Chapter 45: To Change the Future Part One

o

Pan's aura burned brightly around her and Akira as she flew towards the Lookout through the rain and clouds. The young man was partially conscious after being freed from the enslaving device by his future self, but was still in no shape to teleport them to Dende or even keep himself in the air.

Pan's grip tightened around his waist slightly as she thought about Kanata, 'The Other.' She wasn't completely sure why, but there was something about him that unnerved her. Part of it was, without a doubt, the hallow look in his eyes, but it was even more than that. There was a bit of a ruthlessness to him that she couldn't quite understand. The way he just casually activated the device that drove Akira to his knees in pain without warning, the unprovoked attack, the sight of him holding an unconscious Akira up by his neck and trying to beat the life out of him, they were all so out of character with her Akira that it was frightening. She'd seen Akira lose control both when he was fighting Ammit and again when she found him next to the remains of a deer in the woods; both times were frightening, but this Akira, the other Akira, wasn't out of control. He just didn't care.

And that, she realized, was what bothered her about the man. He simply didn't seem to care who was hurt by his words or his actions. The ends justified the means.

'Jumping to conclusions a little fast, aren't we?' she mentally chided herself; 'I've known the guy for what? An hour, maybe, and already I've passed judgment on him.'

She glanced down at Akira and frowned at the bruises on his neck and face. It wasn't really fair to be judging him already, especially when her own feelings were tied so closely to his accidental treatment of Akira, but that didn't mean she had to like what her boyfriend could have (and still might) become.

She shook the thoughts from her mind and focused on the task at hand as Korrin's tall and impossibly thin tower appeared on the horizon. She'd get her answers and maybe change her mind about Kanata as soon as she and Akira had made sure the nameks were all safe.

ooo

"Oh Kami, you scared the crap out of me" Bulma said to the young man who was standing entirely too close for comfort. "Um, I don't know what they've been teaching you at college, but there is still such a thing as personal spa—"

Something sharp pressed lightly against her stomach causing her to stop mid sentence. Bulma looked down in confusion at the knife blade that was just barely touching her; her eyes instinctively followed the blade to the handle that was held tightly in Akira's hand, and then a little farther to a second hand that was holding onto her adopted son's wrist, that hand was attached to a man wearing a baggy cloak. When her eyes finally reached his face she let out a small cry of surprise.

It was a second Akira, but this one was older.

"Hey, long time no see" he whispered to her a second before he pulled the younger Akira away from her and threw him through the wall and out into the rain.

There were very few times in her life that Bulma had been left speechless, not that there weren't times where she should have kept her mouth shut, but usually she either had something witty to say or at least a snide comment to make. As she stared into the older face of Akira she couldn't even form a thought, much less a whole sentence.

"Go get Vegeta and stay with him" the cloaked man commanded. When she continued staring at him without moving he scowled in a way that told her he wasn't used to having to repeat a command, it was the same scowl Vegeta used to give her when he asked her or her father to repair some of his training equipment and they didn't instantly hop to it. She had never seen a look like that on her usually laid back Akira. When she still didn't start moving, he grabbed her by the arm and half threw half pushed her towards the gravity room.

"Go" he yelled, his voice sounded angry, but underneath the anger she could hear a hint of fearful desperation. Her mind finally reengaged itself and she hurried towards Vegeta's gravity room.

Kanata watched her run for a moment and then turned his attention to the clone who was picking himself out of the rubble that had once been a hotdog stand. The owner had been wise enough to run when his stand exploded as a young man was thrown through it. The stories of weird stuff happening around Capsule Corp were legendary; he didn't want to see how this one would turn out.

"Who are you" the clone demanded as he dropped into his fighting stance and glared at Kanata.

"I don't really think that's important, clone" the older saiyan replied with a scowl. "You aren't going to be allowed to hurt them."

"Clone? I'm Akira and that's my house."

"You're a sad imitation, murderer. There's no need to play your games, I already know all about you and your Arlean master."

The clones eyes narrowed and for a second Kanata thought he might try to run. If he had it would be unfortunate because there would be no way to track him afterwards, but then his head shifted slightly to the left as a look of slight confusion passed over his face. Kanata had seen that movement hundreds of times during the last decade; the clone was receiving a transmission through a slave implant.

A moment later the clone looked up and smiled"You know too much for your own good, I guess I'm going to have to eliminate you before I kill off Prince Vegeta and his bitch."

Clone Akira's smile instantly vanished as Kanata suddenly appeared just above him and brought both fists down hard on him, driving him into the asphalt of the street.

