Laughter echoes throughout the empty wasteland at Yamcha's declaration.
"Oh? Did you hear that, Raditz? The Earthling is going to kill you! You must be quivering in your boots!" Vegeta says mockingly.
"..."
"Well, what are you waiting for? I'm hesitant to send you to your death like this, but it must be done. Go on, Raditz. Fight him."
"...I'm sure Nappa also wants to have fun. I'd hate to ruin his enjoyment." Raditz says.
"Trying to avoid this fight, I see. Well, I suppose you do have a fair point..." Vegeta concedes. "Very well! Have it your way..."
"Nappa! Choose three of them to fight, other than the one who challenged Raditz. He will deal with the other three... or try, anyways."
"Could I choose four, Vegeta? I think that's what I'll need to really have fun..." Nappa asks.
"I said three." Vegeta replies, his voice suddenly turning deadly serious.
"Ok, ok. I'll choose... the Namek, the small, white one, and... the half-breed."
"The 'half-breed' is my nephew, and he's very strong for his age. Leave him alive, please." Raditz says, slightly on edge.
"Getting sentimental, eh? We'll see how I feel by the end of the fight."
New quest: Survive the fight on Earth!
Quest details: You're not on good terms with the Earthlings. If you die in this fight, it's unlikely that you'll be brought back. Survive the fight on Earth!
Time remaining: N/A
Rewards: (Choose one) Katchin Sword (1), access to An Intermediate's Guide to Ki Control, Senzu Bean (10)
Punishment for failure: N/A
Raditz stares at the blue screen in front of him, sighing slightly.
'I could just run away once things get tough... but that might sour their opinion on me even more. It'd be a bit hard to laze around if Earth's strongest fighters are trying to hunt me down...'
Getting into a fighting stance, he stares at his opponents, Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin. The three who've known Goku the longest. The three who'll want to avenge him the most...
The four fighters are silent as the Earthlings circle Raditz, each examining his stance for weaknesses. Already, the sounds of Nappa fighting against the other warriors can be heard. Moving as one, all three of the warriors surrounding Raditz suddenly rush at him. The combat quickly becomes a messy blur of fists, feet, and Ki blasts. Raditz's mind races the entire time, pondering his odds of winning this fight while limiting himself to a power level of 4000.
'They're good. Better than me, even... but they can't bridge the power gap yet.'
A powerful uppercut sends Tien flying into the air, seemingly unconscious, while Yamcha sends a kick towards Raditz's stomach. He turns to the side, realizing just a little too late that it was a feint... yet his speed, even when suppressed, is more than enough to react in time. Before Yamcha can follow up on his feint, a side kick sends the martial artist flying back... but that was the plan from the beginning. While one of Raditz's legs is still in the air, Krillin sweeps the remaining leg out from under him, bringing an elbow down to hammer him into the ground... and then Tien's hands come together to form a triangle, his brief moment of unconsciousness was nothing but a trick.
A strong blast of invisible energy slams into Raditz while he's on the ground, pushing him deeper and deeper into the Earth. Then another, and another, and another, and...
...and it stops, for the briefest second. Just long enough for Yamcha to fall from the sky, driving both feet into Raditz's stomach.
'Holy shit.' Raditz thinks to himself as Yamcha kicks off of his body, dodging in midair to avoid Krillin's attack...
...a yellow, flat circle of energy, which is now heading straight towards Raditz's throat.
At the last possible moment, Raditz forces his body to move, destroying the surrounding earth around him as he barely avoids Krillin's Destructo Disc.
Raditz's mind races as he launches himself at his opponents. 'I need to take Krillin out of the fight first. He's the only one who can seriously injure me... but I also can't let him die. How am I going to do this...'
The answer comes to mind almost immediately, and it's obvious enough for Raditz to be embarrassed by himself.
'I spent an entire fucking week learning this... I can't believe I forgot about it.'
Dodging a kick from Tien, Raditz quickly charges up a ball of purple Ki, launching it at Krillin immediately. The short martial artist, realizing that he won't be able to dodge in time, crosses his arms in front of himself to block the attack. The ball of Ki explodes on impact, doing almost no damage... but that's not what it was supposed to do.
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Krillin's muscles seize up, causing his body ignores his commands to move. Before he can figure out what's going on, Raditz arrives in front of him, taking advantage of Krillin's paralysis to launch a two-handed overhand swing, knocking the bald man to the ground. Raditz double taps, launching another ball of paralyzing Ki at the unconscious fighter.
"Krillin!" Tien shouts in anger as he himself at Raditz...
Dealing with two master martial artists is far, far easier than dealing with three of them. It's still difficult, no doubt about it, but it's manageable now. Raditz blocks a kick from Tien with one of his own, before sending the three-eyed man flying backwards with a palm strike. Without turning his head, he kicks out behind him, throwing Yamcha away. Charging two purple balls of Ki, he aims at both of his opponents...
And then he's suddenly interrupted by an ear-splitting scream of pain. Turning his head, he sees the smoking form of Piccolo, who is standing with outstretched arms in front of a small, terrified child... standing in front of his nephew, Gohan.
'Fuck, that was too fast!'
As Raditz stares at the dying Namekian in surprise, something impacts him from behind, sending him spiraling towards the ground. Looking up, he sees Yamcha, who quickly shouts at Tien.
"Go save Goku's kid, I'll handle this guy!"
Tien hesitates for a brief moment, before nodding his head, launching himself towards Nappa a split second later. Meanwhile, Raditz gets to his feet, shooting another blast of paralyzing Ki at Krillin as he thinks to himself.
