'This is a weird kid' This was Krillin's opinion of Jazz. Jazz was slower, weaker, and a worse fighter than Krillin, it was to the point that PaoPao, who seemed to blow them both away, seemed stranger and stranger to him for choosing to train the young teen. If there was one thing Jazz had over Krillin, it was Jazz's height. Despite that though, Jazz never seemed to make fun of Krillin over it, though he often would clash with Krillin whenever he played his tricks on the older boy.
The first day of training together had been unique.
PaoPao had the two boys stand in salute while wearing the weights, then their first order of business was doing Tai Chi.
Krillin was experienced in the movements, and while he had some difficulty due to the clothing, had no issues training. Jasper on the other hand…
"Uwah!"
"Lazy! Don't let your arms down!" PaoPao yelled, smacking Jasper with a bamboo pole.
"Urgh…" Jazz spit out in discomfort, sweat dripping down his face like rainwater off a window. With a shaky breath, he moved his arms up again and began to tremble as he slowly moved his hands forward again.
Krillin smirked at the sorry display. After another hour of this, they were ordered to begin jogging around the forest. Krillin took the lead early in their race, but by the fifth lap, he felt exhausted. By the seventh lap, he started jogging at a more relaxed pace, confident of his lead, until he heard the ragged breathing close behind. Turning, he saw Jazz, jogging at a steady, slow, but stable pace and gaining. Krillin angrily sprinted forward but tripped, which slowed him considerably. Jazz began to slowly overtake him. 'Can't let that happen!' He thought to himself, angrily extending his leg out.
"AAAAHGH!" Jazz let out a shrill shriek as he faceplanted. Krillin laughed and staggered up.
"Good luck catching up!" He sprinted forward again.
He finished the run, passing by a disappointed-looking PaoPao. 'Did she find out?' But to his relief, PaoPao simply spoke.
"You were slow, and Jazz even slower." They waited another 30 minutes to see Jazz half staggering, half jogging towards the finish line.
"You were slower." PaoPao said, "your punishment is to go five more laps"
"Hiiiiiik!" Jazz let out a choked gasp, he put his hands together to plead.
"Well, that's just the penalty for being slow," Krillin smirked darkly.
Jazz looked like he was going to say something, but turned to continue the run.
"No." PaoPao continued slowly, "you crawl, on all fours, around the forest."
Jazz's face paled, but with no other option, he got on his hands and toes and began to bear crawl the entire length of the forest.
Krillin enjoyed his Tai Chi session as he watched Jazz falter, smirking in satisfaction.
That night, Krillin returned to the temple, avoided his bullies, and went to bed. In the morning, since the master wouldn't teach him anything, he snuck out into the forest again. Waiting for him, Jazz was already there, he was dipping his hands into a bucket of sand, and seemed to be strengthening his grip strength.
He looked up at Krillin, eyes hardening, "Hey there you piece of shit."
Krillin flinched at the open cursing.
"Hey, that's some rude language," Krillin replied.
"Oh shove it you asshole." Jazz looked inflamed. "What's your problem huh? Do you have such an inferiority complex you trip me when I haven't even fucked with you? God if I was that petty…" He shook his head.
"If you're so mad, why don't you tell your precious girlfriend?" Krillin asked.
"She's not my girlfriend, and it's because I want to kick your ass myself, you son of a bitch."
After listening to Jazz's swearing tirade, Krillin simply put on his weighted clothes and waited for PaoPao.
PaoPao soon approached them, dragging a freshly killed bear on the floor. "First mission," she began, "prepare the best meat."
Krillin blinked in surprise, then looked at Jazz, who nonchalantly walked up and took a knife, he expertly skinned a part of the bear's arm.
"What the…" Krillin grit his teeth; then got to hacking off an arm.
It took Krillin an hour and Jasper an hour-and-a-half respectively to finish their hunks of meat. The winner was unfortunately obvious.
"Monk boy." PaoPao dropped Krillin's roast, "PaoPao finds your cooking disgusting. Take 5 laps around the forest, bear crawling."
