About Time
by April CK
Part 6
Android 18 stood in the sky, looking like someone who'd had a date with a flamethrower. Her denim clothing was ruined and the disagreeable odor of burnt hair clung to her. She hovered in the shadows of a skyscraper and scanned the cityscape warily. There was no trace of her usual smirk in her features.
The brat had gotten better. While he hadn't yet damaged anything but her pride and her wardrobe, Android 18 was alarmed by the marked improvement in the brats fighting style.
Yesterday the brat had been fighting blind, shooting multiple blasts in every direction with the vague hope of defending himself - just as all the other warriors had done when panic had gotten the better of them. Ninety percent of his attacks had missed. Android 18 hadn't even needed to beat the brat up very much because he'd worn himself out. But today... The tables had turned. The brat seemed to know where she was now, the brat could track her and as a result his fighting style had become about a thousand times more lethal. Android 18 didn't understand how the brat could have figured it out. She didn't have regular ki. All her computer programs said that the brat shouldn't be able to track her, much less defeat her.
Cursing, she ducked to the side and flew upwards - narrowly avoiding a thin stream of orange energy. Android 18 realized her mistake too late. The blast faded harmlessly. The brat had just been trying to flush her out into the open and the ploy had worked. 18 barely had a chance to raise her arms and block the first incoming kick.
She caught the second and third kicks with her midsection and kneecaps respectively, the second blow knocking her backwards while the third caught her kneecaps from behind hard enough to sweep her feet out from under her. If Android 18 had been standing on the ground, the third kick would have left her flat on her face in the asphalt but as things were, it had just changed the position she was hovering in.
Something connected forcefully with her back and sent her crashing downwards. Now she was flat on her face in the asphalt.
"Not as much fun when you're losing, huh?" The brat said seriously. He was hovering somewhere behind her with his golden hair, blue-green eyes and not so much as a scratch on him. But the most eerie thing about the kid was the way he fought or rather, the way he didn't fight. The brat didn't taunt, he didn't smirk or grin, he didn't cut loose and obliterate everything - he didn't even pretend to enjoy the battle. Not even when he was clearly winning.
The brat had unspeakable amounts of discipline and from a strictly robotic point of view, 18 respected that. Discipline was a trait that very few non-robots had.
Palms flat, Android 18 pushed off the ground quickly. Turning as she regained an upright hovering position with her fists clenched, she scowled restlessly across at the brat. How the heck is he doing this? She kept asking herself but her internal database didn't know.
"Why don't you leave while you still can." More of a command than a question. It was fairly obvious that aside from disliking fighting in general, the brat had no desire to take their battle further into West Capital City.
Android 18 inclined her head, glancing past the brat at the surrounding city. Just the place for her to vent. But she noticed the increasing determination in the brats stance and expression. He'd defend this place. The brat might be at full power - it was hard to be sure - but even so, Android 18 knew that he was holding back simply by keeping his temper in check. She couldn't afford to provoke the brat, at least not until she'd found a way to evade him again. She'd have to figure out how he was tracking her.
"Where is my Brother?" She heard herself ask. It seemed that the easiest way to escape defeat was to change the subject.
The brat regarded her thoughtfully for a moment without letting his guard down then said. "I'm surprised that you care."
Android 18 wasn't sure that she did care and decided to sort that out later. She remained silent, staring calmly at the brat - waiting for either an opening to attack or a better answer.
Eventually the brat turned away from her and said. "I killed him." He watched her intently for a reaction and when none came, he added. "Leave before I'm tempted to do the same to you."
It was a lie. She didn't have any proof that it was a lie but it just had to be. Android 18 refused to believe that anything - aside from her brothers own stupidity - could harm 17. And more importantly, she refused to believe that the brat would let her walk away if he were capable of killing her. The brat had to be bluffing.
Although... Maybe killing 17 had just tired the brat out a bit?
Robots weren't supposed to feel doubt. Heck, robots weren't supposed to be able to die. Android 18 was confused and frustrated by the unfamiliar emotions and concepts she was experiencing. And the confusion and frustration that she felt in reaction to everything else only added to her list of problems. Robots weren't supposed to be confused! Nowhere in her programming was a string of code that said 'feel confused'.
Though Android 18 had a mostly human body and a humanoid spirit, her brain was almost entirely made up of computer chips. 'Confused' did not compute.