"That's my…friend you're talking about" the saiyan from the future growled as he stood over the hole.

The street cracked and then exploded as golden light erupted from with in the clone, Kanata flipped into the air and landed on the other side of the street, dropping instantly into his fighting stance.

"So, what are you then" the golden haired clone asked as he floated out of the enlarged crater. "Another clone? Did the saiyan's somehow learn of our plan"

"Something like that" Kanata said quietly as he also became a Super Saiyan.

The two warriors stared at each other for a moment and then as lighting flashed overhead, they charged forward with fists raised.

ooo

Pan didn't even bother to say hi to Mr. Popo as she ran into the Sky Palace, basically dragging Akira along with her.

"Dende" she called out loudly.

"Pan? What are you doing here" the kami asked as he stepped out of a side room, his eyes quickly took in the sight of Akira leaning heavily on the young woman and looking like he'd been in a pretty major battle. "What happened"

"Um...it's a bit complicated, but I need you to heal Akira. We're kind of in a hurry."

'When are you not?' Dende wondered silently as he helped Pan lay the injured young man on the ground and then began the healing process. Over the years of being the Earth's guardian, his formidable healing powers had grown even stronger so it only took a few seconds before the yellow light faded and all of Akira's wounds had knit themselves back together.

"Now then" the namek said with a pleasant smile"do I get to hear what's happening on my planet or are you going to leave me in the dark"

Pan gave him an extremely brief rundown on the interesting twist her life had taken that day, though she really didn't know all that much to begin with, as well as filled Akira in on what they could possibly be up against when they reached New Namek.

Akira, surprisingly, accepted the news of a homicidal clone without comment. He simply nodded his head and then placed a hand on her shoulder as his other one touched his forehead. In an instant, they were gone, leaving a very confused and very worried Dende hurrying to the edge of the Lookout to watch the events unfolding down below.

ooo

Bulma was about to knock on the gravity room door when it suddenly opened and Vegeta stepped out.

"What's going on woman" the Saiyan Prince demanded.

Bulma opened her mouth to explain the story, but then closed it when she realized she didn't have the foggiest idea what was happening. Her adopted son had tried to stab her and and older looking version of him had stopped him and then threw him through the wall.

"Well" Vegeta looked slightly irritated.

Bulma tried again, but this time was interrupted by a loud crash outside as the sounds of battle began to filter into the house.

Vegeta ran to the large hole in the wall and looked outside in time to see Akira and a cloaked warrior who also looked very familiar shot into the air as they fought. He was about to fly after them to help Akira or at least figure out what was going on when Bulma latched onto his arm and held him tight.

"Please don't go" she whispered.

"What are you talking about? Akira's fighting someone"

"I...I don't..." she stopped herself, took a deep breath and told her husband what had taken place in the kitchen only a few minutes earlier.

ooo

Kanata tilted his head a fraction of an inch to the left and the clone's fist sailed past him even as his own fist was blocked before it could slam into his enemy's face. The two Super Saiyans stood in the middle of the rain soaked road, feet and fists moving in a blur of motion as each tried unsuccessfully to land a significant blow.

Clone Akira's face was creased in concentration as he struggled to keep up with the speed and power of the older man's attacks. Suddenly, he noticed a small smile creep across Kanata's face; he had only a second to look surprised before a knee slammed into his stomach with such force that he was driven into the side of a nearby building.

Before the clone even had a chance to pull himself out of the rubble, Kanata had grabbed him by his shirt, thrown him into the air, and charged after him. The two continued their battle across the cloudy sky, once again in an apparent stalemate, but after the last attack the Clone Akira knew that his opponent was only toying with him.

"I'm sick of your games" he growled angrily as he ascended to the next level.

"It's not my fault you're such a wea—" Kanata's sentence was cut off as the clone's fist was slammed into his gut, doubling him over. Before he could recover, Clone Akira brought both hands down hard on his back, sending him streaking towards the ground.

The older saiyan flipped around just before he hit the ground and landed on his feet; the second he touched the street, he jumped back at an angle, narrowly avoiding being driven into the street by the clone whose foot hit the exact spot Kanata had been a moment before. Now it was Kanata who struggled to keep up with his enemy's attacks. He was able to avoid or block most of them, but was continuously being pushed back and occasionally taking a shot to the face or body.

The two warriors gradually made their way out of the city as their battle continued to rage through the clouds. After hundreds of punches and kicks had been traded, the clone finally managed to land a significant blow, sending Kanata slamming into the grassy plains far below them.

