Krillin's knees knocked together as he took his combat stance, sweat dripping from his brows even though he'd fully rested after his battle with Chiaotzu and was currently in top shape.
Currently, Tien was partially relaxed, not taking Krillin seriously at all.
Krillin couldn't blame him for it, either. That was the main reason he was trembling so badly. If he pushed his power as hard as he could, he could match Tien's current ki output, but if the three-eyed jerk tried at all, Krillin wouldn't be able to even scratch him.
Both hesitated after the announcer called for the match to start, for completely different reasons.
Krillin knew that, in order to win this particular battle, he'd need to be incredibly smart. He wasn't going to defeat someone as strong as Tien was based on brute force alone. The difference in raw power made that nearly impossible.
Meanwhile, Tien simply wanted whatever happened next to be overly telegraphed. At a glance, it was obvious that the one who'd pulled out of the competition, Kakarot, was on an entirely different level of strength when compared to his current opponent. Tien didn't care about the actual competition. He simply wanted to make the Turtle school know just how strong he was, and how weak they were by comparison.
He wanted to savor this. For Tao, their deaths would not be quick. Even if he gave up on the rest of the tournament this year, this 'Krillin' would pay for what his 'brother' did to Mercenary Tao.
Tien's third eye dilated. Not much, but enough that Krillin noted and tensed up, a moment before the larger man made his move.
The three-eyed's body flashed forward, with speed that made it feel like light itself was stuttering around him. With my enhanced perspective, I caught the whole thing from the sidelines as if it was in slow motion, Tien's large fist headed straight for the spot where Krillin's nose would normally be, if he had one.
But right before contact, the three-eyed Crane student's fist stopped cold.
A calculated smirk spread across his face.
Then, he whispered under his breath, so quiet that only I, the only one currently transformed into SSJP, could make it out from the stands. "Nice try."
Pulling his fist back, Tien spun into a sudden, powerful roundhouse kick directed to a space that was not in front of him, but rather behind him and off to the left a little ways.
Perfect hit. Tien's kick slammed right into Krillin's gut with the force of a titanium wrecking ball.
The dwarfish teenager's eyes bulged almost out of his head as the force of the kick lifted him right off of his feet.
His body hung in the air, the physics themselves seemingly unsure of how to cope with the devastating force of the kick he'd just taken, for several moments before they finally made up their mind, apparently deciding that he'd already suffered enough, and didn't need to be thrown backward or anything. Instead, he collapsed to the ground in a fetal position, holding his gut, his face green with the effort of keeping whatever was trying to leave his stomach via the wrong path inside his body.
Even the announcer winced, deciding that Krillin's pose was enough to start counting on.
He got to five before Krillin managed to gulp the vomit back down and stand back up, shakily.
"It'd be easier for you if you stayed down, you know." Tien told Krillin.
Krillin replied by using the afterimage technique three times in succession. Tien smashed through all three with an almost lazy air of superiority.
BANG! The ki blast that Krilin had shot at Tien from his blind spot while the bigger martial artist had been occupied with attacking the afterimages smashed right into the three-eyed person's outstretched fist. It generated a small amount of smoke, but no real damage.
"Krillin! You can do it! Don't give up!" Kakarot shouted encouragement from the stands as he felt Krillin's ki waver with uncertainty that nobody could really blame him for feeling.
"LIGHTNING, KRILLIN!" Roshi shouted his own advice.
Roshi's advice seemed to resonate with the boy, somehow. Krillin's ki stabilized, sharper than ever.
"Lightning?" I leaned over and asked.
"A training exercise. It's about keeping your heart stable, using your instincts to feel the shifts in the energy of the world around you." Roshi explained.
"It's fun! You dodge lightning!" Kakarot elaborated.
I nodded. "He's already dodging lightning?" I asked, surprised.
"He's not the strongest, but he has a talent when it comes to creativity and perception." Roshi told me. That lined up pretty well with what I knew of the original Krillin.
It was worth noting that this Krillin's foundation was notably stronger than the original Krillin's had ever been. This version of Roshi had spent the last decade, maybe more, teaching Kakarot. He was much more experienced as a teacher and a training analyst than his canon counterpart, who'd only really ever taught normal humans with less potential than Old Gohan.
There was a large difference between spending the majority of a year training almost nothing save for physical strength, under the tutelage of an old man who'd never taught someone as talented as you before and thus constantly underestimated your true capability, and spending that same amount of time on a dedicated, personalized curriculum under someone who'd spent the last eight or so years finding different, exceedingly creative ways to teach advanced combat philosophies.
If this Krillin fought '206 Power Level' Krillin from canon, right now, the clash would likely be pretty impressive.
But against Tien, he didn't have a chance unless he surpassed that version of himself, at least in some way, shape, or form.
In other words, his only chance was if he could utilize everything that Roshi had taught him to its fullest potential.
I was actually rather excited to see if he could do it. This was a special kind of entertainment that I'd learned over time to appreciate, rather than take for granted. I actually had the rare hope that I'd be surprised for once.