Sins of the Father
Chapter 35: The Fate of a Tournament
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the album Emperor of Sand by Mastodon, and the particular song Sultan's Curse. That's a song.
Also, I lied. THIS will, hopefully, be the longest chapter I ever write...
The crowd was absolutely enthralled; having had more than enough time to prepare at this point, numerous people in the stands were waving "KRILLIN" banners around. Some of these banners included drawn depictions of the plucky warrior- they either emphasized his brilliant orange gi and matching Turtle School symbol, or his height. They drew attention to the latter by including a gratuitous drawing of a tall and evil looking Majunior looming over the human fighter.
Annoyed at one particularly demeaning characterization of Krillin's height, on his way to his seat Yamcha had wrenched a banner out of a couple's hands and torn it up in front of them. He returned their angry glares with his own before moving further into the stands to sit with the rest of the group. 'Pricks…' he muttered under her breath as he stomped away.
As it turns out, the first person who saw him approach the group was Bulma. She seemed to be cradling the remains of something mechanical in her hands.
Her mood brightened when she saw him. 'Hey!' she waved at him, 'Over here!'
Meekly, and suppressing an irrational urge to run, Yamcha crept closer to them, trading "Hi" with everyone who greeted him. He uncomfortably settled into the seat to Bulma's right. 'Soo…' he began, his eyes flicking between Bulma and the ring in front of them, 'What have you been-'
She hugged him, wrapping him tightly between her arms. 'I missed you,' she said softly into his shoulder.
Briefly, Yamcha froze, unsure what to do. Then, he gently returned Bulma's hug and laid his head on her shoulder like she had done. 'I… missed you, too.'
To the left of them, Chiaotzu had to slyly smack Yajirobe for rudely staring.
0o0o0
Piecemeal, Krillin took in every thought, image, sound, and shape that he was sensing. The crowd's deafening roar. A smell of sweat and excitement in the air. The burning sensation of a hardened gaze on my back. The rapid beating of my own heart.
Sighing, Krillin approached the announcer.
'Ah!' the announcer exclaimed and spun to Krillin, pressing a microphone into the fighter's face. 'Krillin! Inform me and the audience; what are you feeling right now?'
'Uhh…' Krillin's gaze swept left and right, back and forth. 'Anticipation. Anxiety. You know, the usual stuff.'
'How are you feeling about your chances in this match?'
'What?'
0o0o0
'Is that guy doing a pre-match interview?' Yamcha asked, baffled. 'Why would they do something so… asinine?'
'I bet they're losing out on sponsorship and ad revenue to other sports,' Bulma said, 'the ones that build up a lot of fake drama, that is. You have to adapt or die in show business.'
They watched as Krillin awkwardly answered a few questions and exited from the interview as quickly as possible by rushing out onto the ring.
Surprisingly, this seemed to put the announcer more in his element. When Majunior inevitable approached him, he talked as slickly as he had the entire tournament. 'Now, Majunior-'
'Use my real name,' Majunior interrupted.
The announcer paused. 'Your... real name?'
'Yes.' He smirked. 'Piccolo.'
A murmur went through the crowds. Nervous chatter followed after it. Piccolo?... I've heard that name before… Wasn't he the one… No, it can't be… I was in West City, trust me!… Reflexively, the announcer turned towards the crowd, their anxiety feeding into his own.
Piccolo stepped closer, his eyes dripping with disdain for his interviewer. 'I will say this only once,' he pronounced. 'When I win this match, I will turn this island into ash.'
The announcer adjusted his sunglasses. 'Sorry,' he said nervously, 'I think I misheard you. Can you say that one more time?'
The demon's nostrils flared. Such impudence! 'I said,' he snarled, stepping even closer to speak into the announcer microphone, 'I will kill everyone here once I win!'
Almost immediately the crowd's nervous chatter was replaced by an eerie silence. What began as a few people calmly exiting the stands devolved into a full-on flight, as people practically flew off their seats to escape from the arena. In stunned silence, the announcer watched the crowd shrink to practically nothing.
'I… woah.' The announcer stopped, hearing how weird his voice carried in an empty stadium. He looked towards the tournament officials for direction as to what to do- but they had fled the scene as well, leaving behind a folded banner that said "ORGANIZERS" on the out-of-bounds grass.
In the center of the ring, Krillin waited. 'Hey,' he said impatiently, 'are you two done?'
'We are,' Piccolo snapped, disengaging from the on-ring interview. The announcer looked on in confusion towards Piccolo before realizing he himself was still on the ring; he quickly scampered off of it. 'Ahh-heeem. Alright…' he spoke once he was in the grass, 'I guess the interviews are done. Lad- gentle- the few people still left, get ready for a fight!- err-.' He verbally groaned, wincing from how loud his voice was in the absence of a noisy audience. 'Just begin whenever you're ready.' he finished, frowning.
0o0o0
'So… we're rooting for Krillin, right?' Chiaotzu spoke into the dreadful silence that had descended upon them.
'Uh, yeah.'
'Of course!'
'I don't know…'
Several pairs of eyes snapped to Rayne; annoyed, she frowned back. 'Don't judge me. He did knock me out of the tournament, after all.'
'Piccolo will, most likely, kill all of us if he beats Krillin,' Tien said without an ounce of levity in his voice. 'Do you want to reconsider which horse you're backing?'
Rayne averted their gaze, staring off to the sky to her left. 'I'll consider it.'
0o0o0
One step at a time, Krillin advanced towards his fate. From his side of the ring, the Demon King reborn stood like a statue. His eyes, which tracked Krillin relentlessly, were the only indication of him being a living being.
Swallowing whatever was lodged in his throat, Krillin halted on his end of the ring. Every part of his body was tensed; the fight hadn't even begun and he felt terrible adrenaline coursing through his veins. Kami… I'm not ready! I can't do this! A droplet of sweat rolled a few inches down Krillin's shaved head before he hurriedly dabbed at it with his arm. How can I defeat Piccolo by myself? I can't...
For the briefest moment, Krillin glimpsed Piccolo flash a smile, brandishing his canine fangs in the light of day.
Weakness, Krillin immediately realized. He sees weakness.
Some sort of mental lock within Krillin broke. No. After some effort, he ceased his shaking and steadied his body. I won't be seen as weak again. Until one of us can't stand… Krillin angled himself into a guard, holding one arm out in front of him and the other parallel to his body- I'll prove him wrong!
Each fighter let out a few errant breaths, quickening their breathing. In the next instant, it began.
Krillin and Piccolo appeared in the dead center of the ring, Piccolo had his arms braced as if expecting a fighter to slam into him- but Krillin, being at least twice as short as Piccolo, simply rammed into the demon's legs at full force, toppling and flipping him onto his back. Disoriented, Piccolo had gotten to one knee when Krillin made another pass, clotheslining his opponent back towards the ground. Frustrated, Piccolo jumped up this time and began shooting rapid-fire yellow ki blasts at Krillin. The human fighter began sprinting and jumping around the ring, narrowly avoiding being hit by any one of the blasts. Finally, when Krillin was boxed into a corner, he crossed his arms into an "X" and absorbed one blast to his block, pushing his feet off of the ring.
Everyone save for the announcer didn't even bother to check if Krillin had gone out-of-bounds. A moment later and Krillin was revealed to be floating just above the grass beyond the ring.
Acting quickly, the human fighter shot into the air. Piccolo followed in pursuit.
