EPIC Side Story: Dragon Ball

Chapter 34: Calm

Recognizing the object as the Model Tiamat, Vahn's brows perked up as he said, "It appears Bulma has finally decided to pay us a visit…" before immediately following it with a marginally surprised, "And it would appear she brought her sister…?"

Even more surprised than Vahn, Sarina ceased snuggling against him, asking, "Bulma's sister? You mean Tights…?"

Though the Bulma she was familiar with only had a single sister, Sarina knew the version of Dragon Ball she and Vahn had descended into was similar yet decidedly different from the version they had binge-watched together. For all she knew, Bulma had four identical sisters and enough brothers to fill the entirety of West City. Thus, even though she was pretty sure Vahn was referencing Tights, she figured she may as well ask to be certain.

Nodding his head in affirmation, Vahn paused the movie before rising to his feet and saying, "If I had to guess, I would wager that Tights found out about us before threatening to come herself if Bulma refused to bring her over. She did always have a penchant for mischief and anything related to science-fiction…"

"Hmm…"

While she didn't disagree with Vahn's assessment of the situation, Sarina's 'intuition' made her think there was more to Tights's visit than mere curiosity. She was the type of woman that would force an alien she barely knew to fly her around to various planets to gather inspiration for her novels, and, though she used her earnings to help restore his home, she had basically strong-armed Dr. Omori, a Scientist researching Time Travel, to let her live on his island.

Simply put, Tights was an exceptionally headstrong woman, and, though she was depicted as being the kinder of the two sisters, she was even more stubborn than Bulma when it concerned gathering material for her novels. Vahn was a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and information, so, even though she had never met the trendy blonde, Sarina got the impression that Tights wasn't going to leave without collecting plenty of material for her novels…

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With the Model Tiamat capable of moving at faster-than-light speeds through a vacuum, it only took a few minutes for Bulma and Tights to travel from West City to the manor Vahn had created a few hundred kilometers to the Northwest. This excited Tights quite a bit, as, despite touring around space in a ship capable of moving at even faster speeds, it couldn't compare to riding in the cockpit of a massive, badass-looking dragon.

Unfortunately, the relatively short journey didn't leave a lot of time for small talk, so, even though she had been pestering Bulma for more information about Vahn, she knew very little about him by the time her sister was landing the Model Tiamat in a large clearing reserved for that exact purpose. Immediately thereafter, Tights's brows perked up when a surprisingly handsome man, presumably Vahn, appeared out of thin air alongside a remarkably beautiful woman with massive tits and raven-black hair.

"Holy crap, you never mentioned your little boy toy was 'this' handsome. And check out that chick standing next to him. There's no way those are real…"

Realizing the problem with the words that had just come out of her mouth, Tights looked towards Bulma with a concerned frown as she asked, "Who is she…?"

Exhaling a sigh, Bulma left her sister absolutely speechless by popping open the hatch of the Model Tiamat and answering, "Her name is Sarina. She's one of Vahn's lovers…" in a flat, no-nonsense tone of voice. Then, without waiting for her sister's reply, she slid out of the cockpit and onto the Model Tiamat's hand before having it lower her to the ground.

Coming back to her senses in response to her little sister's departure, Tight's hurried to the edge of the cockpit, shouting, "Bulma! What the hell are you talking about!?" before looking towards Vahn and Sarina with an incredulous, slightly hostile expression on her face.

Noticing Tight's gaze, a wry smile developed across Vahn's face as he waved his hand towards her. This caused a visible tickmark to appear on her head, but, before she should even think to shout, an exasperated-looking Bulma called out, "Just hurry up and get down! I'll explain everything once we get inside!"

Without waiting for Tight's response, Bulma shifted her attention to Vahn and Sarina next, a hint of moisture spreading across the surface of her sapphirine eyes as she glared at the former and asked, "Why didn't you come to visit?" before immediately following it with a, "No. Forget it. We'll discuss it later. For now, let's go inside. You can cook something up for us while I explain things to my sister and have a chat with Sarina…"

Placing his hand on Sarina's shoulder before she could lambast Bulma for her rude behavior, a faint smile developed across Vahn's face as he answered, "Sure thing. Just promise me you won't take off before we have a chance to talk. Two and a half weeks may not be a particularly long period of time but it's more than enough for feelings of longing to develop. I really have missed you, Bulma…"

Furrowing her brows, Bulma wanted to refute Vahn's words, but, as per usual, she found it difficult to speak harshly when he was staring directly at her. A part of her was even tempted to forgive him outright, but, feeling he should suffer at least a little, she avoided his gaze by averting her own and muttering, "It's not like I was just going to just leave without saying anything…"

