Focus! Kakarot thought while moving to evade or block Chiaotzu's blows. The small Earthling danced around him, delivering kicks and punches from every possible direction. As if getting used to aerial combat wasn't enough, Kakarot had to keep an important part of his attention focused on staying in the air since the first to touch the ground would lose.
In the last month, he had not been able to beat Chiaotzu once. At first due to not being able to stay long enough in the air, then for not being able to coordinate his attack and defense with the infinite possible angles offered by aerial combat, and now out of pure inexperience compared to his opponent. But every day the gap grew smaller.
Kakarot pulled back and returned to the training yard's floor. He exhaled fully to force his lungs to refill with fresh new air, which slowed the accelerated beating of his heart. He relaxed his mind and felt the layer of ki that had covered and propelled him into the air return inside him. Flying still required not only his full concentration but also a considerable expenditure of energy.
As he watched Chiaotzu, hovering in the air like a leaf in the wind, Kakarot ran his hand over his shaved head, feeling the tiny hairs seeking to sprout in all directions again. Every defeat is a stepping stone, Kakarot told himself, use them as such and climb. The only victory that matters is the ultimate one, which won't be against Chiaotzu, but against the whole world.
The Crane Hermit entered the courtyard, no doubt on a break from his advanced lessons with Tenshinhan, who refused to rest unless by direct order of his master. "How does the scoreboard look today?"
Chiaotzu stood as tall as his tiny body allowed, swollen with pride. "Two hundred and thirty-seven to zero, Master."
Kakarot lowered his gaze and spat on the ground. "Don't be so proud, dwarf. If this was an all-out fight you couldn't scratch a single victory."
Chiaotzu glared at him with his big black eyes. "Don't be so sure, monkey face. There's still a lot you don't know about the Crane School."
The Crane Hermit clapped his hands to call their attention. "Arguments are useless, save your anger for training. As a matter of fact, you've had enough rest. Kakarot, return to the air."
Kakarot focused again, drew out his ki, and coated his entire body. It was a strange sensation on his skin, warm, denser-than-air. He pushed down, willing himself to leave the ground, rose to face Chiaotzu, and adopted his fighting stance.
"Begin," the Crane Hermit said.
Kakarot attacked first, forcing Chiaotzu to retreat. Whenever the combat took place face to face, the pale boy looked in trouble, but he soon maneuvered around him and regained an advantageous position from which to punish Kakarot's inexperience. But this time it wouldn't be so easy.
Kakarot mirrored his opponent, keeping the fight as head-on as he could, even while they hung upside down or tilted sideways. Now there were three tasks that divided his attention, but countering Chiaotzu's movements well deserved the effort, since he could now impose his rhythm on the fight by taking advantage of his greater strength and speed.
Chiaotzu dodged and defended as best he could, while still trying to outmaneuver him, but Kakarot wouldn't let him. Soon the Saiyan began land kicks and punches at pleasure, not the odd lucky blow. This time he could feel victory at his fingertips. He continued to punish the Earthling, making him pay for all his taunts and insults. Chiaotzu backed away, beads of sweat rolling down his face and into the ground. He would soon join them.
Chiaotzu managed to land a palm strike on his chest and set him aside a few meters. The second student of the Crane School took the opportunity to step back and double the distance between them with a mocking smile on his face. "Now you'll see, or rather, you won't." He placed his hands in front of his pale and bruised face, which reddened by the effort, and spread his fingers. "Solar Flare!"
The world disappeared in a flash of pure white. Kakarot shut his eyes at once, but the damage was already done. He blinked a couple of times, but the brightness still blinded him, it was like he had spent hours looking at the sun. Something hit his head from behind, and he felt the hard ground receive his body. Kakarot stood up slowly, feeling the air with his hands. Focusing his eyes, fuzzy spots began to appear. It took several minutes for his vision to fully recover.
Chiaotzu hovered over the training yard with a smile of superiority on his white face.
The Crane Hermit approached with his arms behind his back. "It is hard to believe that you have managed to adapt in such a short time to fighting in the air, but having forced Chiaotzu to use the Solar Flare is the most reliable proof of your progress."
"What the hell was that?" Kakarot asked.
"The Solar Flare turns ki into light to momentarily blind the opponent. It is a technique that requires a more precise control of ki, since it changes its very nature," the Crane Hermit replied.
