"T-Ten-san, there he is!" Chiaotzu pointed at a blank point in the sky. His glee soon turned to fright when he noticed the important detail that the image of his friend was growing at a rapid pace and closing in on the ground quick.
"He's falling!" Yamcha stated the obvious.
"That's why we couldn't see him before – he must have gone down quite some distance by now…" Krillin wiped the sweat off his face as he glared at the sky, following Tenshinhan's downwards plummet with fear for the well-being of his own friend.
"Goku…" Muten Roshi grumbled, staring at the grisly remains of the climax of the battle between the two martial artists.
"As powerful as that Kikoho was, there is no way it would have killed Kakarot, especially not when he weakened it with his own Kamehameha but… Punching the blast was a dumbass move only he would think up of." Chayote said, selling herself on that without much trouble. These Earthlings simply had no idea how powerful Goku was at this point, to them he'd have been on a whole different world. If he felt like toying with the Kikoho, it was because he thought he could take it.
"Oh! After the final clash, contestant Son Goku is nowhere to be seen and contestant Tenshinhan is plummeting to the ground! I have it under good authority that amongst the spectators there are those that can fly, perhaps they should catch contestant Tenshinhan before…" the announcer turned to the spectators.
"No!" Chiaotzu objected. "The fight isn't over yet! If we assist Ten-san – he'll lose!"
"If he hits the ground at his current state, he'll die." Yamcha declared with bitterness in his voice. He was not overly fond of feeling worried about Tenshinhan's life.
"Ten-san contacted me through telepathy, he told me he's taking the opportunity to rest. He'll wake up from meditation and break his fall in time, I know he will!" Chiaotzu objected.
Krillin and Yamcha looked to Muten Roshi and Chayote. Muten Roshi stroke his beard, sweating in worry nobody thrice over a hundred years should be dealing with. The old man nodded, while Chayote didn't intercept any similar conversations, as a far superior telepath amongst the two, Roshi has, apparently, and Chayote trusted his call.
True to Chiaotzu's declaration, Tenshinhan bent his body, flexing every muscle in his body in perfect tonus so hard that his skin turned crimson for a second before transitioning to purple and pale. After a few breaths, the three-eyed combatant had returned to his normal skin color and regained full-awareness of his surroundings, looking down at the crater below that still fired off jolts of white energy lightning due to how much residual energy from the blast was still present down there.
"Goku…" a heavy sigh deflated Tenshinhan's chest.
"Shall… Shall I begin the count then?" the announcer's lower lip shook in waves, knowing full-well which outcome of this apocalyptic blast was the most likely.
"There is no use, anything my Kikoho touches, it destroys. Goku was mighty, his punch may have halted the blast for a time but… He's likely resting at the very bottom of that crater." Tenshinhan breathed out again and again.
"W-Well… Just for the sake of formality then… One! Two!" the ever-charismatic announcer began counting. "Three! Four! Five!"
"This… This is just… It's too cruel!" Krillin shook his head, Chayote noticed a couple of crystal glimmers in them, the Earthling was hiding his weakness which was the right call. He was anything but weak by the standards of this sub-par planet so appearing weak was the wrong look for him.
"Yeah… It's like he's counting down to Goku's death, or something…" Yamcha clenched a fist to his chest, outraged by his own helplessness in this situation.
"It's okay. It might even be for the better if he did die…" Chayote declared, forcing everyone to turn at her with horrified faces.
"Six! Seven!" the announcer continued his countdown to the end.
"How dare you!?" Krillin grabbed Chayote by the collar, pulling her down a bit. "Goku's just like you! How can you say that!?"
"You don't get it, Fortuneteller Baba gave me a Free Return Ticket. It lets somebody return back to life once, no questions asked." Chayote shrugged. She could feel Krillin's grip weakening, before long the flaps of her black coat rustled free in the midday breeze of the late spring.
"There's a thing like that…?" Krillin mumbled to himself in a state of shock, Muten Roshi stared at Chayote with a look that reminded of his constipated face which, sadly, most people that ever spent time on Kame Island got to know well.
"Sister gave you the Free Return Ticket!? Those don't get passed around often!" Roshi muttered.
"That's right, if I use it on Kakarot, he'll owe me one so he'll come with me to Planet Vegeta. It's a win-win really…" Chayote shrugged.
