48: Preliminary battles.

"That was certainly an excellent match, wasn't it? Now we will announce the next fighters to face each other!" the announcer said, and the screen began to display the randomized names again. 

"The next match is between Lan-Fan and Bacterian!" Muten Roshi, who was adjusting quite well to being a commentator, was the one to announce the names of the next fighters. 

"Oops, looks like it's my turn. See you soon~" Lan-Fan gave several kisses on the palms of her hands and pointed at her fellow fighters, and when she passed Bulma, she winked at her before continuing on her way. 

"That girl seems to like you, Bulma," Goku pointed out, noticing the strange interaction between the two women. 

"Goku, Lan-Fan is just being flirtatious, she doesn't even seem to be an acquaintance of Bulma's," Chi-Chi pointed out, causing Goku to nod, coming to that realization. 

"Then why did she wink at Bulma? If they're not that well known," Goku continued, and Chi-Chi felt a little nervous, not knowing how to explain such things to the young Saiyan. 

"There are very friendly people in the world, Goku. Don't think too much about such things." Bulma can understand Chi-Chi's meaning through a glance, so she gives her younger brother the answer. 

"I don't understand," maybe it was because of his Saiyan nature, even if Goku hadn't broken his head, he was a bit ignorant in some subjects, as if there was a barrier between him and them.

Luckily, the boy was more receptive to such topics, so Chi-Chi calmed down and began to explain the subtleties of those topics to him when Bacterian took the stage. His name, inspired by the terrible stench of the name, could even be smelled from afar. 

"It seems that the fighter Bacterian uses unorthodox methods." Roshi couldn't find an adequate word to describe why Bacterian had such a bad smell. 

"Well... it looks like the fight has already started." The announcer began to narrate the fight, not quite knowing what to say.

"Hehe, you're just a little woman. Why are you here? Do you want daddy Bacterian to help you?" Bacterian, a rather tall and heavy guy, approached Lan-Fan step by step, his face scrunched up in disgust. 

"Fuck no, fuck you, you dirty fucker," the whole polite persona Lan-Fan had built up for herself had collapsed due to the sheer disgust Bacterian caused her, not only by his foul smell, but also by his words, gestures and facial expressions. 

"Hey, bitch, why are you insulting me?" Bacterian ran towards Lan-Fan with unusual speed for her massive frame.

"It looks like the fighters are having a heated dialog! And what speed the fighter Bacterian has! Could this be part of his skills as a martial artist?" the moderator asked, looking at Muten Roshi. 

"Indeed, Bacterian seems to have some knowledge of Ki, so he can solve some of the disadvantages of having a rather huge body like his, but the Lan-Fan girl also seems to know how to use the energy," although Roshi was no longer a pervert to such an extent that he got a nosebleed at the mere sight of a woman, his attention was almost entirely on Lan-Fan.

The woman wasn't too shocked to notice the exuberant speed; she simply stepped back with a movement possibly faster than Bacterian's, avoiding contact with Bacterian.

Lan-Fan narrowed her eyes and took the opportunity to kick Bacterian in the leg. Her leg took on a reddish hue, and a small explosion sounded upon impact.

"Explosion Kick!" shouted Lan-Fan at the moment of the attack, and her blow sent Bacterian flying several meters into the distance before he fell heavily to the ground.

"Wow, it looks like Lan-Fan not only has beautiful legs, but they are also explosive!" Muten Roshi made a little joke and the audience laughed, even Lan-Fan looked at the old man and stuck out her tongue playfully. 

Then Lan-Fan clasped her hands together, creating a ball of crimson ki in the space between her palms, and taking advantage of the fact that her rival was barely recovering, she rushed towards him, becoming an almost indistinguishable blur. 

"Explosion Rose!" shouted Lan-Fan, throwing the energy sphere at Bacterian, who looked on in horror, unable to defend himself at all, just crossing his arms. 

A huge explosion occurred where Bacterian stood, completely enveloping him. But for some reason, the sand withstood all the damage from such an attack, so the announcer took advantage of the moment to make an announcement.

"What a great attack! It looks like our contestant Lan-Fan is like her attack, a rose with thorns. But did you see how the arena withstood the blast? 

It's made of Capsule Corp.'s new construction materials- Cheap, reliable, and durable, if you want to build your house or a large building, you know which products to choose." The announcer's announcement might not have been so subtle, but it caught the attention of many interested people. 

Everyone's attention then returned to the fight, which was about to end, because although Bacterian was badly injured by the explosion, he weakly insisted on getting up, but Lan-Fan kicked him hard enough to get him out of the arena. 

"Fighter Bacterian is disqualified! Winner, Lan-Fan!" Muten Roshi announced the end of this match, causing the crowd to go wild. 

"A short fight, but it seems that Lan-Fan is quite strong, and perhaps she will emerge as one of the favorites of this tournament," the announcer said, watching as Lan-Fan waved to the crowd as if she were a model. 

"Now, let's introduce the new fighters," said Roshi.

When Lan-Fan returned to the place that belonged to the fighters, other names were randomly chosen. 

