Roshi and Kakarot eventually made their way to sit across the aisle from my own group in the stands. Kakarot's grandpa, Gohan, sat near them, surrounded on all sides by beautiful young women who, for some reason, seemed to be utterly infatuated with the old man, hanging off of him like decorations.
Meanwhile, Zeck slipped out to help Novem with the projector. They streamed a few of the preliminary fights onto the main stage to test the equipment. Krillin one-shotting an enemy. Chiaotzu blowing an opponent away with his psychic powers. Tien breaking a leg in an unnecessary display of brutality. A cat-man fighting a large wrestler type, eventually winning with a cracked rib because the wrestler passed out from blood loss.
The cat-man had a lot of fans by the end of that fight, but when the quarterfinal roster came around, it didn't particularly surprise anybody to not see his name on it. He'd been injured in the streamed fight, but when he left the building, there was a small commotion where people started cheering his name, confusing him quite a bit.
I recognized four names out of the quarterfinalists. Yamcha, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Tien had all made it through. That didn't really surprise me.
Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu were on an entirely different level from normal world-class martial artists basically by right, and even Yamcha had a few natural advantages that couldn't be denied, such as his battle experience as a career bandit, the fact that he'd actually witnessed Roshi and Grandpa Gohan fighting back as a child, and his incredible talent.
The first battle of the quarter-finals was between Tien and Yamcha. But just before it started- "Oh, Roshi, how the great master has fallen. I see that one of your students actually chickened out of the tournament completely, huh?!"
"I didn't chicken out!" Kakarot argued on impulse. "Wait, you're… the crane hermit, Shen, right?"
"At least you educated the coward, Roshi. You got one thing right, at least." The jerk muttered, taking his seat in front of the Turtle School trio like it was his god-given right.
"He only knew who you were because of that symbol on your chest, Crane. I mentioned how annoying you were." Roshi replied, barely blinking.
"Oh, please, Roshi. We both know that, if your students weren't scared of mine, they wouldn't be backing out-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Believe what you want, but shut up, blabbity old clown. Your ki makes me sick, and every word you say reminds me that you're nearby." Tater cut the Crane off midsentence, his eyes not even moving from the arena,
I blinked in surprise. I hadn't heard Tater speak that coldly since our falling-out all those years ago. He even directed a bit of his malice to the guy, which must've felt like a world-ending apocalypse to the old Crane Hermit, because his law dropped open, his eye clouded over, and he went completely silent.
"Hey, your ki feels familiar… Do you know a guy named Tao by any chance?" Kakarot asked casually.
The old Crane Hermit could only nod blankly.
"Not anymore." Tater declared coldly.
…
The match between Tien and Yamcha was over long before it began, but Tien didn't bother making it quick. Making eye contact with Kakarot in the stands, then Krillin, watching from the building, the three-eyed Crane toyed with the much weaker Yamcha hard before finally ending it.
It was brutal. The gulf between the two, in terms of base ability, was simply too wide. Crossing Tien started by crossing his arms arrogantly, allowing Yamcha to make the first move.
Only for Yamcha to punch an afterimage and get a harsh kick to the back of the knee as retaliation.
Tien didn't follow up with that attack, even though he could've ended the fight there. His eyes just flashed to Kakarot's. A quiet, assured provocation.
He was making it clear 'This is my power.'
Honestly, it was rather laughable from our perspective, but I felt too sorry for Yamcha to laugh. The pointless brutality of it all made me want to go down there myself and tear Tien limb from limb, redeemable or not.
"Wolf Fang-"
"Back." Tien used a simple Kiai, a basic shockwave of excess ki, to push Yamcha back when the bandit began his next attack, stopping it cold and nearly knocking Yamcha right off of his feet.
The desert bandit didn't have a choice, though. "Wolf Fang Fist!"
This time, Tien simply dodged each and every wild strike, still not uncrossing his arms. Eventually, Yamcha dialed his attack up another notch, screaming desperately, only to put an irritated expression on the three-eyed warrior's face.
That one earned him a knee to the gut. Yamcha staggered back, all the way to the edge of the arena, spitting up blood.
Once again, Tien allowed his opponent to recover.
Seeing the brutality, the Crane Hermit seemed to get his bearings once more, his brain clearly rebooting, as if he'd forgotten about Tater completely, in the face of his greatest student. He jumped to his feet and began to cheer.
Being the only one cheering didn't seem to bother him. "Alright, Tien! You have him right where you want him, so go ahead and go for the kill!"
"Kill?!" Yamcha gasped. Since I was currently using my SSJP form, I heard it perfectly. He was terrified. Honestly, rightfully so, too.
"Understood, master. Dodon Ray!"
Yamcha let out a sickening cry as the tiny, finger-thin ki wave stabbed right into his shoulder and came out the other side, boring a hole clean through, the force just barely enough to make him lose his balance and fall off the edge of the ring onto the grass, where he clutched his shoulder and screamed until the tournament officials brought out the stretcher.