Retribution

Fearful Power

“The final match is about to begin,” the announcer began. “We have the unknown MitsuShinu against the former World Champion, Tien!”

 Tien was a bald three-eyed humanoid with a very good nature. Everywhere he went he seemed to be followed by his lifetime companion Chaozu; a small white-faced man who resembled a clown in all but personality. He’d been friends with Tien for a long time and had pledged to himself to always stick by him, and do what he could to assist him in every matter. The feeling was mutual.

 Tien had always aspired to gain strength and upon meeting and fighting Goku, he had earned himself a rival. Initially he’d had a small advantage in terms of power but since growing up and maturing, Goku seemed to be getting stronger and stronger at an alarming rate.

 “Heh, I guess I’ll see just how far you’ve come since we last met when I get through to the next round, Goku,” Tien said to himself as he walked confidently down the aisle and towards the ring. “Based on your last performance you’ve become unimaginably stronger. That’s OK though, because I haven’t been lazing around doing nothing either.”

 Tien’s opponent was a medium-sized creature, definitely not a human and most probably not from Earth. His face vaguely resembled that of a man, except for the fact that his skin appeared a deathly pale white and his eyes were filled with a cruel malice. He looked tired and weary, heavy gray bags hanging below his eyes.

 “Good luck,” Tien said to his opponent as they stood opposite one another in the ring. There was no reply from MitsuShinu, only a glare of vindictive intent.   

 The new-comer to the tournament wore fairly tight light blue faded jeans, leaving his muscular torso on show. His arms seemed inhuman, they were pure muscle: massive biceps and triceps, as well as various other bulges that a normal man wouldn’t have. Their appearance was what defined the creature as being some sort of alien.

 The announcement was made for the battle to commence, and the two fighters began to walk slowly towards one another. Tien attempted to gain an immediate leverage, extending his hand and letting out a violent KI blast directly at MitsuShinu’s face. A bright trail of beautiful sparkles was left in its wake; a delicate mask for the powerful beam. It exploded spectacularly upon impact with smoke collectively gathering and sweeping over the ring, immersing the two contenders in a hazy gray cage.

 “Over already?” Tien asked, unable to sense his opponent. “Guess I went out too hard, the guy looked like he could take it.”

 The smoke was rapidly dispersed by the heavy howling winds, revealing MitsuShinu to be standing directly in the center, completely unscathed. He shook his head in a disappointed fashion before continuing his languorous approach towards Tien.

 “Whoa,” Tien said, impressed. He stood motionless momentarily, his brain unable to process the magnitude of the toughness of his opponent. “Looks like you can take a bit of a beating huh?” he began, starting to regain his composure. “Everyone’s got their limit though, so don’t think you can last that long forever!”

 Still MitsuShinu remained completely silent. He was bearing ominously over Tien now, completely emotionless. Tien backed off slightly as the shadow of his opponent consumed him, fear getting a grip on his whole body and causing it to function incorrectly and uncooperatively.

 In an instant though, Tien shook off the fright and pounced, landing with a forceful blow into his opponent’s gut. He looked up with a smirk expecting to see the stunned face of MitsuShinu. Instead he saw something very different. Gone was the tired, almost dreamy look in the creature’s pale face, it having been replaced with that of cruelty, malice and venom. Anger flowed through MitsuShinu’s veins giving him a crimson red flush across his whole body. Power surged from him in gale-like waves beating hard against the ring’s surface with such force that Tien had to brace himself to prevent an untimely ring out.

 “That was foolish,” MitsuShinu said, a scowl formulating across his brow as his eyes widened, the malice seeming to explode out of them and possess every inch of his body. With one poisonous swing his connected impressively with Tien’s face, knocking him soaring out of the ring like a rag doll.

 The only movement coming from Tien’s limp, lifeless body outside the ring was an irregular jerk; his shoulder or leg occasionally twitching uncontrollably. The pupils in his eyes were reduced to a miniscule size, and his face was glazed over with a painful absence.

 “It looks like we have a winner,” the announcer said at length, his eyes fixated on the downed competitor on the outside of the ring.

 MitsuShinu glanced at Tien as he walked backstage and scoffed disrespectfully. “Pathetic.”

 Medical staff poured onto the scene, giving Tien the same treatment as they’d given Krillin; lifting him onto a stretcher and carting him away for immediate attention.

