The Long Road

by Drakthul

AU: Abducted at the age of three and a half, taken through thirteen years of bloodshed and strife, Gohan finds his way back to Earth... to finish a backlogged contract. On Earth, he will either overcome what he is, or be destroyed by it. Rated M.

68. Chapter 68: Under the Shadows

Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

A/N: This is the longest chapter I've produced. It may take a long time to read. Don't feel bad if you can't get through it all in one sitting. It's basically a novel. Sorry :\

The Long Road

Chapter 68: Under the Shadows

Raditz:

His nephew was the rallying point for all this. Vast armies of dead Saiyans, aliens, and even humans all loomed around the plateau the midget demon was hovering over. Some of them were familiar faces, others were complete strangers. All of them had their reasons, but for the Saiyans most of all, it was about preserving what was left of who they were. Even Raditz, who had a rather sour taste in his mouth towards Gohan, knew that his nephew was the only hope for their race continuing past today. So he, along with thousands of other low class warriors, raised his hand, offering his strength. The King himself was giving his strength even.

But what was remarkable, were the others. Bitter, resentful creatures who hung through these wastelands, often violently confronting others, were willing to give their power over. Some had reasons, like the damned Frieza family head King Cold and his former army, giving their strength because King Cold didn't want his son to die so soon. Other beasts there had other reasons. It was so strange to see so many there though. He didn't understand why some of them were there at all. Bojack and his gang were acting like they were paying respects at a funeral. Dabura had been the first one to offer up his power. The imp was doing it as well.

But what was surprising to Raditz more than anything, was that as he turned to look at the other Saiyans here, he also looked out behind them to find more than just Frieza's old army lining up. Beings he'd rarely spied before including trapped, damned souls lined up behind them as well. Aliens of all stripes raising their hands and offering up their energies as well. It was something he couldn't comprehend. The beings offering up their power were doing it why? What drove them to give power to his nephew? His nephew was just as vile as the rest of them.

Pulling his own arm away, he began making his way through the Saiyans around him, exchanging glances with Nappa briefly before making it to these alien creatures.

"What do you want, Saiyan?" one asked in turn.

He turned his eyes to the creature in question.

"My curiosity got the better of me. Why are you weak, meek creatures giving your power over to someone you don't even know?" Raditz asked. "I can understand the greed and planning of the others, or the desperate attempt to save the last of one's race, but none of you even knew him."

"Why not?" one answered, its lower jaw forward, apparently a trait of the bizarre species. "What else is there down here? We can all sense what's happening. This place is our nightmares, it's our eternities. Changing it for a few moments and being apart of something other than our own suffering is at least a change."

There was however, a half amused laugh which emerged behind the creature as a figure and several of his cadre moved forward. The figure was huge, even taller than he was. Turles felt himself dwarfed in power by whoever this was, and it was almost unnerving to have him stare at him from beneath his hood.

"I know the boy. That energy is familiar to me," he grumbled, smirking while he did. "I'll be giving my power as well, it would seem."

"Oh? You know him?" Raditz smirked. "You don't look like one of Frieza's men."

The amused look disappeared before the huge alien turned his hard gaze towards him, his green skin emerging from beneath his hood.

"I'm not one of Frieza's men. I recognize him because he killed me," Slug growled. "I tore his arm off before he killed me. I remember the look of rage he had before he tore my chest open. I stumbled across one of the great monsters of the galaxy without even realizing it. Over the years I've seen his body count rise, and it's been quite the feet to watch."

He killed him?

"So why're you here, alien?" Raditz asked coolly, looking for a plot against the idea.

The smirk returned before the gigantic Namekian pointed his hand out, his power starting to feed in with the others.

"The boy was good enough to kill me, then he's good enough to kill whatever that ulcer is on whatever rock he's standing on. The last being who knew I ever existed, is that Saiyan, your fellow," Slug admitted. "I'll give my power to my killer, if only to prolong my echo in the world."

Staring out past him to others, Raditz began to realize among these people donating there energy, were even some of his nephew's victims. They all had their own reasons, of course, but it seemed remarkable to him that one being in this blasted Hellscape, seemed to be the beneficiary of so much power, and more shockingly, respect.

Turning back towards the ritual at the centre of all of this, Raditz just stared out at the plateau where the dark powers fluctuated through the air around it.

To think. I'm the one who took the boy with me. My nephew is a warrior of this capacity? Remarkable. If it weren't for me, he'd be a nothing on that pitiful blue dot. Still, it's impressive.

Raising his own arm, Raditz felt his own power starting to drain away. If you couldn't take credit for things you'd accomplished, you could at least feel like you were responsible for the things other people accomplished because of you.

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Taro:

I've been to Hell before.

Taro's fist crashed into Gohan's face, sending the undead warrior's feet sliding back across the ground. Letting his own power field wrap around him, the amalgamation of Trunks blasted off after him, flying above and beyond Gohan's form, appearing behind him and driving his palm into his lower back. The other Saiyan yelped in pain before Taro's boot came in, striking towards his side. In a surprise motion, Gohan managed to raise his knee and shift his form, blocking the strike before laying his own fist into his Taro's. Anger burned through his mind as Taro's head tilted to one side, his face contorting from the blow before he struck beneath Gohan's arm, slamming his fist into the other Saiyan's chest, before striking his stomach next with two fast, harsh blows. A wet thud exuded from the hits causing Gohan to choke before Taro swept into him from the other side, landing the kick he intended before and sending Gohan's form bouncing across the battlefield.

All of those impudent, failed experiments in Hell can rot there along with you, Gohan. As if I would get myself stuck there.

Landing on both his feet the Saiyan inter dimensional conqueror felt his feet tread forward one after another. He felt himself tense as he sneered at the prone body which was laying on its belly, its clothing torn and his body covered in bruises and lacerations. How quickly his latest opponent had fallen. The fact his hair was still golden was the only indicator that he was still conscious. It was almost disrespectful that he thought he could just lay there and ignore him.

"I created every one of those nightmares," Taro remarked. "Each one of them was just another dark dream which followed me in my dreams. And you expect to conquer me with the refuse of my imagination? They'll be cast out of my perfect world. I won't even given them the dignity of reappearing."

A thousand whispers moved behind him as he heard the fragments of himself murmur their fears and worries, their concerns and their stratagems. Focusing in on two or three of these valued muses, Taro just relaxed his stance as his concern washed away. How many lifetimes of battle did he understand? Well it was simply, if Gohan wanted to play dead? Why didn't he bother just being dead?

Energy crackled around his own knuckles a moment later, marking the moment he came into striking distance.

"Get up," he ordered. "I know you're plotting something, it won't work."

Patience running thin, Taro finally kicked Gohan's body over, seeing over bright golden energy at his core, formed into a perfect sphere.

"Surprise," was the only word Taro heard as the light flashed in front of him, sending a beam of raw energy at him at point blank range.

