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

[Cyke]

“I have no idea how your younger selves showed up. The fact that you are here is beyond mind blowing to me, but boy am I glad to see you. As to Evangeline........”

He shakes his head.


“Lookout and CC were hit first as high probability threat targets. Eva and Kai....both died, and Adam is the only reason I lived. He wrapped me up and sacrificed himself to protect me from the orbital bombardment CC got hit with. He didn’t make it after that. Well, not enough of him at least. So, without Kai and Eva, there are no dragonballs.....”

Zaofan's knees go weak with the news. No Lady Evangeline. No Kai. They were good people, time and again. And without the Dragon Balls, no hope.

He had seen many things in his travels, but nothing so bleak. "This... Future... I refuse to accept that this is how things end up! It can't...!" Futile words more for defiant coping than for tangible action.

He begins to wonder about l those not in the room. "We could really use the others. Chuan, Chou, Koorimaru, Totoma, Karine... Maybe even Sasheem. Have you heard from them, Mr. Pantaloon?"

“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.

Seeing the elder Jack in person and Shiro on screen threw Zaofan for a spin. "Jack --! Well, of course you'd make it, you wiley cat!"

Futire Meagan's marriage to Mr. Pantaloon, and indeed her death, likewise confuddled him.

"Mr. Pantaloon, what of our other older selves? I can't imagine much cooking getting done in a post-apocalyptic future."

[Ptrvc]

"I did," Sarada answered.

When she did answer him, it dawned on her that he had no idea what happened to her in the Meat Market. If she mentioned the tribunal, or Dashir, or her suspicions that her sister had something to do with it -- despite the authorities saying otherwise -- he would have been completely lost. To bring him up to speed on everything she had done would have required she tell him everything. She wasn't sure she could tell that story a fifth time.

But, this was Jack. He needed to know, didn't he?

"I finally achieved the power that I should have had in the beginning," she added with a small smile. She decided that she would decide later. Right then wasn't the best time, and honestly, they had plenty of dreary bleakness surrounding them already.

"What about you, Earthman? I see you're still alive, so you must not have gotten into too much trouble."

"Eh...not too much." Really, outside of the Stranger haunting Jack's dreams and murdering him every night, life on Earth had been a bit...dull. "You know its weird, you spend all this time trying to get to the top of the pile, right? But once you're there...it's honestly kind of boring," Jack shrugged.

"Of course that's just on Earth, I need to find some better competition," Jack grinned, "You plan on showing me that power of yours when we get out of here?" he asked with a wink.

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

Stepping into the room is an older Jack Knave.

upload gif from url

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.

Jack starred at his future self for a few moments as their twin trails of cigarette smoke slowly curled to the sky.

Man, as if I didn't have enough issues with my identity and sense of self.

After a few moments, he broke his silence, a small chuckle.

"One-Eyed Jack huh? I suppose it was inevitable." Oooh that sounded better in my head! Which is also his head...so head...so everything should be okay, right? Jack really did not want to think what it was like having a nano tech cyborg thing crawling through his system. It sounded uncomfortable.

“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.”

A small, barely noticeable wince twitch ran through Jack's body at the worlds Sarada and Ishtar went off into space, and a much more noticeable twitch ran through at the prospect of Sarada dying.

He took a puff of his cigarette and said nothing.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Eh...not too much." Really, outside of the Stranger haunting Jack's dreams and murdering him every night, life on Earth had been a bit...dull. "You know its weird, you spend all this time trying to get to the top of the pile, right? But once you're there...it's honestly kind of boring," Jack shrugged.

"Of course that's just on Earth, I need to find some better competition," Jack grinned, "You plan on showing me that power of yours when we get out of here?" he asked with a wink.
.

Sarada still had a bit further to go before she was the top power on Vocado, but she was close. Damn close. Close enough to make a contest for the throne a damn good spectacle; and that wasn't even factoring in Anaxam. "Yeah, I know what you mean. If you want competition Earthman, you can also come back home with me. The Saiyans there are training for Jagam, so there should a least be a few that can make you sweat."

After a second, she smirked and added, "Though not as much as I can."

".....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......."