0o0o0
'They're not wasting any time…' Chiaotzu uttered as his eyes tracked the forms of Krillin and Piccolo flit through the sky. A flurry of blows was passing between them, pushing them collectively across their field of vision like a falling comet. At one point Krillin dashed in mid-air and kicked Piccolo's block up, wrenching his arms out of position. He immediately followed this up by flying around to the backside of Piccolo and ramming him higher into the sky. The green-skinned humanoid quickly recovered, however, and began trading blows with Krillin even as his momentum carried him higher into the sky.
'You… you can see them?' Bulma asked hesitantly as she blankly moved her head side-to-side, scanning the sky. 'I can only hear the sounds…'
'Barely,' Chi-Chi said, clearly awed. Up in the sky, Piccolo succeeded in backhanding Krillin away, granting himself a momentary breather. 'I can see they're there, but beyond that…'
Out of everyone in the crowd, Tien seemed to be following the action best. His eyes darted left and right with deliberate motion. At one point, Launch elbowed him. 'What can you see?' she whispered in his ear.
'They seem pretty even.' He replied. 'I wonder-'
A series of heavy blows boomed from above; Krillin's body tumbled down from the sky a moment later. The human fighter slowed himself but failed to stop, and as a result bounced painfully on the surface of the ring a few times shortly after landing.
'... who's going to get knocked back to the ground first…' Tien finished morosely.
'Damn,' Suno spoke up, 'I missed that hit.'
0o0o0
Ignoring the aches of his messy landing, Krillin pushed himself off of one knee and looked towards the sky. Like a respondent god, Piccolo's sunlit form steadily descended from above. His arms were crossed; a sneer covered his face end to end. 'You enjoy this, don't you?' Krillin called out, balling his fists. 'It all feeds into you and your father's perverse sense of superiority.'
Piccolo wrinkled his nose. 'You clearly didn't know my father. He wasn't blinded by a false sense of privilege. He was guided by a true possession of power and the will to use it. For him, becoming the ruler of this world represented taking his rightful place as lord over all life with the strength allotted to him. Achieving utter domination of every mortal on this planet. Does not Kami, that old, sniveling fool, do the same from the detached hideaway he pitifully calls "The Lookout?"' Piccolo spat after pronouncing that last word. 'I see the stink of him on you.' Piccolo's eyes seemed to pierce right through Krillin. 'By fighting against me and by extension my father's will to rule this world, you serve another would-be tyrant.'
Throughout Piccolo's uncharacteristic monologue, Krillin furrowed his eyebrows in consideration of what he was hearing. No sooner had Piccolo finished, however, did Krillin take one emphatic step forward. 'I can see the difference between what Kami represents and the deceased desires of your father. Kami strives for the peace and wellbeing of every living soul on this planet- your father brought death and destruction to every soul he touched. In my mind, they couldn't be any different!'
A thin, smug smile played itself across Piccolo's face. 'So little you know,' he mocked, 'so ignorant of what you're dying for.'
Krillin frowned at Piccolo, taking the demon's blatant disrespect as a cue to resume fighting. Right before he dashed off, however, a thought crossed his mind. 'And you?' He asked. 'Where do you stand?'
'Hmph?' Piccolo dropped his previous demeanor. 'What do you mean?'
'You've spent a lot of time talking about your father, who he was, what he wanted- but what about you?' Krillin cautiously held eye contact with Piccolo. 'What do you desire?'
Indifferent, Piccolo entertained Krillin's line of questioning before breaking into a wicked grin. 'I desire what my father desired before me. I desire the world- and the death of any "hero" that tries to get in my way.'
'Pity.'
The next second, Piccolo appeared behind Krillin, ramming a heavy kick sideways into Krillin's full block. The human warrior tried to move away with the impact of the blow, but another kick struck him from the same side, accelerating him to a dangerous speed. Forced to focus on slowing down, Krillin belatedly realized he had lost sight of Piccolo. A second later an elbow crashed into his neck, snapping him to the ground. His nose smashed into the tiles, shooting a thick stream of blood out of his nose. A foot narrowly scraped past him, crashing down onto where he had rolled away. Lurching, Piccolo reached towards Krillin, his limbs strangely seeming to extend for the briefest second-
But an impromptu ki blast singed Piccolo's palms, forcing the demon to recoil and howl. Krillin jumped to his feet and leaped in an arc over his opponent, briefly pushing off Piccolo's head with his arms to stagger the demon forward. When he landed, Krillin thrust his arms to his sides and an immediate blue aura roared to life around him. 'KAMEHAMEHA!' he yelled as a blinding blue beam traveled a few feet and slammed into the backside of Piccolo. The resulting explosion burst into an obscuring haze of blinding light.
0o0o0
'Yea!' Chi-Chi cheered, getting Suno involved with her whooping as well, 'get that punk, Krillin!' She turned to Rayne. 'C'mon, do a little cheer.'
Rayne rolled her eyes. 'Woo-hoo,' she said unenthusiastically.
Chi-Chi smiled. 'That's better.'
'Wow… ' Yamcha was holding one hand to his head to shield his eyes from the light. 'I had no idea Krillin had gotten so strong… I wonder who he trained with-'
'Don't ask,' Rayne interrupted him.
Launch's gaze was fixed on the ring, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed Tien was motionless next to her. 'Tien?' she asked, turning.
'It's not enough…' The Crane student was shaking in his seat. Suddenly, he shot to his feet, restrained at the last moment by Launch and Yamcha. 'He needs me! It's not enough!'
0o0o0
Panting from the rapid expulsion of energy from his body, Krillin let his arms drop. In front of him, a haze of smoke and dust stretched out in a cone all the way to the end of the ring. He noted that his attack had ripped up a good chunk of the tiles from the ring. Mental note for later. Buy the tournament announcer a drink.
He wasn't expecting Piccolo to be wholly incapacitated from the attack- but he hadn't expected the worst-case scenario to be true, either. Emerging from the smoke, and aside from his clothes being marred and torn and his body receiving a few odd scratches, Piccolo was wholly unscathed. As the particulates in the air dispersed around him, he bent his mouth into another malicious smile. 'I expected nothing more and nothing less from you, Krillin. My father's memories served me well.'
Before Krillin could say anything, a fist crashed into his forehead, rocking his body back. Not done, Piccolo followed up by unleashing a downpour of strikes onto the unguarded human's body. Krillin felt a handful of his ribs fracture as a final blow impacted his sternum, knocking the wind out from him and knocking him further back in the ring. He slid to a stop just as he felt his back foot half-stop over the edge of the ring. Wheezing, Krillin squinted towards his assailant.
Piccolo was seemingly gagging on something, his hands wrapped around his own neck. The devilish smile returned, however, right before Piccolo's jaw hinged open and unleashed a massive blast of yellow ki, circular and ovalish at its head with a long, thin tail trailing after it. Krillin blinked a few times at the rapidly approaching blast.
Block- still sucking in breath, Krillin shook himself out of his confusion and frantically raised his arms. BLOCK!
With a deafening boooom, the blast exploded against the human warrior. The wall between the stands and the ring came crashing down from the resulting shockwave, adding to the of Piccolo's wrath.
0o0o0
The announcer, who had flattened himself to the grass to weather the wind gusting around the ring, slowly got back to his feet. '...Incredi-in- IN-' he looked at his mic, flipping it on and off a few times. He had no luck; the last blast had busted either it or the speakers set up around the ring. Bitterly, he dropped the mic to the ground.
The debris thrown into the air from Piccolo's blast was easily double what Krillin's attack had produced- even as Krillin's end of the ring finally began to reappear, chunks of tile were still pattering down from the sky. With narrowed eyes, Piccolo attentively watched the smoke clear.
