It's been over a week ever since the Dragon Team split up and went on their ways; as Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong have gone back to the city. Ichigo on the other hand went on a different path of his own. At first he thought about going to Roshi's for some training, but he decided to take some training of his own before heading over there. For the past week he's been traveling with his newly acquired motorcycle, spending time in different places for the right training he sought to improve his skills upon.
As of now, Ichigo was seen meditating on his own in the middle of a forest, his motorcycle leaning against a nearby tree, and there were a couple of bandits lying on the ground who tried to rob him earlier, which Ichigo easily took care off before having gone back to his meditation. He's been going at this for an hour since then, and Ichigo opened his eyes, taking a relaxed sigh as he felt his temper subside and the balance in his power flowing normally like it always did. Honestly, meditation was a great thing to learn about once you know how to use it properly. He felt more relaxed now.
"Alright... I think that's about enough." Ichigo commented, getting up from the ground and stretched his back, and looked over to the 2 bandits that tried to rob him. "Next up, I might wanna improve on my Kamehameha again." he walked over to his motorcycle and hopped on it. However, he checked the fuel of the engine and became surprised that it was quite low. "Oh man… fuel has really gone down." Ichigo said, rubbing his head as he looked around to see where he could recharge the fuel. "I better fill it up before I run out of gas completely." and with that said, Ichigo began to drive over to a nearby town to get his fuel back up.
Ichigo was driving on the motorcycle in the middle of the desert, having been trying to find any gas station to fill up his fuel, but so far he didn't have any luck. While he gained many things that would help him in travelling, a map was not one of those things. The whole time Ichigo had been driving he was merely following his instinct, practically driving with no direction whatsoever.
"Great… at this rate it might take me hours to find any gas station, and my ride might die out until then. Can't let that one happen, otherwise it's gonna be a pain in the ass to get this thing fixed…" Ichigo said, as he kept turning his head to find anything in this place. At this point he may as well find someone and ask for directions at least. Ichigo looked over at how much fuel was left. "Ah shit, if I don't find something soon, then I'll really be out of gas."
He kept driving like this for a while just so he could find anybody to give him a proper direction. It wasn't until Ichigo stumbled onto a bar, and seeing it made him smile. Finally there had to be at least some people in that place. It may seem strange for a child to just stumble onto a bar who was riding a motorcycle, but considering what world he was in, it couldn't really be that strange. Ichigo stopped his ride and hopped off, and he could notice something odd about the bar. It looked to be somewhat rundown, as if it had been taken apart.
It didn't really help with all the sand that was being blown by the wind, and Ichigo closed his eyes on some occasions to not let the sand get to him. Ichigo swinged the doors open, and he was surprised to see that the place was badly damaged on the inside, with tables having been split in half, some people on the ground rendered unconscious with broken bottles that was oozing liquids out of them, and along that there seemed to have been tons of shooting that took place as well. 'Wow…' Ichigo was shocked by what occurred. 'It looks like a big fight just broke down. What happened here?'
"Hey, kid, what the hell do you think you're doing here?!" a bartender stood up, holding a shotgun with him as his body shook profusely.
"I'm just here to ask if anybody can point me a direction to a gas situation that's close by?" Ichigo put his hands in the air, trying to make himself look harmless, because he could clearly see everybody was nervous and shaken up by whatever happened here. "It's for my ride. Also… what happened here?"
"Let's just say we had a particularly bad run with Launch…" a man in a black fedora stood up, leaning against a broken table. "All of us were caught off guard, and she beated everybody in this place. We never saw it coming."
"... Launch?" Ichigo was surprised to hear that name. "So uh… when did all this happen?"
"Quite recently, in fact it hasn't even been an hour since she took this whole place apart. If you're smart, you'd be better off staying as far away as possible. So why is a little fella like you doing all the way out here?" the man asked.
"I just said it, I need to find a gas station so I can fill up my fuel, but I don't really know where to find it. Can somebody please just point me to any directions?" Ichigo wanted to know.
"Drive past this place a few kilometers and head over to yer East, you should be able to find what you're looking for there." Ichigo nodded his head before he started to leave. "But you're not exactly planning on going after her, are you?"
"Who? Me?" Ichigo turned his head to look at the men with a grin. "I'm just a kid, what do I know? Although… it would be helpful if you can tell me where this Launch is. Just so I can make sure not to meet her by accident."
The man didn't see a problem with this. "I don't really know where she went at specifically, but she's definitely still around in these regions."
