Chapter 1

I'd been waiting for this almost the whole time I'd known Triono. I clenched my fist, dropped into my fighting stance and took a deep breath in. Across the dimly lit street he did the same. His stance was a bit more of a laid back one. It reflected his entire style pretty well I thought. His face was calm and emotionless, another good measure of his inner-self.

            We stared off for a while, neither willing to make the first move. I would usually wait for him to attack me because I knew I wouldn't have to wait very long, but since our last battle he had seemed calmer and in control of his emotions, maybe he had actually trained a bit or something.

            I knew that this would be it, the final battle between us, it was just something I knew when I saw him on the street. One of us would have to die; there was no way out of it. In previous times we had been less equally matched but I knew just by his aura that now we were almost even.

            His final remark last time crossed me as somewhat odd, I told him as he was pulling himself up from the ground that maybe he needed to train just a bit harder next time to beat me. He gave me a queer look and said, "I don't train. I fight. I've never trained, never have, and I never will."

            I had considered he might have been serious back then but he had such a huge increase in power this time, I knew he must have been lying.

            I decided to crack the ice and find out if he were serious at the same time. "So who did you train under to get this strong, you'll have to give me his number."

            His face remained motionless as he replied "I thought I told you, I don't train. I fight, I heal, I eat, I sleep and then I go fight again, but I don't train, especially not under the rules of some old-timer like you did."

I tried to figure if he was lying as he almost always had, but I picked up nothing, nada, zippo. There was just nothing to pick up, I decided he was telling the truth, all be it a little un-believable.

            He continued to stare at me from across the street. An old newspaper flew off of an over-stuffed garbage can and right between us. Our eyes were intent on each other; nobody in the world could break the concentration we paid to each other.

            Triono suddenly chuckled to himself, then gradually it got louder, almost to a roaring howl of laughter.

            Unfortunately he also decided to begin the festivities at that very moment. He rushed at me at what I thought was full-speed. He was faster than before but by the early rush, not as fast as I was.

            He was halfway across the street in a second when he turned on the jets. He jumped straight at me and through a wild hook punch at my head.

            Surprised at his speed I just barely managed to duck under the un-coordinated attack. I replied with a quick jab at his stomach but he shot away to a few metres away.

            While I was surprised at his newfound quickness, he must have thought I'd be astounded. He just stood there, his guard down, his head open to attack, how could I resist?

            I shot at him with a jump-kick, hoping to lop-off his head before he tried another attack. He brought his arm up just in time and managed to block most of the attack, but he was forced to take a few steps back to keep his balance.

He looked at me with newfound interest, almost as though he hadn't noticed me before. I knew he was going to say something so I beat it to him to it. "Pretty nice, but you know I could've finished it there."

            "B.S." He replied, always quick but simple with the mouth he was. "If you want to watch how to finish someone, watch this!" He half-shouted as he ran full-speed at me, I admit I was un-prepared and he could've done some damage but as always he decided to showboat, and as always it cost him.

            He stopped short just a foot ahead of me and leaped into the air, maybe 20 metres, did a flip at the apex of his jump and then came down in a hammer-blow position.

            Seizing an opportunity too good to miss, I jumped myself right as he reached the top of his jump. I reached him just as he was re-orienting himself in the air and going into his attack pose. I stuck out my elbow and drove it right into his abdomen.

            Unlike past times I'd hit him in the gut, it was entirely muscle now. I was again surprised at his tremendous shape, almost as good of shape as I was in. He was sent onto the rooftop of a nearby apartment building from my blow, and crashed into the roof entrance of the building. He almost demolished the small entrance, wrecking the bricks and steel door.

            I came back down to the street and looked up at the roof. I could jump up there and continue the fight, but that was almost a waste of energy. I decided to bring the entire roof down.

            I hoped no one was in the top floors of the building, but right then, that seemed kind of secondary. I reached back with my hands creating a V shape with the palms touching, focused my mind, and shouted the words needed to create the necessary attack.

            "Kame--------Hame" I cried as I felt the powerful river of ki energy rushing through my arms and forming into a ball at base of the V of my hands. "Ha!" I screamed as I moved my hands to face the rooftop and pushed the powerful stream at the location of Triono.

            This came easily to me now. Not like when I first created the attack 2 years ago. I was only 13 then, still the best fighter in the planet but lacking the size to intimidate opponents. I was meditating by myself in the Rocky Mountains, off on the western coast of North America. An idea suddenly popped in my head, although I could beat and kill any person in the planet (Triono was still a pathetic weakling then) I needed an attack that was all my own, something that no missile, gun, bazooka, or atomic bomb could equal.

