…

If there was one thing Tien was confident in, it was his own talent. 

 

Even with complicated techniques like the Dondon Ray, he only needed to see Master Shen demonstrate once before he learned it. 

 

But what he saw with Yamcha against King Chappa had shaken Tien to his core. Not only had Yamcha copied the technique with one look, but he had also gone one step further and improved it the first time he used it. Ending up creating something like Tien’s own multiple-armed technique. 

 

His hands shook as he clenched them hard enough to draw blood. Against an enemy like this, even if he used his best techniques, they could be copied, and it would be like fighting a better version of himself. How could he not feel despair at such a thought? 

 

"Was this talent I believed in so meager?" He looked at his bleeding hand. A feeling of inadequacy pooled over his heart.

 

"What're you doing?" Master Shen's voice woke Tien from his thoughts. The old crane hermit frowned. "Don't worry about needless things. Chiaotzu is fighting. Pay attention. From what I know, this Nam guy is from Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist school, so they probably use the same techniques."

 

"Yes, Master Shen," Tien agreed, but a seed of insecurity had sprouted within his mind. For the first time in his life, he thought there might be someone out there he couldn't keep up with. 

 

But such thoughts were put on the back of his mind for now as Chiaotzu and Nam got on the stage. 

 

The announcer explained the rules, and the fighting signal came. "Begin!"

 

Nam clasped his hands and muttered a prayer under his breath. This was something that Tien found strange, and felt wrong, so he warned his friend. "Chiaotzu, go all out!"

 

Upon hearing that, Chiaotzu nodded and flew up. People hushed in amazement, seeing someone fly. Camera flashes rang out from the crowd as they tried to find if there were any lines holding onto his friend. 

 

But such worries died down easily as abruptly Dondon Beams started raining toward Nam, who was still praying. 

 

The beams landed down and caused a large explosion to ring out. But Chiaotzu didn’t stop and kept shooting beams, raining them down on Nam like a madman and causing a huge cloud of smoke to burst through the arena. 

 

“Good! That’s how it should be done!” Tien congratulated his friend on going out from the beginning and choosing to fly. No matter how good someone was on the ground, if they couldn’t fly, then it would be useless. Even if Nam could jump as high as Chiaotzu was floating, he would have to be worried about being kicked off bounds when falling down. 

‘Seems like that uncomfortable feeling I sensed coming from Chiaotzu’s opponent was for nothing.’ Tien silently breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Ladies and gentlemen! It seems like Chiaotzu is the winner!” The announcer spoke. 

 

The crowd didn’t make any howls or say anything, with only a dozen people clapping amongst thousands. Most were still talking about Yamcha, from what Tien could hear. Though they were still discussing the flying ‘trick’.  

 

Chiaotzu turned toward Tien and gave him a thumbs up. 

 

But before he could reciprocate the thumbs up, a golden light shined behind Chiaotzu, the latter’s eyes widened in shock, and he tried turning around with his arms crossed and ready for defense. It was too late.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion sounded like somebody screaming, and everyone closed their ears. Tien did so too, but his eyes were now glued to the stage, and he was ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Pride and rules didn’t matter when a friend’s life was on the line. 

 

A strong wind hit the arena, which cleared the dust, revealing a still praying Nam. He hadn’t moved from his initial position and was muttering strange scriptures under his breath. 

 

Chiaotzu was on the ground. The place where he had landed had cracks all around it, showing the power of the hit he had suffered. 

 

The announcer awkwardly coughed. “Ladies and gentlemen, it seems like this fight will-”

 

“Chiaotzu!” Tien called out to his friend, which seemed to wake up his young friend. 

 

But Chiaotzu still didn't seem to be able to wake up and just called out. "Tien! I can't move!"

 

"Use your powers," Tien advised him calmly. He didn't say what said powers were out loud as he didn't want his enemies to learn about them. 

 

"Good, good," Master Shen snickered. "He still isn't out of the fight. Chiaotzu, kill him!"

 

"Master Shen?!" Tien was shocked by such an order and looked at his master in surprise. "This is just a tournament fight! There's no reason to go so far…"

 

After all, while Chiaotzu was on the ground, his opponent could have attacked but didn’t do so. This Nam wasn’t a bad person, Tien thought. 