There was only a splinter of time for him to step aside from it as the wave ascended into the heavens above. He didn't even bother looking after it before raising his guard, blocking a harden fist with his forearm. A surprised look passed Son Gohan's features as Taro locked eyes with him. It was always best to peer into their souls, to better understand why he'd created them. This Gohan, this Beerus, this universe, had been made as a test for him, hadn't it? This was the final barrier he needed to pass before he ascended past the walls of Toki Toki City. That was why he needed to go through this inconvenience.

It was ironic however, that the surprise was for Son Gohan.

Slamming his fist into the other Saiyan's abdomen, he then struck upward with his other fist, landing an uppercut. Spit shot into the air while Gohan's head shot up. His frame flipped once on an angle before hitting the ground, rolling back.

So disappointing. So much bravado, and this was all I could come up with? This world is a scab that I can't stop picking. What will be next? Heaven's warriors empowering Kakarot? Vegeta intervening? I can barely focus on what Gohan... or any of them... are supposed to be anymore. They don't matter. I can see right through them. And you all know it, don't you? He can't surprise me, because I created him to fit into my world. A world which I command.

Taking a few steps forward, he looked at the rasping Gohan who stared up at him, brushing some blood from his lip.

Taro formed a burning ball of red ki in his right hand, black lighting wrapping itself around it, the superior of the two of them just inclined his head upward. The only of the two of them that was real felt his smile return.

"Your surprise was disappointing," he commented confidently. "Then again, the last time a Gohan surprised me was a very, very long time ago."

The undead figure smiled back at him however, looked dogged, determined, and cold. He closed his right hand before preparing to rise. As if on cue, as soon as his legs started to unbend, Taro kicked him back down to one knee.

"I want you to die on your knees," Taro commented, looking down at him from above. "It seems more fitting that way."

Raising his hand back, the energy ball began to crackle more brightly.

"Crimson Destruction-!"

"Surprise," Gohan repeated.

Surprise?

Golden light flashed from behind him in a split second as his own eyes widened. Something searing and hot emerged as a sensation before he sensed the explosive force emerge. The gigantic energy wave had come back, clearly still under the command of its origin. His armour, which had been cracked by Beerus, shattered and tore from his body entirely, leaving only his black undersuit. The force of the attack forced him down to one knee as his orb disappeared from his fingers. It was impossible for him not to cry out in pain as he fell to one knee in the midst of the blast.

Smoke surrounded him as the ground was kicked up in the huge blast. The ground behind him cracked and then broken as his personal ki field blunted the blast in front of him, ironically shielding son Gohan as dust swept past them in the oncoming explosion. This much pain, a real burn which penetrated his flesh, hadn't appeared on his body in hundreds of universes. Before the shockwave had even finished, Taro saw the smoke in front of him sweep away as Gohan's form appeared in the air, jumping up as his left leg hooked out. The sound of his Super Saiyan aura swept past them as a massive golden field appeared around him, red lightning crackling around him, signifying the source of his power. In a crescent swing towards him, he felt his cousin's foot catch him in the side of the head. His right eye almost lost its vision as his head started to ring. Spit shot out of his mouth before his head fully shot to one side. Angrily and rapidly he recovered, snarling before turning his head back. Already, Gohan's body had swung about, throwing his other leg out in a back kick. The roundhouse caught him in the same side of the head, this time his heel digging into his face, the impact being even stronger. The sound of the ki exploding on the side of his head rang through his ears before Taro felt his body take off the ground. The explosion of Gohan's power had already dispersed the dust and sent his body careening through the air.

Several seconds of flight were a haze of motion which left Taro feeling nothing but light headed. His own eyes were almost hollow before he blinked, realizing exactly what just happened. When his shoulder skidded along the edge of the rough terrain, scraping across a burnt and toppled log, it sent his body twisting and turning in the air. Flipping around, he felt his hand traced across the surface of the Earth before he dug in, ceasing his flight as the ground was ripped up beneath him.

Something akin to real fury unfurled from within him. Defiance was something he found amusing, endearing at times even, but this had long ago become something far less than amusing. It was exhausting to his spirit, if only because he wanted so very much to simply move on from this moment. But worse yet, even if he had decided to move on, he'd committed so much to the destruction of this universe's Earth... it would always leave him incomplete. Perhaps that was what this was. A part of his psyche wanted to break him before he ascended past the triviality of this existence. It wanted to show him as fallible. Perhaps it was his subconscious, wanting to show him that if he couldn't conquer these flawed worlds... even these unpredictable worlds, he could never go on to rebuild all of creation in such a perfect light.

His anger, his fury, wasn't just directed at this road block in front of him, it was directed at himself.

In a full motion of pure speed, Gohan's form appeared in front of him again, the other Saiyan looking to follow up his attack. When he struck out towards him Taro deflected the punch to the side before grabbing Gohan's throat in a flash of speed. Driving him forward, Taro flung the other Saiyan around in one full swing before driving him back first into the ground with a mighty slam. Releasing his neck, Taro pulled his arm back before striking down, dropping his fist back into his head, snarling as he did, before driving the next punch in from his other hand. A half dozen more blows were added in rapid succession, his arms moving like lightning before his right hand was finally caught by Gohan's trembling hand.

It finally brought his smile back, seeing blood draining from his cousin's nose and lip, and his arm barely able to hold back his hand. The difference in power between them being far too great for him to truly resist.

"I wonder," Taro breathed out, feeling some of his own tension decline as he did. "Are you going to struggle as little here, as you did when that creature Garlic killed you? If you'd really wanted to win, if I'd wanted you to win that, you would have. All I can see right now is an infantile attempt to resist."

The Saiyan grimaced before smirking slightly at him, locking with his gaze.

He thinks himself clever. You see, I don't much care for that. He's about as clever as-

A stream of spit and blood hit his cheek when Gohan spat in his face a second later. The calm demeanour which had been slowly beginning to return to him, faded immediately as he felt his own features loosen to that of a cold statue.

"Infantile," he repeated coolly, before he felt Gohan's feet come up under him, flipping him back.

Landing on his feet a moment later, Taro turned towards his adversary, who was finding his feet. A moment later he shook his head, trying to clearly keep himself focused.

"If you made me, then why would you criticize me for being who I am?" he proposed in response. "Though I don't think I'm in the mood to argue agency and determinism with someone whose out of their mind. We'll have plenty of time to argue once we're roommates in Hell."

The arrogance was unbelievable. It was as if a child had thought himself an adult. A mere piece of his imagined creation wanted to believe himself his equal, even when he knew the difference in power between them. From the blows they'd exchanged so far, Gohan's power and performance had already suffered more than his own. It was clear he was harmed just from the blows he'd landed. Where as for himself? Certainly he'd been... tried, but he was far from significant damage. Superficial issues beyond the burn on his back, was nothing compared to what he was sure Gohan was suffering.

