking, he may have been quivering more than the kid let on to but the top fighting condition needed a bed of needles underneath.
"Care to test that theory? We could trade punches for quite a while, you're that tough. Let us settle this for good!" Nam declared while taking his exotic fighting stance with a right arm raised and bent in front of his balanced body.
"Sure, just a bit of warning, I was winded when I kicked you last time. This time's for real!" Krillin smirked while leaning back and preparing to deliver another diving kick. Without needing any extra encouragement, the boy kicked off the ground and twisted his body around to position himself just right for his kick.
"Cross-Arm Attack!" Nam yelled out while charging forward with a dive of his own. One that was performed head first with Nam's arms positioned like an X right in front of his head, like an arrow almost.
"Is he mad? You can't block a kick like that!?" Chayote exclaimed. She may have been seeing it but believing it was a whole different case entirely.
"You can if your arms are hard enough…" Goku shook his head with a serious look. "This guy's for real, I wonder if I'll get to fight him…"
Deafening silence overcame the arena. Then a thunderous thud to brush the comfort of silence right out like a violent tsunami crashing against the rocks and washing the long prospering moss off. After the resolution of the clash of blows, Nam was the only person standing with two swollen arms that looked somewhat jerky in their movements. Krillin laid flat on the ground, sprawled out, his mouth hanging open.
"I shall begin count…" the announcer declared by himself this time but Nam stopped him.
"Not yet. This boy is tough enough to stand up, I am afraid. For the well-being of my villagers, I cannot afford to hold anything back…" the determined man soared into the sky, disappearing like a shimmering star at least fifty meters into the sky before repositioning himself into another Cross Arm Attack but this time employing the force of gravity to his side.
"I apologize, you will sleep for ten days after this. Cross Arm Dive!" Nam declared while crashing down at Krillin with both his arms crossed up. Like a brutal guillotine, Nam's Cross Arm Dive hit the plumpy right at his neck. Nam grunted in pain as he had put too much pressure onto his arms too soon after the clash with Krillin.
"C-Contestant Krillin?" the announcer mumbled with a shaking voice, he must have forgotten that he was talking into a microphone since his fear translated through to the audience.
"There is… No use for the… Count…" Nam panted with his arms hanging without weight to them by his side.
"One!" the announcer started the count.
"Two!" Chayote glanced at Goku who looked trusting in his friend but even his carefree guise could not mask his worry.
"Three!" the audience looked absolutely shocked. If their looks were to be trusted, none of them believed the poor boy to even be alive at this point. Most of them looked confused as to why the announcer was even counting at this point.
"Four!" come to think of it, didn't Nam say that Krillin would be out for ten days straight? That was an impressive technique if Nam said the truth, then again, it was unlikely he had someone worth their salt to test that grand theory on.
"Five!" Oolong declared that Krillin was dead, much to Bulma's violent frustration.
"Six!" Bulma pulled on her hair, she may not have been worried about Krillin specifically though, as the girl kept on directing her stares at the other observers in the arena like Goku and Yamcha.
"Seven!" Yamcha looked shaken, he was cursing Krillin's fate but it appeared as if though he had accepted his friend's defeat.
"Eight!" Just out of curiosity, Chayote turned at Muten Roshi, the old man with shades. He was standing right beside Bulma and Oolong and his eyebrows were shaking with an erratic twitch while the old man was sweating profusely.
"Nine!" Would it not have been wiser to count days, given Nam's previous declaration, counting to ten seemed rather obsolete… Chayote's pondering was distracted by the weird sounds that Goku had been making by her side. It sounded like some popcorn was stuck in his throat while the boy was shaking in rage.
"Ten!" the announcer clocked in the end to the first match. "Contestant Krillin failed to stand up by the count of ten, the fight is over! Contestant Nam is the winner! Now, please, let's give this kid some medical attention!"
Goku raised his fists up by his side. "You bastard! You hurt Krillin!" he yelled at Nam who looked to be completely calm.
"As I've said, I merely knocked him out for ten days. I need to win the money to save my village but I am no monster." Nam replied, almost like shrugging off the ridiculous accusations from Goku's side.
Monks both human and anthropomorphic rushed onto the ring but then they all froze in terror. Krillin sat back up, rubbing his bald head and grunting in pain. Chayote smirked at the sight of Nam's jaw dropping to the floor. She never knew she liked it this much but she simply adored seeing guys that thought they were cool shit losing said shit in a less than cool manner.
"Ow ow ow ow! I'm up, I'm up, stop the count!" Krillin waved his hands up, finally mustering up the strength and balance needed to remove his hands from caressing the painful spots on his forehead.
