PART SIX: PAN'S FIRST FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

Chapter 29

Translated by Kakarotto Ka Power Level Kya Hai?

"The next match was going to be Universe 10's Caracoru against Tapion of Universe 3”, the host announced, "but since Caracoru forfeited, Tapion's the winner”.

"Um, yeah. Remember that the entire Universe 10 had dropped out at the same time, thus creating a large number of forfeits because their matches had remained in the battle program's table". As soon as he finished, he was certain that there were more Nameks than Saiyans who had dropped out.

Universe 3 had remained relatively empty since Goku and his friends had arrived, even though the tournament had already begun. Tapion was the first of his universe to fight. At the announcement of his name, he was quietly released from inside his wing. He was followed by someone smaller, who seemed to levitate, but he stopped right before the door where Tapion exited the room. This left the unrecognizable someone lurking in the shadows.

Tapion himself had finally decided to stay outside. Now that he was seen, what was the point in hiding anymore? He was of medium height, had large pointed ears that stuck out, and had orange hair in a Mohawk style. He wore rather conventional clothes, but had a beautiful sword strapped to his back. He was a swordsman, like Universe 12's Trunks and Universe 11's Dabura.

Tapion smiled. Clearly, he was happy not to have fought. Stopping right in the middle of Universe 3's space, he said, "That's fine by me. I just have to wait until the second round. My next opponent's going to be the winner of the next fight...I'll see what he's worth in this next fight...".

"For the next match," the announcer continued, "we ask for Sauza from Universe 8 against Kulilin from Universe 9!"

Upon hearing this news, Goku was very surprised.

"Huh? Kulilin? I didn't see him!"

He was very enthusiastic. Seeing his old friend participate, even if he was from another universe, would be so cool! He wasn't going to miss a single bit of that fight, and afterwards he was anxious to go and talk to him!

In Universes 8 and 9, both participants were preparing themselves... Sauza, Kooler's henchman smiled. He was able to fight and win for his master. Lord Kooler would be so proud of him! But before that...he did a quick little dance with his two teammates, who did not participate with him, unlike almost the entire Ginyu Force. The dance he provided was almost as silly, useless, and even shameful! But who cares! Sauza had always done it, and so far he wasn't dead!

When they had finished, mocking both of the jealous members of the Ginyu Squad, who were their rivals, three people came out of Universe 9's interior room on the right.

The first was tall, brawny, and rather bald. He wore a fighting tunic, partly covered by a cloak that he wore on his shoulder. He seemed rather well preserved: a little wrinkly, but nevertheless, quite old. His name was Tenshinhan.

Right behind him was someone roughly the same size. He wore an orange tunic that was familiar to many in the tournament: it was that of Muten Roshi! This fighter looked incredibly handsome. He looked strong, although his muscle mass seemed slightly less than his bald friend's. Unlike the latter, in fact, he had long dark brown hair that, in battle, fell down to his neck. This guy looked quite young, certainly about twenty years old. His name was Yamcha.

As the two tall men stopped to look left and right, Yamcha glanced behind him into the doorway of the room. From the shadow of the area emerged a little man...backwards! He wore a huge shell on him and seemed to be bald. It seemed as if he couldn't see much behind him, probably because he tripped as soon as he started walking into the arena! He had only walked a few meters, moving childishly, in just as silly a fashion as the little dance that took place in Universe 8 at the time. As he arrived near the ring, donning an orange tunic, he turned at last, smiling.

He was quite bald, with six orange-colored dots on his forehead between two white eyebrows. He wore a gray and white beard that merged with his gray and white mustache, and his eyes reflected a long life, filled with adventure! He looked kind of like a fusion of Kulilin and Master Roshi...but this was not the case. Kulilin had taken up the style of his former mentor.

"Well, it's my turn!" he said with a wink, as if everyone could see it up close.

It was time, now. Sauza outran Kulilin and flew to the ring. The little bald man, in turn, jumped before he could be disqualified...

As Sauza the commando landed quietly, he heard a loud noise behind him. As he turned around, he saw the old man on the ground, sitting on his ass. He got up slowly, leaning on the cane he held in his right hand, muttering, "My shell weighs quite a lot on this ring...about as much as it did on the planet of Kaiou-sama...just a little more than that, I believe...”

"An old geezer," Sauza sighed. "This match won't take long at all!"

Kulilin finally got up and turned to his opponent, who had already insulted him. Wrinkling an eyebrow, he recognized the purple-clad man... But it had been so long ago...

"I believe one of my friends killed you when I was young..." he told Sauza, recalling his youth. "And you haven't aged at all since that day! That's so unfair...I'm jealous."

"Me? Killed? I don't care. This time it'll be I who kills you!

"Hmm... Being confident is good, but not at this point, my friend."

Sauza's smile faded and he rushed towards the 'old geezer'. With a strength and speed that certainly ranked in the top ten or even five in his universe, he was certain that the old bastard wouldn't be able to dodge it. Yet... that's exactly what Kulilin just did. He jumped effortlessly over his opponent, avoiding a punch, despite his one-ton heavy shell... No, the gravity was multiplied by ten, so it actually weighed 10 times as much!

Sauza was able to track Kulilin's movements without much difficulty.

"Tsss, behind you!" he said, as if to mock the 'slowness' of the old fart...even though he had dodged that last attack.

Preparing an attack with the edge of his hand, flying through the air, he struck with all his might... But instead of Kulilin, the old master had turned, allowing Sauza to hit his gray shell. Usually when hit at that strength, most objects would shatter. Usually it wouldn't be so bad!

The shell had resisted the slash attack and his hand was nearly reduced to a pulp. Sauza screamed, trying to hold back a small tear in his eye. It was a rather humiliating injury.

