Gohan had used rudimentary ki blasts to blow apart most of the rocks that Yamcha was trapped under, with a corresponding blast from Yamcha's remaining arm taking care of the rest and allowing him to be pulled out, coughing and bleeding profusely. He mumbled something Gohan couldn't quite make out, before he attempted to stand up.
"Mr. Yamcha, you couldn't possibly keep fighting like that!" Gohan insisted, pushing him back down to the ground gently. The fact that his resistance buckled under Gohan's own strength only made him even more nervous.
"Have to...get to..."
"Young Gohan's right, Yamcha," a familiar voice stated plainly-his old master Roshi, having made his way across the plains to their position. "Your ki is dropping rapidly, you're down an arm and bleeding profusely, and to top it off, both of these Saiyans are stronger than even your absolute maximum. Exerting energy in this manner is only going to kill you faster. Now, hold still." He placed a hand on his right shoulder, diverting Yamcha's attention towards it until he sensed a slight build up of ki in his other hand.
"W-what are you-?" he began before a sudden burning sensation caused him to cry out in pain. He looked down to see Roshi carefully manipulating a burst of ki with the precise power and control needed to crudely cauterize the gaping hole where his arm used to be. After about twenty seconds, the process was complete, and Yamcha fell flat to the ground, drawing a handful of shuddered breaths before finally stabilizing.
"There. That should at least keep you alive a fair bit longer," Roshi remarked.
"For whatever use that is," Yamcha replied cynically, still wincing from the earlier pain.
"Do you have a plan, Master?" Gohan asked. Roshi pondered this for a moment.
"Yes, Nappa's energy has definitely diminished after Krillin's attack, but it's unlikely anyone but Piccolo can stand up to him still. Plus..." he thought, pausing as debris thrown up by the other strands of Krillin's attack cleared to reveal the Saiyan prince, looking rather annoyed about the slight burn marks on his armor, "The Prince is still kicking. I may have to resort to my ace in the hole, but not until this Nappa character has been dealt with. Until then, best not to waste any energy."
"Yeah," he said, glancing up towards the sky where Tien and Krillin laid suspended in the air, waiting for their opponent to make a move. "I think I've got something."
Meanwhile, Krillin and Tien both floated trembling before the Saiyan berserker, one out of fear and the other out of seething fury. Nappa, meanwhile, laughed heartily at the pair of them.
"Aw, are neither of you going to step forward? Alright-I'll choose," he finished ominously before he powered up as much as he could. Krillin noted that his energy had diminished after his attack, meaning that a more powerful attack from the likes of Tien or Piccolo might be able to do the job better than he could. He didn't have too much time to note anything else, as Nappa was already busying himself trying to break his skull.
Fortunately for Krillin, Yamcha's earlier fate had reminded him of the danger of engaging an enemy handicapped by Max Power's speed decrease, and thus he endeavored instead to dodge using the maximum of his base power, narrowly avoiding Nappa's casual strikes with the help of his own size. However, he knew he couldn't keep dodging forever, and he eventually landed a weak, but effective ki blast right to Nappa's face, stunning him for the brief second he needed to get over him and enact a daring plan. He hurriedly felt around Nappa's "belt" for the tip of his tail, and clamped down upon it with all of his strength even as Master Roshi's telepathic warning rang clearly through his head.
"Huh...that's weird...his energy doesn't seem to have decrea-oh, crapbaskets!" he thought as he found himself being grabbed by the legs and swung around by the Saiyan brute, spinning for three rotations before finally being thrown towards the ground. He managed to break into a roll at the last possible instant, causing him to hit the ground only slightly less hard than he would have otherwise. After a long and painful series of smaller collisions, he finally came to a rest right besides Roshi and the others, his pain receptors screaming throughout his body.
"I was trying to tell you that they had already trained their tails," Roshi said, pulling Krillin up. "At least, according to Vegeta's thoughts."
"Great...just like Goku had way back when. Should've figured," Krillin replied.
"You saw few options remaining and took the most sensible course of action based on your own experience. Hardly a foolhardy strategy," Roshi consoled him. "Unfortunately, you staying so close to him as long as you did meant we didn't get quite the opening we were looking for."
"Let me guess-somebody knocks him around while attacking somebody else so that you guys can give him your best shot while he's disoriented?"