Ignoring the barrage of error messages in her head, Android 18 summoned up a cruel smirk. "You can't be everywhere at once brat." She told him, hoping that at least that much hadn't changed. "And you can't protect anyplace forever."
She turned on her heels and flew away from the sources of her confusion.
Gohan watched her leave, wanting to make sure that she didn't turn and start to come back. He'd heard enough of Android 18s comments on fashion yesterday to know - and hope - that the world should be relatively safe for at least a couple hours while she shopped for a new outfit.
All right, Gohan thought once Android 18 had been out of sight for several moments, that was amazing. How did you track her?
Nothing.
Hey... Chaozu? Gohan had started to power down, he stopped. Are you okay?
No answer.
The Room of Spirit and Time was not a room. It was a dimensional portal that had been designed to look like a large room complete with a padded floor, high ceiling and four walls. The portal was magnificent piece of engineering. One Earth day outside the Room of Spirit and Time equaled one Earth year inside the portal. Mister Popo had added the 'room' to the palace on Kamis Lookout for the sole purpose of aging artifacts.
Every world had artifacts. Magical fans, shimmering globes of power, enchanted swords, various pieces of jewelry that improved certain skills - whatever. Artifacts came in all shapes and sizes but they only had one age. Ancient. There was no such thing as a brand-new artifact. Toss out a new trinket and it's just garbage. Dig up the exact same trinket a hundred years later and suddenly it has become a mysterious and sacred remnant of a past era.
With artifacts - and also good luck charms - what the object actually was didn't matter as much as what people believed the object was. Mysterious powers came from faith and faith was something that came with age. Thus the older an artifact, the more potent its powers.
The Earth set of dragonballs had only been created around 306 years ago but if you wanted to be technical about it then, due to having been left in the Room of Spirit and Time for nearly two hundred years, the artifacts were currently 69,102 years old. Or at least they would have been, if Kami were still alive. And this was the reason that the dragonballs had only begun to see frequent use around seventeen years ago. As artifacts, the dragonballs hadn't held much clout until they'd been sufficiently aged.
The Room of Spirit and Time had never been designed for use as a training room and it certainly hadn't been meant to provide an escape route to the prisoners of time. The portal had miraculously withstood the strength of the few ambitious warriors who had decided to train there but the invasion of fugitives had proven to be too much. The illusionary room was gone.
Master Roshi had never liked flying. Traveling through the air in anything less substantial than a moderately armored vehicle tended to give him a severe case of vertigo. At the moment however, between dizzy spells, Roshi was immensely grateful for the flying carpet beneath him. Because from the looks of things, it was the only thing beneath him.
No walls, no floor, no ceiling. Just a vast boundless darkness. It wasn't a threatening evil sort of darkness and it wasn't the lonely empty sort of darkness either. It was just an alert darkness. This darkness was cultured, this darkness had texture. There was a certain unsettling degree of awareness to this darkness. Master Roshi stared out at it and was startled by the inexplicable sensation that somehow, the darkness was staring back at him.
"Don't. Touch. Anything." Roshi whispered to the shapeshifters. They were both crouched behind him on the carpet, still wearing their spacesuits and they nodded in muted terror. Eventually Roshi gathered enough courage to ask aloud, "Tempus-sama?"
Not even an echo replied. Yet it wasn't a silent darkness. There was a pulse to it, a faint ticking sound. Roshi paled when he discerned the noise. Oh no...
Time was out of tune.
Oh great, NOW what? Gohan watched the western horizon with blended anxiety and annoyance. The sun was setting. According to Gohans watch it was only 10:27am. However Gohan wasn't entirely sure he trusted the watch anymore, the minute hand was moving backwards.
He wished that Chaozu would wake up but the small warrior cradled in his arms didn't stir. Gohan had found Chaozu laying unconscious on a sidewalk only a couple blocks away from where he'd been confronting Android 18. Gohan had actually seen Chaozu before sensing his ki - the pale warrior stood out, he was hard to miss. He was also, as far as Gohan tell, completely unharmed.
Gohan wasn't sure why Chaozu had fainted - he guessed that it was probably just a psychic thing - but the location had been lucky. If Chaozu had lost consciousness while hovering over a street, there probably wouldn't have been much of him left to find. At least you're easy to carry. Gohan thought as he made his way through the city, scanning the area for landmarks as he flew along. There wasn't a whole lot Gohan could do to prevent sunsets and he didn't care for the idea of getting lost at night. Gohan hadn't been to West Capital City often enough to be familiar with the area. He'd never needed to navigate the city before since he'd always come to the place with someone that knew the way.
