3 The 21st World Martial Arts Tournament (first part)

I left Kami's Lookout when I was around sixteen. I believed I had created a solid foundation for my style of martial art, even though I had yet to come up with a name for it. The time for the world Martial Arts Tournament had arrived and I planned to participate. There were two reasons why I wanted to fight here. One, was because I wanted to test my art against someone other than Popo, and the second was to sate my curiosity as to how Kakarot turned out. Although he might not take part in the tournament.

My arrival at the arena was early so after signing up I was able to relax in the locker room. Spectators had started to gather in the stands by the time I left the locker room to see if I could spot Kakarot. I made my way to the front entrance and looked around.

It didn't take long for me to find him chatting with a familiar group of people. He was wearing the iconic orange Kame School gi, his eye were sharp like Bardock's. Next to him in the same type of gi was the young monk Krillin. Their master, the Turtle Hermit Roshi, was with them along with the blue-haired Bulma. I decided it was time to go introduce myself to the group and catch up with Kakarot.

"Yo, I didn't think I'd see you here, little brother." I said while approaching the group.

Kakarot turned to face me, "Raditz?"

"So you do remember me. I thought you might have hit your head and forgotten about me." I joked.

"As if I would get amnesia from getting hit in the head. I have been punched plenty without forgetting anything." he replied.

"Um, Kakarot who is this guy?" Krillin asked.

"Right. Master Roshi, Bulma, Krillin this is my older brother Raditz." he continued, "Raditz. This is my sensei Master Roshi, Krillin is my fellow disciple and I made him my squad mate, and Bulma she hired me as a bodyguard before."

"How much did you get paid for being a bodyguard?" I asked.

Kakarot adopted a smug look, "one hundred Zeni, for my service until we found the Dragon Balls. Plus, I got to fight some tough opponents."

"ONE HUNDRED ZENI!?" I can't believe his price was so low. A Zeni is equivalent to one yen.

Kakarot nodded his head proudly stating, "I know right. Me and Grandpa Gohan never needed Zeni before so it looks like I came out ahead." He really seemed to think he pulled a fast one.

"What did you mean by Krillin is your squad mate, Kakarot?"

"I remember Gine telling me Saiyans fought in teams called squad mates."

"You are right about that."

"How old are you, Raditz?" Bulma asked.

"Sixteen. I think." I stated, "If I'm right Kakarot should be twelve."

"Yep, I'm twelve." Kakarot replied.

"Then yeah I'm sixteen." I reaffirmed.

"Me too." said Bulma.

"Come on Kakarot, Krillin let's get you two signed up." Master Roshi headed inside with the pair.

In the locker room I saw Yamacha, in his desert bandit gear, approach Kakarot and Krillin. He looked like he was almost ready to fight right now. I decided to stealthily listen in, not that they were whispering.

"Kakarot I'm happy you showed up. I'm going to enjoy getting pay back for what happened in the desert." Yamacha asserted.

"It's going to be fun fighting you again. I've gotten stronger, too. Just remember when you lose you have to join my squad." said Kakarot.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened during the preliminary matches of the tournament. I was paired against a pink haired woman named Ranfan. She was no challenge for me. I didn't even have to really try. I won by a firm shove gaining victory by ring out. Originally she was supposed to fight against the fighter Nam.

When the preliminaries were over the blonde tournament announcer wearing his signature suit and shades declared the beginning of the quarter finals.

"The first fight of the quarter finals will be Krillin of the Kame school vs. Raditz!" he shouted, "Will both combatants please take the stage!"

We stood opposite each other on the stage. Krillin had adopted his fighting stance and so did I. Albeit my stance was just me standing there with my arms crossed, something I picked up from Popo sparring with his hands behind his back. It also really annoyed me so I thought I'd adopt it.

"I spar with Kakarot regularly, so don't think I'm a pushover." Krillin warned.

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied.

"Fighters are you ready..." the announcer shouted, "Begin!"

Krillin charged at me closing the distance between us, an aggressive move. I watch Krillin leap up to deliver a flurry of blows towards my face. Slightly moving my head from side to side allowed me to dodge the incoming strikes. When he landed he attempted a leg sweep, which I avoided by lifting one leg then the other.

