"All that running around... it's getting a little warm in here." Jackie Chun announced.
With a sudden motion, he grabbed the collar of his black martial arts jacket and tore it off.
He tossed the jacket aside, revealing a torso that, while elderly, was packed with dense, hardened muscle that seemed carved from wood.
"So?" Jackie struck a bodybuilding pose, flexing his biceps and flashing a toothy grin that sparkled in the sun.
"Be honest. Don't you find this overwhelming masculinity just a little bit... sexy?"
Chi-Chi stared at him, her expression flat and unimpressed.
She slowly looked him up and down, her lip curling slightly.
"Do all legendary martial arts masters lose their sense of shame along with their hair?"
Jackie Chun stumbled, nearly losing his balance. He coughed awkwardly, his face flushing a deep red.
"Ahem… honestly. Everyone's a critic. I still have hair, you know." He muttered, recovering his composure.
The playful atmosphere evaporated instantly.
"But you are right. The time for games is over. I am going to get serious now."
He sank into a deep, solid stance, his muscles tightening like steel cables. His hands curled into the classic Turtle School formation, but with a tension that promised violence.
"Come."
Chi-Chi shifted her feet, widening her base, and raised her hands into a sharp, fluid combat posture.
With a shout, she lunged forward, her speed explosive.
She aimed for a direct hit, but Jackie Chun was already gone.
He slipped under her guard, moving faster than he had at any point in the match so far. Before she could retract her arm, a fist connected squarely with her cheek.
POW!
The blow was heavy, snapping her head back.
But Chi-Chi's instincts were honed by the harsh wilderness. Ignoring the pain, she spun violently, throwing a back-elbow aimed right at Jackie Chun's temple.
He caught her elbow with one hand and her wrist with the other, locking her upper body in an iron grip.
Before she could kick free, he drove his knee upward.
CRACK.
The knee slammed into her chin, lifting her off her feet and launching her straight up into the air like a rocket.
The crowd gasped as Chi-Chi ascended, flipping uncontrollably. But at the apex of her flight, she didn't fall.
Thump.
Thump.
She kicked the empty air, her boots finding purchase on nothingness.
Using the Skywalk technique, she stabilized herself, hovering high above the ring.
She wiped a trickle of bright red blood from her nose with the back of her hand.
"He wasn't kidding" She muttered, looking down at the small figure of the old man.
Then, a smirk crossed her bloodied lip.
"HEY! OLD MAN!" she screamed down at him, her voice echoing through the stadium.
"THANKS FOR THE LIFT!"
Jackie Chun looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"What?"
Chi-Chi drew both fists back, her aura flaring wildly around her suspended form.
She unleashed a flurry of punches toward the ground.
"KIAI RENDAN!"[1]
Hundreds of invisible, high-pressure air bullets rained down from the sky. The sound was deafening, like a gatling gun tearing through the atmosphere.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BAM!
CRASH!
The arena floor vanished under a cloud of dust, burying Jackie Chun under a storm of concussive force.
As the dust cloud slowly drifted away, the silhouette of the old master remained standing, completely motionless.
Jackie Chun hadn't even uncrossed his arms. He stood in the center of the ring, not a scratch on him, a disappointed look on his face.
"A clever attempt… but I watched you try the same kind of aerial barrage in the last tournament. Did you really think that simply raining shockwaves from above would work on me? You're far too naïve if you believe raw power alone can break through my guard."
Chi-Chi, still hovering in the air, didn't look discouraged.
In fact, her smirk widened.
"I expected nothing less from a master of your caliber. I knew you'd withstand the impact… but you overlooked one crucial detail."
She pointed a finger directly at his feet.
"Look at the floor, old man."
Jackie Chun frowned, confused. He looked down at the ring.
"The floor? What about i—"
His voice caught in his throat.
The tiles beneath his feet were perfectly smooth.
Despite the deafening sound of the bombardment and the massive cloud of dust, the ground directly under him was completely intact.
There wasn't a single crack.
The ground... it's unbroken? But I felt the pressure...
Chi-Chi threw her arms upward in a violent, lifting motion.
"GYAKUKIAI!"[2]
"WHAT??!"
The ground beneath Jackie Chun didn't crack—it exploded.
The compressed air that had been injected through the tiles detonated upward with the force of a geyser.
A massive pillar of wind erupted from beneath the old master's feet, catching him completely off guard.
"Gwah!"
Jackie was launched helplessly into the air, spinning inside the vortex of pressure.
"During my travels, I didn't just learn to push the air." Chi-Chi shouted over the roar of the wind.
"I trained to perfect the density and control of my pressure attacks! I can make the air pass through solid objects without dispersing! I sent those shockwaves through the floor to trap you from below!"