I studied some old Chinese stories about ancient warriors that could focus their ki, their soul into powerful beams of energy. I worked on the Kamehameha attack for 2 months before I was able to launch it.

            The first time I did I turned a rock formation the size of the statue of liberty into a pile of dust. It cost me almost all my strength, and I couldn't even train by for almost a week. I also had this feeling that a piece of me was missing but when I had regained my strength I noticed that I felt whole again.

I was impressed by the results as well. Even though I could've destroyed the rock by hand, it was much quicker to do it with the Kamehameha. I had developed several other ki-based attacks like the Kamehameha since then, but my first move was the easiest to pull off and most often produced the best results.

            Anyways, the blast struck the roof and shattered the framework, not to mention the concrete, bricks and almost everything else that was part of the roof.

            Just as I had predicted Triono was sent flying into the air, several metres away from the blast point of the Kamehameha. I considered easing up on him and thought that maybe I had over-estimated his skill but I remembered the feeling I'd had at the start and decided to keep it going.

            I thought of firing another Kamehameha but decided against it, I'd probably miss and I'd need the ki power later on. Instead I jumped onto the roof of the building next to the one I'd wrecked and from there shot up into the air.

Triono was still high above me and was now in control of his body. He turned to me and gave me the finger. I didn't mind much; he could always taunt me as long as I could get in an easy hit.

            I immediately concentrated while in the air, and powered up another ki blast. This one though was pushed into my foot, causing it to emanate a dull blue colour. I'd perfected this move not too long ago and still hadn't used it on him, I was hoping it would catch him off guard.

            "Dynamite Kick!" Is what I yelled, as my energized foot seemed to take over my control and shot me straight towards him. I moved faster when I did the dynamite kick than when I used any other move, so there was no way he could have blocked or evaded my attack, especially when he was stranded in the air like that, not having any motion at all.

            I hit him with the powerful kick in 1 second flat; I covered almost 100 metres in 1 second, which even for me was a record. The blow sent him flying out into the sky, with a slight downward slope to his fall, while I hung in the air for a moment and then gravity caught up with me, sending me to the rubble of the destroyed roof-top.

            I went right through the hole of the roof on my descent and crashed through a bed on the top floor. Luckily no one was in it at the time. As soon as I got up I ran to the side of the room, punched out the glass window and hopped down the sidewalk again, falling 8 stories to the pavement.

            I turned to my right and ran off to the place that I thought Triono would be. I turned the corner of the ruined building and was met head on with a fist.

I flew through the air from the recoil of the blow, but managed to orient myself and land on my feet across the street. As I looked across I saw Triono smiling to himself, pleased with the results of his punch. I myself was more than a little impressed by his recovery and the strength of his attack. I made sure not to let it show though as the slightest bit of confidence he acquired could make him all the more deadly.

            The tastes of blood spread in my mouth as I spit out the residue of the cut he'd given me on the inside of my mouth. "You know if that were me punching you, it would be over right now."

            He just kept smiling. It un-nerved me to see him so confident just like it had the first time we'd met up in Canada. Back then he had been a 9 year old bully, with spiky black hair, just like it was now, and a mean streak that said "Hey if anybody wants to mess with me, I'll be more than willing too."

            I'd beaten the crap out of him in a few seconds and from that day on he wasn't so confident, until now. I shook off the feeling that maybe he was stronger than I was now. No, that couldn't be, he didn't even train the way I did, he just fought, fought, fought and there was no way that would be enough to beat me.

            Not liking the look he was giving me, I decided to try and wipe it off. I wound up and punched the concrete street as hard as I could. Sure enough it shattered, sending a ripple effect throughout the street. The wave moved quickly but not nearly quickly enough, as he easily jumped into the air dodging the attack with relative ease.

            He landed on his feet with a soft thud. We stared off yet again, neither one of us willing to give into the others glare.

            I don't know why we suddenly rushed each-other, maybe we were so alike the attack that came to mind was the same for both of us. Nevertheless, we both charged ahead at the other at full speed.

            Meeting in the center of the street, the real fight began. A flurry of lightning fast punches, kicks and energy blasts were exchanged. For almost 30 seconds neither one of us really landed much other than short jabs and partially blocked attacks, then his glaring weakness reared its ugly head.