As he climbed to his feet and shook his head to clear it, the clone landed a short distance away and crossed his arms.

"Now that we're out of the city, are you going to start fighting me for real? There aren't any of those pathetic human's around to get hurt, so you can fight freely." Clone Akira said with a smirk.

Kanata smiled back and cracked his neck"I don't care about the humans, I just didn't want Bulma mad at me when she had to explain the body parts scattered all over her lawn."

The clone began to chuckle. "That's a little premature, don't you think? Vegeta's bitch won't be explaining anything to anyone after I open her up like a slaughtered pig."

Kanata's smile faded and his body seemed to tremble slightly at the words.

The first thing that Akira noticed when he rematerialized after his hasty teleport from his dorm room was the rain that was now splashing down on his head, flattening his normally spiky hair, and then he felt the cold water and mud that was covering and slowly seeping into his nice shoes.

'Great,' he thought as he looked down, 'Now Bulma's really going to be pissed at me...'

It was at this point that he realized he wasn't standing even close to the nice, clean Capsule Corp dome that had been his home for the past three years, nor was he smelling the wonderful scent of Bulma and Icalla's cooking. His eyes widened in confusion at the destruction all around him.

A few feet away he saw Trunks, Goten, Gohan, and (much to his chagrin) Pan looking down at something on the floor. The young saiyan could see some sort of red coloring on the ground at their feet, but they were blocking too much of his view for him to make out what it was that held their attention.

"Hey, where are..." his eyes fell upon a picture in a broken frame lying near his feet "...we..."

It was a picture of Trunks, Bra, and himself on a recent family vacation, but it couldn't be. That picture was hanging in the hallway leading back to the gravity room.

Akira slowly looked up and found himself staring into Trunks' grief filled eyes. The lavender haired saiyan stepped slightly to the side and let Akira see what it was that was behind him.

"No..." Akira whispered as he took in the sight of Vegeta and Bulma's broken bodies. Bulma's face was turned towards him, her eyes still open in surprise and pain. Blood had run off the bodies and mixed with the rain, forming small red rivers which were slowly making their way along the broken floor.

Akira's whole body felt weak as the shock continued to roll through his system until finally his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. The young man closed his eyes against the sight, but it seemed to be burned into the inside of his eyelids with amazing accuracy. Through the numbness that seemed to have wrapped itself around his whole body he felt tears push their way out from under his squeezed shut eyelids.

It couldn't be possible. It just couldn't. It had to be another dream, another nightmare. He'd seen images just like this one numerous times during the last week, this had to be just another one. He whispered over and over to himself that it was just another lie, another dream, but deep down he knew this nightmare was very real.

At some point he became aware of the arms that had wrapped themselves around him in a comforting embrace. His eyes snapped open as he realized it was Pan who was now holding him and instantly wished that they'd remained closed as he was just treated to another dose of the mangled bodies of Vegeta and Bulma.

Kanata looked up at the clone, his eyes burning with hatred as he ascended to the second level. "You killed them once, but I won't let it happen again" he promised.

Clone Akira only had about a half second to look confused before a fist buried itself in his stomach followed quickly by a knee that slammed into his face. The clone was sent flying into a small rock outcropping, reducing it to rubble, but he got back to his feet without hesitation and charged at the older saiyan. The two warriors locked in combat as fist and feet flew at each other faster than the eye could see.

ooo

"Akira! Pan! How good to see you my friends" Mouri said with a smile as he stood and dusted the dirt from his garden off of his pants. "What brings you way out here"

Akira glanced at Pan, who shrugged, before he said"There might be trouble. We need you to have all the nameks come to this village."

"What sort of trouble"

Pan gave him a sad smile and said"The only kind we ever see: end of the universe or at least the extinction of a few races."

Mouri looked slightly confused, but didn't press the issue farther as he went about calling the elders from the other villages and having them bring their people to the main village.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for all of them to arrive. Nameks were a long lived people who did not reproduce very often and so the population remained fairly small, only a few hundred nameks were ever alive at any one time. Because of this, and because New Namek was so much larger and untamed than Old Namek, the villages had all been built relatively close together; barely a hundred miles separated the villages that were the farthest apart.

Once all the namek villages had arrived, Pan explained what she knew of the situation to them while Akira stood back and tried to sense any sort of unusual power level. He'd been told of the clones so he wasn't expecting to find anything, but he felt like he should at least be doing something. The last time he was on this planet, all but one of the nameks had been killed in an attack because he hadn't been paying attention until it was too late. Though they had all been wished back only a few minutes later, Akira had still felt guilty about it. This time he would not make the same mistake.