Kulilin raised his finger like a professor who was giving advice. Closing his eyes, he said, "Now now, my friend... You shouldn't hit Katchin metal. It can really hurt a lot..."

Several people among the fighters in all the universes were surprised. They knew of Katchin, the hardest metal in the whole universe. King Kold's army had already found it, but in too small quantities. They were unable to forge it for use as a weapon or armor.

In Universe 16, Vegetto and Gohan also knew of this metal, like Universe 18's Gohan and his father Goku. The latter had thrown a huge block at Gohan was training to wield the Legendary Z Sword to fight Buu. The sword snapped in two, which surprised everyone present. They were afraid at the time that they had broken the only weapon capable of defeating Buu...

In Universe 19, the nano-technologists also knew of this precious metal. They knew how to manipulate and even recreate it themselves. The elite forces' armor was made of, at least in an alloy, natural or synthetic Katchin.

Katchin or not, Sauza was determined to put the little baldy in his place. He had been lucky so far! He approached him once again, crying "You senile old fart! I'll teach you a lesson!"

He stopped out of reflex to dodge an attack. Kulilin had launched himself admirably, without any useless gestures or difficulty, straightening his legs that were ready to hit Sauza's face. But thanks to the latter's incredible reflexes, he stopped in time and managed to dodge it. He leaned back, thinking that his opponent would pass over him.

He was wrong. Kulilin stopped short a few inches from him. He remained in this position for a short time, as if floating in the air, and began to whirl suddenly and quickly. He found himself in the ideal position to land a kick on Sauza's left cheek.

The strike was hard, but Sauza stood firm and did not fall. He retreated one step in shock, while Kulilin gracefully fell to his feet with more flexibility than any man his age.

"That bastard," thought Sauza, his sore cheek red and scratched. "He's fluid and fast... “But," he thought, noticing that they were fighting so far away from each other, "this midget can't hit far, I must use that!"

As if he guessed his opponent's thoughts, Kulilin simply attacked. He extended his arm and fist into Sauza's belly. The stroke was rather slow compared to what he could normally do, but it allowed Sauza to take a step back to take advantage of the lengthening gap between him and the shorter man.

Quickly, Kulilin dropped his cane and with his newly freed hand, he grabbed the rope that served as a strap to his shell, freed his right shoulder and with a large swing he used the shell as a weapon to compensate for his lack of range. Sauza had no time to prepare himself and gasped when he received the blow: even his armor, known to be strong and flexible, didn't adequately protect him. His eyes bulged in pain.

Kulilin kept his armor under his right arm. He quietly turned his back to his foe a few feet away, taking his time to resume the fight and turning his head towards Sauza.

"I may be old, but you remain an eternal sucker!"

Sauza could no longer control himself. This was getting too ridiculous!

"Enough!" he cried.

He clenched his fists and let his power accumulate. A white aura tinged with purple surrounded him. Obviously he was a little more serious, and this time he attacked without leaving many openings.

He launched a few balls of energy at the bald midget, who dodged them with a simple jump. Sauza continued the assault, but Kulilin dodged them as he pretended to glide through the air at the last moment. His opponent increased the pace and this time Kulilin could no longer avoid the fire power. He protected himself behind his shell. There was no explosion. Kulilin and the shell were pushed backwards by the ki balls until after a while, when they started to deflect off the shield.

As Kulilin pushed his back against the Katchin carapace, Sauza returned to ground level, his body still surrounded by the maleficent aura as he prepared a new attack. This time, it was one big ray of light, no more balls of energy. Before the energy wave could hit him, the bald one seemed to disappear...and reappear where he had dropped his cane. He picked it up quickly and ran quickly towards Sauza, who had just begun to turn his head towards him, surprised by the old man's speed. Kulilin attacked...with his cane. First with a knock on the head, then a fist to counter Sauza's punch, then another hit to the knee, and then the ankle joint, Kulilin attacked. Sauza lost his balance and Kulilin continued his multiple-hit-assault to pressure points and weak spots until he finally backed down.

Sauza got up, angrier than ever. "Okay, you're fast...but it's time to test your resistance, Old Turtle!" he cried, raising his right arm, which glowed with a sharply shaped violet aura and emitted a small crackling sound. "This technique even cuts through metal!" he finished screaming.

"Scuff my beautiful shell?" Kulilin said, raising an eyebrow. "No way! It's precious to me!" he said, finally dropping his cane.

He bent his legs slightly apart, stretched his right arm towards the starry sky, palm open and fingers spread. He concentrated his ki and made a yellow disk appear spinning at full speed over his hand. Kulilin shouted the name of his signature technique: "Kienzan!"

Sauza dashed at his opponent, armed with his right arm reinforced by the violet aura. Kulilin used his momentum to take a step and launched his Kienzan at his enemy. The attack sped at top speed and quickly clashed into Sauza's technique, which seemed to create resistance...but just for a few seconds during which strong crackling and humming could be heard as the audience held its breath.

The energy blade was then suddenly sliced by the disc.

The Kienzan cut through Sauza's fingers first, and then through his entire torso diagonally, before continuing on to the stands and the starry sky in a strange parabolic arc before fading away all alone. Sauza fell on his back.

"Impos...sible...Inferior... Monster!" he managed to say before dying as Kulilin picked up his cane.

"This end really fits you, I'm sure..." said the old man before starting to return to his wing.

"Victory of Kulilin from Universe 9! Get back to your personal spaces..." said the announcer into his microphone.

In the control room of the stadium, a Varga began to speak to one of his colleagues.

"Is the announcer stupid or what? One of the fighters is dead; he can't get back to his space..."

"Yeah, another hotshot if you ask me... The underpaid and incompetent kind of guy..."

"You mean...like us?"

The Varga laughed. The others soon followed suit...until their leader surprised them with a visit and fired them after finding suitable substitutes...