 

"Humph, you don't understand anything, boy," Master Shen's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "My brother beat Nam half to death three years ago. But the man is still alive? Why? Do you think Tao would have let someone like that get away unharmed and still live? No, something happened to Tao, and I want to know! But this shame that my brother left behind, I must clean it."

 

Tien didn't speak anymore. He knew that saying anything would just anger Master Shen. Despite how he usually acted, Shen cared about his younger brother Tao. Though he would never admit such things out loud. 

 

"Now, let's see what the cameras have captured!" The announcer stated, moving on from Tien’s previous interruption, and pointed to a large screen at the entrance. 

 

Turning on, the big screen showed Chiaotzu midair, and next, the camera slowed down to almost a halt. 

 

Tien was impressed by the technology that it could even capture something so fast. What showed on the screen was the space behind Chiaotzu shifting, and then a golden circle formed, shooting out a burst of energy.

 

'No, it is not just a golden light. It's actually a hole in space that leads to a golden world.' Even Tien felt nervous while looking at the screen. 

"This isn't something that can be copied," a new voice said next to him. 

 

Tien turned hurriedly, and so did Master Shen. 

 

They saw a young man with wild dark hair standing atop the wall with a smile on his face and hands in his pockets. "Even I tried learning the technique with Nam's help. But it was useless. Only Nam will ever be able to use that technique in this world. Oh, it seems like your friend got up."

 

Chiaotzu pulled himself back up with telekinesis and shot his body like a rocket toward Nam. But it was useless, as Nam grabbed onto Chiaotzu's bald head and smashed it onto the ground. 

 

Baam!

 

Creating a large crack and knocking him out. 

 

"Sorry young friend, I tried not to hurt you too much," Nam said while picking up Chiaotzu and softly putting him on the grass outside the ring while keeping his own feet in. 

 

"Nam is the winner! Ladies and gentlemen! What an amazing fight!" The announcer spoke, his voice coming loudly from the speakers. 

 

"Good luck on your next fight," Yamcha said before standing up and balancing himself on the wall separating the fighting arena from the audience. "You're quite an interesting guy too. One of the most talented people I have met. It would be a shame for someone like you to be left behind like an unimportant side character."

 

Tien wanted to ask Yamcha what he meant by that but noticed that the man was now just an afterimage as he sizzled out of existence. 

 

"Tien Shinhan against Krillin! The latter had quite an impressive performance in the tournament last time. One can only wonder how strong he is now!" The announcer hyped up the crowd. 

 

Tien considered such actions needless. The crowd would be entertained once the fight started. What's the use of doing all the schematics?

 

But the way he saw it, this was a tournament to decide the strongest martial artist. What was the need of the nobodies who knew nothing about martial arts to even be here?

 

Tien went up to the stage with many thoughts in mind and the young bald monk standing opposite of him. 

 

Though the boy named Krillin was small and looked quite pathetic, he could tell the kid was strong. Master Shen had taught him that hating the Turtle Hermit's students was one thing, but underestimating them was another. 

 

"Begin!" 

 

As soon as the start of the fight was announced, Tien felt a heaviness in his heart as he saw the young bald man charging a Kamehameha Wave. 

 

Tien wanted to use one of his own techniques, and the Dondon Ray would have been useful now. But he noticed from the corner of his eye that Yamcha was still looking at him. He didn't want the freak learning the Dondon Ray too. 

 

Maybe he already knew the move from fighting Tao, but Tien reasoned he might not have had the ability and experience needed to copy Ki Techniques. 

 

Of course, Tien wasn't 100% sure about any of his assumptions. But as long as it wasn't too inconvenient, he didn't want to take any chances. 

 

"Kamehame-HAAAA!!!" Krillin shot out the famous beam of the Turtle School. Tien finally got the idea for what technique to use, and he clasped his hands in a gorm mirroring his opponent's. 

 

"Ka-Me-Ha-Me-" light burst from between his fingers as he swirled the ball of Ki and shot out. "HAAAA!!"

 

Both of the beams clash and cause a huge explosion at their meeting place. 

