Korin's Tower

In two weeks' time, the dragon balls will be functional again and I'll go get Kakarot if he doesn't come to me. That is the agreement we had made and I'll see it through, but lately, I've been thinking of seeing if these magical healing beans are real, because I could use some for the future. No, I'm not injured or anything at the moment, but that does not take away from the fact that those beans would be exceedingly advantageous. Plus, if I climb the tower I can get somewhat stronger as the old man has said that the cat that lives up there could train me somehow. Then there's some miracle water that brings out potential or something at the risk of killing you. The more I think of that cat in his tower the more I want to go and it has finally gotten to the point where I can't really stop myself. And the more I dwell on it the more that water seems to be a great way to get even stronger than I am. If it brings out potential then would it put me at my max achievable strength or just the potential of the current me?

Would I really risk dying just so I can get stronger to see some God?

Yeah, apparently.

I'm going to climb Korin's tower.

"What in the hell is Korin's tower"

As always, Bulma has found some reason to be in my room and on my bed, the excuse being that she wants to see me in the binder she has made me. I was surprised when she tossed me a bunch of the things, having not known that Bulma could make clothes as well. As for the binders themselves, well, they fit perfectly and feel far more comfortable than my bandage bind. They're very soft, yet durable, a perfect creation for me. Since I'm grateful for them, I won't bring up how Bulma made them out of the kindness of her heart or her concern for me because that would earn me either a scolding or a smack. She sometimes does not like when I insinuate that she cares for me, and I'm not gonna question it.

"The tower just under Kami," I say shrugging. "Well that's what I've heard"

"And what's so special about it?" Curious as Bulma always is, she continues with her questions. I have decided to leave for the tower today, and Bulma has decided that she'll be coming with me if her pouch full of capsules is anything to go by.

"It's incredibly tall and you have to climb it if you want to be trained by the inhabitant" I relay what my old master had told me. "Though I'm not going for training, I'll still be climbing the tower to earn the owner's favor and it'll prove some good training as well"

"Always see the upside, I guess," she says shrugging.

Since I've been here I haven't worn my gi often, if at all, and today is my first in a while. I miss how good it looks on me, I'll admit. And I miss how incredibly light it feels on my body.

"Oh yeah, I missed my gi" I jump, grinning when my head lightly touches the ceiling. If I had put more force behind it I would have gone straight through. I have not been doing intense training safe for the gravity chamber workouts, but I have been attempting better control of my strength and Ki. Usually, I fail to compute the needed strength to do things like jumping and the likes, but after many delinquencies, I have come to understand it better.

I would not like to think about what would happen had I jumped through the ceiling.

"You don't comb your hair and its been nagging me"

Bulma says this when I'm gathering my capsules and carefully storing them in their container. I think I've gotten like ten more of these during my stay here and I don't know what half of them are. I do believe one of them is for food and ingredients, this one was likely given to me by Panchy. And Mr. Brief gave me a bunch of tools and the like I can use in case any of my transports develop a problem on the road. As focused as I am it would be easy for me to have not heard her, or simply ignored her, but her statement is somewhat amusing.

"Would you like to try?" I offer her a brush and comb, fully open to her attempt. "I do comb my hair, if I didn't it would be full of knots, the problem is that my hair just loves the way it is and it's a lot to turn it into something else"

It's been that way for years, even in my baby pictures my hair has been this way, the same old mess of spikes.

Bulma considers her words before she takes the brush and comb and sets to work. She seems surprised by how easy the comb goes through my hair for a moment, perhaps not anticipating that from its spiked appearance. As I've said, I take good care of my hair, it's just that I never change the style. When my hair was longer I would put it in ponytails, but that's the only change I would make.

"So it's a lot of work, but not impossible," Bulma says nodding with this look of determination. "Just watch, you'll have a new style in minutes"

Considering how long she takes to do her hair, I believe we'll be sitting here for a while.

A couple of minutes in and Bulma seems to be in love with my hair for some reason. She styles it differently on a whim, laughing at the things she can do to it. I had tiny pigtails for a short time, the sight so stupid that I snorted.

