"You okay?" Goku leaned over Chayote, extending his hand. His face covered with a rich smile. He had every reason to feel proud of himself, for the first time ever he genuinely beat her. No trickery or external forces at play, sure, he won through ring out but he won nevertheless.
Accepting Goku's help, Chayote rose on her feet and then massaged her aching muscles. She took a nasty bump there, not quite being brought close to death level but she'd likely experience a slight boost in power after recovering still. Not to mention the invaluable experience of fighting Goku one on one, even when he was far weaker than Chayote it was always an experience to treasure.
"Yeah… Damn cat, didn't tell me that those visions of the future could have been changed," Chayote chuckled to herself.
"What are you on about?" Goku turned his head.
"Doesn't matter… It was a nice play, forcing me into an unfavorable position where I couldn't channel all of my Ki and where my body was strained in discomfort. Couldn't get a proper sense of balance, that's why I slid off of the ring so easily." Chayote commended her fellow Saiyan.
"Teehee," Goku just chuckled, showing her the two fingers raised up pumping hand sign. "Peace, peace…"
"After this brilliant bout concludes the semi-finals, we will have to take a short break again. Join us tomorrow morning in the repaired, pristine condition fighting ring for the resolution of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament!" the announcer closed the show for the day, despite the show taking just a few hours in total.
"Heh, got my ass beat…" Chayote smirked to Krillin and Yamcha as she and Goku passed Yamcha and Krillin.
"I don't think this is a lesson you would need committing to memory, it's one of those you've experienced over and over again on Earth, but you've now seen the cost of ignoring the fighting fundamentals. Son Goku was slightly stronger than you, yes, but not to the point where your victory was impossible. You lost because he tricked you into attacking him in an improper posture, without balance under your feet backing you up. He played your aggressiveness." Muten Roshi felt obliged to tutor Chayote but by this point, Chayote had learned to listen. The old man had some good things to say once in a while, she had to admit it.
"Hmph, now he will just have to watch out not to lose the same way tomorrow!" Tenshinhan declared, approaching the Turtle School gang. "I knew that with the two of you facing one another one would eliminate the other but somehow it still feels satisfying…"
"Still here to gloat?" Yamcha grit his teeth.
"No… I think I'm so satisfied because it was an amazing match. I've come here to apologize, actually." Tenshinhan extended both his hands to Chayote and Goku who just glared at each other in confusion.
"Rude apes!" Chiaotzu pointed at the pair while exclaiming insults with a blank face, referring to the fact that neither of the two Saiyans had shaken hands with Tenshinhan after a brief pause to get to their grips.
"Stop it, Chiaotzu, I'm sure they're confused with this coming all of a sudden." Tenshinhan closed all of his eyes and then lowered his hands. "You see, when Baba first told me about you, I saw you two as monsters, grave offenders to the martial arts, posers who killed my master and made a mockery out of his lifetime of training and devotion to the craft. It had never even occurred to me that Taopaipai-san could have been in the wrong. That he might have been the one taking strength for granted and used it to oppress the weak, the very opposite of what martial arts had to accomplish. I don't think I would have had the strength to realize that if I didn't cut ties with the path Tsuru Sennin put us on."
Goku and Chayote raised their hands. With a gentle smirk, Tenshinhan raised his and the trio connected with a double handshake.
"I look forward to facing you tomorrow, Son Goku. It will be a monstrous match but I will not feel any dishonor in losing for you don't mock martial arts, you embrace it and raise to new heights. You're a young man after my own soul." Tenshinhan stared Goku down and then turned away, Chiaotzu mirrored his partner's actions, floating off by his side, never changing his face or showing emotion.
"Heh, I wish he didn't tease me like that! I'm getting all fired up here!" Goku punched his own palm. His tailed waggled about without his will demanding it from it.
"And to think that we used to resolve the entire tournament in one day, honestly, why do I even bother asking not to destroy the ring every time…" the announcer passed through the crew, wiping his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.
"Kid!" a croaking voice alerted Chayote, someone of such low Ki signature wouldn't have tipped off her Ki sensory abilities anyway. Regardless of the unimpressive Ki signature, it would have been impossible for Chayote to not recognize the pointy hat, pink hair, and that ancient wrinkled face.
"Fortuneteller…" Chayote bowed her head in acknowledgment of the woman's presence. She then felt a weaker Ki signature outside, one that didn't elude Chayote's sensory range but one that felt oddly warm and familiar. "You can come out too, Upa."
A teen-aged boy with a much better defined muscular tonus to his body, donning a few dozens of different colored tattoos of varied mystical patterns all over his body and face paint over his scalp, wearing a pair of tomahawks the size matching the one of his own from three years ago, when he just started training in the mystical arts with Fortuneteller Baba.
"I'm surprised you stuck around. You're not an enthusiast of martial arts unless it brings you something out of it and you get to win a deal." Chayote teased the old crone. That wasn't entirely true, Baba was her brother's sister after all, though she most often chose to deny and ignore that side of her meaning that addressing her this way might have been the more correct choice if one wanted to get on the woman's good terms.