Krillin was revealed to be largely in the same position he was before. The fronts of his forearms were held out and red, as if burned, and his gi was in tatters. There was barely anything left of the shirt- it clung to him by a single vertical strip of fabric hung around his shoulder.
Strangely enough, despite looking worse for wear, with some difficulty Krillin straightened and removed the remains of his shirt, tossing it onto the grass behind him. Ignoring Piccolo's confusion, he then set down on the ring and started pulling off his boots.
Out of habit, the announcer raised his empty hand to his mouth and began to speak; he soon realized what he was doing and glumly let his arm drop back to his side.
0o0o0
'What's… what's going on?' Rayne asked, perplexed. 'Why is he undressing?'
'A better question would be: why is Piccolo letting him?' Launch pointed out.
It was true; Piccolo hadn't moved from his spot, seemingly content to watch his opponent spend a minute removing his clothes. After tossing his boots behind him similar to where he had tossed his shirt, Krillin then proceeded to remove the wristbands.
Out in the stands, Tien had sat back down, calming down from earlier. Internally, he chided himself for getting himself so wound up. Knowing what to look for, he had seen Krillin's boots digging into the grass with their weight. He's alright… for now.
0o0o0
'I should have assumed as much,' Piccolo spoke once Krillin had thrown his wristbands away. 'Kami always did enjoy his handicaps…'
Krillin took a few moments to stretch his arms and legs before bending closer to the ground. 'Wearing that stuff was my decision, not his,' Krillin said. 'My first master made me train with a weighted shell on my back. This time around, I decided to do my training a little less conspicuously.'
'First master?...' Something akin to a memory flashed across Piccolo's eyes. 'Yes… I can see it now.' His eyes locked on the front-facing Turtle symbol of Krillin's discarded shirt, which had miraculously survived his blast. 'Your master-'
Krillin vanished before Piccolo's eyes. A resounding blow crashed down on his skull, wrenching him down and forward. 'Don't you talk about him!' Krillin yelled, rushing around Piccolo and slamming another double-fist into Piccolo's gut. Irreparably jarred from the previous two strikes, Piccolo was defenseless as Krillin dashed and swarmed around him easily twice as fast before, raining down blows from seemingly every direction. Piccolo swung madly, trying to bat away the small human fighter, but his speed enabled him to keep himself one step ahead of Piccolo's attacks. A quick one-two kick aimed at the back of one of Piccolo's knees sank the demon to the ground, just barely catching himself on one knee. The next moment, Krillin pressed his back to the ground and bucked, donkey kicking Piccolo into an unintended and uncontrolled roll away from him. His opponent momentarily detained, Krillin extended one hand to the sky, putting all his body weight underneath his right arm. The next moment a thin yellow hue began to glow from his palm, slowly spiraling out to form the shape of a disk.
Piccolo had barely stopped himself when he felt a massive pressure of ki build up behind him. Spinning, he came face-to-face with a massive yellow disk of ki, as wide as Krillin was tall. The human warrior was struggling with the attack, his face screwed in intense concentration as the last errant spools of energy bleeding off from the construct were pulled into its center. Krillin made the briefest moment of eye contact with Piccolo before hardening his gaze. 'DESTRUCTO DISK!' he bellowed as he took one step forward and threw the disk through the air towards Piccolo.
Lacking any time to dodge, Piccolo angled his body sideways to the blast and held out his right arm. A fold of energy began to form up and down the length of his arm. The disk rotated in mid-air, approaching Piccolo diagonal to his body. With a mighty roar, the demon swung his leading arm- wreathed with overwhelming energy- down the length of the disk, intending to cut the attack in half. There was a horrible screeching noise as the two kis clashed, cutting into each other. A flash of light enveloped the ring for a second; before anyone could see anything, they heard Krillin's disk hum off into the sky. A few seconds after that, the attack totally unraveled, sparking into a hundred yellow nodules.
0o0o0
Tien stifled a proud smile from rushing to his face. He took my advice, after all…
0o0o0
His leading arm still raised, Piccolo panted for a moment, clearly having expended a great deal of energy in altering the course of the disk. Grimacing from an unseen pain, he dropped the limb to his side- and two-thirds of his arm detached from his body at the upper arm, flinging purple blood when it hit the ring.
Cooly, Krillin glanced between the severed arm and the crippled Piccolo, who was forcefully gripping the maw of his gushing wound with his other arm. Krillin remembered he was still locked in his pose from earlier; he assumed a more casual stance. 'It's over-' he declared, 'you can't win with one arm. Give up.'
Snarling with unfathomable hatred, Piccolo released his grip on his grievous wound- in the process letting the spigot re-open- and very quickly grabbed his hat and tossed it to the ring. It sunk into the tiles. He quickly did the same for his cape and cowl. They both crashed into the floor, ruining more of the ring.
A creeping feeling of dread snuck up on Krillin. 'You're- you're wearing weights, too?'
'Your master has, had-' Piccolo winced, rushing to re-grip his open wound. '-some good ideas.'
'But…' Krillin muttered, 'you intend to fight on? With your arm-'
'-my arm?' Piccolo clenched his teeth, twisting his face into the purest expression of contempt and pain, 'What about it!?'
A sickening sploshing sound, the cumulative auditory representation of an arm's worth of tissue and matter coming back into existence, reverberated across the ring. A fresh arm literally shot out of Piccolo's ruined limb, covered in purple and green liquid. Testing it by curling and clenching it momentarily, Piccolo faced down Krillin once more. 'A hero's job is never done…' he chuckled darkly.
Krillin forced his face into a neutral expression. The wind tugged at both of their gis before they disappeared into a series of blurs and booms.
0o0o0
'I don't mean to make light of this situation,' Yamcha said as he, alongside everyone else, tried to track the high-speed movement of Krillin and Piccolo, 'but that was incredibly gross.'
Everyone mumbled their own variation of "agreed".
'I feel bad for the announcer,' Chi-Chi said, a hint of sadness in her voice. 'he looks lost out there without the crowd…'
'Yea… actually-' Rayne stood and walked over to the first row of the stands. 'Hey!' she called out, waving towards the announcer. 'Come over here!'
The announcer snapped out of whatever thought he was lost in and turned to her. For the first time, he seemed to notice that there were still people watching. He promptly jogged over, stepping over the remains of the outer wall. 'Hey- you-' he looked at everyone beyond Rayne, 'and the others! You guys stuck around?'
'This is a pretty typical thing for us,' Chiaotzu said, 'if you could believe it. Someone or something threatening to kill us, that is.'
'Huh.' The announcer verbalized. 'Who'd have thought?'
0o0o0
High up in the sky, Krillin and Piccolo were locked into a high-speed exchange, only visible as darkened streaks of orange and purple respectively. With his smaller stature Krillin was able to keep himself constantly in movement around Piccolo, dodging and weaving any attack that came his way. Oppositely, Piccolo used his longer reach to dictate their terms of engagement- Krillin might as well have been playing jump rope considering how many times he'd had to fly over a warding arm or leg.
A succession of blows hammered against Piccolo's block before Krillin thrust himself backward. As expected, a green fist followed him, coming within inches of his face before stopping short. Close one! Hah-
Krillin's thoughts were cut off as the fist extended towards him, slamming him clean in the cheek and sending him spiraling to the ground. Krillin acted quickly, pushing ki out of his backside to slow his descent. To his surprise, he wasn't slowing; if anything, he was speeding up. Opening his eyes, Krillin sighted a green hand gripped around his midsection, latched onto him like a harness and steadily accelerating his imminent crash to the ground. Valiantly, Krillin tried to decouple himself, but just as he was getting a grip on the thing, he impacted the ring. Dirt and dust spewed up into the sky.