"Something like that. Willing to help us out?"
Krillin's side seemed to howl at the verbal suggestion, as if it were a separate creature objecting to mistreatment.
"Willing? No. Able? Sure," he replied honestly.
"Ha! I'll give the little runt credit for some slight ingenuity, but surely he must've realized the training we've undergone compared to that weakling Raditz," Nappa said with a smirk. "Still, had some decent power, I suppose."
After mulling over this for a second, he glanced back up at Tien, who was still trembling with rage as a series of images flashed through his mind...
"Well, Tien Shinhan, I'm happy to report that you will no longer be alone in your training," Shen, the Crane Hermit, said in one of his rare moments of genuine pleasure.
"Is that so?" he replied.
"Yes. Now, meet your new sparring partner-Chiaotzu."
As he spoke, a small clown-like figure stepped forward, his hand outstretched. Tien reluctantly bent down and grasped it in a firm handshake, noticing too late the small joy-buzzer concealed in the child's palm. Although the shock was mild, it nevertheless stung Tien a fair amount, who proceeded to grab the joy-buzzer and was about to crush it. Up until that point, Chiaotzu had been laughing merrily, but after noticing the device was missing, he stopped laughing and put his hands out, palms open. Suddenly, the device became enveloped in a light blue glow, and it rapidly flew towards his right hand, where he promptly grabbed it back.
"W-what the-?"
"Yes, this child appears to have extraordinary telekinetic potential. I've never seen anything quite like it," his master remarked. "Although, evidently, some discipline will be required before he can be truly useful." Chiaotzu merely smiled cheekily. "Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted."
With that, he set off, leaving Tien alone with the strange creature, still giggling slightly. He grimaced. Life under the Crane Hermit just got significantly more annoying.
In this world, taxi drivers are accustomed to a wide variety of oddities. But one thing that this taxi driver was not expecting even on the day of the Tenkaichi Budokai was an aging old crone accompanied by a bald guy with three eyes and a floating vampire kid. Nevertheless, he wisely said nothing about their appearance.
"You know, we could've just flown," Tien remarked.
"Nonsense. You need to save all of your energy for the bouts ahead, where you crush those annoying disciples of Roshi's and claim your destiny!" his master replied. "Now be quiet!"
"Alright."
The three sat in silence for a while before Chiaotzu's voice rang through his head.
"Hey, Tien...are you sure we're ready for this?"
"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?"
"I mean, these two disciples of that turtle guy went up to the quarter finals and final of the last tournament. And the power they were said to have been putting out was insane."
"Relax. Between your powers and my sheer strength, we shall crush all of Master Shen's enemies under our feet."
"...Right..." Chiaotzu became slightly more somber, but before Tien could investigate this further, the cab came to a stop and Shen grumpily beckoned them to exit the car. The most fateful day of their lives was about to begin.
The two were on a featureless plain, having seen their master's rival Muten Roshi fail to seal the fearsome King Piccolo. As the seven Dragon Balls were placed together and the Eternal Dragon appeared, Tien watched helplessly, his muscles paralyzed by some strange tonic, while Chiaotzu hid behind a nearby rock.
"I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON. STATE YOUR WISH AND I SHALL GRANT IT."
"Come on, Chiaotzu," he muttered. "Quickly!"
No sooner had he said this than Chiaotzu burst out of the rocks just as King Piccolo was about to make his wish.
"WE WISH TO DESTROY THE DEMON KING PICCOL-AGH!" Chiaotzu gasped as his body was incinerated by a ki blast from the Demon King.
"Tch! Seems like I missed one," he muttered before turning back towards the Dragon while Tien looked on in anger over his friend's death.
"Dragon! Restore me to the prime of my youth!" he commanded. Once the process was complete, and the Dragon later extinguished by King Piccolo's attack, his forces departed, leaving Tien lost and confused as he lay on the ground, powerless to do anything of use. It was then that he swore with every fiber of his being a solemn vow which he nearly took to his grave: he would not rest until the Demon King was dead.
"I'M HOOOME!" Good Launch announced, beaming with pride as she carefully brought a large box onto the kitchen table of Tien and Chiaotzu's humble cottage.