Thankfully, Capsule Corp was a major economic power on the planet and that warranted the existence of road signs to indicate the direction of the company. Gohan flew at a pace that allowed him to follow the signs. So he was surprised when he arrived in front of a building he'd never seen before. It was a dome-shaped structure and it had the Capsule Corp logo stamped on it but it wasn't the Capsule Corp mansion.
A cluster of people in office attire and long labcoats stood at the main entrance of the building, holding a variety of scientific devices. Telescope, microscope, binoculars, calculator, thermometer, barometer, seismograph, windsock, compass, magnets, tape measure, digital clock...
The digital clock wasn't working.
"Hmmm." said a middle-aged man with short purple hair. "There are working batteries in it, right?"
"Yessir!" Replied half a dozen voices.
To demonstrate, the batteries of the clock were removed and placed into a different electronic device that worked perfectly as soon as it was turned on.
"What about the other one?" Dr. Briefs inquired.
A second clock was brought out and this one was analog, not digital. It had a round face and hands that were currently, with each tick, moving in opposite directions.
"Might be an eleborate prank." Dr. Briefs observed. "Might be a temporal disturbance. I'd say that deserves a day off."
The scientists of the Capsule Corporation factory cheered like children who'd just been told that school was canceled due to a pending volcanic eruption. It didn't matter that there was a disaster with nasty long-term consequences looming on the horizon, all that mattered was that they got the day off.
Privately even the Saiyan part of Gohans brain almost wished that he could enjoy the moment the way that normal people seemed to. But unlike most the rest of Earths population, Gohan felt he could - and therefore, should - do something about any pending disasters. He'd had a lot of personal experience with disaster after all.
While the Capsule Corp employees were tidying up and preparing to vacate the premises, Dr. Briefs noticed that the company had a visitor. He began to say that factory tours wouldn't be offered today then stopped himself. Gohan was standing on three feet of air, the boy obviously wasn't the regular sort of visitor.
Dr. Briefs removed his glasses, wiped them off on the sleeve of his lab coat and replaced them while desperately trying to remember Gohans name.
Gohan was having similar problems. "You're Bulmas dad, right?" He finally ventured.
"Everyone just calls me Dr. Briefs." The world renown genius almost offered out a hand for a handshake but he realized that it wouldn't work since the kid had his arms full. "You're ChiChis boy, aren't you?"
The demi-saiyan youth nodded. "My name is Gohan." Concern leaked into his voice. "What's this about a temporal disturbance?"
Behind Dr. Briefs, the employees of the Capsule Corp factory stood in a neat line while a manager did rolecall. Once they were positive that everyone was outside and accounted for, the building they worked in was capsulized. Dr. Briefs accepted the capsule and carefully placed it into special case which he then shut, locked and pocketed. People could try to steal anything they wanted from the Capsule Corp mansion - it was the factory that the Briefs were protective of.
"Seeya tomorrow Dr. Briefs!" More than one of the employees called out happily as they each went off to their vehicles.
Dr. Briefs smiled and shook his head. "Only if tomorrow comes."
Once upon a time, a long time ago, magic had been considered a valid occupation. There had even been schools for magicians to attend. The rest of the world would eventually call the students by titles like witch, wizard, warlock, mage, pagan, gypsy, astrologer, oracle, healer, prophet, sorcerer, shaman, fairy and elf but back then the students had all been just plain magicians. Back then all the various magical styles had existed without being stereotyped.
Back then, the schools had been visible. The process had been slow - so slow that barely anyone had noticed until it was too late to prevent - but each school of magic had gradually gained a distinct reputation, a personality. Each campus had become a semi-sentient being.
In some places people might sigh and say wistfully 'oh if only these walls could talk, the stories they would tell'. But people who said such things had obviously never held a two-way conversation with a wall. Walls were generally not tactful. Speaking with them could be both offensive and tiring.
The magic schools had prospered until the Industrial Age had come along and people fiddling with machines had claimed that there was a new kind of magic, a magic that anyone could use to explain anything. Science. It had taken the world by storm practically overnight. Self-empowerment had held a lot of appeal since people didn't trust each other anymore. People had wanted to rely on themselves instead of the local magician. Science had been exactly what they'd wanted to hear. Science told them to be independant, to question everything and to value progress.