'Piccolo is dead, and Tien is going to join him soon... I didn't see Chiaotzu, so he's probably dead as well. Yamcha needs to die. If he doesn't, he won't get to train with King Kai... I should buy time until Tien has been dealt with, then get Nappa to take over against Yamcha.'
With a sigh, he drops into a fighting stance. Forcing an arrogant grin upon his face, he begins to speak.
"Come and get me, weakling."
Yamcha obliges him, instantly dashing at the Saiyan. Every strike he sends is precise and thrown with peak efficiency. The attacks use every muscle possible, infused with enough Ki to make sure that they'll actually hurt Raditz! And yet... it isn't enough. Yamcha is an incredibly skilled fighter, much more than Raditz is, but he simply can't match the Saiyan's speed and power. What's worse... the Saiyan seems to be getting better by the second! He gets better at predicting what Yamcha will do. He begins copying the Earthling's movements, his movements becoming smoother and deadlier.
Raditz sends a powerful hook to Yamcha's ribs, knocking the air out of him, giving Raditz time to wrap his arms around the martial artist. He slams the Earthling into the ground, grinning while he waits for the shorter man to get up.
"Is that it? What, were the bald ones the only fighters with powerful techniques? You'll have to try a lot harder than that to kill me." Raditz says, intentionally drawing the fight out.
Yamcha coughs as he pushes himself off the ground, standing on unsteady feet. "Is... is this all a game to you?!"
Raditz doesn't reply, simply grinning down at his opponent.
"Fine... fine! I guess it's time that I started trying..." Yamcha says, gathering energy.
His right hand shakes slightly, before his left grasps it, keeping it steady as a small ball of yellow energy begins to build in the palm of his hand. Yellow electricity crackles around the unassuming ball of Ki while Raditz stares at it, seemingly unimpressed. With a roar, the Earthling throws the ball at Raditz, using the fingers of his right hand to direct the technique. With a chuckle, Raditz tilts his body to the side, easily dodging the attack...
And then gets knocked to the ground from behind. Quickly pushing himself up, he looks around wildly to see who hit him, spotting the small ball of Ki Yamcha fired loop around for another attack. The next few seconds are a blur of dodging, blocking, and deflecting. Getting more exhausted by the second, Yamcha doesn't allow the ball of Ki to dissipate, keeping the wild offense going. Eventually, he catches Raditz directly on the chin, finally allowing the attack to explode.
Boom.
"Not so fun now, is it big guy?" Yamcha pants, grinning at the cloud of dust and smoke his attack caused.
His grin quickly fades as the dust clears, revealing the Saiyan, who barely has a scratch on his body.
"Not bad, not bad... but is that really all you've got?" Raditz asks, walking towards the martial artist with a smile on his face.
Yamcha's face turns grim as he stares at the approaching Saiyan. With a sigh, he answers Raditz's question. "Now that you mention it... I do have one more technique that can put you in the ground..."
"Well then, by all means..." Raditz begins, finally reaching Yamcha. "...Give it your best shot."
Yamcha focuses his energy, pushing more and more Ki into his limbs, straining his muscles to their limits... before he attacks.
With speed that baffles even Raditz, he launches a flurry of strikes. He punches, kicks, and even scratches Raditz's body. Whatever defense Raditz throws up is quickly battered down, allowing the Earthling to rain strikes upon his armor. As the wind makes a strange, almost wolf-like howling noise, Raditz's mind races.
'What the hell is with this speed?! He's faster than I am right now, and his power level is only 2500! The Wolf Fang Fist was never this strong in the show!'
As Raditz's guard gets beaten down again, Yamcha finally end his attack. Focusing all his power into his arms, he bashes Raditz's guard down before thrusting both his hands forward in a double palm strike to the Saiyan's chest. Raditz slides backwards, leaving deep grooves in the ground as he stares at his armor in pure shock...
Or, more accurately, as he stares at the hole in his armor. The combination of attacks was more than enough to damage his armor, and the finishing blow completely ruined the front of it. The durable material is in shambles, barely holding on.
"..."
"..."
"HA! Hahahahahahaha!" Raditz suddenly laughs, looking at Yamcha with pleasant surprise. "That was good! I can't believe you actually destroyed my armor!"
As Yamcha looks in confusion at the completely uninjured body of his opponent, Raditz continues speaking.
"This was fun, and, of course, very educational. I've learned a lot from this fight... but I think it's time to end this."
Before Yamcha can react, the Saiyan disappears from view, and a heavy fist impact the back of his head.
Raditz grins to himself as the orange-clothed fighter slumps to the ground, unconscious.
'Wait... shit! I was trying to buy time for Nappa to kill Tien! Dammit, let's see how Nappa is--' he thinks, his thoughts suddenly cut off as he turns towards the other Saiyan warrior.
Nappa's armor is almost as damaged as Raditz's armor, and the bald Saiyan himself seems genuinely injured... and furious. The bodies of Tien and Piccolo litter the ground around him, while Nappa himself raises a hand crackling with energy... aiming it at the barely conscious child in front of him. Aiming it at Gohan, Raditz's nephew.
"DIE!" Nappa shouts, bringing the hand down towards the Half-Saiyan...
And then the hand stops, locked in a bone-crushing grip. Nappa looks up in confusion, meeting a furious pair of black eyes. Suddenly, the grip on his wrist increases, shattering it with a sickening snap.
"I thought I told you already... leave my nephew alive." Raditz says with fury that shocks himself.