His own aura began to swirl around him again as Taro plotted his next action, his next move, his next attack as it were. Perhaps it was time to decapitate his problem, rather than bother fighting with it. Fighting with a deadman was like arguing with a post, it was pointless and a waste of your own time. It even wasted the post's time. Especially since this particular post was going to be erased from all existence soon enough.

"You think yourself so brilliant, don't you? You think from your prior experiences that if you just hold on, that you'll find a way to beat me," Taro chuckled. "You know that's impossible."

"I don't have to beat you, I just have to avoid losing," Gohan's words vibrated through him as he felt his eyes flash unexpected.

Immediately, his eyes traced towards Son Goku, seeing his arms in the air. When they moved further up, he could only see a large ball beginning to form above him. There was a long pause before his eyes turned back to Gohan, seeing the confident, dark smile stretch across his face.

The Spirit Bomb hasn't killed me before... but this world is filled with strange obstacles. What if it acquires enough power? But why would I let it? Either in my imagination or even in my response? It's just not possible.

Slowly, Taro felt his anger beginning to boil as he felt his impatience beginning to rise. Worse yet, there was a nagging sensation in the back of his mind... the nagging sensation he'd not recognized almost at first. It was the idea that something... something of his own imagination, something of his thoughts made real in this universe... could be a threat to him.

When his fist slowly closed, Taro felt his breathing trying to level as he did his best to contain this new anger at this very fabric of this cursed reality. A decisive victory would be needed, and quickly. There was only one problem, of course...

He sensed Gohan's energy rising, rather than declining. The mouth of hell itself seemed to be standing in front of him, and it was enough to give his calm pause. His mind wondered to the surface of Hell itself, and he felt his lip curl into one of near disgust as he could see a scene in his mind's eye. It wasn't just the familiar lackeys of failed incompetence who were beginning to fuel Son Gohan, it was ancient evils and the damned themselves, he could sense their powers circulating into him. This was beginning to concernhim.

"Mad?" Gohan almost laughed before tilting his head a slight degree to one side and continuing to smile devilishly before wiping some of the blood from his lip. "What're you going to do? Kill me?"

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Gohan:

Only the most vague memories still spotted his mind. The world was nothing but pain in so many respects. Where he was he could barely tell. Medical instruments hovered over him from an automated doctor, a far too familiar and almost uncomfortable sight for him. The recently healed flesh had taken too long to get into the tank, which unfortunately meant that scars now marred several parts of his frame. More scars, that was exactly what he wanted, sure, that was sweet. He knew this was the case because of the strange sensation they always gave off after being healed from a healing tank. His memories were hazy, moments in a frozen wasteland brushing past him.

Of course, he remembered when that green monster had broken Turles in front of him, and blasted him into oblivion. The violence which followed had been even worse. He'd torn his arm off.

The thought chain was broken immediately as he tried to sit up, moving his right arm, then surprisingly, his left. Curiously the limb pulled up in front of him, looking to have an off shade. Even more curious, the arm didn't give him the same sensation that he had before. It took him less than a second to determine that they'd replaced his arm and left him in a coma which had been induced in the tank. This was his new arm now. It was impossible to not stare at it. If he listened closely enough, he could hear the servos inside of it helping the synthetic material move. Based on the fact he didn't have a battery hooked up to him, he knew it was somehow feeding on his ki to work. It didn't stop his disappointment when he looked at his arm. Firstly, the surgery to implant it hadn't been painful in and of itself, but he shoulder felt awkward and uncomfortable just with it being latched onto him. Worse, he knew he was still growing, which mean that this arm would need to be replaced and refitted several times. A long sigh escaped him as he let his real arm traced over his own body, looking for more signs of damage.

There was a patch of synthetic muscle on his right side. A few treatments would see skin grafted over it he was sure. But it was just the sign that he was losing parts of himself from the constant series of battles he faced.

Hydraulics behind the main doors to this medical lab, which honestly had more of the vibes of a house of horrors, hissed before the doors slid open to his right. Light emerged from it, almost blinding him in the bleak atmosphere he'd awoken in. The silhouette of two figures were clearly visible in the light, and he recognized them immediately. Salza and Cooler were here.

Lord Cooler.

"It's not every day that I need to invest in a Saiyan," Cooler commented from the door, before beginning to walk inside.

"Thank you, Lord Cooler," Gohan answered instinctively.

"Not bad kid, your ships recorded the entire encounter. You managed to shut down one of the few things in the universe that Lord Cooler considered... problem, to the trade," Salza chuckled. "After all, that green idiot was ruining whole worlds."

Turles being dead didn't seem to be a problem for them. It was a problem for him, and the full weight of everything was hard to vocalize or fully understand. He could barely get over the 'arm' that was hanging off his left shoulder. He knew he was still in a state of shock right now. It was hard to even answer Salza at all before he managed to stare directly at Cooler, the master of this galaxy.

"You deserve to be rewarded for your service so far, Saiyan," Cooler remarked. "Salza. See to it that the boy is promoted."

"Promoted?" Salza asked, his eyes widening. "But he is still a boy. Not a-"

"Are you questioning me, Salza?"

"No, Lord Cooler."

The only thing Gohan felt at that moment wasn't elation or fear of a promotion. He didn't feel almost anything, even Turles's death seemed miles away. It was relief. Even if he'd just lose his arm.

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Goku:

The dark energies hanging in the air around him made Goku's stomach almost flip. It was incredible and intense to watch his son rise up to the challenge this monster had brought, but there had to be a price. Everything had a price to pay, and sometimes it was much higher than the person paying it expected. If they won this battle, what price had Gohan agreed to pay?

But beyond his concern, already looking ahead to the battles beyond, Goku felt real pride in watching his son. Even in the midst of this nightmare, he could see his son making the right moves. He was using the new power which was being donated to him wisely. There had already been several very tense moments. Now watching the two square off again, anyone else sensing this energy would say they were watching two monsters square off. But Goku knew better, that was his son. For all of his faults, for all of his mistakes, and despite all the terrible things he'd done, he could see the change now more clearly than ever. The day they'd first met one another again he couldn't imagine that person coming to be this person.

He didn't have the opportunity to see his son fight Garlic, or Broly, not in person in the latter's case. Now he was being given the opportunity, even at this dark hour, to see his son fight, and fight like the man he knew he'd have been if he'd not... lost him. Even if over half the fighting was nothing but blurs of motion, he could sense the powers as they clashed, and he knew exactly what his son was doing. He was playing for time, rather than expending all of his power trying to overwhelm Taro.

He understood that he couldn't do it alone, which was something Goku knew he'd learned only after he'd met him. The fact that his son was dead bothered him more and more as he watched the battle unfolding in front of him, his arms in the air. It was almost hard to concentrate on forming the Spirit Bomb itself as his eyes followed as best they could the motion in the air, only seeing the briefest clashes appearing in the sky as the two bodies struck one another. The waves of force rippled through the sky and earth with each passing blow. It was remarkable that he could tell every blow that was being exchanged from sound alone, and he could almost visualize the fight in his head. What was more remarkable was how smart Gohan was being as a fighter. He was forcing Taro to take the risks in their encounters, which lead to him taking an easier path. Even when they exchanged blows, he would often land more, even if they were less effectual. Each wave of energy that passed over him, just lead to him furthering his understanding of how his son had learned to fight.