After going to the directions that the man pointed him to, Ichigo found a gas station and managed to fuel up his nearly empty gas. When that was finished, Ichigo put the motorcycle in capsule mode and used his Magic Carpet with the intention of finding Launch. 'So I get to meet Launch in person, huh?' Ichigo thought to himself, as he kept turning his head to see the Launch that he could distinctly remember. 'If my memory is correct, she was a person that had dual personalities that change whenever she sneezes. I don't know how that was the case, but I know her blue hair is when she's nice, and the blonde hair is when she's crazy or some shit. Then again… it would be really nice to have someone to talk to.'
He was hoping he could find her soon enough, as he flew above the mountains to gain a better view. Ichigo used his sensory skills to pinpoint anybody with an energy source, although he assumed with what Launch did, there may possibly be police coming after her as well in this area. Soon enough, he could sense a couple of people, and it would take him in under a minute or so to get to where they were at. 'Hopefully I'm on the right track and it's not some random people.' Ichigo thought.
"YA LIKE THAT FUCKERS?! GET ANY CLOSER AND I'LL KICK ALL YOUR ASSES!"
Ichigo widened his eyes when he heard a rough voice shouting out. 'That voice sounded like a female. I think this might be a Blonde Launch.' he continued to fly where he heard the scream was coming from. And soon enough, Ichigo could see down below there were a couple of police officers with a car parked over, and there was a teenage girl with blonde hair that held a shotgun in her hands. 'I think that's her! Good thing I made it in time!' Ichigo then jumped away from the carpet and landed down on the ground.
The officers turned around when they heard a sound coming up from behind. They, along with Launch, were shocked to see a child that came from out of nowhere. "What the — who are you supposed to be?!" the first officer asked, being in suspension of disbelief.
"Let's just say I came here for that girl." Ichigo pointed his finger at Launch. "You don't have to do anything else. I'll be taking over for a while—"
"Who do you think you are?!" the second police officer pointed his gun at Ichigo. "I don't care if you are some kid, I won't let some child stop me from catching Launch! You stand in our way and you'll get arrested as well!"
"That so?" Ichigo wasn't the least bit intimated to begin with, as he prepared himself to attack. "Well in that case…" Ichigo ran over to the first officer and grabbed his gun before he could pull the trigger before tossing it away. The officer was dumbfounded by this before Ichigo jumped over and kicked the officer in his chin, knocking him down on the ground in doing so.
"You little pest!" The first officer yelled out as he was ready to shoot a bullet at Ichigo, but the kid merely leaped in the air and extended his leg as he spun his body until he kicked the officer in the face, knocking him down on the ground as well, sending him unconscious.
"Sorry, but I can't allow you to arrest that girl. I'll have to take over from here." Ichigo said. 'It looks like I've gotten fully used to not having a tail anymore.' he thought as he looked at his clenched fist. 'I can walk, run, and even fight properly without any problem to begin with. Well that's good to know.'
Launch was still in shock at all what occurred, having herself been in a situation where she was escaping from the cops, and one of them got a lucky shot at her ride which made her fall down on the ground until a child came from literally out of nowhere and saved her. Nevertheless she still pointed her shotgun at the boy. "Who the hell are you?!" she demanded to know.
"Calm down, I'm here to get you out of here." Ichigo put his hands up, and Launch looked at him in confusion. "I know that this might sound kinda weird… but would you mind if you come with me?" he asked, as his magic carpet came by
He took a good look at the girl. Her initial outfit consisted of a light-green belly-baring crop tank top, yellow shorts with a red belt, brown fingerless gloves and red shoes with the Nike insignia worn with green socks. "Say what? Look, kid, I appreciate your help and all but you're crazy if you think I'll go somewhere with you when I don't even know who you are!" Launch exclaimed. "Besides! Where are we even gonna go?!"
Ichigo thought about it. Where could they be going next? If they kept staying around here for any longer, both of them would be getting tracked down since he defended Launch and took out a police force, and it would be annoying to deal with that on a daily occasion. They could get out of here and escape somewhere else, although he wasn't exactly sure how well known Launch was outside this area, and the blonde side would continue to cause all sorts of trouble. So that could only leave him with one option to go to Master Roshi's island, and no-one could possibly track them down as well. Besides, he supposed this could be the time where he has proper training now.
