Author's Note: I apologize if this chapter seems a little long. I wanted to get through the training montage all at once so I could get to the Tournament arc, as I am eager to introduce our favorite redhead, but with a small twist. The next chapter might not come out until mid or late March because I want to take my time with the Tournament.

Chapter 4: The Turtle Hermit Way

A few days after Launch had joined them on the island, Ranko gathered them on the beach to brief them on the beginning of the boys training. Ranko was still black haired and wearing brown contacts, her outfit today was an orange blouse, blue shorts, and tan clog sandals. Goku and Krillin were wearing the same training Gi's they always wore, and Launch who didn't have many clothes along with her was wearing the same outfit she came to them in. Ranko had been lending her some of her own (stolen) clothes when Launch's were in the laundry.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Ranko said. "For the start of your training we're going to change locations. This island is a little small after all. I've gotten the go-ahead from the old man. He'll meet us at the new location in about 2 days, and that's when I'll say goodbye to you. In the meantime, I'll get you boys started with the basics."

"You're gonna start our training?" Goku piped up. "How do you know the Turtle Style? Ox King said that him and my Grandpa were the only apprentices of the Turtle Hermit."

"Ox, you loudmouth! Roshi said in Ranko's mind. And she thoroughly agreed.

Regarding Goku for a slight moment she said, "As I said before, I am Roshi's last blood relative. While I was never truly an apprentice, he did teach me the basics of his style so I could look after myself. The very same basics I'll be getting you two started on this week."

Krillin recalled what Ranko had done the other day when Launch had gone berserk and Ranko had moved her hands so swiftly that she had plucked the bullets out of the air without sustaining a single injury.

"You mean to say" said Krillin slowly. "You mean to say that with just the basics of Turtle Style you were able to catch all those bullets so easily?" Krillin looked at her in amazement.

Ranko allowed herself a gratified smile. "To those who are strong, guns are just useless toys. Although just because I can nullify the threat of bullets, doesn't mean I'm bulletproof. Normally I would have evaded them completely, but you two were behind me so I decided to catch them instead, I wasn't showing off, I still could've died if I slipped up. Also, it should be mentioned, the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken isn't necessarily exclusive to Turtle School."

The boys stared at her, mouths agape, and eyes sparkling with admiration. Although Ranko would never say it out loud, she absolutely loved the praise and attention. She also thought the boys were so cute and Goku was so pure and innocent she had to restrain herself from hugging the life out of them like stuffed animals.

Mastering this impulse, Ranko turned around and walked up to the side of the Kame House and found a switch. She pressed it and with a sudden *POOF*, the house had shrunken into a capsule, which she picked up and placed it in a purse. When she pulled out her hand, she was now holding a different Dyno Cap. She walked to the beach, flicked the switch on the capsule and tossed it towards the sea. *POOF* a small but comfortable looking fan boat appeared in the waves.

"All aboard!" she said. "The training location is on an island at the edge of an archipelago not too far out from here." They all boarded the boat and sped off.

The Archipelago

They drove for about 30 minutes before docking at lonely looking beach. After shrinking and storing the boat they hiked a few miles towards a cliff that overlooked a drop into the sea from the North and from the West, overlooked a large jungle. South and East of them were a scattering of houses connected by a single thin road. Towards the center of the island was a slumbering volcano that occasionally smoked. In the far eastern part of the island was a tall mountain shaped like a pillar that had a long flight of steps carved into the mountain and at the top was a small shrine. Upon reaching the top of the cliff Ranko stopped the little troop.

"Right about here" she mused, and taking out the large house capsule, flicked the switch and tossed it.

With a *POOF* the Kame House exploded into existence where she threw the capsule, and with a satisfied look she turned to face the others.

"This is where you'll all be living the next few months, although I will only be with you for the next few days as the master will join us soon and-" she faltered suddenly. "Where is Goku?"

Krillin answered, "He said he wanted to get a look around the island and took off on his nimbus."

Before Ranko could get upset however, Goku came soaring overhead and leapt off the nimbus, landing on his feet next to them.

"Wow" he said, "This island is huge and there are a lot of people who beat us here!"

"About 300 people to be exact" answered Ranko. "Now don't go running off without permission again, we came to train, and I would like to get you boys started quickly." She then looked at Launch, "Are you going to train too, Launch? There are lots of benefits to this kind of training, and the Turtle School could use more female talent."