Her lip turned up slightly. Ishtar told her of Grav, the Vitalmancer and how he drained the life out of people to sustain himself. Disgusting and unnatural. "Um, yeah. We should probably shelve that idea. For, like, ever."

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

Stepping into the room is an older Jack Knave.

upload gif from url

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.

Future Jack looked like ****. "You look like ****, Earthman," she commented. Understandable, by any measure. Living in a dystopian future where tomorrow wasn't guaranteed could do a number on anyone.

Since Jack, Adam, and Shiro were here, she grew excited at meeting her future self. I wonder what I'm like. Jeez, I wonder what I look like. Am I missing my tail? An arm? Ooh, do I have a kick-ass scar??

“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.”

…

Any excitement quickly turned to sour, bitter disappointment as hearing that not only was she dead in this timeline, but she was also killed by Jagam.

Her and Ishtar.

If Jack was here, and her future self left with Ishtar, then that must have meant she ended up with Ishtar in the future.

Huh.

"Oh," she spoke softly.

She glanced at Jack, and felt a twinge of… something when she beheld his reaction. Both of them.

Ah, damn it.

She cut her gaze to Ishtar and gave her a helpless shrug. "At least we died together, so neither of us suffered that much." That was mentioning the fact that they both not only died themselves, but one of them felt the full effects of the other dying before them.

She only hoped it was Ishtar that died first.

Wait, why the **** am I thinking about this.

"So, I take it this means the mutt killed Jagam. Hmph."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

“Yeah, no, you and Ishtar killed him. That’s what Totoma said. We didn’t have a body, and you promised Jack you would come back once you had defeated Jagam, so we took Totoma’s word for it when he said Jagam and you were dead.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Eh...not too much." Really, outside of the Stranger haunting Jack's dreams and murdering him every night, life on Earth had been a bit...dull. "You know its weird, you spend all this time trying to get to the top of the pile, right? But once you're there...it's honestly kind of boring," Jack shrugged.

"Of course that's just on Earth, I need to find some better competition," Jack grinned, "You plan on showing me that power of yours when we get out of here?" he asked with a wink.



Jack starred at his future self for a few moments as their twin trails of cigarette smoke slowly curled to the sky.

Man, as if I didn't have enough issues with my identity and sense of self.

After a few moments, he broke his silence, a small chuckle.

"One-Eyed Jack huh? I suppose it was inevitable." Oooh that sounded better in my head! Which is also his head...so head...so everything should be okay, right? Jack really did not want to think what it was like having a nano tech cyborg thing crawling through his system. It sounded uncomfortable.



A small, barely noticeable wince twitch ran through Jack's body at the worlds Sarada and Ishtar went off into space, and a much more noticeable twitch ran through at the prospect of Sarada dying.

He took a puff of his cigarette and said nothing.

“Heh, funny.”

Old Jack grins a bit at his younger self.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Zaofan's knees go weak with the news. No Lady Evangeline. No Kai. They were good people, time and again. And without the Dragon Balls, no hope.

He had seen many things in his travels, but nothing so bleak. "This... Future... I refuse to accept that this is how things end up! It can't...!" Futile words more for defiant coping than for tangible action.

He begins to wonder about l those not in the room. "We could really use the others. Chuan, Chou, Koorimaru, Totoma, Karine... Maybe even Sasheem. Have you heard from them, Mr. Pantaloon?"



Seeing the elder Jack in person and Shiro on screen threw Zaofan for a spin. "Jack --! Well, of course you'd make it, you wiley cat!"

Futire Meagan's marriage to Mr. Pantaloon, and indeed her death, likewise confuddled him.

"Mr. Pantaloon, what of our other older selves? I can't imagine much cooking getting done in a post-apocalyptic future."

“Chuan is in capsule storage, Chou was never found. Koorimaru died, Zaofan you died, Charco is still here, and Ochazuke just died two weeks ago. Went out bringing down one of the Lyne’s main hives. Only two left and we’ll have beaten them. Sasheem is dead too, though before the Lyne showed up. Executed by the Galaxy Police.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

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?"

“Doesn’t drain it, the machines cut people off from ki. Being cut off the body withers.”

[Tami]

“Doesn’t drain it, the machines cut people off from ki. Being cut off the body withers.”

