The Coming Storm

Chapter 13: Commence, 21st World Tournament!


'Master Roshi,' Krillin chirped, 'you said this entire island is dedicated to the tournament?'

'Yep. Take it in everyone.'

'Wow.'

The Turtle School strolled through a large stone pavilion pathway that seemed to stretch on for miles. It ended at a large archway, under which there seemed to be thousands of people. There were fighters of every ilk here- dragons, bodybuilders, monks.

'Listen up everyone,' Master Roshi yelled to be heard above the crowd, 'the way this works is that to get into the real tournament, you come out on top of your preliminary group. These will be a series of short fights, so make sure to end it quickly but not use up too much energy! And whatever you do, don't leave the arena until your opponent has! I don't want any of my students losing on a technicality.'

They filtered into the main building and approached a table where some tournament officials were registering participants. After Master Roshi's quick conversation with them- which appeared very hush-hush judging from how quiet Master Roshi's voice was- Master Roshi handed to each turtle school student their number. '6, 2, 4, 5. Those are your preliminary group numbers. You're lucky none of you are in the same group. Now you have no excuses to not make it to the quarters!'

'What's that tucked into your shirt, Master Roshi?' Chi-Chi said, pointing at a scrap of paper with the number '7' written on it. It was sticking out of Master Roshi's chest-pocket.

'Huh?' Master Roshi took the piece of paper out of his pocket. 'This? Hah! I-uh- must have taken this by mistake! Silly me! Haha! I need to return this! Good luck everyone! I'll be cheering for you from the bleachers for the main matches!' With that Master Roshi disappeared into a mass of people.

'Doesn't look like he's going back to the table,' Rayne commented. 'Weird.'

'This is Master Roshi we're talking about,' Yamcha said.

'He said we could take off these shells for the tournament, right?'

'Yep.'

'Thank Kami.'

'Well,' Krillin spoke up, 'I think our matches are starting soon, so-'

'Wait,' Rayne said, grabbing Krillin's arm, 'we need to talk about something. All of us.'

'...go ahead.'

'I know we haven't talked about it the past couple months because of how caught up we were with training, but we need to talk about him.'

'What is there to talk about? We can't find him-'

'Don't you think there's a chance he could be here? Hiding among the contestants?' Rayne swept her arms towards the people around her. 'What if we have to face him? What if he tries to kill us? I just want to make it clear that our number one priority, if we see Kakarot, is to kill him, all of us striking as one.' She glared at Krillin.

Krillin didn't meet her gaze. 'I don't want to make promises I can't keep.'

'You-'

'Okay! This is a conversation we don't need to have right now,' Yamcha interrupted, placing himself between Krillin and Rayne. 'I think there's a very low chance Kakarot will show up here. Your conversation is entirely hypothetical right now. I'm sure that if he shows up, we'll all act accordingly.'

'Right,' Rayne said, derision clear in her voice, 'you're sure. That's good.' She turned from the group and waded into the mass of contestants.

'Geez…' Yamcha sighed. Krillin pouted as Rayne disappeared from sight.

'Don't take it personally Krillin,' Chi-Chi said, 'she not just frustrated with you. There are a lot of things that are getting to her right now.'

'Things? What sort of things?' Krillin asked.

'I think she's more frustrated that Master Roshi has never talked about Kakarot. You would think he of all people would recognize Kakarot as a threat that needs to be dealt with.'

'That makes sense. We talked about Kakarot when I first arrived to train, but after that he outright refused to bring him up again. I don't understand what's going through his mind.'

'No one does.' Yamcha replied, letting the words hang in the air. 'Well, I do think it's time we got to our positions, so to speak.' He held up his fist. 'Good luck?'

Krillin and Chi-Chi brought up their fists and bumped them with his. 'Good luck', they both said.

0o0o0o0

'Crap, are we late?' Bulma was running down the needlessly long pathway to the tournament with Oolong and Puar, trying to get to the main ring in time. Couldn't they have set up a bus, or parking, closer to the ring? 'I paid a lot of money for these tickets! They're prime spots!'

'Slow down!' Oolong yelled after her, 'my short pig legs can't keep up with you!'

'Then shapeshift into something that can!' She yelled back.