"But! I bet Jazz's cooking isn't any better." His face twisted in disgust as he got ready to take a bite of Jazz's meat. It then twisted in surprise when he tasted a sweet, succulent flavor. "W-what?!"
Jazz winked, "I may be a terrible fighter…"
"You admit that out loud at least," Krillin grumbled.
"But I'm not an awful cook." He chuckled, "it looks like PaoPao appreciated my meat more than yours. Have a fantastic run."
Jazz watched Krillin run. "So…" he turned to PaoPao, "will we be continuing the Tai Chi?"
"You can do the Tai Chi, or you can go on the jog," PaoPao replied.
"Well, that's simp-"
"You can't jog when we return to the hotel room, but you can still do Tai Chi."
Jazz scoffed, "did Krillin get a choice yesterday?"
"Are you the monk boy?" PaoPao asked quietly.
"N-no?"
"You have no talent Jazz, so you have to work twice, no… ten times as hard."
"What was the point of cooking the bear meat then?" Jazz asked.
"PaoPao wanted to know who to make a cook."
"..." Jazz turned towards the forest.
Krillin wheezed in exhaustion, he had made 3 laps around the forest so far, but he was reaching his limits.
'That kid did this! After already running yesterday?!' He trembled in discomfort, his palms stung as he moved across the forest floor. He gritted his teeth, moving along as quickly as he could.
"OOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRGH!" Turning in confusion, Krillin heard a roar as Jazz rushed past him.
"What the…" Seeing Jazz move that quickly, Krillin attempted to speed up, but the movements were awkward and difficult. "If this was just running…" he groaned helplessly.
After what felt like half an hour, Jazz lapped him. "HOT SOUP, COMING THROUGH!" Jazz screamed out of the top of his lungs as he lapped Krillin, who just finished his fourth lap.
"...Idiot," Krillin said to himself. Jazz was obviously weaker, so doing something like this would only break his body apart, when even Krillin was hurt and tired, Jazz was just destroying his body.
*growl.
Shivers went down Krillin's spine as he heard something, turning slowly to his right, he saw a flash of brown. Pouncing out of the underbrush, a bear even larger than the one he saw PaoPao bring in attacked him. Krillin dodged by a hair's breadth, yelping as the animal took swipe after swipe on him. After dodging for a good while, Krillin circled to the back and charged forward, hitting the bear with an uppercut to the jaw. The massive beast's body swayed up, causing Krillin to smile. His feeling of victory was short-lived as the monster attempted to smash his skull in. Krillin, with little choice due to still being in the air, curled his body in an attempt to block the devastating blow. The bear launched him through the air like a ping pong ball into some bamboo, the sticks cracking from the force.
The bear charged forward, with a dazed Krillin barely being able to roll out of the way. Krillin shivered in fear, he was training to be a top monk, but… it seemed that like the bullies in Orin Temple said, he was useless… as thoughts like that flowed through his head, he turned to see the bear charge towards him. Closing his eyes in fear, he waited for the killing blow.
"GRAAAUGH!"
"?!" Krillin opened his eyes, watching in astonishment at the sight before him. While wielding a sharpened bamboo pole, Jazz had pierced the side of the bear, causing it to roar in pain. The bear swung reflexively, but Jazz had already rolled out of the way, stabbing a smaller bamboo into the bear's inner thigh. Hearing the roars of the creature, Krillin's lethargic state was shaken by Jazz's prodding.
"Let's get out of here!" Jazz shouted urgently, picking up Krillin by the shoulder, they began to run.
"You helped me…" Krillin said suddenly.
"Yeah, I did." Jazz said, "I still think you're a dickhead, so this changes little."
"Then why'd you help me? You could have gotten killed!" Krillin asked angrily.
"Well, you actually did most of the work." Jazz replied sheepishly.
"...What?" Krillin asked, dumbfoundedly.
Jazz looked at Krillin with surprise, "didn't you notice? You literally broke that thing's jaw, probably gave it a terrible concussion, it was swaying on its feet, maybe one more headshot and it'd be dead."
