EPIC Side Story: Dragon Ball

Chapter 18: Judgment

In an effort to make herself useful, Bulma ended up posting up in the middle of the village with the Imperial Dragon. Goku, behaving like the child he was, joined a group of village children to play games like tag and hide-and-seek. He also got along surprisingly well with Pocawatha and several other village girls, so, once night had fallen, he ended up staying over at the Priest residence while Vahn, Sarina, and Bulma slept in a warehouse intended to conceal the Imperial Dragon.

Bulma still wasn't ready to make the leap from fiancee to lover, so, even though Vahn invited her to join them, she ended up refusing before spending half the night trying attempting to take apart the Imperial Dragon. Vahn had informed her this was impossible, as, unlike lesser advanced mechs, the Imperial Dragons were specifically designed 'never' to be taken apart.

As one of Da Vinci's most advanced creations, even a decommissioned Imperial Dragon possessed technology that would fundamentally alter the course of history. The Dragon Heart Engine not only emulated an actual Dragon Heart, but, thanks to the breakthroughs she had made in her analysis of Maxwell's Demon, they were able to convert that energy into innumerable different types.

With an energy reading showing the standard output of a Dragon Heart Engine to be around one hundred million units of power, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that a single Imperial Dragon could provide energy to an entire planet.

Since this was only the tip of a very large iceberg, the only modifications that could be made to an Imperial Dragon were their auxiliary weapons systems. The chassis and all the important internals all existed behind a layer of biomechanical armor that had been 'grown' after its construction. In other words, there weren't any nuts, bolts, or material welds to use as a reference point for disassembly. It could also survive crashing into a neutron star without sustaining critical damage, so, even if Bulma sat with a plasma cutter for days, she wouldn't be able to penetrate even a single micron of its faux dragon scales.

In the end, Bulma ended up spending the night in the Imperial Dragon's cockpit. When Vahn went to wake her up the following morning, he found her drooling against the analog controls with a silly smile on her face, as, despite her rather cold behavior from the previous night, she still had peaceful dreams thanks to the calming aura Vahn had used to envelop the entire village.

Waking to the smell of coffee tickling her nose, Bulma was more than a little surprised to find Vahn standing in the open cockpit. She had made sure to secure it the previous night, but, considering it was something he had lent to her, it wasn't too surprising that he would possess the means to open it at his leisure. No, the thing that had surprised her wasn't the fact that Vahn had managed to open the hatch. It was the fact he was, quite literally, standing in the air…

"Good morning, sunshine. Breakfast is waiting in the break room."

Recovering from her momentary stupor, Bulma accepted the proferred cup of coffee before taking several large gulps. She was a bit of a caffeine addict, and, thanks to an enchantment on the mug, the contents were always at the perfect temperature for drinking. This was yet another technology she intended to steal, as, even if Vahn called it magic, Bulma was absolutely certain she figure it out, reverse engineer it, and recreate it through science.

Exhaling a contented sigh, Bulma returned the emptied mug to Vahn, saying, "This thing may pilot like a dream but it's a mechanic's worst nightmare. Even the cockpit doesn't have any seams. How'd your people manage to pull something like this off?"

Accepting the cup, Vahn promptly placed it into his Inventory before offering his hand to Bulma and revealing, "The outer layers were essentially grown from the inside out using a highly advanced form of biomechanical nanites. You might find this difficult to believe, but, a few hundred years ago, I ended up exterminating an invasive pantheon of Gods comprised almost entirely of biomechanical components. The technology used to produce the Imperial Dragon's exoskeleton is templated from the ships they used to escape from their destroyed Universe."

Though it sounded like something her sister might write in her science-fiction novels, Bulma didn't question the integrity of Vahn's claims. Instead, she focused on the most important matter at hand, grasping Vahn's as she asked, "Any chance I can get a look at the schematics to produce something similar?"

Drawing Bulma into a princess carry, Vahn casually descended to the ground floor of the workshop before answering, "That honestly depends on you. It is against my beliefs to bequeath unto people power they haven't earned. So long as you work your way up from the basics, building a Dragon of your own isn't outside the realm of possibility. Just keep in mind that you might not even need one by that point…"

As developing an Imperial Dragon took an advanced understanding of magic and science, creating one would require a person to vastly exceed the standards of a Grandmaster. Da Vinci was a literal God by the time she started production on the Proto Clarent, the first generation Imperial Dragon designed exclusively as an escort for the Imperial Armada.

Undaunted by Vahn's words, Bulma retorted, "Don't look down on me. If someone else is able to build something, it's only a matter of time before I develop something even more advanced. Just you wait and see."

Rather than refuting Bulma's words, Vahn just returned a smile before setting her on the ground and saying, "Once you've finished Senior High, I'll be sure to provide you with the requisite texts. I don't want them distracting you or disseminating out to the public, however, so you'll be limited to reading them in the Library I intend to construct."

