"Damn, just when we thought Goku put some hurt on him…" Yamcha grit his teeth observing the massive frame of Piccolo Jr. that was still getting used to his new size and power.
"This is crazy! Goku had just gained an advantage and now Piccolo's Ki shoots up again!" Krillin looked more frightened by this transformation and the wasted effort that Goku put into beating his opponent down in the first place.
"It's like Chiaotzu's efforts were in vain…" Tenshinhan agreed with a nod. His eyes looked hazy, it wasn't tough to spot that he was being drawn to the ground and might have just passed out at any moment.
Goku dashed back, avoiding Piccolo's smashing strike downward. A single punch shook the ground underneath the ruined ring. The reincarnated Demon King threw a kick at Goku while he was still airborne, shocking the Saiyan with his speed. Goku vanished just in time and appeared to have taken an offensive approach again after realizing that simply evading Piccolo's attacks wouldn't cut it.
Piccolo belched and staggered back when Goku's elbow hit his solar plexus. A vibrant, cerulean blast of the Kamehameha wave coming from the Saiyan's feet propelled him upward, slamming at Piccolo's chin with the back of his head and throwing the supersized Namekian off-balance. Just when Goku felt confident about having knocked Piccolo out of bounds, his opponent halted his fall in mid-air by employing flight and manipulated himself to face Goku. A pair of arrows of crimson light coming from Piccolo's eyes pierced the space between the two and sent Goku falling down with a trail of smoldering smoke trailing upward from his burnt chest.
"This is just breath-taking, ladies and gentlemen! Both contestants are trading blows evenly, this is still anyone's fight and it's becoming crystal clear that the sleeves of both competitors are still bloating with hidden aces!" the announcer yelled out, just doing his job.
"Ey, you, who are ya talkin' to?" Yajirobe scratched his Lucha mask while looking at the announcer who looked around and realized that there was nobody to witness this spectacular extravaganza of martial arts.
"Heh, took a nasty hit there, Son, think you can move around half as fast with that burn on your chest?" Piccolo taunted his fallen opponent, his voice boomed over the entire tournament area. The supersized Namekian lifted his foot over his semi-conscious opponent, looking to smash him.
Goku appeared to be in for a rude awakening as Piccolo's foot stomped right on top of him, sinking him into the soft dirt and grinding him into it further like a mere pest. The sadistic laughter and gloating of the giant demon almost drowned out Goku's grunts of agony underneath the foot of his gigantic opponent.
"We should scram, dis 'ere's gonna be a massacre!" Yajirobe pointed at the grisly scene of murder transpiring in front of them.
"No…" Chayote shook her head and returned from her sulking back onto tracking the action. "You're still tracking this bout with your eyes. Kakarot hasn't lost that much Ki underneath that foot. He can still recover."
"That's true, Piccolo does have greater Ki but his Ki is also dropping much faster…" Chi-Chi pointed out. "Goku-sa, you must fight back!"
"Interesting, Piccolo's Ki does seem to be fading away as if he's constantly using something strenuous… Maybe sustaining this Giant Form isn't as flawless as it might seem," Tenshinhan pointed out.
"That's right!" Krillin jumped up with a sudden realization. "Demon King Piccolo actually used the Mafuba on Chayote, he was much weaker than Tenshinhan right now but he didn't show any of this exhaustion. I think that Piccolo has the power to rejuvenate, somehow!"
"Interesting…" Yamcha pondered. "In that case, he might be able to create more body for himself to inhabit, growing exponentially by supercharging this regeneration of his. If it is a technique he is using, in that case, it will certainly not be easy to sustain it throughout a difficult battle, even if the surge of Ki is alluring."
"Do you hear that, Goku-sa!? Fight back! Fight your hardest and put him on the ropes!" Chi-Chi yelled out, encouraging her husband. A surge of electricity ran up Piccolo's body. It appeared to not be of the demon's own making since it shocked him in more senses than one. The jolt solidified into an emerald gleam that flickered in between green and purple light, lifting the entirety of the giant's frame off the ground and freezing him in mid-air.
"Bankoku!" Goku's grunt came from underneath the rising giant.
"Bikkuri Sho!" Goku emerged roaring with his body pushed to its limits, tearing his burnt up top off completely while the electrical aura surrounded him as well. Goku sent stronger and stronger jolts at Piccolo and each one of them appeared to be putting more and more hurt on the already overwhelmed giant Namekian.
"Amazing! That is the perfect technique right now, go, Goku!" Muten Roshi cheered from the sidelines.
If Chayote's memory served on when Goku used this technique on her, it was a test of endurance. A shock of frightening intensity that drained both the user's and the receiver's stamina though the immense pain made it unbearable for the target on more accounts than just one. The old-timer was right, Bankoku Bikkuri Sho was indeed the right pick for this time, Piccolo was right on top of him and couldn't have avoided the initial blast that encased him in electricity and now he was stuck struggling against time when he was the one interested in settling this match faster.
"Y-You fool!" Piccolo grunted with a scowl seeping with hatred and torment alike. "You better finish me off with this technique because if I escape…" the surge of electricity was too much for him to finish the sentence as Goku intensified the jolt, burning through more and more of his Ki to apply even greater pressure on his opponent as well.