"When can I learn it?"
"Patience, my young apprentice. First, you must demonstrate your mastery of the principles you already know, and you will do so by defeating Chiaotzu, who from now on will be able to use his entire arsenal against you without restriction." The old man looked at Chiaotzu. "The only rule will be to avoid intentionally killing or causing serious injuries."
Kakarot smirked. In a month he had gone from being able to float for a few seconds to fighting in the air toe-to-toe against an opponent who had been doing it for years. Before the end of next month, he would have Chiaotzu begging for mercy under his feet. But first, he had to find a way to counter the Solar Flare.
The next morning, Kakarot decided to take a break from his bouts with Chiaotzu, who gladly accompanied Tenshinhan in his training. The Saiyan remained in the middle of the main courtyard, where the other students performed physical exercises or sparred. Kakarot sat on the ground and closed his eyes. He tried to concentrate on a single student, whom he located by smell. Kakarot had always had a sharper sense of smell than most Earthlings, but without using it in conjunction with his eyes he could only perceive the vague general situation of his target. For better accuracy, he would need to use his ears.
He focused on the jagged breaths of a single student, putting aside the rest of the sounds around him, but it was very difficult. A wall of noise formed by an endless number of discordant notes prevented him from following a single sound. Still, Kakarot persisted. At the end of the day, he was able to isolate his target from the environmental noise and follow his position and general movements, although he could not say for sure with which arm or leg he had attacked with, or if he had moved with a normal jump a somersault.
As the days passed, Kakarot's ability to guide himself without the aid of his eyes grew, until he could follow the movements of several of the students at opposite ends of the courtyard at the same time. Now he should be able to stay in the fight if he fell prey to the Solar Flare again, although his new skill would also serve as a preventive measure, since if his eyes were closed beforehand, Chiaotzu's technique would not have any effect.
Even so, before facing the little Earthling, he wanted to make sure that he could apply his new skill in combat. Self-training was fine, but it couldn't replace actual combat experience.
Kakarot stood up and jumped, landing on top of a training dummy, from where he gathered the rest of the students and challenged them all to fight. The students refused, arguing that they had nothing to gain by another humiliation at his hands.
Kakarot smiled, as he had assumed that they would be reluctant at first. He took off his black cloth belt and blindfolded himself before everyone's eyes. "How about now? We all know you have no chance of winning in a fair fight, but could you beat a poor blind boy?"
The students whispered to each other for a moment while Kakarot took note of his opponents by the sound of their chuckles.
"You can attack whenever you want," Kakarot said.
The students didn't miss a beat, and the most daring threw themselves towards him at once, directing kicks to his legs to knock him down from his elevated position. Kakarot flipped back and landed in front of the mass of students, who rushed to surround him. Kakarot allowed it, following them with his ears.
The students attacked him from all angles. Kakarot dodged and blocked as many blows as he could, but many hit him, although without causing great damage. He only attacked when he was sure he would land a hit. When Kakarot defeated his last opponent and removed his blindfold, it was already dusk.
He looked up at the sky. He rolled his shoulders and let out a burst of laughter. Still, his body was covered by small scratches and bruises. He wasn't ready to destroy Chiaotzu yet.
Kakarot spent the next few days experimenting with his ki to turn it into light and learn the Solar Flare, which would be more useful in the future than having defeated Chiaotzu a few days earlier. Despite the null destructive power of the technique, the applications in combat were enormous, especially against a stronger enemy, to blind him and be able to deliver a critical blow or flee if necessary.
A couple of weeks after their last confrontation, Kakarot entered the inner courtyard where Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu meditated under the Crane Hermit's supervision. The old man took the practice very seriously, so Kakarot hovered in silence until he stood next to him and waited. Emptying the mind of any thoughts was a strange thing for Kakarot, and it had been especially difficult at first. Even so, Kakarot could not deny the results: he could focus his attention easier, quicker, and more intensely than before.
The Crane Hermit took a pebble from the ground and flicked it against a gong, which rang clean and deep. "That will be enough for today," he told them and turned to Kakarot. "Are you ready to continue your training where you left off?"
"I'm ready to finish it," Kakarot replied.
"You seem very confident," Chiaotzu said.
"Well, let's fight and find out."
The Crane Hermit smirked in approval and Tenshinhan stood to his right, leaving the training yard free for the fighters. "Show this ignorant fool the might of our school," Tenshinhan said.