"So" one of the elders spoke up as Pan finished explaining"You believe this person who claims to be from the future"

Pan opened her mouth to respond, but before she had the chance, Akira said"He's telling the truth, at least about who he is." The firmness of his voice left no room for doubt.

The namek elders all nodded as they contemplated the situation.

"Is there anything that we can do to help you" Mouri finally said after a moment or two of silence. "It seems that your friend from the future is saving us as well, we will do what ever we can."

"No, I don—" Pan started to say until suddenly she felt an enormous flare up of power just above her.

"Look out" Akira yelled as he transformed and shot into the air to intercept the blast, swatting it away so that it exploded harmlessly over the ocean.

Pan also transformed and dropped into her fighting stance as she turned and saw another Akira hovering high in the air, one hand out in front of him. Despite having heard it straight from the Akira from the future, she still couldn't believe what she was looking at. There was literally no difference between her Akira and the clone; even their clothes were the same though the real Akira's were a bit tattered from his fight with Kanata.

Akira silently floated higher until he was hovering directly in front of his clone. The two warriors stared at each other for a moment before the clone began to snicker.

"So, you figured it out, did you? Were you surprised"

"Why are you doing this" Akira demanded.

"Because my master told me to" the clone replied with a shrug"The saiyans killed his people, so he's getting his revenge. We're just doing what should have been done a long time ago."

"But the nameks haven't done anything to you, they haven't hurt anyone, why attack them"

The clone rolled his eyes"Boy, you're even dumber than the master said. It's not a very good revenge if your enemy just keeps getting wished back to life, now is it? It's nothing personal against them; they just chose the wrong ally." The clone glanced down at Pan standing below and looked almost gleeful"Hey, you even brought your little girlfriend with you! This is going to be fun. Once I kill you, I get to play with her before I get down to the business of wiping out the slugs."

Akira scowled"I won't let you hurt any of them."

The clone continued to smile, clearly not concerned at all by the threat in front of him"Big words from a tired boy; I'm surprised you can even hold yourself in the air. Tell me honestly, did you like those images we stuck in your head? Weren't they just a little bit exciting to watch? My brother is back on Earth right now making some of them come true, you know."

A half second later, an enraged Akira's fist slammed into his clone's face.

ooo

Kanata and the clone he was battling had now moved up to level three and were still going strong, though it would have been obvious to anyone who could follow the fight that Kanata was clearly the better fighter. His moves were smoother, his attacks more precise, and his defense was almost unbreakable. Ten years of constant fighting, even if it was done while he suppressed his true strength, had molded him into a highly efficient warrior and the clone couldn't keep up, regardless of how enthusiastically he threw himself into the battle.

"Were you always this sloppy" Kanata taunted as he easily avoided several wild punches. "I'm actually kind of disappointed, I've been looking forward to this day for ten years and you're barely even a challenge to me"

"Shut up" the clone roared as he charged recklessly forward again.

Kanata smiled and side stepped the attack, kicking Clone Akira's legs out from under him as he stumbled by. The clone hit the ground hard, but rolled to the side in time to avoid a ki blast from his enemy.

"Enough of this" the clone said as he began to power up once again and red fur sprouted all over his body.

The older saiyan watched in mild amusement. Now that he was sure everything would work out and that all of his friends would survive, he let himself feel almost happy. Nothing except the complete restoration of his friends and family in his timeline would truly take away the pain that was buried deep with in him, but the knowledge that he was about to tear this clone to shreds for the second time brought him a very deep sense of satisfaction.

The clone took a deep relaxing breath as his now yellow eyes locked on Kanata. "Well, this fight was interesting, but I have a prince to kill so I can't mess with you anymore." He charged up and fired a powerful ki blast, which Kanata just barely managed to avoid.

The saiyan from the future grinned despite the fact that the blast would have done some serious damage if it had actually hit.

"Before you start writing me off, let me show you what a real Super Saiyan can do." The ground around Kanata began to shake as he powered up, his muscles bulged under the strain of the power that was surging through them and his teeth gnashed together. Large rocks were ripped out of the ground and floated around him as he pushed his power level higher and higher until finally...

ooo

"Is this really necessary" Trunks asked as Icalla half-led, half-dragged him into another wine store that claimed (as the last four they'd visited had) that it had the best selection in all of Satan City.

