Krillin reflexively took a step back, his legs shaking as Tien walked off stage, looking rather proud of himself. He wasn't stupid. He could gauge his own level in comparison to the others around him.
Tien's base physical power outmatched Krillin's in every way. Strength, speed, durability, flexibility, ki… Krillin couldn't compete with that, and he knew it from one glance.
Seeing Tien's Dodon Ray, a powerful ranged attack that seemed to require nearly no charging time at all, yet could carve through bodies like butter, genuinely made a cold sweat appear, running down the bald monk's back.
And Tien's body language had made it clear, the Dodon Ray was simply an opening move. Not a trump card. He'd showed it off to Krillin on purpose, a way of saying 'If you can't even handle that, you don't deserve to stand in the same ring as me.'
And Krillin honestly wasn't sure if he could handle it.
Now, he wasn't weak. Unlike in the original story, Roshi had expected quite a bit more from Krillin than he would have normally, and the boy's training hadn't been as simple as just doing chores for the villagers (though that was a small part of his strength training).
This version of Krillin had experience sparring, a basic, yet detailed understanding of ki and its properties, and had even shot off a Kamehameha once or twice. He wasn't some helpless child. But that didn't mean that he could stand against that three-eyed beast.
As they called him and the kid that'd been hanging out with Tien, a little guy named 'Chiaotzu' to the stage, what Kakarot had said to him, about a minute before he started the preliminaries, entered his mind.
'Honestly, I don't really see anyone who'd give me a good fight in there, anyway.' The boy had said with a shrug. 'Nobody really strong is actually competingtoday.'
Inwardly, Krillin screamed at mental-Kakarot 'YOU LIAR!'
…
"The kid's terrified." I noted, as Krillin and Chiaotzu lined up on the arena floor. While Krillin got into a shaky combat stance, Chiaotzu simply stared forward, hands at his side in a clear display of his intent to defeat Krillin without getting into close combat.
Roshi nodded from beside Kakarot, "I believe in that boy. He's smart. If he gets over his fear, he will win this fight." The old man told me cryptically.
"Oh, please. Chiaotzu is a world-class psychic. The best. There's no way that some random kid will even touch a hair on his head!" Crane couldn't stop himself from boasting.
"Shut up,"
The Crane Hermit shut up.
"Wait, he has hair? He looks bald to me." Pepper noted.
"Maybe it's under his hat?" Kakarot wondered aloud.
I didn't disagree with Roshi, honestly. If I had to put numbers to their power levels, then Krillin's power level was likely somewhere around 180. Maybe a bit higher, while Chiaotzu's was around 190.
Normally, in battles on this level, even that small difference would mean an overwhelming advantage for Chiaotzu, but once you took into account Chiaotzu's special, psychic physique, it actually evened the playing field rather well, if Krillin could figure out the mime-looking boy's weakness.
One shared glance with Tater told me that he'd already figured it out just by sensing, at least. The secret behind Chiaotzu's psychic abilities. His crippling weakness. Roshi and Kakarot likely had at least an idea, too. Pepper and Lynn likely could've figured it out, if they cared, not that they did.
But would Krillin?
I was rather interested in seeing whether he would or not.
From the audience's perspective, the match likely started out rather boring.
The moment that the battle began, Chiaotzu… stuck his hands out.
Yeah, that was it. Neither moved, aside from the occasional grunt of exertion, the trembling of limbs as they fought a silent battle.
"Yeah, that's-"
"One more word." Tater warned the Crane Hermit, directing a small bit of malice the old guy's way as he leaned forward, interested in the battle taking place on the arena floor.
The Crane Hermit did not say one more word.
To surface-level ki-sense, the two fighters seemed pretty evenly matched. For every bit of exertion Krillin made, Chiaotzu made pretty much the exact same effort, resulting in neither being able to move at all, their focus totally and completely on the task in front of them.
If Krillin broke through Chiaotzu's telekinetic grip and got in for close combat, Chiaotzu wouldn't last a second, but if Chiaotzu managed to tighten his hold and eliminate Krillin's struggling, he'd be able to throw the young Turtle student around like a rag doll.
On the surface. Beneath the surface, with the two fighters this close to us, my ki-sense was more than precise enough to pick up the nuances.
"Mime-boy's lost."
"Mmm, yeah."
"You're right." I agreed with my wives.
"What are you talking about? They feel pretty even to me." Zeck noted.
"Then your senses are getting rusty, Zeck. Look deeper." Tater said bluntly.
"...Ohh." Zeck noticed it after a moment.
"What does 'Ohhh' mean?! Someone explain what's going on!!!" Bulma shouted, grabbing Zeck's arm.
"...Just watch. Krillin will win any moment now." Zeck calmed his girlfriend down with a nod to the arena.
"That's pretty interesting. It's fundamentally different from how Blue's powers work. More stable." I noted.
In front of me, Tater nodded. "God, I hate psychics." He muttered below his breath.
I snorted at that, just as Krillin finally broke out of Chiaotzu's psychic hold.
Instantly, the tiny mime-like psychic made an 'uh-oh' face and leapt into the air. By the time Krillin's blurry-looking speed made it to where he had been a second ago, Chiaotzu was already up in the air, raining Dodon Rays down from above as he flew, out of Krillin's reach.
Or, at least, out of Krillin's normal reach.
"Ka…me…ha…me…HA!" Chiaotzu dodged the wave easily.
"Can't hit me! Nyeeh!"
Krillin simply smirked in reply… As the Kamehameha wave circled around in midair and slammed into Chiaotzu's back with precision.
Moderately burnt, Chiaotzu was swatted right out of the sky and into the grass. Ring out.