Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3: The Training Begins
Ramis stood, braced against the cool wind of Planet Dashi. Her hair danced lightly in the breeze, and she closed her eyes as she tightened her focus.
“What do you think's gonna happen, Goshin?” Soku asked.
“Shhhh, boys, just watch,” Dashi scolded, whacking Soku on the back of the head with a hefty wooden cane.
“I hope you're ready for this, Banbo,” Ramis said, opening her eyes again and focusing intently on her male counterpart, who was standing some distance away on the rocky field.
“Bring it on, little lady,” Banbo said, winking. He held both hands out in front of him defensively, standing with his left foot ahead of the other, his right foot at a forty-five-degree angle, both about shoulders' width apart.
“Then here it comes!” Ramis shouted, raising her hands. Brilliant golden bolts of ki emerged from the palms of her hands like fireworks. Each was fired in rapid succession with astonishing accuracy and speed.
“She's so fast!” Goshin said, receiving a knock to his own head from Dashi's cane.
“Watch,” he said.
Goshin's gaze shifted to Banbo, whose lower arms were all but invisible.
“What happened to Banbo's arms!?” Goshin yelped.
“Fool! Look closely!” Dashi said, again rapping Goshin on the back of the head.
Goshin squinted his eyes, and they began to focus, almost independently of his will. Slowly, Goshin began to be able to just barely make out Banbo's hands, which were deflecting each and every one of Ramis' ki bolts.
“How does he do that!?” Soku wondered aloud, inviting another blow from Dashi's cane.
The light show ended, and Ramis struck a defensive pose.
“You ready for this?” Banbo shouted.
“Bring it on,” Ramis said. “Little man.” She smirked.
“You asked for it!” Banbo replied, cupping his hands at his waist. “Ka... me... ha... me...”
Goshin could feel an odd concentration of energy from Banbo, or, more specifically, his cupped hands. He didn't know what was about to happen, but he knew by the look on Ramis' face that it was going to be big.
“HAAAA!” Banbo cried, thrusting both hands forward and opening them up like a blossoming flower. A bright blue stream of ki burst forth from the bloom, streaking toward Ramis at nearly the speed of light.
Ramis straightened herself and took in a large breath of air before letting loose an ear-shattering scream, generating a shock wave that seemed to nullify Banbo's attack completely.
“See what you're up against now?” Dashi said. “Banbo and Ramis began training when they were eleven. They've both been under my care for seven years. They know their stuff.”
“Woah,” Soku said. “That's unreal.”
Goshin gulped. “Will we be able to do that?”
“Eventually, yes,” Dashi replied. “But first... BANBO!” he called.
The bald-headed pupil looked up. “Yes, sir?”
“Come over here!”
Banbo obliged, swiftly jogging up the stony incline to reach Goshin, Soku and the Turtle Hermit standing at the top of it.
“First, you two must run to the warehouse. Banbo will lead the way,” the Muten-Dashi said.
“The warehouse, master?” Banbo repeated.
“Yes,” the old man said, nodding.
“Well, if you say so,” Soku said. “But Goshin's super-fast, y'know.”
“Yes, well, we'll see how super his speed really is,” the old hermit said. “On your marks! Get set!”
Goshin and Soku both struck starting poses, and Banbo just chuckled at them both.
“One for the money!”
Goshin's heart was pounding, and he could almost feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. There was a pounding in his temples, and the Muten-Dashi's words seemed to fade as if he was speaking from behind a wall.
Until, that is, “GO!”
Goshin took off at full speed immediately. He giggled almost giddily as the air ruffled his perpetually-messy hair, forcing his bangs back higher than they normally hung. His legs worked like pistons, muscles pumping as they pushed against the stony ground to propel him forward.
He ceased giggling when, a few seconds later, he noticed Banbo passing him effortlessly at what appeared to be a brisk pace. That was when he noticed how unnaturally heavy his legs were beginning to feel and how loudly his lungs were screaming. He chanced a glance back at Soku, and found him closer than Goshin would've expected.
Then he tripped over a loose rock and slammed his face into the ground.
“Owww...” he groaned, pushing himself back up onto his knees. He rubbed his nose gingerly, removing the tiny pebbles that had planted themselves in his skin. He wiped more off of his cheeks, then stood, wiped his palms on his shorts, and saw Banbo standing several meters past him.