"Hmmm....." Meagan felt she was on to something, but coudl't place a finger on it. "You've managed to come up with a serum to counter the effect of the machines....." still thinking, "There may be a way to destroy them. Cutting off Ki is liek stopping the flow of blood to an arm. The arm dies, but the heart still keeps pumping it out. The Ki still exists within everyone, its' just been dammed up. If I can find a way to use My Ki to take control of the machines, we can turn some into antibodies. Antibodies to attack the other machines."

[The Dog]

“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’.

"Well, that certainly answers my question. But unfortunately it raises several more." Shiro said as Midori looked around and decided to call out "Hey, future computer-inhabiting me! Can you hear and respond to me in here, I have questions!"

[Cyke]

“Chuan is in capsule storage, Chou was never found. Koorimaru died, Zaofan you died, Charco is still here, and Ochazuke just died two weeks ago. Went out bringing down one of the Lyne’s main hives. Only two left and we’ll have beaten them. Sasheem is dead too, though before the Lyne showed up. Executed by the Galaxy Police.”

Zaofan's dread hits the pit of his stomach. "I'm... dead...?" His posture slumps over, defeated before he even begins to fight.

"I hope more of our... past... selves... have made the trip to this future. As bad as things sound, we could use their power and skills, especially Chuan's healing abilities. And... maybe if we could find our missing friends, we'd have more bodies for a group hug..." Zaofan says, the self-pity rising further.

"Wait."

"WAIT."

"Mr. Pantaloon, you said there are two more main hives. If Future -- *your* -- Ochazuke took out one of the hives, then the rest of us should be sufficient enough to take out the other two and end this nightmare! Do you know where they're at?

[MrSandman]

“Chuan is in capsule storage, Chou was never found. Koorimaru died, Zaofan you died, Charco is still here, and Ochazuke just died two weeks ago. Went out bringing down one of the Lyne’s main hives. Only two left and we’ll have beaten them. Sasheem is dead too, though before the Lyne showed up. Executed by the Galaxy Police.”

"......Zaofan you idiot!" Etrina, suddenly livid, wipes the last drop of vomit from her mouth and kicks the nearest rack of guns hilariously ineffectually. "....it doesn't matter what timeline it is, dying is inexcusable.....you....you idiot. Its no wonder the me here ended up.......such a waste...."

Etrina paused. "...........So I've been living alone on the North continent.....Whatever deplorable things shes done....given 15 years of research in isolation, I doubt she would have done nothing this entire time. I initially scratched myself from the list of possible temporal manipulators....perhaps I need to reevaluate that."

[Miburo]

"This still doesn't make any sense...."

The Nevadian had taken the news as well as any of the others had, which is to say almost overwhelmed with shock at the change of the state of the world that had occurred in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

Just a few 'hours' ago, Held had conversed with Jinzi, only to now find the young inventor now a hardboiled, grizzled man, knee-deep in battle. The other warriors who apparently were not at Capsule Corp during the initial attack had mostly managed to survive, in some form or another, only to fade away at a later time.

"How did we all end up here? I'm pretty sure the only ones at Capsule Corps--or even in Capsule City-- before this all got strange was Adam and myself....Yet, we all seem to have met up in the city, even if it's 20 years in the future.....I mean, Meagan wasn't even on the planet, if I understood her correctly."

...It's strange. I don't understand how we'd all move through time like this. Then again, It's not really my thing. Still, If Jinzi can't figure it out, I might as well forget about it....Not to mention, something about the city is bothering me, but...

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much at the moment, does it?" Held asked himself, sighing heavily, "I guess we'll just have to figure it out the old fashioned way."

[Tami]

"This still doesn't make any sense...."

The Nevadian had taken the news as well as any of the others had, which is to say almost overwhelmed with shock at the change of the state of the world that had occurred in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

Just a few 'hours' ago, Held had conversed with Jinzi, only to now find the young inventor now a hardboiled, grizzled man, knee-deep in battle. The other warriors who apparently were not at Capsule Corp during the initial attack had mostly managed to survive, in some form or another, only to fade away at a later time.