Up above, Piccolo quickly lowered himself to the ground, retracting his nearly fifty-foot arm back into his body in conjunction. Soon enough, the demon was back on solid ground.
As soon as he landed, Piccolo turned and caught a kick aiming for his side with both arms. Smirking, he twisted and lashed out a kick of his own, but amazingly, Krillin caught this attack just above his head. Neither one of them being able to break out of each other's grip, they simultaneously lurched forwards with all their weight. Their hands clamped together, each one vying to overpower the other. Slowly, they both began to yell, dragging all the ki they had to the surface. Their auras burst into life, white, yellow, and blue hues moving and mixing with inconceivable speed.
Through clenched teeth, Krillin spat, 'Is this- Is this all!?' Slowly, he began to push Piccolo back- his aura beat back Piccolo's own. 'I can do this all day!'
Piccolo was forced to take another step backward, his feet struggling to find purchase on the ring. 'Haaaaaa….HAAAAAA!' Piccolo's aura intensified- burning brighter and stronger- and halted his backslide. 'I will show you-' his voice fluctuated and deepened, almost like his voice box was morphing as he spoke, 'the power of the DEMON KING!'
Krillin felt the force opposing him double, then triple, before he was forced to hop back and disengage. Just as he did this, a massive leg swept across where he had been, forming a trench within the ring. Fearful, he tracked the limb towards its owner.
Towering tens of feet above the ring, Piccolo raised and stomped his foot, rumbling the entire area. 'Hahaha!' he thundered, as he vindictively stomped one gigantic leg into the ground.
0o0o0
Briefly, the stands seemed to be capable of withstanding the latest quake, but after a moment, everyone collectively felt a metal beam snap somewhere beneath them. Soon enough the ground fell out from under them.
When the chaos and destruction ceased, half-buried people began clambering out of the debris. 'Is everyone okay!?' Launch yelled out. She did her best to scamper up the nearest, highest pile of rubble to get a better view of everyone. 'Okay… okay… okay…' She visually checked everyone was still up and breathing. 'Where's Bulma?'
'Over here,' a voice said from the edge of the group. A second later Yamcha stepped to the side, helping Bulma remove herself from the debris. 'I'm okay,' she confirmed, a weak smile on her face.
'We're all okay…' Launch breathed in relief. 'Thank goodness…'
'I'm starting to feel like I should have grown more senzu beans,' Korin said grimly, bringing everyone's attention back to the pressing matter at hand. Currently, Piccolo was taller than any other building at the tournament. 'At the rate this is going…'
'Wait…' Yajirobe's eyes locked on the white-furred cat. 'It's you? You grow the beans?'
Korin blinked at him. 'That would be me, yes.'
Yajirobe looked at Korin for a long moment. 'We're going to have a conversation after this,' he decided.
The white cat returned his attention to the ring. 'If we survive this,' he replied, 'you can live with me, for all I care.'
0o0o0
Krillin hopped back a second time, Piccolo's car-sized foot passing mere inches away from his body. The ring was punched through once more. 'I'll crush you!' Piccolo roared, swinging out a wave of energy towards the ground below him.
As the energy crashed against the ring, throwing up a huge cloud of dust, Krillin jumped up out of the cloud, blasting a two-handed wave of ki at Piccolo's chest. The giant demon, however, casually batted the blast away and smacked the human warrior higher into the sky, spinning him head-over-heels. Just as Krillin regained a sense of where he was, he felt a pair of hands grip around him, wrenching back closer back to the ground. 'Ha- huh?' As Piccolo brought Krillin closer to his face, he noticed the human's outline blurring through his hands. Shortly thereafter, Krillin totally disappeared from Piccolo's sight. Enraged, Piccolo snapped his head side-to-side, jangling his massive antennae. 'Where are you, coward!?' He growled.
'Up here!' Krillin yelled from up above. The earth warrior had moved farther up in the sky, this time out of reach of Piccolo's limbs. In each hand, he had a smaller version of the Destructo Disk. 'Dodge these!' Krillin taunted as he threw them.
Moving quicker than Krillin would have thought possible, Piccolo jumped into the sky, clearing the disks save for a few grazes on his legs. Raising a two-handed fist above his head, the giant swung his massive arms down and smashed his opponent's body downwards. Seeing stars, it took everything Krillin had to decelerate himself down from a possibly fatal velocity. He had definitely felt a few more ribs crack, maybe even one of his arms, but through pure, stubborn, force of will, he managed to regain control of his downward momentum.
Piccolo landed back on the ground before the human, planning to follow-up his earlier attack with an upwards facing palm-strike.
Barely avoiding a pair of hands, Krillin clumsily landed back on the ground. He then half-ran, half-rolled his body into the side of Piccolo's ankle, causing the giant to swing a laggardly hand down to ward him off. Something occurred to Krillin. Wait….
Dodging another hand, Krillin ran around to the giant's backside. Maybe… he's slow to turn!... Krillin zoomed underneath another stomp and jumped into the sky, hopping up the now-massive folds of Piccolo's gi. Annoyed, Piccolo tried to swat Krillin from the backs of his legs, but he reacted too slowly to prevent the human warrior from reaching his back. Once there, Krillin dodged a few reaching hands- Piccolo didn't have the greatest flexibility in reaching around to his backside- and propelled himself off of Piccolo's back.
Moving incredibly fast, Krillin flipped through the air to land and immediately kick himself off of the roof of the main tournament building that, remarkably, had remained standing during the current series of shockwaves. A few roof tiles skittered to the ground as Krillin pressed his arms to his chest and retracted his head as best he could into his body. A moment later, Krillin's head struck Piccolo's back, producing what was. quite possibly, the loudest shockwave anyone present had ever heard. Something akin to the human spine cracked so horribly and loudly that the giant's body immediately began folding in on itself. As hands scrambled to cover ears, Piccolo sagged forwards and face-planted in a long line that stretched from the ring to the out-of-bounds grass to the ruins of the stands to the area beyond that.
Krillin let the protective ki drain from his head and tapped back down on a still-intact section of the ring. Surveying the further damage Piccolo's fall had caused, he scratched the back of his head nervously. Not… good. That's another drink I need to buy… As Piccolo's body began to shrink back to its normal size, Krillin felt a pang of weakness flash across his body. Ki. Don't have much more ki… I can't tread water for much longer; I need to end this decisively… Hopefully, I can buy a few more minutes to prepare…
0o0o0
Tien's mouth moved and stalled over and over again, broken in a never-ending loop. Chiaotzu shook his friends' arm in an attempt to help. 'Tien? Are you okay?'
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then finally succeeding in forming words. 'He… I… how did he do that? How is that even possible?'
'Well, he-'
'If you say he trained with God,' Tien's glare seemed to pierce a few inches into Chiaotzu' skin, 'I swear to Kami-'
'Okay!' Chiaotzu relented. 'Okay. Message received.'
0o0o0
As every cell of his body shrank back down its normal size, compressing itself over and over again in repeatable, unrelenting agony, Piccolo tried to direct his anger at something, anything, but himself. He felt the flesh around his back, particularly where his backbone is, hurry to knit back together. I am the executor of my father's legacy. Armed with his memory and my own experimentation- and yet, here I am, temporarily crippled in the middle of a match. I shouldn't have done something so foolish...