He chuckled. “You all right, Goshin?”
“That's weird! I never fall back home!” Goshin replied, breathing heavily.
“Master Muten-Dashi will explain when we reach the warehouse. Let's keep going,” he said, grinning reassuringly.
“O- okay,” Goshin said, still feeling unsure. He could hardly believe how tired he was after going such a short distance. Was he sick?
Whatever was happening to him, Goshin continued on, barely managing to keep up a jog. Banbo slowed down until the two were in pace, and Soku, breathing even harder than Goshin, managed to catch up after a few more seconds. Banbo, on the other hand, was still not even breaking a sweat.
“Not so energetic now, huh?” Ramis called, looking smugly at Goshin and Soku. Goshin hadn't noticed her pass them. Running backwards. “Just because you were strong in whatever backwater neck of the woods you came from doesn't mean anything in the vastness of the universe, you know.”
“Don't listen t' her,” Banbo said. “You'll get used to it.”
“Used... to... what... ?” Goshin asked, between breaths.
“Being... so tired?... Space lag?” Soku said.
Banbo simply smiled. “Like I said...” He pointed ahead with his chin. The old Turtle Hermit was already standing next to the planet's warehouse, where deliveries were stored until they were to be shipped.
After another minute or so, Goshin decided he was close enough, and collapsed to the ground next to the warehouse's concrete wall, clutching his ribcage and gasping for breath. Soku followed suit.
Ramis snickered. “Hah hah hah, Master Kame-Sen'nin, with all due respect, I don't think it was such a terribly good idea to agree to train these rubber-legs.” She was leaned with one arm against the wall.
“Now, Ramis, don't forget the shape you were in when you first arrived. You couldn't run the five hundred meters, either,” Dashi rebuked.
“I beg your pardon, master,” Ramis said, bowing low to the ground, a small necklace holding a tear drop-shaped crystal hanging from her neck.
“Rise, my friend. It is given. Now, where were we...?” the old man wondered aloud to no one in particular.
It was several awkward seconds later that Banbo decided to speak. “Sir, I believe you were about to explain to Goshin and Soku the nature of their training on your planet.”
“Ah, yes, thank you, Banbo. You and Ramis might be fast on Earth, but-” Dashi began.
“Sir, you were explaining to Goshin and Soku.”
“Right, right. Goshin, you and Ramis-” -Banbo's mouth straightened and his eyes went blank- “might have been fast on Earth, but the gravity here is twice what you're used to,” Kame-Sen'nin explained. “Here, you'll use twice as much energy to run the same distance, or lift the same weight. That's why you'll do training for a few months before I send you off on a delivery. You might even have to deliver to planets with greater gravity than this one!”
Goshin's breathing slowed gradually. His head was throbbing and he felt like he might vomit. Banbo reached a hand down, which Goshin took. Banbo hauled him back up onto his feet easily. Goshin stumbled a bit, but Banbo placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Goshin sighed, rubbing his temples.
Banbo did the same for Soku, who was holding his head in his hands.
“Now you two go rest up for an hour. Your training starts in seventy-five minutes,” the Muten-Dashi said.
The water was cool on Goshin's face, in his ears, and on his eyelids. His lungs were filled to capacity, and bubbles slipped one by one out of his nostrils. He opened his eyes, seeing the bluish mud and teal grass on the ground below him.
He flipped back, took in a deep breath, and returned to his position floating at the top of a lake behind the Turtle Hermit's modest house.
Soku's arms reached out to his sides, propelling him forward through the water. He tapped Goshin on his exposed back, rousing him from his trance-like state.
The water was a clear sapphire blue, surrounded by emerald green grass that had, undoubtedly, been planted centuries ago in a terraforming project to make the small planet hospitable to humans. The far-off red sun was climbing higher into the sky with each passing minute, ascending from its nest in the southern horizon.
“What is it?” Goshin said, glancing around him.
But Soku didn't have to answer. Goshin spotted the Muten-Dashi wading into the crystalline waters in a flowery-patterned tank top and trunks.
“Oh! Master Kame-Sen'nin!” Goshin said, turning to face him directly.
“You don't have to call me master. I'm your uncle, after all,” the old man said.
“Yes, Uncle Muten-Dashi,” Goshin replied.
