Dragonball M, Chapter 2: Lighthouse! Across the Shores of Shattered Time!

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Shit man, this time travel stuff was confusing. Jinzi claimed Adam died saving his life, yet Adam was standing right there. Midori and Shiro of this time were top tier fighters, and now there were two of each of them in the same timeline. Wouldn't that cause some kind of exlosion or implosion or something. Could the same person from two different points in time be in the same place at the same time?

Her head was starting to hurt just thinking about it.

"So, if Midori and Shiro made it this long, then what about the rest of us? How long did we survive?"

By 'us', she was mostly referring to herself. It would have been wild to meet a her that was in her mid-thirties and had been some kind of freedom fight all this time.

[Tami]

“Gone. She wasn’t planetside when the Lyne appeared. We never knew where she went.”

"Jinzi, how many of us are doppelgangers? In my timeline I was late getting back because of a mishap with the spaceship. In this timeline, did I arrive back on time? Or is this the first time we met since I left for training? I know that finding a way to defeat the invaders is a priority, but if we were taken from an alternate timeline or time-skpped into the future, we might need to eventually find a way back. Perhaps prevent this invasion from happening before it does." she shook her head, "I think this is going to get very confusing."

[MrSandman]

Shit man, this time travel stuff was confusing. Jinzi claimed Adam died saving his life, yet Adam was standing right there. Midori and Shiro of this time were top tier fighters, and now there were two of each of them in the same timeline. Wouldn't that cause some kind of exlosion or implosion or something. Could the same person from two different points in time be in the same place at the same time?

Her head was starting to hurt just thinking about it.

"So, if Midori and Shiro made it this long, then what about the rest of us? How long did we survive?"

By 'us', she was mostly referring to herself. It would have been wild to meet a her that was in her mid-thirties and had been some kind of freedom fight all this time.

"....yeah, I'm actually curious about that as well." Etrina added. "......Though....perhaps I really wouldn't want to meet a version of myself that had to try living through something like this. There are certainly alternative options to stem ki suppression in my skill set....just none that are....."

Etrina stopped there, suddenly slightly upset.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"....yeah, I'm actually curious about that as well." Etrina added. "......Though....perhaps I really wouldn't want to meet a version of myself that had to try living through something like this. There are certainly alternative options to stem ki suppression in my skill set....just none that are....."

Etrina stopped there, suddenly slightly upset.

Hearing that Asha'rah had just vanished before the Lyne appeared was concerning. The robotic monk was special -- not just in the sense of the word, but to Ishtar, as well. Sarada felt the feelings of affection and admiration, as well as appreciation that the blue Oni felt during her time with the probable Goddess. It made Sarada feel gracious that she had found someone who was so willing to give her what she needed to move on, something Sarada could never do. To that end, she hoped there was someway she could find her way to them across the plains of time.

Etrina, as she was thinking, spoke up, attracting her attention from her own thoughts. She had options to stave off ki suppression, but from the sounds it, those methods weren't… something.

Whatever it was, it made her upset.

"None that are what? If you have a means of unlocking our ki, I think we should at least hear of it." Sarada recalled very clearly that this girl could manipulate time, back from when she restored her tail. If these methods required further manipulation of the time stream…

I suppose time can't get anymore fucked than it already is.

[Tami]

"....yeah, I'm actually curious about that as well." Etrina added. "......Though....perhaps I really wouldn't want to meet a version of myself that had to try living through something like this. There are certainly alternative options to stem ki suppression in my skill set....just none that are....."

Etrina stopped there, suddenly slightly upset.

Nodding sympathetically, "If I had arrived on time....if I was here 20 years ago, I would probably have left soon after to return to Chroma. I'm trying not to let myself think about my home world too much, it would be too much of a distraction and pointless right now." Meagan then thought, "Eva, we know she can play with Fate. that she can, to an extent, see the future. I would not be surprised if she was behind my returning late. Though I am surprised she was caught so completely off guard."

Shaking her head, "I think we need to know more about who and what we are up against. Earth has been like a second home to me and damn if I'm going to sit back and let these invaders get away with this. Worst case, if we can't deal with them ourselves, I'll try and contact my Mentor for help, but that has to be a last resort."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Do you have any of my substance that survived?"

“Sure does. It’s busy keeping me alive.” a new voice rings out.

Stepping into the room is an older Jack Knave.

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His left eye gone, scars littering his exposed skin. He nods to Jinzi, and puffs on the lit cigarette in his right hand. The others would notice his left hand is missing.

“Here, I’ll show ya.”

His left empty eye socket opens and leaks a silvery liquid that runs down his arm until it forms a new silver fist where his left should have been. A faint glowing eye also appears in the empty socket.

“Managed to salvage a chunk of Adam. He maintains my body, forms an eye and hand fer me when he can. Sort of my ace in the hole.”

The silver liquid retreats back to the eye, which closes again.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

At hearing this, Ishtar nodded slowly, before glancing at Jinzi. "So there are two Shiro, now ?"



That she was not on Earth, at least confirmed that she had not died during the same assault that had taken the lives of both Evangeline, and Ronin Kai ... and yet there was little in the way of relief. When the golden-eyed Oni had seen her last, they had arrived just outside of Dusk City. A week had passed then, and now they were twenty years in the future. That the former Goddess had departed after just arriving was ... strange. Though in the end, perhaps something had tugged at her, as it had Ishtar herself those short six months ... no, twenty years ... ago.

Yet she left without saying goodbye ...

After a moment, Ishtar's shoulder's sagged slightly, before offering Jinzi a nod.

"I .. I see."

“Mind you she was around. For five years. The invasion happened fifteen years ago. She left when she said she had a lead on who was taking the Kami.”

