"Feh… so many brats joined this year, but no one can handle my stink!"
Jazz stared dryly at his challenge.
"NUMBER 5, JASPER! VS NUMBER 6, BACTERIAN!"
"You can't beat me, kid." The large fighter smirked, he was so filthy that clouds of dirt and stink could be seen wafting off of him. "Last year I almost won cause people just couldn't handle my stink, I'll beat your ass and this time, I'll win the tournament."
Jazz extended a hand towards the stinky fighter. "Take a fucking bath." He waved his fingers and began to speak the magic words, "Wabowabobo!" Above Bacterian, a ball of water formed, just as it was about to fall on him, Jazz launched a burst of flame into the water, heating it and driving it down towards the filthy fighter. The stinky combatant began to scream as the nearly scalding water blasted against his skin several times over, eventually, the heat grew great enough to evaporate everything away, leaving an almost clean-looking large man left.
"My stink!" Bacterian burst into tears, "I never showered or brushed my teeth a day in my life! I never cleaned my dingleberries! What have you done to me!?" He charged Jazz, who cocked back his fist and sent the once-stinky combatant out of the arena with an uppercut.
"Take a bath, you bastard…" Jass took out a handkerchief and wiped the dirt from his fist.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Goku and Krillin looked up at him, "I mean, it wasn't fast at all, but that water? How'd you do it? I thought you could only shoot out fire?!"
Jazz laughed, "I'm not that good at it," he picked up Water Materialization magic from Ebizu, the water woman Yokai and one of his transformation teachers. Unfortunately, he could neither create large amounts of water, nor control it the way he could control fire, but he could cast it repeatedly, and surreptitiously adding flames allowed him to heat it up and give Bacterian an impromptu shower.
"But did you have to do that? I kinda feel bad for him." Krillin turned to Bacterian, who was waving a white flag and sniffling.
"I didn't want to touch him."
"You're a germaphobe Jazz? I wouldn't have pegged you as one." Yamcha remarked, grinning.
Jazz chuckled, "no, I just didn't want to spend too long on that fight." He looked around.
He turned to see PaoPao, who seemed preoccupied with tightening her boots. He had tried speaking to her, but she turned away to walk off. To be fair, he did understand what she felt, she still thought he was lying to her, and if he was telling the truth, he was telling a really shitty truth.
…
The fights continued until eventually there were 32 fighters left. Amongst them, Jazz was relieved to see that everyone sans Bacterian was going to make it into the top 16.
Hercule grinned as he waved to the crowd and pumped his fists.
"You've improved over the month Hercule." Yamcha gave the afro-wearing warrior a curt nod.
"Thanks! You weren't so half bad in those fights!" Hercule laughed, after the incident on the island, Jazz had put Hercule's training on overdrive, and he began to compete in boxing, wrestling, and MMA fights again, the month of training and victories gave the showman the confidence boost he needed to prepare for this tournament.
"Wow! You're pretty strong!" Goku and Krillin gathered around Jackie Chun, who chuckled.
"You two kids ain't so bad yourself." The disguised Kamesennin stroked his beard, "I'll look forward to facing either of you on the battlefield."
Jazz shook his head, smiling. They stood out in front of the arena and the cheering crowds.
"This first fight will be between the fighters Hercule and Ran Fan!"
Jazz slipped out of the fighter's space and made his way into the spectator's crowd. Eventually, he caught the long smooth blue-purple hair that was Bulma's.
"Oh, you finally decided to show up?" Bulma folded her arms.
"Sorry Bulma, we had all the fights and…"
"I kid, I kid, I'm not mad or anything." She grabbed his arm, pulling him to a secluded area. "Anyways, I wanted to say this outside of hearing ears." She sighed, "I heard from Roshi that you and PaoPao got into a spat, and I think it's about… y'know, your origins?"
Jazz smiled wryly, "I'm guessing I don't need to explain it to you."
"Well, multiverse theory," Bulma chuckled, "with infinite universes, there is a chance that anything can exist, including a universe where ours is simply a piece of fictional media." She laughed, "and honestly, your phone gave me a few more clues."
Jazz cocked his head in confusion, then widened his eyes when Bulma showed him a photo of him and his friend holding the first volume of the Dragon Ball Manga.
Bulma grinned, "it's a cartoon, but anyone would recognize that crazy mop of spikes we call Goku's hair, not to mention the tail, gi, and power pole. And that's my capsule car and the beautiful me down there."