"It's ruthless to say so even if you can bring Goku back to life!" Yamcha scolded Chayote.
"Why?" Chayote looked back at him with childish confusion.
"Nine!" the announcer counted. His face was red and a couple of veins had been ravaging it from the tension that yelling as loud as he was left him with. If he raised his fingers once more, that would have been it.
"That's not nice! It's not what people say about other people!" Yamcha insisted.
"Te-!" the announcer raised his arm up before Tenshinhan stopped him.
"Wait!" the three-eyed martial artist stopped the announcer and looked up. The announcer fixed his shades and turned his eyes to the sky as well, the bystanders in the spectator area, as well as the audience, all looked up as well.
They spent a good handful of seconds staring up in the sky before a glittering star made their looks sharpen and focus on the point of focus. With an excited yell, Goku pierced the heavens on a mad skyfall and rushed straight at Tenshinhan, as if his fight hadn't stopped for a second.
"Why did he stop the count?" Yamcha smacked the wall to his right. "The announcer would have counted all the way to thirty by the time Goku would have appeared!"
"You dolt!" Chayote scolded the ex-desert bandit. "He's a martial artist. He lives for fights like this, why on Earth would he ever let it end this way, just before they settle things for good? Tenshinhan stopped the count the moment he sensed Goku up there."
"I'm comin' atcha!" Goku yelled out, his hands placed back by his sides and cocked back for a downpour of fists once he approaches closer to Tenshinhan but his opponent just took a defensive martial arts stance and prepared for Goku's approach, gently pushing himself back a few paces using his flying technique.
"I'm impressed you punched right through the Kikoho. Fortuneteller Baba was right, you two truly are monsters!" Tenshinhan smirked. "But even your luck has limits! You can't fly so if you miss me on your way down – it's over, Goku!"
"You're the one who's lucky! Lucky I missed you with my Rock, lucky for me, I still have Scissors and Paper!" Goku declared as his tail began spinning like the blades of a helicopter, slightly adjusting the position of his nosedive to hit Tenshinhan head-on. The pair of Goku's fingers took for Tenshinhan's eyes but the crafty martial artist blocked it by placing his palm in the space between his eyes, blocking the eye poke of Scissors.
"You're through! I'll wave to you on your way down!" Tenshinhan grinned.
"Now Paper!" Goku yelled out as he drove his palm right up into Tenshinhan's chest at blinding speed. Despite punching his way through a weakened Kikoho, the young Saiyan still retained enough strength to knock out his opponent with one palm strike to the center of his ribcage.
Weightless and with all three of his eyes whited out, Tenshinhan spiraled toward the decorated brick wall protecting the audience from debris and airborne martial artists flying at them from the stage. Goku, meanwhile, plummeted down to the crater, it would still be a good dozen of seconds before he would hit the ground because of that.
"It's over!" the announcer declared. Not too long after, the golden tail of the Kinto cloud alerted the audience that Kinto went down for the save, now that its owner was officially the victor of the tournament and the Strongest Under the Heavens.
For a moment, all hell broke loose as the audience rushed out and over their protective barriers, taking Tenshinhan up their arms and lifting him up and down a couple of times. While the moshpit raged on, the audience hit the big blocker of the jarring hole where the ring once was and was forced to calm down and get their collective senses back together. The imminent threat of falling to everybody's doom if they weren't careful made it a very reserved and clever end of a tournament celebration.
"We should split the money!" Goku handed the block of paper bills to Tenshinhan who had only recovered from his daze recently and still had trouble walking without the aid of Chiaotzu floating by his side and holding him up by his armpit. "Everybody's saying you stopped the count and that I might have lost if you didn't."
"Nonsense. I have no use for empty rewards I did not earn." Tenshinhan shook his head. "You're the real Strongest Under the Heavens now, if I took even a Zeni of that, it would feel dirty and would just annoy me."
"Hmph…" Goku pouted his lips, looking about as discontent as Tenshinhan described himself feeling if he handed him the money. "I don't feel like I deserve this money either! I'm not happy with this fight now that I know you've stopped the count."
"In that case, let's make sure to meet here in the finals three years from now and fight again…" Tenshinhan smiled and raised his hand up.