Launch smiled at Ranko, "Well if you think it's a good idea then I'll..ah…ahh..ahhhh" she suddenly made a strained face as if she was about to sneeze. Panicking, Goku, Krillin, and Ranko fled in terror behind a boulder about 20 feet away. Launch continued to make a strained face before finally letting out a large yawn. "Oh my, I'm a little sleepy, maybe I'll just rest a bit before getting dinner started." Everyone face faulted from shear relief.

"As volatile as Launch's other half is, perhaps it's for the best she doesn't gain the advantages of the Turtle School has to offer" Roshi counseled in Ranko's head. Ranko silently agreed with him and decided to move the lesson along and clapped her hands to get the boys attention.

"Ok with that crisis averted let's get started" she said. "First, I need to get a good measure of your current ability. So first, Krillin, I already know about Goku so why don't you tell me about any prior martial arts experience you have."

Krillin bowed and said, "I have plenty of experience Miss, I trained for 8 years at the Magic Oran Temple.

Ranko nodded. "Good, then I'll skip the lesson on teaching you what a punch or kick is. Next, I'll need to know your current physical prowess." She then observed her surroundings and began to think. After a few seconds she seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Ok let's start with from that rock" she said pointing to the boulder they had previously hid behind, "And that tree over there. That should be about 100 meters."

"We're going to race?" asked Krillin.

"Yep" Ranko answered. "Running is a good way for me to get a feel for your current speed and stamina. It'll give me a good idea at what level I should start your exercises too. Krillin, why don't you go first, wait a moment for me to get by the tree."

She then walked quickly to stand by the tree and pulled out a stopwatch. While she was doing this, Krillin walked up to the rock and positioned himself in a sprinters stance. Ranko held up her hand and then let it drop,

"Go!" she yelled.

Krillin dashed off like a bullet and in seemingly no time reached the tree and Ranko flicked the timer.

"10.4 seconds, not bad at all for little fellow" She said mildly impressed.

Krillin looked winded but very pleased with himself and bragged, "I usually do the 100 meter in about 10.1, I don't know what happened, the wind must have been against me."

"Yoo hoo!" Goku called, "Is it my turn now?"

"Alright, alright" Ranko said. She held up her arm, "On your mark, get set…GO!"

Goku took off just like Krillin but about halfway looked down at his feet confused but didn't stop. He reached the tree and Ranko stopped the timer.

"11 seconds even" she said. "Not too shabby but Krillin still takes the cake."

"Excuse me" Goku asked, "Can I try again with different shoes? Mine are torn up, see?"

They looked down, and sure enough they could see him wriggling his toes. A few minutes later Goku had new shoes on and was ready to try again. Ranko had predicted something like this might happen and stocked up on supplies for the trip.

Again, raised her hand and let if fall, "Go!"

Goku charged forward again, this time almost a blur and reached the tree.

"8 seconds flat" Ranko said and let out a whistle.

"Who taught you to run like that?" Krillin said amazed. Goku just laughed.

Ranko then handed Krillin the stopwatch and said, "Here Krillin, you keep time." She then proceeded to do some stretches.

"Are you going to run too Miss Ranko?" Goku asked.

"Yep. It's been awhile since I trained so I should see where I stand with you young boys." She said casually. She positioned herself at the rock and stood waiting with an almost bored look on her face and stood in a relaxed pose with her arms behind her back.

Krillin raised his hand and shouted, "GO!"

Ranko took off like a tornado. She was so quick that she kicked a powerful gust as she passed the boys, leaving them looking windswept and completely stunned.

"Whoa! Fast!" Goku gasped.

"Well?" she said. "What's my time?"

"5.6 seconds" Krillin managed to stammer out.

"Hmm" she mused. "Not terrible."

"Only 5.6?" Roshi whispered to her mind. "You're the quicker half by miles. A mere 5.6 would be right for an old coot like me, but for you anything over 3 seconds should be embarrassing."

"Oh, shut up" she mumbled to herself. "Like Goku, my shoes aren't exactly ideal." And sure enough, one of the straps of her sandals had come undone during the run and she bent over to fix it.

"Not terrible?" Krillin asked. "That was pretty…pretty amazing if you ask me. I could barely believe my *gulp* eyes…" he said haltingly.

