The Symbiote Saiyan Book 5: The Tienshinhan Saga

Tien's Purpose

"Master Shen." Tien greeted as he and Chiaotzu walked up to the master and leader of the Crane School, about an hour after they left and the tournament. When they first got out, they were told by a messenger that Shen had returned to their temporary apartment since he was done skulking around. No doubt he wanted to pass the time by antagonizing his long time rival Master Roshi, but since Fortuneteller Baba was present at the time he wanted to make sure his mouth did not disappear off his face. The old witch had tried that once with him back when he was a student of Master Mutaito and he promised himself he would never experience that horror again.

"Ahhhh, Tienshinhan. How was the tournament for you? I trust you are able to win in the qualifying rounds?" Shen asked, eager to hear the news.

"I have Master Shen, thanks to your teachings." Bullseye said as he bowed down on one knee at his master's feet.

"And what about you Chiaotzu? Were you able accomplish what Tien has done as well?" Shen asked.

"Well..." Chiaotzu said as he looked down, unable to look his master in the eyes.

"You mean to tell me you had lost?" Shen asked, a raging fire now burning inside him.

"Master Shen, Chiaotzu did try his best. He fought one of the Turtle Hermit students named Yamcha, who was much stronger than Nam, the opponent I faced. He was able to employ Chiaotzu's weakness in counting before he finished him off." Tien truthfully said, hoping his choice of words would lead to Chiaotzu not getting severely punished.

"I see, a wise tactic indeed. Must be a brilliant tactician, and here I thought that surfer looking numbskull was a complete idiot." Shen said, letting Chiaotzu off of his failure. Hopefully it would remain that way for the sake of both students.

"Well...." Tien was about to say, but kept his mouth shut. He knew full well that Yamcha was indeed a moron and that he took advantage of Chiaotzu's weakness by pure accident and dumb luck.

"So who are the other six fighters who made it? Can you tell me what went down with all theeir matches?" Shen requested, looking to move on from his second most prized student's failure.

"First was Krillin, a member of the Turtle Hermit School. While he was officially the winner, he got beaten to a pulp by a soldier named Crossbones. It was brutal, even by our methods." Tien answered.

"Crossbones huh? Might want to look into him as a student sometime soon." Shen said to himself.

"Second was between a woman named Ranfan and the Red Ribbon Army colonel turned Turtle Hermit student Violet with the latter waltzing Ranfan off the stage." Tien said.

"Waltzing?" Shen asked, confused about the choice of words.

"Even I am having trouble figuring it out. Third was Yamcha and Chiaotzu, you know how that went. Fourth was my fight with Nam." Tien said.

"A battle that should have ended within seconds." Shen grinned.

"It did." Tien confirmed, but refrained from bringing up the topics of Knull invading his mind to get to Venom and Pistole as well as Storm sending a lightning bolt his way. "Next was the battle between Turtle Hermit student and mutant Wolverine and the blind warrior of Hell's Kitchen Daredevil."

"Daredevil?! The vigilante Mr. Fisk had assigned you to kill after the 22nd World Tournament? The same hero who was the first to defeat my brother Mercenary Tao?" Shen asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"The very same one Master Shen." Tien said.

"Unbelievable. If that's true, then he is after Mr. Fisk....or even the Crane School." Shen said. While he didn't share the same animosity for Daredevil as he did for Roshi and his students, the fact that this upstart defeated his brother felt like a personal attack against his dojo, even though Tao was acting as a private mercenary contractor. However, that same animosity had somewhat faded since Tao was defeated two separate times after that, once by the hands of the Z Fighters a year ago and then two months ago at the hands of his former team the Thunderbolts. Consisting of the Ghost Rider Eddie Brock (formerly General Blue), Launch's sister Hasky, and Tao's replacement Anthony Masters (better known as Taskmaster). Tao barely got away on both occasions, each time having to find robot replacements to whatever limbs and other body parts he lost.