"Wow…" Krillin whispered as he walked under an archway, twisting about to try and take everything in. "This is… wow!" He smiled to himself as he continued to walk… only to let out an oompf when he collided with someone. "Ow! That was… oh! Oh man!" He looked down to find a thin tall man wearing seafoam colored robes lying at his feet, several books lying scattered about him. "I am so sorry!" Krillin exclaimed, hurrying to help the man up. At once he remembered what life had been like at Orin Temple… and the bullying and punishments he would have received for being so clumsy. "Let me help you-"
"It is more than fine," the monk said, voice calm and serene as Krillin helped him to his feet. "I understand how these things can happen… this place is a lot to take in, isn't it?"
"I'll say," Krillin said. "Honestly when I was told to find this place I thought it would be some abandoned ruins filled with traps."
That caused the monk to laugh, a soft sound that barely lingered on the air. "Oh, I can see that. But my brothers and I work hard to ensure that it is maintained." He gave a low bow. "I am Brother Itat and I welcome you here traveler."
Krillin quickly mimicked Brother Itat's bow. "Thank you for the welcome. I'm glad to at last be here. You see, there is a terrible threat-"
"And you have come to look at our secret texts."
"Yes… yes I have!" Krillin stated, delighted that things were going so well. "If you could just tell me where I can find them."
"But of course," the monk said with a gentle smile. "A guided tour is only 1688 zeni."
"Oh… Oh!" Krillin quickly dug into his wallet and pulled out the bills, passing them over to Brother Itat who counted them out before tucking them into his pocket. "Show me those text!"
"Of course," the monk said before turning towards the entrance. "But in order to understand how the texts came to be… you need to understand the history of this place. You see, while my brothers and I first began caring for this place 15 years ago the grounds are much older. We believe that they were first built in the year 317. But you can see from the fountains that there has been much development-"
Krillin frowned as the man began to tell him about the architecture of the place. 'I want to see those texts… the sooner I can read them over the sooner I can figure out how to use them in order to help against Raditz. I don't have time for this…' He narrowed his eyes a bit. 'Unless… this is some kind of test.' He quickly realized that must have been the answer. 'It is. This is a test they put everyone who wants to see their hidden knowledge! They want you to know about the history of this place so you'll respect what the texts say! Well… I'm ready! Bring it on!'
"Was that all because of what happened with Bulma?" Isco asked, joining me as I moved down the stairs to Bulma's work area. "Because I get the sense you might be frustrated about other things, sir."
"…yeah," I admitted, deciding that I didn't feel like lying to Isco… mostly because the robot would call me out for it. "The Bulma thing really bugs me but I wouldn't have snapped if it weren't for…" I help out my hand and wiggled my fingers.
"Your ability to masturbate here?"
"No!" I snapped.
"Are you sure? Because with so many people around I can see it being awkward for you…"
"Doesn't stop Roshi," I groused. "I swear he's gained 10 pounds of muscle mass in his arms already thanks to that tablet." Isco shuddered at that, which was a full frame shake for him that also might have been something being off balanced in his gyros, it was hard to tell. "Its this magic," I muttered. "I get it, Isco, I really get it. Goku had to train for years in order to get where he is. Same with Tien and Chiaotzu and Roshi. Even Chichi. I wasn't going to discover a quick way to suddenly be able to throw spells around." Under my breath I muttered, "I tried."
The Scroll of Knowledge had been no help. I had asked it several times if there was a way I could speed learning how to use magic, trying to find a way to make up the gap in my knowledge and the others' skills only to be told 'practice' was my best move. The gang was being great about it; when they'd learned that I had the potential for magic they'd grown excited and encouraged me. Chichi stated I could learn all sorts of healing and protection spells, Tien and Roshi had both glanced at Fortune Teller Baba and mentioned how they hoped I was a bit more… reliable, and of course Goku had been all about me knowing different ways to fight that would help him get stronger.
Which only made me feel more like a failure that after three weeks I couldn't do a damn thing.
"I should be making SOME progress," I complained. "Baba told me that it was good that I could actually perform the summoning spell-"
"I believe her exact words were, "Well, you are only mostly useless like everyone else on this island"."
"Right," I said dryly. "But I have no control over it. Its all too powerful. Its like trying to drive a car and the gas pedal and brakes are just all or nothing." HIlooked at my hand, imagining the magic that was swirling in my veins to appear so I could yell at it for being a bastard. But nothing happened and I finally let out a frustrated sigh. "So I'm on edge and took it out on the others."
Isco was silent for a moment. "Perhaps one could be both right and wrong in this situation, sir. You did take out your frustrations on the others… but you also stated things that needed to be said. Bulma is hurting and she is trying to distract herself through her work. The others just haven't noticed it because they have grown far too used to her ways and thus believe that this is just Bulma being Bulma. But she needs help… and needs the others to understand that she is trying to find ways to assist. They take advantage of her far too much, sir."