Krillin's eyes shook, he hadn't taken the time to notice its status, 'had it really been that close to dying?'
"Of course," Jazz said, interrupting Krillin's thoughts, "that doesn't mean you shouldn't thank me, I think thanks are definitely in order." He laughed.
Krillin stared at Jazz, 'this kid…' then smiled, "you're a weird guy, Jazz."
Jazz smirked, "thanks for the c-" he was cut off, narrowing his eyes he lept back with Krillin. A massive brown paw swung in the space they used to be in. "AAAAAHGH!" Jazz screamed in pain, dropping Krillin and attempting to scrabble for his back.
Krillin gaped as he saw the bear lick blood from its massive claw. He felt fear rush into him again and got ready to run, but looking at Jazz, he shook his head, glaring at the bear. 'I can't run away!' He shakily brought his fists up, then noticed the bear's state for the first time. Both Spears were still connected to the bear, and it seemed to limp on its left leg, it also swayed a little bit. The biggest thing he noticed was how its jaw was slightly warped and swollen, and how it was bleeding from one ear. "...I, I did that?" It was the result of an attack, a single attack hurt the bear that badly, realizing this, Krillin's trembling stopped. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward.
The bear growled at the intruder who dealt a mortal wound to it and charged forward itself. It attempted to swing, then bite down on its opponent when they dodged back, but to its surprise, Krillin didn't dodge, he grabbed the animal's paw and swung with it, flipping the creature with the force of its swipe. As the bear flipped into the air, Krillin launched a flying kick, striking the bear in the chest with enough force for blood to spurt out of the bear's mouth. Jazz watched in amazement as the bear soared through the air, crashing into a bamboo thicket.
"That was awesome…" he thought, heart, beating fast. In his excitement he forgot about his pain, and ran up to Krillin, laughing and hugging him. "Nice man! You saved our lives!"
Krillin shook in disbelief, a smile coming to his face. "WE DID IT!" he screamed, pounding Jazz in the back.
Jazz's face of excitement switched to utter agony as he screeched out in pain. "My back!"
…
"You idiots, you should have escaped using the bamboo!" PaoPao was red and flustered as she smacked around Jazz and Krillin.
Jazz had been admitted into the hospital for 4 days, the doctor saying luckily the claws did not strike any major nerves, muscle, arteries, or bone. After another 3 days, he had been cleared for physical activity, with the doctor confident that except for the most brutal of physical activity, Jazz shouldn't have to worry about his scabs breaking and any bleeding. Of course, this meant that on the first day Jazz began bleeding again, but luckily, PaoPao and Krillin both seemed to be medicine gurus.
"You mean you reached this level just eating whatever?!" Krillin asked, baffled, "the path of martial arts requires a balanced diet and plenty of protein, not to mention medicines and drugs to clean your blood, strengthen your bones, and quicken recovery!"
PaoPao nodded, "PaoPao believes that it's not too late to reinforce your foundation."
"Yeah, well we don't," he paused, then twisted his face in irritation, "I don't have money anymore after that hospital bill."
PaoPao sighed, "why not call ugly?"
"No thanks." Jazz shook his head profusely, "you want me to call that gabber? I'll die if she nags even a tiny bit more. Like, Bulma is smart, and actually amazingly impressive with all her inventions, and as far as free-willed rich geniuses go, she's by no means awful, but Jesus Christ she needs to stop nagging so much, it does little to help the issue, like, it's not like I'm a superhero." He sneezed. "Anyways, does building up my foundation even matter? Didn't you already do that when you injected ki in me PaoPao?"
Krillin looked at PaoPao in surprise. PaoPao for her part sighed and nodded, "fine if that is what you believe, PaoPao won't try to argue."
Krillin chuckled, "I think you should at least attempt to find something, and earn some money along the way, there are some amateur dojos and fighting rings, you can win some prize money if you compete well."
Jazz hadn't thought of fighting tournaments, "I don't think I'll be any good though," he said quietly.