The fact that he had chosen to employ- and, ultimately, fail to utilize- a giant form similar to the ape monster his father had defeated showed a clear lapse in his judgment. Did my own pride blind me to the weakness of that technique? Every vulnerability is magnified, enhanced… Otherwise, my father would have never defeated that monster in the first place...
Strangely, Piccolo noticed that his opponent hadn't crept over him. With some effort he propped his head to his right, gazing at Krillin. The human warrior kept his distance, the tell-tale signs of exhaustion forcing his body closer to the ground. Does he not realize his opportunity!...
Another few tense seconds passed for Piccolo. After what felt like an eternity, he finally felt the regeneration in his back spill over, restoring to him his mobility. Carefully, he pushed himself to his feet.
He realized that he wanted nothing more to destroy everything. Every part of his being craved destruction, first and foremost this atrocious ring around him.
It became clear what he would do. He eyed his human opponent; his face was fixed in that tired, idiotic look of uncertainty of his. He looked further afield towards the other nervous looking humans standing amidst the ruins of the stands. They, too, had that same tense expression plastered across their faces. I deserve to be feared. My father deserves to be feared...
Crossing his arms and bending his knees, Piccolo began to pack ki into every inch of his body, causing a full golden outline of his body to appear feet away from his skin. As he poured every possible ounce of energy into his attack, the outline began to shimmer and pulse outwards from Piccolo, as if the demon was becoming the sun itself. As one last wave shimmered away from him, Piccolo stood straight as a pillar, raising his arms high above his head. 'EXPLOSIVE DEMON WAVE!' he screamed, as a dome of ivory yellow consumed him.
0o0o0
Krillin, who was closest to the imminent blast, thrust his ki to forearms, lacking any better move than to weather the storm. The tiles beneath began to rattle and shake- the energy being summoned was uprooting the entire ring. The last thing Krillin saw before everything went white was a red butterfly disintegrate into ashes.
0o0o0
'Suno! Get behind me!' As her student jolted backward, Chi-Chi jumped in front of her and braced her arms. Wind fled past her, leaving only a pressureless vacuum in the air around them. The next moment, energy flooded in.
0o0o0
'Woah!' Bulma cried as she was tackled to the ground by Yamcha. 'Hold on!' he yelled, as a wave of destruction passed over them.
0o0o0
'Help!' The announcer cried as he ran over to Yajirobe and Korin. 'Help me!'
Not wasting a second, Korin sprinted forward and planted his body between the announcer and the oncoming wave of energy. Yajirobe appeared behind him and pushed the announcer to the ground for safety. 'Prop me up from behind!' Korin commanded Yajirobe. The samurai had a moment to place his arms on Korin before an immense pressure descended on them.
0o0o0
Tien staggered against the force of the explosion before it had even reached him. As the wall of yellow energy rushed towards him, he shook himself out of his stupor. 'Brace yourselves!' he roared. Together with Launch and Chiaotzu, he dug his heels into the ground.
0o0o0
Rayne felt her feet start to slip off the ground before the blast had even reached her. She was helpless as a scattering of pre-impact rubble was sucked out from under her, burying her as the blast swept across the landscape.
0o0o0
'Hey, Waczinsky, check this out…'
'Hmm?' A woman pushed herself off the side of the wall next to her- she floated across the room and stopped herself against the opposite wall. 'What is it?' she asked.
'Look outside the window! Something crazy's going on!' He moved away from the round, thick window, making room for her.
Waczinsky pulled herself to the window and looked out. The Earth, blue and green surrounded by an inviting black, looked as normal as ever. 'What are you talking about?' she asked irritably, pushing herself away. 'There's nothing.'
The man pressed his face up against the window again. 'No! Look- what…' The small circle of yellow light he had seen briefly envelop a spot on the Southern Sea was gone. 'No!... there was something there!'
The woman snorted. 'Yea,' she pushed herself into another section of the station, 'sure there was.'
Distraught, the man pressed his entire frown against the glass.
0o0o0
For a few terrible moments that seemed to stretch into an eternity, nothing was seen or heard except for indescribable power that was, at best, indifferent to the fragile human lives it pressed down upon. Any free-standing structures still left standing were erased from existence, blown and blasted into a million pieces. The iconic tournament buildings, which have stood since the very first inception of the World Tournament, vanished into the explosion.
The energy behind the blast was so overwhelming that for a few brief moments Krillin thought he would simply become one with the blast, his body losing any and all resistance to such a terrifying attack. When the end finally did come, it stumbled to a close as remnant pockets of energy detonated and warped across what survived of the ground long after the initial attack. Krillin, upon opening his eyes, gazed out on an entirely different world.
The ring was gone- everything was gone. What had been a formidable arena had been reduced to nothing. No trace or fragment of the shining white tiles that covered the ring end-to-end remained- instead, Krillin found himself standing in a slightly depressed dirt bowl, rounding out to ground level at its edges. He morbidly noted that Piccolo had replaced one ring with another.
A growing sensation of pain from the front of his body brought Krillin out of his thoughts. Inspecting himself, he found garish burns and wounds running up and down his body. As the adrenaline from trying to survive wore off, horrible pain floored him.
I'm lucky to be alive. To have survived this attack- for anyone to have survived-
-Wait!
Spatial awareness returning to him, Krillin frantically spun to look behind him, scanning for any sign of his friends. Not a second after this, however, did a fist crash into his skull and bash him to the ground.
0o0o0
Choking on dust, Tien scrambled upwards, willing himself through the rubble that had swept over him like a wave of water. Burning through the last of his oxygen, he poked his head out, gasping for breath.
He wasted no time; even as he struggled to catch his breath, he hastily dug himself out. As soon as he was standing, he frantically scanned his surroundings.
Farther away, he made eye contact with Yamcha, who was limping towards him. One look passed between them; Yamcha immediately changed course towards the nearest pile of rubble. Near his feet, Tien noticed a hand sticking out. With a cry, he used all his strength and wrenched the person half-way out of the ground, even as his own feet crunched deeper into the rubble.
Shell-shocked, Launch's glossy eyes regarded him. 'Tien-'
'Help me get everyone out,' Tien barked as he finished freeing her, 'Now!'
0o0o0
Krillin crashed painfully into the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt in the process. A foot stomped into his back a number of times, digging him deeper into the ground. 'Do you understand!' the fuming figure above him roared. 'This!' Krillin's assailant picked up the human warrior and lifted him above his head, 'Is what futility feels like!'
With a vicious swing, Piccolo brought Krillin down and kneed the human warrior in the gut. Blood spurted out of Krillin's mouth, falling to the earth in a thick red clump. Piccolo then kicked Krillin across the ground, skipping him like a stone across a lake of water. It was only when Krillin collided with an exposed boulder did he come to a stop.
Feeling his rage drain from him, Piccolo took a halting step forward, groaning as he let his right arm go limp. Up and down the limb's surface were deep, ragged cuts, almost like his arm had started to unravel. 'Damn arm…' he muttered to himself. I pushed it too hard, too fast- and I don't have the ki to regenerate it anymore… The top half of his gi was gone, the unfortunate casualty of his previous attack. His upper body, similar to his arm, was matted with bruises and wounds. No more regeneration...
Bringing up his other arm to hold in place his damaged one, he carefully crept across the pan-like section of flattened dirt his attack had created. Smoke and dirt hung close to the ground, obscuring most of the area beyond the pan- but Piccolo could see in the few parts where the shroud split that nothing remained of this insufferable tournament.
In spite of all the indignities he had suffered today, Piccolo found some satisfaction from this fact.