Kakarot took to the air and raised his guard, as did Chiaotzu.
"Show me what you've got, little freak," Kakarot said.
For as long as he could remember, Chiaotzu knew he was different.
He had killed his mother when he came into the world, and perhaps that first and unforgivable transgression had given him that aspect the other villagers feared and considered a bad omen. Or maybe the evil was already inside him, and his mother's death was only the first manifestation of his ability to bring forth misfortune.
Only his grandmother, a small and wrinkled woman, hard as a bone, did not give him away, perhaps because he was the last memory of her beloved daughter. They left the village when Chiaotzu was a few days old, a place he would never return to, partly out of hatred, but mostly out of shame.
Chiaotzu grew up in a cave in the mountains. His grandmother took care of him but did not show him any sign of affection. That he was alive and well seemed to be her only concern. "You are weak and a monster, but you are mine, and I take care of my own," she used to tell him.
Death came for her years later, when Chiaotzu had known five winters. The loss of her grandmother, her only link to the world, awakened something deep in the emptiness of his heart. He discovered that he could move things without touching them, certainly another aspect of his curse, but that alone made him able to survive on his own.
He spent many nights in that cave, crying himself to sleep in the dark. When he couldn't take it anymore, he walked to the nearest farm. His appearance terrified the man who lived there. "Ghost, vampire, monster!" he yelled before fleeing back in search of a weapon. Chiaotzu fled and wandered through the wilderness, avoiding contact with other humans.
Searching for strength to balance his shortcomings, he ended up before the gates of the Crane School. After receiving the worst beating of his life at the hands of the weakest student in the school, only his mental powers made him be taken in by the Crane Hermit, who encouraged him to cultivate that power, watering it with blood, sweat, and tears. He climbed step by step the pecking order, becoming the second student, only behind the genius Tenshinhan.
And now this monkey boy meant to take that away from him? No way.
"Begin," the Crane Hermit said.
Chiaotzu crossed the distance and began his attack, leaving Kakarot not a moment's rest. Immediately he knew something was wrong. Kakarot blocked his every move with a slight smile on his face. Chiaotzu maneuvered to get behind him and kick him in the head, but the monkey-tailed boy simply dodged and kicked him away with a backward kick.
"You're going to have to do better than that," Kakarot scoffed.
Chiaotzu placed his hands in front of his face and accumulated ki, turning it into light.
"Solar Flare!" he yelled.
But it was he who received the blow, just at the moment when the beam of light vanished. He wiped a thread of blood falling from the corner of his mouth with a sleeve.
Kakarot stood before him in an open, seemingly vulnerable position, but he radiated an aura of confidence evident in his mocking smile and his closed eyes. "You can attack me as long and as much as you want," he said and finally opened his black eyes. "But you will only reveal the extent to which I surpass you."
Filled with rage, Chiaotzu threw himself against Kakarot. In just a few seconds, Chiaotzu fell to the hard gravel floor of the training yard after a devastating combination. Kakarot returned back to the ground and awaited Master's announcement of his victory. But Chiaotzu wouldn't allow it.
Kneeling on the ground, he extended an accusing finger against Kakarot and brought forth all his ki, his desperation, and his contempt. He had never used so much in a single attack; he felt that his hand could explode at any moment. Finally, he released it. "Dodonpa!"
Kakarot brought his hands forward to stop the attack. Fool, he should have dodged. The monkey-tailed boy screamed and emitted a ki pulse that blocked most of the Dodonpa's impact, which blew into a cloud of smoke. In an instant, he crossed the training yard and sank his fist into Chiaotzu's guts. The air was forced out of him, and he lost consciousness.
Kakarot contemplated with a smile the fall of his opponent. He could have killed him so easily, but it was not the time yet. Even so, Chiaotzu would feel in his flesh the pain of this defeat for a while.
"Congratulations, Kakarot," the Crane Hermit said. "You have proven to be up to the challenge before you. But your training has only just begun. There's still a lot you need to learn before you can count yourself among the ranks of the best, and from now on, Tenshinhan will be the one to show you the way to the top."
At his right, Tenshinhan looked at his unconscious friend with disappointment. "With pleasure, Master," the three-eyed boy said, his voice oozing poison.
No, Kakarot thought, the pleasure will be all mine in the end.