“Disrespectful child! Have some respect! I am your master!” the hermit declared, striking Goshin on the head with his cane.
Goshin shrugged. “I'm sorry, master.”
“Anyways, I see the two of you have already prepared for your first lesson! Good work!”
Goshin and Soku glanced at each other, clearly having no idea what the Turtle Hermit was talking about. “Uh, sure...” Soku said. “You know us, we just love getting ahead of the curve.”
“Your first lesson will be on channeling your ki. Ki, otherwise known as chi, is an energy present in all forms of life. It is in the trees, in the grass, the fish, the animals, and even you and I. It is necessary for life. What builds great fighters is how well they can control the flow of ki throughout their bodies, so, naturally, it's necessary for future guardians of Earth to be able to channel it,” the old man explained.
“So, that big blue energy attack Banbo used on Ramis, did that use ki?” Goshin asked.
“The Kamehameha wave? Yes. It's the signature technique of the Turtle School,” Dashi answered.
“And what about that weird yell Ramis stopped it with?” Soku asked.
“That was what is known as a kiai. Every living being possesses a ki aura, and it's possible to manipulate this aura for offensive and defensive maneuvers. When Ramis yelled like that, she used her aura to halt and disperse the ki in Banbo's Kamehameha.”
A fish brushed against Goshin's leg, and he shivered slightly as the scales rubbed against his skin.
“The reason I had you two come out here to my lake was to teach you about how ki flows through the body,” the Muten-Dashi said, holding his free hand to one side, just under the surface of the water.
After a few seconds, Goshin began to feel a current in the water flowing around his torso.
“Do you feel the water moving? Ki flows through the body like water in a current. Like a current, it is possible to manipulate this flow with proper training. You need delicate precision and control. If you force too much ki into a certain part of your body, it can cause damage to your internal organs and veins. If ki flow is too little, that can also cause damage to your body. Therefore, fighters like myself prefer not to use the ki that circulates normally through the body in battle. Instead, we look to the sea. The stomach is the sea of ki, and this is where the energy in Banbo's Kamehameha was drawn from. It is also possible to utilize this latent ki to enhance the flow of ki throughout your body, accelerating your natural healing process or allowing your strikes to hit harder than they normally would,” the old man explained.
“How do we access this ki?” Soku asked.
“It's easy, once you get the hang of it. First, you must remain perfectly calm. Feel the rhythm of the ki flowing inside your body.”
Goshin closed his eyes and concentrated hard, feeling an energy flowing through his hands, his arms, his legs, his feet. Whoa, Master Kame-Sen'nin is right! he thought.
“Now, look deep inside yourself. Inside your stomach, you should feel a great mass of ki. Keep yourself perfectly calm- don't stiffen up!- and draw this ki out.”
Goshin could feel this latent energy flooding his body, and he felt newly energized. He opened his eyes, and noticed his bangs were fluttering even though there was no wind. He looked at Soku, whose two antenna-like hairs were doing the same.
“Excellent, excellent! You've got it!” Kame-Sen'nin said proudly. He agilely leapt out of the water and onto the shore.
“Wow! Master, how did you do that?” Soku said.
The old man chuckled. “It's amazing what one can do when one's body is enhanced by ki!” He bent over and picked up a bucket with the same hand he'd caused currents with.
“Now it's time to find out how amazing the two of you will be!”
“W- what?” Goshin and Soku muttered in unison. Kame-Sen'nin tossed the contents of the bucket into the lake.
“Here, Brucey, Brucey, Brucey! Come here, shark!” he called.
Goshin's eyes widened as he realized that the old hermit had thrown chum into the water. A massive head and wide set of jaws filled with multitudes of teeth burst through the water.
The boys screamed, their arms pinwheeling and their legs oscillating rapidly, throwing up twin plumes of water that crashed down to either side of the hungry shark.
“Don't forget, boys! Use your ki!” Kame-Sen'nin called.
Goshin and Soku stood shivering, their arms wrapped around themselves, their teeth chattering, in front of the Turtle Hermit. Banbo and Ramis stood to either side of him. “Well, I'd say you both did well! You avoided Bruce, all right!”
“S- sir,” Soku said, “c- can we sit down for a few m- minutes?”
“O- or eat?” Goshin added.
“No, you can't eat yet!” Kame-Sen'nin said, striking both boys on the head with his cane. “You have to do your mid-morning exercises now!”