"Yeah!" Goku answered his opponent's fist bump.
"If you've got no use for this money, I have a proposition," Bulma approached the two and placed her hands over Goku's pile of money, letting the boy decide if he let go of the pile or kept hold of it after he heard her out. "I'm not sure if Chayote told you this but… I finished rebuilding her ship and she's leaving, right?"
Chayote blushed and looked down. She didn't want it to be this big business. It wasn't like she didn't intend on leaving at some point anyway. That was always the final destination so why is everyone acting so surprised and why is everyone letting it seem like this news ruined the celebration a bit.
"Y-Yeah… It might have taken Bulma three whole years to build my ship but… Now that I've seen Tenshinhan fight, I've no reason to stick around anymore. I'm off to Planet Vegeta." Chayote hid her hands inside her baggy sleeves.
"This is so sudden!" Krillin looked up. "I never got to thank you for leaving the Dark Kinto with me…"
"You did, you idiot, you said "thank you", I'm sure you did." Chayote shrugged.
"I didn't, I was so scared that I would just phase through it that I didn't think it was of any use to thank you for it. Then, when it took off, I was too worried about my own life but… Thank you, Chayote! You were really frightening when we met you but…" Krillin began tearing up again. For someone so strong, he really did tend to act all weak.
"Come on, Krillin, it's not like she won't visit now that she has a spaceship that can travel all throughout the universe, right?" Yamcha turned to Chayote who just shook her head, making everyone even more shocked.
"For your sake, you better hope I never set foot on this planet. If I do, it may just be as a soldier of the Frieza Army." Chayote declared.
"Could you, just for a moment, try to act like a person I'm suggesting throwing a goodbye party for?" Bulma placed her arms by her hips with an angry look, fired at Chayote.
"A party!?" Goku's face brightened.
"I'm… I'm afraid I might need to pass… As much as I wish to see Chayote off, I need to take a big, long break after this fight. My entire body can't move on its own without Chiaotzu's telekinetic help." Tenshinhan admitted.
"Oh, right…" Yamcha removed a sash tied to his belt and handed Tenshinhan a bean. "It's a Senzu. It will solve that problem. It won't fix your attitude or your face though…"
"I know that already – it hasn't fixed yours…" Tenshinhan smirked and took the bean off Yamcha's hands, popping it into his mouth and chewing it promptly.
"Ten-san…" Chiaotzu looked up at his friend, wondering how he was feeling but Tenshinhan lifted off the ground with his own flying technique and flexed his body hard enough to rip all the bandages tied to his waist, his previously busted ribs and around the middle of his arm.
"Well… In that case… How can we refuse?" Tenshinhan looked down at Chiaotzu with an ecstatic look and the little ghoul, taking in the boundless excitement of his friend, smiled and nodded himself. "Goku, don't you need a Senzu?" Tenshinhan looked at the young Saiyan.
"Nah, I'm just fine. Fighting you made me a bit sore and it cost me some strength to beat you for good but… I'd rather fill my belly with actual food!" Goku placed his arms by his sides and tapped his empty belly with his hands.
"I can see your point…" Tenshinhan looked down at his stomach, not feeling too hungry after just ingesting ten whole days-worth of food. Had he not been in the party for seeing Chayote off but for food, he'd have been disappointed with the aftereffect of the magical bean.
"So then I bring the fake stone I just drew a Turtle mark on with a marker back to Muten Roshi and guess what he does!? He throws the thing right at my head, without mercy too!" Krillin laughed out while standing up from his seat and acting out the described episode of his story as experienced by him.
"That's right, I did!" Muten Roshi nodded. "As if I can't tell the difference between something scribbled by me, someone with patience and mastery of calligraphy lasting a few centuries compared to a lazy brat who's got all the spunk and strength needed to pass my training but one who'd rather use all of that talent for devious tricks like that!"
"And then you took my real stone away once I found it in the woods. I think that was the only time we have fought for real, that's too bad!" Goku clapped at the corner of the table a bunch while enjoying seemingly a boundless supply of food that half a million Zeni could pay for. No matter how boundless the appetites of Goku and Chayote were due to their Saiyan physiology and how hard working the other Earthling martial artists were at matching their pace, the money lasted all the way to the very end like at the end of a wonderful fairy tale.