She settles on something almost thirty minutes later, the change noticeable while appearing somewhat the same. It's just as spikey, I doubt she could do much about it. It looks less wild, more contained, and a bit subdued in the sense the spikes aren't shooting in every which direction. Those at the front of my head have been directed to my left and pointed a bit upward, and those at the back have been combed down. Though there is a stubborn piece of hair that sticks out in the middle of the parting, one that Bulma has fully given up on.

"See, looks good doesn't it?"

I suppose.

Doesn't matter as long as it doesn't get in my face.

"Thanks"

~~~~~~~~

Before we go to Korin I thought it best to see if the others had any interest in the tower, hence our arrival at Kame house. Yamcha had said that would seek training under Roshi and he saw it through apparently. Even he has learned the Kamehameha wave and I wonder how that old man must feel about that. If I'm correct it took him years, maybe centuries to master that technique, and here comes a bunch of teenagers who learn it within days weeks, or months. Kakarot apparently slapped it onto his belt after seeing it demonstrated once. Hell, even I got an understanding of it after simply watching Kakarot perform it for me, the boy having been so excited for me to learn it too.

And Kakarot, well, Kakarot has grown as rapidly as I had expected of him. His punches are far stronger than they were before, his movement more natural, his speed far greater, his control is almost immaculate. With each strike he forces me back a step, my feet digging into the sand to find purchase to no avail. He's grinning like a shark when he notices - when he realizes that he's pushing me back and then he comes in for a roundhouse kick straight for my face. I finally block at the threat of another broken nose, stopping his blow with my arm. The sound of contact is almost booming and I'm a bit surprised here. A kick like that could break someone's arm, had I not stopped it I would have more than a broken nose.

He jumps far back when I make the smallest movement, suddenly on high alert after his attempt.

"Damn" I mumble, shaking out my arm and adopting a better stance in the sand. It's a lot harder to fight on the beach because my feet can't find purchase to stay in place.

Kakarot is grinning, clearly happy with what has shown me, but it's my turn to show off now. When my grin mirrors his own he becomes alert, his stance a bit more defensive now and he barely has time to react when I dash towards him. Still, he ducks away from my kick on instinct, knowing that during sparring sessions I tend to go for a kick to start, so he doesn't get immediately knocked to the floor when he doesn't expect my speed.

"Holy crap" his words are rushed when he blocks the fist aimed for his gut after having barely gotten back on his feet. "You're faster"

"Hey!" Master Roshi shouts when Kakarot is sent flying back and almost crashes into his house. "My house, watch it!"

"What the -" Kakarot bursts from the sand, his expression one of pure excitement as he rushes me and headbutts me with essentially all of his strength, repaying me by sending me flying into the freaking ocean. "What type of training have you being doing!?"

I hadn't been planning to take a swim today, but I really couldn't avoid falling into the sea. Luckily it's a nice temperature so I enjoy it on my swim back to the island. Sadly my gi is now soaked, and I have to change.

Fortunately, I have more than one set, of course.

"Really Kakarot" I'm wringing out my clothes when Kakarot tosses me a towel. "A headbutt"

I'll have a headache for a while now

"You punched me and almost made me crash into Roshi's house" he retorts. "And I had blocked you"

"You two are monsters, I swear" Chichi grumbled nearby.

"I had flashbacks," says Yamcha with this far-off look on his face. He shivers a moment later.

"Put on some clothes" my gi is tossed in my face by Bulma, who I'm pretty sure has been staring at my nearly naked body. So in that sense, she has no right to be annoyed by my lack of clothing.

"Yeah you should really put on some clothes" agrees Krillin who had been silent for the longest of times. "I wanted to try my hand at you, but now I think I'll be killed if I try"

"You have gotten stronger so I doubt you'd die" I assure him while I get my clothes on. "You'll be hurt though"

"Wow, that motivates me"

"Besides all of that, is there a reason you're here?" It wouldn't be Chichi if she didn't get straight to the things that matter. "You did say you'd be back when the dragon balls are active again but that's not for another two weeks"

"Oh yeah, I'm heading to Korin tower" just saying that earns me more confusion so I explain everything they need to know and I'm sure Kakarot is beyond enthusiastic about this idea as it opens another door for him to get stronger.

"We have to climb a massive tower?" Krillin asks as if he hadn't heard what I said or had not properly processed the meaning behind such simple words.

"Yes"

"Sounds deadly," he says blankly, likely thinking of what could happen should he lose his grip and fall to his death. "I'm in"

Well, that's unexpected. Being the cautious person he is I fully expected him to turn down the invitation, especially after his blunt remark of possibly hurting himself. And yet he agrees with the most casual expression he could muster. He's nervous about it, I can tell, but it seems he's trying not to be as cowardly as he sometimes can be. Though sitting this one out wouldn't be considered cowardly by any means.

"I'll come too," says Chichi after a moment. "Sounds interesting"

"Then I have no choice but to tag along as well," says Yamcha with a puffed chest.

Master Roshi waves us all off and disappears into his house all the while mumbling things along the lines of "energetic children" or something. I suppose he is a bit old to be climbing towers these days so I can't blame him for disregarding the entire idea.

While everyone prepares to leave, Kakarot takes off on the nimbus in his excitement and I'm just waiting for him to return when he realizes that he has no idea where he should be going. Even Chichi looked on in some disappointment when he disappeared on his cheery cloud.

He does return as everyone had suspected, looking very sheepish too

"Yeah, that was pretty stupid of me"

At least he acknowledged it.

