Chapter Thirty-Four

"Ladies and gentlemen," The announcer began, commentating the match that was about to begin. "For our first match of the evening we have a returning contestant in Yamcha. While Yamcha was unable to win the 500,000 zeni prize after his defeat to Master Roshi at the last tournament, we'll see if he is able to advance through newcomer, Tien Shinhan of the Crane School."

"Too bad you won't be advancing very far once again it seems," The triclops said with a smirk, dropping into his crane fighting stance as he glared daggers at the desert bandit. "I couldn't pass on the chance to silence you and your big mouth. My friend made sure that I could embarrass you in front of the entire world."

"I'll end this quickly," Yamcha retorted, dropping into his own stance. The bandit stared at his opponent, trying to find a weakness in his stance. He knew the triclops was skilled with how easily he had taken down his opponents in the preliminary round but he wondered just how he'd fare against someone who had also trained under one of the sacred schools. "Bring it on three-eyes."

"You can try," Tien threatened, a scowl on his face as he awaited the announcer to commence the match. His master had demanded that he and the others not hold back at all. This was going to be too easy. "Break a leg." He added with a sinister grin.

"For the first time ever in our tournament, we have rival schools meeting against one another," The announcer told the crowd, hoping to hype them up before the fight began. This was almost a better roster than the last tournament. He knew he could count on the turtle school to fill seats after the ratings from last time. "We have the great Master Roshi and his Turtle students returning to defend their martial arts title against not only megastar Pamput but Roshi's archrival, Master Shen and his deadly Crane students."

At the referee's whistle, both fighters charged at one another at blinding speeds. Yamcha threw a cross that was easily blocked by Tien, who in turn threw a kick that the desert bandit effortlessly slipped. Both fighters lashed out at one another, throwing attacks that their opponent blocked or got out of the way of. Fists continued to whiz past the bandit and triclops like breezes of wind until the two separated from their stalemate slug match.

"So your school doesn't just train weaklings. Who would have thought?" Tien was the first to speak, insulting the wolf bandit but respecting his fighting ability in a single statement. Looking at his opponent the triclops knew that he had this first round in the bag but he had to admit, Yamcha would make him work for it. "I wonder if you're stronger than the others. I see I'm going to have to actually try to beat you."

"Quit the small talk and let your fighting speak for itself!" Yamcha said with a sigh in between pants. This guy was definitely strong, that was for sure. Maybe his mouth had gotten him into some trouble after all. "Try to keep up," The bandit said with false courage, disappearing from the audience's view.

"Bring it on," Tien retorted, stepping backwards right before Yamcha's body materialized in front of him. Now not directly in front of where the bandit had reappeared, the triclops was given the split second he needed to block his assailant's knee to the stomach.

'There's no way he should have seen that coming.' Yamcha immediately lunged backwards as he watched his sucker attack get blocked. He had moved as fast as he could without causing a sonic boom yet the triclops had seen him before he even knew where he was headed.

Tien gave no time for Yamcha to react or dwell on his speed, pressing forward with no relent. Throwing his shoulder into his opponent's chest to fold him over, Tien tried to follow up the attack with a kick to the arm but Yamcha tensed up, absorbing the blow. The bandit in turn threw an uppercut, striking the triclops chin and sending him staggering back. Looking down Tien noticed that some blood was trickling from his lip. He bit it and tensed, he had seen so much of it as an apprentice assassin but it had been quite a while since he'd seen his own. Things were getting serious.

'He's strong,' The triclops thought to himself, wiping the red river with his green wristband. He hadn't expected the turtle student to hit as hard as he did. 'This can't be right. One of the turtle hermit's students shouldn't be as close to me in power as he is?'

"I gave you that one." Tien growled at his opponent as he engulfed his forearms in a light shroud of his ki. Hunkering down into a defensive stance the triclops said. "Come at me with your best."

