บท 8: Interesting battles
Just as I had expected, Yamcha doesn't stand half a chance against Master Roshi. Everything he throws at him never lands are is dodged gracefully by the experienced fighter. The fight hardly lasts five minutes even when Yamcha uses his incredible wolf fang fist. Master Roshi just dodges it, surprised but not distracted, and quickly knocks Yamcha right out of the ring. Yamcha is as surprised as everyone else when Master Roshi all but slaps him out of the ring and into a wall before anyone could even think to blink. Master Roshi is the victor, moving on to fight in the next round, which is a bit troubling since his next opponent will be me.
Can I beat him?
A good question as Master Roshi had been training as well, though he thinks he had kept this training a secret from us. Currently, I could have handled him when we had first met, however, him having trained during our time on the Island makes him stronger than me, as had likely been his goal. As Master, he wants to be stronger than his students, if only to show that there will always be someone stronger. It is something my Master does as well, never allowing me to surpass him. Though he would complain about my adaptability as it makes it harder on him. With how I learn he has to train as hard as me to keep up and he was a bit lazy like that.
"You're fighting him in the next round, right Durian?" Asks Chichi, her eyes still on the ring as Master Roshi returns to the waiting room with us, and Namu and Lan - Fan enter the ring.
"Unfortunately" I sigh.
"Master Roshi has gotten stronger over the past few months" Kakarot mumbles. "He's been training in secret, that old man"
He seems both displeased and happy with this discovery. I think he's joyous because it means he has another strong fighter to look forward to.
The fight between Namu and Lan-Fan is something to behold simply because it's so odd. Well, scandalous seems to be the best word to use here. While the match had started somewhat normally, with this girl showing off some decent skill and flirting here and there, things quickly escalated when she flat out stripped in front of us all, remaining only in her underwear. I'm starting to understand how she had gotten this far into the tournament, as stripping surely works as an amazing distraction in her favor. That's a very dirty trick, however, she is using what she has as a weapon, so I guess it's not entirely terrible. It's less than dishonorable, however.
Namu, you must pull through, my friend. Fight the monster that is lust and pervertedness. Ignore the almost naked woman in front of you no matter how beautiful she is.
"Durian," Chichi says my name with more disappointment than my mother had ever felt for me. When I look at her I can read the disappointment on her face as she sighs. "You have a nosebleed"
Okay? And why is that disappointing? I had been punched in the nose a while back and hadn't exactly fixed it just y-
Oh.
Oh, I get it.
"It's not what you think" I quickly try to wipe the blood away as if that would make me more convincing, falling to the floor when I do so. "Krillin punched me in the nose, remember? I haven't taken care of it yet, so it is expected to bleed"
She stares at me for a moment too long, having to debate whether or not she should believe me. I feel insulted that she would even think I would be such a pervert. To leer at a woman like that - no matter how beautiful - is simply immoral. I would never do such a thing and the fact that Chichi assumes I would is almost painful.
"Sorry" she apologizes after a long silence. "You were just staring for a long time"
I was?
"I was just mentally encouraging Namu to win this match" I explain honestly. "Losing in such a manner wouldn't be very fun, you know. And I don't very much support Lan-Fan's ways"
"Okay, I just thought you might find women attractive" Chichi shrugs. "It would only make sense"
"I feel I should be offended"
"Sorry if you are"
I say nothing further, simply returning to my spot on the wall, ignoring the questioning look on Kakarot's face as if he had just come to. For all I know that entire situation hadn't been picked up by him by how focused he was. Any fight is a fight worth observing when it comes to Kakarot, so he would treat this one no differently.
When I cast my attention back on the fight, Namu is on the edge of the ring, just barely remaining on his feet through will and incredible balance alone. The near-naked woman has clearly affected him as it has many men watching, especially old man Roshi. I'm surprised he doesn't burst out in a stream of blood.
Come on Namu, you can do it.
He's almost panicking, trying to look at anything and everything except Lan-Fan and not knowing what to do in this situation. Then he quickly snaps his eyes shut, taking deep breaths. Oh, is he about to fight with eyes closed? Good play, good play. The question is whether or not he can pull that off.
When Lan-Fan jabs at him, he jumps over her entirely, landing behind her and chopping her in the neck swiftly.
"Yes!" I cheer when she falls down unconscious.
"That was an interesting match" Kakarot comments, descending to the floor and doing some stretches, a smile blooming on his face. "And now it's my turn"
"I feel as if I'll end up worst than Krillin" Chichi admits to me, nervous about fighting Kakarot of all people.
"Most likely" I do nothing to ease her fears and she shoots me a somewhat dejected look.
"I have been waiting to fight you for some time now, I can't wait to see how much stronger you've become" Kakarot reveals, his smile only growing bigger.