'Oh.' A few seconds later a tiger bounded past Bulma, loping towards the spectator gate and drawing a few terrified glances from some onlookers. It's a handy ability when he remembers to use it…

Puar floated up next to Bulma. 'Bulma, look at all the people out here. There's no way we can be late.'

'I still want to sit! I'm tired from all this running.'

'You told them we would be here, right?'

'Of course. They know exactly where to look for us. We'll be cheering them on from section D the whole way through.'

'You excited to see any of them fight?' Puar grinned. 'How about Yamcha?'

'Puar, I am running right now,' she tersely replied, 'and if you think I'm blushing when I'm physically exerting myself, I'll kill you.'

'Okay, okay… just making a joke.'

'Just float on in silence.'

0o0o0o0

Master Roshi continued to elbow his way through the crowd, making sure he was far enough from his pupils before turning a corner. Once alone, he spread out his ki sense, trying to feel out the rest of the competitors at the tournament. Nothing too strong or too unexpected- Shen or his students aren't here, that's for sure. But where is Kakarot?

During the Turtle School's journey to the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Master Roshi on several occasions had sensed what could only be Kakarot's ki. It seemed to have been drawing closer to them as the days passed. It doesn't make any sense. There's no way he could be tracking us with ki. I guess it's possible he could have heard of the tournament- but how would he have learned about it, let alone have an interest in it? But the most baffling part? A few days before they arrived at the tournament Kakarot's ki had simply disappeared. He could be anywhere at this point. And that was a disturbing thought.

I need to be prepared if he strikes- and on my guard. Master Roshi unslung a bag from his shoulder onto the ground, opening it to reveal a change of clothes and a gray-haired wig. I can't afford to play around. Sorry in advance, everyone.

0o0o0o0

Krillin eventually found his group and stepped up to a tournament official. 'Excuse me,' he said, 'my name is Krillin. I was assigned to his group.'

The tournament official looked down dismissively at Krillin, and then checked his list. 'Krillin. You're up next.'

Krillin and the official were standing next to a small ring. Currently a shirtless, hairy 'barbarian'- that's what he looked like to Krillin, anyways- was grappling with a dog-man. It looked like the hairy man had the advantage before the dog man heaved and succeeded in falling forward, causing both of them to fall out of the ring- but the hairy man hit the ground first.

The tournament official quickly held up a card. 'Out of bounds! Bato moves on. Next up: Krillin and Zushin!'

Zushin? Here?

Krillin turned and saw his former bully at the Orin temple, a sneer plastered to his face as he stepped into the ring. 'Back for more, whelp?' he taunted.

Krillin stepped into the ring, eyeing his opponent. I really don't know what to expect. Guess it's time to find out whether I made a mistake by getting kicked out of the Orin temple…

'Begin!'

Zushin stepped forward swinging his fist towards Krillin. Krillin effortlessly dodged it and then with the slightest adjustment, stuck out his foot as Zushin's forward momentum continued. Zushin immediately caught and tripped on Krillin's foot, tottered, and then began falling. His former bully landed in a crowd of his fellow Orin temple monks and knocked them all to the ground.

'Out of bounds! Krillin moves on.'

Krillin was shocked at how quickly it was over. That was an effortless, automatic movement… have I really improved that much since then? Unreal...

A couple meters away, Chi-Chi was staring down a large dragon in her ring. Giran stomped and snarled, plumes of fire sputtering from his mouth. This guy could be tough- or a real pushover.

'Ready? Begin!'

Chi-Chi charged the dragon, landing a solid hit to his midsection that the dragon tanked, swinging his tail in a circular arc towards Chi-Chi. She jumped, spinning once in mid-air and delivering a kick towards the dragon's midsection, sending the dragon back an inch. He's tough but not immovable! Snarling, the dragon continued trying to claw at Chi-Chi, but she proved too quick and kept out of range of his relatively slow strikes. Small hits continued to drive the dragon back until he was on the edge of the ring. 'I've got you now!' Chi-Chi yelled as she prepared to deliver the final blow.

Suddenly, Giran opened his mouth and fire shot out, sweeping over the entire ring. Chi-Chi was hurtling right towards the flame wall. Crap! Focus!

She vanished into the raging inferno for a few seconds, before emerging out the other side in a blaze and planting two feet into Giran, pushing him off the edge and out of bounds. She landed back on the ring, panting.

'Out of bounds! Chi-Chi moves on!'