The days of the hyperbolic time chamber were being relived by him. Even if Gohan was stubborn, and disruptive, and arrogant, and even cruel at the time, he saw moves only he could have taught him being performed.

Do it Gohan, you're fighting like you need my help with the Spirit Bomb, but you don't. You can win this without me. I know you can.

The orb of energy above him was growing, but even at this pace he knew it could take seemingly forever to form an attack which could actually threaten Taro, at all. How much power did he need, from so many sources? It was almost unbelievable.

Vegeta's feet landed next to him a moment later, staring away from the battle every few seconds.

"Do you have any idea who that is?" he asked.

"Uhhmmmm... Taro?"

"No, not him, the purple one. The cat-"

"Oh, you mean the guy who was beating up Taro for a while? Uhm, didn't he get called Beerus?"

What a strange thing to fixate on when we're watching this happen.

"That is Beerus the Destroyer," Vegeta remarked. "Even if we win here, we may all be doomed anyway. He's a monster who destroys whole worlds for next to nothing, almost any disrespect leads to their destruction."

That's... bad. But what a power. He was head and shoulders above Taro, and I can't even properly sense his power. It's crazy!

Turning his attention back to the battle before him however, Goku's eyes set in on following what was occurring.

"If we don't stop Taro, then this is all doomed anyway," he said honestly. "Gohan's energy is growing still, which is incredible-"

"He's taken in power from outside," Vegeta observed. "I sense Frieza's father, Turles, and thousands of others in him. Clearly the boy has made a bargain to gain that kind of power. None of those fools are selfless enough to give anyone charity."

The undercurrent of distrust in Vegeta's voice couldn't be hidden, but he did notice the Prince turned his head towards him, before giving a half smile.

"He knows what he's doing then," he strangely reaffirmed.

It was a surprising thing to be said, especially from Vegeta of all people. But Goku sensed the motivation behind the words. They were as close to friendly or positive as Vegeta got, and he appreciated the sentiment. Here at the end of the world, it was Vegeta he was standing by. Which was something not lost on him, after all the battles they'd waged against one another, and against monsters which seemed to come out of the darkness to destroy them.

The positive energy of the conversation turned bleak as Goku sensed two powers appearing nearby, and even a tiny unfamiliar third one.

Oh no. Turn back.

Looking towards Vegeta, he only saw the Saiyan Prince look up with frustration and unmentioned concern. The closed fist said it all.

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Gohan:

It was like having sludge slowly draining into him. The nature of most of the power in his body was sickly, it was like being infused with death, or being infected with a putrid venom. For all the strength it gave him, every bit of power made him feel unwell. Inside of all of it, he could sense the natures of their strengths. Garlic's was the worst, if only because he could almost sense the strange, sick desire the dwarf had. Familiar energies from Turles and others were there as well. There was another, strangely familiar power in all of this that he couldn't place his finger on, but he could sense its dark tendrils sinking into his body as well.

The power was only growing as more sources of power seemed to join. There was no way he could have interacted with all of these people. There was no way he could have wronged or helped all of them. It was absolutely bizarre to him. Why were they helping him? In their power he couldn't sense their full motivation. Every blow he traded with Taro, he felt his power gaining if only because of the volume of peoples contributing to him.

Despite the sick nature of the power, it was something Gohan felt truly empowered by. It wasn't his own power, it was power from a dubious place, but it felt as if each one of these creatures, despite their worse natures, were standing there with him defiantly before this fallen nightmare from another world.

His feet hit the dirt, sliding back as he breathed in heavily, feeling almost winded from keeping up this level of intensity. It was strange how his undead body took on the characteristics of someone who was alive, but didn't feel the protracted issues a human form would. All this power centred in him would have caused him to potentially explode if he were alive, or would have burned through his body. Even his labouring breaths felt strangely manageable. But he already knew that from all the fighting he'd had across the surface of Hell.

Despite the peculiarity, despite the new destructive strength inhabiting his body, he liked to think he understood his strengths and limitations.

Across from him, he noticed only the barest signs of fatigue from the one he'd focused his anger and hatred towards. His shortcomings, his fate, might be linked to this monster intervening in his life for only a few seconds. It made all the pain his body was in, and it made the sick sensation he felt from much of the power he was receiving, very easy to cope with. Everything in his very being was focused on this piece of shit who did nothing but ruin the lives of everything it touched. He even felt bad for Brass, another creature this monster might have helped create and ruin, or at the very least lead him to his death. How many times had it killed him, and ruined him?

All of it didn't matter as he stared down this creature, who was now walking towards him once again at a brisk pace. Any moment it would devolve back down to speeds which shattered physical barriers just by assuming them.

"Are you as angry as I am that we have more guests arriving uninvited?" Taro asked darkly, smiling as he closed ranks with him. "After all, I don't think you're as fast as I am. Nor do I think you have the ability to defend so many misguided warriors, now do you?"

It was as if on command that Gohan sensed Krillin and Tien. Tension moved through his shoulders as he felt himself breathe in and out only once before quietly scanning for them with his eyes.

"If I am not mistaken, your father's best friend Krillin can't be wished back with Earth's Dragon Balls again, it's very remarkable, isn't it?" Taro idly remarked. "It would be a shame... if he and his three eyed friend died, would it?"

There was a strange disturbance in the energy around them as Taro smirked back at him. Taro's power had dropped, significantly in front of him. He was still above his overall strength still, but it was as if his power was moving towards Krillin and Tien as they approached the battlefield. There was another power, an insignificant one he was sensing as well, and it was approaching at a much slower pace. Humans, humans were stubborn apparently thinking they were going to effect the outcome of this kind of fight.

It was then that Gohan realized Taro had split forms.

Shit.

His aura immediately surged before Gohan burst with pure speed towards the two powers approaching from beyond. As time slowed down with his movement, it was easy to catch sight of the other figure moving in the air. Looking back behind him, he could see the other Taro racing to catch him, a look of malice and amusement written on his features. Sometimes you needed to cut your losses in a battle. Maybe Krillin and Tien would be those losses, the same way Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time had been.

Every tactical part of his mind told him he wasn't going to catch this double of his enemy, nor was he going to prevent him from killing the humans in question. Trying was a worthy function, but it wasn't going to change any outcomes. It was a throwback to his nature, it wasn't cowardice, it was just being honest with his situation. It meant that he was going to have to watch as his father's friends died, and he was going to be next to helpless doing that.

And his predictions were easily tested.

And verified.

Victims of murder who never saw it coming were often the best off. It was clean, and quick. That was the only thing Gohan could hope for in this instance...