Of course, those are the thoughts running through his head.
"You know what Chichi" I pull her aside before Kakarot can say anything else. "Just do your best, you're stronger than you think and I think you've got some amazing skills up your sleeve"
She's far more confident in her abilities than Krillin, but the fact that she has to face Kakarot must be nerve-wracking. Despite it all, I do believe she's a bit excited for the fight if only to prove herself and even impress the boy. Being the person he is and being so in love with fighting, he's likely to be very impressed if he sees that Chichi has some skills.
And I make sure to point that out.
"Now you're embarrassing me" she mumbles with a red face.
"Oh come on, I'm just saying, okay" I pat her head and I can't help but want to laugh. "He's a simple boy, I'm telling you. If you are strong-willed, feisty, and can fight, it's a done deal, believe me"
I come to understand people at incredible rates to the point I don't have to know them a week to understand how they operate. Kakarot had been far more tricky to understand than anyone else, but having spent eight months with him and learning more of what Saiyans are I got the hang of it. The reason he became friends with me so quickly is because I showed that I had strength, beating him quite easily the first time around. Saiyans seem to like strong people a lot, so he took to me quickly. So of course with that in mind, if Chichi impresses Kakarot he'll be far more interested In her from then on out.
Logic
I hope I'm right here though.
"Go out there and do everything you can," I say to Chichi as encouragingly as I can. "Remember raw strength doesn't decide the winner, not all the time, technique, skill and strategy can give you an advantage over most opponents"
Chichi nods, determined.
"Can we go get cotton candy after this?" She asks just before she leaves with the cutest look I have ever seen on her face.
"You had to use to puppy eyes, huh?"
~~~~~~~~
The crowd is lost as they try to watch the fight between Kakarot and Chichi, but I'm sure they can hardly see them zip by and that makes me incredibly proud. Chichi and I got along splendidly during the eight months of training and the younger would often come to me for extra training when she felt she was falling behind us all. She was the only one of us four to have no martial arts experience or training before training under Roshi, so she couldn't help but feel a bit weak compared to us. I accepted her with open arms, gladly teaching her a thing or two that I know. I have taught her to move without sound, something I believe to be very useful. I have also done my part in training her in speed. Speed is one of the things I excel at and she noticed this, having asked me to help her become faster. The thing here is that Chichi is close to surpassing me when it comes to speed, which is surprising. But because of this, she is far faster than Kakarot. Mind you, she is weaker than him by a good amount, but she's faster by a great amount. If Kakarot can't catch her, he can't land deciding attacks, while Chichi can, so for the moment the match is in her favor
When Kakarot goes for the attack, chichi is no longer in front of him, instead behind him with an open palm to the back.
"Hehehehe, yeah" that came from me, I'm sure. I'm the only one who uses palm strikes. "Way to go"
Chichi is practically a blur to the eye, never staying on one spot too long, lest Kakarot gets her in a lock and end the match just like that. As for Kakarot, despite hardly getting the chance to touch his opponent, the boy is smiling this toothy thing, clearly excited by the battle. Knowing Kakarot he's going to pull some stunt that will change the tide of the battle in his favor and I'm hoping Chichi can keep this lead she has. It would be amazing if she won this fight.
A particular blow from Chichi sends Kakarot almost out of the ring, to my surprise. The boy almost tumbles out, standing on the edge of his toes and quickly diving in before Chichi can rush to push him out. He ends up tackling her to the floor and this is troublesome because he can and likely will overpower her. He gets Chichi in a headlock and I believe this might be the end because if he holds it long enough she can pass out and that might be the goal if Kakarot wishes. And Chichi struggles, not strong enough to break the lock despite having her hands between his arms and her neck, something I had done when Kakarot had me in this same position. She really watches and learns. But then she moves her hands from between them, suffocating all the more in favor propelling herself over Kakarot's head, bringing them both back to the floor and slipping free. Her action must have loosened his grip somehow for her to break free.
She's panting like a dog, Kakarot looks absolutely surprised and I am damn near ecstatic with how things are going. She's putting up a better fight than she thought she would, and that realization must be what has her suddenly smiling back at Kakarot.
"You've been hanging out with Durian, haven't you?" Kakarot says with his own smile.
"Here and there"
He chuckles.
"Well, this is going far better than I had expected" he admits. "I knew you were strong and I was hoping you would put up a good fight, but this is impressive"
It sure as hell is, she can win this.
He's impressed with her just as I had told her he would be and she's blushing, but not letting her guard down. That's good. If there is one thing I have stressed when helping her out is that no matter what you must never let your guard down.
Kakarot doesn't say anything more, just stands there in his position, or so it seems to everyone else. Because I can clearly tell that he left an afterimage with how swiftly he had moved just a moment ago, shocking because that's incredible speed I haven't seen from him before.