Science had been the new magic in much the same way that humans had once been the new animals. When had science stopped being a sub-category of magic? When had humans forgotten that they were just another animal species? No one was quite sure when these separations had happened - evolution blurred the lines.
One step forward, two steps back. Despite the fact that anyone could use science, it was not a social magic. Creatures could only be so independant without also becoming competetive. Thus with the advent of science, society had gotten caught up in competitions. Science competitions. Most of the older magics had been forgotten and had faded away. Literally.
Over four hundred years ago, Lunar University had gotten its name for the design of its campus. The main buildings had all been painted white and arranged in a wide circle. Once the campus had gained consciousness, the buildings had gotten into the habit of changing their positions to reflect the current lunar phase. Lunar University had always been one of the most eccentric colleges. While many of the less diverse magic schools had faded from existence completely, Lunar University had adapted. The campus was only visible once in a blue moon but it had hung on.
Uranai Baba hoped that it had hung on, she hadn't had many opportunities to check on the University in recent times. Earths moon had been destroyed twice in the past seventeen years so seeing the moon at all had become a rare event - seeing a blue moon was practically unheard of. Still, she wasn't too worried. Other schools had drown in the wave of the future but Lunar University'd had enough sense to go with the flow.
The Capsule Corp mansion was a large two-story dome with a covered entrance, a shaded porch attached to the back and a rectangular gravity chamber sitting beside it. Even in the twilight it was obvious that the shadow which the mansion cast didn't match up to the physical structure. For one thing, the shadow had spires. Indoors, the effects of the localized variable magic field were even more evident. The Capsule Corp mansion was a huge maze full of more rooms and corridors than should have been able to fit in the building. Some of them, Uranai Baba knew, weren't technically in the building at all.
As soon as she had set foot inside the entry hall, her crystal ball had stopped being solid rock. Energy crackled around the orb with such force that crystal ball not only shattered, it disentegrated. Pale blue mist filled the air where it had been.
Uranai Baba cautiously lowered the arm that she'd shielded her face with and stared at the mist thoughtfully. She hadn't been looking into the crystal ball before it had exploded but a short series of projected images had reached her mind anyway. Uranai Baba was now aware that Kamis Lookout no longer existed. She was also aware that she had come for the wrong reasons.
She had come to Capsule Corp seeking access to Lunar University. She should have come to Capsule Corp just because it was Capsule Corp.
Unguided, she made her way through the halls with a sort of authoritive ease that not even the residents of Capsule Corp had. A small black cat followed her every step of the way. Uranai Baba went straight to the doorway of a room on the second floor and stood there, resting a hand on her hip.
"So." She said quietly, "You'll be the troublemaker."
A long painful silence followed while Uranai Baba contemplated her options. She didn't like her situation. Destroying infants was not her style, not even if the entire potential future was at stake.
She sighed and stepped forward, peering into the playpen that stood in front of her. "Don't suppose that I could get you to promise to never ride on any time machines, could I?"
" - So essentially, there are no true coincidences. Everything has a cause and effect." Dr. Briefs walked into his house and spoke with the air of someone who'd given this lecture several times. "Basic fundamental scientific principle." Dr. Briefs smiled wearily and paused by the hall closet. He hung up his white labcoat with the Capsule Corp logo on it and promptly pulled on a plain white labcoat. "Funny how people forget the basics."
"Hilarious." Gohan muttered dryly. As if dealing with the androids hadn't been enough of a problem - now he had temporal distortions to worry about about. Mentally he was screaming. I'm only ten! I'm just a kid! Why me?
Dr. Briefs had offered to give him a ride home. Gohan hadn't ever flown home from West Capital City before - he wasn't positive that he knew the way - and so for lack of better ideas, Gohan had accepted the ride. Flying was only faster if you didn't get lost. However since the Capsule Corp mansion was much closer than the Son House, they'd opted to make a quick stop at Capsule Corp first. Dr. Briefs had needed to drop some things off and Gohan had hoped to find something that would wake Chaozu.
There weren't words for the sheer amount of concern Gohan felt. He didn't know Chaozu very well but that hardly mattered. Gohan had seen too many people die recently, he didn't want to lose anyone else.