"Goku has matured so much as a martial artist…" Tenshinhan stated with a glare of admiration dedicated to his rival. "In his childhood he would have instantly gone into Hot-Red Mode, choosing to power himself up when he didn't have enough power, no matter the cost. Now he's pacing himself just right, thinking things through."
"Yeah…" Krillin nodded. "Goku might be a simpleton when it comes to most things but fighting he excels at."
Piccolo's eyes whited out, his body appeared to go limp and surrender to the electrical surge, his muscles stopped contracting and bulging out and had Chayote lost the ability to sense Ki for a moment, she'd have thought the reincarnated Demon King to have passed out. He wasn't out, quite the contrary, he was no slouch in fighting as well, Shura's school, no doubt. Piccolo surrendered to his opponent's technique, halting his heartbeat to a still minimum so that his body didn't break down, he began getting used to Goku's voltage and he was trying to figure out a way out of his predicament.
It was now Goku who was a hostage to Piccolo, having to amp up his technique and therefore the stamina it cost him to sustain it. For the second time that day, Goku had gained an advantage over his opponent but Piccolo had managed to dig his way out of such a slump once. Resourcefulness was a virtue that neither of these two was lacking in, after all.
Piccolo's Ki disappeared suddenly, without warning. Chayote could feel her eyebrow twitch without her request. She didn't think that the Namekian would kick the bucket so soon, one thing that people aware of the once prolific merchant race spoke of was the unmatched toughness of the self-proclaimed demons. It was shocking, to say the least, to see Piccolo snuffed out so soon. Then again, Bankoku Bikkuri Sho was a frightening technique… No, this was a ploy of some sort, Piccolo must have been focusing his strength for something else.
The electricity surrounding Piccolo and Goku alike faded away, the intense aura of Bankoku Bikkuri Sho dissolved in a jolt that hungered for Ki intake which it no longer received when Goku canceled out the technique. Chayote's jaw dropped – that was naïve! Piccolo recovered in mid-air, his eyes snapped open with the same degree of suddenness as his arms weaved together into a double-ax handle smash aiming at where Goku was standing.
It was fortunate that a stalwart cross-arm block was enough for Goku to stop the smashing impact, even though the resonating force from it wrecked the ground underneath them and sent deepening fissures across the island. The clash was so sudden that Chayote could almost feel the agony that Goku's spine must have been in from stopping this smash.
"Damn it, that was dirty!" Goku growled, still in pain from his struggle against the giant who did not relent in his desire to smash his shorter opponent to bits.
"It's only despicable if it fails! I can't believe you fell for it, you fool!" Piccolo mocked his opponent while applying more force to his push. Then a thought popped in his mind, Piccolo dashed back having recalled how such close contact with Goku ended the previous time.
Goku's arms slumped by his side, shaking. It was questionable if he could have even performed Bankoku Bikkuri Sho from that position and after having spent so much energy to sustain it for so long already but Piccolo wasn't about to take that chance.
"Heh, you've shrunk down some…" Goku mocked his opponent who had returned to a size merely twice his normal size instead of at least ten times the size he had added previously. This fight taxed Piccolo Jr. a fair bit as well, despite his Namekian physiology.
"Hmph… You think you've pushed me to the edge with your pathetic techniques? You seem to have forgotten that King Piccolo reincarnated into the body of a martial artist. I am more than capable of frying you with your own medicine now!" Piccolo raised an eye ridge, scowling at Goku with hatred that only blood enemies could have felt toward each other until their fists laid a satisfying siege on their bodies until the pair could dance no longer.
"No way!" Goku exclaimed.
"Bankoku Bikkuri Sho!" Piccolo exclaimed, extending both his hands outward and lighting them up with an interconnected surge of electricity matching the color of the jolt that Goku used against him. Goku extended his arms outward, initiating his own Bankoku Bikkuri Sho and forcing the two techniques to collide in a chain that canceled the other out.
"I guess using the same technique on you now would be pointless…" Goku wiped the dirt off his forehead from when he was stomped, smirking with excitement that he could no longer settle this fated battle with the same technique from before.
"Such a lethal technique could have only been nicked from the Evil Tribe. It's only right that it is returned to its rightful owner…" Piccolo gloated at Goku, it was true that this technique came with the simplicity that felt almost as if it was natural to him.
"Dat's right, dem demons did use somethin' like dat thing against me…" Yajirobe scratched his chin, recalling his encounter with Cymbal of the Evil Tribe.
"Alright, this is getting pretty fun!" Goku took a wary fighting stance. "Though I'm still gonna win this unless you show me something new."
"Hmph… You still think you're at an advantage over me?" Piccolo laughed out. "The way I am now is called the Great Form. It's is the chosen state of Demon King Piccolo though I've managed to surpass this feeble form. The expansion I've shown you earlier was called the Giant Form. However, that's not the limit to my abilities. Behold the Super-Giant Form!" Piccolo clenched his fists by his side, initiating the same ritual of intense Ki control from before while still in his Great Form, instead of his normal size. This time Piccolo just kept on growing, going further and further up above until his feet barely fit the stage, and Goku was left dangling his arms by his sides, desperate to maintain the balance needed to stay inside the stage.