“M- mid-morning?” Soku said.
“What exercises!?” Goshin asked.
“You're going to be playing crab soccer with Banbo and Ramis!” the old man said.
Goshin and Soku sighed.
“Well, let's get this started!” Banbo said, tossing a small, gray cylindrical capsule to the ground, which burst open to reveal a black and white patterned ball.
The Turtle Hermit blasted two holes in the ground, approximately twenty meters apart, using his ki. “These will serve as your goals.”
“Thank you, Master,” Banbo and Ramis said in unison, before falling back to support themselves on their hands and feet, their backs to the ground.
Goshin and Soku gulped, and tentatively did the same.
“And now we eat a hearty meal!” Kame-Sen'nin declared. Goshin and Soku, now fully dressed again, sat on either side of him.
Before them, on the table, lay a veritable feast. Plates of ham and roast beef, bowls of salad and rice were laid out neatly. Banbo removed a white apron he was wearing and folded it neatly before setting it down in the moderately-sized kitchen and sitting down across from Goshin at the table.
“Dig in!” the old man said, jabbing his fork at a slab of beef, which disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“What?” he said, removing his thick glasses and looking at the plate where the meat had just been. He then looked at Goshin's plate, upon which the already half-eaten slab was disappearing quickly.
“I should expect this by now,” he muttered under his breath. Ramis wrinkled her nose in disapproval.
Kame-Sen'nin paced back and forth in front of the boys, his hands behind his back.
“Well, it's afternoon now, so we'll be moving on to your afternoon training!” he said, stopping and turning to face them.
“I wonder what's in store for us next,” Soku wondered aloud.
“What's in store for you next is simple. To improve your agility, you're going to skip rope!”
“Skip rope?” Goshin said.
“Yes, skip rope,” the Muten-Dashi said, producing two identical plastic ropes from seemingly nowhere. “All you have to do is race each other to that tree.” He pointed to a tree approximately one hundred meters away on top of a hill.
“That's easy,” said Goshin, grabbing his rope. “We just swing it over our heads and jump over it, right?”
“Yes,” Kame-Sen'nin said. “Just jump forward a little bit every time, until you reach the tree, and then come back here.”
“Okay,” Goshin said. Within seconds, he and Soku were fifty meters away, jumping almost one meter at a time.
The old man stifled a chuckle. “They're almost there,” he said to himself.
Once Goshin and Soku reached the tree, they screamed and spun around and began to run back.
“Uh-uh, boys! Skip!” Dashi shouted.
A reptilian creature hissed, its four legs working as it zig-zagged across the ground after the boys, who, as instructed, were jumping forward in impressive bounds.
“No doubt their adrenaline's kicked in. They'll be tired after this!” Kame-Sen'nin said.
The boys rushed right past their master, who smiled for a second before he realized the lizard was now coming for him.
The Turtle Hermit let out a cry of fright, looking away and holding his hand out. A burst of energy sent the lizard flying back over the other side of the hill.
“All right, boys, you put up a good effort today,” the Muten-Dashi said, patting Goshin and Soku both on the shoulder. “You're almost done for the day, but now, you'll have to do one hundred push-ups.”
“Push-ups?” Goshin said flatly.
“Push-ups.”
“What's the catch this time?” Soku asked.
“No catch,” Kame-Sen'nin said.
Goshin shrugged and dropped to his hands. He lowed his body to the ground and... stayed there.
“Uh, Goshin?” Soku said.
“I'm trying,” Goshin answered.
Soku furrowed his brow, and dropped down beside his friend, finding he, too, was unable to rise once he lowered himself.
“Why is this so hard?” Goshin asked.
“Same reason running was so hard on you. The gravity here's greater than on Earth,” the Turtle Hermit said.
“But I can't even use my ki,” Soku said.
“You just haven't mastered controlling it yet. You've probably hit your limit for now,” the old man said. “Just rely on your own strength.”
Goshin gritted his teeth, letting short bursts of air out of his throat, and slowly pushed himself up. “One,” he said, falling over onto his side, breathing heavily.
“You boys had better get used to this, because, starting in one week, you'll be doing the same thing you're doing now, but in a fifty-pound turtle shell!” Kame-Sen'nin said.
Soku flopped over, gasping, onto his side too.