"Bulma…" Jazz raised his hands.
"What? Keep it a secret?" Bulma predicted Jazz's words, "of course I will! What use would it bring me to reveal such a convenient thing to the world! I mean, you never lied to me, I just didn't think you'd reveal such a secret to PaoPao…" She smirked, "you like her."
"NO!" Jazz shook his head hotly. Bulma laughed at his reddened face.
"Aww, you do."
"I… probably not…" Jazz shook his head, "I don't think I LIKE like her or anything. But she does make me feel… awkward."
"Nice, okay lover boy, you better get ready for your fight!"
Jazz ignored her goading and returned to the arena, just in time to watch Hercule get knocked out of the arena.
"Man..." Jazz shook his head.
"Hercule! Are you okay?!" Krillin jogged over to the human fighter.
"Arrgh… I… I lost, I kicked her away, but then she started crying…" Hercule growled, "She cheated!"
Ran Fan giggled, "I didn't cheat, it's your fault for believing me…"
"Why you!"
"Mark." Jazz quietly muttered.
"Aaah!" Hercule rolled forward in shock and fear, "uh… teach!? I can explain!"
"No… it's my fault." Jazz shook his head.
"R-really?"
"Yeah, I didn't train you hard enough… I'll fix that…" Jazz smiled.
"N-no!" Hercule shouted, "you trained me well!"
"Oh? So you didn't heed my instructions." Jazz sighed. "I see."
"Wait! That's not what I meant!" Hercule screamed in fear.
…
The next six fights played out the way he expected, the 7 who'd make it to the quarter-finals stood in line.
Jackie Chun
Goku
Krillin
RanFan
Yamcha
Nam
PaoPao
Jazz turned to his opponent and internally sighed. "Hey, Chi-Chi." he began.
The young girl pounded her fists together fiercely. "Let's have a good fight Jazz!"
Jazz smiled weakly. 'I really don't want to get in the way… should I throw the fight?'
...
Right before their fight was about to begin, Chi-Chi had run towards Goku, who had just won his fight.
"Hey! Goku!" Chi-Chi said, "I wanna challenge you in this tournament after I win! I wanna ask you something, and you gotta say yes!"
Goku cocked his head, "what is it?"
"It's a secret until we fight! But you have to agree before I tell you!"
Goku frowned, "hmmm… okay!"
Chi-Chi had grinned, then turned to PaoPao and gave a thumb's up.
Jazz had turned to PaoPao quizzically, but she had simply turned away. 'What the hell is this…'
Jazz pulled himself from the past, this was uncharted territory for him. The island, Chi-Chi training, PaoPao's existence, none of this occurred in the original DragonBall, not in the way he witnessed it done now, he didn't mean to, but he had drastically changed the trajectory of Son Goku and his friends. Maybe that was why he felt so awkward and out of character? He turned to look at PaoPao one more time, scowling as he felt heat rise to his face. Why'd he tell her the truth, he wondered to himself.
"Yeah, let's have a good fight Chi-Chi." Jazz turned to Chi-Chi, then smiled.
The two fighters stood 10 feet away from each other, waiting for the bell. Chi-Chi was surprisingly strong, if Jazz hadn't completely messed up the math and impressions he had cataloged and charted, ChiChi should have had a power level of around 90-100, given the similarity in power to Nam, Jazz felt this was a good prediction.
"Power Levels aren't everything.." Jazz sighed and stretched. "Alright Chi-Chi, let's-" He widened his eyes as Chi-Chi's fist connected with his gut, then shuddered as an explosion of ki sent him out of the arena.
"Is it already over?!" The announcer shouted in surprise. "Wow! We didn't even see Chi-Chi move!"
Jazz chuckled as he flipped through the air, an explosion of air later and he took the form of a rocket and blasted back unto the arena. Now it was Chi-Chi's turn to be struck by a blow she couldn't predict, though she did not get launched out of the arena.
One of the referees blew a whistle. "Sir! Items are forbidden in the Budokai Tenkaichi!"
Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Items?"
"You used a military-grade missile!"
"That's my power!" Jazz shouted.
"What?!" The referee looked dumbfounded.
Jazz replied by transforming into a bull, a car, then a perfect mirror image of the referee.
"Oh…"
"Can I get back to this fight?" Jazz asked.
"...Mmm, yes, you can."
Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you use that trick more? I couldn't catch it!"
"I'm saving it, unlike you, I wanna hold more of my cards."
Chi-Chi replied by launching a Ki blast forward, Jazz leaped into the air to dodge, then transformed into a fly to doge Chi-Chi's leaping kick. He turned back mid-air and unleashed an axe kick down on Chi-Chi. She blocked the strike and landed roughly on the ground. As Jazz began to fall back down, she fired multiple blasts of ki towards him. He dodged by transforming into a rocket and moving clear out of the way, then he charged towards her, hand extended. Just he neared her, he smirked, causing her to flinch, his form changed again, this time transforming into a gaunt, monstrous-looking man with burnt skin, milk-colored eyes, and 6-inch blades instead of fingernails. Chi-Chi flinched at the horrid visage of the man before her, causing her to leap back instead of facing the attack head-on.
"ASTOUNDING! CONTESTANT JASPER HAS TAKEN ON A HORRIFYING VISAGE AKIN TO THAT OF A NIGHTMARISH MONSTER MAN!"
Jazz grinned as he charged towards Chi-Chi. "Come on! Scream some more!" His voice was deep and gravelly as he put on his best Freddie Kreuger impression.
"Eeeek!" Chi-Chi moved back, leaping out of the range of his claw strikes, at the moment she was still faster than Jazz, so she had no problem dodging, but at the same time, she didn't want to approach the older teen's wickedly sharp blades. It felt like he was cheating with such things, but since it was his power and it came from him, he wasn't. If she got too close, all of a sudden, his arms would snake out and stretch up to 5 feet, nearly catching her in a deadly embrace.
"Eww! Your skin looks so icky!" Chi-Chi charged more blasts of ki, "change back!" She began blasting indiscriminately, some of the blasts strong enough to destroy walls and cause the crowd to back away in fear and shock.
"Chi-Chi! Calm down! It is still Jazz!" PaoPao shouted suddenly, "calm yourself down and stop wasting ki!"
"Oh!" Chi-Chi shook her head, "yeah!" She narrowed her eyes, "no matter how scary Jazz appears… it doesn't matter! I've got to win!"
Jazz narrowed his eyes, Chi-Chi had utilized a plethora of ki blasts, yet her energy hadn't dropped nearly as much as he'd have thought it would. 'In the manga, Goku and Roshi could only do high powered Kamehamehas a few times a fight before their stamina began to run out and they relied on their physical abilities more, and even then, every time they'd do such a thing, it would take a noticeable chunk out of their stamina. Perhaps…' As he looked on, he noticed that Chi-Chi did indeed look a little winded, but compared to the salvo she launched forward, she seemed to have a bit too much energy.
"Oi… you've got quite a bit of energy left don't you." Jazz, still in his transformation reminiscent of the monster from Nightmare on Elm Street, licked a clawed finger. He was again amazed by the transformation technique he gained, the steel claws tasted of metal, his skin felt hard and sensitive, reminiscent of his burn scars, and his voice was deeper and more gravelly, matching the impression he was trying to leave.
Chi-Chi grinned as she clenched her fists. "I'm not too tired, I had a snack before this fight!"
Jazz chuckled. "A snack, that sounds like a fun idea." He exploded into a puff of smoke, revealing his true form, which stared at Chi-Chi with emerald-green eyes. "I guess we shouldn't drag this fight along any longer." While it was fun to fight in different forms, and the different fighting styles employed in each one was fun in their own right, it was difficult to control his movements, especially when he attempted to fight at full power, so more often than not his transformations provided a greater benefit to his defense and stamina than outright attacking power and lethality when facing opponents of similar and greater strength. Of course, a bear with a power level of 60 was probably capable of greater muscle strength than a human man with a power level of 80, especially when their strength difference came more from spirit and mind than from body.
Chi-Chi nodded, "let's have a good bout!" She charged forward.
Jazz mirrored her charge, his longer legs propelling him forward just a few feet further in the short amount of time before their clash. Their palms collided, causing a loud smack to resound around the arena.
"IT LOOKS LIKE THESE TWO FIGHTERS ARE GOING TO PUT THEIR ALL INTO THESE NEXT ATTACKS! AND WE'LL SEE WHO MAKES IT TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!"
The crowd cheered on the fighters. While in the background, the ones already assured their spot on the Quarter Finals talked to themselves or and to each other.
