Capítulo 31: The tournament continues
Durian has disappeared from the backroom when Kakarot's match has started, surprising the others who had expected her to be the first one to cheer their friend on. They look around for her, wondering if she simply decided to find a corner to sit and eat or something, but she's truly nowhere to be found and the match starts before they can find her. She could have slipped away and gone into the crowd, but that's unlikely since Durian doesn't like crowds. If she did slip into the crowd there must be a good reason for her to make herself uncomfortable.
Climbing onto the wall overlooking the match, Chichi and Krillin scan the gathered crowd in search of blue hair. If Durian did slip away into the crowd of people she would have done it for Bulma. They've seen Durian do things she wouldn't normally do when it involves Bulma so it wouldn't be much of a surprise. But then they do find Bulma in the crowd and there is no Durian. Bulma stands alone with Puar drifting on the right side of her.
"Where did she go?" Krillin wonders after searching some more but had to give up when he couldn't keep his eyes off the current match. Kakarot is letting Tien get some hits in, he matches him in everything and takes the time to enjoy the match. He makes it seem as if they are of similar power and talent and that puts a smile on Tien's face.
"Maybe she has something to take care of" Chichi suggests, eyes moving to keep up with the fight and simply waiting for Kakarot to put Tien in the ground. From what she's gathered, Tien fights by going for pressure points as he usually shapes his hand like the beak of a bird - a crane - and strikes calculated parts on his opponent's body. That idea is scrapped sometime later because she doesn't think he's going for pressure points exactly - she's seen Durian do it once or twice and it always resulted in some serious damage. But Tien's actions are close.
"Still looking for Durian?" asks Yamcha from where he leans against the wall.
"Yeah, she just disappeared"
"And she's not with Bulma" Chichi adds. "Why leave if she's not going to Bulma?"
Yamcha chuckles to himself. It's funny how they quickly assume the only reason Durian would leave is to see Bulma. Perhaps she did go to see Bulma and just has to do something else before going to her. He'll admit he was a bit jealous of Durian when he realized that Bulma would never give him the time of day as long as Durian's around to keep her interest. He loses his fear of women and the first one he takes interest in is obviously more focused on someone else. Kinda hurt, to be honest.
Ah, but it's Durian, he can't be salty. He had gotten over it quickly which proves that he has changed far more than he had first believed. In the past he would have attempted something - he's not sure what - but he would have attempted something.
Besides they balance each other out perfectly, he wouldn't have been a good match for Bulma anyway.
Now the only thing that bothers him is the fact they're not together. Or maybe they are and he doesn't notice because of how they usually are around each other.
"That Dodon ray is kinda cool" Krillin interrupts his musing and brings his attention back to the fight. "Kinda like finger guns"
"I'm more amazed by the fact he can fly," says Chichi, adding her opinion. "Must be a crane school technique"
"Give it a day or two," says Yamcha, amused and a bit smug. "Maybe even a few hours. It won't take long for Kakarot and Durian to figure it out"
"Oh no, I've already figured it out"
Krillin startles and hits his head on the wall while Chichi gives him a pitying glance. Durian's sudden appearance had surprised her as well but with everything she's been through with her, she couldn't react as visibly to her scare. Even Yamcha's hardly affected and simply raises a brow at her sudden appearance.
She's eating corn dogs.
"You left for corn dogs?"
"No, this is just a bonus" she replies smiling. "It's quite good"
"Why did you leave then?"
"I went to play some games" is her answer. "I've won many soft toys"
"Really, that's what you left for?" Of all the things Durian could have gone off to do, she decided she wanted to acquire a collection of plushies.
"Yes," she nods. "Bulma likes them so I'm trying to test a theory of mine"
Ah, okay, now it makes better sense for her and Yamcha attempts to hide his laugh behind a cough.
"And what's this theory?"
"I don't think Bulma would appreciate it if I told you" Durian replies and takes another bite off her corn dog, grinning. "Oh this is a good corn dog, I should ask the stall owner for the recipe"
The topic of her disappearance ends there apparently, because she soon joins the others on the wall to watch the fight.