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Chapter 2:
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Chapter 3: The Training Begins
Ramis stood, braced against the cool wind of Planet Dashi. Her hair danced lightly in the breeze, and she closed her eyes as she tightened her focus.
“What do you think's gonna happen, Goshin?” Soku asked.
“Shhhh, boys, just watch,” Dashi scolded, whacking Soku on the back of the head with a hefty wooden cane.
“I hope you're ready for this, Banbo,” Ramis said, opening her eyes again and focusing intently on her male counterpart, who was standing some distance away on the rocky field.
“Bring it on, little lady,” Banbo said, winking. He held both hands out in front of him defensively, standing with his left foot ahead of the other, his right foot at a forty-five-degree angle, both about shoulders' width apart.
“Then here it comes!” Ramis shouted, raising her hands. Brilliant golden bolts of ki emerged from the palms of her hands like fireworks. Each was fired in rapid succession with astonishing accuracy and speed.
“She's so fast!” Goshin said, receiving a knock to his own head from Dashi's cane.
“Watch,” he said.
Goshin's gaze shifted to Banbo, whose lower arms were all but invisible.
“What happened to Banbo's arms!?” Goshin yelped.
“Fool! Look closely!” Dashi said, again rapping Goshin on the back of the head.
Goshin squinted his eyes, and they began to focus, almost independently of his will. Slowly, Goshin began to be able to just barely make out Banbo's hands, which were deflecting each and every one of Ramis' ki bolts.
“How does he do that!?” Soku wondered aloud, inviting another blow from Dashi's cane.
The light show ended, and Ramis struck a defensive pose.
“You ready for this?” Banbo shouted.
“Bring it on,” Ramis said. “Little man.” She smirked.
“You asked for it!” Banbo replied, cupping his hands at his waist. “Ka... me... ha... me...”
Goshin could feel an odd concentration of energy from Banbo, or, more specifically, his cupped hands. He didn't know what was about to happen, but he knew by the look on Ramis' face that it was going to be big.
“HAAAA!” Banbo cried, thrusting both hands forward and opening them up like a blossoming flower. A bright blue stream of ki burst forth from the bloom, streaking toward Ramis at nearly the speed of light.
Ramis straightened herself and took in a large breath of air before letting loose an ear-shattering scream, generating a shock wave that seemed to nullify Banbo's attack completely.
“See what you're up against now?” Dashi said. “Banbo and Ramis began training when they were eleven. They've both been under my care for seven years. They know their stuff.”
“Woah,” Soku said. “That's unreal.”
Goshin gulped. “Will we be able to do that?”
“Eventually, yes,” Dashi replied. “But first... BANBO!” he called.
The bald-headed pupil looked up. “Yes, sir?”
“Come over here!”
Banbo obliged, swiftly jogging up the stony incline to reach Goshin, Soku and the Turtle Hermit standing at the top of it.
“First, you two must run to the warehouse. Banbo will lead the way,” the Muten-Dashi said.
“The warehouse, master?” Banbo repeated.
“Yes,” the old man said, nodding.
“Well, if you say so,” Soku said. “But Goshin's super-fast, y'know.”
“Yes, well, we'll see how super his speed really is,” the old hermit said. “On your marks! Get set!”
Goshin and Soku both struck starting poses, and Banbo just chuckled at them both.
“One for the money!”
Goshin's heart was pounding, and he could almost feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. There was a pounding in his temples, and the Muten-Dashi's words seemed to fade as if he was speaking from behind a wall.
Until, that is, “GO!”
Goshin took off at full speed immediately. He giggled almost giddily as the air ruffled his perpetually-messy hair, forcing his bangs back higher than they normally hung. His legs worked like pistons, muscles pumping as they pushed against the stony ground to propel him forward.
He ceased giggling when, a few seconds later, he noticed Banbo passing him effortlessly at what appeared to be a brisk pace. That was when he noticed how unnaturally heavy his legs were beginning to feel and how loudly his lungs were screaming. He chanced a glance back at Soku, and found him closer than Goshin would've expected.
Then he tripped over a loose rock and slammed his face into the ground.
“Owww...” he groaned, pushing himself back up onto his knees. He rubbed his nose gingerly, removing the tiny pebbles that had planted themselves in his skin. He wiped more off of his cheeks, then stood, wiped his palms on his shorts, and saw Banbo standing several meters past him.