"Ummm… I'm sorry, Contestant Krillin but… You've lost." The announcer hunched over in disbelief. His body failed the man just as Nam's composure failed the turban-donning warrior.
"Oh… Damn it! I guess I fell a bit short, huh?" Krillin laughed out. All hints of fear and anything that the boy may have held back disappeared. At that moment Chayote may have wanted to have a scouter on her the most. She could have sworn that while the two appeared somewhat close in terms of martial arts prowess, Muten Roshi's training assisting in compensating the difference in experience between Krillin and Nam, the exotic warrior surpassed Krillin in terms of power level up until the very end.
All that intrigued Chayote was if Krillin was capable of matching a stronger opponent there in the end. What a curious Earthling, it appeared as if though his power level grew just because he grew bolder. Could this mean that power levels weren't an absolute norm in battle? If mere distrust in one's own abilities could hamper one's power level to such an extent and then returning some of that confidence could have restored the lost power level, what other factors might have changed it?
If there were many ones like that? What if the power levels weren't as reliable as Chayote had thought them being? In that case, if emotional maturity and martial arts skill could have aided a weaker opponent, perhaps Muten Roshi's training was not useless at all?
"See? The old timer showed us something really cool! I thought just like you back in the day!" Goku chuckled before running up to Krillin and helping his friend stand up and dust his uniform.
"What was that?" Krillin wondered.
"Chayote doubted old timer's training," Goku exclaimed, still cackling like a toddler seeing a toy dangled in front of him.
"It's not about Muten Roshi's training. It's just… I didn't really feel like myself out there, you know. Then I heard you guys cheering and… For a moment it seemed like I could do anything. I guess it was just false courage." Krillin smiled while rubbing the back of his head with shyness.
"No. You were great. In the end though… You still held back a little. Part of you was still afraid of… Nam, the inevitable pain of the battle, a little effort, your own potential… Whichever case it was, that fear made you just a grain short." Chayote shook her head. Even she was surprised by how much she could read into the battle after training with Korin for just a handful of weeks and then training out in the world by herself.
"I… I see…" Krillin poked two of his index fingers against each other.
"Wow, you know martial arts really well too!" Goku gleamed with enthusiasm while looking at Chayote. He may have been looking up to fighting Chayote, then again, he was likely looking forward to fighting everybody around him.
"The cat that trained Muten Roshi showed me a thing or two." Chayote nodded. The announcer declaring the beginning of the second match distracted her from finishing her talk.
"What?! Old timer's been trained by a cat!?" Goku raised his hands up in amazement.
"Only Goku would believe something like that this easily…" Krillin squinted at his friend.
"Well… Talk to you later." Chayote jumped around, delivering punches and kicks that left Goku and Krillin in awe due to their speed. It should have. The two likely would not stand up to her in terms of raw power level even if they fought her together.
"In the left, the odorous Contestant Bacterian!" the announcer declared while gesturing at the hulking fatso that reminded more of a homeless man than a martial artist. "This man takes pride in never having taken a bath in his entire life!"
He reeked. Utterly. Chayote could not even stand in the same arena as him without pinching her nose. Her left arm was disabled just like that. If this bastard was even half of Chayote's power level, he'd have stood a chance at beating her due to this predicament alone. Earth was weird, the manner of ways in which the locals overcame the difference in power level was remarkable. Then again, it was unlikely that Chayote had sufficient time to build up that level of stench, even then, who knew if the likes of Saibamen could even sense odors?
Even the audience was pinching their nose up to the somewhere down in the middle rows. What a troublesome and utterly annoying ability. Chayote wanted to beat the crap out of this fool the most out of the tournament roster so she wanted for this match but that was before she stood in the same arena, taking in all the repugnant odors that Bacterian offered whether she breathed or not.
"And on the right, we've got Chayote. A self-proclaimed Saiyan, whatever that is, who made her way through the qualifiers with ease and violence not quite befitting a young lady!" the announcer turned to Chayote before his face turned green as if preparing for something he knew he'd regret.
"Match No. 2, begin!" the announcer declared, mustering up the impressive restraint to remove his hand from his nose and breathe in enough to explode with noise.
The monk rang the gong, giving the second match a more symbolic beginning than just an entertaining man yelling from the top of his lungs.
Right from the get-go, Bacterian grinned with his slobbering mouth and took a step forward. He was a bit on the respectful side, maybe he had seen Chayote handling her business during the preliminaries or maybe the hobo just liked to take his time. The Saiyan found the remarkable willpower within her to persevere and stand her ground.