Then Krillin speaks.
"Hey, you said you already figured out how they fly?"
"Yes" she doesn't elaborate further and Krillin has to nudge her for her to continue. "That triclops uses ki, but I think the smaller one uses his telekinetic powers. You basically use your ki to lift off"
She can't do it yet, she admits, but she'll attempt it when she gets the time.
The match between Kakarot and Tien takes a sudden turn when Tien attempted to break Kakarot's arm. That did not work out well for him because Kakarot let him twist his arm, grinning when Tien's eyes widen and quickly twists his body to land a kick to Tien's now exposed stomach. That one blow alone must have packed the power of a hundred because Tien looks on the verge of unconsciousness while Kakarot simply twists his arm with a swift movement, setting anything that's been dislocated back where they need to be.
Tien attempts to regain himself by standing up, but only wobbles and stumbles like a drunk, and Kakarot simply watches.
"Oh man," Krillin cringes at the sight. "I would have died right there"
This is where Durian would've landed a solid blow to the chin or head and finished the match. With how much he's struggling right now, that's all it would take to end it all, but of course, Kakarot gives him the time to recover.
"Would he throw him a damn senzu if he had one?" Durian scoffs and mellows after another bite of her corn dog.
The first thing that happens when Tien recovers is a blinding light that hurts to look at. Blinking her vision back Durian rubs at her eye while she focuses back on the ring and Kakarot who balances at the end of the ring with a very relieved sigh.
The idiot, he almost fell out.
"Kakarot!" Durian shouts. Kakarot doesn't take his eyes off Tien but it's obvious he heard her. "Stop messing around and finish this!"
The boy releases another sigh and slowly adopts a more offensive stance and Tien realizes that he had merely been a toy to the smaller.
Tien couldn't stop Kakarot if he wanted to, not with how fast he had moved and not with how powerful that fist is. He hits him right in the temple and the effect is almost instant. He's out like a light after that and he's bound to wake up with a terrible headache.
"Again, I would have died right there" Krillin repeats as the winner is announced and Kakarot makes his way back.
"That was fun," he says.
"I bet it was"
~~~~~~~~~
Krillin is in trouble, isn't he? He can't help but think he's in trouble as he stands opposite a very calm Chichi. He's calm too, there's no reason to be anything else in the face of a friend and training partner. He's sure he knows the way she fights like he knows the back of his hand and yet he can't help but feel a bit wary. If Chichi wins this she gets to fight Kakarot and Krillin knows this must be some great motivation for her, especially since Kakarot had brought it up so innocently. But Krillin knows better, that smile and look in Kakarot's eyes was in no way innocent. He knows what he's doing. He knows damn well that he's lighting a fire under Chichi which will likely result in Krillin taking some damages.
He cannot lose here. He won't lose in the finals for the second time in a row even if it's to another friend. But Chichi has lost in the finals as well and she likely has the same thoughts as him. Couple that with her motivation to fight Kakarot again and Krillin has the right to be wary.
The match begins and neither of them moves. Chichi would spend more time with Durian when she was around with them and has adopted some of her movements and techniques so when Chichi shifts one foot behind her, Krillin is immediately on alert. And when she moves, faster than he had ever seen her, he readies for what is bound to come.
He tanks the blow, almost regretting it when the impact sends a shock through his body and he realizes that Chichi's also taken Durian's habit of charging her blows with ki to make up for her lack of strength. Durian isn't physically weak, per se. She can lift impossible things with ease, but she's noticeably weaker than Kakarot and Yamcha, and to make up for this she expels more ki by infusing her fists and legs.
It's a dangerous thing that Chichi has now started to use.
He's lucky he didn't break an arm and ignores the pain in favor of retaliating with a headbutt that connects.
Chichi stumbles away from him with a curse and cradles her nose carefully while glaring at him
"What is it with you and breaking people's noses?"