~~~~~~~

Master Lao had made it abundantly clear that the tower would be incredibly long and I had taken it to heart. Now then, I still was not prepared for the sheer size of the tower, even when I'm already a great deal up said building. I had set to climbing the second we arrived, only after greeting the locals and guaranteeing no trouble. When I started I immediately understood why climbing this thing would be a bit of an issue. I have to be very careful with my hand and foot placement because one wrong move and I'll lose my grip and all the progress I had made would be for naught. However, there are intervals of easy-to-grab areas that greatly help the climb. Kakarot is very hot on my trail, only lingering behind to converse with Krillin who had indeed almost plummeted to the ground. From our current height such a fall would result in some injuries, but nothing too serious so we weren't too worried for him.

"I regret everything" I hear Krillin cry from below, his shout amusing in the fact that he only seems to speed up his ascend. "I don't even see the top"

Oh, I don't even want to tell him how long it took Master Lao to reach the top, it would crush his entire soul. Luckily, I had made sure Kakarot and everyone else ate when we were in the village below and Kakarot even made a little friend, I think his name is Upa. Nice kid that one. Kakarot probably ate more than half the food I had stored in a capsule. Having foreseen such a thing happening I have brought more than one food-filled capsule that should last a good while.

"Oh man, I'm starting to get tired" Yamcha mumbles, he's been keeping up and is on my right. On my left is Chichi who had been making easy work of the climb for some reason.

"I can go another hour or two" Chichi announces with confidence, a small smile on her face when Yamcha lets out a sound of disbelief.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah I can go for a few hours as well" Kakarot pipes up and Krillin grudgingly agrees to the statement.

"We've only been climbing for three hours, Yamcha" I mean it's not that much compared to the 72 the old guy had to suffer through.

"Only three hours, you say, as if it's a small thing" he complains in a low voice, but continues without pause nevertheless.

"It is a small thing compared to how long Master Lao had to climb" I admit. "Which is three days"

There's an almost deafening silence between us all at my words, even Bulma's mini helicopter nearby seems to have gone a bit quiet at my reveal. Should I have told them that it could take three days to meet the top? Well it could take Yamcha, Chichi and Krillin maybe three days. But, in hindsight, I definitely should have. But to be fair, it had completely slipped my mind until we started the climb. With not much to do other than focus on climbing, my mind had wandered to the past as I recalled the things the old man had told me about his adventures as a young martial artist. It is only then that I had remembered that crucial detail and by that time it really was too late to turn back.

"It could take us three days to climb this tower and you only now tell us?" Chichi is calm, the type of calm she gets when something has annoyed her. It is the calm she instills when the urge to hit someone or something becomes a bit too persistent.

"I had forgotten" I admit, hoping my honesty would take the edge off - even just a little bit.

"Durian" Bulma sounds utterly disappointed. "You remember the specific number of bolts for a certain build but forget this?"

My mind is a strange place and it often wanders away, Bulma should know this with all the nights we've wasted away together. So her words go unanswered as I set all my attention back to the task at hand. Chichi is practically burning a hole through my body and I ignore it in favor of climbing and hoping her annoyance will simmer away as we go on. She's never stayed mad at me for more than five minutes, and she admits that she likes me too much to find much fault in the things I do.