"Orin temple monks aren't allowed to compete." Krillin said, "besides if someone like me or PaoPao doesn't compete either, you should be safe."
And so a means to earn money was devised. With this, Jazz, Krillin, and PaoPao formed a consistent schedule. While Krillin trained in the temple in the morning, Jazz would train with PaoPao, Krillin would join them from afternoon to just at sunset, then Jazz would enter amateur fighting tournaments under the pseudonym "The Great HumanMan". Krillin and PaoPao thought his costume was stupid, and a waste of Zeni, but Jazz had fun wearing the thing. Like this, their training continued for another month and 3 weeks until a fateful deadline was reached.
"It's time for PaoPao to head back."
Jazz and Krillin couldn't believe their ears. For Krillin, PaoPao was someone who changed from a source of fear to a good friend, training partner, and teacher. For Jazz, PaoPao was someone he knew only a little longer than Krillin, but at the same time felt extremely close to, she accepted his help, and in exchange helped him awaken as a martial artist, for that he owed her a great deal. He knew she would probably return to wherever she came from someday, but he didn't think it would be as soon as 3 months.
"Well, I'll miss you." Krillin said, smiling sadly, "it was nice training with you, the others in Orin Temple don't mess with me nearly as much anymore!"
PaoPao nodded, "you are talented, Krillin, good luck to you in your training journey." She smirked, "but don't keep trying to go easy on PaoPao just because PaoPao's a girl, that will get you hurt badly." Krillin rubbed his bald head self-consciously. After a few moments, he glanced at Jazz, who was looking down, his face showed a continuous conflict of emotions. Sensing the mood, Krillin turned to leave.
"...Jazz" PaoPao spoke softly, "it was fun training with you, what you lacked in talent you made up for in hard work and effort, both you and Krillin became stronger, and PaoPao became stronger watching your example, so PaoPao thanks you."
Jazz looked at PaoPao, "I'll miss you…" he sighed, "I knew you'd leave eventually, but these three months felt, well, great, as painful as it was every day, I felt satisfaction as I beheld my tired muscles." He looked at PaoPao sadly, "where do you live? Could I come to visit?"
PaoPao responded by hugging Jazz. "Sorry, PaoPao doesn't want to endanger Jazz…" She looked away pensively, "actually, PaoPao, PaoPao has a confession." Jazz looked on, confused. "PaoPao isn't strong."
"What?" Jazz asked confused.
"PaoPao isn't strong, compared to sister and father, PaoPao is useless, weak, nothing. PaoPao wanted to train Jazz, PaoPao pushed Jazz, you, so hard because… you reminded PaoPao of herself, talentless, born weak, soft." She sniffled as she gripped Jazz harder. "To be honest, PaoPao is scared, scared of going back, they don't love PaoPao, her older sister is smarter, prettier, and stronger than PaoPao. Sister is cruel to PaoPao, and father is indifferent, everyone expects PaoPao to be more like sister…"
Jazz trembled, "but you aren't your sister, you are yourself PaoPao." Jazz gripped her shoulders hard. "You don't deserve that! And they don't deserve you in their lives! You are a hard worker, and smart, and brave, and… pretty." He shrugged, "I don't care if your sister is the incarnation of the goddess of beauty, went to the top college, and could blow up the sun, the PaoPao in front of me seems stronger, smarter, and prettier than anyone ever could be."
PaoPao looked at Jazz, her eyes glittering in the sunset. "Do you believe that, do you believe that PaoPao...that...that I'm pretty?"
"You're beautiful." Jazz nodded, smiling. He stood back and bowed, "and to you, my smart, beautiful, strong teacher, this student says thank you for these three months."
PaoPao looked at Jazz, she smiled widely, giggled, then bowed back. "Thank you, Jasper, thank you for learning from me, thank you for being my friend, goodbye." And so, PaoPao turned around quickly, Jazz for his part remained bowed down. As the two budding teens parted ways, a trail of tears, starting from two opposing points, trailed from their separation point, but these tears were soon absorbed into the soil. The only testament to the existence of these tears was the melancholy within the hearts of the two friends who parted that night.