Chi-Chi slowly let the ki aura around her fade. That was… really exhausting. Still, good to know I can deflect stuff like that with ki.

At two others ends of the hall, Rayne and Yamcha were cleaning up in their respective groups. Master Roshi, now disguised as 'Jackie Chun' wandered the grounds and marveled at his students. They've come a long way.

0o0o0o0

'The preliminaries are over! Will the winners of the eight respective groups please step forward!'

Out of a press of defeated combatants emerged eight figures. Krillin, Rayne, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi, all dressed in their orange turtle gis, quickly recognized each other and exchanged some thumbs up. A particularly attractive young woman stepped forward, a smirk on her face as she sized up her competition. Another person stepped forward- a gigantic, horribly smelly man who pushed the crowd away from him with his odor. A dark-skinned man with a turban and a shawl draped diagonally across his chest stepped forward, his face expressionless. The eighth person to emerge was an older man dressed in black robes with white trimmings. For some reason, he eyed the rest of the Turtle School students.

'If everyone could follow me,' an announcer said to the eight, 'we can walk out onto the main stage and announce the quarters. Just remember to smile and wave when you get out there.'

The announcer led the contestants through a wide corridor before emerging onto the main stage of the tournament, the crowd roaring with excitement as the eight fighters filed into the ring.

'Wooo! Go team go!' Bulma yelled above the noise, practically jumping up and down with Puar and Oolong.' Yamcha briefly made eye contact with Bulma before turning away, blushing.

'Ladies and Gentlemen,' the announcer boomed through a microphone, 'welcome to the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament!' He paused for a moment to let the ring rumble with anticipation before continuing. 'Preliminaries have concluded- before you now are your eight quarterfinalists! The matches for the quarters are as follows- Yamcha vs. Bacterian!' Yamcha waved to the crowd while the huge smelly man grinned stupidly. 'Chi-Chi vs. Rayne!' Chi-Chi and Rayne frowned at each other, before giving heart hearted smiles towards the crowd. 'Jackie Chun vs. Ranfan!' Ranfan basked in the crowd's attention while Jacking Chun pouted. Why do I have to fight the cute one? 'And finally- Krillin vs. Nam!' Krillin glanced over at his opponent, who had his eyes closed in a gesture of respect towards the audience. Figures. I got the scariest one…'We're going to take a short five minute break and then the quarters will begin! Stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, because you're not gonna want to miss this!'

The eight quarter finalists filed back into the corridor next to the ring. 'Bad luck, huh,' Chi-Chi said to Rayne when she entered. 'I was hoping none of us would meet until the semis…'

'There was a low chance of that happening anyway,' Rayne replied. 'And besides', she added, smiling, 'we're going to give the audience their best match of the tournament at the very start, right?'

Chi-Chi's bright eyes met Rayne's and nodded.

'Hey,' Yamcha said approaching with Krillin, 'we're sorry about that draw,'

'No big deal,' Chi-Chi said, dismissing his concern with a wave of her hand. 'I'll feel bad for you when I beat you in the semis.'

'Haha.'

'Guys,' Krillin questioned, 'have any of you ever met Jackie Chun before? He's staring at us right now.'

The four turtle students turned to Jackie Chun, who quickly looked away, arms folded behind his back. After a moment Chi-Chi said, 'I think he's familiar just because we've spent so much time with an old man recently... Speaking of Master Roshi, anyone see him in the crowd?'

'Nope,' Yamcha replied, 'but is that a surprise? He's probably off wrestling a sea monster… or something. He'll show up eventually.'

A few feet away, Jackie Chun was listening and let out a sigh of relief. This disguise still gets the job done…

'I think I overreacted earlier,' Rayne said after a few moments of silence, 'about Kakarot. I've talked to a few people and none of them have heard nor seen anyone matching his description in the past few months. And these people are from all over the world- they've been out there while we've been isolated at Kame House. I think we have nothing to worry about. And,' she added, 'I'm sorry for snapping earlier.'

'Nothing to apologize for,' Krillin replied, a gentle smile on his face.

0o0o0o0

As preparations were being made for the first match of the quarterfinals, a small silhouette ascended onto the roof of one of the ancillary buildings for the tournament. A full-length tail swooshed behind them, as they settled into a prone position with a perfect view of the ring. Not a single soul was around. Perfect. No one to interrupt me. Now to enjoy the show.