"I… I still can't tell if contestant Piccolo's foot is outside the ring though it might be…" the announcer fixed his shades, examining the position of Super-Giant Piccolo's foot that was easily as large as he was and at least five times as long now.
"Still think you can handle me, Son?" Piccolo mocked his cowering opponent who couldn't help but just gander at the emerald colossus he now had to deal with. "I assure you, I'll be coming at you with more than just kicks and slams!" his voice boomed over the entire Papaya Island.
"He should have done so in the beginning…" Chayote mumbled. "If he used this form on top of the power he had before this fight wore him out, he'd have been too high up for Kakarot to measure to. No matter his skill, he wouldn't have been able to compensate a difference this steep."
"Maybe not, but Piccolo's not like Demon King Piccolo, you know…" Krillin shrugged. "He's a martial artist now. That makes him stronger but it also makes him think differently too. He's not just into this to win, no matter how it looks. He wants to beat Goku but he also wants to prove himself a superior martial artist on top of having a good time too."
"Still, he's far from honorable…" Tenshinhan hissed at that comment.
"Hey, playing dead is a legitimate martial arts technique too!" Yamcha pointed out. "I thought I'd surprise you guys with something like that too but Piccolo beat me to the punch…"
"Just try and handle this, Son, a Super-Giant Bankoku Bikkuri Sho!" Piccolo roared out and took into the air, due to his size he might have left Earth's atmosphere for all that Chayote could tell. Still, his Ki was swelling up to a frightening degree even though the wear and tear of a climactic battle was setting in on both the fighters.
The clouds had cleared completely. Total silence reigned in, not even a chirp or a flap of a bird's wing could have been audible. Then, a shriek, an all-encompassing howl and a pillar of emerald and royal purple flashes to drown out the entire island, Chayote covered her face, wondering if she should have cleared the island premises but she didn't feel any damage at all, just static building up as an after-effect. It was frightening to think that Piccolo could have mastered a technique he had just copied from his opponent in just his second time using it. He channeled it to just decimate the area of the ring, where Goku would do his best to stay in.
This Bankoku Bikkuri Sho was not just a torturous shock, it was an apocalyptic pillar of concentrated lightning capable of blasting a hole through the entire planet if needed. At this point, it was difficult to say if the same name still applied to this technique. It did retain its continuous effect though, the pillar had settled into a single destructive wave of deadly electricity that continued to pulse with enough intensity that it beamed light through the surrounding fissures, suggesting that it was about to total the entire island if not the entire quarter of the planet while still restrained to only fry Goku.
"He took a mean hit!" Tenshinhan turned half of his face toward the devastating beam of light. "His Ki dropped by almost half…"
"True, but this Super-Giant form, using Bankoku Bikkuri Sho… Piccolo's going to have to put it all on the line, if he doesn't kill Goku with this attack – he'll lose most of his stamina too!" Krillin tried to look at the beaming wave as if looking at it would somehow help Goku pull out a win.
"Where's the announcer, it's getting really dangerous for him here!" Yamcha tried looking around until his eyes settled on Muten Roshi and the announcer hiding behind some stationary rubble with Muten Roshi pulling out from the area after having hidden the announcer to hunker down there with some more hopes of safety.
"Ka!" a resonating roar came from somewhere underneath this blinding wave of light.
"Me!" no matter how much it hurt their eyes to look, how overwhelming the surging Ki from the beam of energy felt, everybody turned toward the drilling pillar of destruction and the lone man sheltered underneath it, shouldering it all so that it does not collapse him too deep down.
"Ha!" Chi-Chi, Krillin, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chiaotzu all yelled something out in unison but their cries for support got drowned out by the immense racket of the Super-Giant Bankoku Bikkuri Sho.
"Me!" Chayote didn't feel as hopeful about this as the rest, she could compare the respective Ki of Piccolo Jr. and Goku at that moment and Piccolo was still riding the high of his new and buffed up form as well as the boost that using Bankoku Bikkuri Sho gave to his power level as well. Goku was getting continuously ground to the dirt, he had no hope of matching up to that soaring Ki at that moment.
"Super Hot-Red Kamehameha!" Goku roared out from underneath the devastating blast, offering a matching shade of blaze-red that pushed the Super-Giant Bankoku Bikkuri Sho up until the middle in between Heavens and Earth. The two beams continued to drill at each other, neither giving way for a few seconds as both of them spat jets of flames and thunder to the sides, ravaging the island that hosted these two masters of martial arts as the battleground for their meeting.
"Hot-Red Mode! He can do it!" Chayote suddenly realized as whereas the Super Kamehameha still left Goku somewhat lacking in the sheer power department, with the life-risking feat of reckless Ki control her fellow Saiyan had just the nick needed to tip the scales over onto his side. Step by step, Super Hot-Red Kamehameha was triumphing over Piccolo's own all-in maneuver until it took the clash of beams over and blasted off into space, without much care for what or who it took with it.
Silence reigned for yet another peaceful yet brief moment.