"Hi, Miss Launch!" Chiaotzu said with a smile, to which Launch replied in kind.
"Hm. What's all this?" Tien remarked idly, having taken a break from his training session with Chiaotzu.
"Okay, so I'm not entirely sure how I got to be in downtown Parsley, but I was just about to head out of there on my bike when I noticed a bunch of boxes being loaded into a dumpster near the local public library. I went over and asked about it, and they said they were throwing out all of these old textbooks sent in by the schools that they didn't have a use for."
"Okay..."
"Well, I remembered you telling me the story of Chiaotzu's fight with Krillin, and it got me thinking: I never got much formal schooling growing up, and evidently Chiaotzu hasn't, either, so..." she said as she opened the box to reveal a large collection of math, English, history, and science textbooks, "Perhaps we can learn a few things together?"
Tien smiled slightly as Chiaotzu's face lit up at the prospect. "Aww, cool! I always wanted to learn some more of that math stuff!"
Hours later, as Tien finished his evening meditation and had a quick bite from what food they had in the fridge, he noticed Chiaotzu and Good Launch sleeping soundly on the couch, the elementary school math textbook Launch had picked up still left open to the middle of the third unit. Evidently, progress on Chiaotzu's part had been slow, but enjoyable. He thought about picking them up and moving them to their rooms on the second floor of the cottage, but ultimately decided to leave them where they were. He took out a leaf from a nearby tree and left it as a bookmark on the textbook, before silently creeping up the stairs towards his room and turning out the lights.
"You...cold...heartless...bastard...!" he muttered between clenched teeth.
"What's wrong, triclops? You mad that I killed your friend?" He laughed slightly before knocking Tien down towards the ground with a powerful kick. "Well, don't worry-you'll join him soon enough!" he said with a sneer.
He then noticed Yamcha, Krillin, and the others standing together, obviously preparing for something. "Huh. Surprised the idiots are still alive. Well, guess I better finish them off so that we can hurry up and interrogate that Namekian." Just as he was about to launch a powerful ki blast towards the ground, however, Tien, having bulked up with Max Power, kicked off of the ground, sending a shockwave which caused Nappa to lose his focus and misfire. He grimaced slightly as he turned to face the threat.
Nappa chuckled. "Still up, huh? Man, these gnats just refuse to die..."
Suddenly, however, Tien put both of his hands to his face mid-flight, spreading out his fingers so they appeared to be two halves of the typical primitive sun drawing. The others instinctively screwed their eyes shut as Vegeta looked on, confused.
"SOLAR FLARE!" Tien shouted out, calling forth a blinding light which covered the entire area. Nappa, being the closest to Tien, howled in pain as his vision became obscured by light. Vegeta likewise grimaced and screwed his eyes shut in an attempt to minimize the pain. Nappa instinctively drew his hands towards his eyes to shield them, but quickly discovered his error when Tien landed a powerful punch to his stomach, winding the mighty Saiyan as bits of his armor continued to peel off.
Deciding to forego his eyesight in favor of using his other senses, Nappa was able to hear the whoosh of air as Tien attempted to land another hit, and caught his right arm in his left fist. As he gradually overpowered the warrior's defenses and began to collapse part of his wrist bone, however, Nappa suddenly felt a burning sensation on his back as more pieces of his armor were blasted away. He turned around and launched a hasty ki blast at the second assailant, but Piccolo managed to dodge the blast at the last second, grimacing slightly as his earlier injuries continued to nag him.
Too late did Nappa realize that his lapse in concentration had caused him to relax his grip on Tien's wrist, and before he could turn and strike back, Tien had already flown above him and sent him flying into the ground with a powerful blow to the back of his head.
Damn! He flew too fast for us to hit him! Roshi thought as Nappa slowly pushed himself up off of his back while his companion was still stunned. Although his vision was still covered in yellow spots, he could dimly see Tien floating above him, still in his Max Power form and having arranged his hands into a triangular shape around his chest. The Saiyan continued to try and get up, but found himself too dazed to do so successfully.
Roshi, recognizing the technique and beginning to sense the warrior's ki already starting to degrade slightly, hurriedly linked his mind with Tien's.
"Tien! Stop this! Your body is under enough strain as it is!"
"..."