Only downside of going to Roshi's was how much of a pervert that old geezer was, although he did suppose he could at least try to tone it down and make Roshi focus more on the training he could give him, especially with how crazy Blonde Launch could become. Then again, it's not like he didn't have many other options to begin with. "Somewhere where nobody can track you down and keep you safe. I'm just here to help you, really. So what's it gonna be? Don't you think it gets so tiresome of being on the run? Don't you think it would be nice if you could spend your time somewhere else where you can settle down and have nothing to worry about? Or, I could just leave and you'll eventually get caught sooner or later and spend time in prison." Ichigo began to walk away.
Launch made a small frown, slowly putting her shotgun down as she thought about the boy's words. Now that she thought about it, it would be nice if she could at least catch a break for a while. "Wait..." she spoke, and Ichigo turned around to look at her. "I'll go with you. I guess I do owe you for saving me…"
And with that said, Ichigo and Launch sat on the Magic Carpet and began to fly past the mountains and headed over to where the oceans lie beneath them. Ichigo turned his head to look at Launch, and took a close look at her. 'Huh… from a close view like this, she kinda looks pretty cute.' Ichigo thought to himself.
"So… where exactly are we going?" Launch asked.
"Oh, uh, we'll be going to a Turtle Hermit's island…" Ichigo answered, as he turned his attention back to the front. "One problem there is that he's kind of a pervert, so try to bear with him as much as you can."
Launch didn't like that at all. "Say what?! Hold on a minute! I never agreed to stay with a pervert!"
"And I never said you can't do anything about it, you can kick his ass all you want, and it probably might have him stay away from you." Ichigo replied back.
The two continued to fly off farther, and once again Ichigo tried to use his sensory skills to pinpoint Roshi's energy, as he was still trying to get used to where the island was at. It took a short amount of time for the boy to track the old man down, and he kept going further until he could spot an island with a familiar house on it. "There it is!" Ichigo exclaimed, pointing his finger to where the house was, just so Launch could see where she would stay at.
But as they got closer, Ichigo could see that there were 2 people residing in it. One of them he could clearly see was Roshi, but there was another one that he couldn't recognize. 'Who's that other guy?' Ichigo thought to himself as he was getting closer to the island. "Hey! Old man!" the boy called out.
Roshi looked upwards, and he was surprised to see Ichigo, all while he held a porn magazine as a young monk tried to bride him into making him his student. "Why, hello there! I wasn't expecting you to come by so soon!" Roshi exclaimed, waving his hand out to Ichigo, and there was another young boy who looked up, who turned out to be Krillin. "What brings you here?!"
Ichigo got to the island and hopped off the carpet, and Launch gently got down on the ground. "I finally came here to get training from you, remember? You told me to come by during that time with the Ox King. So here I am."
Roshi then remembered Ichigo using the Kamehameha, and his offer to teach him. "Ah! Now I remember!" he snapped his finger. "Welcome aboard!" Roshi then looked over at Launch, and he immediately had his eyes set on her body. "And I see you brought another girl with you as well… that's quite a bonus you scored."
"Don't even think about it…" Ichigo casted the old man an annoyed glare. He tried to switch the topic to something else, as he casted a glance at the monk. He seemed somewhat familiar to him. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"My name is Krillin, and I come from a village far in the East. I came all this way to be trained by the great Master Roshi. And who are you supposed to be?" Krillin asked. "You don't really look like the type who would train for martial arts…"
Ichigo raised his eyebrow over this. "And what's that supposed to mean? With that bald head of yours, you look like you're just playing dress up for martial arts."
"What did you say?!" Krillin did not take this kindly, having been insulted by Ichigo's comeback. "Don't you know that those who pursue the mastery of martial arts shave their heads to brace their spirits?!" Krillin then pointed to Roshi. "Look at Master Roshi!"
"Actually I just lost all my hair from old age, so I'm technically bald now." Roshi said, which made Krillin stay quiet. "Anyway, Krillin was it?" Krillin bowed his head in respect. "Bringing me a Pichi-Pichi girl is the one condition I insist fulfillment of before beginning training. You can bring me uh…" he looked back at Launch, who seemed rather confused at the whole ordeal. "Someone like that girl over there…"
Krillin nodded his head, having a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You don't have to worry about that, I know the tastes that my Master likes."
"Alright! So what are you waiting for?! Use a vehicle and help me find the right woman I'm looking for!" Roshi exclaimed with excitement at the thought of meeting a young woman, especially if he could get to see those bosoms under their shirts.
"But, Master… the boat I used might take me too long to find a proper girl you're looking for. Forgive me for my rudeness, but would it be alright if I could use any vehicle you have to help me make this go by faster?" Krillin asked.
