The Cat, the Man and the Turle [Solo/Turtle School]

Galen had been working hard on his duties lately in order to try and compensate for the time he had been absent due to his coma. The battle with Durendal was hard and nearly took the young man’s life and he knew he was lucky. If it wasn’t for his Flying Nimbus quick thinking and Cleo’s good heart, he would be most certainly dead. He was glad for that, but he knew he had been slacking off in his training ever since he became the Tower Keeper. Maybe he got way too comfortable with the power up granted by drinking the Holy Water as part of his trial, but the truth was: he wasn’t improving on his Kikoukenjutsu Sword School at all; he had hit a wall of knowledge and in order to get better he needed to find that final book with the last teachings. Galen could feel it, he was dead close of mastering the style, but still, with his lack of training, he would probably fail if he tried right now and, on top of that, he lacked the resources to even hire someone to find those books for him. The lone swordsman was indeed a wanderer and had crossed all around the world, but he wasn’t an investigator. He lacked the skills necessary to find the most secret teachings of his style and he was well aware of the fact that finding the first two was nothing but luck.

Once he finished his errands in the Tower, tending to the senzu trees and making sure the water would flow to the Timeless Lookout in order to produce more holy water, he decided it was time to go down to the Korin’s Holy Grounds and check on the members of the Karinga Tribe. They were his responsibility and he had to protect and guide them towards enlightment. Still, truth be told, Galen didn’t see himself quite fitting for such a job as he was still way too young, being twenty five years old, and in all honesty, he learned more with the tribe members than they did with him. However, they showed him ultimate respect and admiration and even went as far as to call him Master Galen, despite the fact that he had asked them to be informal with him plenty of times. In any case, he really liked the members of the tribe and wanted them to be well.

Galen would usually help them with their normal errands, attend to their meetings and rituals and, from time to time, just talk about amenities and laugh together, while eating some marvelous food they cooked. Galen was even becoming a way better cook lately because of them, and for that he was glad. His parents would be glad too because he used to be such a terrible cook. In any case, Galen spent the whole day with them and at the dusk hours he was ready to call for his Nimbus and fly back to his Tower when the spirit of Master Korin appeared out of nowhere, making him arch his brows and widen his eyes in total surprise.

”M-master Korin?!” he exclaimed and the small white cat with the staff nodded, chuckling a bit. ”Hello boy, or should I say Master Galen?” he said in a kind tone. Galen shook both his head and hands and then bowed respectfully to the cat. ”N-no, Master, of course not! I’m not Master, especially for you!” he said in a humble and embarrassed tone. Korin chuckled a bit and shook his furry head. ”Wrong. You are the current Master of Korin’s Tower and as such you deserve this title and respect, after all, you are my successor! Hohoho… But I didn’t come here to tell you that.” he paused, acquiring a more serious feature. ”You are troubled, aren’t you? I could sense it…” he said, staring at the human with concerned and kind eyes.

Galen sighed as he his inner turmoil had been revealed to the spirit of the cat. ”It’s true, Master Korin. I’ve been upset lately for two main reasons. The first is because I feel like I’m slacking off in my training and the second is because I don’t know where to find the other books with the teachings for my school…” he admitted in a saddened tone. Korin scratched his chin before speaking. ”I see… Well… I knew the creators of your school. Goten and Trunks. They lived during my age. I knew them since they were born.” he revealed and that also shocked Galen, but at the same time excited him and a large smile appeared on his face. ”Really, Master Korin?! You knew them?! So… Does it mean that…” but before he could continue, Korin hit Galen’s head with his staff, making him grimace and shout “Ouch”, while rubbing his head. ”Now, hold your horses, boy! I said I knew them, but I can’t help you finding that book. I have no idea where it is.” Korin said and his words made Galen quite down; his hopes were lit ablaze only to be erased in the following second.

”But don’t feel so down. I have something that I can teach you that will help you. Again, I’m not a master of it, but I know enough to help you out.” Galen arched one of his brows, intrigued by what he meant. ”I can teach you something of the Turtle School.” he revealed. Galen had heard about that school, or better, he read it: both Goten and Trunks knew something about the turtle school and they mentioned it in their book. ”That’s something quite old… And interesting! But why should I learn it, Master Korin. I mean… I’m a swordsman, after all.” he said in an uncertain tone. Korin once again hit him with the staff and he complained this time. ”Wow! What’s that for, Master?!” and Korin quickly answered. ”That’s exactly why the Turtle School will be useful to you! I’ve been watching you, Galen! You are terrible with your fists! If you lose your sword in a battle, or if it breaks, you will be in some serious trouble!” and he truly had a point. Galen had to admit it, he sucked with his fists, but he never really cared enough to improve in fist fight, but if he truly wanted to be a protector of the planet, he needed to be a complete fighter and that meant fighting with his fists. The man smiled once again and nodded. ”Very well! I will learn, Master!” and that made Korin smile.