"The Kikoho feeds off of the user's own life force! It shortens their lives! The effect will only get worse in the Max Power state along with your injuries! You can't do this! You'll die! Do you hear me?! Die!"
Tien couldn't stop himself from choking up as he heard the old man's words in his mind and formulated his response.
"I just did."
This time Roshi was stunned into silence.
"Tell Krillin and Yamcha to look after Launch," Tien continued. "Tell her...I'm sorry. For breaking our promise."
Before Roshi and the others could cry out, the glow of energy between Tien's hands grew ever greater, and the young warrior's eyes looked down at Nappa, still dazed and only barely managing to stand, with a mixture of anger and resolution. He readied himself and gathered his energy before shouting out three fateful words.
"MAX POWER...KIKOHO!"
As a massive ki blast left from Tien's hands and rapidly expanded, Nappa, perhaps realizing something of the technique's immense power, attempted to charge up a Break Cannon. Only when the blast was seconds away from hitting him did he manage to successfully fire his own attack, holding the ki blast at bay for a time. Seeing the opportunity, Krillin attempted to fire a Kamehameha towards Nappa's position, but found it quickly deflected by Vegeta once the latter's vision returned. He then vanished for a few seconds before appearing directly in front of the other warriors. In his right hand he held Piccolo by the collar of his gi.
"I have no desire to interfere in your companion's efforts to overpower my associate," he began calmly, yet with an air of menace. "As a Saiyan, he must be expected to successfully combat weaklings such as yourselves. Should he fail, then he was obviously weaker than I had initially thought. However, as a result, I cannot allow his own power to be compromised either." He then tossed Piccolo onto the ground, coughing as a result of his injuries. "Let this one serve as a warning to you: do. Not. Interfere."
With no chance of getting past Vegeta, the others could merely look on as Nappa poured as much of his ki as possible into the Break Cannon and only just managed to push the Kikoho blast upwards slightly, bit by bit. But, as Roshi knew and Vegeta realized upon glancing at the triclops above, who had just fired a second blast of almost equal intensity to the first, the end result of the struggle between their respective techniques was essentially decided before it began, by one simple factor:
One warrior had staked their life on the struggle to defeat the other. The other warrior? He did no such thing.
And thus, as the second Kikoho crashed into the first and overpowered Nappa's ultimate technique, the Saiyan warrior was left contemplating the choices that had brought him to this moment, stewing in anger at the thought that a backwater creature like this triclops would be the one to end the life of Nappa, the last member of his noble lineage. He stubbornly continued to fire the Break Cannon even as he became enveloped in an explosion of yellow ki, one last act of defiance before the world faded to black.
Vegeta looked on at the massive crater where his associate had once been standing-a bottomless rectangular prism of melted rock, air still superheated from the earlier explosion. He looked up towards the warrior who ended his subject's life just as his eyes glazed over, and he began to hurtle towards the ground at high speed only to be caught by Krillin mere meters in the air. He smirked. "Well...at least the wretch paid for this insult with his life." He then calmly strolled up to the other warriors as Krillin touched down and gently laid Tien onto the ground. Upon casting a sideways glance towards the crater and spotting Vegeta, Krillin panicked and almost tripped over Tien's body before stopping himself. Gohan and Yamcha were glued to the spot, while Roshi and Piccolo simply grimaced, with slight beads of sweat forming along their brows.
"Is he dead?" Vegeta asked calmly.
Roshi knelt besides Tien and calmly placed two fingers along the back of his neck, searching for a vein while also sensing for traces of ki.
"Not quite," Roshi replied grimly before turning to Vegeta with a scowl, "But getting there."
"Well, I suppose I'll take that consolation, rather than waste the energy finishing him," the prince replied sardonically before scowling. "The insult of a lower creature being powerful enough to kill a Saiyan elite deserves no lesser punishment than a slow death."
The others braced themselves for whatever move Vegeta was likely to make next, but for a moment no such movement came. The prince simply stood there, sizing up each of the warriors in turn.
"Hm...you said that the Namekian must remain alive if I am to get my wish on your Dragon Balls, correct?" Vegeta asked Yamcha, to which he nervously nodded in reply. "Alright then. I imagine he won't be too much of an annoyance while I kill the rest of you." With that, he grinned evilly and took a step towards the group, too terrified or else resigned to the inevitable to do much of anything. Piccolo stood apart from them and off to Vegeta's side, scowling in anger.