"Seeing is believing" Ranko answered. "But eyes can be deceived…and easily be plucked out" she finished with a tone of danger. Krillin hastily averted his eyes away in panic, for he had been staring intently as she bent over.

After she fixed her strap, she stood back up, stretched and said, "Well between that run and the heat I've become a bit thirsty. Goku, be a dear and fetch me beer from the house."

"Okay!" Goku said. "But…what's a beer?"

"I got it!" piped up Krillin, and he dashed off.

When they were alone Goku asked, "Why were you mad Krillin was staring at your fanny?"

Ranko stared at Goku with a smile of half admiration and half exasperation, "Oh, My Sweet, you have so much more to learn than just martial arts" and she ruffled his hair, causing him to laugh.

She spent the next few hours lecturing them on the secrets of surpassing ordinary human limitations. By the time she finished the sun was setting and she told them to go inside for supper and go to bed as they would be up very early to begin training tomorrow.

Early Morning

The next day Ranko woke the boys at 4:30 a.m. to begin their first day of training. This time she was wearing more practical clothing, a pink tracksuit with the word "Boy" on the back and white tennis shoes. While they were still yawning, she led them through some quick stretches and a simple kata. When they were finished, dawn was beginning to break and gave them a quick speech.

"Alright boys listen well because I'm going to describe the Turtle Hermit philosophy as Master Roshi would say it in his own words."

"Right!" both boys replied standing at attention.

Ranko cleared her throat and began, "First of all the martial arts of the Turtle Style is not learned for personal gain. We don't learn to win fights, impress others, earn wealth or to punish those who oppose us. You met the Ox King right, Goku? He forgot this lesson and paid for his greed."

Goku nodded in comprehension, while Krillin stared at Goku with slight envy that Goku had met the fabled Ox King. Ranko cleared her throat again and continued.

"We must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war. We achieve victory by the art of war, victory is won through strategy, strategy is derived from the art of peace. However, if any evil threatens you or any other good innocent people with unethical force..." She demonstrated a punch, "IT IS YOUR DUTY TO DEFEND! Understood?" Ranko allowed herself a satisfied smile on the delivery of her speech.

"Nailed it!" Roshi said in her head.

"Yes, ma'am!" Krillin shouted.

"Um…can you repeat that?" Goku asked looking completely lost.

Ranko looked annoyed but wasn't entirely surprised by his reaction. She sighed and said,

"Basically, we learn to fight so we don't have to. And our skills are to be tools of justice if they are to be called upon at all."

"Okay! I can understand that!" Goku said triumphantly.

"Oh, brother…" Roshi said exasperatedly.

Ranko turned around, "Let's warm up with a light run! Try and keep up!"

With that she took off at a light pace, and the boys eagerly followed. She led them down the road about a quarter mile before coming to a halt in front of a small warehouse that simply said "MILK" on its front door. Outside an open shutter door a man was carrying two large crates of milk in glass bottles. He looked up as they approached and said, "Good morning!"

"And good morning to you!" Ranko said cheerily. "Wait here boys" and she approached the man and began conversing with him. The boys watched puzzled as they looked over at the two poring over a map of the island. After a minute she summoned the boys over and said,

"Alright, each of you grab a crate. To begin with we'll be delivering milk to the homes across the island."

"We're delivering milk?" Krillin asked in disbelief.

"Aw, I can't drink it?" Goku said sullenly.

"That's right!" Ranko said. "This will be a good way to get some exercise and earn you boys a bit of money as well."

The milk man who had been listening to their conversation suddenly looked startled and butted in.

"Wait, miss, do you intend to deliver these on foot?"

"That's the idea" Ranko answered him cheerily.

"But this island is pretty big, miss. And every bottle has to be delivered before breakfast time!" the milk man exclaimed while gesticulating towards his vehicle.

Ranko laughed, "Don't you worry your little head! I'll have them moving like lightning!"

"But miss Ranko, how is milk delivery training?" Krillin piped up curiously.

Ranko adopted a mischievous grin. "Oh, you'll find out pretty quickly. Now both of you grab a crate!"

Both boys dashed over to the crates and picked one up each. They then lined up in front up of Ranko for instructions who was analyzing the map that the milk man had given her.

"Since this is only the first day, I think I'll take it easy on you two. We'll start by skipping 3 miles to the first house." Ranko said casually.

"Skip?" Goku said confusedly.

