6 The 22nd World Martial Arts Tournamen (2/2)
”Tien! You FOOL!” Master Shen yelled from the stands.
The beam collided with another blast.
Tien had fired his own Kamehameha an now the two were in a beam struggle. Master Shen had tried to warn his student because he would not be able gather enough Ki in time. Even if he could gather the Ki needed his legs were not in a condition to hold up long under the force.
Kakarot exerted a little more force and Tien's legs buckled forcing him to receive the Kamehameha wave with his chest. The explosion forced him out of the ring, rendering him unconscious.
”Kakarot Wins!” the announcer was going crazy. The crowd decided to join him because judging by the shouts and cheers they went crazy, too.
”Next up we have the returning champion Raditz versus the Mysterious Rookie!” my fight was finally announced. I sensed my opponent was going to be powerful in fact he might be as strong as the bio-man Kishime. Soon I was going to find out who this guy really was.
”Go Raditz!” I heard a familiar voice in the stands. Following the sound I saw Bulma sitting with old man Gohan, Roshi, Oolong, and Puar. I gave her a small wave and smirk before turning to face my enemy.
”Fight!” the signal was given.
My red cloaked foe and I vanished before the crowd's eyes. Explosive collisions could be heard around the stadium.
”Don't worry folks! We are switching to our new high speed tracking cameras, courtesy of our sponsor Capsule Corp!” the announcer reassured the audience. Our images appeared on the large flat screen. The audience was now privy to the battle taking place above the ring.
”Amazing even the latest high speed cameras are having trouble catching everything!” the tournament's blonde MC was once again losing his mind.
I was forced way from my opponent by a sudden invisible blast. The red cloaked guy used a Kiai blast on me. The skill amounted to a repealing blast of air mostly used for knock backs. In retaliation I launched an explosive ball of Ki towards the rookie. We both quickly landed after the explosion. The red cloak had become a charred mess.
Feeling it was no longer necessary my opponent snatched the cloak off and tossed it to the ground. I was now facing a short-statured green skinned creature that bore a strong resemblance to a Saibaman. If I wasn't mistaken the guy I was fighting is one of Garlic Jr.'s henchmen.
”I'm impressed it seems investigating this tournament was the right call.” the creature said. ”Too bad I can't let you live now that you have proven yourself to be this powerful. I'll have to get serious. Be happy that you will die at the hands of Ginger.”
”If you think you can kill me do it!” I shouted.
When we resumed our combat the Saibaman lookalike had the speed advantage. Before I knew it I was getting hit around in a triangle pattern. I was sent from ring to the sky then kicked to the side and back down to the ring. After he was done taking me on a tour of the stadium I was slammed into the ring harder than Kakarot did earlier.
The speed at which I exited the crater left me a blur of motion even to the cameras. In the air the guy that threatened me was chuckling. It looked like I was going to have to go all out in my first battle of this tournament. I removed my bracers and armor tossing them out of the ring. When they hit the ground they sunk into the dirt.
That was when I made my move.
Boosting my speed to my limits, I rocketed back into the air. Ginger lost track of me to his detriment. The increase in my speed happened too suddenly for him to adjust. The look of surprise on Ginger's face when I punched him gave me some satisfaction. I vanished after the strike only to appear in the trajectory Ginger was flying. After, turning in a front flip to deliver a downward kick at my opponent's head I vanished again.
The audience watched me standing in the middle of the ring waiting for Ginger to arrive. At the moment he was going to impact the ring I used a spinning side kick. The blow sent Ginger careening out of the ring. He cut a trench all the way to the far wall.
”Raditz wins by ring out!” the announcer declared.
He still had the ability to get up after what I did. His face wore a look of pure hatred. After appear back in the ring. He spit a small amount of purple blood onto the white marbled surface of the ring.
”This could have been easy now you are going to suffer.” he declared. ”Gingerbread!”
I sensed a massive build up of Ki within Ginger. The sounds of stretching and tear could be heard as Ginger's muscles expanded and his height increased.
I had completely forgot Garlic Jr. and is cronies could transform like that.
Ginger unleashed a furious assault against me. I took way more hits than I was able to block. The sounds of the impacts radiated through the arena. The audience was confused by what was happening some of screams of panic could be heard.
”Ladies and Gentleman the rookie contestant has broken the rules and is now out for blood! This isn't for show! The blood lusted rookie has stated he was actually going to kill Raditz!” I had to give it to him the blonde MC took his job serious.
Some of the other fighters debated trying to help me.
”That thing might be strong, but Raditz can handle it.” Kakarot stated with his eyes trained on the ring.
It was took me longer than I expected to track the Ki flow through Ginger's body. If he was more humanoid internally it would have been easier, because I have had more opportunities to study a human's Ki flow. When Ginger transformed the output of his energy rose drastically enough for me to see its flow in its entirety.
Ginger threw a straight left towards my face. I angled my right forearm up to deflect the strike which left Ginger exposed just long enough for...
”Ata! Atatatata!” my arms were blurs as I struck over fifty points on my enemy. He tried to hit me with a side kick, but I ducked and spun circling around to his back to continue the assault. After I struck an addition fifty points I jump back away from Ginger to catch my breath. ”The Hundred Crack Fist of the North Galaxy!”
”Ha, you must have lost your mind to think punches that weak would hurt me.” Ginger had no end of confidence.
”Laugh all you want you're already dead.” I declared. At least I hoped he was already dead. The only thing I could test this on was Mr. Popo's puppet clone of me.
Ginger tried to take a step towards me when his face contorted pain. The horrible cracking sound of breaking bones could be heard. Fissures leaking blood appeared on the surface of Ginger's skin.
Flames seemed to erupt from the fissures as Ginger's appearance became more desiccated. The blue flames engulfed Ginger cooking him until he was dust.
When I fought Kishime in Dr. Wheelo's lab I disabled him using a Ki needle. It gave me the idea thought that it might be possible to replicate Hokuto Shinken. Each strike I delivered with the technique inserts a very thin innocuous Ki needle directly into the Ki flow of my opponents in one hundred different points in their bodies.
At first the needles would act as a dam causing a build up of Ki at those blocked points. Next the needles explode simultaneously cause the built up Ki to escape violently and uncontrollably, hence the fissures. My technique didn't really produce the same result as Hokuto, but I felt it was close enough.
I was escorted to the medical office in the main build of the tournament arena. Bulma was already therestanding with her arms crossed. She looked mad.
”Were you planning on continuing the tournament after what happened!?” she shrieked.
”Yeah, remember those beans.” I reminded her of how I was healed at the Lookout.
Her expression softened when she saw me toss a Senzu bean in my mouth. Like the last time, I felt a surge of power rush through me as the bean healed my injuries. She wanted to know why I was attacked so I gave her a little background information on Garlic Jr. Because the tournament was still going on I promised that I give a more detailed explanation afterwards.
On the way back out to the fighter area Tien stopped me to let me know that my fight opened his eyes to new levels of strength. He probably said more things but I was thinking about other things, like where Garlic is hiding and if other movie characters are out there.
The rest of the tournament happened without any major incident. I successfully defended my title as champion defeating my brother in the final round. After a large celebratory banquet at a nearby restaurant Bulma flew me to Capsule Corp. to show me what her father had been working on. On the ride there I filled Bulma in on what Kami had told me about Garlic and Garlic Jr.