"Come on, you know I want tonight to be perfect" the curly haired brunette responded. "This is the first time we've had a real dinner with your parents, Akira, and Bra all at the same time since we got engaged and with Akira and Bra's school and social schedules, we might not get another chance like this for a long time."

The purple haired saiyan sighed"Alright, alright, but this is the last place we're going to. It they don't have what you're looking for, we'll just get the next best thing, deal"

Icalla rolled her eyes, but treated him to a warm smile"How can the son of the richest woman in the world have so little appreciation of the finer things in life"

Trunks shrugged"What can I say, I'm Vegeta's son. And this kind of thing is a little..." he cringed slightly as though expecting a blow"boring."

Icalla didn't hit him; she wasn't the violent type and certainly didn't have the power to do any damage to a man of Trunks' strength anyway. Besides, there were much better ways of getting even, like making him go into five wine stores inside of an hour for instance. "Well, to hear your mom talk, Vegeta appreciates some of the finer things..."

Trunks groaned"I really don't want to know."

Icalla, perhaps in a bit of retaliation for him having called their shopping trip 'boring,' smiled and said"Oh, you don't think it's cute that even as they grow older your parents still...er, hunger for each other—"

"Enough, enough" Trunks called out, looking a little green in the face as he hurried down one of the aisles lined with bottles. "Let's get your wine"

He had taken only about four steps when his back suddenly stiffened and he whirled around, his eyes wide with confusion.

"Trunks" Icalla asked with a slightly worried look on her face. "What's wrong"

"It's Akira...but...he wouldn't do that..." Trunks' brow was furrowed as he tried to concentrate on the life force he had briefly felt. When Akira trained with Vegeta the two of them had something of an unspoken agreement that the young man wouldn't hide his ki, and usually Akira honored that unless he was fairing particularly poorly in a sparring match. For some reason though, this felt very different for Trunks. For one thing, the power up wasn't anywhere close to where Vegeta's ki could easily be felt. On top of that, it had felt more like a very powerful ki blast, not the kind of thing that any of the Z Fighters used when they were training.

That could only mean one thing though it didn't really make much sense: Akira was in some sort of fight and if he'd felt the need to use that much power, it must be bad. Trunks did find it strange that he couldn't feel the power level of any enemies, but he would just have to figure that out later.

"SorryIgottogo.Theremightbetrouble.Iloveyou,bye" he yelled as he sped out of the store so fast the wind knocked several very expensive bottles off the shelf as he ran by.

Icalla stared open mouthed after him until she felt a firm tap on her shoulder. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the stern-faced, older woman.

"I hope you plan on paying for those bottles your friend just broke young lady" the woman said with a scowl.

Icalla scowled right back, more than a little annoyed at the 'young lady' comment; what was she, twelve"Alright" she said with a sigh as she fished her credit card out of her purse"Put it on this." She glanced at the bottles on the shelf in front of her and grabbed the first thing that looked remotely good.

"Put this on there too" she added to the rude sales woman. 'Trunks Briefs you are so dead when I see you again!' she thought, though a part of her was worried about the way he'd rushed out. That was very unlike him, which meant he wasn't just trying to get out of shopping, there was probably trouble somewhere.

ooo

"Daddy! Daddy! Come look at fha elapants" Kumo called out excitedly as he ran at full speed out the door to where Goten was running through some basic training exercises. "The're singin'"

"Wow" Goten said as he lifted his little boy up onto his shoulders"Singing elephants? Are you sure"

"Yeah" Kumo said with a big smile"and dancin' too"

"Dancing too? Whoa" Goten ducked low so Kumo wouldn't put yet another hole in the wall as they walked through the doorway and headed to where the little boy watched his afternoon movie that usually (hopefully) would lead to an afternoon nap.

"Mommy" Kumo called out as his dad set him down on the pile of pillows that were propped up in front of the television.

"Kumo, honey, Mommy's seen the singing elephants everyday this week" Valese called out from the kitchen. "I need to get dinner started or you, daddy, and Uncle Gohan will be very hungry tonight."

"Gohan's coming to dinner" Goten asked as he walked to the kitchen and kissed a slightly flour covered Valese on the cheek.

"Yeah, Videl called the other day and suggested it. Now go watch the movie with our little terror or better yet take him outside and wear him out"

"Alright, outside it i—" Goten's voice broke off as he suddenly gasped. In the living room, Kumo started crying.

"What is it" Valese asked with a slightly worried voice.

"I..." Goten's eyes shifted back and forth as he sorted through the different power levels that he suddenly could feel. All of them were converging on the first one that he'd felt, the one that felt like Akira. "I got to go, sorry." He was out the door before Valese even had a chance to say anything to him.

