Krillin was having a very bad day.
He'd been the one to attack Pilaf's ship, in order to catch King Piccolo off guard.
When the fight began, the human warrior had been extremely confident. Prepared to protect the innocent people living in the city behind him, at all costs.
Now…
"AAAH! WHY MEEE?!"
BOOOM! An energy blast slammed into the ground mere feet from Krillin's position. He stumbled, then darted deeper into the bushes, screaming in terror as the aged Namekian pursued from the sky.
…
To be fair, while this 'fight' seemed less like a fight than it did a one-sided chase, Krillin's original advantage was not lost at all… though he himself didn't truly realize that.
King Piccolo had only been unsealed for around six hours at this point. He hadn't had the time or the energy to spawn any demonic minions, which meant that, when he attacked Krillin and knocked the bald Z-Fighter right out of Pilaf's flying castle, he hadn't had any minions to carry out the chase in his stead. Spawning more was also out of the question, as he could sense that Krillin was not a weakling, and spawning always temporarily weakened the ancient Namekian.
Ever since, he'd been pursuing the bald teenager, who'd gotten a few scrapes and bruises from the fall, himself.
Even though King Piccolo wasn't at his peak power level that averaged around 500 or so, his power level hadn't exactly declined to the point of uselessness, either. Though his stamina was that of an old man, his average power level still hung at somewhere around 400. That meant that when he focused on an attack, he could blast with a force of around 700. And he was.
That was enough to severely injure Krillin, unless the bald Turtle student put absolutelyeverything he had into defending.
And what was worse, this was Krillin's first time in a huge battle without a safety net.
If he slipped up, Krillin would die. If he'd slipped up against Tien or Chiaotzu, some part of him had known that one of his friends watching would save him just in time.
Not only did he not have that this time around, but if he fell, King Piccolo would turn his attention onto the innocent citizens of West City.
And with Zeck gone, nobody nearby was capable of stopping the Namekian.
Sure, the world at large wasn't in particular danger, but hundreds of thousands of people were still relying on Krillin to save them, and he knew from the first blast that he was outmuscled, even if it wasn't by much.
Who could blame the teen for being completely and utterly terrified?!
But, Krillin did have a few things going for him.
First off, his blind, terrified running had brought the Namekian dozens of kilometers away from the city, into an uninhabited stretch of wilderness where no bystanders would be harmed.
And secondly, Krillin's stamina, economy of motion, and ki control were all technically much better than the old Namek.
This was partially because of all of the harsh instruction that Krillin had been through over the last year and a half, and partially because King Piccolo was literally born of rage and aggression, and was uniquely bad at conserving his strength when he got wound up, like he was at present.
Honestly, it would have genuinely been smarter on Piccolo's behalf to simply spawn a weaker minion to chase the terrified teen down while the kid still failed to recognize just how small the gap between the two of them actually was. By the time he'd realize that and actually choose to fight, Krillin would have exhausted quite a bit of his stamina, and then wasted more energy fighting off the spawn.
Alas, that wasn't what had happened, and now King Piccolo was now paying the price in wasted effort.
If Krillin's estimation of the gap between them hadn't been so accurate at the start, and he'd begun running as a tactic, the Z-Fighter suddenly regaining his wits and attacking the Namekian with the full resolve of a dedicated hero was something that, entirely plausibly, could have secured him the victory.
That did not happen.
What did, instead, was King Piccolo suddenly getting in a lucky shot.
With his fear subconsciously lowering the teen's power level a bit, a lucky blast, fired by the Namekian, clipped Krillin on the shoulder. His gi exploded in a blackened mess, a massive burn erupting as the blast seriously injured the teen, shattering the bone and knocking him to the ground, causing him to clutch his bicep and scream in pain.
The Namekian, irritated beyond belief by the long, pointless chase, didn't waste his time posturing. To him, it was clear that the boy was a weakling with no willpower. Not worthy of his time or effort, but a thorn to be removed all the same.
He flashed forward.
Krillin's brain froze, as he locked eyes with the old Namekian. There was no mercy in that gaze.
Only death.
The Namekian moved so quickly that he almost vanished from the boy's sightline.
Then, something happened that neither of them could have predicted.
As King Piccolo's shoe touched the grass, he suddenly slowed, as if the air had been replaced with thick syrup or something.
…No.
It wasn't just King Piccolo slowing, everything around them was, too…
No. Krillin's brain rejected that, too.
His own perception was speeding up.
But he didn't underst-
"Young Krillin."