The floor of the arena became a violent, invisible minefield.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Successive blasts of compressed air erupted from the tiles, catching Jackie Chun in a relentless vertical juggle.
Every time gravity tried to pull the old master down, another geyser of wind slammed into his back, launching him higher into the sky.
"Gwah! Oof! Ungh!"
Jackie Chun was helpless, tossed around like a leaf in a hurricane.
He was rapidly becoming a small dot against the bright blue sky, the relentless thud-thud-thud of the air bullets echoing through the silent stadium.
Chi-Chi descended.
She didn't immediately look up. Only then did she tilt her head back to look at the speck that was the former champion, still ascending toward the clouds.
"Sayonara, Jackie Chun."
On the sidelines, the group was stunned into silence.
"That... that's incredible." Krillin stammered, gripping the wall.
"She sent the pressure through the ground and timed the explosions to juggle him! That level of Ki control is... it's terrifying!"
"Wow!" Goku's eyes were sparkling, his mouth hanging open in a grin.
Even Tien Shinhan, leaning against the wall in the shadows, felt a drop of sweat slide down his temple.
His three eyes were fixed on the girl in the ring, his expression shifting from disdain to genuine shock.
I thought she was just a loud-mouthed little girl... but that technique was flawless. If that had been me... would I have seen it coming?
Tien thought, his jaw tightening.
Chi-Chi placed her hands on her hips, looking at the stunned announcer who was gaping at the empty sky.
"Well?" she demanded, tapping her foot impatiently.
"What are you waiting for? He is clearly out of the ring. In fact, he is probably halfway to the stratosphere by now. Call the match."
The announcer blinked, adjusting his glasses, but he didn't look at her. His gaze remained fixed on the clouds, his jaw dropping lower and lower.
"Uhh... Miss Chi-Chi... I... I don't think he's gone just yet!"
"What?"
She spun around and looked up, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun.
High above the arena, a brilliant blue star had appeared.
And it was getting bigger.
"KAME... HAME... HAAAAAAAA!!"
A massive beam of blue energy erupted from the sky, but it wasn't aimed at Chi-Chi. It was aimed directly away from the earth, blasting into the upper atmosphere.
"He... he fired a Kamehameha backwards?!" Krillin gasped.
Using the massive recoil of the energy wave as a makeshift rocket thruster, Jackie Chun came hurtling back down toward the arena at terminal velocity.
He was upside down, his hands still cupped, riding the force of his own blast to counteract the momentum of Chi-Chi's air bullets.
"I'm not finished yeeeeeeet!" Jackie Chun screamed, plummeting toward the ring like a meteor.
Chi-Chi's eyes widened in genuine disbelief.
"You crazy old man! You're not landing that easily!" Chi-Chi yelled, planting her feet.
She drew her right fist back, focusing her Ki into a single, concentrated point. As Jackie Chun plummeted toward the ring, she thrust her hand upward with a sharp exhale.
"HAAAA!"
A dense sphere of pressurized air shot up like a surface-to-air missile, aiming directly for the falling master.
But Jackie Chun was ready.
Despite falling at terminal velocity, he twisted his body in mid-air, spinning like a drill. The air bullet whizzed past his ear, missing him by mere inches, and exploded harmlessly in the sky above him.
BOOM!
Jackie Chun slammed into the arena floor. The impact cracked the tiles beneath his shoes, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
He didn't collapse; he absorbed the shock with his knees and stood up slowly, rolling his shoulders.
"My, oh my." Jackie Chun exhaled, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"You really almost had me there."
Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes, stepping back into a defensive stance.
"Tch! You can't keep dodging forever."
"True." Jackie Chun nodded, his expression darkening.
"Which is why I'm done dodging."
Suddenly, he clasped his hands together in a strange, prayer-like gesture.
His aura changed, shifting from a calm blue to a static, crackling energy. Sparks began to dance around his fingers.
"I didn't want to use this on such a promising young fighter," Jackie said, his voice echoing with power.
"But you leave me no choice. Prepare yourself!"
He thrust his palms forward, fingers splayed wide.
THUNDER SHOCK SURPRISE!
A bolt of yellow lightning erupted from his hands. Before Chi-Chi could even blink or raise her guard, the electricity bridged the gap between them.
ZZZZZT!
"AAAAHH!"
Chi-Chi screamed as the high-voltage energy engulfed her.
Her body went rigid, seized by the paralyzing current.
She hovered a few feet off the ground, suspended in the crackling field of electricity, her muscles locking up completely.
"I... I can't... move!" she gasped through gritted teeth, her eyes wide with shock.
"It is over." Jackie Chun said, sweat pouring down his face as he maintained the flow of energy.
"This technique turns your own life energy into electricity. You cannot escape it."
[1] Shockwave Barrage
[2] Reverse Shockwave.