Roshi thought about it before looking at Ichigo's magic carpet. "Well… if it's to go by any faster… say, Karna, would you mind if Krillin uses the carpet for a short time until you get it back?"
Ichigo didn't see much of a problem with this. "Sure I guess…"
With that said and done, Krillin got to use the Magic Carpet and set off onwards to complete Master Roshi's task. Now the island was left with 3 people on it, with Turtle having been missing as he was on a vacation. "I believe that we haven't introduced ourselves properly! My name is Master Roshi! Feel free to come inside!" Roshi exclaimed.
Launch made a frustrated groan. "Don't even think about doing anything dirty, you got that old man?" she looked back at Ichigo. "So you know who this guy is? Is he your grandfather or something?"
Ichigo was somewhat irked by that last comment. "Just to clarify, I am not his grandson or have any relation to him whatsoever. I'm just here to be taught under this guy on some martial arts."
"Martial arts? Well that could explain how you were strong back there…" Launch remarked as she folded her arms.
"So, Launch! Since you're my guest here and all, if you have any freetime, I was wondering if you'd be interested in taking the bath with—" Ichigo and Launch gave the old man a death glare, and Roshi chuckled nervously. "—I meant as in if you don't mind relaxing on this island for a while?!"
Launch rolled her eyes over this. "I guess… but only because I owe the kid for saving me, not because I actually want to stay with you."
"In that case, you can stay here for as long as you want!" Roshi then started to dance around the island. Though it wasn't exactly the answer he wanted to hear, it was close enough for her to stay. "Kyaaaa! Kyaaaaaho!" Ichigo and Launch looked at the old man with weird looks. "HEY HEY HEY! HOORAY, HOORAY! I'M OVERJOYED!" Roshi then got close to Launch again. "So then… would you like to learn martial arts as well?"
"Wait, me?" Launch was surprised by this. "I'm not really sure… it sounds interesting but I'm not sure if I could keep up with something like that."
Roshi put his arms behind his back. "I don't mean for you to undergo full blown training like Karna, and possibly Krillin. I'm fairly certain that some light exercises would do well for your health, your heart, and of course, your beautiful looks as well!"
"Hmmm…" Launch thought about it. "Well… if it's just some light exercises…
I guess I could give it a try…"
"Great! Let me just get the uniforms and we'll be ready to go!" Roshi exclaimed as he started running back to his house, and soon enough he came back with a box in his hands and put it down in front of Launch.
"So what's in this?" Launch picked up the box and opened it up. When she saw what it was inside for her to wear, her face twisted to rage as she gave a death glare to the old man. "YOU SHITTY OLD MAN!" she screamed as she pulled out and began to fire bullets at Roshi relentlessly, making the Turtle Hermit yell out in pain as the bullets kept on hitting him.
Launch kept firing until there weren't any bullets left to shoot, and by the time she was done, Roshi was lying on the ground and groaned from the pain. Meanwhile Ichigo grew an amused smirk on his face.
After a while, Krillin successfully came back with a young woman and got her on the Kame Island to meet up with Master Roshi. The meeting itself hadn't lasted very long, as the woman Krillin brought became disgusted with the Turtle Hermit and left the island shortly after, but nonetheless Krillin managed to pass and became accepted as Master Roshi's student. Just as the sun was going down, Roshi told everyone they would be moving to another island, as the current one they were in was too small to be trained on. Roshi put his house back into a capsule, and used another one to bring out a boat.
So as of this moment, the 4 of them were riding on a hovercraft, with Roshi taking the vehicle as Krillin sat next to him, and at the backseat sat Launch and Ichigo. The wind was gently blowing against everyone as they rode along, and for Launch, travelling from the desert to the seas like this was getting her a lot closer to sneezing. "Oh no…" Launch murmured to herself as she held her nose, and Ichigo noticed this. "Not now… ah — ah — achoo!" Launch sneezed, and in doing so changed her hair back to its blue color. The Blue Launch looked at her surroundings, and was confused as to where she was at. "Uh… where am I?"
"Hm?" Krillin turned his head to look over at Launch and would have asked what she was talking about, but he became shocked and confused when he saw Launch with the blue hair. "Huh?! What happened to you all of a sudden?!"
Roshi turned his head to see what the commotion was about, and even he was surprised by the sudden change in Launch. The teenage girl was confused by what was going on. "That's strange... I could have sworn I was having a drink earlier with a couple of kind gentlemen…" she looked over at the other 3 people with her. "Huh... I think my other half has taken over again… did she do anything too bad?"
