They arced down across the blue tropical sea to the islet that was home to the Turtle Master. The clap-board shack and palm trees looked exactly as they had the last time Goku had been there. They'd stopped on shore, and Tails had gotten into his new 'neat' outfit, a shirt and short pants with a waistcoat.
The fox tugged at the collar. "I'm not sure about this… I know Ms Bulma said it made me look smart, but is it right for meeting a martial arts master?"
"It'll be okay." Goku said, with his usual blithe confidence.
Master Roshi was already outside, and next to him was a bald headed kid in a gi, with a set of six dots on his forehead. A turtle was nearby, shaking water off his shell.
The ancient master looked up. "Goku! So you returned for your training… but who's your friend?"
"Hey, Turtle guy! This is Tails, he needs to learn to fight, and I figured since you were really strong and stuff you could teach him, too."
Tails dropped down off the cloud, and bowed politely. "Good morning Master Roshi, sir. I'm Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails. Goku said you could teach me to be a strong martial artist like him."
The old man had rarely seen a less prepossessing candidate for martial arts training. The kid could not yet be ten, and although he was clearly alert and intelligent, and probably quite agile, his stance showed he had no martial arts training whatsoever. However, he couldn't just say no and ruin his inscrutable old master pose.
"I'm afraid you may not be able to take my training, young man. I have not taken on new students since the Ox king and Goku's own grandfather, and they were both exceptional martial artists already. Kurilin here has demonstrated he may have what it takes to be my disciple…" He thought of the huge stack of adult magazines the young monk had brought him, "… but he has been training at Orin temple for 8 years. And Goku has demonstrated similar abilities…"
His heart strings were tugged by the way the young fox's face fell. But Tails only paused for a second. "I'll prove I can do it! I'll do whatever you ask!"
The old man sighed with relief internally. This gave him an out. "Very well lad, but this island is too small to test you properly."
He moved over to the house and pressed an inconspicuous button. It shrunk into a capsule. He thought of sending them out to find a girl as their test, but his stuffy old turtle companion had returned early.
He activated a capsule hovercraft and they set off for a nearby larger island. Tails was still sparkling slightly over the coolness of capsules, but mentioned to Goku, "I don't think he was too impressed."
"Aw, don't worry. I'm sure you can pass whatever the old man comes up with."
&&&
The four of them were standing some way from the house's new location.
Master Roshi took his best wise old master pose. "First, we must see what you are each capable of. From this boulder to that tree is 100 metres precisely. How fast can you cover the distance? Not that a fast runner will make a great martial artist, but it's always good to have strong legs."
Kurilin smirked. "I'll go first. I could qualify for the Olympics, if I wanted to."
His boast proved accurate as he shot past the tree after only 10.4 seconds.
The young monk panted out. "Not bad. My personal best is 10.1, but considering the circumstances…"
Goku had gotten new shoes when Tails had his clothing, and so whistled past the tree, and the master holding the stopwatch fast enough to make the old man's beard whip like a flag.
"Eight… eight point five seconds…" Master Roshi said weakly, then pulled himself together. Kurilin looked at him, jaw agape. "What… what kind of training… did you have!"
Goku looked non-plussed. "Is that fast?"
By comparison, Tails, who'd changed into a jumpsuit, made a run of 14 seconds, a good time for a fast runner, but no-where near the others.
"You see lad, you're just not up to the level needed to be a Turtle student." Master Roshi said kindly. "The others were at the limits of human achievement, but to master my training, you must go beyond human limits. Kurilin, clock my time."
The old man handed the stopwatch to the monk, and removed his turtle shell. He then proceeded to astound the others by clocking a time of 5.6 seconds.
"Not bad for an old codger, eh? With training and discipline, both Kurilin and Goku should be able to break 5 seconds. You see lad, you're just not ready, though I commend your enthusiasm."
Goku protested. "But he really is…" Master Roshi waved him into silence. "Lad, your heart does you credit, but you have to realise that most people are not as able as you."
Tails looked at his shoes, then looked up at the Turtle Master. "So if I could do 100 metres in under 5 seconds, would you train me?"
Master Roshi mused. There was no way the kid could do it. "Alright. But no machines or anything. You have to do it strictly under your own power."
The young fox nodded. "Okay!" He went to the starting point, twisted up his tails as far as he could go, and bounded forward. While he couldn't keep up with Sonic in a sprint, or Kinto'un at full pace, he could easily match Sonic's cruise velocity, which meant he covered the distance with his tails in pusher propeller mode 3.8 seconds.