"Raditz is on the defensive as Krillin unleashes a barrage of attacks!" the announcer commented.

My opponent began to resort to feints after seeing I wasn't fighting back. I was actually observing closely his pattern of attacks and moves. After seeing two rounds of attacks from Krillin I thought it was time to begin my attack.

"The combos from Krillin have begun to finally make his opponent move from his starting position." the announcer was right. I had started to move to avoid Krillin. Glancing over to the sidelines I saw Kakarot intensely eyeing the fight trying to divine what I was up to.

After ten minutes sweat had covered Krillin's face and his movements had become stiff. Krillin threw a final punch at me and collapsed to his knees, his arms hung loose at his sides. His face was contorted in pain from what happened.

"Ladies and Gentlemen it seems contestant Krillin has collapsed. Can he continue?"

"What are you doing Krillin!? You can't be tired already we've sparred for way longer than ten minutes going all out." Kakarot shouted.

"Good job Krillin you were a good opponent." I told Krillin.

"H-how? How did you do it?" Krillin asked.

"Well... it's my own personal fighting style I've been developing." I answered before kicking Krillin out of bounds.

"There you have it folks Raditz wins." while the announcer gave his declaration I held up a fist in victory and hopped off stage. I heard murmurs from the crowd that let me know they were very confused about my victory.

Through my training at Kami's Lookout he realized I was an intuitively technical person. Whether I was like that in my past life I don't know, but I seemed to be able to understand weakness or flaws in moves I use or see. That is why my martial arts keep incorporating the best parts of different martial arts I experience. Using this to my advantage I was able to see how Krillin's moves stressed his body.

When I began moving around as I dodged his strikes, I made sure to dodge in such a way as to put maximum stress on his weakest points. The result was just as I had hoped for when I created this style. I really wanted Yamcha to be my guinea pig number one.

Kakarot was looking really fired up after my match. He either was really excited to fight me or just eager to fight in general. Whatever the case it didn't matter because he was up against Yamcha next.

The bandit looked like he was ready to go.

"Be prepared to join the Kakarot Corps." my little brother declared.

"Humph, only if you win." Yamcha countered.

When the match started both competitors were immediately on each other trading blows. It was a ruthless assault. In my opinion both fighters were going all out without concern for their next matches. Kakarot was especially aggressive forcing Yamcha back. He clearly had the power advantage, but had yet to score a clean hit.

Yamcha managed to create some distance which allowed him to use...

"Wolf Fang Fist!" the bandit shouted unleashing his signature attack.

Kakarot was able to dodge the kick which started the combo. Once the follow up strike flurry started my brother was able to seamlessly dodge them as well. I think he was trying to copy what I did in my fight.

The pair traded a rapid succession of attacks. Kakarot was able to capitalize on an opening. The young Saiyan's attack left his opponent stunned. Before Yamcha could recover, a rising kick to the gut sent him skyward followed by his opponent. My brother had quickly leapt up after him to perform a spinning front kick sending Yamcha back down to the arena.

Everyone could hear the sound of the impact.

I knew the announcer didn't even need to count, the bandit wasn't going to wake up soon from that.

"And the winner is Kakarot!"

The next two fighters up were Nam and Bacterian. Nam was decently skilled fighter while Bacterian relied on his world's smelliest man odor gimmick. Nam managed to use his resolve to push through and seize victory.

Following the Nam-Bacterian fight Master Roshi, or should I say, "Jackie Chun" fought Giran the dragon man. Honestly, I'm not sure what Giran really was or why a dragon "man" is allowed in the tournament at all. Giran tactics pretty much revolved around immobilizing enemies then using his strength to finish them off. I didn't think he would be much of a challenge for the old master and he wasn't. Roshi didn't even need to resort to his Kamehameha attack.

"Ladies and Gentlemen we have come to the semi-finals!" by the way the announcer was shouting he seemed to either be a true fan, or have battle mania, "Who will be moving on to the finals! First up is Raditz versus Kakarot!"

My brother quickly hopped on stage and started stretching. Just like when he fought Yamcha he was spoiling for this fight. I felt this was going to be a fun battle.