"Uh…" Ichigo wasn't fully sure what to say. "I uh… kinda saved you earlier from some guys that looked like police officers, and I brought you here with me to protect you." he said, having been mostly telling the truth.
"Aw, thank you so much!" Launch went on to hug Ichigo out of open gratitude.
'What the hell?' Ichigo thought in confusion as his head got onto Launch's chest when she hugged him. 'She believes me just like that? This other Launch is a bit too innocent…' he had a small blush when he felt her chest. 'And I wish she could stop hugging me like that.'
After a while, they managed to reach the larger island where Roshi wanted them to be at, the island being South of Kame House. The island was very big and was populated with many people. There was also a jungle with many animals living in it, as it is found on the island as well. Roshi put his capsule somewhere around the island and the Kame House returned to how it was once before they left.
"So, is anyone up for some light training before we have dinner?" Roshi asked, with Launch and Krillin being close to him whilst Ichigo was standing over a cliff and looked over at the inhabitants of the island.
"I am prepared to work hard!" Krillin exclaimed as he bowed his head.
"Hey, old man, how many people live on this island?" Ichigo asked in curiosity.
"There's about 300 people living on this island." Roshi answered. "Now then, let's begin with our first lesson!"
"A lesson?" Launch looked at Roshi in confusion. "Do I have to be involved as well?"
"Well uh… you can do whatever you want with honesty." Roshi said, still being rather unsure of the strange girl that Ichigo brought with him.
"Well in that case, I might as well relax a little before I get to make some dinner for all of us." Launch remarked before she headed inside the house.
"Alright then!" Roshi hit the ground with his staff, making both boys group together in front of him. "You two will finally begin your special training at last!" he looked over at the monk first, wanting to know about his current experience, having already known of his pupil teaching Ichigo. "Krillin, do you have any experience in martial arts?"
"Yes!" Krillin nodded his head. "I've studied 8 years at the Oorin Temple!"
"I see. So it would seem that you two know the basics then. Now before I teach you boys anything new, I'll have to test your current abilities. Now listen up!" Roshi pointed to the boulder that was next to the boys, to a tree that was the closest to them. "There's about a 100 meters from this rock to that tree! How many seconds do you think you can run that in?"
"So… we're having a race?" Krillin asked in confusion.
'A lesson in terms of speed? Well in that case I might as well already win since I'm basically in my element.' Ichigo thought as he made a smirk, after all he was more of a speed type fighter to begin with, or at least used to be.
"Just because you can run fast doesn't necessarily mean you'll become a great martial artist, but it'll prove you have solid legs and loins." Roshi said.
Krillin began to silently chuckle as he held his hands on his hips, seeing his opportunity to shine in this and put his new acquaintance to dust. "I'll go first, Master Roshi. Besides, I have legs swift enough to enter the Olympics!" he exclaimed.
Soon enough, Roshi stood next to the tree that was a 100 meters away from the boys, as he now had his stopwatch with him. "Alright, now let's see it!" he saw Krillin preparing a proper stance for his run. "Now start!" Roshi announced and hit his stopwatch, and at the same time Krillin started running as fast as could, gritting his teeth in doing so until he passed by Roshi, which the old man stopped his watch and looked how much time passed. "Oooooh! Amazing! 10.4 seconds passed!" the old man announced Krillin's running time.
"Oh? It's just 10.4 seconds?" Krillin put his hands onto his hips, making pants as he made a smug grin. "It's just an okay record. My personal best was a solid 10 though. I can do better than that."
"Hey! Old man! Is it my turn now?!" Ichigo called out as he already prepared his stance to start running.
"Whenever you're ready!" Roshi called back, preparing his timer again. "Ready!" he raised his hand in the air before setting it down. "Go!" he exclaimed as he started his timer.
Ichigo started running over at maddening speeds, far faster than what Krillin had performed. Before long, he reached over a 100 meters relatively quickly and passed by Roshi and Krillin, leaving a trail of wind behind that blew off Roshi's beard. Krillin stood next to Roshi, being completely stunned by what happened. Roshi was almost shocked when he saw when he looked at the record. "It's… 7 seconds in total…" Roshi announced Ichigo's running record.
Ichigo made a small frown when he heard this. 'Wait, it was 7 seconds? I'm pretty sure I should have been faster than that.' he thought to himself as he got to Krillin. 'Then again, this whole week I was relying on my motorcycle and my carpet to travel around. I guess relying on it too much made me slower.'
"Wh… what kind of training did you do?" Krillin asked, being rather stunned by the display of speed that left him behind the dust.