He chuckled. “You all right, Goshin?”
“That's weird! I never fall back home!” Goshin replied, breathing heavily.
“Master Muten-Dashi will explain when we reach the warehouse. Let's keep going,” he said, grinning reassuringly.
“O- okay,” Goshin said, still feeling unsure. He could hardly believe how tired he was after going such a short distance. Was he sick?
Whatever was happening to him, Goshin continued on, barely managing to keep up a jog. Banbo slowed down until the two were in pace, and Soku, breathing even harder than Goshin, managed to catch up after a few more seconds. Banbo, on the other hand, was still not even breaking a sweat.
“Not so energetic now, huh?” Ramis called, looking smugly at Goshin and Soku. Goshin hadn't noticed her pass them. Running backwards. “Just because you were strong in whatever backwater neck of the woods you came from doesn't mean anything in the vastness of the universe, you know.”
“Don't listen t' her,” Banbo said. “You'll get used to it.”
“Used... to... what... ?” Goshin asked, between breaths.
“Being... so tired?... Space lag?” Soku said.
Banbo simply smiled. “Like I said...” He pointed ahead with his chin. The old Turtle Hermit was already standing next to the planet's warehouse, where deliveries were stored until they were to be shipped.
After another minute or so, Goshin decided he was close enough, and collapsed to the ground next to the warehouse's concrete wall, clutching his ribcage and gasping for breath. Soku followed suit.
Ramis snickered. “Hah hah hah, Master Kame-Sen'nin, with all due respect, I don't think it was such a terribly good idea to agree to train these rubber-legs.” She was leaned with one arm against the wall.
“Now, Ramis, don't forget the shape you were in when you first arrived. You couldn't run the five hundred meters, either,” Dashi rebuked.
“I beg your pardon, master,” Ramis said, bowing low to the ground, a small necklace holding a tear drop-shaped crystal hanging from her neck.
“Rise, my friend. It is given. Now, where were we...?” the old man wondered aloud to no one in particular.
It was several awkward seconds later that Banbo decided to speak. “Sir, I believe you were about to explain to Goshin and Soku the nature of their training on your planet.”
“Ah, yes, thank you, Banbo. You and Ramis might be fast on Earth, but-” Dashi began.
“Sir, you were explaining to Goshin and Soku.”
“Right, right. Goshin, you and Ramis-” -Banbo's mouth straightened and his eyes went blank- “might have been fast on Earth, but the gravity here is twice what you're used to,” Kame-Sen'nin explained. “Here, you'll use twice as much energy to run the same distance, or lift the same weight. That's why you'll do training for a few months before I send you off on a delivery. You might even have to deliver to planets with greater gravity than this one!”
Goshin's breathing slowed gradually. His head was throbbing and he felt like he might vomit. Banbo reached a hand down, which Goshin took. Banbo hauled him back up onto his feet easily. Goshin stumbled a bit, but Banbo placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Goshin sighed, rubbing his temples.
Banbo did the same for Soku, who was holding his head in his hands.
“Now you two go rest up for an hour. Your training starts in seventy-five minutes,” the Muten-Dashi said.
The water was cool on Goshin's face, in his ears, and on his eyelids. His lungs were filled to capacity, and bubbles slipped one by one out of his nostrils. He opened his eyes, seeing the bluish mud and teal grass on the ground below him.
He flipped back, took in a deep breath, and returned to his position floating at the top of a lake behind the Turtle Hermit's modest house.
Soku's arms reached out to his sides, propelling him forward through the water. He tapped Goshin on his exposed back, rousing him from his trance-like state.
The water was a clear sapphire blue, surrounded by emerald green grass that had, undoubtedly, been planted centuries ago in a terraforming project to make the small planet hospitable to humans. The far-off red sun was climbing higher into the sky with each passing minute, ascending from its nest in the southern horizon.
“What is it?” Goshin said, glancing around him.
But Soku didn't have to answer. Goshin spotted the Muten-Dashi wading into the crystalline waters in a flowery-patterned tank top and trunks.
“Oh! Master Kame-Sen'nin!” Goshin said, turning to face him directly.
“You don't have to call me master. I'm your uncle, after all,” the old man said.
“Yes, Uncle Muten-Dashi,” Goshin replied.