As he crept closer to his opponent, Piccolo noticed Krillin was shaking, locked in a perpetual effort to stand. Amused, Piccolo watched as the human rose unsteadily to their feet, every inch of his body trembling. A ragged gash ran down the right side of Krillin's face, close enough to his right eye that he intermittently had to wipe the blood out of his vision. 'I'm- I'm not done yet.'
'Your persistence is admirable,' Piccolo growled as he stepped within range, 'but you'll die all the same!' Moving much slower than before, Piccolo swung a fist towards Krillin's chest, but the human warrior nimbly stepped forward and delivered a clean punch to Piccolo's chest. 'Gaakh!' Piccolo gasped as another punch impacted his stomach, driving him backward.
Lacking any energy to exploit this opening, Krillin swayed and rocked backward.
Snarling, Piccolo charged again, moving a bit quicker this time. Just like last time, Krillin narrowly avoided being hit, ducking underneath a horizontal chop and half-elbowing, half slamming his body against one of Piccolo's legs. The demon was knocked off balance and nearly toppled over, but he propped his back leg against the ground in the nick of time. Krillin found the energy to move forward, cocking back a fist-
At the same moment when a blistering punch cracked against the bottom of Piccolo's jaw, rocking the demon's head back, a fist planted itself into Krillin's gut.
Both fighters stood frozen for a second, the only movement between them being the wind passing through the tattered remains of their gis and their twitching, pained expressions.
Krillin's knees buckled, then crumpled backward. He clutched at his abdomen.
'Hah…' Piccolo swung another crushing punch into Krillin's gut, bucking the human warrior's entire body and knocking him to his back. 'I have an uncomfortable truth to tell you,' he jeered, stepping over the fallen human's body. 'you can't kill me. Do you know why?'
A piercing kick rammed into Krillin's side, making him gasp and cough. 'You and Kami…' Krillin sputtered out, 'it's clear that you know each other…'
'Such an ignorant zealot,' Piccolo mocked. 'I've seen from your style that Kami has trained you, has taught you how to advance his cause- but has he ever told you what his cause is?'
Krillin didn't respond. It was unclear whether the human warrior had passed out. Piccolo's gaze raised towards the horizon, watching the other humans swarm and scrabble around like bugs. 'Kami's cause,' Piccolo went on after a moment, 'is to fight himself. To fight me. For he and I are from the same flawed person, who split himself in two to dedicate himself to "protecting" this world. Thus, we are linked, and so for however long that fool lives on, he will be cursed to live alongside the evil he expelled from himself. You will lose this fight, and even if you hadn't, to kill me would be to kill Kami. You see,' Piccolo finished, drawing a satisfied breath, 'Kami put you in an impossible position to begin with. That is the extent of his concern for his tools.'
Throughout this entire monologue, Krillin had remained silent.
When Piccolo looked down at his feet, a faint blue light reached up to his eyes. 'Go to hell!' Krillin furiously yelled as the blue ball of ki shot up from his palms, crashing into Piccolo's midsection and launching him into the air. They flew upwards for a few moments before the ball detonated, sending another shockwave across the battered land.
0o0o0
Launch hobbled over to Tien, who was standing over an unconscious Suno. Chi-Chi and Yamcha were wearily sitting nearby. 'Everyone else is accounted for, safe-and-sound.' Launch informed them. 'Suno seems to be the only one who got knocked out.'
Tien glanced over at Launch, then sighed in relief. 'That's… good. I was worried there for a moment…'
'You still haven't found the Senzus?' Chi-Chi asked of Launch.
She shook her head. 'They came loose from my belt during the last attack. They could be buried under five feet of rubble for all I know.'
'Damn…' Yamcha muttered.
'With or without them, we need to prepare-,' Tien swung his head towards the ring, 'for what's going to happen next.'
'What do you mean?' Launch asked.
'They're both on their last legs,' Tien said, directing everyone's attention towards where the ring had been. 'This match is about to end.'
Just as they said this, an explosion rocked through the sky, followed by the descending form of Piccolo crashing to the ground.
0o0o0
The reincarnation of the Demon King, armed with a lifetime's worth of knowledge and abilities, had never done something as difficult as crawling out of the crater he found himself in. Dirt sloughed over and past his skin, seeking to forever entrap him below the surface of the larger dirt-pan ring. Purple blood ran down him in trickles, falling to the ground beneath and staining it. His midsection was horribly blackened, giving the impression he had been tied to a spit and burned by the roaring flames cooking him.
And yet, he persevered.
Staggering to his feet, Piccolo swung his head to and fro, expecting to see his opponent waiting for him. When he saw nothing, he began his slow walk across the ring towards where he had last seen Krillin. Smoke and dust billowed all around him, making the experience as much as a mental challenge as it was a physical one. His blood forming a trail behind him as he walked, he eventually stumbled into what he was looking for, just as a strong wind blew away the smoke and dust from the area.
Still laid up against the rock, Krillin eyed the demon, breathing heavily.
Piccolo forced his head to turn towards the small group of people watching them from the sides. 'Count!' he yelled, startling everyone. 'Start the count!'
Slowly, the man Piccolo recognized as the announcer emerged from the group. Both lenses for his shades were broken. '...What?' he squeaked.
'The count! Start the count!'
Out of habit, the announcer adjusted his broken shades. 'You… the match…'
'Is still ongoing!' Piccolo barked, 'so COUNT!'
Gulping, the announcer stepped closer towards Piccolo and Krillin. 'One, two…'
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the slightest stirring of movement from Krillin.
Nothing happened. Throughout the entire count Krillin watched on, frowning. Not even once did he try to stand or even move. He had no energy; he had nothing left to give.
Words tumbled into the air, shocking everyone. 'W- World Champion! Piccolo!' The announcer had to yell, pushing his voice to its limit to make sure everyone could hear him. 'Piccolo is the winner of the 23rd… huaaah,' he dried heaved, '...World Tournament…'
I win. Piccolo looked once more at the frightened, distressed assembly that had stayed until the very end. I won. Any emotion he would have felt was buried underneath an undeniable weariness and a pressing sense of responsibility.
Exhausted, Piccolo turned and trudged over to stand over the immobilized Krillin. The human warrior was motionless, save for his eyes which followed Piccolo constantly. Unfazed by this, Piccolo leveled one hand towards Krillin's chest, prepared to puncture his stupid orange gi once and for all-
'Stop.'
Piccolo lifted his head. The bald human, Tien, had stepped into the pan that now served as the ring. His arms were tensed, ready to strike. 'That's enough,' he warned. 'Step away from him.'
Growling, Piccolo adjusted his posture, angling himself in Tien's direction. 'This match may have ended but this fight isn't over.'
'So you're going to go through with it, then?' Tien accused him. 'And once you've killed him you're going to fulfill the promise you made at the start of this match? You're going to destroy this island? Kill us all?' Tien's voice rang with a challenge. 'You think you can do that?' he taunted.
Piccolo grimaced. 'Maybe. Maybe not. I know what I can do, however-' he clenched and unclenched the hand he held towards Krillin. 'Regardless of the outcome of anything you've just described.'
Tien's face contorted with anger. 'You wouldn't- we'll kill you, then!'
'Ah, but you see-' Piccolo chuckled, '-I know something about the dragonballs that you don't. For all intents and purposes, I am them. You kill me, and the dragonballs cease to exist. You will never. Be able to revive your pitiful friend.'
'Liar!' Tien yelled. 'Evil people like you abuse the dragonballs, not sustain them!'
'No, Tien,' Krillin called out above their exchange, coughing slightly. 'He's right. I never told you- or anyone this- but the dragonballs were created by Kami, God. And Piccolo… he's the evil half of Kami.'