"You sure do talk out of your ass a lot, don't you?" The bandit shot back, taunting his three-eyed foe. Concentrating his energy into his feet and hands, Yamcha suddenly became shrouded with the aura of five scarlet wolves. "Try on my New Wolf Fang Hurricane!"

Yamcha charged towards his target, the crane student Tien. Enhancing his speed and his striking power with his keen control over his ki, the desert bandit launched an assault of punches at his opponent. Originally able to block the onslaught with his reflexes, Tien was unable to react as the bandit seemed to grow quicker with each punch he threw. Sent pummeling through the air, the triclops landed on the other side of the ring.

"Okay, that was good," Tien said with a smirk, picking his battered body up from the ground. He felt himself panting and frowned, knowing his teacher was in the crowd. "Not good enough though." He added, crossing his arms across his chest. "Try this on for size. Multiform,"

As Tien was surrounded in a golden aura, his body split into four clones of himself. Yamcha's mouth dropped as he saw each of the four Tiens laughing at him, dropping into their fighting stances. Each clone appeared identical to the real thing and had a quarter of the triclops strength.

"So, he's duplicated my technique." Raditz thought to himself from the side, noticing how the triclops had come up with an improved version of his Tri-Form technique. "Maybe he fights better than he talks trash." The Saiyan joked to his friends.

Back in the ring, the four Tiens shot to the four corners of the ring, charging their ki into energy blasts. Shooting the blasts towards the middle at Yamcha, each of the clones then shot at the bandit right as he leapt into the air to evade it as they had planned him to. Surrounding him, the Tiens sent out a perfectly coordinated flurry of punches and kicks. While his quickness let him stay ahead of some of the blows, Yamcha was still struck by multiple blows and left pummeled.

Standing his ground though, the Turtle student tightened his focus on what hit was coming but it frustrated him. Dodging or blocking one punch from a Tien meant he'd have to try to absorb a kick from another. Finding a counterattack opportunity in one of his assailants' defenses, the beaten wolf bandit shot a firm cross into its chest and watched it stagger back and dissipate.

'So… these copies can't take a beating just like the real deal?' Yamcha thought, sweeping the three Tien off of their feet as he expelled his ki from his palms. Getting out of the middle of the ring, the bandit hopped to an unoccupied edge as he hunkered into the position to fire a Kamehameha Wave.

"Kamehameha," Yamcha shouted quickly, putting very little energy into his attack as he sent the blue wave of ki at another Tien. He hadn't put much energy just to get it off quickly and in case his opponent dodged it. The last two Tiens watched their fellow clone disappear, giving Yamcha the time he needed to regather himself. Now they shot back at their target but Yamcha smirked, knowing that he could handle two weaker Tien.

'I have to end this quickly,' The two Tien thought to each other, moving opposite directions but still coordinating with each other. Standing on opposite sides of the desert bandit to ensure his attack wouldn't miss, the triclops brought both pairs of his arms to his foreheads. "Solar Flare!" The two triclops screamed, blinding Yamcha and the entire arena in a blinding flash of light.

Unable to see or protect himself from what happened next, Yamcha was mercilessly pummeled by the two clones. Lashing out in a coordinated flurry of blows, the first Tien finished with an uppercut to the sky. Dropping the multiform to get all of his strength back, Tien reappeared in the path his punch had sent Yamcha. Using an axe handle attack, the triclops knocked Yamcha back to the ground in a thud. Before his foe could get up, Tien launched himself to the ground knee first. Yamcha's screams couldn't even dull the gruesome sound of bones snapping apart as the bandit's leg twisted the other way just as the audience seemed to be regaining their vision.

"That was a real technique," Tien snickered, stepping and walking to the end of the ring. Looking at the announcer as Raditz jumped the fence and ran to Yamcha's side, he taunted. "Call the fight so the weaklings can clean the trash off the arena."

Staring daggers at the triclops, the Saiyan fought back the urge to start a fight then and there. First Upa and now Yamcha, this Tien was a problem. If Raditz knew his opponents would be fighting this mercilessly he would have brought some spare Senzu for him and his friends. Checking Yamcha for a pulse, he realized he was still breathing.

