Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Setting out after breakfast, Vahn attempted to cheer Bulma up by pulling a decommissioned Imperial Dragon out of his Inventory and allowing her to pilot it. As for Sarina, he dealt with her by simply running alongside her as Goku followed along atop the Flying Nimbus.

With Sarina setting a pace of around 440km/h, it only took two hours for the group to reach the outskirts of Aru Village.

Like many other frontier villages, Aru was comprised almost entirely of Capsule Houses. The people of Earth had nearly been wiped out 300 years prior, so, with the exception of the four cardinal cities, literally referred to as North, East, South, and West City, the rest of the world was populated by small villages that were entirely dependent on the technologies developed by Capsule Corp.

What distinguished Aru from other villages, other than its remote location in the mountains, was the fact that there wasn't a single person to be seen. It was like a ghost town, and, if not for his foreknowledge of the canon and his ability to sense auras, Vahn might have assumed it was.

Using the external speakers of the Imperial Dragon, Bulma took it upon herself to explain, "My scanners are detecting a total of 163 people. They appear to be hiding indoors."

Resisting the urge to point out that was obviously the case, Vahn just nodded before shifting his attention to Sarina and Goku, saying, "You're up. I don't mind offering advice if you need it but I'll leave handling this situation to you."

Since Bulma had clearly lost interest in searching for the Dragon Balls, Vahn didn't insist that she step out of the Imperial Dragon. She was much safer on the inside, and, so long as she was paying attention, she would actually be able to provide support without having to raise a finger. After all, even with its long-range sensors deactivated, an Imperial Dragon could easily map everything within a thousand kilometers of its position. This included underground.

Nodding their heads in understanding, Sarina and Goku made their way into the village as Vahn jumped up to the shoulder of the Imperial Dragon and made himself comfortable. This prompted Bulma to open the cockpit, a cheeky grin on her face as she said, "There's plenty of room. Why don't you come inside?"

Shaking his head, Vahn maintained a relaxed expression as he said, "Pay attention. You may have lost interest in this journey but Sarina and Goku are relying on you to provide overwatch. If you're not going to take that duty seriously, I'll have to confiscate your Imperial Dragon..."

Having developed a fondness for the nearly organic-looking dragon mecha, Bulma wasn't at all enthused by the prospect of having to give it up. The autonomous neural interface made it handle like a dream, and, though they had been deactivated, the cannons lining its body gave it an appeal that made her heart flutter. Most importantly, it looked badass.

Not wanting to lose her brand new toy, an exasperated sigh escaped from Bulma's mouth as she eased back into the cockpit and grumbled, "Your loss..." in a defiant yet acquiescent tone. In response, Vahn just smiled before closing his eyes and linking his senses with the Imperial Dragon's sensors...

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Though she didn't know where she was going, Sarina's familiarity with Dragon Ball allowed her to find her target, a house with the name Sherman Priest posted on the door, without too much fuss.

"This is the place, Goku. Let's try knocking."

Nodding his head in affirmation, Goku answered, "Okay, Sarina." before walking up to the door and pounding on it with enough force to shake the frame. In spite of this, no one came to answer the door, so, with a tightened fist, Goku attempted to punch it open.

Fortunately for the Priest family, Sarina promptly stepped in to grab Goku's hand, saying, "You shouldn't destroy other people's property..." before knocking a second time and softly calling out, "Hello? My name is Sarina. My friends and I heard a rumor about the trouble you're facing and came to help out."

Sensing movement within the building, Sarina adopted her best smile as a bespectacled man with dark hair, a thick mustache, and a receding hairline peeked out at her from the crack of a nearby window.

Though he didn't come outside, the man was courteous enough to advise, "Young lady, you shouldn't be here. If that terrible monster, Oolong, finds out you came to help us, he'll whisk you away to his mansion never to be seen or heard from again. He's already kidnapped three of the village's young girls. Please, leave before it's too late."

Shaking her head, Sarina maintained a disarming smile as she explained, "We came here to help. We're not going to simply abandon you because it's a little dangerous. Besides, there is someone in your village who possesses something we're searching for. We were hoping that she would be willing to part with it in exchange for getting rid of this Oolong fellow."

Realizing that Sarina wasn't going to give up, the middle-aged man released a sigh before opening the door to his house and asking, "What is it you're searching for? If it isn't anything important, I'm certain I can convince whoever owns it to give it to you. After that, please leave and inform the military about what's happening here. We've tried sending out a distress call but there's something jamming the signal..."

Doing her best to maintain her smile in spite of the fact the man was clearly looking down on her, Sarina said, "Don't worry. I might not look like it but I'm one of the strongest martial artists in the world. I can even knock out dinosaurs with a single punch. A coward who uses magic to terrorize normal people doesn't stand a chance."

Raising his brows, the balding man gave Sarina a once over, his eyes briefly lingering on her rather ample bosom before removing his glasses and pretending to clean them as he said, "If what you say is true, there's no reason for our village to refuse you..."

