Alternate Timeline- Bardock's Earthly Adventures

Chapter 38: Korin

The two saiyans walked up the stairs. Nothing could prepare them for what stood before them. The room was a large circle. On the outsides were a few pots. In the center was a large pedestal. On that pedestal sat a large flask. But in front of the pedestal stood a cat. He stood on his hind legs. He wasn't very tall. He held a cane, which looked massive compared to him. His eyes were closed. But his mouth opened.
"My name is Korin. Well? Not what you expected?" Both shook their heads no.
"Hmm. Thought as much. Son Goku, step forth." He did. He was taller then Korin, but not by much.
"Hmm. Ok. Your heart is pure."
'What? Just like that? Wow. Man, what a convenient series of events!'
"On that pedestal sits the holy water. You may drink it, but only if you can get it from me."
He picked up the flask and put it on the end of his long cane.
"Go."
Bardock found the following frenzy quite entertaining. Kakarot madly dashing and grasping at the cane, while the cat managed to always be two steps ahead of him. After this went on for almost half an hour, Kakarot stopped. He was tired.
"Am I the first to get this far?"
Korin shook his head.
"There was one other. It was about 300 years ago now."
The two saiyans looked at the cat in shock. How old is he then?!
"Hmm. Hmm. Hehe! You know him. He was your master. I recognized a good portion of the moves you made." Bardock couldn't believe it. He had been telling the truth on that beach so many days ago.
"Heh! You can call me Roshi! The turtle hermit! And I'm approaching 350 years old now."
'Well I'll be. That old fool really did it, huh?' Bardock thought to himself.
"Yeah, Yeah he did." Bardock looked at the cat. 'What?!'
Goku looked at Korin.
"Who did what?" He was confused, but then again, so was Bardock.
"I'll tell you what, Son Goku. You're already doing better then he did."
"Wow! How'd he do?!" The sly cat held up three fingers.
"Woah! Three minutes?!?!"
'No, that wouldn't make sense. He said doing better, but we've been here for half an hour.'
"Hmmm. Hmmm. Nyahaha! No. Three...years."
Both Bardock and Goku were in anguish.
"I can't wait that long!!"
"Hmm. Hmm. Hehe! Then I guess you'll just have to take it from me."
And so Goku disappeared. Then he was there. No, there! Wait, there? A total of eight Kakarot's were now on the tower. Korin began to laugh.
"Color me impressed kid! That's the most afterimages I've ever seen. Too bad!" And he dove at one of the afterimages. Movement in the shadows caught Bardock's attention. There had been nine! This ninth saiyan attempted to tackle the diving cat, only to pass right through him!
"Nyahahaha! You're great! This is the most fun I've had in 300 years!" The cat was also an afterimage!
"Nyahaha. Guess you haven't noticed yet." Bardock turned to the cat.
'What are you...'
In his paws he held a familiar knapsack. Contained within was a single Dragonball.
Goku gasped.
"Hey! That's mine! You can't-"
"Oops." Korin threw the knapsack off the side of the tower. Kakarot did what any sensible-
He dove off the tower.
"Nyahahaha! He actually did it! The mad man!" Bardock turned to the cat, not happy.
"Ok, listen here-"
"I'm guessing at his level, he'll be able to climb this bad boy in about two hours. Plenty of time to talk."
Bardock looked to the cat blankly. It took them almost seven hours the first time! Why would-
"You still haven't figured it out? There is no such thing as holy water. It's just water, but he'll get stronger. It's just not the water doing that."
Now it made sense why he would make Kakarot climb the tower again. Now he'll be even stronger!
"Exactly." Korin said without warning.
'Wait, is he reading my mind?'
"Yes. Let's move on to the more important matters."
"Who is Kami." they both asked in synchronization.
"An easy question. God. Well, the god of earth anyway. I'm a lesser deity right below him." Korin said, his face giving away no emotions.
"Ok. Why does he hate my son." Bardock asked, getting sick of the mystery namek.
"Afraid that's a question above my level. You'll have to ask him yourself. But not yet. You're not ready yet. Wait till after the next tournament. And then some." Bardock groaned. Damn gods and their damn crypticness.
"Well you don't have to be rude." Korin snorted.
"Ok. Why not train me? Why only him?"
"Uh hello? You're leagues ahead of everybody on this planet. You don't need the strength increase. But your kid, he's gonna go places. He'll need all the help he can get." Bardock grunted. Sure. Whatever. Fine.
Bardock was stumped. Sure, he had questions. But not two hours worth.
"Ok. So you're out of questions. So why not do some training while we wait?" Bardock grunted. Fine. But not because you told me to.
After an hour of training, Bardock got distracted.
A head of hair poked over the side of the tower.
"Why would you do that?! You know how important these are!" Bardock and Korin looked at Kakarot in shock. He made it up even faster then they were expecting. The lesson resumed. They would have to be blind to not see it. Goku was intentionally making excessive movements. He was purposely running himself ragged. But to what end? Why would that be useful? Too bad they wouldn't find out. Not today at least.
The sun fell. They had been going at it for a full day now. Bardock decided to sleep on the floor. So did the other two. But as he had come to expect, sleep never came.

"There are three things I refuse to tolerate. Cowardice. Bad haircuts, and military insurrection. And it is unfortunate that our friend Vegeta possesses all three of these. Hohohoho!" Frieza!!! But where?!?! And...Vegeta?! Did he live?! No! Not possible! The king is dead, the prince long gone. Our race has been dead for a decade now.

Bardock sat up. To his surprise, Kakarot was awake too. He was walking over to the sleeping Korin. He reached for the flask that sat at the end of the sleeping cat's cane. He stopped himself.
"No. I wanna get it without cheating."
He walked back over to his knapsack and laid back down. Bardock could've sworn he heard a light 'Nyahaha' from Korin, but didn't think about it until morning.

Power levels:
Bardock(post training): 12,545
Goku(post second climb): 340
Upa: 1
Taopaipai: 300
Korin: 190