0o0o0o0

Yamcha walked out side-by-side with Bacterian, pinching his nostrils as they assumed positions at opposite ends of the ring. 'The first match of the quarterfinals- Yamcha vs. Bacterian. Begin!' The announcer said before quickly running off the ring.

Bacterian flexed for the crowd before turning his massive bulk towards Yamcha. 'You're going to like this,' he said, before lifting his arms and letting a horribly noxious odor flood the ring. Yamcha immediately gagged and brought a hand to his mouth. 'That's- that's disgusting! When's the last time you washed?'

'Washed?' Bacterian cocked his head to the side. 'What does 'washed' mean?'

Sighing, Yamcha circled the massive man, waiting for his opponent to make the first move. Bacterian obliged and rushed Yamcha, trying to catch Yamcha between his massive hands. Yamcha slipped away, however, and moved closer to strike Bacterian before going white-faced and jumping back. 'Yuck! You smell even worse up close!' he yelled. 'How is it even possible for you to smell this bad?'

'It's a talent!' he roared, amping up the crowd before setting himself on Yamcha again. Yamcha made sure to keep himself out of Bacterian's reach but he couldn't move close enough to the giant man to land any hits. They were trapped in an endless dance around the ring- Yamcha dodging and Bacterian pursuing. I don't think my nose can take another full blast of that guy- I need to hurt him without getting near him. Which means…

Bacterian drew his hands together into a fist, and tried to haymaker Yamcha in his side. Yamcha stepped out of its way, but at the moment it passed by him Yamcha swung, striking Bacterian's locked hands with his own haymaker, adding to the attack's momentum. Bacterian's haymaker massively sped up and whiplashed out and around, colliding with his own body with the full force of both his own strike and Yamcha's addition. The blow sunk into Bacterian's side, so strong that it rocked his body and catapulted him to the side of the ring. He tried to stand, but halfway up he collapsed and blacked out.

'...8, 9, 10! Yamcha is the winner by knockout!' Yamcha grinned and gave an exaggerated bow before leaving the ring. Bulma and Puar had whipped up a banner with the turtle school's symbol on it and were waving it enthusiastically in the crowd. Bacterian was carried away by a score of tournament organizers with clothespins pinching their nostrils.

From the entrance to the corridor, the other turtle students looked on in awe. 'I had no idea Yamcha had gotten so strong…' Krillin muttered.

'Hey!' Rayne said nudging Krillin, 'don't sell yourself short. You might just surprise yourself.'

Krillin glanced at Rayne, then back at Yamcha as he rejoined them. 'Pretty good, right?' he boasted.

The other turtle students rolled their eyes.

0o0o0o0

'Everyone, prepare yourself for the second match of the quarterfinals- Chi-Chi vs Rayne! From the looks of their gis, it seems that they were taught by the same teacher- Let's hear it for some inter-school rivalry!' The crowd billowed with excitement, as Rayne and Chi-Chi fidgeted uncomfortably from the personal attention they were receiving. 'Might as well as show them what we can do, right?' Rayne joked, settling into a Turtle guard pose.

Chi-Chi nodded, settling into a guard almost identical to Rayne.

'And begin!'

Almost simultaneously Chi-Chi and Rayne charged at each other, meeting in the center of the ring with their forearms pressed against each other. From there they entered into a series of Turtle School forms, emphasizing defense and minimizing damage from each others' strikes. Rayne was slightly taller than Chi-Chi so she had more range, but Chi-Chi's shorter height gave her more maneuverability. Rayne brought her elbow down on Chi-Chi's head but she was able to dodge forward and barrel into Rayne's legs, knocking her over. Chi-Chi followed up with a downwards kick but Rayne rolled out of the way, only taking a glancing hit. She jumped to a standing position from the ground, swinging one leg out to strike Chi-Chi, but she moved back at the last second out of Rayne's reach. They both backed off from each other, panting from their tight exchange.

'Incredible!' the announcer rang out, 'it seemed like everything was on display in that last exchange! And they seem evenly matched!'

Rayne shot a look to Rayne that said, do you think anything he just said was true?

Chi-Chi sent one back- not even close.