When Taro blurred out of the air, he saw him draw the sword he carried, decapitating the three eyed warrior before he even realized what happened. Krillin's body was almost frozen in time as well as Gohan reached the scene, reaching out as far as he could to grasp Krillin and move him aside, but instead he felt a hand grab his foot, yanking him back before a wave of energy vaporized the small human before his very eyes in a flash between seconds.

Pain exploded in his own back a moment later as an elbow drove into it from the Taro behind him. Before the light in front of him even faded, Gohan felt a punch crash into his cheek from above, driving him into a flipping decline. Another strike into his back came mid flip as his body was driven into the battle scarred surface below. When his body impacted it tore through the churned up topsoil, as if he was diving into a lake. Scattered bits of mud and dirt scattered around his impact as he made his way into the clay layer below.

His father's friends were dead. It took only a moment of effort on Taro's part to annihilate them. The outcome had been obvious. Digging his fingers into the surface, he winced in pain as his back throbbed intensely from the multiple impact points. The monster knew he'd try to save them. Worse, he knew the nagging voice in his own mind had told him that he couldn't save them. Their deaths had been in vain, and had only been a few brief moments in-between seconds. What had their lives even meant? What had they hoped to accomplish? He was almost angry at them for even showing up.

What were you going to accomplish? Damn it! Everyone on this damn planet always tries to make a difference. Fuck!

Pulling himself up from the hole his body had punched into the ground, Gohan pulled his head up first before climbing to his feet.

"The last thing I need," one Taro commented, sheathing the only sword among the three bodies which planted themselves onto the ground in front of him. "Was more distractions. More pointless creatures coming here to make a difference. But you know that full well, don't you Gohan? Why keep the excess around?"

It was a reference to his life before. It was disgusting that this thing knew anything about him, for any reason.

He responded to the trio of Taro in front of him with silence as he looked on. The big problem for him right now was that the multiform technique was usually not a problem. It split the power evenly between the forms. The main problem was that Taro's power being divided like this, made it almost like three of his equals were across from him. The main advantage he'd been exploiting was fighting defensively and forcing Taro to come to him. They'd been trading blows, and his body was already dead. Sure things hurt, sure he got injured, but it could persist more than a mortal, living body.

And he sure as hell couldn't stop Taro from killing his father's friends, even like this. With three of them there, there was no way he could provide protection to anyone. Worse, he knew that his own defensive stance was going to be overwhelmed. He just didn't have the power.

"This isn't the first time we've fought, you know," one Taro remarked. "My memories... they come flooding back to the fore as I need them. I know you... I knew this world before arriving here. I remember fighting you and defeating you at the Martial Arts Tournament... I remember killing you in another time. I even remember trying to help you with Babidi, Broly, and Dabura..."

He'd killed the devoured the Trunks he'd met in this timeline. The fighter he'd come to blows with, and had severe interpersonal problems with. But also the fighter he'd come to respect, and who he'd help bury his rivalry with. Strangely, in many respects he saw this Trunks as a friend. And his fate was to get murdered by this piece of garbage, and have everything he cared about stolen from him. Murdered just like he'd just killed Tien and Krillin, or how he'd murdered Trunks just minutes earlier.

He'd just murdered his father's friends. It was like they weren't even there. If anything this things sadism allowed him to do it without a second thought. Even now all his adversary seemed to do was strive for an upper hand, if only to torment him.

In front of him, in these 3 figures, he saw reflections of a monster who cared nothing about anyone, because they were all just playthings. Even his victories over these people meant nothing to him, not really. They died for nothing beyond his own vanity. Their lives ended, and everything they cared about was being pissed on by this bastard.

"I never fought you, I fought Trunks," Gohan fired back. "And you're not Trunks. You're just some crazed maniac who thinks he is. I've seen what? Three Trunks now? They all look the same. You look a little different there, Trunks."

Spitting a moment later, Gohan pulled his fists up, preparing for the next round of this fight. There were three of them, all as strong as himself? Fuck it. He'd died before, and he'd die again. Death was all around him, and right now he was beginning to narrow his increasingly furious vision in on them. His aura flickered to match his temperament as he increasingly hardened his stance, the ground beneath his feet cracking from the pressure. The borrowed power from beyond made his body faster and stronger, his ki more intense, and it was still growing.

The centre one, the one possessing the sword, dashed towards him, drawing the blade. As soon as it cut past where he stood, he swept around, snapping his foot up and kicking the copy in the stomach. A pained, furious look covered the duplicate's features, but by the time it did Gohan already felt an elbow digging into his back, before a lariat came from the other side, smashing into the neck and jaw. His body flipped through the air before two feet planted into his chest, sending him rocketing back whilst upside-down. Another kick stabbed into his side mid flight before a spinning backhand slammed into the side of his face, planting him into the ground.

It was dizzying as his hand pulled up, grasping at the cracked ground before he flipped back instinctively. Where he'd just been crumbled and shattered into a crater as one of the three shot in towards him.

Something electric passed through his body as he sensed the stomp coming in to finish him off. The world seemed to freeze before in a blink of an eye, Gohan was already on his feet again. The foot crashed into where he'd once lay. Pain shot through his back and torso, but it was enough to drive him forward. With a slapping noise, his fist slapped into the chest of his attacker. A surprised look crossed its face before it slid back a dozen metres, staring at him the whole time with cold dead eyes.

In each of those pupils, Gohan could almost see Trunks... screaming.

Narrowing his eyes, Gohan instinctively looked right, seeing no copy, before his gaze shifted left as another copy was already upon him. The force of the ki around him swirled violently as it entered his space at break-neck speed. Blocking the fist strike, he then felt another blow land from the one in front of him. Without the strength to resist, he lurched forward, gagging as he did.

"I only need two of me to kill you, Gohan..."

"And I only need one to kill your father and Vegeta..."

In the moments between seconds, Gohan's eyes traced to where he sensed Taro's third appendage's power warping towards the Spirit Bomb's base. There was a cold sensation in his gut as he realized that his father would be as quickly dispatched as Krillin and Tien, perhaps earning himself only a few seconds. Energy swirled up from his core as black, purple, and red energies rippled around his form. The aura around his body intensified inside the same fraction of time. The two copies, locked against him in a block and assault both widened their eyes as they sensed his ki expand to its fullest extent. The blast that followed sent the ground cratering once more, before the field of energy blasted against the world, passing through the air around him. The two figures disappeared in a wave of dust and fury filled shrieks as they were sent back. Focusing in every bit of his power, the Saiyan born of Earth, launched himself like a bullet into the air, exploding past every physical barrier.

The panic in his heart was familiar. It was the same sensation he'd felt when he felt Pan was going to get killed by Garlic, or when he saw Goten being strangled to death by Broly. It was a sense of hopelessness and fear. All of it born of the race to catch this thing and stop it. All born of the fear that he could be too late already.