He shot past the astounded master, and looped round to land in front of him. Goku cheered and bounced in to grab the fox's hands. "Yay! I toldya you could do it!"
Kurilin was just standing there, repeating his impression of a railway tunnel. "But… how…"
Master Roshi was mentally palm slapping his forehead for having been fooled by appearances. Now he looked deeper, within the young fox was a power, not yet realised, but a potential almost as great as Goku's own. Maybe, just maybe, he could bring that out… But the child couldn't be more than 10, could he possibly have enough determination to stay the course, or learn fast enough?
Fortunately, he managed to keep a more dignified mien this time. "I'd like to know that too, lad… Miles. I've never seen anyone do that before, or heard of any such technique. Not that most martial artists could do it anyway."
Tails put glove to the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "I just, well, it's not that fast. You should see my friend Sonic, when he goes all out, he breaks the sound barrier! That's how I started, It was way, way past cool. I wanted to be like him, so I watched him, and ran, and tried to go faster, but I never could.
"Then I was searching Nicole's… she's Sally's personal computer, but she also acts as my teacher, since there isn't a school in Knothole… anyway I was looking up really old files, and I mean really ancient… and I found pictures of aircraft that didn't use hover-units or rockets, or even an electric jet turbine like the Freedom Stormer, but propellers, external spinning aerofoils.
"Some pulled themselves through the air, some pushed, some could even lift themselves, and I thought maybe if I could move my tails like that… or rather like an insect's wing sweeping back and forth, creating thrust, I could do something similar. So I worked at it, and practised real hard, and one day… I just made it work. Of course, now I know more about how aerofoils work, I know it shouldn't, but..."
The fox shrugged. "When I figured that out, I wasn't able to do it for a couple of weeks, but I eventually decided that the books didn't have all the answers. I've never come up with a theory of how it works, but I will one day. It's not like I have time or materials to build proper scientific instruments and research it. But I will when Robotnik is finally defeated."
"Since then I've just kept practising. Now, at least I can keep up with Sonic when he isn't in a hurry. Of course, I can only do it for a few minutes before I have to rest." He looked sad and sighed. "Golly, I miss him in the worst way… Sorry, I shouldn't still go on about it, Goku says he can return me there with the Dragon Balls, so I will see them all again."
This lead to a third explanation of Tails' history. Master Roshi had to hold his nose to prevent a fatal haemorrhage when he found out that Tails lived in the same house as Princess Sally, and that the Princess generally didn't wear anything more than boots and an open jacket.
Then he used the same telepathy he would later use on Namu in the Tenka-ichi Budōkai to watch the kit's thoughts, purely to check some of his more remarkable statements, of course, and calmed down when he realised she was a squirrel/chipmunk anthromorph. He might be a major hentai, but furry people weren't one of his interests.
He saw a city of sparkling white towers, known only from recordings, and the dark swath of smoke spewing factories that had replaced it, a group of mere children fighting a war against incredible odds, and winning victories despite them. A blue hedgehog who was lighting incarnate, a rabbit martial artist who was half robot, a walrus engineer working miracles with left over junk, and a squirrel princess who had been forced to be wise and brave far beyond her years.
And in the background, a small fox who idolised them, and supported them in small ways, but wanted to do more. A child who without training had still managed to tap a portion of his own power without even realising what he'd done, through sheer perseverance and effort. Yes, he would do…
He took his best wise master pose, and stated, "Very well, I shall train you all in the the Kame-senin School Bu-jutsu… the arts of the Turtle Master."
He felt he should re-establish his masterliness, so he added, "But first, let me just say a few words about the martial arts. One does not study the martial arts in order to pick a fight, or have girls say 'Ooooh! You're so _strong_!!'…"
He noticed Kurilin looked distinctly unhappy for a moment, before schooling his face into an expression of attentive listening once more.
"One masters these arts for health in mind and body, for the ability to live one's life as uniquely, courageously, and energetically as one wishes! And if there are any who seek to terrorize you or any decent people, you must use your skills to fight them, and protect innocent people from harm."
Tails was looking eager, and Goku confused.
"Did you understand that?" The turtle master asked Goku.
The young saijin shook his head. "Uh uh, not a word."
The ancient master huffed, "Train hard, enjoy life and beat bad guys… got that?"
"Oh, that's easy!" Goku grinned irrepressibly.
"Great, he's a moron…" muttered Kurilin.
