Chapter 10

Kuririn started first, with a sharp kick to the side of Yamcha's head. Yamcha blocked, and fired a quick ki blast in return. Kuririn deflected it back, but Yamcha was already past it and attacking his hardest; it was all Kuririn could do to avoid being hit. /He's pushing me hard.../, Kuririn thought. /...and himself too. I'll push back!/ He just hoped he'd move fast enough. With a quick motion, Kuririn put his hands to his face. Yamcha had seen the motion often enough to shield his eyes; still, this would slow him down.

"TAIYOKEN!"

Even if Yamcha shielded himself, now I have enough time to break off. Kuririn flew out of Yamcha's range, and started blanketing the area with energy. Yamcha was momentarily distracted by the fire, and feeling the after-effects of the Taiyoken; Kuririn used that distraction to get behind Yamcha.

"KamehameHA!"

Kuririn was sure that the blast would take Yamcha out. But when the blast cut through the smoke and hit a nearby mountain, Kuririn was worried. Did he do more damage to Yamcha with those first blasts than he thought?

A kick to the head sent Kuririn flying, and he realized how dumb he'd been. idiot! Why didn't you think of him just MOVING? Kuririn righted himself before he hit the same mountain.

"Nice try, Kuririn, but I wasn't distracted long enough for that to work."

Yamcha went on the attack again, pressing Kuririn hard. He knew the smaller man couldn't attack him while defending, or else the multiple hits he'd take would make it less than a fair tradeoff. I'm surprised; I thought Kuririn would be a better challen- With a swift kick to the gut, Kuririn forced Yamcha to concentrate. Kuririn used the opportunity to take Yamcha's place as the aggressor. Yamcha faced the hard realization that his power was actually about Kuririn's equal; he was having a hard time stopping Kuririn's blows.

Let's try something new. Yamcha broke away, and decided to try one of his favorite attacks, the Souki Dan. Kuririn stopped, as Yamcha attacked him with it. Kuririn had no trouble dodging the slow ball of energy the first few times, and looked more amused than wary. Just what I wanted. Yamcha sent the ball into a straight charge. Kuririn got ready to dodge again. Yamcha split his two fingers apart.

Without warning, the ball split into hundreds of duplicates, all of them much faster than the original. Kuririn barely had time to react before they hit.

"Gotcha! That's what you get for being unprepared, Kuririn."

In response, Kuririn nailed Yamcha with a Kamehameha.

"And that's what you get for letting your guard down again, Yamcha."

"Damn. We don't have enough time to really go at it, do we?"

The sun had gone down, and night was already on them when Yamcha made the comment. However, Yamcha wasn't referring to the time of day; they had enough skill in sensing ki to fight, no matter what time it was. Rather, the bounty hunter seeking Jendo was going to arrive soon. Yamcha and Kuririn had already decided to make sure they were in top shape for his arrival, just in case.

"No. We better just turn in now."

Their ki flared, and they sped toward Yamcha's home.

"By the way, you really surprised me. I didn't think you'd changed that attack since the 23rd Budokai."

"Thanks. I decided to start retooling it because I'd neglected it for so long, but I'd always liked the control I had; if I missed the first time, I could attack with it again. By the way, that wasn't its real speed when you first started dodging it; it can go a lot faster."

"After getting hit by it that fast, I figured as much. Well, this is your stop; if I'm any later than I already am, #18's gonna be furious!"

"Goodbye, Kuririn."

"Goodbye, Yamcha!"

With that said, Kuririn kept going, while Yamcha dropped his speed down to a crawl. He wanted to make sure he didn't overshoot it. He looked inside, expecting to find Jendo using the grav machine to train. What he did find disturbed him.

Jendo was standing by the window, looking into the dark night. His gaze had actually relaxed, as he hadn't yet noticed Yamcha's ki. He looked at the stars with less wonder than...pride. As though he owned them.

Suddenly, Jendo started, as he sensed Yamcha. Yamcha quickly stepped back inside the doorway; Jendo still didn't have enough practice to tell where someone's ki was within a few meters, and Yamcha wasn't sure he wanted Jendo to know what he saw.

Yamcha opened the door all the way, as though he had just arrived.

"Already done, Jendo?"

"Yes. My pursuer should be here soon. What will we do until then?"

"Tomorrow we'll train. The next day we'll rest, and the day after that we'll train again. He should be here the fourth day. I'll check with one of my friends about how much time we have, to make sure."

Yamcha went to his bedroom, and closed the door. He changed out of his dirty gi, and into his sleeping clothes, but he didn't lie in bed just yet. He had some thinking to do about this new change.