The Kami entered the ring, all smiles and scratching the back of his head in an awkward way. Everything about him was screaming: I am a grass heater, please, kill me!
The public was surprised that some one like that appeared on the ring and was mockingly discussing this contestant's appearance.
The now awake Krilin even told Yamcha he was lucky to get this match-up. Bulma and friends considered the fight already won, and the the weak and polite greeting that followed seemed to confirm it.
"Hello and thank you for accepting this fight against me." Said the smiling meek man.
"Euh, you are welcome, this is me who should be thanking you!"
Meanwhile Yajirobe who got one shot by this seemingly weak man was standing in the spectator's pit and was already pitying this Son Goku's unlucky friend.
Goku started to pay attention to Kami, and the three years he spent training under him and Mr. Popo allowed him to recognise some familiarity.
As the fight started, Yamcha allowed the goofy man in front of him, who was using a ridiculous cat-girl like stance in front of him to attack first, and this is how everyone saw a Mr. Everybody run to his adversary clawing the air like a maniac, and then realise a hand shop. Yamcha dodged it easily by bending a bit backwards, but as the skinny man wearing glasses fell head first into the tiles, every single man who witnessed the scene grabbed subconsciously their family jewels, feeling by empathy the intense pain. Only men could relate to this kind of thing that was the result of evolutionary trauma, centuries of pain and fear. Yamcha held his balls, he was red, his eyes were as big as Homer Simpson's at this moment, one could even believe they were about to pop out of his eyeballs. He fell on the floor and grasped for air, and probably up in the heavens, all his ancestors were mourning the loss of the precious things.
"Ah I'm really sorry I did not mean to!"
"It doen't hurt at all." Lied Yamcha trough his teeth, standing up with difficulty. "This can unfortunately happen in a fight."
"As the action was unintentional, there is no disqualification. The fight can proceed." Confirmed the referee, trying to keep his pokerface.
Yancha though, decided that he needed to end the fight as soon as possible, he got ridiculed in front of every one and specially Bulma, he was not showing it but he was angry.
"So... euh... sir... Shen right? This time it's my tum. Are you ready? Please do not hold a grudge against me."
"Euh... Yeah! Of course!"
And then Yamcha unleashed a flying kick directed to the poor Mr. Shen's head, but the later dodged it by inclining his head forward. And once again, all the men in the public held their balls, and even the commentator could not restrain himself.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUCH!" Resonated in the arena as every man present delivered the same line, conditioned by centuries of evolution. Tears were shed by Yamcha's ancestors, and even one of them mumbled that their lineage was over.
The poor man could only produce an "AH!" of pain, immediately muffled by the intense waves of pain tearing his soul apart. He could only roll on the ground while holding his poor balls and the Kami displayed a comical expression full of astonishment. How could a creature not endowed with testicles know what true pain is? How could it understand the intense tragedy it unleashed on that poor mortal? And the other ball less creatures present could not refrain from laughing at this scene. This was the tragedy of men, being laughed at after they broke their balls. This was their cruel fate, and they were aware of it.
"That was a hard hit! Yamcha is still rolling on the ground and crying after being hit in the balls by Shen, who dodged the attack! As his balls are hurting like hell right now, tanking a second great impact, I will start the count only after twenty minutes." Declared the referee, and all women laughed even more after that. While the men, understanding, looked at the poor fighter with sympathy. He was downed only after a second great impact, he was truly tough.
After ten minutes Yamcha managed to stand back up, and the laugh came back after the MC announced that he was back up and invited every one for a round of applause.
After the fight resumed, Yamcha got sent flying after receiving a heavy elbow hit on his face. And every one was flabbergasted as the young man struggled to get back up.
"You committed a grave mistake by judging me only on my appearance and attitude. This is why you did not notice my real capability, the secrets of my most subtile moves. This is not a good attitude, this is now like that that you will become a worthy martial arts expert. Did you finally open your eyes? I am only saying it to you as you have great potential."
Every one was questioning this unknown man's background and identity, while Yajirobe confirmed once again that this skinny man was not normal.
"I see, it is an eye opener indeed, but I dislike your manners." Said Yamcha. Very few men would appreciate being hit in the balls after-all. "I have to say I find you despicable, and I want to defeat you ever more now."
"Ah I am sorry, but it won't be possible. I need to win this." Said the Kami nonchalantly.
Then the fight resumed, each Yamcha's attacks got countered, he was like a noob attempting to play Soul Calibur online for the first time. As he ended up once again, in pain and on the floor, Son Goku was finally sure about the Kami.
And then the moment Gero was expecting the most finally happened.
"Sokidan!"
A concentrated Ki ball was sent directly to Mr. Shen's head, he barely dodged but Yamcha kept directing it and the Sokidan kept flying dangerously and extremely rapidly to its victim. Shen dodged and as the ball entered the tiles then the ground, he believed it was over.
"You had this kind of ace? This was fantastic!" Exclaimed the old fart possessing the body of a poor human.
"It is a bit too soon to commend me." Said Yamcha with a smirk, directing with his hand upwards.
The Sokidan blasted Kami's face from bellow, directly in the shin, his feet left the ground as he got propelled by the powerful hit in the air!
As every one cheered and already celebrated the expected victory, the unexpected happened again. A ruthless elbow hit with all the momentum of Kami's rush Yamcha's solar plexus, what made the powerfull impact spread in his body as waves of pain. The poor youngster was trying to hold his ground but his feet kept walking back, and he fell out of the ring.
Shen won, and every one witnessed a classical Yamcha moment.