Bacterian's left arm punch hit her straight in the jaw, sending the young Saiyan flying but with a thrusting motion of her palms, Chayote pushed her body off the edge of the arena and then soared into the skies. As high up as her strength allowed her. Way past the clouds and where the malodor of Bacterian could reach her.
"Oh! What a novel strategy!" Chayote could still make out the announcer's voice. "Contestant Chayote took it to the skies to avoid Bacterian's stench! It's too bad that she cannot attack from all the way up there!"
Showed how much that guy knew… It was not that Chayote could not blast Bacterian from where she was, it was that she was worried she'd kill him. That last hit sort of gave her a range of how powerful her attack needed to be. She'd rather not get disqualified nor would it be at all useful to not knock that fatso out with one attack. If he stood back up, Chayote would be forced to suffer that stench much longer.
"Alright… Focus…" the Saiyan mumbled to herself while extending her palm. Sure, she could use Ki attacks, just like her Lima Spear technique but that one was more muscle memory of tedious and grueling training rather than a display of mastery of Ki manipulation. Truthfully speaking, Chayote had not even opened up the water well of Ki mastery at her current level so even shooting a simple Ki blast was a task of concentration.
A puff of smoke came out. Chayote let out a grumble of frustration as she began plummeting down. Bacterian was waiting for her, lurking with his hands open. With that disgusting grin on his slobbering face, he tried wrapping his arms around the Saiyan and trap her in a bearhug but Chayote's tail made it around his sweaty and powdery with grains of dirt arm.
Even if she thought's she'd puke up, Chayote swung around Bacterian's arm and delivered a right blow to his jaw. That was enough to send the man flying over the audience and share some of the World Martial Arts Tournament action with those in the farther rows. It was a great success on multiple fronts as Chayote managed to knock the fatso out while simultaneously throwing him out of the arena.
The Saiyan unzipped the neck section of her tracksuit and then zipped it up over her nose. She was not about to suffer that repulsive redolence for the duration of the entire tournament. With a single bound, Chayote made it over the heads of most of the crowd, the rest of them parted halfway and made a circle for the Saiyan to rush to the unconscious hobo.
Even if it further tempted the female Saiyan to hurl, with a good-old spin and release trick she hurled Bacterian to the nearest fountain. She will sure as hell not brush him but he needed to take a bath for once. The water turned murky brown in the presence of the repugnant homeless man inside of it, effectively breaking Bacterian's impressive streak.
"Y-You… Y-You disgraced the water of this place. Is nothing sacred to you!?" Nam yelled out at Chayote as she passed into the waiting area.
"What's your problem?" Chayote turned to the martial artist she would face in the semi-finals.
"I can't believe you spoiled city brats, taking water for granted like that! There are places that are not this graced by Kami's mercy!" Nam was shaking almost. It was so unusual to see in a man so cool and mysterious.
"What do you mean? Water is free…" Son Goku pointed at the bathroom area in which were multiple taps that spread a seemingly endless supply of water.
"W-What!?" Nam lost his cool. "What did you say, child!?"
"He's right, it doesn't happen often but when he's right, Goku's right." Krillin nodded. The two kids took Nam by his elbow and together they headed for the bathroom. Chayote followed too just due to sheer boredom and kind of wanting to see inside the boy's bathroom for once. The fools didn't even notice her sneaking behind them.
Krillin yoinked the tap, unleashing the water contained within but without requiring too much time for it to spread, Bacterian's signature, knockout aroma spread throughout the bathroom forcing the three contestants to flee in terror.
"Whee, that stunk!" Goku collapsed on his buttocks, pinching his nose with both arms so hard it looked like he'd break it.
"I think Chayote may have messed up the water supply… The water's free but it's kind of useless now." Krillin pinched an empty space where his nose should have been. It made the young Saiyan wonder just what was Goku's friend smelling the world around him through, perhaps the skin around his nose area was a wet membrane of sorts through which this odd Earthling perceived smells?
So unlike other Earthlings? Maybe he too was an alien? His ability to take a beating far surpassed most other Earthlings Chayote had met. Then again, he was far from the strongest Earthling so maybe his abilities were a result of training, not genetics.
"I… I will make you pay!" Nam declared by throwing his fist out and freezing it right up in Chayote's face. "To have a source of water and then ruin it like this… It is unforgivable!"
The announcer was speaking up out in the arena, the brief break to fix the fountain must have been over and all those that ran away from the airborne Bacterian and his cloud of stench must have already returned. The four contestants headed back to observe the rest of the matches. Nam continued to stare at Chayote, giving her punishing stares.
"It can't be easy to annoy this guy. He maintained a cool head all throughout our match. I'm impressed…" Krillin muttered right up in Chayote's ear with a malicious squint to his eyes.