The audience was still in a state of unrest after the last, brutal competition. In a way, they had already reached their peak hype climax but they also looked itching for some more. It was a tricky itch, however, while they were certain to want more fighting, there were very few fighters that may have scratched that itch in a way that would have seemed fitting and satisfying, compared to Goku and Chiaotzu duking it out.
"Unfortunately… We will have to take a break until tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, the ring is completely totaled!" the announcer yelled out into his microphone. Just a moment later he lowered his hand, moving his microphone closer to his pocket while he mumbled to himself. "Just when I told contestant Goku not to wreck the ring this year…"
Chayote cracked a grin, as much as she tried to restrain it, a cackle escaped her chest, making the rest of the crew turn at her with questioning glares.
"What, you guys didn't hear it?" she wondered.
"I didn't hear anything at all…" Goku replied.
"What exactly did you hear?" Yamcha asked.
"I think that all the training with that creepy old lady in solitude left Chayote hearing all sorts of things…" Krillin leaned over at Yamcha with a malicious expression to his face. Back in the day, Chayote would have suspected an attempted insult to her pride and killed this Earthling on the spot, but by now she's come to understand the concept of casual joking around Earthlings did and how they usually didn't mean the normal implications that might have come to mind after hearing those exact words.
Krillin didn't know how close to death he might have been that time.
"Never mind," Chayote waved her hand. "It was just a joke that the announcer said."
Krillin leaned over at Yamcha again, whispering something to his pal which prompted Yamcha to chuckle. It transpired while the crew went on their way to the audience to meet up with the members of the gang that were spectating. Yamcha might have seemed in a chipper mood but the moment he noticed Bulma's death-inducing stare the poor dolt froze in place and cold sweat ran down his entire body.
Chayote and her art of fortune-telling of the present might have been the butt of the joke earlier but this time it was Chayote and Goku laughing their butts off.
"So, what did you think about the fight?" Goku wondered, pressing his fists against his cheeks as he sat on the stairs, observing Chayote doing some light sparring with the air itself. When Devil Man first presented her with this method of training, as an introduction of what was meant to be something he called image training, the Saiyan felt stupid boxing with air but with maturity of her mind and Ki control, the exercise absorbed her so much that the environment sort of filtered out while she was training.
That was why it took for her a while before she even registered the fact that Goku asked her something. Goku was likely used to being self-absorbed in one's training which was why he was so patient, usually, patience was not one of the boy's virtues.
"It was alright. You held back a fair deal. Haven't even fought with all the power you used to beat your brother." Chayote observed while continuing the stint of shadow-boxing. While she was a tiny bit taken aback by the patience Goku showed, she was shocked to see him here instead of stuffing his face full back in the hotel. Especially so after a rough fight like that.
"I don't want you or that Tenshinhan guy to see all of my strength early on." Goku smiled and rubbed his nose with his index finger.
"Oh, I thought you wanted that pale runt to nearly kill you so that you could power up some more on me." Chayote grit her teeth and delivered a complex combination of kicks in the air without using her flying technique.
"Say, say, you can fly, can't you? Without Kinto, I mean. Can you show me?" Goku wondered. So that was what it was all about…
"Yeah, I guess I can give it a few shots. Though don't think I'm doing it for you. Tenshinhan is almost a master of this technique so I can use some training with it, you just happen to be nearby when I'm honing it, got it?" Chayote pouted her face and concentrated on her Ki flow. She didn't like still having to take an active effort in levitating. When Chiaotzu used it back during the match it seemed almost effortless and Tenshinhan appeared to be roaming height almost as effortlessly as he was walking.
"Right!" Goku nodded. He was still Chayote's rival so if she followed the Earthling obsession of postponing the best part until the last, she'd have likely not let him see her practicing her flying, still, since she subscribed to the Saiyan policy of overwhelming the enemy before the fight even began, she wanted the competition to see how far she was from their level exactly.
Then again, Chayote had been getting an irritating thought sparking in her mind that Goku might not have been that far off. She still hadn't seen the full depths of the power-up he obtained fighting Raditz after the Divine Dragon returned him his stamina back during Baba's trials.
"Wha!" Goku cried out when something he couldn't see threw him forward and off the handful of stairs leading up to the hotel entrance. The young Saiyan very nearly planted his face onto the pavement but managed to shoot his arms out and attempt a flip. Due to the fact that the ground wasn't staying still, Goku lost his balance and had to fumble and roll back on his feet. Chayote observed the boy's curious antics with a hint of curiosity from above.
"What are you doing?" she asked before noticing that birds took off and the people around began losing their footing as well, cars swerved around as they passed in a short radius around the hotel, whatever was going on here wasn't just Goku messing around.
"I… Something's wrong with the ground!" Goku cried out and took a fighting stance, prepared to fight the ground beneath his feet itself. "It… Won't stay still!" he grumbled while the ground threw him around. It was only due to unnatural skill in keeping his balance that most martial artists possessed that Goku kept his cool.
"What was that!?" Yamcha yelled out from behind Chayote. She was surprised to see him and Krillin not inside the hotel, slacking off and watching television with Bulma and the others. Master Korin must have beat the Earthling penchant for slacking off right out of those two. Maybe Chayote should be a little bit wary of Krillin's performance tomorrow after all?