"Three days" Krillin wheezes at the mere thought. "What about food?"

"I've got a lot stored, we'll figure something out," I say with a shrug. If we need a break it won't be too hard to stand on the big ridges on the tower, so I'm not too concerned about hunger. Though sleep would be another issue. While I have no issue braving through the night I doubt the others would make it through a single night.

I suppose we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there.

"Why can't we just fly up with Bulma?" Krillin asks.

"You could if you want to. I, on the other hand, need something from Korin and for that, I would have to prove myself. The only way to prove myself is to climb the tower" if there were no reason to be scaling a tower of almost endless height, then I would not be scaling a tower of almost endless height. It's a good workout, yes, but I'm not one to partake in unnecessary procedures. "Plus he can train you if you prove to be worthy"

"Good thing I'm no fighter like you lot" Bulma muses from the safety of her chopper. She smiles when we look at her, sipping on a little juice box.

"Good thing indeed" I agree. If she were a fighter her hits would be something I needed to take seriously.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's been almost two days of climbing and we almost lost Krillin in the night when he fell asleep on one of the ridges. Kakarot managed to grab him before he plummeted to his death and the boy was too scared to go back to sleep. We continued our climb before the sun could rise and were seeing the end of the tower by the time the sun was dipping under the horizon.

Now, I'm just staring at the cat with the staff who had welcomed us with no qualms. I will never doubt Lao's words ever again because everything he has said has proved to be true. Korin is really a walking talking cat. It's not weird to see a humanoid cat, it's just weird to think this cat trained my master and grows magical beans.

The others aren't fazed by it, instead focusing on the food I have spread out or simply letting their muscles relax. Bulma is also present, also staring at the cat while glancing at me now and then. I can already hear the question, she doesn't even need to open her mouth. I nod when she looks at me again and she scoffs in her wonder.

"Master Korin" I bow in a show of respect, respect this creature very well deserves and he seems pleased.

"You took almost two days when you could have made it up in less than two hours," he says bluntly, an observation that makes me chuckle.

"Well I couldn't leave my friend behind like that"

Yamcha chokes on his food, spluttering all over himself while Krillin looks almost offended. Unlike those two, Chichi continues to eat unbothered.

"Don't be so surprised, Durian is way out of our league" she then says as if it should have been that obvious. "Kakarot as well, but he thought it would be fun to climb with everyone"

"It was fun"

I ignore them when Korin gestures for me to approach him where he resides in a corner. I sit in front of him, feeling as if it would be rude to look down on him by standing up.

"So then, you want some senzu I see" he nods. "And you're curious about the ultra divine water"

"You really can read minds"

"Lao has told you everything I'm sure. He never knew how to keep things to himself" Korin sighs. "He was something else that one"

I could only imagine the thing the old man had done at a younger age.

"I would challenge you, but it would be pointless," says the cat, perhaps referring to the training he put Master Lao through. It was a test of speed and likely how he grew as fast as he was. "Your friends on the other hand could use the training"

He speaks but I hardly listen when I'm wondering what sort of creature he could be. Obviously, he's a cat but it's much more than that I'm sure. Master Lao had said that he has been alive for 800 years already, so he could be immortal. Maybe from this otherworld Master liked to talk about. If it has gods and the likes and is the place we go to after death, it would not be utterly inconceivable for Korin to originate from such a place. I dwell on this, fully aware that he can read my mind and even more aware when he does so. It has always been said that my magic is very potent, strong enough for me to detect the use of magic, but with little to no training, I don't use it very much. The only thing I know to do is make things heavier or lighter.

"Master Korin" I address him when my thoughts bring me back to one of the reasons I'm here. "The ultra divine water, could I drink it, please? From what I heard no one has survived it and my Master had no interest in it, but I would like to try"

"You've said it yourself, no one has survived" Korin replies calmly. "It kills anyone who drinks it"

"But if it doesn't; the drinker's potential is brought out, yes?" To risk your life for strength is something incredibly stupid, yet here I am

"Why would you risk your life, child?"

Because I made a promise, a very spontaneous promise to a boy who has now become a close friend.

"You have read my mind, haven't you? You know as well as I do why I want to get stronger. Kami will not accept us if we're not strong"

He sighs, exasperated.

"Come with me"