After cleaning the nonexistent dust from his glasses, the middle-aged man returned them to his face only to find Sarina staring at him with a forced, visibly twitched smile. Fortunately, as much as she wanted to punch him in the face for daring to stare at her breasts, Sarina knew he wasn't entirely to blame for the mishap. She did, after all, elect to wear clothes that showed off a fair amount of cleavage...

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Following the awkward mishap, the middle-aged man, Sherman Priest, introduced Sarina and Goku to his daughter, Pocawatha. She was an adorable little girl, who, despite possessing fair white skin, dressed in a manner reminiscent of Native Americans. Sarina didn't know this, but, as Vahn was well aware of the cultures of innumerable Earths, he could tell that the village of Aru was an amalgamation of Cowboy and Native American cultures.

Unsurprisingly, Sherman went on to reveal that Pocawatha was Oolong's next target. Unlike the other young girls he had kidnapped, however, Oolong was intending to make Pocawatha his wife. If that wasn't bad enough, Pocawatha was currently only ten years old, and, according to sherman, she wasn't even the youngest girl Oolong had targetted.

Though she knew Oolong was part of the original cast and would eventually become one of the good guys, Sarina couldn't help feeling disgusted. He had accumulated a small fortune by tricking and tormenting the surrounding villages. They had even built a mansion to pacify him, yet, instead of quitting while he was ahead, Oolong decided to kidnap their children with the intention of rearing them into his future wives.

While Oolong was technically only nine years old, it didn't excuse his behavior as animal-type Earthlings matured a lot faster than humans. The original series also presented him as a nigh-irredeemable pervert, so, while Sarina knew Oolong wasn't a truly terrible person, it was hard for her to forgive him. Had Goku and Bulma not thwarted his plans, he would have continued tormenting the surrounding villages, kidnapping their children, and rearing pre-teens to be his future wives and concubines. In other words, the only reason he wasn't as evil as he could have been was because he had been stopped before he could fully implement his plans.

"Don't worry, Mr. Priest. The next time Oolong shows up, you can rest assured we'll give him a beating. In exchange, please ask the people of Aru if they've seen a ball that looks identical to this one. If I'm not mistaken, it should be in the hands of the Paozu family."

Raising his brows, Sherman noted, "Ah, you must mean Granny Paozu. She lives near the edge of the village but it's only a short walk from here. If you'll lend me that ball, I'll run over and ask if she has the other."

Since the ball in her hand was actually a prop Vahn had purchased to throw off a certain trio, Sarina had no qualms about entrusting it to Sherman. Then, in exchange for him going to talk with Granny Paozu, she and Goku watched over Pocawatha while the latter did her best to boil water for tea. The village wasn't connected to any of the major electrical grids, so, ever since Oolong destroyed most of their generators, the villagers were left with little choice but to boil water using wood stoves.

Seeing how hard the young girl had to work, Sarina was reminded of what it was like to live in the Little Garden before Vahn's arrival. Her life had changed rather drastically since then, but, even now, she could vividly recall what it was like to starve for weeks on end with nothing but water to sustain her...

With Goku keeping Pocawatha busy, Sarina decided to excuse herself for a brief moment so she could contact Vahn. She couldn't stand to see the people of Aru Village living like this, so, even if it was just repairing their generators, she wanted to help.

What Sarina didn't know was that Vahn had already started helping from the moment of their arrival. It took virtually no effort for him to repair the damaged generators, and, as an added bonus, he even filled the village's storehouses with a variety of goods to help them recover.

Instead of telling her this, Vahn simply agreed to Sarina's proposal before making a show of bringing out a few capsules filled with food and water. This was enough to entice most of the villagers out of their homes, as, for the last couple of months, they had been struggled just to get by. When the first arrivals learned that the food and water were free, news quickly spread through the entire village. Shortly after that, Granny Paozu readily parted with her dragon ball, as, even without dealing with Oolong, they had effectively saved the village. Ridding them of the pig menace would simply be the icing on the cake...

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Unaware of the nightmare that was awaiting him in Aru Village, Oolong, a short and stout pig man with a height of 121cm, was currently experiencing a completely different nightmare. The village girls he had kidnapped, despite being between the ages of 9-13, had stopped fearing him the moment he revealed his true form. One was even threatening to expose how weak he was if he didn't buy her all kinds of expensive clothes and accessories, so, despite wanting to retire, he was forced to continue playing the part of a tyrannical monster just to prevent his secret from getting out.

Simply put, Oolong had dug himself into a hole he didn't know how to escape. Rather than being in charge and carefully grooming the kidnapped girls into his desired brides, he was basically their servant. Pocawatha was his last chance to be happy, as, despite being ten years old, she was a very kind and caring girl. She had even helped him before his reign as Oolong the Terrible, so, after kidnapping her, he was planning to run away from his mansion and start a new life someplace far away. He had even purchased a luxurious house car in preparation for their escape. Now, he just needed to kidnap her and escape far enough that, even if she did threaten to turn against him, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone of importance about his true identity...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Imperial Dragon, Hoooo~!','Vahn be like, "I'm seven parallel universes ahead of you..."','Oolong really is kind of a monster...')