            His lack of training, or the extensive training of mine, caused him to tire out first. Now 30 seconds doesn't seem like a lot of time for him to tire out in but when you and your opponent are both going full speed, neither letting up or giving an inch, 30 seconds can seem like an eternity. Anyways, one of his forearms didn't move fast enough, and I caught him on the side of the head with a hook shot. He stepped back, but not far enough. I followed up with a fake jab with my left to his head that he attempted to block, and with my right planted a fist in his solar plexus.

            I thought that would put him down for at least a little while, so I could regain my composure, but something strange happened. While he did lose almost all of his air and fall to one knee, in a flash he was up again and ready for more.

            I was more than willing to oblige him. In one swift motion I side-kicked him in the kneecap, bringing him down to one knee yet again, and backhanded his temple with my right fist. The attack sent him to the ground; his body sprawled across the street.

            I took a step back and took in a relaxing breath, hoping to stop the shaking of my hands. He groggily got up from the pavement and looked at me through squinting eyes. We both waited a few seconds for him to get up. He did so slowly, relishing and taking advantage of the fact that I would rarely attack him while he was down.

            When he finally got up fully, he stood with his back straight up, his chin high and a trickle of blood running from the side of his head. I could tell he was about to try something, you don't fight a guy dozens of times without learning what his next move will be.

            Sure enough, he through a wild punch at my head. Expecting an attack such as this I managed to catch his hand in mine just inches away from my head. Now it was my turn. I raised my hand high and brought it down in an attempt to crack his shoulder, it failed though and he caught my forearm just as I was bringing it down. He pushed with all his strength, and I pushed with all of mine.

            For the first time, I was afraid he might beat me in a contest of strength. He was starting to over-power me and I was considering letting go of his fist and jumping away when suddenly he brought around his leg and tripped up my ankle.

            I fell backwards onto the ground. I must have landed on my spine because a sharp shooting pain through my back immobilized me for just a second. That was enough for him to axe-kick me in the stomach. The air rushed out of me, as the pain in my back subsided and was replaced by the pain in my abdomen. He next attempted to pin me on the ground in my moment of weakness. I suspected such a try though and was able to roll away from him.

            I tried to get up but he kept on me and as I was on my hands and knees, he kicked me savagely in the ribs. I don't think any of them broke, but I did hear a cracking sound. His foot, I hoped.

            I was sent onto my back again from the kick and I could hear him charging up his ki blast. The Tasaranko, he called it was much like my Kamehameha except it was discharged in a highly explosive ball form of ki. I realized my chance and made sure to take it.

            Even at his fastest pace, he couldn't muster up his ki faster than I could get out of the situation. I pushed myself up with my arms, and setting myself in a crouched position turned to see how he was doing.

            His blast was almost complete, and that made it all the better. I kept my eyes trained on him as I prepped my thighs for a quick take-off.  Right as he finished completion of the ball, I pushed with all my might into the sky.

I sailed high, just high enough to avoid the shrapnel from the explosion of his attack connecting with the ground.  The problem with my evasion however was the fact I couldn't fall anywhere but down.

            Despite my best tries I was still unable to fly, the closest I had come was falling very slowly off of one of the Rocky Mountains.  As soon as Triono saw I hadn't been hit he readied himself to attack me as soon as I touched the ground.

            Seeing the fact that his plan was based on me coming down at my current, peaceful rate of decent, I tried to change it up a little.  At the top of my jump I released the flow of ki rushing through my body and covered myself in its energy.

            I suddenly shot down at a suicidal speed.  He was as un-prepared as I'd hoped.  He was forced to give up his attack and scamper away from ground zero.

I crashed into the concrete with all of my force plus the power of the ki to help me.  The faint blue glow of ki energy that had encircled me shot out over the street, growing dimmer as it spread farther out.  The road beneath me shattered into a thousand pieces, I must have broken through 3 layers of the street.

            I wrenched the knee out of the hole in the ground I had created and saw him again preparing to fire a smaller Tasaranko blast.  I stood up straight and prepared myself for the attack.

            He let loose the tiny ball of energy at me.  It came surprisingly slow and I remember thinking as I pivoted my hips to avoid the shot, that Triono was getting tired.  I was soon corrected in the most straightforward way known.

            Just as the ki ball past me, he leapt from his attack position into a jump-kick.  He landed the attack at full force and sent me flying through the air.  I landed a good 10 metres away, against the wall of another apartment building.

            I cracked the wall nearly 5 metres in each direction, and pain ricocheted along my back to my chest.  I squinted as a trail of blood squirmed down my fore-head, I don't remember where I got cut, but it must have been pretty bad.

            Trying to keep my head clear, I shook off the blood from my face, and looked at my enemy.  He was powering up for another Tasaranko, much bigger than the one he had used for a diversion.  I realized I suddenly needed to get out of the situation I was in.