Jazz's transformations are truly versatile, I feel like whether I win or lose, his fight will prove the most troublesome.
That thought made its way subconsciously through the head of many of the fighters.
Goku turned to Krillin. "Hey." He wondered out loud, "That's weird. I do Kamehamehas, but I get really tired after 4, how does Chi-Chi do all those blasts?"
"It's obvious." Jackie Chun smirked, "she has superb spiritual control."
Krillin and Goku turned in surprise. "Spiritual control?" They asked simultaneously.
"Ki is one's lifeforce, and different people have different aptitudes, she must be a natural prodigy, even if she has less than yours, or mine, her efficiency with it is much greater, giving benefits such as this." He smiled wryly, "my word, she's truly a prodigy, it would have been a shame if she had never taken an interest in training, woman or not."
"Wow old man, you know a lot! Are you a friend of Master Roshi?" Goku asked. The old fighter just chuckled.
"He is Master Roshi, it's a wig." Yamcha moved over and pulled on the old man's hair.
Jackie Chun, or the disguised Roshi, screamed in pain as he was yanked into the air by his hair.
Yamcha widened his eyes in shock, "it's real hair?!"
"Of course it's real hair!" Jackie Chun shouted angrily.
"W-wow… I'm sorry sir." Yamcha bowed, but he still looked doubtful.
"I mean, he does kinda smell like Master Roshi…" Goku muttered. Only to shake his head as he smelled something else completely.
Yamcha turned to see Roshi applying some colon.
"Hey!"
"Got to smell the best for the ladies young man." Jackie Chun grinned.
Jazz allowed himself to pay enough attention to hear the bickering contestants, "man, they're getting antsy, we should probably end things soon, right?" He narrowed his eyes at the exhausted Chi-Chi.
"Y-yeah…" She raised a shaky fist.
To be fair, Jazz wasn't in much better shape, his arms and legs felt like lead, and his lungs burned whenever he took in a deep breath. "Jeez… I was naive…" He began, shaking his head.
"Wh-what?!" Chi-Chi asked, curiously.
"I thought I could beat you just using Pump Up."
"Pump...Up?" Chi-Chi asked.
"You know, the muscle technique I use, I saw sensed Master Roshi use it, and after working with some people, I was able to replicate this technique." Jazz allowed his body to bulk up and remain noticeably bulky. "It doesn't take away speed, since I didn't go all out like Roshi does, but the power isn't nearly as much." He then bulked up even more, causing his shirt to rip in some places. "I can do this, and the power is great, but I lose too much speed and it eats away at my stamina."
Chi-Chi nodded, "I noticed you used this in our fight, yeah, you're stronger than me when that happens, but you get slower."
"Yup…" Jazz smiled, "I've been working on being faster though, but unfortunately I got conceited and thought this would be enough." He ripped off his shirt, revealing multiple layers of metal coils spread throughout his body, on close inspection, one would see that every time he moves, several of the wires would pull in the opposite direction, fighting his movements. "I saw this from a manga." Jazz untied the harness and reached into his pockets, taking out a key, he removed the ankle and wrist weights that still hung to his person. Almost immediately, a sense of lightness filled him, and it felt like power rushed through his veins as nothing fought his movements.
"Did you fight like that when we faced…" Chi-Chi began.
"Launch? Yes, unfortunately, I didn't have the time to simply take off the gear and attack her." Jazz stretched as he tossed the weights and harness out of the arena. "Those things though are helpful in other ways." He frowned, "to be honest, I can barely keep up with the fights we've been having… I haven't been able to train my eyes or senses the way you guys have with Roshi, so I rely more on my ki sensing to keep up, so trying to fight in cluttered spaces would probably be the worst thing for me."
Jazz coiled his body into a sprinter's pose, then activated Pump up at his highest level, using the high muscle strength, he extended his powerful legs forwards, then immediately deactivated the ability, carrying the momentum forward into a sprint so insane he couldn't keep track of his movements if he kept his eyes open. Shutting his eyes, he allowed his ki sense to guide his hands as he carried the momentum of the attack forward.
Before Chi-Chi could reply, she found herself knocked out of the arena.
Jazz, who seemed to have teleported in front of her, groaned as he felt the torn ligaments in his arms and legs.
The other fighters looked on in shock, all save Roshi, Goku, and Krillin.