[MrSandman]

Hearing that Asha'rah had just vanished before the Lyne appeared was concerning. The robotic monk was special -- not just in the sense of the word, but to Ishtar, as well. Sarada felt the feelings of affection and admiration, as well as appreciation that the blue Oni felt during her time with the probable Goddess. It made Sarada feel gracious that she had found someone who was so willing to give her what she needed to move on, something Sarada could never do. To that end, she hoped there was someway she could find her way to them across the plains of time.

Etrina, as she was thinking, spoke up, attracting her attention from her own thoughts. She had options to stave off ki suppression, but from the sounds it, those methods weren't… something.

Whatever it was, it made her upset.

"None that are what? If you have a means of unlocking our ki, I think we should at least hear of it." Sarada recalled very clearly that this girl could manipulate time, back from when she restored her tail. If these methods required further manipulation of the time stream…

I suppose time can't get anymore fucked than it already is.

".....Hypothetically speaking...I could drain life force via Vitalmancy, convert it to mana and keep my body functions running from that. I could drain everyone in this room and tack on a good 100 years.....of living like a damned lich....." Etrina put on a sour expression. "......or the same could be accomplished with a few thousand people........If I wanna turn out just like Grav......."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Midori frowned, rubbing her arm as she said "That is rather unsettling to think about, my consciousness hooked up to computers while my body is in storage."

Shiro looked to Jinzi and asked "What exactly do you mean by my being your Med tech?"

“Jinzi, there was a strange mass addition to the teleport, are you al...”

A digital screen appeared and floated near Jinzi, this women on it.



She stops mid sentence, eyes wide.

Jinzi rubs the back of his head and grins a bit.

“Shiro! Thanks for the teleport. Anyways, as you can see we have guests....”

Shiro, in the holo-window, simply makes an unintelligible sound and shuts it off with a harried ‘be right there’.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"If there are two of you in this future, that is significant." Meagan nearly laughed at the irony of her talking like a smart person, "I think Jinzi might agree that there might be a split in the timeline. That whomever brought us here, whoever had that kind of power, in doing so split the timeline twenty or more years ago. Basically one version of you and Midori and Adam, at least, maybe more, existed up until he invasion. Some of us, maybe all of us, might come from a timeline where there was no invasion." she shrugs, "Just guessing."

“Possibly. This future you find yourself in isn’t guaranteed to happen to you. We are most likely dealing with split time lines.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Shit man, this time travel stuff was confusing. Jinzi claimed Adam died saving his life, yet Adam was standing right there. Midori and Shiro of this time were top tier fighters, and now there were two of each of them in the same timeline. Wouldn't that cause some kind of exlosion or implosion or something. Could the same person from two different points in time be in the same place at the same time?

Her head was starting to hurt just thinking about it.

"So, if Midori and Shiro made it this long, then what about the rest of us? How long did we survive?"

By 'us', she was mostly referring to herself. It would have been wild to meet a her that was in her mid-thirties and had been some kind of freedom fight all this time.

“Well, our Sarada and Ishtar went into space to fight Jagam after he wiped half of Vocado out, Totoma and Karine went as well. Totoma told us they both died. He and Karine are living off planet somewhere peaceful when Earth got cut off.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Jinzi, how many of us are doppelgangers? In my timeline I was late getting back because of a mishap with the spaceship. In this timeline, did I arrive back on time? Or is this the first time we met since I left for training? I know that finding a way to defeat the invaders is a priority, but if we were taken from an alternate timeline or time-skpped into the future, we might need to eventually find a way back. Perhaps prevent this invasion from happening before it does." she shook her head, "I think this is going to get very confusing."

“You arrived back safely. Five years passed from the point you were taken and the point of my invasion.”

He holds up a hand and indicates a ring.

“We....were married before you passed away in battle here.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

".....Hypothetically speaking...I could drain life force via Vitalmancy, convert it to mana and keep my body functions running from that. I could drain everyone in this room and tack on a good 100 years.....of living like a damned lich....." Etrina put on a sour expression. "......or the same could be accomplished with a few thousand people........If I wanna turn out just like Grav......."

“Yes......let’s not talk about that. Etrina and Grav......fused, kind of, in this timeline to survive. She was badly injured and Grav offered to save their lives. When she awoke, she drained a City of thousands and fled into the North Continent. She occasionally pops up around here, fighting the Lyne, but she’s become a ki vampire essentially. Can’t afford to keep her around too much.”

[MrSandman]

“Yes......let’s not talk about that. Etrina and Grav......fused, kind of, in this timeline to survive. She was badly injured and Grav offered to save their lives. When she awoke, she drained a City of thousands and fled into the North Continent. She occasionally pops up around here, fighting the Lyne, but she’s become a ki vampire essentially. Can’t afford to keep her around too much.”

"Gaaah.....Damn it.....you said not to talk about it and then tell me the entire thing! That SON OF A...Huuukk!" Etrina grabs her mouth, pale faced as she runs for the nearest cover to vomit.

[Tami]

“You arrived back safely. Five years passed from the point you were taken and the point of my invasion.”

He holds up a hand and indicates a ring.

“We....were married before you passed away in battle here.”

Meagan smiled at that, but it was a bittersweet smile. If she had stayed on Earth with Jinzi, she can envision this happening, the tow of them getting married. Though she remembers once flirting with Zaofan, in her heart she always knew she was in love with Jinzi from the time they met. She also knows that, without Ki, she would have been vulnerable and her death nearly assured. If she had arrived back on time, she wouldn't not have had the chance to spend more time with Master Nylos, and would not have gained more training and knowledge in the way Ki works.

The way Ki works, something Master Nyklos told her...."Jinzi, can you tell me more about this infection that drains Ki?"