Ichigo grew a smirk from this. "Probably better than what you had."
"For young boys like you, you truly do display tons of potential. However, that's not good enough. Both of you are still merely at a Human level. In order to continue forward down the path of becoming a perfected master of martial arts, you must overcome the limits of a Human!" Roshi then gave Krillin the stopwatch. "And believe me, it's not gonna be easy. Krillin, you're keeping timing for me now."
"Wait, you're going to be running as well, Master Roshi?" Krillin was surprised by this.
"Well of course, just to give you boys a taste of surpassing Human limits." Roshi remarked, taking out his Turtle Shell and threw it at the boulder, making the shell pierce through it, stretching his body out as the two boys ran back to the rock.
"You ready?!" Ichigo called out from a distance.
"Ready when you are!" Roshi answered.
"Alright! Get ready!" Roshi didn't make any stance, in fact he was just standing. "Start!" Krillin set the timer, and before he knew it, Roshi ran at dashing speeds far faster than what Ichigo displayed. Before either of them knew it, Roshi already passed by both of them.
"How many seconds passed?" Roshi asked.
Krillin, who was in utter disbelief, checked at the timing. "No way… it's… 5.6 seconds…" the monk stuttered his words.
"5.6, you say?" Roshi put his Turtle Shell back on. "That's not half bad. That's what it means to overcome limits of a Human. Since both of you are still young, as long as you keep training, you can even manage to run at 5 seconds!"
"So how long is that gonna take us?" Ichigo asked as he made a small scowl. "Cause I don't exactly wanna wait for too long."
"Be patient, Karna. There's plenty of time left. Although… it has been a while since I ran like that." Roshi stretched his neck, cracking some bones in doing so. "Krillin, you mind giving me some beer?"
"Of course, master!" Krillin nodded his head before he began running back to the Kame House. 'This is great! I should expect nothing more than the great Master Roshi! He isn't just some perverted old man after all!'
"So then…" Roshi looked back at the other boy. "What's got you impatient all of a sudden?"
Ichigo looked away slightly, folding his arms as he made a scowl. "It's nothing… it's just a question of when are we gonna start going with bigger lessons to get my — our progress go by faster?"
"Well now, let's not get so hasty. This is just your first day, there's plenty of time and room for improvement." Roshi remarked. ''Besides there are just light exercises. They're not actual training."
Both of them heard a loud sneezing coming by from the Kame House. Before they knew it, Krillin was screaming for his life as the Blond Launch was chasing after the monk with a butcher knife in her hand. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Launch screamed as she continued to chase after Krillin around the island.
"Well would you look at that!" Roshi stopped his watch again as he tested Krillin's speed as the boy ran from Launch. "Krillin just ran a 100 meters in just 8.8 seconds!"
"Well… the sun has certainly sunk down." Roshi commented as some time passed by, with Launch eventually calming down thanks to Ivhigo's efforts. Ichigo and Krillin were standing in front of the old man. "And there's some delicious dinner waiting for us inside. We'll start your full blown training from the crack of dawn tomorrow. Until dinner though, I'll give you one more test to show me your abilities."
"So is this gonna be running?" Ichigo asked.
"Something like that… but this one is a little more different." Roshi looked over and saw there was a rock next to his foot. He bent down to pick it up before he went on to use a permanent marker to draw a symbol on the rock and showed it to Ichigo and Krillin, with the symbol itself being a kanji for Turtle or Kame for that matter. ''Look closely at this stone. You think you can memorize it?"
"Uh… sure I guess? But what's it for?" Ichigo asked.
"For this!" Roshi exclaimed as he threw the stone far off the cliff, making it land far into the jungle.
Krillin was confused by the purpose of this. "So is the test just to throw stones like you just did?"
Roshi shook his head in denial. "No, no, the test is to find the stone I just threw." the boys seemed rather perplexed by this. "The act of searching may seem unimportant, but mental prowess and concentration are both necessary. Additionally, in this case, you'll be using your stamina as well. And another thing, the one who brings the stone back wins! And the loser gets no dinner!"
"What?!" Ichigo practically couldn't believe this. Not having any dinner was a big no-no for his Saiyan-like appetite.
"However…" Roshi looked over at the watch on his wrist, checking to see how much time was left. Oh this was gonna be good. "If neither of you get the stone back in the next 30 minutes, there won't be dinner for both of you!"
Nothing else needed to be said, as both Ichigo and Krillin started sprinting towards the cliff, but they soon stopped when they saw how far down the jungle was, and there weren't any footholds as well. "Damn it! There's no way down! It looks like we'll have to find a detour and quickly!" Krillin exclaimed.