Chuckling in response to Bulma's words, Vahn discreetly gave Sarina a supportive push by pressing his palm against the small of her back and saying, "I'll teleport over to the kitchen and get started. Sarina will show you around and help you find the dining room…"

Without waiting for either girl's response, Vahn promptly disappeared from view. He knew Sarina still wanted to try and smooth things over with Bulma, so, unless she gave up completely, he was going to continue supporting her. As for Bulma, he wanted to make her happy, but, unless she was willing to compromise, there was only so much he could do. He couldn't just ignore everyone and everything else just to pander to her sense of self-worth. A healthy relationship was a compromise between two people held together by mutual love and affection. If she wasn't even going to try to meet him halfway, there was no reason for them to be engaged. After all, there was a pretty drastic difference between two people loving each other and one person expecting the other to give them everything they wanted…

What the current Bulma was looking for wasn't a fiance or even a boyfriend. What she really wanted was a handsome manservant who would listen to her orders, give her everything she asked for, and regard her as if she was the only light in their otherwise bleak existence. That was what Bulma really had in mind when she was thinking about wishing for the perfect boyfriend.

Though he could, in fact, give Bulma everything she ever wanted, the one thing he couldn't do was treat her as if nothing else mattered. She would never be the most important thing to him, as, even if she did surpass Da Vinci, Vahn had never held his lovers to such standards. It didn't matter to him if they were normal village girls or Goddesses that transcended reason. He was just happy being at their side and supporting them. If any of them were to truly butt heads with one another, it would break his heart, as, without a very good reason, he could never choose between them…

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Though it took three days for them to recover from their food poisoning, Goku and Krillin were well on their way to adapting to Master Roshi's strange yet effective training.

Starting long before the dawn, specifically at 4:30 AM, Goku and Krillin would wake up and warm up by jogging to a nearby milk depository. There, they would be given trays of cold and fresh milk that would need to be delivered all across the large yet sparsely populated island before breakfast. This was normally accomplished with a helicopter, but, as it wouldn't make much sense for them to train martial arts by flying around, Goku and Krillin were required to run and navigate various obstacles before wrapping things up by ascending thousands of stairs to the top of a mountain temple.

Once they were finished with this 'warm up', Goku and Krillin would move to the next phase of their training: plowing several acres of land using nothing but their bare hands.

As could be imagined, tilling even fertile soil using your bare hands was a nightmare. Not only did it take several hours, but, unless you paid close attention, there was a high probability of cutting open your hand on a stray rock. Even then, Goku and Krillin were forced to endure countless blisters until their hands had developed smooth yet remarkably durable calluses thanks to a mysterious healing ointment provided by Master Roshi.

Once they finished plowing the land, Goku and Krillin would be allowed to eat a hearty breakfast while attending lessons provided by Master Roshi. He had actually received a teaching license more than a hundred years prior, so, while his knowledge was a bit outdated, he was familiar with a wide range of topics suitable for complete beginners and even advanced, college-level students.

Though Goku struggled immensely during the lessons, he did his best so that he would have plenty of time to nap before lunch. The afternoon training was even harder than the morning training, so, while he was actually having a lot of fun, he prioritized resting whenever possible. One of the core teachings of Turtle Hermit Style Martial Arts was balancing hard work with plenty of rest, so, while Krillin and Master Roshi would lounge about in hammocks, he would hurry back to Kame House in order to take a nap with Launch.

Ever since he had taken care of her during her food poisoning, both versions of Launch had been a lot nicer to Goku than either Master Roshi or Krillin. She had even forced him to share the same bed as her during the evenings. When Goku asked why, Launch informed him that he was her safeguard against the two perverts that ogled her body like a pair of hungry wolves that had just stumbled upon a piece of choice meat. This didn't really make a lot of sense to Goku, but, understanding that Launch was basically asking him to protect her, he didn't mind. She was soft, smelled nice, and, prior to his death, Grandpa Gohan had stressed, numerous times, that Goku should always protect females.

Goku hadn't really understood what his Grandpa meant when he tried explaining the differences between men and women, but, after meeting girls like Sarina, Bulma, and Launch, Goku felt like he was starting to understand. Girls were surprisingly scary, but, at the same time, they were soft and comfortable to be around. When Launch hugged him, Goku felt even more at peace than when his Uncle Vahn pat his head. He sometimes felt an indescribable feeling of sadness whenever she ran her fingers through his hair, but, after a while, even this had become something that Goku enjoyed more than he could ever put into words…

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'I kind of feel bad for Dr. Brief…','Could Bulma be the first girl Vahn actually breaks up with!? I would imagine it depends on whether or not they sleep together xD…','Goku is learning many things during his training with Roshi (O v O)…')