Dragon Ball: Paradise Lost

The Foundations Of A Grudge Match

Without the need of a declaration to continue the bout, Krillin darted off at his opponent, headfirst. Nam blocked Krillin's strikes but Chayote noticed that his eyes were trembling – he was in pain. He could not just block the little plumpy's attacks with just his palms. If the scraps of martial arts that Korin showed Chayote were right, it was of no surprise that Nam struggled – he attempted to block force with force of his own.

The more successful application would have been to work with the opponent's force against them, everybody knew that. Everybody except Nam.

Krillin did not cease with just the few first blows. He was a shark that had just smelled blood and Nam certainly looked like the man bleeding into the waters. The previously cool and composed combatant leaned back, pushed that way by Krillin's ruthless advances. Goku's friend had skill, he was knowledgeable of martial arts before taking in whatever it was that Muten Roshi taught him. That was not to say that Muten Roshi was a bad mentor, just that his kind of training appeared to be meant for building up power level, not skill.

"Disappointing..." Chayote mumbled to herself.

"Hmm? I think Krillin's doing pretty good..." Goku turned at the Saiyan with a curious glare. He had missed Krillin landing the first strikes, after the audience's cheers, the boy turned back and cheered on his friend some more.

"Not this. Your friend is decent. It's just that... I looked up to meeting Muten Roshi for the last couple of years and there was no use for it. Muten Roshi's training is meant to build up power level, not teach martial arts." The Saiyan sighed. "May as well better check out the temple Krillin's been hardened in."

"That's not true." Goku shook his head. "Old timer didn't teach us actual martial arts but he taught us a lot of things about how to become better martial artists."

For the second time, Goku regretted turning his head away from the fight as Krillin had managed to knock Nam on his back and then took a soaring leap into the heavens to conclude the battle with a knee-strike from up above. Nam was not about to keep lying down and take it, with a windmill swing of his legs the man wrangled back up on two feet and then dived aside from Krillin's finishing blow.

Krillin, however, was one step ahead of that still, the little roll of dough did not land with his knees out front but his feet, then he repurposed his momentum into a dash to chase after Nam. Just as it seemed like Krillin's headbutt would shake the entire arena, the plumpy rolled in mid-air and pushed out his left leg up front. Nam blocked it, the force of the kick made him slide all across the arena to the very edge of it, lingering on being knocked out of bounds. His bare feet must have suffered some damage due to that slide as well.

The problem was that Krillin had run out of moves. He was winded in the middle of the arena, knowing full well where he had failed.

"You are an impressive opponent. I did not expect to hit this sort of wall so early on." Nam finally shed his shroud of silence and cool by admitting something that seemed obvious – this was not the walk in the park he had counted on this fight being.

"Heh, it felt freaky, walking out in front of so many people, fighting crazy guys like you but... I think I've come to realize that... I'm strong enough!" Krillin affirmed his somewhat shaky confidence. His voice was still shaking, he may have been quivering more than the kid let on to but the top fighting condition needed a bed of needles underneath.

"Care to test that theory? We could trade punches for quite a while, you're that tough. Let us settle this for good!" Nam declared while taking his exotic fighting stance with a right arm raised and bent in front of his balanced body.

"Sure, just a bit of warning, I was winded when I kicked you last time. This time's for real!" Krillin smirked while leaning back and preparing to deliver another diving kick. Without needing any extra encouragement, the boy kicked off the ground and twisted his body around to position himself just right for his kick.