After Roshi's battle, there was a short intermission before the semi-finals. I spent the time avoiding Roshi, who I sensed heading my way a few times, and paying another visit to the cotton candy stand.
I may have gotten hooked on cotton candy… Oh, well.
With a stomach full of sugar and an annoyed expression on my face from Roshi(Chun)'s halfhearted attempts to observe me during the break, I made my way back to the tree I'd been watching the matches from, just in time to catch the beginning of King Chappa's match against the tiger-man.
Unfortunately, after watching Roshi's demonstration of terrifyingly masterful skill against the kicking guy, Chappa's fight against the tiger-man felt rather anticlimactic. He simply dodged the tiger-man's frantic rush with its claws before hitting his opponent with an uppercut that sent him reeling. Then, he finished it off with a punch to the gut that sent the weak half-tiger flying off of the ring with a thud.
Luckily, I'd not expected much from that fight.
The fight that I had high expectations for was the next one.
And it did not disappoint.
It didn't begin right away. The two old men spoke in the ring first, sharing a laugh. Judging by their comradery, it was pretty clear to me that Gohan had pegged Roshi's 'Jackie Chun' act right away, which didn't particularly surprise me.
Then, it began with incredible suddenness, a real BANG! As the two seemingly disappeared, leaving afterimages in their wake as they fought at a speed far beyond what any normal human could hope to follow.
However, I could follow it perfectly. And it was… Disappointing. And childish.
Roshi got the first shot in, a hammerfist to the back of Gohan's head. Apparently it wasn't very strong, though, because Gohan immediately countered with a fist to the gut.
Which led to an incredibly childish exchange. Roshi spit into his pupil's face. Gohan bit his master's arm, leading to Roshi giving him a wet willy, which Gohan countered by sneezing in his master's face, which forced Roshi back.
I face palmed as Roshi wiped his face on his sleeve in disgust, shouting something at his old pupil, who laughed at him.
After that, they fought using the afterimage technique, and another flurry of fists far beyond what a normal person could perceive. The second exchange was far more serious, and both fighters took quite a few blows in the process.
But at least nobody spit on or bit the other during the second supersonic exchange. It ended with Gohan sending Roshi into the air with an uppercut.
Unfortunately for Gohan, that gave Roshi a golden opportunity. Even from here, I could hear the chant as he cupped his hands.
"KA-ME-HA"
"KA-ME-HA-ME!" Gohan noticed his master charging up his most powerful attack in midair, and prepared to counter it with his own.
The two Turtles unleashed their Kamehamehas at almost the exact same time, leading to a beam clash in midair. I watched, awed, as the two energy attacks struggled against each other for a moment, before Roshi's finally began to overpower his apprentice's.
Realizing that it was a losing battle, Gohan was forced to make a split second decision and change his wave's course, sending the clashing waves harmlessly into the sky, but it had clearly taken its toll, because he was stumbling, barely standing from the exertion of a real Kamehameha beam clash.
I couldn't blame him for it, either.
Seeing the Kamehameha in action had been a start for me. I'd always believed, somewhere in the back of my mind, that the Regalia Wave that I'd created somehow compared to the Kamehameha, but that wasn't quite true, now that I was seeing the master and his personally trained student do them in reality.
I reeled too, as Roshi landed on the ground, safe and sound, if not a bit winded.
Those Kamehamehas… These guys had power levels notably below 200… but those energy waves, the way that they'd managed to condense them…
It was art. Their energies… they'd spiked to nearly 600, just for a split second.
MORE THAN three times their original power levels! That was insane!
Screw the Galick Gun, I needed to learn that… I could replicate it, easily, in fact… but without proper instruction, there was exactly a zero percent chance that I could achieve something that powerful from it. Not without decades of polishing. I couldn't even imagine…
Back to the fight, it hadn't ended. Roshi looked like he was on top for now, but Gohan was still fighting back, swaying as he did.
And… Dancing like an idiot?
When he landed a blow on Roshi, despite moving incredibly slowly, I realized what was going on. Gohan was trying to use the Drunken Boxing technique, making up for being tired with unpredictability.
And, shockingly, it was actually working. Roshi was being driven into a corner. Everything he tried would end with Gohan hitting him from some unpredictable angle. Quickly, the decrepit old master was forced into a corner of the ring.
But just as Gohan closed in for the win, his master pulled out his hidden trump card. Raising his hands, a powerful bolt of lightning erupted from Roshi's energy, lifting Gohan into the air and sending millions of joules of pure electricity surging through the old man's veins.
"Lightning Shock Surprise Attack!" My eyes popped open as I saw it. In Super, this particular attack was nearly considered to be useless… But I couldn't figure out how it worked.
I could see the strain that it put on both combatants. They both struggled for a few minutes, but in the end, the attack rendered the old Gohan unconscious, in fact, clinching the win for Roshi.
But even watching how Roshi's ki surged… The way it crackled…
"How…? I…?" I was sure that the attack would be basically useless against me. Best case scenario, it'd stop me for a few seconds before my body naturally adapted enough that I could use my ki to break through.
But without my ki… I wasn't entirely sure that I'd be able to break my way out of it. And even more interesting, I had no idea how to even begin copying that technique.
I'd never come across a technique that I couldn't easily see through before. This one attack… Seeing it had made this entire trip, being spotted by Roshi, all worthwhile.
Compared to that single technique, watching Roshi's battle with King Chappa in the finals, even when Chappa used his Eight-Handed technique against the old master, felt like watching paint dry.
When I left for home after the final battle finished, I did so with a smile on my face, the memory of that technique replaying itself in my mind over and over again.