"The reason all but King Yemma have failed to complete Snake Way is not the distance. Snake Way beats you not through the body but the mind. Tales are told in Heaven and Hell of the greatest warriors, with bodies like stone, mind like steel, and determination like diamonds, who were found sobbing wreaks upon the way, begging to be brought back here. Hell is full of the prideful who chose torture over spending a moment more on the path."
Yamcha understood now what Kami meant. He had been running for what felt like days yet all he saw was the clouds, the sky, and the path. He had no idea how far he had gone and how much remained. The sky never changed; there was no sun rising or setting so he honestly couldn't even SAY how long he'd been running. It felt like days and he'd slept twice so far but it could have only been hours. Or perhaps longer as he'd run until he'd been exhausted. And because everything kept curling in on itself it was easy to become disoriented. The first time he'd prepared to go to sleep he's suddenly jolted awake in terror that he'd get mixed up in the morning and begin running back the way he'd come, returning to King Yemma's and losing all his progress. He feared that. If he got back to King Yemma's… he wasn't for sure if he could start again.
'My friends are counting on me to get stronger,' he thought to himself as he struggled to catch his breath. 'I told them that I was going to train with King Kai… they are expecting me to return having learned all sorts of new moves that will help us deal with that bastard Raditz. If I am wished back and have to admit that I did nothing… I couldn't live with it.' He squeezed his eyes shut. 'I'd tell Kami to tell them to not both and use their wish on something else.'
Letting out a sigh Yamcha kicked off his shoes, setting one near his head and the other a yard past his feet. After that first time sleeping, when he'd had a panic attack about not be able to remember which way to go, he had tossed and turned until finally coming up with a solution. By pointing his shoes in the right direction, and keeping them far enough away that there was no chance he might bump into them, he could always know which way to continue going.
'Though,' he thought with a yawn, 'would be nice to have someone to talk to… or some music to play…'
He pulled off the top of his gi, draping it over his face to block out the cheery sky, and finally allowed himself to go to sleep.
~MC~MC~MC~
"Here we are!" Bulma declared as the boat's ramp lowered down and all of us stepped onto the beach. "Welcome to Spoodo Island!"
It was a nice island, tropical but not so oppressively hot that we were all going to roast. Honestly it would have worked well as a tourist destination if it weren't out in the middle of nowhere. Sandy white beach followed by a grassy plane and then a jungle with a few mountains in the center of the island. It was a bit too quiet at the moment, seeing as the only wildlife that made it onto the island were sea birds and they'd been scared off by our arrival, but I knew that would change when we actually began training.
"So, your family owns a place here, Bulma?" Krillian asked, adjusting his hat. He was wearing a windbreaker and had a baseball cap on, a duffle bag flung over his shoulder. All of us had brought bags, some more than most, and for some reason had decided to have them all gathered up right at the ramp even though we were supposed to explore the island first, get the lay of the land, and then get settled in.
"Oh no," Bulma said with a grin, decked out in a t-shirt and jeans along with trendy sandals; she had spent half the flight debating about what color to paint her toenails, even asking PICCOLO what he thought. It had been… a long trip. "We own the whole island."
"THE WHOLE ISLAND!?" Krillin exclaimed.
I glanced at him. "You forgot she was rich, didn't you?"
"Well… maybe," he said with a huff, refusing to look at me; even with helping him with the scroll he still was standoffish, refusing to trust me.
Bulma, not noticing the tension, grinned and motioned for us to follow her. "Come on now! I want to show you guys everything."
I patted my pocket to make sure that I had the capsule with my hovercycle (Bulma had finally told me, when Krillin had brought it up to most likely try and get me in trouble, that I could keep it as it was too 'girly' for her; I endured the jokes because it was a flying motorcycle) before putting on my baseball cap and throwing out my hand, casually catching the Scroll of Knowledge as it flew to me.
"I hope there is a good charging station," Isco stated. "I have the horrible vision of you trying to power me up with potatoes and wire."
"We can eat the potatoes afterwards," I reasoned.
"Ooooo!" Goku said with a beaming smile. "I could go for some potatoes! Fried. Mashed. Baked."
I rolled my eyes at that as Bulma led us down onto the beach, it clear that she was enjoying the chance to play tour guide. "So this island doesn't have much in terms of large wildlife. There was a sickness that spread through here that took out a lot of animals."
"Sickness?" Chichi asked, coming to a stop barely off the ramp and looking about nervously. "Should we be here then?"
"Oh, its long cured!" Bulma assured her. "Happened when my dad was still in school. But no one wanted to spend the money putting new animals on the island so its mostly just bugs and plants and some sea birds. That's honestly why dad bought it; this way he could do tests on stuff without disturbing local wildlife."
"That was considerate of him," Tien stated, shifting the duffle he had slung over his shoulder.
"Plus you never know how they might affect an experiment. You want to remove all the variables."
"And there it is," I said with a snicker while the others just stared at Bulma, confused. I leaned over to her and whispered, "Do you ever get tired of being the only person in the group who went to college?"
"College? I don't think any of them went to high school." Bulma began to point out other items of interest. "So if you don't want to swim in the ocean there is a pool at the research facility. That's where we'll be staying unless you want to rough it."
"Normally I'd say getting back ta nature is good for ya!" Master Roshi said before leaning back, his spine cracking. "Eh, but there are benefits to a nice bed!"
"I'll stay there sometimes," Goku stated, "but there might be days where I tire myself out and just sleep where I land-AAA!" he cried out when Chichi grabbed his ear.
"And by that you mean you are going to make sure you have JUST enough energy to get back to our room, right?"
"Yes! Yes!" Goku pleaded. "It will be good training!"
"Good," Chichi said, letting him go.
Bulma merely continued on. "So that path leads to the research facility. We'll be the only ones on the island so you don't have to worry about bumping into anyone."
"And she just jinxed us, I just know it," Oolong commented to Chiaotzu. While they wouldn't be officially training with us it had been decided that there might be uses for Oolong, Puar, and even Turtle, so they had been brought along for the trip. "Now we're going to find some cult living underground.