It's not an intentional thing really, plus he knows that a broken nose should hurt enough to be a bit of a distraction in fights. Not like he would ever truly know.
Chichi's a violent person so he knows to slip past as many of her punches and kicks as he can and he knows to be extra alert to her movements. He's not sure why, but her movements make him think of a serpent. A slithering and quiet way that always bothered him and has his senses working extra. When he's in her space after landing a quick one-two, she slips past him with such fluid motions that have him confused for just a moment. He twists as soon as she's gone and ducks away from the ki blast aimed at him and targets her exposed stomach.
He apologizes silently.
Another good place to strike is the stomach.
To his surprise, Chichi pushes past the pain and he's stuck in the chest with an open palm which is quickly followed by a kick to the thigh. He's down on one knee and narrowly escapes a knee to the face and quickly scrambles away from her before she can do anything else.
"Beat his ass!" He hears Durian cheer and feels a stab in the chest for such clear favoritism.
Chichi gags now and hunches over.
"Damn it Krillin" she wheezes, shakes her head, and stands up straight. That blow to the stomach hurt and it still does but she has no time for that.
Krillin would like to think that they're even now after she's struck him in the thigh. When he stands the pain shoots through his body with a shock. Yeah, they're pretty even.
"No more messing around"
"Right"
While the spectators had the pleasure of watching the match up to this point, when the turtle school students put an end to the games the onlookers had no hope of following the match, and much like the fight between Kakarot and Tien, they are at a loss for what's happening but amazed in the face of such skill. Even Shen could hardly keep up and that realization, paired with the defeat of his school and the death of his brother to the tiger he's beyond furious. How can the turtle school be better than him? Not just the turtle school but the tiger school? The tiger school does not even have a master anymore and only one practitioner. This should not be possible, and yet he stands here with zero wins and every loss.
If Bulma were not used to her friends' ridiculous powers she would have been frustrated right now. Again she's left blind to the match with only a few glimpses of what's happening. Chichi had her legs around Krillin's neck and had used her weight and momentum to throw him into the ring and Bulma had winced at the sight. Krillin had feint a punch, twisted his body for a kick, feinted again, and threw Chichi over his shoulder.
They're a blur once more.
"Shall I help you follow the match?"
To say Bulma was surprised would be an understatement because she's certain she almost threw up her heart. Durian stands behind her, smiling when Bulma glares and that expression doesn't change when she's punched in the chest.
"Ow" is her monotone and somewhat mocking response to the assault.
"Durian" annoyed and embarrassed Bulma runs a hand through her already messed up hair. "You scared the hell out of me"
"I'm sorry"
"No, you're not" Bulma bristles. Durian hadn't even attempted to sound sorry. "What are you doing here?"
"Felt like it" she shrugs. "Now that I'm here, I can help you keep up with them"
That so? Is she going to narrate what's happening for her?
"How?"
"I'll teach you," Durian says and easily turns Bulma to face the match with hands on her hips. "Okay, so, first things first; you've gotta relax"
"That seems to be the first step for everything" Bulma recalls.
"Things go better when you're not tense" is Durian's explanation and Bulma has to believe her. So far everything Durian has attempted to teach her has been a success - so obviously it works. "Now relax"
Bulma wants to say something snarky but swallows her words and complies. Durian used to annoy her when she just told her to relax because it's not easy to just relax because someone told you to. Now it's fairly easy, especially when Durian still has her hands on her hips.
"Now what?"
Durian hums, pleased.
"Close your eyes"
"This seems counterproductive"
"Close your eyes, bunny" Durian repeats, just as gently and just as pleased.
Bulma tries to aggravate her sometimes, but Durian has never been affected and would only smile which aggravates Bulma for completely different reasons.
With a huff, Bulma shuts her eyes and awaits further instruction. She feels as if she's made a mistake here because closing her eyes just makes her more aware of Durian's presence, which while quite pleasing, can be a bit distracting and Durian doesn't make it better by pulling her into her.