&&&
A side trip for Goku and Tails to get groceries, on the basis that Tails could cook, and they both could ride Goku's magic cloud, led to them rescuing a bi-polar girl called Launch from some police, or possibly vice versa. At a sneeze, she flipped from a dark haired home-maker to a blonde haired homicidal maniac. But that's another story.
Nice Launch took over the cooking, but was helped by Tails, which prevented a nasty case of food poisoning from improperly prepared puffer fish. So a decent evening meal was had by all, without any further trials and tribulations.
The next day, the training began… At 4:30 am.
All three students were bleary eyed, but followed when the master told them to follow at a jog… to a milkman's house.
"Halt!" The turtle master, then to the milkman, "I'm Kame-sennin, the one who called yesterday?"
The milkman, who was actually a bull anthromorph, said, "Ah, right, right! Here's a map of the delivery route."
"Alright boys, pick up a crate each, and let's deliver milk."
"Deliver milk?" was Kurilin's response.
"It'll be good exercise."
The milk-bull… (that sounds wrong somehow) looked surprised. "You're doing it on foot, not using the helicopter?"
"Don't be silly, if I did that, it wouldn't be training!" He turned to his three disciples. "Two kilometres to the first house, skipping!"
Tails was finding it hard going, the crate was heavy, but he trusted Kame-sennin knew what he was doing. He ran down the next stretch, zig-zagging along a tree-lined path, boosting himself along with his tails, until Kame-sennin stopped him.
"Tails! If you rely on your tails all the time, you'll never grow stronger! From now on, you keep your tails still."
The panting young fox puffed out a "Yes, master!"
"Kurilin, you're lagging too. If we take too long, the milk will go sour." The next house was at the foot of a mountain, and after delivering the milk, Master Roshi pointed at a set of stairs, leading up.
"Since this is your first day, you don't have to take these at a run. The next house is at the top."
Even Goku was panting when he reached the top of the mountain, and Tails was just about all in, an expression of determination on his face as he plodded up the steps. Fortunately an active lifestyle in the Great Forest meant while this was pushing him to his limits, it wasn't beyond his abilities. He rested against an outcrop, then pulled himself straight as he realised the master's eye was upon him.
"Not as easy as you believed?" Master Roshi asked mildly. He was sitting on a rock next to the house they were delivering to.
"I'll… do… whatever it… takes, Master!" Tails gasped.
"Ol'timer, couldn't I just deliver these on Kinto'un?" Goku asked.
"That wouldn't be training now, would it? I remember your grandfather and Gyu-Mao delivering milk the same as you are right now…"
Kurilin was putting down a fresh milk bottle when an bald fellow with a moustache came out of the house. "My, My, thank you very much."
"Hiya!" said Goku waving, and got a bonk on the head from Master Roshi's staff. "It's not 'Hiya!' you say 'Good morning.'" Goku complied, rubbing his head as Kurilin smirked.
The other guy just chuckled. "Venerable Muten Roshi, it has been a long time. You look as hale and hearty as ever, and are these your new students?"
"Only just, but I feel all three have considerable potential." That perked all three of the youngsters up. "If they train diligently, they may well be able to enter the tournament 8 months from now."
"Oh ho, the Tenka'ichi Budo'kai, eh?"
Kurilin choked. "The… the Strongest Under the Heavens tournament?"
"What's that?" asked Tails, beating Goku by a heartbeat.
"It's an awesome martial arts tournament, they gather masters form all over the world to discover who's strongest… Master, you really thing we could be ready to enter it?"
Master Roshi nodded, "If you train without shirking. However, winning should not be your aim. Life isn't that easy. But I feel if you have a goal to achieve, you will train harder."
"Oh yeah… just to enter…" Kurilin was practically sparkly eyed.
Goku asked. "There's going to be lots of strong guys there right?"
"If it'll help me get stronger..." Tails nodded. "Okay, I'll give it my best effort!"
The trio started out with renewed strength along the single log bridge that was the only way across a canyon on their path. Tails was as much at hazard as the others because he was too tired to even twist his tails if he fell off. They walked across quick sand, and waded through a river (with waterfall), and got chased by a dinosaur before their delivery route came to an end.
They staggered back to the Kame House in the morning sun, except for Master Roshi who treated the whole thing like a morning constitutional.
"We're done, finally!" gasped Goku, flat out on the ground.
"Now that was your early morning routine. Now for your morning routine…" The master said, to a universal groan of pain.
