(Gohan P.O.V)
After arriving home on Mount Paozu, after a few minutes of traveling, I noticed Yamcha marveling at the landscape filled with nature. It was probably surprising to him, completely different from the arid desert he saw every day. Goku and I showed the young human our little home, and the tour was quite quick: he saw our hut, the well where we draw water, and the bamboo I planted a few months ago.
After that, we went to eat. I had to hunt more than usual this time. Yamcha proved incredibly voracious in his appetite; unfortunately, he almost became ill from eating so much. A stark contrast to Goku, who devoured everything relentlessly, trying to fill that bottomless pit he called his stomach. I could only laugh as I watched little Yamcha try to compete with Goku to see who could eat the most. The competitive nature of the kids was truly amusing to watch.
I sent them both to bed. Goku ran off to bed, but Yamcha, however, stood still, watching me.
"Did something happen?" I asked the young man.
Yamcha hesitated for a few seconds.
"I wanted to know... when I'm going to start training," he said, looking away.
I stared at him for a few moments. Yamcha was eager to get stronger, it seemed.
"We'll start tomorrow. So go to sleep!" he said. "Let's get up bright and early!!"
With that said, I watched Yamcha enter the cabin to sleep. Then I got up and went inside, ready to rest.
The next morning, I woke up at my usual time, before dawn. I made breakfast and went to wake the two children. Goku, as usual, proved completely incapable of being a morning person, while Yamcha woke up without much difficulty.
After waking them both up, we had breakfast and started our routine.
"Today we will officially begin your two martial arts training!" I said.
"But, Grandpa... wasn't I already training martial arts?" Goku asked, his head slightly tilted.
"Yes, but now let's really start, with the basics!" I replied with a smile.
"Basics?" Yamcha asked. "What's basic in martial arts?"
"It would be preparing the body to become strong: how to maintain correct posture, how to move, and how to attack without getting hurt. But there's one part that I consider the most important: conduct!" Gohan said.
"What is conduct, Grandpa?" Goku asked.
Yamcha and I looked at Goku, the young Saiyan noticed our looks and became slightly nervous.
*Sigh* "Conduct, Goku, is the way we live, act, and do things. Our conduct can be bad, or it can be good!" I explained. "Good conduct would be acting respectfully toward others and being honest. Bad conduct is when we do wrong things, like hitting weaker and more defenseless people, speaking ill of others, or taking things that aren't ours." I finished.
I looked at my grandson, who had the expression of someone who hadn't completely understood what I had just said.
"This is very complicated…" Goku said, confirming what I had thought…
How could I explain such an abstract moral concept to a child of only three years old?
I was silent for a few seconds, thinking. Then an idea occurred to me.
To explain something to a child, the best way is to get them to think about it. If I guide their reasoning, maybe they can reach the conclusion on their own...
Fortunately, I have some examples from the past few months and Goku was present, even if only as an observer.
"Remember when we went to Gyumao's house?" I asked.
"Who is Gyumao?" my grandson replied.
That was embarrassing, my grandson met the man yesterday…
"It's the giant from yesterday… You flew with his daughter too…" I said.
"Ahh, that guy…" Goku said, now remembering who it was.
"How do you forget who Gyumao is? He's huge! It's hard to forget someone like that!" Yamcha exclaimed indignantly.
I agree with that, how can my grandson be so airheaded?
"Well, let's get started with the training…" I said to myself.
I coughed lightly to get the boys' attention back to me.
"We'll start our training routine with a light run! We'll run along the trail that goes down the mountain, around the river, and back here. We'll repeat this run three times to start conditioning our bodies!" I said.
"Master, is this going to be all our training for today?" Yamcha asked.
"No, after the race we will have a short break of 3 to 5 minutes and then continue training." I said.
"Are we going to learn to fight after the race?" Yamcha asked.
I looked at the young man, who was too enthusiastic about learning to fight for my liking.
"There's no point in teaching you fighting techniques if your body won't be capable of fighting for long periods. We'll strengthen your body with exercises, and when I see that you have a good level of conditioning, I'll start your martial arts lessons..." I explained. "Let's run now!"
Before Yamcha could start complaining about something being unfair, I started running.
"WHOEVER ARRIVES LAST AT THE LAKE DOESN'T GET LUNCH TODAY!" I yelled.
From afar, I could hear Goku's gasp of indignation.
"I WON'T GO WITHOUT LUNCH!" Goku snapped, running at his best to get to the lake first.
Yamcha followed close behind, desperate at the prospect of going without food. I kept running. Even though I was old, descending the mountain wasn't a problem. I kept a slower pace just to keep an eye on the children.
We descended the mountain, circled around a nearby lake, and then climbed back up. We rested and repeated the exercise. Likewise, we did at least an hour and a half of cardio, not counting the breaks.
I saw Yamcha and Goku lying on the ground. Goku wouldn't normally tire himself out during a light jog, but the thought of skipping lunch made him run faster than he should have. I even had to increase my pace to avoid being overtaken by him. It's still too early for him to dream of surpassing me. Unfortunately, young Yamcha was the one who lost out.
"W-Where… that was a light run… you old man…" Yamcha said between heavy breaths. "I-I feel like my chest is going to explode…"
I expected Goku to say something, but to my surprise, he was passed out.
"If you have the energy to complain, then we can practice running more!" I said cheerfully, much to Yamcha's displeasure.
"Please don't…." Yamcha said, almost begging.
I laughed lightly, I knew very well that the run we did just now as a "warm-up" was very aggressive for the beginning of training, especially for a complete beginner like Yamcha, of course, that's the common thought, I was going to train him hard enough for him to forget about feeling pain after training.
"You have 5 minutes to rest now, you can use that time to go to the bathroom and drink water!" I said.
"What, we're not done yet?" Yamcha asked.
"Of course not!" I said, watching as my disciple's expression sank into dismay.
"Training only ends when the sun sets!!!" I said with conviction.
Obviously, I ignored the sad sounds my student was making. I told Yamcha to drink water and woke my grandson. Today, I would start instilling some common sense in him. Perhaps I would take them both on a few trips into the city to help them understand life in society, and earn some money to buy educational materials and teach them at least the basics of schooling.
(Yamcha P.O.V)
Time passed and we continued with these exercises.
After two months of training, I realized that running was much easier, and climbing mountains was happening without me needing to rest halfway. My body was definitely stronger. I was speechless: this torture disguised as training really worked.
But not everything is rosy...
Old Gohan showed up one morning carrying three turtle shells. He said he got them from his master and that we should wear them on our backs during training.
When Goku and I tried to pick up one of the shells and felt the weight... it hit me.
I asked how much it weighed, and the answer was horrifying: 20 kilos. The shell weighed twenty kilos!
The weight added a new level of difficulty to the exercises. And each time he realized it wasn't challenging enough, he'd increase the weight... or worse: shorten the workout time, like turning the two-hour climb into one.
I just hope he doesn't invent new, even more sadistic ways to increase the difficulty of this torture he calls training...