"You might need to, me on the other hand…" Ichigo went ahead to jump over the cliff and started falling down without a care in the world.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Krillin shouted in disbelief.
Ichigo didn't answer, but instead he kept falling down, not having been worried that he would hit the ground. After all, Karna did stuff like this all the time back in the mountains, he was pretty sure he should be able to do something like this as well. Ichigo kept falling down until he got to the near end where he grabbed a tree branch from a tree with his bare hands. Unfortunately, the tree branch snapped in half. "Oh shi—" Ichigo cursed out before he fell down and hit the ground against his back. "Ouch… that one hurt a bit." he commented before he started running towards wherever Master Roshi threw the rock at.
"Is he even human to begin with?" Krillin asked, being rather stunned by Ichigo's endurance and continued to run off. It dawned on the monk when he realized how far ahead his opponent was at. "Oh no! Now he's way ahead of me!" Krillin began running to the other side to head to a safer path, that was until he gained an idea and stopped his tracks. "Wait a minute… it seems pretty impossible to find the stone in that jungle within 30 minutes…"
He then gained an idea. There was no way to find that stone. So why not make one of his own? This was gonna work out just fine.
This did not work out fine.
He asked a kind neighborhood lady to give him a permanent marker just so he could give his best to draw the same symbol that his master drew. When he handed it to Roshi, the old master easily caught his handwriting and ordered Krillin to find the real stone. So here he was, now in the jungle, becoming more desperate to find the stone, and it didn't help that he was further behind than he was before.
"Damn it all! There's no way I'll be able to find it in a place like this!" Krillin exclaimed in fear, having no luck whatsoever in finding the stone.
It was then that a sabertooth cat came up right next to Krillin and went on to eat him. Krillin screamed out of shock before he jumped in the air to avoid the animal's mouth, and after that he went to elbow the sabertooth cat's head, knocking it out in the process. Krillin then heard monstrous footsteps that shook the ground, and the monk hid behind a tree as a dinosaur was walking by, remaining unaware of Krillin's existence. "Wh... What kind of a jungle am I in?" he asked himself.
"I was wondering where you were at…" Krillin spun his head to see that Ichigo was close to where he was at, as he casually stood next to a tree and lightly threw the same stone that Master Roshi threw at. "What the hell took you so long to get here? It couldn't have taken you that long to get here, could it?"
"Karna?!" Krillin called out the name that Roshi spoke earlier, assuming it was his real name. He started running towards where Ichigo was at, and saw the stone that he held. "Wait, how did you find that stone all the way out here?!"
"I followed the old man's scent." Ichigo answered, and Krillin was completely confused by the answer. "Don't ask how, but his scent is rather… distinct so to say."
"What are you, a dog…?" Krillin rhetorically asked before he got directly in front of Ichigo. He began to be really desperate to get that dinner. "Although… Are you sure that's the real stone? It could be a fake…"
Ichigo briefly looked back at the stone before looking at Krillin. "I'm pretty sure this is the old man's handwriting. Unless he somehow threw a second stone that I wasn't aware of, there is no way this is a fake."
"Let me check it out for you…" Krillin offered to help as he extended his hands. "Just to make sure it's the real thing…"
Ichigo scoffed at this. He didn't think he was dumb enough to fall for that stupid trick, did he? If so, then Krillin was just acting like a fool now. "Let me think on it…" once again he casted a glance at the stone before he went ahead to start running as fast as he could. "No thanks!"
"Get back here, Karna!" Krillin started running after Ichigo, using all his speed to try and catch up with his opponent. "And give me that stone!"
"You dumbass! I found it first, and if you wanna take it then fight me for it!" Ichigo exclaimed in annoyance, and before long there was a large bridge close by to get to the other side. Yeah right. Like he would need to fight to begin with how much he was out pacing Krillin. And even if they did get to fight, he was confident he could overpower him.
As Ichigo got halfway to the bridge, he felt the weight of it being drastically cut down. "What the—" Ichigo turned his head to look at Krillin, who cut the ropes of the bridge with his bare hands. "You son of a—" Ichigo began to fall down, and saw that some part of the bridge was hanging on as it crashed onto the rocks. Ichigo thought quickly as he formed a crone pose and folded his arms across his chest before launching a torrent of an energy blast from his right hand. "Hagh!" Ichigo grunted as he boosted himself farther in the air, and it was just far enough for Ichigo to grab onto a fallen rope with his hand, putting the stone on one of his pockets before climbing relatively quickly to get to the surface again. "You'll have to try better than that!" he continued to run off, showing no hint of tiredness after all that.
