'Dear lord instead of me they should have had a shrink get Self Inserted into this world,' I thought to myself, rolling my eyes at Bulma's clear issues as she continued to ramble about her looks and how that would affect her dating life. 'There is nothing wrong with wanting to be in a relationship but she acts like that is the sole thing that defines her. The woman might be one of the smartest people in the world, possibly even the galaxy considering most of the nimrods that Frieza has working for him, and all Bulma can think about is getting a man and how important that is. And she thinks its only her looks that will attract one.'
I so badly wanted to tell her that no, it would be her fierce spirit that would eventually net her the Prince of her… well, not exactly dreams but a Prince perfectly suited for her. But it wasn't easy to go, "Hey, stop worrying about your looks, the guy you want needs a woman who is just as much a bitch as he is a bastard!"
That would have gone over just swimmingly.
So instead I was forced to wait until she had calmed down just enough to actually listen to me before I said, "Well, why don't you take a nap and then grab a shower and we can chat then. I can practice my magic stuff-" And I knew somewhere Baba had sensed me calling it 'magic stuff' and would make me suffer for that, "-and then come back."
"…yeah… yeah I guess," Bulma said weakly, already moving to the couch. She grabbed a blanket as Isco and I headed out, leaving her to hopefully finally get some sleep.
"You able to monitor her so we know when she's actually awake?" I asked.
"I am, sir. In fact I've tapped into all the systems on the island so I can watch over all of you. We might suggest to Tien he eating far too much dairy."
"…I don't want to know."
"His stool is rather runny-"
"I'm good Isco!"
Krillin tugged on the robes he was wearing… but rather lightly. He'd already torn the first one that he'd gotten and been forced to pay for them to be restitched because 'one could not gain the secret knowledge with a rip in the sacred robes, for a tear there was a tear to your soul'. 'You'd think with things that were so expensive they would be a bit higher quality. His favorite 'TACO' shirt was made of heavier fabric than the robes and I got that from a t-shirt cannon at a baseball game! And not even a good one!'
Still, he had on the robes. And the woven sandals. And he'd scrubbed himself with the hard bristle brush and coated his body in the soaps and powders that had been far too little to get the job done and forced him to buy extra. But he'd done everything the monks had asked and finally… FINALLY… he was ready! He was going to see their scrolls and learn their secret knowledge and he was going to be able to help his friends at long last!
He approached one of the monks and quickly bowed, the man smiling gently and returning the gestured. "I am ready to go over your sacred texts."
"Of course. I am brother Ayay, and I will be the one to lead you into the temple." He motioned for Krillin to follow him. "Now, you have obtained the gloves needed to handle the texts?"
Krillin nodded. 'Obtain… or pay for them?' he thought to himself in annoyance. That had been even more zeni out of his pocket. "Yes, I have," he said simply as they walked up to the temple proper, going up a series of stairs and then entering the structure itself. It was rather plain looking; admittedly the stonework was rather beautiful but there were no carvings or decorations. Just stone brick upon stone brick. There were no other rooms to look in so Krillin felt like he was walking down a long tunnel… though hopefully one that at the end held the answers he desperately needed.
Finally Brother Ayay paused at a single doorway, Krillin peering inside to see a large book sitting on a pillar, a shaft of light coming down from the ceiling to illuminate it.
"Now, how much time would you like to spend studying the text?" Brother Ayay asked.
"Well I-" Krillin looked at the man only to find he had pulled out anther billing scroll. "Ah." He pulled out some zeni and handed it over. "Let's start with 3 hours."
"Very good. I will return when you are done. May you find what you seek." The man bowed and left Krillin alone to enter the room.
'Okay,' he thought as he stepped into the small space, moving towards the pedestal, 'this has been really frustrating… and expensive… but it was worth it! I'm finally going to learn the secrets of the Miser and be able to help my friends! Hopefully its some special technique, or a way to power myself up, or maybe some new fighting style that Raditz will have no way to counter!' Krillin slipped on the gloves before finally reaching out for the tome; he didn't even bother to lift it up choosing to allow it to lay there. It was a deep brown color with bronze inlay, truly a sight to behold. 'Now this is a book that holds secret knowledge!' he thought as he opened the tome up and began to read.
THE POWER WAS ALWAYS IN YOU
The rest of the pages… were blank.