"First that Nappa fool bests me in combat...and now this prince acts like I'm little more than a gnat?! No! I will not stand for this!"
Vegeta took another step forward as Piccolo drew two fingers to his forehead, gathering energy in order to fire an enhanced Special Beam Cannon. As the ground shook with the sheer intensity of his attack, the others gaped in astonishment at the enormity of Piccolo's full power. Veins began bulging all throughout Piccolo's body as he continued to gather energy. However, in spite of the noise given off as the attack continued to charge, Vegeta seemed to be ignoring it.
"Hm...so should I start with the stronger ones, or the weaker ones? The stronger ones may present more amusement, but on the other hand, killing the weaker ones will be marginally easier. I mean, sure, I could just kill them all in one blast and be done with it, but I'm not going to get any of them to despair for their lives and the fate of their pathetic world like that. Plus, I doubt that narcissistic Namekian over there is the despairing type. Hm...what to do...?"
Roshi began probing the Prince's thoughts once more, and came to the conclusion that the others, too distracted by Piccolo's strength, had not taken the time to reach. Meanwhile, Piccolo grinned evilly as his technique reached its apex.
"Piccolo, enough! You can sense the Prince's energy as well as I can! It's not going to work on-!"
"Shut...up. You foolish...old man," Piccolo's thoughts ran, jumbled as he prepared to launch his attack. "I..."
"I AM THE DEMON KING PICCOLO!" the Namekian shouted at the top of his lungs as he fired his attack. "NOW DIE!"
The spinning vortex barreled towards Vegeta like a speeding bullet, tearing up the grass it flew over in its wake as air began to heat around it. Krillin was the only one who could even follow the beam, with difficulty. Seconds before impact, Vegeta glanced to the side, finally perceiving the noise he'd been hearing the whole time to be of at least some concern, and rapidly thrust his right hand forward in order to swat the beam away from him and towards a nearby mountain. The beam cleaved through the rock as if it were a pair of scissors through paper, coming clean out of the other side of it and continuing for miles until it was out of the warriors' sight. Vegeta examined his right hand as the others, Piccolo included, looked on in horror. With a slight grunt, he lifted up his hand and spread out his fingers before moving it back downwards. The group could hear the slight crack of bones being set back into place.
"'Demon King,' huh?" Vegeta asked Piccolo. Before he could even reply, Vegeta vanished before appearing right in front of him, his hands clenched around both of his arms. "Quite a dramatic name," he added sarcastically. Piccolo grunted in pain as he felt some of the tendons in his arms being torn apart.
"So, tell me, as an evident fan of the dramatic..." Vegeta began with a sinister smile as he finally ripped both of the Namekian's arms clean off with a slight grunt of exertion, "How does 'King Vegeta' sound?" A mere second later, Vegeta kicked Piccolo in the stomach, sending him tumbling across the ground before finally coming to a stop against a rock face.
"Tch! Pathetic," Piccolo could hear Vegeta mutter as both the pain of bleeding and, a moment later, the pain of regenerating, began to cloud his senses.
Meanwhile, Vegeta began walking back towards the rest of the group. "So...seems like strongest go first," he said, cracking his knuckles as he looked at Krillin.
Krillin began sweating profusely as the figure slowly made his way towards him. Eventually, he couldn't contain his fear any longer.
"GOKU, PLEASE! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he cried out at the top of his lungs, punctuating the end of it with a terrified sob as the Prince walked ever closer. However, at the mention of Goku, Vegeta stopped in his tracks, surprised.
"'Goku'...that's the third time you have used that name," he mused. "I wonder..."
"He is," Roshi replied, causing Vegeta to jump slightly before regaining his composure.
"Ah, right-your little parlor trick. So this 'Goku' person really is Kakarot?"
Roshi nodded.
"Back from the dead...truly marvelous objects, these Dragon Balls."
"N-not only that, he's g-gotten way stronger, too!" Krillin asserted. "Stronger than all of us combined! He'll b-beat you into the ground!"