"The humans were fools to think they could help here... Kakarot... something's wrong," he heard Vegeta's voice vibrate through the air as he closed with the two. "Something's-"

At the last possible moment, he saw the clone appear in front of them, just as he did. The familiar red energy of one of his attacks glowing in front of the two astonished warriors. Vegeta tried raising his hands to deflect even though he would have known it was pointless.

"Goodbye-"

Taro's words were cut short however as Gohan grabbed him from behind, locking his arms together around his waist before throwing himself back, bending his back and swinging the other Saiyan back. The bolt of red energy left the other fighter's hand before it shot straight into the air. It was seemingly harmless before a red flare of light covered the sky, outperforming the sun. The moment the flash overtook the sky, Gohan slammed Taro neck and head first into the ground with his bridged suplex. Flipping over him with full force, Gohan's feet landed on the ground as he kept his arms locked, snapping back with even greater force as he ripped Taro out of the ground and slammed him once again. This time the ground crumbled before he flipped over once more, pouncing off the ground with his feet this time as soon as they landed. The two went skyward briefly before he shot straight back down, crashing Taro into the Earth's surface a third time. In the same moment, he ripped Taro back out of the ground, before tossing him backwards, finally releasing his grip. With both his feet planted again in seconds, Gohan kicked off the ground in pursuit.

Son of a bitch.

An intense thought crossed through his mind, interrupting his already angry predisposition. The fact that this thing tried to get past him and murder his father told him a lot. It told him first that it was worried about the Spirit Bomb, or at the very least was malicious enough to disregard him for its own pettiness.

The figure in the air in front of him was shaking off the three blows it'd just taken, trying to steady itself. He saw Taro trying to shake off the rapid disruption it'd just faced, and knew now was the time to press his advantage. Anger was a useful fuel to drive this advantage home as well. As soon as Taro's eyes fully opened and met his, he was already descending on him. Twisting in the air, the other "Saiyan" shifted and twisted out of his way, blasting higher into the air to try and gain some distance, clearly looking to preserve himself and await his other clones.

"Go for the kill."

Turles's voice shifted into his mind as he felt it almost painfully vibrate through his ki. A 'chorus' of other forces rung through him in agreement as he focused his power into a single point, his aura flickered in this hyper speed environment as his hands glowed with raw power.

Think you're going to get away? I'm willing to bet you'll enjoy this one.

"Is flying away from me the only way you'll stay above me, Taro?! Cataclysm Cannon!"

A wall of purple energy washed over the barren landscape of fallen mountains and destroyed forests. The silhouette of his adversary's shadow evaporated in the light as he became not but a speck of dust in the sky before the leviathan of energy ascending towards him. When contact was made, Gohan instantly felt the resistance as the entire beam was almost disrupted. A howl of exertion came from above, and in that moment tactical manoeuvring immediately entered the half Saiyan's mind. Releasing the beam on his end and blitzing up, past the wall of purple energy before it could fully dissipate. Appearing behind the furious copy of Taro, Gohan swung his fist out, catching his target in the back of the head just as the light faded from his attack. The force sent Taro on a spin towards him before he focused all his might into his right arm. All that hate, anger, and resentment that tainted his ki warped into his arm before he drove it down into the surprised opponent.

When the blow landed, he immediately heard the crack of Taro's jaw. Glassy eyes flashed into existence as the clone immediately lost its flight control and just launched towards the ground without any control or resistance. When the body hit the ground, a plume of smoke immediately pulled up from the crater his form had made.

Breathing in and out heavily, Gohan brushed some of the sweat from his brow. Muscles ached and the blows he'd received moments earlier started to catch up with him, especially in his back. Descending from above, his feet planted on the ground opposite the crater as he sensed the other two forms of Taro shifting into the area, standing at the edge of the crater and looking into it.

One of the two surprisingly looked almost nervous before staring at the other and looking back down at its opposite, unconscious form.

For all of his talk about being a pseudo-god, the two figures remaining had the look of a man who had just had an awakening of sorts. It was a taste of mortality.

Raising his guard and keeping his focus on his enemies, Gohan felt electricity surging around him as his aura reemerged.

"Heh," Gohan smiled a second later. "I always wondered what I looked like when I first got to this planet and got a wake up call. Really hurts the pride side of things, doesn't it?"

The two faces across from him scowled before all three bodies disappeared in a phased almost wave of reality bending, before a single, united and grim creature appeared opposite of him, his face seething with rage.

Well, you've done it now...

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Taro: Timeline 7276

Brass was a super powered mutant, as far as Taro could tell.

With his arms crossed, Taro passively observed his brother's form as he kicked into Android 17's side. They'd been doing this for months now, and every world they came to they acquired more power. But neither he nor Junia acquired power quite like Brass could. He was a wrecking ball, and clearly took after their familiar heritage much more than he ever did. Brass had already defeated 18, and now was defeating this arrogant creature Android 17. Junia had of course, eagerly called for the opportunity to face down Vegeta.

It was almost adorable how much glee she seemed to take in reaping vengeance on her father, in this instance a man who didn't even know her.

They'd been building themselves up of course from one challenge to the next. Frieza and Kakarot on Namek came first, then a myriad of other opponents. Cooler, King Cold, their father, and now increasingly future points in the timeline looking for more strength to challenge. With each hard fought victory came more power. The more devious and powerful the opponent, within reason, lead to a perfect battle. It was vastly superior to any training they could do otherwise. New techniques, new strategies, and the raw experience of fighting an opponent to the death was rapidly advancing their talents. Once they were through killing the inhabitants, they would continue until the challenge ceased being what it was intended.

No challenge? It was simple... up the difficulty.

Another boom rolled out over the landscape as the Android blasted past him with Brass ripping after him in quick order, shredding through the hardened asphalt of the road as he did.

But there was something curious. There was a purple haired boy who was wounded badly. He was laying up against the side of a scorched, once yellow car. A line of deep red, coloured almost purple, was trickling down his bruised chin. This has been another one of those Super Saiyans. He'd watched him die once before, beaten to death by Brass, and it looked like that wasn't going to be all that different this time, given the condition he was in.

Looking around passively, Taro strolled over, feeling the wind pick up, wrapping around his white cape and blasting it into the air as his black hair flowed along with it.

"W-why?" he managed while staring up at him, a horse cough following up after him.

Examining the shredded cargo pants and torn denim jacket, Taro just smirked before kneeling down in front of the teenager, looking him in the eyes. There was something off... almost familiar about them. He allowed his smirk to rise up to one side of his mouth before shrugging.

"Why not?" he reasoned aloud, talking to the soon to be corpse. "Look at me, wasting time with a corpse. You know, you should feel very privileged. To be destroyed by the true inheritors to the Saiyan race is quite the occurrence to participate in."

There was a moment of confusion on the boy's face, and it was almost enough to make Taro laugh as he looked towards the Android and his brother in the air, almost jealous of the natural fighting aptitude he seemed to display. It was very much like watching Gohan in action, or his father. Admittedly, Gohan being dead, at least the Gohan he knew about being dead, reduced the chances of every seeing such majesty in battle. The child they'd killed earlier in this world was as much Gohan as he was anyone else. A mundane child with little power.