Th-three miles?!" Krillin gasped.

"Follow me! And be careful not break any of those bottles, or you'll have to start all over!" Ranko said.

And with that she skipped away at a brisk pace, leaving the boys trying desperately to keep up. They had only been skipping about half a mile and Krillin was already petering out. Ranko turned around and skipped backwards to shout words of encouragement to the boys. As she faced them, Krillin's eyes locked on to something and he seemed to gain his second wind and was able to keep up. Noticing this, Ranko looked down to follow his gaze and realized what he had been staring at and scowled.

"Really, my love" she thought to herself. "He'll be worse than you if nothing is done!" She turned back around while still skipping and closed her arms over her chest.

"Aha-haha!" Roshi responded. "Don't be too insulted dear, That kind of obsession is natural and healthy for a boy his age! Besides, he'll need all the motivation he can get soon!"

After they dropped off the milk at the first house Ranko had them pick up the pace from there. She had them skip zig-zag through a long line of trees, wade through a powerful river, run through the jungle with a giant dinosaur on their trail, and finally climb about a thousand stairs to a shrine, where a monk came out to greet them.

"Good Morning!" the monk said to them bowing to them. "How good of you to climb so early on foot, and just in time for breakfast. Would you like a glass of cold milk?"

"Oh! Oh! I do!" Goku said excitedly, raising his hand. Ranko, however, slapped him on the back of the head. "You fool! We don't deliver the milk, then take it back!"

The monk regarded Ranko and a spark of understanding suddenly showed on his face. "Ah" he said. "You're Ranko, yes?" This monk was one of the few people on earth that knew the nature of Roshi's old curse, as it was this very monk who provided the incense required to control the transformations. In fact, the number of people who knew of his dual nature could be counted on one hand, not even Gohan or the Ox King knew.

Ranko bowed respectfully. "It has been awhile, hasn't it?"

"These two are Roshi's new students I take it?" he said conversationally looking at the boys. "How's the training coming along?"

"Indeed, they are" said Ranko. "To be honest it's too early to tell, but I'd say they have some real potential." Goku and Krillin stood up straighter at these words.

"If they stop slacking and pick up the pace, they might just be ready for the World Martial Arts Tournament coming up in 8 months" Ranko said.

"Wow! The World Martial Arts Tournament?" Krillin asked excitedly.

Goku, predictably looked confused at this statement and asked, "What's that?"

Krillin became agitated and shouted at Goku, "Do you live under a rock? The World Martial Arts Tournament is an event held only 5 years, where all the world's greatest fighters gather to determine who's the best of the best!"

"Sounds like fun!' Goku said. "8 months, I can hardly wait! And we'll be so much stronger by then!"

"It certainly sounds like quite the incentive, doesn't it?" the monk said smiling. "Respect Ranko and Master Roshi and you boys will go far."

"Yes sir!" the two boys said bowing.

Ranko led them down the stairs, across a ravine, over a waterfall and finally they arrived back at the Kame House. Both boys lay on the ground absolutely exhausted.

"You boys will continue this task every morning for the next 8 months. That will be our early morning exercise. Next, we'll begin the mid-morning workout!"

The boys blanched and face faulted.

Mid-Morning

At 7:30 they were taken to a farm where they were instructed to till the fields with their bare hands. At 9:30 they had breakfast and inevitably Launch sneezed again causing them to flee as hot lead wasn't exactly what they had in mind for breakfast. They went to a noodle shop instead where Ranko flirted with the proprietor to get an extra helping much to Roshi's chagrin. At 10:30 she surprised the boys by handing them textbooks and stationery and set up a blackboard in front of the house.

"Ok you two, from now until lunch we'll be focus on exercising our brain power." Ranko said twirling a piece of chalk in her fingers.

"Brains? But I don't have those" complained Goku.

"The wonder boy has a weakness after all" said Krillin with a smirk.

Ranko picked up a folder that said "Lesson Plan" that Roshi had made in advance. She read for a moment and said, "Ok Goku, read from page 14."

Goku stood up and opened the book, "Oh no said Maggie, that tickles. Don't touch me there..." But that was as far as Goku got before Ranko snatched the book out of his hands and angrily read the next few pages, her face getting redder and scowl more pronounced with every sentence. She closed the book with a snap and spoke to Roshi in her head with a dangerous tone, "My love…what is this smut?"