"What would even be the point right now?" Krillin chuckled. "You got so crazy strong that I've got leagues of catching up to do! How do you plan on catching up to him, Yamcha?"
"I… I'm just gonna hang out with Bulma for now. We've got some catching up to do after those years I've traveled with you and trained atop the Korin Tower." Yamcha turned to Bulma and let her wrap her hands around his neck and peck him on the cheek. Despite the lovely display of affection, before Yamcha explained his plans for the nearest future, Bulma grilled him with eyes that demanded a correct answer from him or else…
"I'm stuffed," Chayote lied. "I need to take a few breaths of fresh air, don't you, Kakarot?"
"Huh? Nah, I'd rather eat up!" Goku laughed out with a mouth filled with mushed food. Spices and grease still donning his cheeks.
"Goku! It's not nice to deny a girl who's asking you for a moment!" Bulma lifted a clenched fist over Goku's head, defying the laws of physics in how long a human arm could reach for. Judging from her facial expression, it seemed almost like it was her who was scorned.
"It isn't?" Goku wondered. "But if I leave…"
"Don't worry, we won't finish it all by ourselves and even if we do have our fill, there will be plenty of leftovers to pack up for the road." Tenshinhan nodded with a kind look on his face that Chayote wasn't sure she had ever seen on him. It appeared that going the distance against the two monsters he lived in fear of for the last three years has liberated him. Either that or meeting Muten Roshi and seeing his own true nature. The old man had that kind of effect on people.
"Huh… So we're just gonna breathe? You can breathe in there too…" Goku pouted shortly after following Chayote outside.
"I need you to come with me, Kakarot." Chayote said short and simple.
"What? That thing again?" Goku shook his head. "No way! I'm no Kakareek of whatever, I'm Son Goku and I've grown up on Earth! No matter who comes from the Saiyan planet, that's who I'll always be and if they mean trouble, I'll knock them flat!"
"That thing you've seen in the Korin's Tower, that's about your own father coming to take you back. I'm sure you heard Raditz claim that he'd come too. If he does come, he'll be pissed that you haven't killed all the Earthlings and prepared the planet for sale as it was intended to." Chayote tried reasoning with the unreasonable alien boy.
"So? I've beaten Raditz, I'll beat him too!" Goku declared. "I'll train long and hard, everyone will do their best, soon even Yamcha and Krillin will be strong enough to take on Raditz, even if Raditz's father comes down here, we'll knock him flat!"
There truly was just no point…
"Just so you know, those images of the future you've seen in the Korin Tower, they're not set in stone. When I climbed up there, I saw us fighting at the Martial Arts Tournament three years ago, I saw myself fighting Tenshinhan in the finals today and then I saw both of us taking on Kami in some airship of his. Only one of these things happened. You were the one to fight Tenshinhan and we will never kill Kami and take over this planet as I've foreseen." Chayote said. "That's why I wanted to try to get to you, move you away from Earth and change the future again, have your father follow us through space instead of coming here."
Chayote turned to Goku, startled by him knocking at her pack with an open palm.
"I was right when we first met, you really are a nice person! You just talk mean, but you were thinking about Earth this whole time. Earth's your home too, you should stay and we can fight Raditz's father together!" Goku suggested, flipping the tables on Chayote.
"What? No way… I've already postponed leaving when Baba suggested it, just because I wanted to meet Tenshinhan before leaving. Bulma finished the spaceship already, there's no use in postponing it any further. I've already spent so much time here, at this pace I'll never join the Frieza Army." Chayote felt a bit proud of being able to act as stubborn as Goku did with her suggestion.
"That Frieza guy… What's so special about him and his army?" Goku crossed his stubby, teen-arms over his chest.
"You don't get it. You've grown up on Earth." Chayote said. "Saiyans are a warrior race. Fighting and war are in our blood, it's our only drive. To be denied the honor of becoming a warrior in the strongest army in existence is the same as to say that one's life is worthless. I may be a low-class warrior, just like you, but I'll die fighting before I will settle for being worthless!"