"I don't recognize you, though. You weren't the hardest to kill, but not the easiest. And you're clearly a Saiyan. One of Vegeta's then? The woman in my group will be very disappointed to find out that she didn't manage to kill you, I suspect. If she hates you as much as she hates Vegeta..."

Another cough wetly passed the dying boy's lips as a resentful gaze crossed him. He was looking increasingly pale, which was fine for someone who was rapidly separating themselves from the mortal world around them.

"You're killing us... and you don't even know us?"

The disgust soaked through his words worse than the blood from his chest wound was soaking into his undershirt.

"I know the relevant ones. It is a shame Kakarot is dying of a heart condition right now. There isn't any sport in that," Taro remarked honestly. "The next world, we'll need to find one where he's still active. But, I must be boring you."

"Who are you?" the boy barely asked.

A small snort left Taro while his attention was turned back from the battle between Brass and the Android in the distance.

"I think I asked you first, in a round about way. You've got much less time to answer than I do, I'm afraid."

A wheeze left the boy before he grimaced again.

"Trunks."

Immediately Taro's vision sharpened on the boy. It wasn't made to refer to him... it was made to refer to himself. As if on instinct he wanted to reach out and grab his throat and squeeze the life out of him as he had his own mother. They weren't fond memories, they were very much in the vein of furious ones. There was almost a quiver of his lip in a rage, but he did all he could do to calm himself. Connections began to click together as he examined the teenager, this Trunks in front of him. This worn, shredded, bleeding bag of misery was Trunks. They shared the same texture of hair in common, and there was some commonality in their eyes. His own were filled with vicious persecution and anger, even if he tried to keep his features calm.

This boy was Trunks. Meaning that he was... him... in some weird way. How was that even possible?

When his eyes scanned up to Brass again, he just stared for several seconds as blows were exchanged in the air as the Saiyan laughed as he struck out across the cybernetic adversary before several flashes of light emerged between the two.

There wasn't some man going around announcing himself as Brass, or anything else for that matter. There were no female Saiyans running around who struck a remarkable look to Vegeta. There was this boy claiming to be him. That didn't make any sense. It held no tether to the world as Taro understood it. Even as he passed through dimensions and timelines... the idea there could be a him... but to be so profoundly different? Especially when he saw the reflection of Vegeta in his features, it left a foul taste in his mouth.

"Strange..." Taro couldn't help but hiss with all the venom and bile that was growing in him. "So am I."

Violently, he reached out, grasping the top of the other Saiyan's skull as he dug his fingers into it. Breathing, even if in a struggled state, immediately escalated on the other Saiyan as his own grip tightened. He wanted to know everything... even as the legs kicked back at him viciously, Taro wanted to see what this Trunks had lived through. He wanted to see what it was to be... him...

There was the desire to see what his own life could have been. It was strange, it was perverse even. What would have he had if his mother hadn't abandoned him to his father.

Memories began to flood into him as the struggle on the wounded Saiyan began to degrade. It was a slow drip at first as he took more and more with every passing second.

He wanted it all.

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Taro:

It was impossible not to notice the similarities. This wasn't what he'd imagined, that was true. This was like reliving his past. Not in a battle he'd taken part in directly, but it was like watching Son Gohan... the Son Gohan of original world. The one which had stood up to his 'father' and been struck down in front of all of them. Perhaps it reminded him equally of the Gohan he'd fought in what seemed like a lifetime ago, who possessed the power to defeat the beast known as Buu.

The last blows which had knocked out his inferior replica, had been delivered with such force that he felt them reverberate through his very being. The amalgamation of monsters in front of him had formed something he'd not expected to see on this world. A challenge was emerging, beyond just the two hellish figments of his imagination, Beerus and Whis. Even now they loomed above them, spying on their every movement awaiting their moments to act. He was more than ready, of course. The very walls of reality were paper to him, and escaping the hapless immortals of his imagination would be a simple act.

It really hurts the pride of things.

The words rang through his mind as Taro cracked his neck to one side, unable to conceal his contempt for the warrior his opposite. The baked and burnt dirt beneath his feet was dust incarnate as it drifted over their feet when the wind picked up, before he even started to flair his power once more. A weakness had turned to a strength. Gohan had used his willingness to strike at his loved one's, or at least comrades, as a means to shut him down. It lured him into an exposed position, and lead to a calamitous result. Despite being many times his superior, and more than his equal even in split form, the other Saiyan had disabled and crushed him through a series of misjudgements.

Still, even now as the distance between them felt great, but their eyes were meeting in perfect symmetry, Taro's mind... the mind of a thousand men, began formulating a series of engagements. But something off was in those thoughts. Memories of myriad timelines, memories of struggles against Androids, Saiyans, and other monsters rushed through him as they all involved Gohan. It was remorse filled, guilt ridden, pleas of mercy or for the past to be different hit him internally like a wall. The chains which bound them straightened and tightened within moments as he felt his sneer deepen. The choir would need to cooperate more going forward. Clearly this also meant he could only draw on the reliable ones for the moment, not for their strength, that was at his fingertips... but for their ideas. A few lone voices emerged from the screams as Taro's eyes never left his 'cousin'.

This really is my final challenge, isn't it? Beerus... Whis... a Spirit Bomb, and this abomination of nightmares. I can see it now, you know that? I can see how perfect it all is. I never need question myself, as I am both the villain and the hero. I've made such a masterpiece for myself...

There was a brief moment of pause as Taro's eyes drifted past Gohan momentarily, eyeing Vegeta critically, looking for any signs of intervention. It was strange he was so reserved. Traditionally Vegeta would have gotten himself involved, and then gotten himself killed by now. Another puzzling part of the act, he was sure. The fact that he'd already amalgamated his 'son' into him, two times alone in this universe, as well as the fact that he'd killed Vegeta so many times... this behaviour was atypical to say the least. There was most definitely a fury there... but it was quietly stewing, rather than raging like the inferno he had come to expect.

Well, it was time for the last part of this charade. The last sentence in the paragraph, for the notorious Son Gohan.

"Gohan," he finally almost whispered through the tense air between the two of them. "My pride is hardly tarnished by one small skirmish between us. You know the difference between us. I won't even boast about it, it's meaningless to do so. We both know you're merely trying a holding action, even with all of those failures feeding you their energies."

The lack of a verbal response was fitting. Did these morons really think him a fool? The desperate last stand was something he'd come to expect from these worlds however. The Spirit Bomb Kakarot was attempting to power to defeat him would take days to accumulate the appropriate amount of power to defeat him. What a joke. The threat of the Spirit Bomb was far greater than the reality of it. As if Son Gohan was going to stall him for days. He would be lucky to stall him for another ten minutes, if not significantly less.

Though his power was still growing, and his body was dead, there were certain limits to what a body could handle. Especially in one fell swoop.