"Lately we've been attempting to sense ki," she says now, quiet between the murmur of the crowd but with her proximity, Bulma hears her perfectly. "You've gotten it a bit, and we'll use that here"
"I can't n sense ki yet, Durian" Bulma reminds her because it appears Durian believes she can.
"Yes you can," she says simply. "You did it already"
"That was once"
"You've done it multiple times" Durian replies. "You don't even realize it"
Bulma doubts it but doesn't voice her opinion.
"To sense ki, you have to identify it within others as you have yourself. That's why it's important to be familiar with your ki. While the ki of others are not the same as yours, there is an element that makes it familiar, that's what you're reaching for"
Durian's voice is soothing for some reason. It keeps Bulma calm, makes it easier to focus.
She's done this before so now she simply needs to latch back onto the feeling and go from there.
It doesn't take quite long, a minute at most before her senses have found something else and as always when she does such things the feeling is odd, but not unpleasant. It becomes clearer to her with each second until she can almost see what's happening despite her eyes being closed, and she understands now how Durian always knows what's going on when she wears the blindfold. It's as if she knows where Chichi and Krillin will be before they're there.
"Got it?"
Bulma nods, never sure how Durian tends to know when she's done something.
"And now you open your eyes and watch the fight," Durian says, guiding. "Don't try too hard, it makes harder"
In other words, relax.
And so, following Durian's instructions, Bulma opens her eyes and for a moment nothing has changed and she still cannot keep up with what's happening in front of her. Slowly, but surely she gets a better grasp of it and starts following. She doesn't catch everything, but she isn't as unaware.
"Oh"
"See you've done it" Durian sounds proud. "Keep this up and sensing ki will come as easy as breathing"
It is odd to suddenly have another sense, but it comes naturally enough with how Durian has been helping her. Perhaps she has been using this ability unconsciously. Durian seems convinced and she tends to be right about these things.
"Here you go" Durian offers her a small stuffed toy and Bulma's not sure why she hadn't seen the thing before. Durian presents it so proudly too, with an almost childish smile.
"You played all the games, didn't you?" Bulma deadpans but accepts the small toy.
"Sure did" again, she's proud of her achievement. "Every time you advance in your training you'll be rewarded another stuffed toy. You seem to like them so I figured they'd be great trophies"
Durian does the most simple things oftentimes and they can be very endearing. They're just stuffed toys and while Bulma likes them, it's the fact that Durian took the time to play every game to win some toys for her that has her suppressing an embarrassing reaction.
It's terrible she's actually considering marrying her because of some stuffed toys.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chichi ends up winning the match through sheer will and determination and Krillin can barely manage to get up off the floor in his exhaustion. In the end, Chichi had used his height - lack thereof - to her advantage and he's not sure if he's mad or if he feels bullied for his height. Chichi had also targeted every weak spot on the human body, which is one of the reasons he's still on the floor. He had attempted to stand but his knees buckled and his thighs hurt. He can barely move his arms without them stinging and just breathing has his chest screaming in pain. While Chichi had won, she was barely doing any better than him and had collapsed the second she was announced the winner.
"Can we get some medics up here?" The announcer calls hesitantly as he hovers over the two.
"Ha, I won" Chichi laughs weakly and Krillin sighs painfully.
"Next time, you'll see"
He's lost again and he's not too happy about it. He needs to train even harder than he had before because he does not plan on keeping this losing streak. On the other hand, he's proud of Chichi as winning this match shows how far she's come from when she had first started training. She was a complete newbie compared to the rest of them, but she's caught up quite quickly and fights as if she had always been practicing the skill.
"Good job," he says after some time, grinning and he hears Chichi laugh.
"Thanks" is Chichi's breathless reply.
They're placed in the infirmary and it takes no time at all for their friends to pour in and they're all smiles, especially Durian and Kakarot.