Jazz returned to his hotel room and spent a long time staring at the second bed on the opposite side of his bed, if he tried hard enough, he imagined he could probably smell the scent of lavender and jasmine soap in the sheets. As he lay down in his bed, he smiled lightly, "I'll find her again."
~"You better!"- A familiar voice called out, as if on the radio.
"B-Bulma?!" Jazz's head whipped around the room in confusion. "Where are you?!"
~"Silly,"- Bulma teased, ~"I'm the smartest girl on Earth, you think a lie detector test is enough to believe you?"-
"What?!" Jazz's mind raced, "you've been recording me?"
~"Yup!"-
"Bulma!" He blew up, "that's a grievous breach of privacy! Why would you do something like that?!"
~"Oh please, let me ask you, if you were a cute girl who was suddenly approached by a random guy you never met before, you'd be a little cautious. Then all of a sudden that random guy knows your name? Knows you're after magic orbs that grant wishes, and even says he knows some of their locations? Wouldn't that be suspicious? He should just grab them himself, better yet, he wants to help you get the dragon balls? Isn't that weird? Oh, and you saw that guy kill a bare with bamboo sticks and a bald kid, yeah, do you trust him easily?"-
Jazz opened and closed his mouth, then hung his head. "...how much did you hear?"
~"Oh, not much, 'you want me to call that gabber? She'll nag me to death!'"- Bulma burst out laughing as Jazz let out a mortified choke. ~"Oh, don't worry too badly, I won't hold it against you, in fact, I'd have been a little more upset if you didn't have something against me at all, those types of people are worse than the ones who just criticize someone all day."-
Jazz sighed, "so, where did you put this device?"
~"Not telling…"-
"Does it have a camera?"
~"I'm not a pervert, of course not."-
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jazz chose to ignore his upsetness and guilt. "Fine, alright, why did you call me?"
~"Well… I assume you've gotten a lot stronger, I mean, a month and a half ago you could nearly kill a bear by yourself, and it has been a month since then, so, if you want, we can leave early, or I can send to have you brought back to West City."-
Jazz thought about it then shook his head.
~"Umm, can I get an answer? I can hear your voice, and things you do generally, but the muffling of clothing is a response."-
"Oh, sorry, no, not yet." Jazz shook his head, "while PaoPao was a great teacher, I think I can make a great sparring partner out of Krillin."
~"Oh yeah, that monk kid you guys talk to, well, if he looks tough, invite him too, I'd love to have a bunch of bear-killing tough guys on my side when I need to grab a dragon ball."-
"No can do, Krillin's probably going to be heading somewhere by the time we leave."
~"Heading somewhere?"- Bulma begins, confusion in her voice, ~"...oh, is this you predicting the future? Cute. Well, if you don't want to recruit him, that's okay, I know it might be hard to share precious time with Bulma with anyone else, so it's okay baby, Miss Bulma understands and forgives."- she cackled in the background.
Jazz rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say Ms. Briefs."
~"Ugh, don't say that again, people call my mom Ms. Briefs. Anyways, I'm going to nag at you now, so shut up and listen."-
Jazz smiled quietly, noticing by now that Bulma was taking care to keep from mentioning the elephant in the room, the departed PaoPao. Closing his eyes, he listened to Bulma's complaints about the day, mini defeats and triumphs, boy troubles, family issues, and general boredom with the status quo and excitement for the future. Jazz shared a bit of that excitement with Bulma, but perhaps due to just how exhausted he was, he eventually fell asleep.
…
"That little jerk fell asleep on me." Bulma smiled, yawning and stretching herself. "Well…" she muttered, "it's the middle of the night for me as well," she yawned, smiling, Jasper was her first guy friend to be both nice and approachable. He was goofy, rude, and a total doofus at times, but at other times he'd be surprisingly crafty and ostentatious. From what she listened in to, he was a hard worker and a dependable ally. "No matter what, it'll be a fun adventure." With those words slipping past her lips, Bulma drifted into sleep, not noticing her mother placing a blanket on her.