The duo went to his training dojo in the glade near the Tower and once in there, Korin stared back at him. ”Alright. Let’s play Rock, Scissors and Paper!” he said and that shocked Galen once again. ”W-what?!” and his shock made Korin sigh. ”You heard me! Let’s play!” but Galen insisted on complaining. ”What’s the point, Master? Aren’t we going to train?” and that question rendered him another staff to the head. ”Don’t question me, kid! Let’s play it!” and while he rubbed his aching head, he knew it wasn’t wise to complain again and just nodded. Satisfied with his answer, Korin smiled and got ready.

The two started the game shouting Jan Ken and then they revealed their hads. Korin had rock and Galen had scissors, meaning the human lost the first round. ”Oh boy…” he sighed in frustration but before he could finish his sentence, Korin shouted. ”Gu!” and before Galen realized it, he was punched in the face fiercely by the cat, which sent him plummeting to the ground. ”What was that for, Master?! Come on!” he complained as he got back to his feet and Korin laughed. ”Hohohoho, shut up and let’s play it again!” and with that being said, Galen frowned his brows and went there again.

This time they revealed their hands. Galen had rock, and Korin paper. ”Pa!” he shouted as he hit Galen’s face hard with a palm strike that sent him flying towards the wall. ”Ouch! That hurts!!” he complained, rubbing his face that was now crimson red with Korin’s paw marked onto it. ”That’s because you are slow to learn!” he teased and that made Galen quite serious and back to the game. This time, Galen threw rock once again and Korin went for scissors, meaning the boy won. Following what he saw, he clenched his fist really hard. ”Gu!” and with that he threw a powerful punch at Korin’s face, but he was blocked by his open palm. Galen snorted in frustration, and Korin chuckled. ”Finally learning! Now let’s do this again!” and this time Galen had paper and Korin had scissors. ”I need to be ready, what’s he going to d…” but before he could think of anything, he was poked in both his eyes by the cat. ”ARGH!!!” Galen fell on top of his buttocks and rubbed his eyes and stomp his foot on the floor. ”That’s cheap, Master!!” and the cat laughed again. ”It’s not cheap, it’s useful. That’s the Rock, Scissors’n’Paper technique of the Turtle School and you seem to have already learned the Rock version of it. Now show me the rest, if you can! Hohohoho!” he teased the boy.

For hours they tried and Galen constantly lost. After one hour he managed to get an opportunity for Scissors and shouted ”Chyoki!” but Korin blocked it with the knife of the hand. Galen was hit over and over again and he was in quite a bad shape when he finally managed to win again and this time hit Korin with a palm strike to the face, by channeling his Last Resort power to further enhance his speed. ”Pa!” he roared as he hit the small cat. To finally be able to hit him made him both impressed and happy and he smiled, chuckling. ”I… I did it!” he said with the sense of accomplishment filling his heart. Still, when Korin got back to his feet, both his paws were together forming a blue colored energy orb in it. The cat smirked and then shouted. ”Kamehameha!!!” and that was a known technique, Gouken had used it once and Galen saw it. The boy quickly analyzed the whole situation and, having seen it once before, he quickly tried to copy that, putting his hands together. ”Kame…” he said as he focuses his ki energy; this technique shouldn’t be very different from his own energy wave and he was right. ”Hame…” finally the energy sphere appeared on his hands as he pushed it backwards to the side of his body, further charging it. When Korin’s blast was about to hit him though, he leaped upwards, dodging the cat’s attack and then threw his hands forward. ”Ha!!!!” he shouted as he fired the blue colored energy wave.

”Hohohoh, way to go, boy! I knew I was right when I chose you!” and, as it was hit, the spirit of the cat vanished once again. Galen fell back to the floor of his dojo, breathing heavily, feeling completely tired after such an intense training session that took him the whole night. But he was happy, he learned how to punch, slap and poke and now he was less useless without a sword. The boy chuckled a bit and fell on the floor with his arms stretched and closed his eyes, resting. ”Thank you, Master Korin… I feel like I can get back into training now. I’m so glad for this… And I promise I won’t let you down. I will study the turtle school, but I will also not give up on finding the final book for the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School. I will become a true warrior and I will protect this planet as the heroes before me did.” he said with fiery determination.

After that, Galen closed his eyes and fell asleep. He was exhausted after all, because Korin’s spirit used Galen’s own ki to project himself, which meant he was fighting against himself in the end.