Understanding how dangerous such information could be if it was presented to the public, Bulma just shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner. Her father had literally taught her how to store information within her mind so she would never have to save blueprints to any hard storage media. After all, the number of people coveting Capsule Corp's technology may as well rival the number of people on the planet…

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After a thankfully uneventful breakfast, Vahn and Bulma set up overwatch on a nearby mountain while Sarina went to meet up with Goku. They had already discussed how to deal with Oolong the previous night so now they just had to wait for him to appear. As for why they hadn't simply gone to rescue the girls the previous night? Sarina wasn't all that concerned about their safety. None of the girls were in any actual danger. In fact, one of them was even proactively promoting Oolong's tyranny by advocating for the existence of a tax/tribute system…

In the end, Sarina came to the conclusion that Oolong simply couldn't be allowed to get away with everything he had done. He had been tormenting the people in the surrounding villages for nearly three years. Prior to that, he had bullied the other students of the Southern Shapeshifting Academy, a demon/monster academy that had reluctantly agreed to take him in despite the fact he had been exiled from his village for kidnapping and confining a teacher.

Unsurprisingly, Oolong was subsequently expelled from the Southern Shapeshifting Academy after sneaking into one of his teacher's homes and raiding her panty drawer. Since then, he had made a name for himself as Oolong the Terrible by traveling around the countryside and using his relatively low-grade Shapeshifting Magic to trick them into believing he was some powerful monster. Instead, he was a coward who had exploited people his entire life, and, unless he was stopped, it was only a matter of time before he really hurt someone.

Fortunately, one of the prerequisites for using Shapeshifting Magic was that there were restrictions to prevent you from actively harming someone. If you did, the magic would be broken, and, while it was possible to reapply the transformation, the duration would decrease with each successive use.

Though most graduates from the Southern Shapeshifting Academy could maintain their forms for hours on end without issue, Oolong's expulsion and subsequent behavior had led to him only being able to hold his transformations for five minutes. By the time of Dragon Ball Super, he couldn't even hold a transformation for three seconds, so, while the events of his life weren't documented up until that point, it was safe to assume he had misused his Shapeshifting Magic for personal gain.

The plan Sarina had come up with was relatively simple. Goku would beat Oolong up. If he tried to run away, she would step in to prevent him from escaping. After they had captured him, he would be turned over to the villagers after having his magic completely sealed. If he wanted to regain his freedom, he would need to work hard and repay every single Zeni he had stolen over the years.

While some might argue that Oolong was just a harmless pervert, the number of people he had harmed over the years numbered in the hundreds. Being 'harmless' didn't give you the leeway to sexually harass, assault, and even kidnap people. These were far from harmless behaviors, so, just like anyone else who had committed a crime, Oolong would need to pay the price.

Letting Oolong go free just because he was a member of the original cast was the same as giving him free rein to do whatever he wanted. Sarina also didn't want him anywhere near her, so, with the decision left squarely in her hands, Oolong would be spending the next ten to fifteen years working the surrounding land until the people of Aru had either forgiven him or accepted him as a member of their village. He also had the option of running away, but, with his magic sealed, fleeing through the dinosaur-infested countryside was nigh-impossible…

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With the sun reaching its zenith and gradually descending towards the horizon, the peaceful aura of Aru Village was disrupted by the sound of a distant tremor. Shortly thereafter, a monstrous red ogre the size of a building came crashing through the sign denoting the village's name.

"Come to me, my beloved Pocawatha! Your darling husband has come to liberate you from this dirt hole of a village! Gyahahahahah!"

Showing a complete lack of regard for the residents of Aru Village, the monstrous red ogre mowed through one of the Capsule Houses as if it were made from brittle clay. The collapse nearly crushed an elderly man dressed as a cowboy, but, thanks to an instantaneous assist from Vahn, he was able to avoid any serious injuries.

Seeing the giant ogre crashing through buildings, Sarina's temper soon reached a boiling point. As a result, she ended up shouting, "Goku! What are you waiting for" in a somewhat shrill, thoroughly incensed tone.

Leaping out the moment he heard Sarina's shout, Goku managed to catch the giant red ogre by surprise. Oolong had a power level of 2. This increased to 10 in his transformed state, but, due to the restrictions placed on the spell, it didn't really matter. In the series Vahn was familiar with, a 9-year-old kid had been able to injure him with a slingshot. Against Goku's Power Pole, he might as well be a pinata.

Unable to react in time, the giant ogre ended up receiving a painful blow to the top of his head. This immediately broke his transformation. Thus, without any suspense whatsoever, the terrifying Oolong the Terrible, a monster that had plagued the countryside for years, had been defeated…

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Da Vinci imba…','Oolong really is terrible x_x…','That's gonna leave a mark…')

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