…
On the lookout, Kami watched with a somewhat grim expression. "He seems to be changing the fates of others at a rapid pace."
"Hmmm… Kami, should we intervene?" Mr. Popo asked.
After a moment of contemplation, Kami smiled, "Mr. Popo," he asked suddenly, "do you know the duty of the Guardian?"
"Of course Kami, I taught you with the aide of Earth's previous Kami, to guide and tend to the growth of the people of Earth, and to keep interference to a minimum, only helping others to a fate they can reach if only with a little push, and only when needed for the entire planet's fate."
Kami nodded, "Jasper has affected the fate of two children, one was fated to die on the streets, hatred for her family and humanity festered in her heart, she would have likely become a great evil, who eventually died to a greater evil."
"Kami? That's conjecture, isn't it? You can't see the future, or are you telling me you can?"
"There are over 7 billion humans on the planet Mr. Popo, and many more have lived than are alive now, I simply judge based on similar trends and guess the likely outcome. Clinical and cold yes, but unfortunately never too inaccurate."
"I imagine then that she was like a flower growing in a thorn thistle, with no nutrients to help her grow, Jasper moved her to a richer soil, and provided her the avenue for water and sunlight." Mr. Popo remarked.
"You can think of Krillin as someone benefitting from that added growth as a byproduct, and all three of them as a unit growing from interacting with each other, and from themselves, that boy Krillin is arrogant and distrustful, made cruel from his childhood of abuse at the hands of cruelty and harassment from some monks of Orin Temple, perhaps he will grow and develop into a full person, and if he does, he will be a great asset to the world."
"Kami, it's not normally like you to keep your eyes on so many people at once, the last time you did…"
"Yes, I know, Master Mutaito and his disciples, Shen and Muten Roshi."
"Now you have four people that catch your eye Kami, be careful that you don't put too much a burden on any of them."
"Oh? Do you feel sympathy for the children Mr. Popo? That's normally unlike you." Kami spoke wryly.
"Of course not Kami, I simply follow your will, and as your teacher, servant, and friend, I only wish to do my best to protect you, the Earth, and your heart."
"My heart eh?" Kami smiled, "thank you for your consideration." He looked down upon the Earth he was entrusted with, smiling widely as he looked at the fates of four children, three already interconnected, and one whose fate was rapidly hurtling towards the other three, looking forward to the future.
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 14 (and 11 months), physical appearance: 15
Hair color: Brown
Skin color: white
Race: Quarter Caucasian(White American of English-Irish decent), Quarter Aisian (Korean), Quarter Black(African-American), Quarter Hispanic (Cuban)
Height: 5ft 7inches | 170 centimeters
Weight: 155 lbs | 70.3 kilograms
Skills: Decent Sports Talent for Age, Semi-Above Average Intellect for age, basic martial arts skills,below average ki control, decent pain tolerance
Powerlevel: 12
...
Afterword:
This won't be the last of PaoPao I hope. I'm excited to see what the future has in store, aren't you all?! Next Chapter begins the story of Dragon Ball for real, with the addition of Jazz tagging along. As I'm sure you're all aware, his goal is to steal the wish for himself, how does he balance the story of Dragon Ball with his wish? Well, we'll begin to see all of these interactions soon enough. One thing I'm excited for though is his reaction to Goku, despite pretending otherwise at times, Jazz is actually a huge Dragon Ball fanboy, though just cause you like something, it doesn't mean you want to live there. Like I'm sure most people don't want to exist in the world of Attack on Titan as an Eldian behind the walls, right? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter!
PS: the title name is based on Krillin's name pun, in Japanese, he's called Kuririn, Kuri is Japanese for "chestnut", representing Krillin's lack of hair. So thus, since the chapter is about the interactions between Krillin and Jasper mostly, thus, Chestnuts and Jazz. Though, I can't wait for the obligatory "Do ya like Jazzzzz?" Chapter based on obligatory romantic beats.