Interlude-Korin's Tower

Goku was exhausted. he had been on his way to the Far Western Desert when the Dragonballs that the radar said were there had begun to rapidly move back East. Then, 2 days later he not only had been handed a major defeat by a really strong guy, but that guy had killed his new friend Upa's dad! Left for dead, he had been rescued by Upa's tribe and nursed back to health, it was a good thing he'd left the Dragonballs and the radar back at Upa's teepee, otherwise who knew what that guy would have done with them! After burying Upa's dad, he had resolved to climb the tower and get the sacred water from the Master at the top so he could come back stronger and beat up that General Blue guy who had killed Upa's dad! Then he'd go find the last 3 Dragonballs and wish back everyone that the Red Ribbon Army had killed in the past year!

Of course, it hadn't been that simple, the climb up the tower took 36 hours and when Goku had finally made it to the top, exhausted, he'd found that the Master at the top was a talking cat! Master Korin had informed Goku that he'd gladly give up the sacred water, provided that he take it from him. Goku had thought that it would be easy to grab the sacred water when he saw Master Korin, but that turned out not to be the case. Korin was fast! Way faster than Goku was. Strong too, as he would occasionally fire attacks back at him whenever Goku thought he had Korin cornered. He'd been at this for 2 days and he still hadn't gotten the water from Korin! Thank Kami for those Senzu beans that Korin had, otherwise Goku wasn't sure if he would be able to keep trying as much as he had! He was on a deadline after all if he wanted to revive everyone. The dragon couldn't revive people who'd been dead for more than a year according to what Master Roshi had told him, and he still needed to beat up that General Blue guy!

As he and Korin took a short breather to eat, Goku said, "I don't know if I've gotten any closer to getting the water from you, Korin!"

"Oh no?" Asked the Immortal Cat.

"Yeah, you're just so fast!" Exclaimed Goku in between bites of his noodle dish.

"Hmm. What if I could prove to you that you've gotten closer than you think?" Asked Korin.

"How would you do that?" Replied Goku, puzzled.

"First finish your lunch. You'll need the energy." Said Korin, cryptically.

Goku just shrugged and continued eating. The noodles had some kind of sauce that was made from the roots of the Senzu Bean plants. It didn't taste like much and it wasn't instantly healthy for you, but there was a lot of it and it did restore some of your stamina. That was probably why Korin had so much of it with lunch and dinner. Goku wasn't convinced, he had really liked some of the spicy sauce that he had had during lunch at the tournament. He briefly fantasized about both the lunch that the tournament staff had provided as well as the dinner Master Roshi had treated him and Krillin to. Before he knew it, he'd had four helpings of Korin's noodles and was ready for the cat master to show him how close he'd gotten. The old master insisted that the dishes be put away first though, and so Goku busied himself with that, all the while wondering how Korin was going to prove to him that he'd gotten closer to grabbing the sacred water than he'd thought.

When Goku was finished with that, Korin had the 6 star Dragonball in his hand. "You say you don't think you've gotten any closer to taking the sacred water off of me since you arrived, eh?" Asked Korin.

Goku nodded and asked, "What's the Dragonball for?"

Korin simply grinned and said, "This? It's for throwing!" Then he tossed the 6 star ball off the side of his tower.

"Korin! I need that to wish back people who've been killed!" Protested Goku.

"Well, then I suppose you'd best go down and get it." Grinned Korin as he rushed Goku and pushed him off the tower.

Any normal man would die from a fall of over 4.5 miles, but Goku was made of sterner stuff than most grown adults. He landed and made a Goku shaped hole in the ground, but was able to quickly dig himself out. Then he searched the surrounding plains for the 6 star ball. It only took him 20 minutes to find it. It had landed in a shrub a short walk north of the tower's base. Picking the 6 star ball up and tucking it into his gi for safekeeping, Goku then started back up the tower. Boy was he gonna give Korin a piece of his mind when he got back up there!

As it happened the climb only took him 8 hours this time. Goku heaved himself up over the side of Korin's balcony and asked, "Alright why'd you do that?"

"Goku, how long did it take you to climb the tower the first time?" Asked Korin.

"About a day and a half, why?" Asked Goku, puzzled.

"And you made it back up here in a fraction of that time this time." Said Korin.

"Huh?" Asked Goku.

"Goku, you've been getting stronger this whole time." Sighed Korin.

Goku scratched the back of his head and said, "Now that you mention it, climbing the tower did seem a lot easier than before! Does that mean that the water won't help me as much?" asked Goku.

"Goku the sacred water isn't the point of my training. It's getting the sacred water that's the point. Actively chasing me down and taking the bottle from me is the point." Grumbled Korin. He knew that his latest student was something of a fighting genius, but Goku's observational skills left something to be desired.

"You know, it is really good training. . ." Trailed off Goku.

Korin grinned and said, "And your training isn't over yet! You might know the secret of this training now, but you still have to take the bottle from me to complete it. Now, catch me if you can!"

Korin blurred in a rapid movement away from Goku and the monkey tailed boy followed. This time he was getting closer, he knew it!

It took Son Goku 8 more hours of this intensive training, but he finally succeeded after 3 days of straight training. He was now ready to go after General Blue. . .

XXXX

Author's Note:

Power levels, only for this interlude

275: Son Goku

380: Korin