"You're going to pay for this if I fight you today," Raditz said as he turned to face Yamcha's opponent with clenched fists. "During or after the tournament."

"Your friend couldn't beat me, what makes you think you can?" Tien taunted with a laugh. Turning to walk away, he heard Raditz say one thing.

"Cause I'm going to fight just like you," The Saiyan growled through his teeth. Tien sneered at this as he continued walking. "Your dirty tactics already hurt two of my friends badly, I won't be holding back anymore."

Some time later, Yamcha was admitted into a nearby hospital. It had taken surgical procedures but while he was sidelined, the desert bandit was cleared to make a healthy recovery. Raditz, Bulma, Upa, Krillin and Master Roshi all surrounded his bed, watching him pick at his itchy cast.

"How are you feeling?" Bulma asked the bandit, opening the window to let some sunlight in. "Have you let Mai know what happened?" She added, moving the half eaten plate of food he'd been eating on earlier.

"Yeah, I hate hearing her cry like that," Yamcha sighed, bringing a hand to his face. Once again he had been knocked out in the first round. Once again he had been sidelined for the sake of fighting. Maybe he finally would take a break from fighting before the next tournament and relax with his girlfriend and Puar. "At least she can finally pay me back for helping her when she broke her leg. The doctor says I should be on bedrest for close to four weeks."

"I wish I would have stopped by Korin's before we made it here," The Saiyan said to his friend, wishing he'd save an extra Senzu bean from his training. These beans sure were miracle workers. "I was expecting the only challengers to be you three. I'm sure we know each other's limits."

"It's fine, I've been through worse," The desert bandit grimaced, pulling his sheet over his leg. He then turned to Raditz. "I'd feel a whole lot better if you beat him though. My leg and I both."

"If he makes it past Roshi, I'm not taking it easy on him." Raditz replied with a firm nod, thinking of the triclops sneers as he walked out of the medic room and back towards the fighter locker room.

"Now for our next match, I don't think these next two fighters need much of an introduction," The blonde tournament announcer began at the start of the next match. "In the right corner we have the runner-up of our last tournament, the legendary Turtle Hermit, himself. Even in his loss to his student, Master Roshi showed us why he holds the title of the Master of the Turtle School. In the other corner we have the most popular man on this side of the planet! He's an action star and a former Champion himself! You know him, you love him… it's Pamput, the Unstoppable Fighter and star of the blockbuster movie of the summer, Shenron Lord!"

"I'll make this quick," Pamput taunted his opponent, removing his robe and lashing out at the air with his wrapped hands. Flashing a smirk at Roshi as he punched the air, the megastar hunkered into his stance. "This'll take not even a full thirty seconds. We wouldn't want those brittle bones of yours dealing with too much, wouldn't we?"

"Quite the talker are you," Roshi retorted, stroking through his beard before he removed the sunglasses he had on. "Maybe they should call you the Unbearable Blabbermouth."

"Ready, fight." The announcer said again, signaling both fighters to begin.

"Why you," Pamput grumbled, charging towards Roshi with a flurry of Muay Thai punches and kicks. While fast to an average fighter, the blows came like a sloth to the Turtle Hermit, who dodged them all with ease.

Roshi looked at an imaginary watch on his hand as he continued to dodge each strike. Thirty seconds passed and then thirty more.

"I thought I was going out in thirty seconds," The old master said as he grabbed his opponent's kick. "I even gave you thirty more, I get it. You young people are bad with time nowadays." He added, shooting a three-hit combo into Pamput's gut. Instantly feeling the power behind each shot, the action hero went down unconscious before he could touch the cold stone floor.

"Pamput is out cold after just a single hit!" The announcer said in disbelief. "Master Roshi shows us that experience beats beauty and will advance onwards to face Tien Shinhan in the next round."

Power Levels

Yamcha: 480

560 (focused ki)

Tien: 500

125 (power divided between 4 clones)

Roshi: 350

Pamput: 77