"What do you know?" Durian snickers, far too happy with either herself or the results of the match. "She did it"
"Yes, she did" Kakarot wears the same expression on his face and comes off as a smug child. "Feels good doesn't it? You started as the worst of us and now you're beating us"
"It was just Krillin"
"I take full offense to that" Krillin squacks. "I've been training my ass off and you know it. And I was this close to victory but you're too damn sneaky"
"Swift, precise and calculating" Durian lists off with nods of pride. "Maybe I should take you on as a tiger student. I can't be the only one forever"
"Hey, you turned me down when I asked" Kakarot quickly complains and earns a slap to the back of his head.
"You're fighting style makes you completely incompatible" Durian reminds him. "But Chichi has been adopting most of my movements and way of fighting since she's started training, so her way of fighting makes her suited to learn the tiger arts"
Kakarot grumbles something
"And she has patience"
With that said Durian goes through the pouch the group only now notices around her waist and produces two familiar beans.
"Eat up"
She knew it was a splendid idea to farm these magical beans.
"Durian, you're a lifesaver" Krillin praises as he sits up fully recovered.
"Not the profession I'm going for, but thank you"
"Chichi I challenge you to a rematch when we're back home. We couldn't go all out here or we would have destroyed the place" Krillin declares.
"Yeah sure, I've got something I've been playing with anyway" Chichi agrees with a big stretch and sigh. "Thank everything for those beans"
Kakarot agrees wholely because it prevented him from repeating the last tournament with his opponent not fully recovered. Well, Chichi's case would've been far better than Durian's.
Before the next match starts they're supposed to be interviewed as the finalists.
Here we go again
They're ushered into the ring to stand near the announcer and all eyes are quickly on them and Durian recalls the last time she had been placed before a crowd like this.
"This year our semifinalists are all students under the same school" the blond man announces to the crowd and then looks at Durian. "Somewhat"
Fair enough.
"So how do you guys feel about having to fight your friends?" The mic is held towards Yamcha first, who shrugs.
"It's fun, you know? I get to fight Durian, which is a rematch I've been looking forward to for years" Yamcha confesses with an easy smile and laid-back posture. "I can't wait to rip her a new one"
Oh, he knows he's likely to lose with how Durian fights, but he also knows he won't be as pathetic as he was the first time he had faced her. He had been cocky, cowardly and had underestimated her because she was some lonesome kid in the desert.
"And how do you feel about his challenge, Durian?"
Durian looks at the mic just as she had the first time and shrugs. "Excited and looking forward to it. Haven't fought him in years and he's a hundred times better than what he was then, so this is bound to be fun"
A compliment from Durian, what do you know? Yamcha can't help but feel very accomplished.
Kakarot and Chichi are asked questions about their upcoming match as well as their last and neither of them are quite fond of speaking into the mic so that's over quickly. The announcer sure has fun with these interviews.
"You all were a lot a younger the last time you were here" he recalls, almost finely. "Kakarot here is our youngest winner in the history of the tournament. And he and his friends were the youngest participants and they all made it to the final eight and they've repeated their amazing progress this year"
"How old are you all now?"
"I'm officially a man at nineteen years" Yamcha boasts proudly to the other's amusement.
Some girls do fawn over him which, funnily enough, has him flustered.
"I'm fifteen now," Chichi says and Kakarot nods along, being the same age as her.
"And our dear Durian" an arm rests over Durian's shoulder and she quirks a brow. "You were a fan favorite you know? At fourteen you fought an old master of the arts and survived a killer attack. Not to mention your reputation amongst the women, eh?"
Really?
"I'm seventeen" she'll be eighteen within some months.
"Still an amazing cook and engineer?"
"Oh most definitely, though I do think I've gotten better in the engineering department"
"An eligible bachelor if I've ever seen one" the blond man laughs and pats her shoulder.
"No" Is Durian's deadpan response. "I'm very much not eligible and I'm sorry to whoever that disappoints"
"Oh?" The announcer reels back, surprised and beyond pleased at such an opportunity. "Tell me more"
"No"
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