“Disrespectful child! Have some respect! I am your master!” the hermit declared, striking Goshin on the head with his cane.
Goshin shrugged. “I'm sorry, master.”
“Anyways, I see the two of you have already prepared for your first lesson! Good work!”
Goshin and Soku glanced at each other, clearly having no idea what the Turtle Hermit was talking about. “Uh, sure...” Soku said. “You know us, we just love getting ahead of the curve.”
“Your first lesson will be on channeling your ki. Ki, otherwise known as chi, is an energy present in all forms of life. It is in the trees, in the grass, the fish, the animals, and even you and I. It is necessary for life. What builds great fighters is how well they can control the flow of ki throughout their bodies, so, naturally, it's necessary for future guardians of Earth to be able to channel it,” the old man explained.
“So, that big blue energy attack Banbo used on Ramis, did that use ki?” Goshin asked.
“The Kamehameha wave? Yes. It's the signature technique of the Turtle School,” Dashi answered.
“And what about that weird yell Ramis stopped it with?” Soku asked.
“That was what is known as a kiai. Every living being possesses a ki aura, and it's possible to manipulate this aura for offensive and defensive maneuvers. When Ramis yelled like that, she used her aura to halt and disperse the ki in Banbo's Kamehameha.”
A fish brushed against Goshin's leg, and he shivered slightly as the scales rubbed against his skin.
“The reason I had you two come out here to my lake was to teach you about how ki flows through the body,” the Muten-Dashi said, holding his free hand to one side, just under the surface of the water.
After a few seconds, Goshin began to feel a current in the water flowing around his torso.
“Do you feel the water moving? Ki flows through the body like water in a current. Like a current, it is possible to manipulate this flow with proper training. You need delicate precision and control. If you force too much ki into a certain part of your body, it can cause damage to your internal organs and veins. If ki flow is too little, that can also cause damage to your body. Therefore, fighters like myself prefer not to use the ki that circulates normally through the body in battle. Instead, we look to the sea. The stomach is the sea of ki, and this is where the energy in Banbo's Kamehameha was drawn from. It is also possible to utilize this latent ki to enhance the flow of ki throughout your body, accelerating your natural healing process or allowing your strikes to hit harder than they normally would,” the old man explained.
“How do we access this ki?” Soku asked.
“It's easy, once you get the hang of it. First, you must remain perfectly calm. Feel the rhythm of the ki flowing inside your body.”
Goshin closed his eyes and concentrated hard, feeling an energy flowing through his hands, his arms, his legs, his feet. Whoa, Master Kame-Sen'nin is right! he thought.
“Now, look deep inside yourself. Inside your stomach, you should feel a great mass of ki. Keep yourself perfectly calm- don't stiffen up!- and draw this ki out.”
Goshin could feel this latent energy flooding his body, and he felt newly energized. He opened his eyes, and noticed his bangs were fluttering even though there was no wind. He looked at Soku, whose two antenna-like hairs were doing the same.
“Excellent, excellent! You've got it!” Kame-Sen'nin said proudly. He agilely leapt out of the water and onto the shore.
“Wow! Master, how did you do that?” Soku said.
The old man chuckled. “It's amazing what one can do when one's body is enhanced by ki!” He bent over and picked up a bucket with the same hand he'd caused currents with.
“Now it's time to find out how amazing the two of you will be!”
“W- what?” Goshin and Soku muttered in unison. Kame-Sen'nin tossed the contents of the bucket into the lake.
“Here, Brucey, Brucey, Brucey! Come here, shark!” he called.
Goshin's eyes widened as he realized that the old hermit had thrown chum into the water. A massive head and wide set of jaws filled with multitudes of teeth burst through the water.
The boys screamed, their arms pinwheeling and their legs oscillating rapidly, throwing up twin plumes of water that crashed down to either side of the hungry shark.
“Don't forget, boys! Use your ki!” Kame-Sen'nin called.
Goshin and Soku stood shivering, their arms wrapped around themselves, their teeth chattering, in front of the Turtle Hermit. Banbo and Ramis stood to either side of him. “Well, I'd say you both did well! You avoided Bruce, all right!”
“S- sir,” Soku said, “c- can we sit down for a few m- minutes?”
“O- or eat?” Goshin added.
“No, you can't eat yet!” Kame-Sen'nin said, striking both boys on the head with his cane. “You have to do your mid-morning exercises now!”