They charged each other again, this time Rayne taking a slight advantage by seizing the middle of the ring. Chi-Chi weaved around Rayne's strikes, but they succeeded in keeping Chi-Chi out of range for any attacks of her own. Chi-Chi darted around Rayne, increasingly frustrated by her lack of success in finding a moment to step in and attack. Rayne continued to maneuver Chi-Chi around until finally crashing through one of Chi-Chi's blocks with a heavy fist and knocking her backwards. Chi-Chi's feet came dangerously close to the edge of the ring before she succeeded in stopping herself by digging her fingers into the tiles. Rayne straightened, moving ever so closer to Chi-Chi.

Damn! I can't get her out of the middle- but maybe I can make the middle a liability

Chi-Chi stood, taking a moment to glance around the ring before she broke into a run straight towards Rayne. Instead of aiming a kick or punch, however, Chi-Chi simpled jumped and hurtled her entire body towards Rayne. Bewildered, Rayne moved to the side, but at that moment Chi-Chi stuck out an arm and landed a solid-passing blow to Rayne's rushed block, knocking her to the ground before landing on the opposite side of the ring. If she holds the middle her dodging suffers-

Chi-Chi barely managed to whirl away from an errant kick that tried to knock her out of the ring. Rayne was on her almost immediately, forcing Chi-Chi around the edge of the ring. At one point Rayne grabbed Chi-Chi by her forearms and began pushing with all her strength against Chi-Chi. Realizing what Rayne was doing, Chi-Chi struggled before breaking free of Rayne's grip right before toppling backwards out of bounds. Chi-Chi ran over to the other side of the ring to put some distance between them and catch her breath. Rayne's eyes watched Chi-Chi attentively as she resumed her position in the center of the ring.

Chi-Chi took a moment to rub one of the bruises on her arm. I'm getting tired trying to move around her and she still looks pretty fresh. Time for the kitchen sink, then. Chi-Chi drew in her arms next to her body to rest at a parallel position from the ground and scrunched her face. She began to shimmer, as the wind kicked up around her in the ring. The crowd went silent as the air around them grew taut.

'No way…' Krillin muttered from the corridor.

Jackie Chun raised an eyebrow. Six months of training and she's already figured out how to summon an aura. Impressive. Still, at her power level, that can't be sustainable.

Rayne gulped, seeing a faint white outline manifest itself around Chi-Chi. Is she powering up like Master Roshi did? In that case, this could be over for me pretty quickly…

The seconds dragged on. Chi-Chi never bulked up but still maintained an aura around her. Grimacing, she walking, then bounding towards Rayne, running at her head on.

Rayne braced herself. What's she doing? I can easily step out of the way-

Suddenly Rayne was buffeted by what felt like a literal wall of air. She was pushed back as Chi-Chi jumped and aimed herself like a missile, speeding up- what's- what's this-

Chi-Chi came a foot away from Rayne, and Rayne was instantaneously launched back as if she had collided with a concrete building. She spun madly through the air, moving out and over the grass, before she righted herself and charged a tiny ki blast in her hands. Panicking, Rayne flung the blast away from her towards the sky, stopping her momentum and propelling her back towards the ring. The ki blast moved ten feet into the sky before dispersing. She landed in the center of the ring behind Chi-Chi, who turned, wind rippling around her. Damnit! Wasn't moving fast enough. Just need to-

Chi-Chi fell to the ground, a wave of exhaustion sweeping through her body. Crap… I'm out of time… She looked up to see Rayne standing up, a few bruises here and there but still largely unscathed. Despite her lack of energy, Chi-Chi forced herself to stand up and bring her arms to guard position.

'So you went for the tactical approach? Tried to push me out of bounds?' Rayne asked, curious.

'Yep.'

'Any reason for that?'

'To test out my new technique, of course.'

'Makes sense. Sorry.'

Chi-Chi glared, stepping forward and throwing an elbow towards Rayne, 'It's not over yet!'

To Rayne, the strike was far too slow. She easily ducked to the side and then lurched forward, landing a solid punch to Chi-Chi's midsection and launching her from the ring.

Damn…

Chi-Chi landed on the grass, wincing from the impact.

'Ring out! Rayne moves on.'

Rayne gave a small bow of respect towards Chi-Chi and then stepped out of the ring, helping her to get back on her feet. 'It was a good fight.'

'Yea.' Chi-Chi paused. 'Still, would have been nice to win…'

0o0o0o0

'Let's hope that this match is as exciting as the last! Everyone, give it up for Jackie Chun and Ranfan! Begin!'