Vegeta simply smirked. "Is that so? Well, I suppose that's worth a slight amount of leeway." As the others looked on in confusion, Vegeta elaborated. "I'll give Kakarot three hours to show up. If he isn't here by then, I'll kill all of you except for the Namekian and the hybrid child. Between the two of them, I should be able to extract the information I require." With that, Vegeta put his scouter on before vanishing. When he returned, a giant log was slung over his shoulder, which he quickly threw to the ground before sitting down. The other warriors looked to each other before discussing their plans.
"Oh my God what the hell are we going to do I mean this is completely insane we're going to die-!" Krillin began, panicking, before Roshi slapped him.
"Focus, Krillin! What's important is that we get Tien out of here! He doesn't have much time left!"
"But Korin's tower is too far away!" Krillin shot back. "Plus, I don't even know if he has any Senzu beans!"
"Don't worry," Yamcha replied, managing to pick up Tien and throw him over his shoulder with his one good arm. "I'll get him to the nearest hospital. 'Bout all I'm good for at this point..."
The others simply nodded. "Stay safe, Mr. Yamcha," Gohan said.
"We wouldn't have lasted this long without you," Roshi added consolingly, brightening Yamcha's spirits somewhat. He took off into the air, maintaining a close grip on Tien as he flew the pair of them as fast as he could under the circumstances.
When nobody could see him any longer, Piccolo, his head having cleared, walked over to them. "So, any cowards looking to abandon ship?"
Gohan and Roshi shook their heads. Krillin hesitated for a second, but ultimately found courage as well.
"W-we have to see this through, even if Goku doesn't show up," he remarked. "We owe that to everyone on the planet."
Piccolo nodded, somewhat impressed by their determination.
"Well...then I suppose we'll have to wait."
Man, how about all of that action, huh?
So, couple updates which interested readers should hopefully be at least somewhat excited about. Update #1: As a special limited time offer, for the first time of any fic written by me on this website, Hermit shall be updated...on a schedule!
Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN!
Yes, starting today, Sunday, November 25, 2018, I will be uploading a new chapter every Sunday, for a period yet to be determined(likely whenever I miss a chapter due to school/life/etc.. Or when I get my copy of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. Whichever comes first ;) ). In the meantime, rejoice, dear readers, in the simple pleasure of consistent updates, no matter how briefly it may last.
Update #2, related to Update #1: Chapter 6 is already more or less complete. As before, I wrote a lot of content for this second half of the Earthlings' battle with the Saiyans, so, in order to give you guys the luxury of consistent updates just a little bit longer, I decided to split it into two chapters, and release the second half as Chapter 6 next week.
Now that those are out of the way, a few additional thoughts.
Firstly, answering the question I know somebody will ask: there are several reasons why Tien was able to overpower Nappa with the Max Power Kikoho.
1. Between his training and the Max Power state, Tien is significantly stronger, almost strong enough to give Piccolo a run for his money. And as we know, the Kikoho packs a serious punch.
2. Nappa was weakened from Krillin's earlier Max Power Scatter Bullet.
3. Unlike in the original story, Tien wasn't down an arm, bleeding out, and barely able to stand when he launched this thing-that all went to Yamcha. For a technique that relies upon life force, not having yourself rapidly losing it is pretty important, one would think.
Secondly, to answer any questions like "Will Roshi use the Mafuba?" or "Will Krillin use the Kienzan?" or anything like that: just...wait, please. You'll have your answer very soon, trust me.
Thirdly, because I realized I forgot to do so last chapter, and for the sake of consistency, here's some power levels for those of you who appreciate them:
Tien(Max Power Kikoho): 5,000
Nappa(Break Cannon, weakened): 5,500
Piccolo(fully charged Special Beam Cannon): 8,500
Speaking of power levels, if you went by views, the fic itself is now almost as strong as Krillin was during this arc in the manga. So that's a thing. Thanks for that, guys. =)
And finally, after reading various other DBZ fics on here, I have an idea for something, but I'd like to know what you all think of it. So, if you guys happen to leave reviews or comments on this fic, I'd like to know: would you guys like to see me do a Q&A segment at the end of every chapter, selecting from questions that y'all ask in previous chapters' comments and answering them here?
As always, let me know what you guys think of this and the story itself by leaving reviews below. I hope you all have a fantastic day, and I'll see you all next week.