            I looked up and behind me, the roof of the apartments wasn't more than 25 metres high and I decided to try for it.  I squatted slightly again and then jumped up, back-flipping in mid-air on my way to the roof-top.

            When I reached it, I made sure of my footing as I knew he would attack me with his Tasaranko.  Sure enough he yelled in frustration and then fired the blast full speed at me.  Knowing it would be coming I'd already prepared for it and jumped off across the width of the building, across the street, and onto the roof of another apartment complex.

            Once I had landed I turned to my enemy below me and saw him shaking in frustration.  I smirked and began thinking of my next move.  Little did I know Triono had an idea of his own.

            He screamed out in anger once again and yelled at the top of his low-pitched voice, "RENZOKU!"  Almost immediately his hands shot up, palms open, and blasts of high-powered ki were shooting from his open fists.  The blasts traveled much faster than his Tasaranko, and there were maybe 40 of the cylinder like blasts heading in my direction.

            They were moving too fast for me to try and jump to another building so instead I jumped straight up to avoid instead death from the attacks.  Instead of hitting me they struck the roof, ripping it to pieces, and creating one major explosion.  The shock of the contact between ki and roof was enough to send me flying through the air, luckily away from the explosion.

            I closed my eyes when I was sent spinning through the air, so I don't know which direction I went, but I know that when I opened my eyes again, I came head on with a concrete wall at a suicidal 50 miles an hour.

            Needless to say I crashed through the wall.  I skidded across a floor and came to a stop on my back not far from the hole in the wall I had created.  I just rested there for a second, figuring that Triono's attack had wasted itself on the roof that I had been thrown from.

            After thinking about it for a second or two, I realized I'd have to get up sooner or later.  I sat up, pain nerves going off like crazy, and suddenly saw the roof I had currently occupied.

            Sure enough, it was fairly badly destroyed, but not quite as badly as I had thought it would've been.  Instead an odd sight came to my eyes, the sight of almost 30 of Triono's little ki blasts heading straight towards me.

            They must have been homing blasts, and with that many of them, I didn't see any real way to avoid them.  Just because I didn't see a way, didn't stop my body from forcing me to get up and run.  I considered myself the luckiest guy in the world in the few seconds it took me to get up.  The location in the building that I'd crashed into had a clear view of a window.

            As soon as I'd finished getting up, I raced across a carpeted floor, towards my escape clause.  I wasn't fast enough though, the first ki blasts that seemed to enjoy my company struck near the whole in the apartment wall I had created.

            The resulting explosion hurled me through the window, and I crashed through it as more of the fairly large explosions went off behind me.  I knew that there were people in that apartment building, and I knew that for sure all the people on the floor I'd dropped in on would be dead.

            I was sent flying through the air, finally crashing onto the ground a good 100 feet from the floor I'd gone off of. Pain rocked through my lower back, but I forced myself to get up. I looked up, and almost the whole apartment building behind me was in flames. I shook my head to the needless destruction, but I didn't have lots of time to mull over it. Triono came leaping from the top of the building, and down towards me. I sprinted as fast as I could away from there, but I was partly winded from the fall. Triono easily caught up to me, and tackled me from behind.

            I flew down the street before connecting with the pavement a few metres from my enemy. I rolled onto my back, and saw the full moon high above, its pale white light shining everywhere. Then Triono was on me, he tried leaping on top of me, but I swiftly kicked him in the jaw as he came down, which sent him flying backwards yet again, falling to the pavement.

            I tried getting up, but my body didn't like the idea. Pain rocketed through every part of my body, a pool of my blood was forming at my feet, but I still got up. I stared across to my opponent, and for the first time I was fighting him, I felt genuine fear. He'd never hurt me like this, and I'd never had to go all out before.

            Triono had a face of pain on his face, but different than ever before. Suddenly, he let out a great gasp, and I thought I saw something shoot out of his rear, I couldn't tell for sure though, the street lights had almost all been destroyed.

            Suddenly a huge smile ripped across his face, and he started laughing. "It's back, I can't believe it, it's back!" He then stared at me and said coolly "It's over now Cris, you will die, this fight is over!"

            He then looked straight into the moon, which he had to turn around to see, and I saw what had shot out of his back-end. A tail, much like a monkey's tail, had ejected itself from his spinal cord. I remember thinking what the hell is he? Some kind of freak or something?

Then a huge monster-like roar emitted from his direction, as police sirens wailed in the distance . . . . .