"What was that?" PaoPao had been able to see Goku blur out of sight, but her eyes couldn't make out his movement after that.
"So he calls that technique Pump Up…" Jackie Chun smiled, "well, it's somewhat fitting."
"Wow Krillin, that was amazing!" Goku smiled with excitement.
"Y-yeah!" Krillin looked at Jazz nervously, "wow… he's been training a lot huh, I thought training under Master Roshi would make us unbeatable, but I'm not so sure now."
"Well, we won't know until we fight." Goku conceded.
"Y'know, you're right!" Krillin nodded, smiling.
Jazz moved his injured body off the platform and made his way to the crying Chi-Chi. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"I lost!" She bawled, "I can't keep my promise to Goku!" She sobbed.
Goku and the others ran over. "You guys fought so well!"
"Goku! Don't look at me, I can't face you!" Chi-Chi turned away.
"Huh? But you were amazing out there, you guys were both really strong! I would love to spar with you when this is all over."
"H-huh?" Chi-Chi began, "really?"
Goku smiled, "yeah! I think it'd be really fun!"
Chi-Chi smiled, "th-then… when we g-grow up… c-could I-I have…"
Goku cocked his hand in confusion, "what are you saying? You're kinda mumbling."
"C-can I…" Chi-Chi blushed and turned away.
"Uh…" Goku began.
"Obviously she's overwhelmed, give her some time Son Goku, she's still tired and emotional from her fight." PaoPao bent over and helped Chi-Chi up. "Chi-Chi will tell you what she wants to say after she recovers."
A group of men bringing a stretcher walked up to the fighters, "does she require medical attention?" One of them asked, "that last blow seemed devastating."
"No!" Chi-Chi replied, "I'm okay…" Her face and eyes were still red but she looked determined. She turned to Jazz, "hey!"
Jazz looked up at her.
Chi-Chi gave a thumbs up, "that was a good fight! It was fun, thanks!"
Jazz raised an eyebrow, then smiled light-heartedly. "Glad you had fun." Steam began to rise from his body as his body slowly healed itself, he reached for his weighted gear and harness, putting them back on.
"Huh? Why are you putting them back on?" Goku asked.
Jazz smiled, "every moment is a training moment, I don't have your talent or your teacher, so I should make up for it my way." He looked down, "though I wish I had a spare shirt."
"Pft… that was embarrassing." A vaguely familiar voice called out to him.
"It was an astounding fight, they were both magnificent." Another voice called out.
"Oh please, I expect more from our student Warrick."
Jazz turned to the familiar voices and began to smile wryly.
"Oh? It's your teachers from the transformation school? Why are they here?" Krillin asked.
Jazz didn't reply, instead, he looked up at the moon, which had just poked its head past some clouds despite the sunny day. It was full, and he felt his blood pump with renewed vigor.
...
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 15 (and 11 months), physical appearance: 15-16
Hair color: Red
Skin color: white
Race: Quarter Caucasian(White American of English-Irish descent), Quarter Asian (Korean), Quarter Black(African-American), Quarter Hispanic (Cuban)
Height: 5ft 9inches | 175 centimeters (69 inches, nice)
Weight: 157 lbs | 71 kilograms (the namekians granted him a pair of 10, 15, and 20 kilogram wrist and ankle weights. (3 sets of weighted clothing in total, 4 parts each, 22 pounds, 33 pounds, and 44 pounds respectively, currently using 15 kg (33 lbs) weights.
Skills: Decent Sports Talent for Age, Semi-Above Average Intellect for age, intermediate martial arts skills, average ki control, good pain tolerance, trap building, intermediate weapons mastery, basic boxing, basic MMA, street fighting skills
Powers: Magic Materialization (Fire) (Intermediate Understanding), Magic Materialization (Water) (Basic Understanding)
General magic: Rudimentary Understanding
Max Power/ Pump Up (1.5x (mastered), 2x (capable),
Shapeshifting, Mastered Skill level (indefinite)
Noble Werewolf (On the Cusp of Awakening)
Powerlevel: 66(80), will raise to 99(120) temporarily when using Pump Up/Max Power
…
…
Afterword:
THE MOON COMETH….
I'm glad I managed to get back into the story, things might still feel a little weird and off here and there, but I'm just getting back into the groove of things. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Next chapter will hopefully be full of insane fights left and right, I've got my brain cells going overdrive to try and be as descriptive and artsy as possible. Look forward to it!