"Smut?" replied Roshi indignantly. "How dare you! "Secret Rendezvous'" is classic piece of literature! *Ahem* in certain circles that is…"

Ranko forced herself to take a deep breath to calm down as the boys were watching her curiously. "We'll skip literature today boys. We'll move on to Geography and wrap up with some Arithmetic."

At 12:00 Launch, who had reverted back since then, called them in to have lunch. Ranko and the boys were wary of Launch as they ate but she didn't sneeze once and remained herself. At 12:30 she led the boys outside to a small cluster where three hammocks were set up.

"From now until 1:30 we'll take a nap to rejuvenate ourselves each day. Train well, study well, play well, and rest well, that's the old man's slogan for the Turtle School anyways" Ranko said as she lay in one of the hammocks.

"Hey Miss Ranko?" Goku began, "Will there be lots of strong people at this Tournament? Do you think we have a shot of winning?"

"Of course, there will be many strong fighters" Ranko replied impatiently. "Some people train their entire lives just to make it past the qualifying rounds. But you won't be entering with hopes of winning, to do so would be arrogant. You will enter to witness the skills of those who stand at the top, to learn of your own weaknesses, and therefore you will see the path to personal growth."

Goku and Krillin pondered these things as they slowly drifted off to sleep. But it hardly felt as though they had shut their eyes at all when Ranko was shaking them awake and leading them to their next exercise.

Afternoon

She led the boys to a construction zone. Clearly this relatively low population island wasn't planning on staying one forever. She slapped some safety helmets on the boys heads and gave them some rubber boots.

"Okay boys, from 2:00 to 4:00 we'll be doing our mid-afternoon workout, which if you haven't guessed is quite literally manual labor. After all that running earlier, this will be a good way to beef up your arms. Not to mention you'll earn some extra cash on the side." She explained.

The site foreman however was quite skeptical. "Are you sure these kids can work? They seem awfully young to me."

Ranko adopted a flirty demeanor which caused the foreman to blush. "Oh, don't you worry about that sweetie. When you see what they can do you'll want to pay them five times the normal pay!" she finished with a wink.

This statement however snapped the foreman out of his enamored state. "Five times!" he shouted. "What do you take me for, a sap?!"

Ranko just grinned. "Just watch! Ok boys, get to work!"

"Um, Ranko, do we have to work bare handed again like at the fields?" Krillin asked tentatively.

"No, of course not, but no power tools." She answered.

And like that the boys shot off like lightning. Krillin began shoveling earth rapidly, filling up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. Goku quickly emptied each wheelbarrow across the dump site and returned to Krillin for it to be filled again in seconds. Then Goku was flattening the land with a roller tool, outstripping the construction machines that were doing the same thing. Then Krillin was in the quarry breaking stones using a pickaxe with such force the pickaxe actually broke and the head went flying in a spiral over the heads of other workers and landed at the feet of the foreman.

"Alright! I'll pay whatever you want!" the foreman said in shock. Ranko chuckled to herself and called out, "Ease up a bit there Krillin, you'll hurt someone!"

Evening

At 5:00 she led the boys to a lake up in the mountains. The lake was about a mile in diameter and was a deep dark blue. The lake was connected by a tributary to the sea.

"If you boys haven't guessed already, you'll be swimming a few laps in the lake" Ranko said to the two boys. "I want you two to give me 20 laps in the lake. And I mean full laps, you have to touch the other side before heading back, now jump in!" But the boys didn't move.

"More exercise?" Goku asked. "When are we going to learn new fighting moves?"

"Yeah!" piped up Krillin. "Like that bullet catching technique you used, that was amazing!"

Ranko scowled. "Don't get jumpy! Turtle Style is an intense martial art! There are some basic physical requirements that you boys don't have quite yet!"

"How will we know if we're ready then?" Goku asked.

Ranko didn't answer this right away. Nervously she looked to left and then right quickly looking for inspiration. Her eyes latched onto a cluster of boulders roughly the size of a minivan about 20 feet away. She quickly walked over to one and slapped it.

"This right here. If you can shatter this boulder into tiny pieces with just a finger, then you're ready for Turtle Style!" she said with a wink.

Krillin stared at her blankly and said, "Shatter something like that with just our finger? That's impossible! No one's strong enough to do that with just a finger!"