"Ken Master vs. Tong Po!" At Muten Roshi's words, the two fighters quickly entered the arena. 

One of them was a young man with blond hair and a red fighting suit. The man was quite happy to be in the arena, doing little jumps in preparation for the next match. He was Ken Master. 

Tong Po, on the other hand, was a tall man with a bare torso and athletic shorts. His head was shaved, leaving only a long plait at the back of his head. His face was serious, but he also punched the air several times in preparation. 

"Fight!" The gong announcing the start of the confrontation struck, and the two fighters soon met, both kicking the air and colliding in midair. 

Instead of the classic sound of flesh colliding, the sound was more like an explosion. Even the ground shook briefly due to the intensity of this attack. A look of surprise appeared in both of their eyes, but Ken was much more excited. 

"I thought only Ryu could withstand my blows, but this guy's all over the place now," Ken said before regaining his leg and repositioning himself, but Tong Po simply took a fighting stance, silently. 

The two men began to fight, their blows landing on each other's bodies with quite a bit of force, showing how strong and resilient they were, but although they seemed to be evenly matched, Ken was gradually getting the better of them. 

"Shoryureppa!" Ken shouted, seizing the opportunity to launch this attack.

First, he took a little momentum, crouching down a bit before jumping up and throwing a right hook to Tong Po's abdomen. The special thing about this attack was that a crimson aura covered Tong Po as he struck, and orange flames erupted from his fists, covering his opponent. 

With the first jump, Tong Po was in the air, but the attack did not end there. Ken jumped again, this time with much more power and energy. His fist, wrapped in fire, drew an oriental dragon as he kept hitting Tong Po.

"What an incredible way to give an elemental property to ki!" exclaimed Muten Roshi, attracted by Ken's technique, which impressed him quite a bit.

"Is it difficult to do that, Master Roshi?" asked the host, who had the same question for all the spectators. 

"You could say yes, usually ki has some subtle properties, you know, as Lan-Fan demonstrated, but Ken turned his ki directly into fire, which is quite a tricky thing," Muten Roshi explained, and as was obvious, Tong Po suffered quite a few burns. 

Doing the same as Lan-Fan, Ken pulled Tong Po out of the arena and declared himself the winner. As his image was projected on screens around the world, a bearded man in shabby clothes watched the live broadcast from a distant location. 

"That was a short but good fight," said the man, who was standing in front of an appliance store. 

"Master Ryu!" A girl with a red headband in her hair approached Ryu, holding a bag of food. 

"Sakura, look, that man over there is my brother," Ryu pointed out to Ken, who was coming down from the fighting arena. 

"He's better groomed than you," Sakura complained, causing Ryu to shake his head. 

The names of other fighters appeared on the screen, this time it was Krillin against an unknown fighter. The fight between them was even faster than the one Ken had. 

So, the preliminary rounds went by, some were long but entertaining, some were short but boring, some had the perfect mix, but all of them had interesting sparks that made both the spectators and the fighters feel that it was worth watching. 

...

"This time, it's Fighter Bulma against Fighter Guilliman!" announced Muten Roshi, this time he wanted to see how much Bulma had grown in person, not just in the stories. 

Bulma relaxed on the sand and did some small stretches. Her clothes showed this casual state, she wore a blue blouse, short jeans, and long purple tights to stand out more. 

Meanwhile, Guilliman was a tall but stocky blond man. He was dressed in navy blue martial arts clothes. The man had a serious face and did not seem uncomfortable in front of a crowd. 

The starting gong sounded, and the two began to fight. Bulma only used part of her power, but when she hit Guilliman, she felt that she had hit something unusually hard, but it also returned some of the power she had used. 

Guilliman, in turn, punched Bulma mercilessly in the face, but the girl used her arm to defend herself. The two stood looking at each other for a moment before exchanging blows with greater frequency and speed. 

Bulma tested the strange resistance she felt in Guilliman's body as she struck, increasing her power more and more, but even when she used the equivalent of 200 combat power, that strange force field protecting Guilliman was still in place. 

"Don't bother, I'm a psychic," Guilliman said with a hint of pride in his tone before kicking hard at Bulma, who retreated several steps. 

"A fine use of psychic power, no doubt." Bulma gave her honest assessment of Guilliman's shield without showing that she was affected by the pain or the attack. 

Bulma's indifference to his attack frightened Guilliman a little, could it be that she was faking? He didn't know, but whether that was the case or not, he had to keep fighting. Then he concentrated his psychic power in his hand and created a golden-colored psionic sword. 

"In case you're wondering, yes, it is allowed to create weapons with one's power, as long as this technique is detailed in the participant's record," the moderator said, sparing the viewers any doubts. 

"And it seems that this Guilliman is quite skilled in mental power; his sword does not leak energy, and his mood is calm," Muten Roshi added from his own experience. 

Guilliman's actions made Bulma feel quite interested in the boy in front of her, so she decided to play along. Of course, she wasn't suffering from the 'I'll fight on the same level as my enemy' syndrome; she just wanted to experience Guilliman's psychic abilities for a while. 

Then she would raise her strength to the limit and crush him like an ant!