Roshi was patiently waiting outside his house, looking at his watch every now and then to see how much time passed. More than 20 minutes have passed by now, and he wondered if either of them would be able to return with the stone. He thought about if he could get to peek on Launch, but that became dismissed when knowing her violent nature, and would most likely chase him down until she slaughtered him.
He became surprised when he saw Ichigo running towards him. "Old man! I got the stone!" Ichigo called out as he got in front of Roshi and gave him the stone.
"Hmmm…" Roshi made sure to check if the stone was fake like the one Krillin tried to trick him with. However, in his hand was for sure the real stone as he recognized his handwriting. "Well I'll be, you actually found it. Congratulations, you won, Karna!" the old man exclaimed. 'I'm surprised just how quickly he learns. And in such a short amount of time as well. He may still be young and does have a lot to learn, but his potential is something to be amazed at…'
Soon after, night settled down and everyone excluding Krillin sat down and ate at the Kame House, with dinner having been fully prepared by Blonde Launch. "Alright, you guys can eat all you want now. So dig in!" Launch exclaimed, as the amount of food she set took over the entire table
Ichigo made a small smile as he smelled the food, and the scent alone was wonderful. It reminded him a bit of Yuzu's cooking. Ichigo began to eat the food, and he had to say it was really delicious. On the corner of the hall, he could see Krillin standing by and just watched the food that was being eaten away with a hungry look. He didn't get it, couldn't Krillin just go outside and find some wild animals to cook and eat on his own? He either didn't think of that option or didn't really know how to. Either way, this was amusing to him. "Gotta say, you really know how to make some good food." Ichigo said.
"So you like it?" Launch asked.
"You kidding me?" Ichigo gave the blonde girl a smile of appreciation. "It's fantastic. Couldn't have any better way to have dinner right now."
"Huh…" Launch took a bite out of the rice in her bowl, and she made a smirk in doing so. "I guess you're right about that one."
"The boy is right! This is a yummy meal!" Roshi exclaimed as he took a sip of a stew on his bowl. "What's in this stuff?!"
"It's just some good fish meat from a guy on the market I bought from the island. There's really nothing poisonous in it, and I made sure to double check as well." Launch remarked.
"Sounds pretty good. I wouldn't mind having more of this cooking more often." Ichigo said.
For the rest of the night it was just the 3 of them spending time eating the tasty dinner, sharing a few laughs with one another as they continued to chat with one another.
Well I think this is about decent enough of a length to finish it here. I don't really think I have much to say on this, since this chapter is more of a warm up to what's gonna be happening later on. I did get a complaint about this story being the same as the original DB story… even though I did technically make some changes in this, albeit more subtle. There have also been some questions on Ichigo being rather too weak in this. There's gonna be an explanation and establish why this is the case. And yes, there is gonna be some major and very drastic changes later on. I'm only adding the amount that I think is necessary. Just be patient. Besides, it's still early for the story. There are facts in this story that are gonna be spiraling out of control in Ichigo's hands.
So now Launch and Krillin get to be added into the story, although there might be of an introduction with Blonde Launch and Ichigo since the sneezing from Launch is… really questionable where she sneezes at some situations that I don't think should even be able to happen, unless that she is very sensitive when it comes to sneezing. Like I understand it's supposed to be a gag, but some situations just honestly don't require it to happen. Krillin is… the same honestly, not anything different to begin with.
And also some of you may have already noticed that Ichigo's running speed is faster than what Goku's was in Canon, since I mean one of Ichigo's main quikrs is his speed, so why not still include that in there since there is still difference between Ichigo and Goku besides their personalities. And yes that includes skills since I already established that Ichigo already learned Kamehameha long BEFORE seeing Roshi doing it. Or that Ichigo knows at least both karate and kung fu, unlike with Goku who only knows just one of those. Hell, Ichigo already showed more potential than what Goku displayed in the running and the stone searching as well. Also for that ability Ichigo displayed when he was falling down, that will be explained later.
And yes, no-one got poisoned in the dinner scene, Blonde Launch made sure of that since the Blue Launch is… kinda oblivious honestly. And no matter how you look at this, Krillin was fucked no matter what he did.
Also I'm gonna be showing some special training that's vastly different from what was Canonically shown to us that's probably gonna be in the next chapter. Well more so included for Ichigo and his temper in this since he's a brat right now.