"Wanted to see my investment pay off. To Hell with that, I suppose…" Baba's lips formed an upper crescent of a wrinkled smile, showing off the gaps in between her teeth. "Though I am still curious about what you plan to do now… Where do the two of us stand from this point on? You've served me as a fine combatant, never once lost a fight and made me a lot of money, you know…"
"Maybe…" Chayote shrugged. "Either way, you promised me a fight with a martial arts prodigy worth the wait of three whole years. With that I'm satisfied, I've fought my prodigy so I've got no grievances with you. That being said, I've got no more business here on Earth, unless you've got something else to tempt me with. My spaceship is complete and I've settled all my matters here."
"Yes… It's funny how it turned out, wasn't it? Almost like someone knew the spaceship would be ready at this time…" Baba chuckled, looking far too full of herself. For all the concealed love for martial arts, she'd have made a poor martial artist because of that trait.
"So you're leaving then?" Upa stepped out from behind his mentor. "Off to space? Didn't you say that your home was really far away, that there's little to no hope for Saiyans to ever reach this place normally unless they're specifically looking for it?"
"That's right…" Chayote nodded. "Don't worry though, if things go wrong and I fail to change a few things, Saiyans very much will find this planet and not too long after."
"Oh? Picked up some fortune-telling tricks, have you?" Baba raised an eyebrow.
"No. It's what Kakarot saw in Korin's temple. I know now that those visions can still change so maybe Saiyans don't have to find this place. For that to happen, I need to convince Kakarot to come with me. I have a reason to believe that the one seeking this planet would be his father…" Chayote shrugged.
"Goku's father?" Upa exclaimed.
"Hmmm… You've grown to be quite the worrywart for this rocky little planet of ours. I have a feeling I should be quite proud…" Baba smirked.
"Anyway, I'm sure that Kakarot won't go anywhere until he settles matters with Tenshinhan. I will wait until then to ask him if he refuses… I don't think I have the strength to force him to go anymore." Chayote looked up into the blue sky.
"Well then, maybe we should stick around some more. This final match promises to be an intriguing one. Perhaps I did bet my chips on the wrong prodigy after all." Baba acted like an old, crooked crone again but it was just the way she teased people to get under their skin.
"Chayote!" Upa yelled out. "Will you really never ever come back, once you leave?"
"For your sake, you better hope I don't," Chayote sighed. "If things go as planned, I will become a soldier for the Frieza Army. Soldiers of the Frieza Army do not set foot on planets they don't plan to claim for Lord Frieza."
"He sounds like a terrible guy! You're better than to serve him!" Upa protested. Somehow Chayote knew that Upa wouldn't be a fan of the Lordship. Lord Frieza did stand for everything Upa hated, his tribe lived to protect the freedom of a piece of land whereas Frieza claimed it under his rule wherever his ambition spread. The two were polar opposites in terms of values.
"It's true that long ago I did rely on your ability to tell good from evil, but it doesn't really matter if Lord Frieza is good or evil. No. Frankly, I'd rather not even know. Serving him is the only purpose I've ever known, the only reason I was raised for and cared for," Chayote explained. "I don't care if it's good or evil, I am his servant, that's why I was brought up."
"That's nonsense! People don't need reasons to live, living is enough reason on its own!" Upa pouted his face. Underneath all that war paint, he really still was just a bothersome brat Chayote met back by Korin Tower. With a serene expression the Saiyan approached the boy and leaned over to him, there was still a fair distance to lean in on.
"You're a good kid, Upa. This time I will be the one making that call," she pecked on Upa's forehead before smiling and walking away in a rush, she didn't want Upa to see Chayote's eyes getting wetter and hesitation taking seeds in her chest, burrowing deeper into her abdomen with those detestable roots that made one's gut churn.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the final day of the World Martial Arts Tournament has dawned! On this day, the finals of this magnificent tournament will be taking place! We've already seen some spectacular matches up to now but I have a feeling that this one will top all of them. Yes, indeed, this one's gonna be one of those one of a kind matches!" the announcer did his thing. Recalling that she had intended taking him along on her trip home because he was just that good at what he did invited a smirk onto Chayote's face.
It was a sunny and happy day to conclude the greatest martial arts extravaganza in recorded history. Usually, in stories that Bora used to tell them by the fire, the weather was used to set the tone and the mood that every character in his story felt deep down. People died on rainy days, people proclaimed love and got married on sunny ones. Yet somehow Chayote ended up feeling rather somber in a very melancholic kind of way on possibly the nicest looking days in recent memory, then again, she did spend most of her time training and fighting for Baba in the Devil's Toilet the last three years so maybe she'd just forgotten what nice days looked like?
"On our right, we have contestant Tenshinhan, who traded blows and proved himself superior to his rival from the Turtle School – contestant Yamcha in the quarter-finals and who matched the infinite bag of tricks of the old sage - Jackie Chun in the semi-finals!" the announcer turned to the right while Tenshinhan walked out from the spectator's area and took his place on the right side of the ring.