 “Hey!” a voice came from the corridor ahead of MitsuShinu. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

 The victor simply ignored the voice and continued walking along, unphased.

 “I’m talking to you!”

 MitsuShinu turned to look at the man who was addressing him. He looked him up and down and smirked callously. “You’re that boy from the first match, am I correct?”

 “You went too far. You should control your power.”

 “Hanashi right? Well, let me explain something to you. I don’t have to do anything that you or anyone else tells me to. I don’t have to because I am a superior being. If people can’t withstand my punches, then they shouldn’t be fighting against me. He had more than adequate opportunity to surrender before I even touched him.”

 “You went too far. Just hope that you don’t have to face me, because I won’t forgive you. That sort of brutality is just pure evil. He might die!”

 “And?” MitsuShinu asked, genuinely puzzled as to why that would be a bad thing.  “This conversation’s over. Get out of my way.”

 “We’re not through,” Hanashi said.

 “We’re through.” MitsuShinu disagreed, pushing past Hanashi like he was a mere feather.

 Hanashi stood where he was for a moment in overwhelming awe. The power of some of the competitors was truly scary. He had believed he had as good a chance as anybody else in the tournament before, but now he had his doubts. MitsuShinu’s power appeared to be unrivalled, perhaps even by Goku, the current champion.

 "Damn it…” He thought about his brother, about the promise he’d made. He thought about how he had been so determined before, and how having seen the final fight his confidence had deteriorated.

 ***

 “Goku,” came a voice from behind the semi-finalist. He turned to see Krillin and Yamcha looking concerned.

 “It’s fine,” he replied. “Tien’s been given a senzu. The last one we have.”

 “Goku…you’re supposed to fight that monster in the next round. Please, pull out,” pleaded Krillin, looking up at his friend with concern weighing heavily on his tone.

 “Don’t be so foolish Krillen,” Goku began, a surprise in his voice as if he deemed even the mere idea of withdrawing to be preposterous. “I can’t quit. I’m the defending champion!” He flashed a grin. “People are expecting to see me fight, I can’t let them down!”

 “But Goku!” Yamcha protested.

 “I’m fighting,” Goku replied firmly.

 “If you have to fight, at least be careful. We’re all worried about you bro,” Krillen said agitatedly. “I don’t like that guy. You’re strong Goku, but you’re not that much stronger than Tien and look what happened to him.”

 “Don’t doubt me” the champion replied, more firmly still.

 “No one doubts your strength Goku,” Yamcha said.

 “And everyone knows that under any other circumstances you’d be the strongest fighter here. I’m sorry Goku but this time the fight is too tough even for you,” Krillen said, his eyes focusing on the floor so as to avoid eye contact.

 “Just wait Krillen. Anyway, if I don’t fight then that means someone else has to in the next round. I’m not going to let anyone else put themselves in harms way if I can prevent it – the result’s not a foregone conclusion! I’m confident I can win.” He paused momentarily, contemplating something before continuing.

 “For someone as powerful as MitsuShinu to just appear without warning…I don’t understand it,” Goku mused. “There must be a reason. The best way to find out is if I fight him. All my life I’ve been fighting on the side of good and whenever a powerful enemy has appeared we’ve all rallied and defeated them. I need to find out what this creature’s intentions are. Can you think of another way to do that?”

 Krillen and Yamcha went completely silent. They knew Goku was right, but didn’t want to admit it. They knew the danger he was going to put himself in, and regardless of how much they wanted to stop him, they knew they couldn’t; he was too set on it.

 “I thought so. I’m going to go watch the next fight, it could be useful. Stay with Chi-Chi and Gohan for the rest of the tournament and make sure nothing happens to them. Look out for anything suspicious. We could have a real problem on our hands. We could just have a strong fighter who wants to prove himself, or someone with intentions similar to Piccolo’s. It was at the last World Tournament that he showed himself, and I defeated him. I’ll defeat this guy too.”

 As Goku walked off, the two humans watched him go, a determined air in his step. They looked at one another and shook their heads.

 “Whatever reason he gives, I know that one of the main reasons he won’t withdraw is because he wants to fight this guy to test his strength,” Krillen said frustratedly.

 "Yeah, the guy loves to fight. Let’s hope he isn’t in too deep this time though. Keep an eye out. Where there’s one guy this strong there’s usually others following him like sheep.” Yamcha replied somberly.