Jackie Chun sized up his opponent as Ranfan enjoyed the cheering, mad enthusiasm of the spectators. Judging from her ki… she's definitely above average, but there were definitely stronger fighters in the preliminaries- how did she get to the quarters?

As if she was reading his mind, Ranfan turned, bracing her arms at her side. In the space of a second, she went from fully clothed to fully naked, save for her underwear. 'Take it in old man!' she taunted, as she charged deceptively fast towards Jackie Chun.

Jackie Chun was shocked, then distracted, as Ranfan landed a kick to Jackie Chun's rushed block, skidding him back a few feet in the ring. From behind his block, he started laughing.

'What's so funny?'

'Oh, it's just that I didn't expect a fight like this. You have an unusual form of martial arts.' Jackie Chun lowered his arms, revealing that he had his eyes closed. 'Unfortunately for you, I've seen a lot of unusual martial arts…' Jackie Chun flowed forward, moving faster than Ranfan could react, landing a kick to her midsection. The blow drove her skidding off the ring. She was knocked out before she rolled onto the grass.

Jackie Chun scratched his head, frowning. 'Err… I may have overdone it a little…'

'Jackie Chun is winner by ring out!' the announcer said once he had run over to confirm Ranfan's unconscious state. 'He moves on to the semifinals!'

'I swear,' Chi-Chi said, squinting at Jackie Chun shyly waving to the crowd, 'I've seen that man before. Or at least his moves. Do you think it's possible Master Roshi is part of a club made up of a bunch of really old martial artists?'

'How would that even work? What would be the age restriction? How old is Master Roshi anyway?' Krillin asked.

'Your guess is as good as mine…'

0o0o0o0

Ranfan was unceremoniously carried away. The announcer cleaned his shades before bringing his microphone back to his face.'It's time for the last match of the quarterfinals! Give a warm welcome to Nam and Krillin!'

Meekly, Krillin walked on onto the ring behind the adult Nam. He was awed by the size of the crowd. Huge!

'It seems that we have another disciple of this mysterious school!' the announcer said, drawing attention to Krillin's gi. 'Let's see what moves Krillin has to offer! Begin!'

Krillin assumed the Turtle guard, not wanting to underestimate his opponent. He gives off the cold, serious vibe- I can't be too careful.

Nam brought one flattened hand to his head and held it there, his eyes closed. 'I will make this quick,' he spoke softly, 'for your sake.' He then drew back his hand and sped towards Krillin, aiming a chop at Krillin's head.

Krillin moved his head away at the last second, and then stopped Nam's second blow with a cross-block. A barrage of strikes began to rain down on Krillin, who was frantically blocking as they cascaded down onto him. Nam's face was a mixture of intense concentration as the pace of his attacks slowly increased, threatening to overwhelm Krillin. Krillin, however, took the first opportunity available to drop to the ground on his back, kicking out and up with his legs as he did so. HIs feet caught against one of Nam's strikes and forced Nam back, his offense disrupted by the jarring kick. Krillin spun his body around and pushed himself off the ground, chasing after the reeling Nam to deliver another blow. Nam, however, simply took a large step back and disengaged from Krillin.

Nam again raised one flattened hand in front of him, closing his eyes. After a moment his eyes shot open, and he fell upon Krillin again, a deluge of strikes landing on Krillin's guard. This time, however, Nam closed off every avenue of escape- blows were coming from every direction such that if Krillin tried to disengage, he would for certain be hit. Krillin could do nothing except for maintaining a furious defense, arching his body and rotating his forearms to block the next strike, whatever direction it came from. This seemed to go forever, until Nam, apparently finishing his series, brought his hands downwards on a rapid dual-chop. Krillin, amazingly, blocked these two, buckling for a second before pushing back and upwards against Nam's attacks. They held in that position for a few seconds, struggling against each other, before they both broke off.

'You surprise me,' Nam said after a moment. 'There are very few who can keep up with my thousand-strike barrage. You display great defensive skills.'

'I learned from the best,' Krillin said, glancing over to his teammates cheering him on from the entrance to the main building. 'And I had people who supported me.'

'So you too fight for others?'

Krillin thought for a time, then said, 'Yea, I guess I do.'

'Then I am sorry for this.'

