"So, do you think I stand a chance?" We were back at the tournament building, getting ready for the quarterfinals. Kakarot was stretching on the other side of the room, just out of earshot. Already recovered from his little incident with Tater, he looked ready and eager for his fight. Meanwhile, Zeck wasn't so confident.
"You want the truth, or a lie?" I asked him, inwardly judging his chances.
"Be honest with me."
"Well…" In terms of pure numbers, I honestly believed that Zeck had a bit of an advantage, even after the boy's mild boost in power thanks to the restaurant incident.
But it wasn't so much that Kakarot's Saiyan physique and reflexes didn't naturally close the gap. In fact, the longer they fought, the stronger Kakarot would get. Eventually, his raw power would surpass Zeck's, if the fight dragged on long enough.
But that didn't mean that it was completely hopeless. Zeck was used to fighting Pepper, Lynn, and I... Saiyans far and away stronger than him. He was highly experienced in battling at a disadvantage, and had even lost to Tommy on occasion, giving him an extremely well-rounded education in fighting against people with different combat styles, and dealing damage to people stronger than him.
"You stand… a chance…?" I didn't mean it to sound like a question, but that's simply how it slipped out.
"...You're a great friend, Tarble. I'm glad you have so much faith in my abilities."Zeck replied, clapping me on the shoulder as he walked out the door to begin his match.
""You don't underestimate a Saiyan, Zeck." I warned my friend as he ascended to the stage, where the young Kakarot was already waiting, almost bouncing in place from excitement.
The fight started with a polite bow. Clearly, a habit that'd been ingrained into Kakarot from a young age, because he bent over as soon as the announcer said 'Begin!' as if there wasn't another option. It confused Zeck, who was used to fast-paced battles against my own team, who didn't tend to bother with formalities. It was just 'Alright, let's fight!' and then the punching began.
He still humored the kid, though he kept his eyes locked on the boy just in case it was a trick or something. Kakarot wasn't the type to bother with subterfuge like that, though.
In a normal fight, Zeck definitely would've taken advantage of that. It was what I'd taught him, after all, one of the few things that the Saiyans of Vegeta actually got right, but the point of this particular fight was for both of the fighters to get combat experience, so they took their times getting into fighting stances before they rushed at each other with speed so fast that, to the audience, they probably seemed like they'd simply vanished into thin air.
At least, that's what the announcer shouted.
But I saw things a bit more clearly.
As if it was in slow motion, my kinetic vision caught every single tiny motion that the two of them made, without me even needing to utilize my ki sense to aid it.
They traded blows in unison, almost a dance-like synchronization that carried them all around the ring several times in a matter of moments.
Then, the first mistake was made.
Kakarot threw a right jab that Zeck shrugged away with his left arm while his right elbow whistles toward Kakarot's face, but the elbow was a feint, and the moment Kakarot moved his arms up to block it, Zeck swept his legs and shoved the boy back with a forward blast of pure ki energy,
But Kakarot's reflexes were unparalleled.
Suddenly, both combatants flew backward at the same time. Kakarot slammed into the wall between the stage and the tournament building, caving in a Kakarot-sized impression into the wall directly below where my own head was peeking over. He'd probably have gone all the way through, but I made sure to reinforce the wall at the last second. Couldn't let the match end to a technicality like that. Neither fighter would've been satisfied with that.
Meanwhile, Zeck's body didn't fly nearly as far as Kakarot's did, only a foot or so, and he landed on his feet, a red mark already fading over his face. As Kakarot had been flying away, the boy had managed to hit the Celatian with a wicked tail whip that'd knocked his feet off of the ground for a moment.
But, honestly, neither of them had really been at full power. They'd both taken a bit of damage, Kakarot mostly, but neither attack had been particularly powerful. A generic release of energy with minimal physical aid and zero windup, and a lucky tail whip weren't going to do much damage in a battle between fighters as closely matched as these two.
Though Kakarot still took a moment to get his bearings, pulling himself out of the wall and shaking the dust out of his hair confusedly, a massive, feral grin plastered across his face.
"Oh,-" Zeck's eyes went wide as his experience in battling with Saiyans immediately allowed him to instantly identify that particular grin.
Tommy almost never had that expression. Except for the very rare incidents when his teammates dragged him out under half-protest and put him through the ringer to remind him of his roots, which tended to happen once or twice every two or three months.
It was the feral grin of a Saiyan truly enjoying a fight. A Saiyan holding nothing back within the confines of the spar.
Pepper had this same grin on her face several times a day, usually around me. Lynn didn't have it as often, but every time she fought with me or Pepper, it'd come out instantly, and even Tarble had that grin when he restricted himself during a fight with his teammates.
And every time… It brought havoc with it.
By now, Zeck had an instinctive reaction ingrained into his very being, when he saw that particular grin.
Yet again, their movements happened at the same time, faster than eyes that weren't mine, Pepper's, Roshi's, Tater's, or Lynn's could ever hope to follow.
It looked like slow motion to me, though.
Kakarot took a step forward, then made a small reverse motion, causing his ki to disassociate with his body, leaving a 'ki-shadow' in his place as he changed orientation, moving to the left and doing the same thing there. Then the right, then the left again…
By the time Kakarot was done leaving his afterimages, there were over a dozen 'afterimage-Kakarots' in a semi-circle facing where Zeck had been.
Yeah, had been.
Currently, Zeck was half a kilometer up in the air. He'd blasted up there so quickly that part of me wondered if he'd managed to tap into Autonomous Ultra Instinct for that one single movement. Seriously, I wasn't even certain that Tommy would've been able to keep up with that particular movement, and even though he'd retired from serious training, Tommy still had a power level in the tens of thousands.
Realizing that Zeck was gone, Kakarot looked around before scratching his head, confused as his afterimages faded away.