Tien's gaze, as did everyone else's, flickered from Krillin to Piccolo and back again. 'What?' he choked out.
'It's true,' Tien heard someone say from behind him. Wrapping two hands around his staff, Korin walked forward. 'Or, it makes sense to me- King Piccolo's original rampage occurred at the same time when Kami became the Earth's guardian. I never put two and two together before now…'
'Feel his ki,' Krillin advised as best he could in his current condition to Tien. 'Compare it to what you felt during your match with Hero…'
Tien's fierce gaze lingered on Piccolo for a moment before gradually weakening, giving way to despair. 'It's true…' he said quietly. 'it's of the same nature…'
'I'm glad you've finally realized the sham of your purpose,' Piccolo spat. 'Now then-' The hand aimed towards Krillin stretched open, revealing a small orb of yellow ki. 'You die.'
To everyone's shock, when faced with imminent death, Krillin started to chuckle. 'Do you honestly believe,' he said after a moment, 'that you'll be free to go if you kill me? That whole concept is pretty funny to me…'
Piccolo's face twisted into a frustrated knot. 'Killing me after I killed you would destroy the dragonballs. You could never be revived.'
'And you wouldn't care if I was revived a few days from now by the very dragonballs your life permits to exist?'
'Killing you once will set things right,' Piccolo said darkly. 'And I don't mind having to kill you a second time if need be. Today has demonstrated that that is within my abilities to do so.'
'An interesting way of seeing things,' Krillin commented. He seemed to think for a moment. 'But do you think I'm not prepared to die?'
Piccolo's eyes lingered on Krillin for a moment before closing his palm and dispersing his attack. 'What do you mean?' he growled.
'I mean that I'm okay with dying. If you're going to kill me, and if that means that you're going to die too, then I'm okay with that.'
'You would let your only lifeline to this world be severed?' Piccolo asked incredulously. 'Kami and the dragonballs are linked to me! You would condemn Kami to death?' He asked enraged.
For the first time since being knocked to the ground by Piccolo ages ago Krillin moved- but it was only to painstakingly shift himself into a more comfortable position on the ground. 'That's your choice, not mine. But if you kill any of us,' he threatened, 'then you're dead.'
Piccolo's glare shot to Tien and the others. 'You would let him do this? Fulfill his suicidal wish?'
Tien briefly looked conflicted, but after meeting Krillin's gaze, he hardened his face and nodded. 'If he dies, you're not leaving here alive. None of us would let you live after that.'
While Piccolo's face twisted in disgust and anger, Krillin laughed softly, making a concerted effort to not agitate any of his broken ribs. 'Take a good look around you. What do you see?' Krillin cautioned.
Piccolo watched as other fighters stepped forward, prepared to fight. The one with the scar, the short, pale one, the girl with the armor and the other one with the ponytail… even the man he had backhanded in the preliminaries. He groaned- he wasn't even sure he could kill that clown in his present condition.
'So you see it, then,' Krillin resumed, 'considering I haven't been killed yet. You kill me… and they kill you.'
Piccolo looked down at Krillin again, angry disbelief splayed across his face. 'If I die, Kami dies!' He shouted at the human. 'The dragonballs cease to exist!' He swung towards the others. 'If you kill me after I kill him- then he can't be revived!' He swung back to Krillin. 'You would sacrifice that much?' His entire face was drained, either from exhaustion or desperation.
Even though he was probably more exhausted and more beat than at any other point in his life, Krillin still managed to smile. 'It's part of the job.'
Every fiber of his being screamed in injustice- but Piccolo was no fool. He had defeated every obstacle in his way, he could have defeated any one of these would-be heroes on their own… but he wasn't strong enough to defeat them all. He was skeptical he could even defeat Krillin and Tien together had the two of them fought him together at full power. He was hopelessly trapped.
For a brief moment, he thought to call Krillin's bluff- blast away that insolent fool and see them try to destroy their one method of bringing him back- but he no longer doubted the resolve of these humans. Seeing them time after time throw themselves against a seemingly unbeatable opponent, and stand to fight until they couldn't, told him everything he needed to know. They would not hesitate to avenge Krillin if he himself wished it. If I choose pride here, above all else… I'll die.
'HRRAAH!' Abruptly, Piccolo threw a string of ki blasts into the dirt between him and the other human fighters, throwing dirt into the air. When it cleared, they saw Piccolo hovering weakly in the sky. 'Remember this day!' he shouted across the ruins, 'the day when the reincarnation of the Demon King Piccolo avenged his father! Let this day stand as a monument to my achievement!' He thought to add more, but as the words tumbled out of his own mouth he internally despised how hollow they sounded. He started to hover backward through the air, watching for any sign of pursuit. It seemed the humans were content to let him leave, however- none of them had moved. They can't kill me as long as I'm tethered to that old fool Kami…
I'll live to fight another day. I'll get stronger, faster, smarter- and maybe find that other one… him...With one final sneer, Piccolo rolled around in the sky and flew away.
0o0o0
Through narrowed eyes, Krillin watched Piccolo's receding figure fade into the distance. Before his foe had disappeared completely, his friends, stumbling in one-and-all, blocked his view.
'Come on,' Tien said encouragingly, 'let's get you on your feet…'
Once Krillin up and about, Chiaotzu was the first to broach what had just happened. 'That was… kinda crazy, Krillin,' he said. 'You basically convinced Piccolo you two were in a suicide pact, and then convinced him to drop out of the suicide pact. I'm…' Chiaotzu's mouth opened a closed a few times. 'I'm literally speechless.'
'It was a bit of a bluff,' Krillin admitted.
'You are actually insane,' Chi-Chi said, a smile tugging on her face.
'That,' Launch stepped up to Krillin and shook him by his shoulders, 'Was a work of art, Krillin.'
Bulma, leaning on Yamcha's side, smiled warmly at Krillin. 'A lot has changed... ' she whispered to Yamcha.
Looking on in the back of the group, Korin smiled. 'He's come a long way- they've all come a long way,' he said wistfully.
'Are you talking about me? Am I included in that statement?' Yajirobe asked at his side.
'You? I barely know you.'
Off to one side, Tien was staring off into the sky in the direction Piccolo had left by. 'We could have stopped him,' Tien said. 'I'm sorry, I should have gone after him immediately…'
'No, it's alright…' Krillin exhaled. 'it would have been a messy fight,' he continued. 'Some of us would have died. As it is, we're strong enough together to oppose him… and that's what really matters, right?' Krillin flashed a smile. 'We've battled him into a stalemate. The way I see it, that's good enough for us to go about our lives in peace.'
'But… he's evil,' Launch stressed. 'He would have killed everyone on this island if he was still strong enough after winning.'
Krillin stared at her for a second. 'That may have been what he said, but honestly? I doubt he would have gone through with it,' Krillin argued. 'Three years ago, Kakarot nearly killed hundreds of spectators while lost in the thick of fighting. That was true indifference- he didn't care if the crowd lived or died. All he cared about was winning his fight. By comparison, Piccolo never put the crowd in harm's way, and in the match where they would have actually been in danger, he tipped them off about who he was beforehand and sent them running away in terror away from the fight. There's something about him… maybe he has honor, maybe he feels a personal antagonism to us and no-one else- but he is nothing like his father. We all remember the unimaginable devastation King Piccolo wrought on West City. This came nowhere close to it. If he wanted to destroy a city, he would have shown himself in one.'