This time Nam decided to press Krillin with a jumping kick, using his momentum to force Krillin to dodge the strike. At this moment, however, Nam twisted and slammed his other leg into Krillin, viciously knocking Krillin down to the ground as he landed a few feet away. Straightening, Nam spoke a silent prayer under his breath, before turning to face Krillin. He had expected him to be unconscious. Instead, Krillin was climbing to his feet, using his hand to wipe away a bloody gash that had opened on his forehead. 'It takes…' Krillin muttered, 'More than that to bring me down.'

Grimacing, Nam charged Krillin again, but this time the Turtle student used his stature to his advantage- he took advantage of Nam's offensiveness and snuck around his blows, landing a few jabs to Nam's body before being forced away by a passing sweeping kick. Nam then tried to elbow Krillin to the ground, but Krillin turned at the last second and then whiplashed his knee into Nam's side, knocking him sideways and causing him to gasp in pain. Nam paused for a second, steadying his breath, before he stepped in again to force back Krillin with a series of heavy blows delivered to Krillin's block.

The pace was relentless. Nam pounded into Krillin until the former monk could slip past Nam's assault and deliver a few strong blows before again being forced onto the defensive. Nam delivered a particularly strong hit to Krillin's shoulder, forcing an aching Krillin to his knees, but then he disengaged, stepping backwards. He was painfully out of breath. After taking a moment to recover, Nam said, 'It is obvious that we will wear each other down into nothing. So my hand is forced.' Nam planted one foot behind him, twisting his heel until his body was tensed into a spring. He yelled as he shot into the air, jumping at least fifty feet into the air, much higher than what should have been humanly possible. He twisted and spun as he reached the apex of his jump.

'Incredible!' the announcer cried. 'Nam has rocketed himself into the air! And it looks like he's coming back down fast!' Nam started to speed towards the ground, in the process straightening his body into a projectile. He crossed his arms in front of himself in a large X, his eyes intense and fully locked on Krillin.

It was far too fast for Krillin to avoid. Here goes nothing!... Krillin raised his arms in a frantic block as Nam collided arm-to-arm with him. The impact immediately shot up a cloud of dirt and produced a shockwave loud enough to make the audience flinch.

'Incredible…' the announcer mumbled into his mic. As the smoke cleared Nam's silhouette appeared, huffing and hunched over from the effort. His body was of a mess of smeared dirt and bruises, yet his eyes were locked on something further into the cloud of dust. After another few seconds, the dust fully dissipated, revealing a still standing Krillin, sunk a few inches into the ring, but overall still upright with his block raised. Arms shaking, he slowly let his guard drop, before letting his arms fully flop down at his sides. Shifting ki into my arms… really saved me there… Krillin struggled to catch his breath, feeling like he lost a lot of energy from his last-ditch block.

'You're… still standing,' Nam said hesitantly, as if trying to accept the truth of his own words. 'That was… my strongest attack… my village…'

Krillin welcomed a break from combat. 'You mentioned before- you fight for others. Do you mean your village?'

Frowning, Nam nodded. 'A terrible drought has fallen on my village. Five years without rain has ruined us. First we ran out of water for our crops, then our animals… soon there will be nothing left for ourselves. We will wither into nothing.'

'I don't understand. How does fighting in this tournament help your people?'

'Don't you know? The winner of this receives 500,000 zeni…'

Anything else you forgot to mention, Master Roshi?! 'So- you're going to use this money to save your village?'

'Yes.'

Krillin closed his eyes, sighing. This isn't an easy decision. Then again, nothing good is easy…

He took a step back, away from Nam.

He took another, bringing himself closer to the end of the ring.

'Wait-,' Nam stuttered, '-what are you-'

Krillin took one more step, balancing his feet on the edge of the ring.

I was never big on fame or glory, anyway. Krillin allowed his weariness to overcome him and fell backwards, comfortably landing on his back on the warm grass.

'Ri-ring out!' the announcer said flabbergasted, 'Nam moves on to the semifinals!'

Jackie Chun couldn't help but look on with pride.


A/N: Quarters are done! Next chapter: semis, the final, and the conclusion of the arc! See you then!

Reviews

: Thank you! I'm trying to write what feels consistent with the characters- I feel that Master Roshi would mess with his students with his odd teaching style and his antics.

Elektralyte: I plan on it :)

Belsareth32: Thank you!