 

'Damn, they canceled each other out.' Tien was stronger than Krillin, but this was the first time he had used the Kamehameha Wave. Despite copying it, he wouldn't be able to pull out all its potential on the first try… unlike a certain someone who could do more than just pull out a technique’s full potential on his first try. 

 

Even though he was fighting Krillin, Tien felt the pair of predatory eyes on his back, and it was unnerving, like knowing a monster was under your bed, but you’re too afraid to look. 

 

He might be fighting the young monk physically, but Tien was in a fight for his life mentally against Yamcha. 

 

"Ha!" Krillin yelled and charged toward him head-first like a bullet. 

 

Tien was about to reprimand his opponent for the foolish move by smashing his head on the ground. But suddenly, the sun reflected on Krillin's bald head and temporarily blinded Tien. 

 

""Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HAAAA!!" Krilling shot a point-blank Ki wave. Every instinct in Tien's body jumped up at the threat. 

 

Tien realized his mistake. He had been thinking of outplaying Yamcha, which had led to mistakenly underestimating Krillin, thinking of him as another stepping stone. 

 

The world slowed down around Tien as panic dawned on him. If that Kamehameha wave hit him directly, this tournament was as good as forfeited. Even if he somehow weren’t blasted off the stage with this, the injury of a direct hit would impede his fighting ability.

 

Both his teachers' hopes, Master Shen and even Tao. But the one Tien was most afraid of disappointing was… himself. Yamcha had already shown him that he wasn't as talented as he had thought. But he still had his belief in himself, and if that faltered, with everything going on, Tien was afraid he would have his love for martial arts shattered. 

 

'No!! I can't lose here!' Tien exclaimed in his mind and was ready to sacrifice one of his arms as he punched at the incoming Kamehameha. 

 

He could feel his skin burn and blister, and Tien could smell his cooking flesh as the beat dug down his bones. 

 

But with great effort and pain, the Kamehameha waved to the side.

 

"No! That's toward the audience!" Krillin yelled, appeared right in front of his own Kamehameha, and put his palms forward. "Haaa!"

 

Concentrating all of his Ki in one point in front of his hands, Krillin was pushed back by the Kamehameha Wave. 

 

Tien could tell that his opponent didn't have much Ki left, likely having used a lot of it on the last attack, but he could still disperse the Kamehameha and stop it from injuring the people in the stands.

 

"Ahahaha," Krillin laughed weakly, his eyes half slanted as his charred hands dropped. He glanced at his feet, which were now on the grass outside of the arena. "Seems like I lost."

 

After that, Krillin fell down, unconscious.

 

Tien stood there, frozen as if he couldn't believe his own eyes. How could this happen?

 

This wasn't the victory he wanted!!! How could he accept winning a fight like this?!! It wasn’t even Tien’s move that got the victory! 

 

Krillin only lost because he was worried about the audience.

 

Tien ground his teeth as veins popped on his forehead. He was extremely angry, not at Krillin, but at himself. How couldn't he have punched the Kamehameha higher?!

 

He never intended to harm the audience or possibly kill innocent bystanders. But during that clash, Tien couldn't think of a lot as it felt like his hand was submerged in smoldering lava. 

Tien doesn't know what happened next, as his body moved automatically. He was completely zoned out. Ashamed of getting a victory like this. 

 

Going to the side where Master Shen was waiting for him, the Crane Hermit congratulated him. “Good idea on using the audience against those weak-hearted fools. As expected of my student.”

 

He hadn’t meant to do that. Such actions had tainted his victory, and despite what Master Shen said, Tien couldn’t see happiness in such a shallow win. 

 

"Ip Man against Son Goku!" The next fight was announced, and that somewhat bought his attention. 

 

"You did well out there, using the opponent's weak heart against them," Master Shen complimented him, but it fell on deaf ears.

 

That unsatisfied feeling at how he had defeated Krillin made Tien extremely uncomfortable. Like he was deep underwater and the world around him had disappeared, he no longer seemed even to be able to pay attention to the fight as he saw Krillin being dragged away by the medical staff. 

****

A/N: One interesting thing about Tien is that despite how strong Goku became and how later on, the power levels were crazy, unlike Krillin and Yamcha, he never gave up martial arts. Even though the distance between himself and Goku kept widening.