“M- mid-morning?” Soku said.
“What exercises!?” Goshin asked.
“You're going to be playing crab soccer with Banbo and Ramis!” the old man said.
Goshin and Soku sighed.
“Well, let's get this started!” Banbo said, tossing a small, gray cylindrical capsule to the ground, which burst open to reveal a black and white patterned ball.
The Turtle Hermit blasted two holes in the ground, approximately twenty meters apart, using his ki. “These will serve as your goals.”
“Thank you, Master,” Banbo and Ramis said in unison, before falling back to support themselves on their hands and feet, their backs to the ground.
Goshin and Soku gulped, and tentatively did the same.
“And now we eat a hearty meal!” Kame-Sen'nin declared. Goshin and Soku, now fully dressed again, sat on either side of him.
Before them, on the table, lay a veritable feast. Plates of ham and roast beef, bowls of salad and rice were laid out neatly. Banbo removed a white apron he was wearing and folded it neatly before setting it down in the moderately-sized kitchen and sitting down across from Goshin at the table.
“Dig in!” the old man said, jabbing his fork at a slab of beef, which disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“What?” he said, removing his thick glasses and looking at the plate where the meat had just been. He then looked at Goshin's plate, upon which the already half-eaten slab was disappearing quickly.
“I should expect this by now,” he muttered under his breath. Ramis wrinkled her nose in disapproval.
Kame-Sen'nin paced back and forth in front of the boys, his hands behind his back.
“Well, it's afternoon now, so we'll be moving on to your afternoon training!” he said, stopping and turning to face them.
“I wonder what's in store for us next,” Soku wondered aloud.
“What's in store for you next is simple. To improve your agility, you're going to skip rope!”
“Skip rope?” Goshin said.
“Yes, skip rope,” the Muten-Dashi said, producing two identical plastic ropes from seemingly nowhere. “All you have to do is race each other to that tree.” He pointed to a tree approximately one hundred meters away on top of a hill.
“That's easy,” said Goshin, grabbing his rope. “We just swing it over our heads and jump over it, right?”
“Yes,” Kame-Sen'nin said. “Just jump forward a little bit every time, until you reach the tree, and then come back here.”
“Okay,” Goshin said. Within seconds, he and Soku were fifty meters away, jumping almost one meter at a time.
The old man stifled a chuckle. “They're almost there,” he said to himself.
Once Goshin and Soku reached the tree, they screamed and spun around and began to run back.
“Uh-uh, boys! Skip!” Dashi shouted.
A reptilian creature hissed, its four legs working as it zig-zagged across the ground after the boys, who, as instructed, were jumping forward in impressive bounds.
“No doubt their adrenaline's kicked in. They'll be tired after this!” Kame-Sen'nin said.
The boys rushed right past their master, who smiled for a second before he realized the lizard was now coming for him.
The Turtle Hermit let out a cry of fright, looking away and holding his hand out. A burst of energy sent the lizard flying back over the other side of the hill.
“All right, boys, you put up a good effort today,” the Muten-Dashi said, patting Goshin and Soku both on the shoulder. “You're almost done for the day, but now, you'll have to do one hundred push-ups.”
“Push-ups?” Goshin said flatly.
“Push-ups.”
“What's the catch this time?” Soku asked.
“No catch,” Kame-Sen'nin said.
Goshin shrugged and dropped to his hands. He lowed his body to the ground and... stayed there.
“Uh, Goshin?” Soku said.
“I'm trying,” Goshin answered.
Soku furrowed his brow, and dropped down beside his friend, finding he, too, was unable to rise once he lowered himself.
“Why is this so hard?” Goshin asked.
“Same reason running was so hard on you. The gravity here's greater than on Earth,” the Turtle Hermit said.
“But I can't even use my ki,” Soku said.
“You just haven't mastered controlling it yet. You've probably hit your limit for now,” the old man said. “Just rely on your own strength.”
Goshin gritted his teeth, letting short bursts of air out of his throat, and slowly pushed himself up. “One,” he said, falling over onto his side, breathing heavily.
“You boys had better get used to this, because, starting in one week, you'll be doing the same thing you're doing now, but in a fifty-pound turtle shell!” Kame-Sen'nin said.
Soku flopped over, gasping, onto his side too.