"You weren't at the hotel?" Chayote wondered. She closed her eyes and focused her awareness on her surroundings. "Whatever's doing this, it's the most powerful in the hotel."
"Bulma and the rest are inside! We have to go investigate!" Yamcha clenched his fist in front of his chest and took off.
"Hang on, cowboy, you don't even know where you're running, Chayote's the one with fortune-telling abilities, remember?" Krillin ran after his friend yelling from the top of his lungs.
"Kinto!" Goku cried out, making the golden cloud whistle on down from the sky and position itself up above the quaking ground. Jumping off the ground appeared to cause Goku some trouble but once he landed both his feet firmly atop the Kinto cloud his weird posturing trying to keep the balance ceased.
"It's coming from that room over there," Chayote pointed at a room where the concentration of Ki was the most powerful. It seemed like everything around it was just mere shockwaves caused by the eruption of the Ki located inside that room. Goku followed Chayote on his magical cloud until the pair reached the window.
"Yamcha and Krillin are on the other side of this room as well. They must have headed toward the strength of the quakes," Chayote observed while Goku flew up closer to take a peek inside. When he leaned in and rubbed his hand over the glass, the Saiyan boy stumbled back and cried out in discomfort.
"It's glowing too bright!" he complained. The fact that the Ki from the source was so prominent it could have been seen even by someone without the ability to sense Ki made the source of this eruption a remarkable curiosity to Chayote. Whoever that was, they have surpassed the level of an average Earthling fighter by a mile. Someone like that would have been capable of immense destructive power. Perhaps powerful enough to even become a low-ranking Frieza soldier?
Chayote closed her eyes, trying to extend her perception to see into the present. That which was transpiring inside that chaotic room. Yamcha and Krillin were knocking on the door of the room but upon becoming too vexed by no response combined with intensifying quakes, the pair kicked the door down. A pale figure floated out of the room, his lips were waving and twitching in fear. The little shrimp would have been completely pale in a state of panic had it not been his natural complexion the whole time.
"T-Ten-san! His p-power is…" he kept babbling and pointing inside the room. Yamcha and Krillin covered up their faces. They both heard what the little jiangshi boy had told them but neither one of them said anything out loud, as if they were afraid to admit that the man spreading this awe-inspiring power was actually a potential opponent in the competition for one, the man that defeated them without bringing out this amazing power for the other.
"D-Did you say that was Tenshinhan!?" Yamcha babbled out before forcing his body to overcome the natural flight response and pushing through the tremendous push back that was threatening to fold the room and push it all apart in a spherical mark of devastation.
"That's right… Ten-san sat down to meditate. That's what he uses to… Suppress his power…" Chiaotzu explained.
"I guess he decided to let it out, no use holding it back anymore with the tournament advancing to the later stages…" Krillin grunted, trying to follow Yamcha indoors. Chiaotzu, despite being equal, if not superior, to the two Turtle School students, stayed out and continued to tremble. His reaction seemed the most important to Chayote for it was the shrimp that had seen his friend's power before and not Krillin and Yamcha. This was turning out to be quite entertaining…
"Hey, asshole, snap out of it!" Yamcha yelled out. "You're gonna tear the building down!"
The rampaging shockwaves of Ki ceased all at once, the rising rubble fell to the ground while Tenshinhan's eyes shot wide open, something was wrong, however, they were cotton-white. The self-honed martial artist exploded with a flurry of thrusts at Yamcha, overwhelming the other contestant. Had Yamcha not dashed back out of instinct to avoid the rapid thrust of his strikes, Tenshinhan might have downed the perceived enemy then and there.
Krillin dashed in and collided with Tenshinhan, the three-eyed martial artist pushed the younger baldy back and delivered a stiff-looking kick that was aimed for the front of Krillin's head. A hit like that might have snapped Krillin's neck had he been any lesser martial artist. Every single strike was an execution to even a master martial artist in this state. After nearly killing both of the Turtle School martial artists, sense returned to Tenshinhan's eyes. His eyes sparked with rage initially but after seeing his surroundings and the destruction he had caused, they became tamer.
Tenshinhan even bowed in front of the two.
"I apologize. It has been a while since I powered up to my very limit. I was not aware of the full extent of my own abilities or the effect that unleashing them might have caused. Perhaps now you will better understand why I keep them locked away and controlled through meditation?" Tenshinhan closed his eyes in embarrassment with a humbled expression. Feats of destruction like this weren't anything a proper martial arts master took pride in.
On the contrary, if there was one thing that all master Chayote studied under taught her, it was that control deserved far more pride in one's own abilities and praise from one's superiors. It exemplified proper mastery over martial arts and strength itself.
By the time Chayote had opened her eyes and returned to her immediate surroundings, Goku had already opened the window from outside and made his way inside. The fact that he didn't punch his way through the wall suggested astounding restraint which deserved some more cred in of itself. Perhaps training with his grandfather helped his manners somewhat as, if what the image Chayote had built of the boy judging from what she knew of his early years was to be believed, he might have been the sole source of education for that sort of thing to Goku.