The beautiful brunette watched until her husband was only a dot in the distance and then went into the living room to comfort her son.

"Kumo, what's wrong" she asked as he hugged her tightly and shivered.

"Scared" the little boy replied softly"scared..."

Valese glanced out the window, her eyes filled with concern. 'Goten, you better be safe.'

ooo

The battle between the two Akira's was raging back and forth across the sky of New Namek. Each fighter had pushed themselves to level two and where nearing the point where they would go even higher.

Pan was doing her best to keep her eyes on the fight even though neither warrior was giving off a ki signature that could be felt so it was nearly impossible to follow everything. Still, she had to make sure she didn't lose sight of Akira for long or she would run the risk of not knowing which one was the clone and which one was her boyfriend. At least for the moment her Akira was the one with little more than rags for a shirt, courtesy of his future self.

On top of keeping track of Akira she had to make sure that no stray ki blasts hit anywhere near the namek village. It would be inexcusable to have come all this way only to let their friends die because of a simple misfire.

High above her, Akira was moving as quickly as he could at this level. The clone was an excellent fighter, of that he was certain. Every move his opponent made seemed to be apart of some sort of strategy even when he was forced to go on the defensive. Fortunately for the young saiyan, after three years of training with Vegeta, he wasn't too shabby either.

The problem for Akira was that even though Dende had healed him, he still hadn't slept in a long time and that wasn't something the kami could fix. At the moment, adrenaline was pumping through him and keeping him fresh, but adrenaline could only do so much and he could feel the fatigue beginning to creep into his muscles.

"What's the matter brother? You really aren't making a good showing of yourself" the clone taunted as he sent Akira crashing into the ground.

A second later the Super Saiyan was back on his feet and charging into the air to resume the fight, but again he could feel his energy slipping away more and more quickly. If he didn't end the fight fairly soon, he might not have the strength to end it at all.

"Enough of this" Akira growled as he and the clone circled each other"it's time to fight for real." His aura swirled around him as he began to power up, skipping level three all together and going straight to level four.

The clone smirked and did the same.

ooo

Kanata stopped powering up and looked down at himself in confusion.

'What the hell? It's not supposed to be this hard to transform!'

"Hmm" the clone mused with a triumphant smile"That is impressive" He shot forward and kicked Kanata into the side of a nearby mountain, driving the older man all the way through it and out the other side.

Kanata lay on the ground for a moment as he spit out the blood that was pooling in his mouth, then he slowly pulled himself to his feet with a groan. As soon as he was up he dropped into his fighting stance and tried to look confident though he was suddenly feeling anything but.

'Why didn't it work?' he asked himself desperately as his eyes searched for the attack he knew would be coming sooner or later. 'I know I'm strong enough to do it and I can't lose that ability like Vegeta did...can I?'

Suddenly a new thought hit him and he reached back and rubbed the spot where his tail had once connected to the rest of his body, there was a large scar there and sometimes he could almost feel his tail swishing behind him even though he knew it wasn't there.

'Oh shit...' he thought just before a ki attack hit him in the back and sent him plowing into the mountain once again.

o

o

A/N: Well, I'm glad that most of you didn't find the last chapter too boring (even if I disagree). Sorry about not updating for a while, these fights just didn't come to me as quickly as they have in the past (plus there was that whole Super Bowl thing that wiped out a Sunday for me). This chapter was going to be shorter, but I figured that I owed you all something for not updating very quickly after the last cliffhanger and since this one ended with yet another cliff hanger, I'll be updating within the next few days. Anyway, thanks for the reviews (over 200 more than my last story!). Please let me know what you thought.

donkeykong27: No, I don't think it will be that sort of scene at the end (though I guess there will be a few clones so there will be some similarities). I haven't quite decided how it will all play out, but it's starting to come together in my mind.

Courtney: Hehe, yeah, the kissing thing was kind of funny to write. I almost had the previous chapter end with that instead of just with 'Kanata' crying. Time travel generally hurts my brain, but at least with separate timelines-thing it's slightly less confusing.

Draco the Destroyer: I'm glad at least someone agreed with me about that chapter being boring. Sorry about the repeated scenes, there really shouldn't be anymore after this chapter as things are all completely different (the only exception might be 'Kanata' thinking back on Pan or someone else's death).

UGotProblems: Obviously I was just waiting for you to review the last chapter! ;) I usually aim to update about once a week, but things just seemed to keep coming up this week, sorry about the delay.