"How did we all end up here? I'm pretty sure the only ones at Capsule Corp before we ended up here was Adam and myself....It seems odd that we all ended up meeting like this, in this place....I mean, Meagan wasn't even on the planet, if I understood her correctly."

Admittedly, we seem to be among the strongest people on the planet, last I heard, but I can't imagine how that would work in this context...If a guy like Jinzi can't figure it out...

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much at the moment, does it?" Held asked himself, sighing heavily, "I guess we'll just have to figure it out the old fashioned way."

"I think it does matter. It's matters a great deal. Especialy since I suspect that their are going to be long-standing issues with duplicates of some of us in the same time-stream. However, like you said, we'll have to figure it out in time." the corner of Meagan's' mouth curled slightly as she realizes she may have made an inadvertent pun. "No matter what the future or the past holds, our priority should be to save what is left of this world. To figure out how to destroy the invaders, their robots and nano-machines, and rescue as many as possible."

[Tami]

“Chuan is in capsule storage, Chou was never found. Koorimaru died, Zaofan you died, Charco is still here, and Ochazuke just died two weeks ago. Went out bringing down one of the Lyne’s main hives. Only two left and we’ll have beaten them. Sasheem is dead too, though before the Lyne showed up. Executed by the Galaxy Police.”

"Jinzi, if there is time, can I talk to to in private?"

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

“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.”

In a way, that was worse.

Yet for the time being Ishtar did her best to shutter such feelings of concern. After all it was obvious this was more than simply the future, it was an alternate future. The Asha'rah here, was not the Asha'rah she knew.

Yet ...

“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.”

This revelation was by and far more difficult to stomach than that of Asha'rah's disappearance.

After all, despite Sarada not offering the same- for fear of having to walking such back- Ishtar did love her, in as much the way she had her departed Sekhmet, as she did as a friend. And in this timeline it seemed that Ishtar ... had been willing to die for the young Saiyan. That they had both fallen was ...

…

Any excitement quickly turned to sour, bitter disappointment as hearing that not only was she dead in this timeline, but she was also killed by Jagam.

Her and Ishtar.

If Jack was here, and her future self left with Ishtar, then that must have meant she ended up with Ishtar in the future.

Huh.

"Oh," she spoke softly.

She glanced at Jack, and felt a twinge of… something when she beheld his reaction. Both of them.

Ah, damn it.

She cut her gaze to Ishtar and gave her a helpless shrug. "At least we died together, so neither of us suffered that much." That was mentioning the fact that they both not only died themselves, but one of them felt the full effects of the other dying before them.

She only hoped it was Ishtar that died first.

Wait, why the **** am I thinking about this.

"So, I take it this means the mutt killed Jagam. Hmph."

“Yeah, no, you and Ishtar killed him. That’s what Totoma said. We didn’t have a body, and you promised Jack you would come back once you had defeated Jagam, so we took Totoma’s word for it when he said Jagam and you were dead.”

Ishtar blinked.

Among other things, the feelings that passed between both herself, and Sarada were ... telling. A feeling of bitter disappointment at knowing the truth that Jagam had killed them in a battle shared by two others. A flicker of pain, and ... Oh ... as Sarada looked at the two Jack, no doubt to see their reaction to the information, and perhaps hear his response to her being with Ishtar. A hope that they had not suffered when they fell; given the shared pain offered by the bond they shared ... When Sarada looked at the Oni then, and offered a shrug, Ishtar nodded slowly.

"Yes, I suppose that is a silver lining."

Though there was a nagging question in the back of her mind.

"Jinzi. Do you know if this version of myself possessed my future? Or the energy of Sij ?"

It was a strange thing. Yet Ishtar felt she needed to know if this version of herself was destined to wield Hakai, and ascend to the mantle.

“Chuan is in capsule storage, Chou was never found. Koorimaru died, Zaofan you died, Charco is still here, and Ochazuke just died two weeks ago. Went out bringing down one of the Lyne’s main hives. Only two left and we’ll have beaten them. Sasheem is dead too, though before the Lyne showed up. Executed by the Galaxy Police.”

When it was made known that only two hives remained however, Ishtar nodded.

"Then that is what I will do. Destroy the remaining hives."