Ranko laughed, "Oh it's impossible, is it? Watch." She faced the boulder and lifted her right index finger. "Bakusai Tenketsu" she said under her breath, and lightly touched the boulder with the very tip of her finger. No longer than a heartbeat later, the boulder crumbled into hundreds of little pieces and a cloud of dust. The boys jaws dropped.

"That's playing dirty" said Roshi. "Ryoga's specialty, the "Breaking Point" technique has nothing to do with strength, but with focusing your mind to find the one singular spot in an object that will cause it to shatter when pressure is applied."

"Perhaps you have a better idea to keep them busy, my love?" Ranko snapped back under her breath. Roshi's voice was silent. "Ok then boys, if there are no further questions, get in the water! And if you do have questions, keep them to yourself and get in the water anyways!" The boys then quickly undressed and leaped in the water.

"Finally, something easy!" Krillin panted as he swam. "She must be rewarding us for working so hard earlier!"

"Oh, yeah! I needed something to cool down!" said Goku as he paddled next to him.

"I love this part" Roshi said to Ranko.

"Me too, my love" she whispered back giggling. She approached the water's edge and shouted, "Oh boys! Be careful now! There are some pretty big fish in the lake!"

The boys stopped in the middle of the lake and treaded water facing her.

"What kind of fish?" Goku asked.

"Sharks mostly" she answered casually.

The boys just looked at each other stunned, wondering whether or not she was kidding. No sooner had they come to the agreement that she must have been joking, something big splashed not to far from them and the jaws of a massive great white appeared in front of them. The boys swam like mermaids while screaming like banshees.

"Krillin!" Ranko yelled angrily, "That's not a full lap! You didn't touch the other side!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he yelled back but still doubled back to the other side with the beast still hot on his trail. This went on for about 30 minutes before the two boys finally dragged themselves out of the water panting heavily. Their faces were extremely pale from the terror of being chased and they collapsed onto the grass, still buck naked.

"Well, I'll be" Ranko said impressed. "You boys managed to survive, good! I believe we have time for one more lesson before we head home for dinner."

"You mean there's more!?" Krillin gasped, still breathing hard.

Ranko scowled. "Is the sun still up? Of course there's more! Honestly this is only your first day, Roshi will be much harder on you when he gets back."

The boys, still looking miserable, got dressed without complaining. They then followed her to a large tree where they could hear faint buzzing. Ranko then took out a couple of long lengths of rope and tied one end to the tree and one end to each boy. Neither one of them had much room to move around.

"Why did you tie us to the tree, Miss Ranko?" Goku said curiously.

Ranko cleared her throat. "This last exercise will test your evasiveness and ability to adapt to your opponent. Sometimes we become cornered with very little space to move, so when running isn't an option, we have to learn to dodge with as little movement as possible." She paused and then said, "This exercise isn't exactly a Turtle School method but something my very first teacher, my father once used to teach me evasion and predicting enemy movement."

Before the boys could process this, Ranko picked up a large branch and started sneaking towards the large tree. She looked up, and the boys followed her gaze and saw large hornets nest. Suddenly they understood what was about to happen and they began to panic. But before they could do anything Ranko leapt up and smacked the hive to the ground. She dashed behind the bushes quicker then lightning and called "Remember, don't just run, dodge!"

"You know, sometimes you're just mean." Roshi said. "Our father didn't tie us to a tree for this exercise." Ranko giggled but quickly began to panic and flail as few of the hornets had followed her.

About an hour later the sun was beginning to set and Ranko, Goku, and Krillin were standing in front of the Kame House to debrief the days training. Goku and Krillin were covered from head to foot in large red bumps. Ranko directly in front of them with her back facing the house so the boys wouldn't notice the single large bump on the back of her head.

"Well, your poor performance with the bees aside, your first day went pretty well. Starting tomorrow, the old man will be back to oversee your training for the next 8 months until the tournament." Ranko said. "But the training from tomorrow onwards will be a little different."

"It can't get any more difficult than what we did today." Krillin said in a tired tone. Goku nodded in agreement.

"What are you talking about?" Ranko said with a slight air of mischief in her voice. "Didn't I earlier we were taking it easy today? From now on, the work you do and the pace it demands will increase, not to mention," she then reached down to a sack she had next to her, "Starting tomorrow you'll be wearing these 50lb turtle shells!"

Both boys face faulted.

End of Chapter 4