The three-eyed wonder had taken the time to meditate and draw out every last bit of his latent power, that much Chayote had noticed. He wasn't that much stronger than the last time she had sensed his Ki signature but he felt somehow more polished, more streamlined. Perhaps it would have been unreasonable to expect that a human, if Tenshinhan was, in fact, one, became suddenly an entire world stronger in just one evening but he certainly became his most perfect self yet.
"On our left, takes his place contestant Son Goku, who bested contestant Chiaotzu in what might possibly a contender of the match of the entire tournament yet in the quarter-finals and who, in a shocking development, surpassed and ringed out the last tournament's champion – Chayote in the semi-finals!" the announcer turned to the left while Goku walked out with excitement gleaming off of his face the whole way through. Without taking any time or following up on the strenuous stretching routine he engaged himself in in the spectators' area leading up to the match, Goku took his fighting stance.
"Huh… Muten Roshi-sama, why are you wearing Jackie Chun's uniform?" Krillin turned to Muten Roshi who was by his side in the spectators' area and donned a black uniform almost identical to that which Jackie Chun wore, had it not been for his bald head and sunglasses, the two would be almost inseparable from one another.
"Shut up!" Muten Roshi shook his fist over Krillin's head. "That's why you've never made it to the finals in these tournaments because you focus on meaningless details!"
"S-Sorry…" Krillin poked his fingers before returning his focus back on the match that was about to begin. Given how it was the final match, the tournament staff was taking their sweet time, as per Earthling tradition.
"This match, Tenshinhan might not be a match for Son Goku in power, speed, and toughness, but he more dwarfs Goku in technique and martial arts prowess, this match may just be one you feel privileged to see once in your lifetime…" Muten Roshi cemented his thoughts just before the gong tolled and the match officially began.
Goku's image flickered and disappeared completely. Unlike earlier when he employed this illusory fighting style, there were not even foot taps on the ground where he kicked his body off from, for all Chayote could tell without referring to her Ki sensory abilities for back-up – Son Goku had truly disappeared from existence when he attacked or defended this way.
"You can't fool my third eye, Goku!" Tenshinhan grunted while throwing a back elbow strike with his left and raising his right arm to block an incoming hit to his face. It was not until his right palm felt far too light after taking a hit of such magnitude that Tenshinhan followed the disappearance of Goku's afterimage. The Saiyan boy was quick on his feet to rush in from down below and throw a straight right into Tenshinhan's gut.
The crushing blow almost put Goku's punch right through Tenshinhan, flexing and bending the flesh around the punch to degrees to which the human body was not meant to be bent in. The brute force of the impact made all three of Tenshinhan's eyes pop out while Goku jumped back and let his compromised opponent collapse onto the ground.
"Oh! What a lightning-pace start of the final match! With one blow, contestant Goku decided to settle things and he sent contestant Tenshinhan down, I repeat, contestant Tenshinhan is down!" the announcer yelled out and prepared to start the count. Before he could get to one even, Tenshinhan rose from his downed position onto his knees which forced the announcer to stop his count.
"You're strong… But not… That strong…" Tenshinhan wheezed while black bags formed under his eyes from the strain that standing back up after a hit like that put on him. Physically, this really was a mismatch. Chayote almost felt curious to see what sort of strategies and techniques Tenshinhan would employ to overcome such an immense difference in power level.
"Heh, I guess not…" Son Goku smiled. Despite failing to put down his opponent with a strike he put considerable strength into, one that was so demanding in terms of a wallop that it packed and the balance it demanded out of the deliverer that Goku immediately backed up after punching once to re-establish his stance and regain his sense of balance, he looked excited more than anything else.
"Three-Pronged Spear!" Tenshinhan exclaimed while calming his breath and switching his stance with gentle, controlled and flowing movements of his arms. He raised one of his knees up while crossing both his arms in front of him with the palms stiffened and extended into the chopping position.
Tenshinhan charged forward fast as a bolt of lightning, Goku vaulted upward and slammed a cross-chop of his own aimed at the sides of Tenshinhan's neck but his arms only dug through thin air. Goku landed on his feet and struggled to regain his proper fighting stance before a flurry of images of Tenshinhan danced in up in his face. Tenshinhan's afterimages appeared to act differently from how Son Goku or anyone else had used them.
The images of the three-eyed warrior flickered in and out, as fast to dissipate as they were to form and there was a whole motherlode of them all over the ring. They were transparent, easy to see through but seeing through dozens of fakes didn't make the real one any more apparent. Goku's eyes struggled to keep up with all the fakes flickering in and out but their struggle ended prematurely once Tenshinhan's knee dug into the front of his face, downing the monstrous boy in return for the previous injury Tenshinhan had suffered.
"Hmph… You're lucky your stature is so short, you only took the other end of my spear and it did not clip your throat whatsoever," Tenshinhan taunted his downed opponent who growled and grunted on the ring floor. Before Goku could get back on his feet and rush after him, Tenshinhan put some distance in between the pair.
And so the final match of the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi had begun. It started with both key players trading stiff and merciless blows right from the get-go but as was natural for such brutal encounters where no quarters were offered – something somewhere had to give.