Master Roshi's training consisted of ploughing fields with their bare hands, and doing construction work, and being tied to a tree on a rope, and dodging angry hornets. It was mitigated by big meals, an hours rest at midday and an hour of study. Tails found he was eating like never before, and did well in the classroom.
However, he was straining to keep up with the others, even though his fox paw hands (the gloves had quickly come off, both literally and figuratively) were better for digging than human ones, and his fur meant he was a less attractive target for the hornets. Still he kept at it, pushing himself as hard as possible, without complaint. It was Goku who spoke up first, in the afternoon, when they'd run across to the opposite edge of the island, by a salt water lake.
"Old timer, instead of this, can't you teach us some moves?"
The old master spat off to one side, and turned to him. "You little fledglings! How dare you be so insolent! You've barely begun to lay the foundations of strength and stamina and you expect me just to start teaching you moves?"
He strode over to a rock, one over 2 metres in diameter. He set his palms against it and pushed, driving it forward several meters and leaving a deep furrow in the dirt. Kurilin goggled, and Tails was awe struck.
"Now do you understand?" Master Roshi exclaimed. "Give your all to the training regimen every day, and you'll be able to do that. Then you'll be ready for some moves."
Behind him, Goku had come up to the rock, and set his hands against it. With a Rrrrrarrr! he shoved it along. "Whoopie! I did it master!"
Master Roshi goggled for a second, before saying, "Oh, I didn't mean for you to move that little rock. Anybody could do that." He moved over to one about the size of a large house. "When you can move this one, then your strength training will be complete."
He breathed a little sigh of relief when Goku failed to move it an inch.
"You can move it?" Goku exclaimed, and Kurilin added, "Wow! Please, master, show us."
Master Roshi, examined the rock for a moment, then he noticed Tails' shoulders slump, and with some relief asked. "What is is lad?"
"I... I don't know if I can ever do that, even Aunt Bunnie would have trouble with it." He looked up at the old master. "I'm not giving up! But I don't see how I could ever get that strong."
Master Roshi was glad of the diversion. "Didn't I tell you that you must go beyond human limits, young man... fox? Isn't that exactly what you do when you fly using your tails? You have an exceptional talent for using your ki. Your tails by themselves couldn't move as fast as, or act as a propeller, but empowered and shaped by you ki energy they can."
One Obi-wan Kenobi duct tape explanation of ki later ('It has a light side, a dark side, and binds the universe together') he finished with.
"Hmm... I believe I have an idea that can benefit all of you. Kurilin! After your daily strength training is complete, you will spend two hours training Miles in the basics of martial arts, strikes, blocks, kicking, how to take a fall. Also, focus, awareness, discipline. You have the most formal training, and teaching others should help you to review and improve on your own skills."
Kurilin was about to protest, when he realised that all he'd have to do is show how to do the moves. He could them stand, or sit around, critiquing Tails rather than working up a sweat of his own. "Yes master!"
"Goku. You'll act as Miles' sparring partner. Too often, you let your strength carry your fighting style at the expense of sloppy technique. This should tighten it up, and teach you restraint. Take care."
"Okay, master!" If it involved fighting, Goku was happy.
Tails was sweat-dropping a bit at the idea of Goku, who he'd seen smash walls with his fists, throwing punches at him, but Master Roshi had words for him.
"Miles, learn well. They may seem simple, but they will help you to be a better fighter. As your body becomes stronger, and your martial arts skills improve, you will find you're reserves of ki will grow, and so will your ability to manipulate it."
He turned to the lake. "Now, on with your strength training! Since you've been sweating so much, you'll do a nice 10 laps of the lake."
There was a sigh of relief from the trio at the comparatively easy task. As they stripped off and swam out into deeper water, he added. "Oh, and watch out for the shark."
"Shark!" The three exclaimed in unison.
A fin, attached to a shark only slightly smaller than a medium passenger jet, rose out of the water. All three made their laps at Olympic speed, Tails having to use some additional tail spinning to keep up. When they finally staggered out of the water and collapsed on the shore, Master Roshi nodded.
"Good, that's your strength training done for today."
Kurilin finally hauled himself to his feet, and gasped out, "So we'll be doing the training we did today, every day?"
"Oh no, today was just a warm up. From now on,for the next eight months, you'll be doing today's training but with a 20 kilogram turtle shell on your back." He held out one idential to the one he was wearing. "Now do you see why they call me the Turtle master?"