A Winner!

Raiden spit out the remaining blood he had in his mouth before he eyed up Chappa once again. The ki he was outputting was almost double of what it had been the last time they spared two months ago. He must have been hiding it while they warmed up to catch him by surprise.

'And it worked' he thought feeling the pain from Chappa's kick on his side.

Raiden powered up reaching Chappa's output, his aura flaring around him in a white glow. He could go even further maybe even double what he was outputting but he still wanted a good fight so he kept his level roughly even to Chappa.

Then without warning both the fighters moved. They went through an intricate dance of punches, kicks, chops, and blocks all while flashing through the air. The only one being able to follow their movement being Yajirobe as the rest of the crowd just watched in awe.

As they went they fought, Raiden using a more evasive and defensive style, and Chappa using a pure attacking style, Raiden broke the deadlock they were in.

Knowing Chappa didn't expect him to switch up in the middle of the fight he did exactly that. Instead of blocking or ducking over one of Chappa's punches, he deflected it his shoulder minimizing the damage.

Using the split second he had gained he stepped into Chappa's guard and channeled ki into his leg at fast as he could. He kicked Chappa in his side before he could lower his arm back down to guard and watched as he doubled over in pain from his kick.

Wasting no time to let Chappa recover from the blow he quickly spun in mid-air with a flash and once again kicked Chappa, this time on the temple, while he was still dazed from the earlier kick.

However this time Chappa didn't make any noise, instead, he fell forward onto the ring floor with a dull thud.

The audience stared in shock as the fight ended in a seemingly simple but effective change of pace. They hadn't been able to clearly see what exactly Raiden did but there was a moment where the rhythm the fighters had was broken and the next moment king Chappa had hit the floor.

The crowd quickly came to life and cheered as the announcer started his count.

Raiden waited quietly to make sure Chappa didn't get up but it was unlikely. The ref finished his ten count and Raiden floated down from the ring trying to hide the grimace that was forming on his face due to the hit on his side, which he suspected was now an ugly shade of blue and purple.

As Raiden floated down from the ring heading backstage to inspect his wound he noticed that the other competitors were staring at him in awe, save for Yajirobe who still had his usual scowl on his face.

'I guess the final will just be me and Yajirobe then if they're so surprised from the fight' He thought as walked back into the tournament building.

After Raiden went back inside and made sure no one was near him he finally collapsed on the floor like his body had been urging him to do ever since the fight ended.

He groaned as he lifted his gi and undershirt to see how bad the damage was. Raiden was not surprised as he was greeted by an ugly black and blue wound that covered most of his side.

It had been so unexpected. The pain. Sure he had had plenty of spars and fights with Yajirobe and Chappa in the prior months, but this was... different.

Chappa hadn't held back, not that Raiden expected him to, but still, it was unnerving to see how just one kick almost caused him to lose the whole fight. It had looked so simple in the manga and anime he watched.

The main character would get hit, cut, beaten bloody. But they always stood back up. Like it was nothing. They never hesitated and never gave up and Raiden had thought maybe just maybe he would be like that too.

Raiden took a deep breath as he focused a portion of his ki towards the wound. He didn't have any healing power like other people in the dbz universe but he could protect himself. The ki he put around the wound would hopefully shield it from further attacks. Especially because he had a funny feeling that if he did end up fighting Yajirobe in the finals, he would no doubt target that exact spot.

Having taken care of his injury and having gathered himself Raiden made his way back outside to watch the fight that was currently going on.

Yajirobe noticed him come back out and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Raiden just gave a small shrug and said, "Had to use the bathroom."

Yajirobe nodded no doubt still suspicious of what he'd been up to but still turned his head back to the ring, continuing to watch the fight that was currently going on.