"We had an army too, here on Earth, you've totaled it…" Goku squinted at Chayote before the pair started laughing. At that moment, staring at the evening stars, feeling the chilly breeze and hearing the buzz of pests around her ears while laughing from the bottom of her chest and reminiscing of past battles… Chayote felt the happiest she's ever been then and there, it was too bad that a ground-shaking feeling of a lightning bolt severed into two, followed up by a loud screech that snuffed out into silence brought her down to Earth.
"Something's wrong!" Chayote declared and leaped up. Her Ki worked alongside her like never before, carrying her through the skies toward the troublesome Ki that she sensed. A familiar Ki too! A familiar noise of the Kinto behind her suggested that Goku was resigned to follow her. That was good, he needed to see this and she may just need his help.
"Get Yamcha, we might need Senzu!" Chayote looked back and yelled but Goku didn't react, with a stern face he just followed her. Could he have felt something off too?
Chayote landed nearby the abandoned tournament grounds and ran inside the spectator's area where they waited for their turn to fight and watched the matches from. Inside, sprawled on the floor and covering up his head laid the tournament announcer, still shaking in his boots while just by his side laid Krillin, most of him, anyway. His entire torso had a hole in it that could have fit his own head.
Goku immediately ran up to him, Chayote saw the light reflecting off of the corners of his own eyes. This was no time to get weak, this was no time for shaky knees! The Saiyan approached a large lump of cloth that had the Turtle Gi all bent up and prepared, laid beside a massive mountain of food packed inside the clothes and ready for take-out.
"Th-Thank you…" the announcer mumbled, even with his microphone far away from his shaking mouth, his voice still slew the silence in the room as he meant it to.
"What?" Chayote turned back.
"That's what he wanted to do, he said he'd drag the whole thing to Capsule Corporation on his Dark Kinto and write you a thank you note. He said you'd know what for…" the announcer explained with a shaky voice.
"Krillin, Krillin!" Goku finally mustered up the strength to do something more resembling speech and less sounding like a whine. "Who did this!?"
"It… It was a monster. I found contestant Krillin here and… I think that the monster was following me from the main building as he attacked me. Contestant Krillin saved my life from him and was manhandling him but… That monster must have been the demon… He attacked me unexpectedly and… Contestant Krillin jumped in the way…" the announcer turned to Krillin's lifeless body with shaking hands that were the only support for his body. "I guess… In the end… It's him I need to thank after all…"
Goku stood up, his fists clenched by his sides and shaking as tears streamed down his cheeks. It was a rare sight for a Saiyan to show weakness but Son Goku was raised on Earth so he was more receptive to Earthling habits.
"Chayote…" he said.
"Yeah…" Chayote reached inside her pocket and pulled out a worn up ticket that was stapled together and had coffee stains all over it. "I'm cashing it in."
"Not that, can you sense that bastard!?" Goku yelled out.
"Yeah… Krillin must have done a real number on him, he isn't moving very fast." Chayote turned to the west where she sensed a devious Ki signature, she could tell it was the monster that killed Krillin, it was the only notable Ki signature in the area that Chayote couldn't recognize but also… It was evil. Not just evil, it was defined by its evil nature, as if it was given life to do evil deeds.
The rest of the crew ran up to the tournament grounds and simultaneously went through all stages of shock and panic that Chayote and Goku went through together all at once. Muten Roshi stepped in Goku's way but it was years too late for him to presume that Goku or Chayote could not leave him behind them if they meant to. Maybe the announcer was right, maybe Chayote and Goku were chasing a bona fide demon?
"Chayote…" Bulma muttered with a weak voice.
"My leave's postponed until we bring Krillin back to life." Chayote declared before taking off while Goku jumped onto the Kinto and followed not too far behind her. It wasn't that Chayote flew faster than a Kinto, it was just that he needed her to show him the direction of the monster that did Krillin in.
"I… I should have… Should have shown them this…" the announcer looked at a sheet of paper that he held crushed with his right arm, the one that the demon had dropped just before leaving, all sunken in salad-colored blood of the beast that dropped it. "Maybe it's important?"
Muten Roshi approached the announcer and slowly picked the crumbled piece of paper into his arms, unfolding it to observe its declaration only to freeze in fear. An absolute sense of dread that relaxed the muscles of his jaw while freezing the rest of his body in place.
"The Demon King Piccolo has returned…" he declared only audible to himself, just so that another center of his brain could fathom the horror he had experienced.