No matter.
He's once more surprised when Chichi dodges his attack from above and uses his moment of distraction to charge him
"Whoa"
I glance next to me to find Krillin who has finally decided to return to the waiting room.
"She knew where he was coming from?"
"Naturally" I'm smug here. "She's been training with me to be faster and I'm the fastest of us four so you can expected that Chichi is faster than both you and Kakarot"
The after-image technique is basically the ability to move so swiftly there's an image of the user where they once stood. The technique is just a show of speed and when it comes to speed Kakarot is not faster than me and Chichi has had to deal with my speed for months now. With the display of this technique it's safe to assume that Kakarot is actually on parr if not having surpassed Chichi's speed already, but again, Chichi has had to deal with my speed. So even if she isn't the fastest of the two anymore, she can still predict where Kakarot will be coming from.
Kakarot performs ns the technique a few more times, almost every one of his attacks either dodged or blocked by Chichi who can somewhat keep up with his movements, even better with what she can sense of his ki. At some point Kakarot discards the ability altogether instead just going head on against Chichi once more, this time not allowing her to dance around him.
I wince when he strikes her three times consecutively, attacks she could not escape, and attacks that held incredible force. The blows have her stumbling on her feet, but not backing down. She charges him again, wincing from whatever pain she must feel. Kakarot strikes once more, she sidesteps, leading his attack away from her and slipping into his personal space for a fist to the gut.
If they're stronger, redirect them and use their momentum against them to create an opening.
I'm starting to feel like an amazing teacher.
But Kakarot, that insufferable boy, finds a way to block her and kick her in the side with enough force to have her flying across the ring and freaking out of it.
"Dammit, Kakarot!"
"And there you have it, folks -"
I tune the announcer out in favor of going to Chichi, Kakarot doing the same after he had been announced the winner. Chichi is in a far better state than she had expected to be, only suffering some pain in certain areas just like Krillin. Though hers seem to be a tad bit more severe as she winces terribly when we touch anywhere that hurts.
"Congratulations Kakarot," she says to the victor once I get her on her feet.
"Thanks" he smirks. "How about you win next time? Because you were amazing, you surprised me there. I thought for sure the after image technique would throw you off, but you obviously proved me wrong"
She's a blushing mess and doesn't seem to know what to say, so I save her the embarrassment.
"How about you let me carry her off to seek medical help, eh?"
~~~~~~~~
"So Durian, you seem to be good friends with Kakarot here, what's the history?"
There's a mic in my face after the blonde man finished questioning Kakarot next to me. I had not expected an interview, but then again it made quite a bit of sense to get to know the last remaining contestants. The crowd is quiet now, wanting to hear my reply to the question and wanting to know what exactly's the deal with both our incredible strength. Well they already assume we're this strong because of our training under Roshi, and they would be right, I suppose.
"A spontaneous meeting and decision led to us training under the great Master Roshi for a few months so we became pretty good friends," I say honestly with a shrug which prompts another question.
"You trained under the turtle school as well, but for some reason, you have an entirely different gi" the announcer brings to notice.
"That's because I first trained under the tiger school" I reply. "I've got the turtle school kanji on my back, however, so I'm representing both schools here"
"Tiger school, eh?" He fixes the glasses on his face. "There was mention of that some years ago, the tiger school was said to rival the turtle school once, but no one has heard much of this or the incredible Master Lao"
Well no, because he's dead.
I keep that to myself, despite the questioning.
"Alright then Durian" the man is quite eccentric, I note. "The people are very curious about you and want to know a bit more, so, any talents besides martial arts?"
From the way, some of those girls are watching me I assume when he says "people" he means the females who are fooled by my appearance. I should clear this misunderstanding up and point out that I am a girl myself and just happen to appear male, but as always I don't actually do that.
Talents, what are my talents?
"I am an incredible cook and engineer" I decided. "Well not an incredible engineer, at least I don't think I'm that good, let's just that I'm a decent engineer and incredible cook"
For some reason, my Master had stressed the ability to cook as if it would cost me my life one day. He encouraged me to learn to cook and become an amazing one at that and when I started I quite enjoyed it, so I try my best when it comes to cooking. As for engineering, well, that was learned from my parents. They were quite genius in that department and I often wonder why they did not start their own company instead of working for whoever it was they were working for. They never told me who they worked for but they earned some good money.
"An incredible cook? Well I do believe the ladies will be lining up for ya"
I'm just gonna ignore that.
The interviews move on to Master Roshi who sings this rediculous song with a dance that's just as stupid
But soon enough we move on to the next matches and I end up in the ring with the famous master Roshi.
"Well, it has come to this"
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