Krilin against Chaozu looked like a decent match at first, but if you knew that this little stupid thing was communicating with Tien to cover up its blind spots, it was nothing if disappointing. Even having the aerial advantage, Chaotzu missed all his DonDon Beams, wasting pointlessly his energy. Krilin kept dodging while fighting in a one against two match-up. When he attempted to cast a kameamea, he was interrupted by the more powerful and advantageous DonDon Pa, except it always missed. If he was more courageous, Krilin could just stand his ground and take all the time in the world to perform it, but after seeing Tien's performance, he refused to take his adversary lightly. Unfortunately, his opponent is a light-weight in the most litteral and figurative sense.
As Tao Pai Pai was alive, master Shen never ordered his student to kill Krilin, and this farce of a fight stretched for what Gero believed, an eternity.
At a point something broke in that error of the nature's little head, and it took him a long time, no a very long time to cast the DonDon Ray, and Krilin had the time to complete his Kameamea, dodge the DonDon Pa, jump behind Chaotzu, and make him eat his energy blast from the blank point. As the little shit waft down like a stunned mosquito, Gero was very badly tempted to jump up and deliver a knee strike on its disproportionate head to end its suffering. But deep down he knew, it wasn't his right to end this thing's life, it was Piccolo's to claim.
Chaozu managed to reach back the arena's tiles, and used the force to fight Krilin. He provoked a stomach ache, then kicked Krilin in the chin, and then started over and over again. Krilin was immobilised by pain, but Gero saw it as one more reason to justify the vital need for Chaozu's life to end. Instead of kicking Krilin from the platform, he kept kicking him against the arena's wall...
Then Krilin realised he was facing a moron, and it was over.
"What do you get by adding three to four?"
It cut right trough the little brain activity that stupid thing had and Krilin delivered a kick in its stomach. Do you think Chaozu would fly up in the air again and use the Crane school's Sky Dance and its telekinetic powers to kite, immobilise, then kick out the shit out of Krilin? No. It asked:
"Sixteen plus twenty-seven?"
It probably used all its braincells to even find these numbers. The worst thing is that Krilin instanly answered forty-three. He could have literally said one or zero and any other random number, that Chaozu would not even have noticed there was a mistake!
"Nine minus one?"
It was over. A final hook permanently subtracted the majority of Chaozu's braincells, which was not much already, and the lobotomised zombie got smashed away out of the ring, and hit the little wall of the spectator's area. Pathetic. Tien had no words, Tao kept his poker face, and Shen was regretting not teaching his two students maths.
Then it was finally his time to shine.
"The fourth match will start soon!" Proclaimed the MC. "Please cheer for Dr. Gero every one! Yes the Dr. Gero!"
Gero just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the ring, and the whole crowd went bananas! People were chanting his name, jumping, clapping, and cheering! How many beauty products, wearing his seal of approval, did they use? How much money did they save because of his inventions? This was the legendary recipient of multiple royal academy awards, forever young, who claimed his youthful appearance and longevity were fruits of his martial arts training. Even though he had "Kill" written on his changpao, people found him cool and his appearance in the tournament was the true highlight of the event!
"Dr. Gero was invited to participate in the tournament by Master Shen, the brother of his martial master. He is here to represent the honour of the Crane school of martial arts! Yes the competitors Ten Shin Han and Shaozu are part of this same school!"
A general ovation erupted once again as Gero cuped his fists like a traditional martial artist, and the crowd was now cheering for the Crane school, for the joy of Tao and Shen, and making Krilin, Goku, and Roshi as inadequate in that moment. And the for the other members of tha gang? They accompanied Yamsha to the hospital.
"Now please also cheer for Son Goku. He is a disciple of the Turtle Sage, and he end at the second place during the last tournament ! And today, three years alter, what kind of fight will he offer us? Will he be up to the task against the beloved Dr. Gero?"
But after the presentation the crowd kept cheering for Gero, muffling out Goku's friends cheers, but he was not destabilised. Goku remained focused.
As the match started, Gero took the initiative and launched a casual jab, Goku evaded and riposted using a left elbow to strike at the doctor's chest. It hurt, but it hurt only Goku.
"Ouch, it's like hitting iron!" Exclaimed Goku, taking his distances from his adversary.
Gero remained grounded but the little saiyen decided to circle around him and lunch a rear uppercut, aimed at his spine, but the only thing he managed to hit was an after image. The doctor delivered in response a cure, a cure called Sok Ti, a descending elbow strike. Instead of aiming for the back of the neck and go for a sure maim or kill, he delivered it to the little warrior's ribs. Goku felt all air getting expelled forcefully from his lungs and the brutal impact made him rebound once on the arena's tiles, and Gero chained directly up with a Mawashi-Geri, positioning himself diagonally and still finding enough strength to deliver a kick strong enough to Goku's stomach to propel him high up in the air. Under the bewildered eyes of the crowd, the cold smirk of Tao, and satisfied facial expression of Shen, Gero who was standing on the ground appeared all the way up in the air, above Roshi's disciple. It was Fumikomi time! He lifted his knee until it reached his chin, and stomped. At that moment, was he cursing the xenos? Was he dedicating the combo the the Machine God? The only thing that was certain was the pain Goku felt after the kick, and his brutal crash on the arena's tiles. Under the horrified eyes of his enemy's friends, Gero just calmly flew down and waited in front of Son Goku. He was certain that the boy had in him the energy to stand back. When Shen was about to shoot the kill order, Tao put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"It is his fight. Do not mingle in it."