"Welcome home dear!" Mrs. Briefs appeared in the hallway and embraced her husband. She was a tall slender woman with short blond hair and perpetually closed eyes, dressed in a formal ballroom gown and fluffy houseslippers. Mrs. Briefs was around 50 years old but if her role in early Capsule Corp commercials hadn't made her an easily recognized cultural icon then she could have passed herself off as a teenager. "How was your day at the office?"
"The world might be ending." Dr. Briefs said casually.
"That's nice, dear." Mrs. Briefs wasn't even phased. Possibly the end of the world was not an uncommon subject in this household. She glanced down at Gohan. "Awww. Cute doll."
A deafening shriek brought an end to the conversation in the hallway. Silence ensued for a few seconds then, sounding ever more like an air raid siren from an old war movie, the noise came again. This time the scream dissolved into giggles that were accompanied by a lower-pitched grumbling.
"MOM!" Bulma stomped into the living room adjoining the circular entry hall. Bulma was 34, she wore jeans and a tank top - both of which were tight fits. Her pale blue hair was tied back into a ponytail and the imprints on her face gave her the appearance of someone who had fallen asleep on a computer keyboard recently. "I told you NOT to buy Trunks anymore toys!"
Mrs. Briefs frowned, "Hon, I don't know what you're talking about."
"THIS!" Bulma held out a ninja action figure and the blond haired, blue eyed infant supported by her other arm reached for it. Bulma ignored him. "I didn't buy it for him! You expect me to believe it just magically appeared?" She snapped, hurling the action figure to the floor. "Mother, we've been THROUGH this. How many times do I have to tell you, he's never going to respect my authority if..."
Dr. Briefs leaned into the view of the hallway that Bulma had from the living room. "Bulma." He said simply. "We have guests."
She was too angry to care. "Well they're not MY guests!" She snarled.
Dr. and Mrs. Briefs exchanged sideways glances, aware of the irony. Bulma was constantly worried that her demi-saiyan son wouldn't have any respect for her since she wouldn't be able to match his physical strength. She wanted Trunks to learn respect for his elders - a trait which Bulma herself typically lacked.
In an attempt to ease the tension, Mrs. Briefs lifted the ninja action figure from the floor. "Never seen this one." She brightened. "Maybe his father got it for him."
"Pfft." Bulma rolled her eyes. "As if there's a Saiyan in existence that knows how to contribute to society without blowing something up." Trunks was pulling her hair, she scowled at the infant ferociously enough to make him let go and growled, "I swear, if you weren't a frickin endangered species..."
"Bulma!" Her parents exclaimed together in a tone of disapproval.
"Well it's TRUE! I didn't want..." Bulma began to protest, taking a step forward. Her view of the hallway widened and the sight caused her words to die in her throat. She spent a full minute mentally kicking herself. Would have to be the only other demi-saiyan on the whole planet.
Eventually, somewhat calmed down, Bulma shifted Trunks to her other arm and sighed to break the awkward silence. "Sorry." She offered in a hoarse voice. "Bad day."
"Noticed." Gohan muttered softly, bristling from her remarks as if every single word had slapped him.
Silence.
"We were just leaving." Dr. Briefs said without making a move towards the front door.
Silence again.
"Vegeta is dead." Gohan turned towards the doorway, inwardly surprised at how blunt and detached he sounded.
Bulmas impulse reaction was to laugh. "Ha! Yea. Right."
Gohan just stared at her.
In more serious tones she hastily added. "He's gone all the time. You don't have to lie to cover for him." Shrugging, Bulma faced the stairs that lead up to her room. "And even when he's not gone, he's training. It would take..."
"An android." Gohan couldn't keep from sounding a shade indignant. "Vegeta is dead. I'm NOT lying."
"Even if he IS," Bulma still didn't sound convinced, "we'd just have to wish..."
Gohan interrupted her, shaking his head. "Won't work. Piccolo died too. Check the dragonball radar if you don't believe me."
Bulma stood very still for a moment then nodded and walked towards the stairs. "I'll do that."
As soon as she was out of sight upstairs, Dr. Briefs tapped Gohan on the shoulder. He looked intrigued. "An android?"
Lunar University was not the only sentient campus to survive into the Industrial Age. When humans had become obsessed with science, a few ingenius schools had opened their enrollments to all the other animal species. There had been some problems with language barriers at first but the animal students had proven themselves to be very fast learners. In fact the animals had been such fast learners that most of them were graduating from college by the age of seven.