Everyone was, quite frankly, shocked by what Krillin was suggesting. 'When did you have time to think through all this?' Yamcha asked, astonished.
'After I launched my final ki attack,' Krillin stated. 'I knew that I had lost the moment it left my palms. So my mind started to really think about how I could survive this.'
'So were you not being serious about what you said earlier?' Tien asked, curious. 'About being willing to sacrifice yourself to kill Piccolo?'
'No, I was definitely ready to lay my life on the line…' Krillin's gaze lifted towards the sky. 'There's at least one person I would like to see again… but I should always try to live through these situations if I can, right?'
'Yes,' Yamcha said, laughing, 'you should.'
'Yeah, to add on to what Yamcha said,' Bulma jumped in, 'please do. We've been through a lot, all of us…'
A bit of life and chatter began to return to them- people took turns giving Krillin shoulders to hang on.
'Hello!' Launch abruptly bent down to the ground. 'Do I,' she straightened, holding up a plain brown pouch, 'have a surprise for all of you.' She twisted towards the remains of the stands. 'Rayne, over here!' she called out.
A few seconds later Rayne came into view, walking over with Suno in her arms. The briefest look passed between Rayne and Krillin- nothing more had to be said between them.
'Here,' Launch motioned, 'Bring Suno closer.' A moment after Launch had popped a senzu bean into Suno's mouth and helped her to chew, Suno's eyes shot open and she practically leaped out of Rayne's arms. 'Woah!' she exclaimed, looking up and down her body. 'That's pretty neat.'
'And I've got a whole bunch more,' Launch smirked.
Yajirobe was about to open his mouth when Korin smacked him on the shoulder with his staff. 'I saw what you were about to do,' Korin said tersely as Yajirobe frowned at him. 'You get one after everyone else gets one.'
'Alright…'
0o0o0
Amidst the tranquility of the Lookout, Mr. Popo flitted to one plant after another, watering can in hand. Nearby, their master was standing upright, unmoving, with two hands clasped around their gnarled, ancient staff.
Kami abruptly opened his eyes. 'It… is done. Somehow, some way, they defied the odds.'
Mr. Popo, in a much better mood than they were in previously, continued to water the Lookout's extensive gardens. 'I always thought very highly of Krillin. He was always a very dedicated student.'
'It wasn't just him…' Kami walked closer to the edge of the platform and looked out to the blue sky below. 'it's all of them. In my entire tenure as a Guardian, I have never seen such a committed and strong-willed group of individuals dedicated to the welfare of this world. Something truly wonderful has happened these past few years…'
'Surely it was because of your influence,' Mr. Popo said off-hand, still consumed with their gardening. 'Your influence on this world is not to be dismissed so easily.'
'Mr. Popo, I could never defend the good in this world by myself. The crises raised by my other half made that clear enough. I briefly entertained…' Kami stopped, and shook his head. 'It doesn't matter now. From what I can see, they have won a fragile peace. Considering the threats to them that still exist in some way shape and form, that is the best they can hope for.' Kami turned and began to walk away from the edge. 'Krillin will do things better down there…'
0o0o0
'Hey,' Rayne caught Krillin's attention, who was rummaging around in a pack he had brought. After everyone had healed up from the senzus they had all gone off to come what was left of the tournament for any packs or clothing that might be buried around. The announcer, after being profusely apologized to, accepted Krillin's zeni as an "apology drink". People were either leaving or had left; Krillin was one of the few ones sticking around. He was trying to find his boots- he doubted he would.
'Yea?' Krillin poked his head out from his pack. His smile amongst all the carnage and destruction around him cut a funny image.
'Well… I was thinking…' Rayne was trying to choose her words very carefully. How do I say this?
'Yeah? What is it?' Krillin asked.
'So… I built a house.'
'You built a house? That's... cool.'
'Yeah! It is cool.' She said, almost like she was affirming that to herself. 'It's in a pretty nice spot, too; I found this really nice river valley with lots of wide open space, a clear blue stream, tons of-'
'Can I see it?' Krillin jumped in.
She looked at him strangely. 'Would you believe it,' Rayne said with a smile on her face, 'that I was about to ask you the exact same thing?'
'You were going to ask if you could see your own house?'
'I-'
'Kidding,' Krillin smirked. 'Just kidding.'
Rayne glared at him in the kindest way possible. 'Very funny…'
'Is it far?' Krillin slung the pack over his shoulder.
'It's a bit of a trip. But you know what they say about every good journey…'
'Half the fun is getting there?'
'And there's always a satisfying conclusion at the end.'
'I'll believe it when I see it…'
0o0o0
One-by-one, Chi-Chi watched everyone depart. They left in twos or threes- Yamcha and Bulma, then Krillin and Rayne, followed by Launch, Tien, and Chiaotzu. Strangely enough, Yajirobe and Korin also left together.
Suno was the last to go- she gave Chi-Chi a big, drawn-out hug. 'I'm excited to explore the world,' she had said, 'but I just wish you could have done it with me…'
Her teacher had hugged her back. 'I know… I know.'
Chi-Chi didn't know what compelled her to stay as long as she did. Even the announcer, after moping around the ruined grounds of the tournament, departed sometime before her. Without a single soul present on the pavilion… it was lonely, sad even. This is what this place must look like between tournaments. She spared a glance at the rest of the tournament grounds that had been completely obliterated from Piccolo's explosive dome. Ignoring the remains of everything important, that is...
We did it, guys! We closed the tournament! You know, in a way, that's probably a good thing. No more tournament means no more super strong, super bad people crawling out of the woodworks-
The sound of small, cautious footfalls reached her ear. To the right of the wide, gaping pavilion, a single bent tree stood alone, its leaves violently blown off of it sometime earlier. Because it was the same color as the bark, it took her a few moments to notice a thin tail wagging from behind it.
Her breath caught. The tail froze and Kakarot stopped out into the open. He had grown immeasurably- he now stood taller than her by a good half-foot, even though she herself had shot up in height since the last time they had crossed paths. The boy had become a man.
His face was scrunched, like he was dealing with some sort of unknown and inexpressible pain. 'Please,' he pleaded, stepping closer to Chi-Chi and extending one hand. 'I need your help.'
Chi-Chi saw no hostility, no antagonism, just a conflicted soul.
There was no doubt in her mind; there was a reason why she had stayed.
She didn't hesitate- she accepted his hand immediately.
A/N: Holy cannoli. The end of DB. I can't believe I'm writing these words. Considering that before writing this story, I had virtually no knowledge of the narrative specifics of DB and was largely learning the story as I went, I think it went pretty well! Now we're getting to the stuff I actually know- DBZ. Expect some freakin' divergences.
Though not quite yet. Next chapter will wrap up Sins of the Father. See you then.
Reviews:
LWexe: Yamcha got the short end of the stick too much in canon! He can be a competent fighter, too, damn it!
Guest (and the many reviews you left!): I'm not sure Master Roshi would have followed Kakarot to fight him away from the tournament. I'd have to think about that a bit more.
Kakarot is in a bit of a weird situation in CH 19. He's injured and is dependant on Chi-Chi to survive, but he doesn't (and shouldn't) like her as a captor. Despite how he feels, he can't risk permanently pushing away his caretaker.
I don't think I hid Launch's power level. Maybe I did? It was a while ago and I wouldn't do that now, from how you described it.
I don't think the tournament is supposed to run for multiple days. Using that (flimsy) rule, I figured that if a fighter is indisposed, then they can't continue to compete.
He did get a zenkai, yeah.
Keep an eye on the tail!
A reasonable assumption. You'll find out soon enough.