Usually Shen would lash out at his brother in this kind of moments, but not here. Indeed, his martial nephew earned the right to be called a master himself.
Behind the scenes, Roshi was muttering that it could not be real, that it was a nightmare. Where did Tao find this prodigy? He could not find the answer. Did he also obtain the Paradise Herb? Knowing the ruthlessness and the evil nature of his martial brothers, the Turtle Sage foresaw a huge shadow tainting the future he believed in, and his expression was grim.
"Yeah kill him Dad!" Sheered Laura.
"Rip his spine rip his spine!" Chanted Laurelie.
Tao, hearing them cheering, was proud of his granddaughters, and he decided to spend more time with his grandkids in the future from now on. An apple never falls far away from the tree, and little he knew that it was particularly true for the Gero lineage.
While Mai was watching with stars in her eyes, C-19 was not impressed at all. For him his master was fighting an ant, and didn't even recover a quarter of his original strength.
"Uh.. You are figh..." Said Goku while getting up, but alas he got buried even deeper in the tiles after another Fumikomi landed on his spine. But this time Gero didn't put as much straight in it.
"Fight or surrender. Don't waste my time with your pointless words." Calmly stated Gero.
As the count-down reached seven, Goku got up and disengaged right away this time.
He started to run around Gero again, but faster and leaving after images behind him, acting like shadow clones. And the original shadow clones, as the technique appeared in dragon ball in the Red Ribbon arc.
Gero just grabbed the air at his left, and held Son Goky by his hair, then swiftly pressed an pressure point on the boy's arm. As he released his hold, Goku fell pathetically on the ground clutching his stomach, but instead of a comforting pat on his back he received another Fumikomi, and another one, and another one, and another one. And another one, then another one. Then two in a row. Then another one. Then another one. Then another one. And another Fumikomi. And another one. And another three in a row, and another one. And another one. And another one. Goku spited blood and received another Fumikomi. He was devastated by stomach and back pain but he received another Fumikomi on his back, nevertheless. Then another one. And another one. Then another one, and it repeated again and again, and all over again. If Bulma and Lunch were still there, they would have cried in horror, but right now only Roshi and Krilin remained and were powerlessly watching from behind the scenes. As Goku remained conscious and the kicks continued to rain, the MC didn't start the count down, and the crowd was cheering at each kick!
"Forty! Forty-one..." They chanted.
Then it stopped. Goku was penalised until the pressure point effect stopped affecting him. It didn't stop because he somehow dodged, but because Gero expected the pain caused by the pressure point to cease at that precise moment.
He waited as Goku was trying to get up again, but the MC started the count-down.
Goku was at the end of his tether there, and with an ultimate effort, projected himself up by the sheer force of his arms, enduring pain and exhaustion, and attempted to hit Gero's right temple, and at first believed it did work, and that his adversary was taken by surprise. But his futile attempt only went trough an after image. Surprisingly the doctor appeared on the other side of the ring. Gambling everything, Goku started channeling Ki.
"Kaa.."
At that moment a Dondon Pa sent him violently flying out of the arena, and crash violently on the ground. The crowd cheered again!
"The winner is Dr. Gero! Son Goku fell out of the ring!"
The next match was set up to be Ten Shin Han against Jackie Shun, it meant that Gero would face later his future son in law, Krilin.
Roshi's battle tactics were the same as Goku's, and it was normal as the later was his disciple. He evaded Tien's kicks and hits, countered, circled around and attacked from a dead angle. Ten Shin Han displayed his physical superiority but lacked the battle experience the old man had accumulated over his immortal life.
"You have an extraordinary potential. Why do you insist to stick by some one like the Crane sage's side?" Asked Roshi, attempting to steal a good disciple.
"Because big brother Gero stomped your disciple until his mother couldn't recognise him. Are you stupid old goat? I don't talk with losers. If you even try to badmouth my master again, be ready for consequences."
"Oh and what would these consequences be? Please tell me." Dared Roshi.
"Alright, I will fight a bit more seriously now." Declared Ten Shin Han with a sinister grin.
The astonished Roshi opened his eyes wide at that moment, to better greet the Tayoken. The blinded old man received a knee-kick in his back, and was crawling on the ground, feeling pain.
"Argh you hurt me, poor fool. No one taught you to go easy on the elderly?" Suddenly asked Roshi, full of indignation. "Why are you not using you talent for the good? Why are you stubbornly rushing toward evil? This is a monumental waste, the Crane sage is not worthy of your potential! Leave his school!"
The crowd started to shout their disapproval, laughing at the old man and insulting him. How did he dare insult the school their beloved Dr. Gero was part of? Roshi gave up continuing, what he was about to say was contradicted now by the angry crowd. Defeated physically, martially and being deprived of his moral ground, Jackie Shun surrendered.