Affectionately known as Backasswards Ack among some of the more liberal students, the Shapeshifter Academy - initials SSA, which helped to explain the schools strange nickname - was the only magic school on Earth whose campus had stayed visible. Not that anyone who saw the Shapeshifter Academy recognized it. True to it's name, the school often changed its physical appearance and in recent years the campus had also begun to wander. The Academy had become steadily more exclusive simply because the place was so hard to find.
As far as personality went Shapeshifter Academy was perky, devious and had charisma to spare. Which was exactly what the campus had done. Lunar University had survived into modern times on its own. But the Shapeshifter Academy had brought a few notorious friends with it.
Nearly twenty-two years ago, Oolong had been a transfer student. The staff of the Shapeshifter Academy had appreciated his talent for biochemisty - what they hadn't appreciated was his skill for pulling off intricate pranks. After being expelled from the Shapeshifter Academy, Oolong had returned to his original college to complete his degree. He hadn't changed his behavior. Pranks earned extra credit at Voodoo U. Oolong had graduated with full honors.
An angry Super Saiyan and a degree from Voodoo U were two of the most feared things on planet Earth. Spiders and large needles would always be at the top of the list of common phobias - which was probably why the infamous school had always had both in abundance. Spiders and Large Needles had been a core class at Voodoo U. Enclosed Spaces had been an optional course but everyone planning to graduate had taken Spiders and Large Needles at some point.
Even the other magic schools had been scared of Voodoo U. It wasn't an evil place, it was just more brutal than average. The school motto had been: it's never too early to start avenging yourself.
Like most of his classmates, Oolong had become a coward after graduation simply because he didn't have much courage left. Four years of study at Voodoo U was enough to use up a lifetimes worth of courage.
The humanoid pig wasn't feeling particularly brave at the moment but a certain discovery was prolonging the inevitable terror. "Hey..." He flexed the fingers of his spacesuit in surprise.
"Well of course you're still shapeshifted, ya twit." Puar muttered, sounding miffed. "Time isn't working properly. You'd KNOW that if you ever paid attention."
Usually Oolong could only hold a form for five minutes. Because he hadn't graduated from the Shapeshifter Academy, he'd just studied there for a little while. Puar was the one that had graduated from the Academy. She'd worked hard at her degree and the exclusiveness of her college had rubbed off on her a bit. In Puars mind, the very idea that some fluke in the timeline could make the two shifters equal in terms of shapeshifting ability was an insult to everything she had worked for.
"Jeez! It's not like it's my fault or anything!" Oolong countered defensively. "I didn't ask time to go haywire!"
"Wouldn't put it past you."
Oolong was offended. "That's ridiculous!"
"Kids! Can ya drop it? We've got the world to save here and I'm not..." Master Roshi paused then turned so that he could stare out of the helmet of his spacesuit at the other two spacesuits. Facial expressions were unreadable but the way Roshis voice had hitched seemed to catch their attention.
"What?" Oolong demanded.
"I was going to say that I'm not getting any younger." Master Roshi said slowly as the realizations dawned on him. He certainly wasn't getting any younger - he also wasn't getting any older. Yet. "But this is the Room of Spirit and Time." He paused for emphasis. "I've gotta get out of here before time is fixed."
Puar coughed. "... You can't mean to imply that you're gonna leave us to do the work?"
"Well," Master Roshi leaned forward, "do shapeshifters age?"
"Yes but we can shift into a younger physical body. So we never look like we age. Unless we want to." Puar shrugged.
"Must be handy." Master Roshi mumbled, wondering if the shapeshifters appreciated just how lucky they were. "Suppose you'd never have to go to a hospital either huh? Break a leg, shapeshift yourself a healed one. Bada-bing, bada-boom."
"The skill does have its merits." Puar agreed. Pointing towards Oolong, she added. "Won't fix mental problems though.
"Voice of experience eh?" Oolong retorted sweetly.
"Shut up, pig."
"Backatcha, scaredy cat."
"I AM NOT A..."
"Kids," Roshi sighed, "drop it. We DO have the world to save."
Two helmets turned towards him. "We?"
"Yep. You've convinced me. I'm staying so that things'll get done. Carpet?" Master Roshi gingerly poked at the fabric beneath his feet, wondering if the rug took orders from strangers. "We've gotta find Time."
The carpet went rigid for moment as if thinking deeply about this request. Then it warped out of existence, taking its three passengers with it.