Seeing how everyone had made their way inside, Chayote saw no business floating outside and staring like a creep. While Tenshinhan's displayed strength was fearsome, it gave Chayote little to fear for it was very much untamed. These heights were new to Tenshinhan himself, it seemed.
"So you two have come too…" Tenshinhan remarked with a more annoyed facial expression.
"It seemed that Yamcha and Krillin got into a fight, I wanted some of it too!" Goku pointed out.
"Oh, I'll give you more fight than you can handle, brat." Tenshinhan grit his teeth. "This power that made the earth shake, I'll use all of it to destroy you two."
"Watch it so you don't sprain something with that wide of a reach." Chayote rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the crisis is averted, there's no use in sticking around here any longer."
"Y-Yeah…" Yamcha nodded with sweat still running down his forehead and down his back as well. Everyone but Tenshinhan left the room, Chiaotzu floated back in, now that Tenshinhan had settled down with the external destruction oozing out of him and kept it to the usual inner boiling he experienced all the time.
For the first few steps, the crew walked quietly. Yamcha was the first to end that silence.
"I… I couldn't see him move when he opened his eyes. If I had been any closer…" he expressed with frustration. He may have only realized the world of power still hidden from him ever after all the training he went through. Before he might have thought to be a proper challenge to Tenshinhan, by extension to Goku and Chayote who were looking at this curious, three-eyed martial artist with concern but now he saw that he was only a challenge to a certain level of Tenshinhan's power. That which was reserved for his own weight category.
"His power is crazy for an Earthling." Chayote admitted. "Though I'm more impressed with Baba. The Old Crone knew the hidden talent that this guy possessed and hyped him up for me before she even prompted him to start training. This sort of entertainment is what keeps me bound to this dirty little planet."
"Y-You're not really that strong, are you, Chayote?" Krillin poked his fingers one against the other, having just seen a taste of the level he'd have to compete on tomorrow that nearly left him headless with just a mere kick.
"If it were a contest of mere power, even Kakarot from three years ago could have easily dispatched of this Tenshinhan. What bothers me that it is rarely just a contest of power." Chayote shrugged. "Seeing the future isn't something I'm showing much talent for, I'm just dealing with having to see the present at the moment so that's what I'll be more interested in."
"Whaa! I was so scared!" Bulma cried out and charged at Yamcha the moment that the gang entered the hotel room together. She may not have aimed for him specifically, but whether it was irony or some subconscious desire to tackle Yamcha specifically, he was the one that took the brunt of her run-in.
The poor dolt blushed and wrapped his arms around the blue-haired inventor. Bulma's eyes fluttered for a moment, she seemed like she was about to erupt and start throwing mad punches and kicks in every direction but something inside her made her just rub her face more into Yamcha's chest, ceasing the charade she's been putting up since she first saw him after the three years of training.
Chayote pocketed her hands. "I hope you left some food." She grumbled.
"Food!" Goku threw his fist up, nearly punching the hole through the ceiling as he rushed after Chayote to the kitchen.
"Say, is it really okay to let those two eat everything? They'll bankrupt us, all the food's extra, you know." Krillin rubbed the back of his head.
"Eh? Whatever…" Bulma waved her hand and kept on rubbing herself at Yamcha. "I'll pay for it, as long as they sit quietly and don't cause any trouble, it'll be worth it."
"I thought Chayote went mad and decided to take over the world…" Oolong butted his fingers with a healthy blush to his cheeks and a silly smile. "I couldn't have been the only one thinking that with how often she talks about conquering Earth…"
"No, it was that Tenshinhan guy…" Yamcha's face shifted from harmless melancholy of having Bulma snuggle with him and rub her face in his chest to the usual displeasure that the topic of Tenshinhan brought to his face. "Turns out he's so crazy powerful that he can't control himself. Explains why he beat me, I guess…"
"Wow, Yamcha-sama took on someone that powerful and almost won! Amazing!" Puar floated circles around Yamcha and Bulma.
"Surprised to see you awake at this hour. Figured you'd want to sleep before tomorrow's fights." Yamcha said with an excited tone. Krillin looked back at his training partner, being caught by surprise in the middle of some light stretching before a good jog around the island.
"Can't sleep. Can you blame me? Chayote's one of the monstrous guys in there…" Krillin gulped and stretched his neck and his head some with widely open eyes and a twitching lower lip.
"Hey, don't sweat about it, I've faced that Tenshinhan guy and I did just fine. Just try to do your best and enjoy yourself. That's what the training we did with Korin-san was all about, right?" Yamcha encouraged his friend while taking a position to do some light jogging himself.
"Heh, I'm kind of glad we met Goku and Chayote. Those two can teach us so much about how to look at fighting." Krillin managed to swallow the unhealthy slugs creeping up his throat and soothe the butterflies swarming down in his belly and prepared for some late-night training.
The two took off just like they used to when they were running dozens of thousands of laps around the Kame Island of throughout the endless wilderness of the west during their training on their lonesome. Side by side with smiles like upside crescents and ambitions reaching the sky. The next morning when the tournament would resume was just about to dawn.