Then Gero stood up, it was this time of the year again.
"After these matches, I am sure everyone's blood is pumped up! Now we know the names of the top four of this season, so we will start right away the semifinals! The semifinalists are Dr. Leonid Gero, the genius and beloved inventor, and as we are seeing it for the second time now, a legendary fighter! Our last tournament's undisputed champion!"
The crowd roared and chanted Gero's name. The MC had to wait for a long time for the public to calm down before continuing.
"Then we have Son Goku, Daemon Junior, and Shen, who are all exceptionally powerful! And now, It is my pleasure to announce one of the most awaited matchups of the day! Will Son Goku get his revenge? Will Dr. Gero's supremacy know no end? Dr. Gero versus Son Goku!"
The crowd lost it once again. During the previous tournament, Goku was unilaterally beaten by Gero, but now the little boy of three years ago could send some one out of the ring just by punching air once, how to not expect a great fight right now?
Goku wanted to say a few words to his opponent before entering the arena, but Gero materialised on his side of the ring right away without letting him this chance.
"Goku will finally show his true strength now." Said solemnly Krilin.
"His adversary, this Gero, is he very strong?" Asked Chichi.
"Oh yes, and you cannot imagine how strong he is." Answered Yamcha.
"Lat time he won the tournament without any effort at all." Added Krilin.
As Chichi started worrying for her fiancee, Piccolo was smugly eager to see how strong these two men were, while Kami observed the situation with a complicated gaze. He still remembered the dreadful phenomenon after Gero climbed up Korin's tower.
"This time take me seriously!" Asked a determined Goku.
"Alright, if you wish." Answered the Doctor.
"Fight!"
As Goku launched himself forward to attack, gusts of wind crashed on him. Thunder crashed from the heavens with intent of kill. The spectators eyes widened as Bulma muttered: "Is this the end of the world?"
The sky turned black and that darkness was devouring the world, and every soul felt suffocation. Each person felt horryfying anguish, like there was no turning back, like they were dead meat. The wind and thunder were mixing together and forming a lightning tornado, spiralling infernally around Gero, who was still standing casually like it was all the norm around here. His heroic jet black hair was flying in the air, one could have sworn he was a fabled immortal, his inhumanly calm eyes blinked once and for the first time, he looked at Goku's. That pale blue was unnerving, these eyes were the eyes of a monster, but not a living one.
"You asked me to take you seriously? Are you even worthy? Nonetheless, witness it. This is my true might!" Declared Gero, smirking, like one would smirk before crushing an ant.
He adopted a Ma Bu stance, or the low horse stance. But he was not posing like a clown, he was not squatting, his knees were aligned with his shoulders, bent slightly to allow him to move efficiently. His hands were clenched in fist at the level of his waist. And then, with a horrifying pother of bird's like screams, the electricity surged out of him and devoured the lightning tornado that was spinning around him, the eye of the storm, and erupted as an horrifying amalgamation of yellow and blue ever screeching electric snakes.
The spectators were safe but Goku's knees bulked under the intense pressure, and whatever he did, he could not stand up or move a finger, he was sentenced to witness powerlessly this display of power. The Kami's breath accelerated and the body of the human he was possessing was drenched in cold sweat. Piccolo was trembling like a rabbit in front of a wolf. Krilin, Yamcha and Chichi didn't fare better than Goku, not believing what they were seeing.
The peebles kept rising and floating from the ground, and another electric deflagration reduced them into dust, sending tsunamis of wind all around. If Gero didn't control his outburst of power, the city would have already disappeared from the surface of Earth.
"Oh you are still on the ring?" Asked Gero.
"I... will..." Tried Goku.
"Do you really think you are still on the ring because of your own efforts? You are here because I allowed you to. But it's over."
Goku was propelled out of the arena in a very disturbing and sudden way as Gero stoped restraining the energy that was hitting him. Son Goku blacked out directly, and was retrieved thirty minutes later after the tournament organisers dispatched several rescue helicopters in order to find him. His limbs were broken and most of the skin was gone when they found him. As for the arena? Everything returned to normal as the scary scene never ever happened at all after Gero retracted his Ki and energy.
"Good news, the competitor Son Goku was found alive but heavily injured, he is being transported to the hospital right now. Dr. Gero is the victor!"
But no one applauded or cheered, except the shameless Crane School duo. Their school's prestige would be unshaken from now on and forever. All the normies present had to get food, drinks, and reassuring blankets distributed as they were still under shock.
"Dr. Gero, you just sent a man flying over two hundred kilometres just now. Is it a martial technique of the Crane you displayed or was it something else?" Asked the MC, as the tournament was stoped for now.
"This is not something that belongs to the Crane School, but you need to control Ki to unleash it, without this kind of knowledge all the effort will be useless. The Ki is something living and unanimated beings or things could emit, for us humans, it is linked to real martial arts training. This is something the science barely scraped upon even today. However, if one does not learn in Crane's school, it is next impossible to even barely emit Ki."
And this was the nail in the coffin. Kami and Piccolo withdrew from the competition, the later preferred to focus on training as he was not powerful enough to become the king of the world again, while the older knew his other half was merely a critter compared to Gero.
In the following weeks, Ferbolg hired Tao Pai Pai and the Crane Sage as consultants for a chain of gym and martial arts dojos, and it's stocks exploded just by being linked to Dr. Gero.
On the other side, Goku got healed by Senzu Beans and got his corresponding Zenkai Boost. He married Chi Chi and started training as in the original. In the end, anticlimactically, the fated fight never happened.