"Tell me, Gohan... all of those miserable creatures are lending you that volatile power. I can sense demons, aliens, and monsters oozing into your reservoir. The damned and the guilty, the worst criminals in an endless history I've written for this world, are donating their energy. Why?" he asked. "For what purpose? They're all self serving and pathetic. What do they get for giving you this power? They're still damned. Why do they care about the fate of one little world?"

There was something behind the monster's eyes in front of him, something which somehow felt he was asking a question he wouldn't understand the answer to. It was preposterous to even think that, of course. The depth of understanding he possessed was an ocean, and this thuggish version of Son Gohan was little more than a puddle. Other Son Gohans... scholars, warriors, and otherwise would have been better suited to explain anything as far as he was concerned. The look his counterpart had struck him as condescending, but there was something deeper then that, even he realized.

"I don't know," Gohan answered a moment later, cautiously lowering his guard as he stood upright in front of him, still tense and prepared to defend himself in rapid order. "Maybe they want something to believe in. Maybe it's hope."

The comment seemed to come from within, as much as it did from without. And that was something which Taro enjoyed, if only because he let his smile reemerge as he carefully stretched for a split second, before looking squarely back at his cousin. Things were most definitely fascinating, if the denizens of Hell itself had hope. Better yet, if they put hope in a creature like this Gohan.

Lazily, he let his head tilt back slightly while not breaking his eye contact, letting his smile slide further up the side of his lips.

"I look forward to taking it away then..."

It took only a fragment of a splinter in time for the two of them to resume their fighting stances, though Taro's advantage was evident to himself when this happened. His advance towards Gohan was like gliding between the micro-seconds that lay in the air, stilled between them. When he appeared next to Gohan, he swing about, striking down from beside him. With a thunderous explosion of noise, his foot slammed into Gohan's ribs just as his arm motioned to defend himself. A gag began to form at his core, but his body was moving so slowly Taro easily took advantage of it, plunging his fist into the side of his face. Flesh contorted around his hand as the warrior's eyes winced in pain before his head began to slide towards one side. His feet lifted off the ground in a strange kind of grace, as the force which struck him carried him back.

Plotting out Gohan's course, Taro's minds whispered his pathway. They saw every possible path Gohan could take, every defence he could manage. Even with only a fraction of his other selves helping him, he could see it.

Drifting through the air after him, Taro arched above Gohan, striking down with his elbow towards the sailing Saiyan. This time, as expected, Gohan managed to twist out of the way. When dodging his cousin turned and struck out with his fist towards him, trying to catch him off guard. Shifting past the blow, Taro punished the other Saiyan by zipping back to his feet, grabbing his foot, and shifting his mass and strength to whip Gohan down towards the ground. Already baked Earth shattered into a huge plum of dust below as Taro pointed his hand down, smirking as he did.

A dozen bolts of red energy plunged into the dust below as a fiery red dome of energy appeared in the midst of it all as the sky turned crimson with the assault. The crack of the blast below was satisfying enough. The winds howled from the explosion around them as well. When he slowly lowered himself to the ground, Taro's features remained impassive as he heard whispers again running through his mind amongst the chorus of agony that permeated his every thought.

The time for playing with his prey was over. Especially as he eyed the two figures up in the sky, above all of this. Whis and Beerus seemed to be drinking something, what he couldn't be sure of. His baleful glance caught the attention of the inseparable duo.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about your opponent, than worried about us? After all, you might actually beat them. You don't need to worry about me. As soon as we fight again, you've already lost," Beerus declared, scoffing at him a second later before continuing to delve back into his drink. "Besides. It's been years since I saw a good fight. Don't get distracted now."

Blowing air out of his nostrils and flinching in disgust, Taro turned his attention to the debris plumes before him, looking for energies which may lay within. Turning his head towards a corridor of air which swept through the dust, he narrowed his eyes on it.

This is all child's play. It's very boring for me honestly. It's just like listening to the ocean crash against the shore. And it's equally futile on their parts. Even with the extra power from below, this fighting is very decidedly over.

There was anger in the air swirling towards him as the world turned golden when Gohan's aura appeared. He lashed out immediately with a roar and a straight right punch, moving at breakneck speeds. Shifting his left hand up, he cast the fist striking towards him to the side and smiled darkly at Gohan. Reaching out to grasp him with his right hand, the other Saiyan pulled back barely in time, and fell down onto his back.

"Don't you thi-"

The words were interrupted as from the ground, Gohan's legs kicked out his feet. Tripping back, Taro felt the briefest of surprises. He knew the attack would come from below again and predicted it. The air around him was repulsed by ki alone before he tilted in the air, avoiding the rising punch which had been aimed for his back. His legs peaked up in the air and his head while he looked at the Gohan in front of him. Reaching out with both hands he grabbed the sides of his head.

"-nk you're trying too hard?"

Flipping back to the right side up, the force of the twist sent them into opposition positions, before Taro's feet planted on the ground once more and with an immense amount of force, he flipped and tossed Gohan straight into the wastelands around them. Pointing his hand out, red ki formed in his palm once more as his eyes narrowed on the undead creature, before firing the round off. He saw Gohan tumbling through the air, trying to gain his bearings, before looking up into the red orb itself at the last second.

When the ki expanded and exploded in front of him, Taro saw it expand like a wave crashing against the shore. Though this wave had done its job, destroying the beach in one fell swoop. As the light bled away, a strong wind, perhaps of his own manipulation, brushed the dust in the air aside to reveal the burnt body on the ground. It'd taken sufficient damage to end this little skirmish. The black haired Saiyan now lay on the ground unmoving.

You bought your friends what? Two minutes. Pitiful.

Turning away, Taro's dark smile shifted towards Vegeta and Kakarot in the distance. And he could sense their worry, he could sense their despair. It was...

Power flickered from Gohan's form. Turning his head back towards the fallen body behind him, the unified Trunks felt a rush of memories move through him. A thousand different Gohan's who struggled against their own ends, or the ends of their friends, or who valiant fought on despite the odds rushed through his memories. His other selves for a moment wept not in their own agony... but in hope. It was the first time he'd sensed it. Hope for liberation, hope for salvation, an end to their suffering. But most of all, a hope for the man who resembled the only brother they'd ever known. For if it wasn't by blood, it was by strife that they'd become brothers.

The choir's chorus morphed and Taro hated every moment of the brief rebellion. The chains tightened as they never had before. The power never stopped flowing, but freedom of thoughts which were of their old, dead lives, left to be relived so freely? Disgusting. Worse than disgusting, it flew in the face of everything he'd built. It flew in the face of the world's he'd built. It flew in the face of his destiny.

Something raw, something too raw to be hatred came to the fore of his mind as Taro narrowed his gaze on the body. Slowly, an arm moved, sliding over the dirt in front of it, trying to gain its bearings before briefly pushing up. Black hair flickered back to Golden, and Taro watched as a wobbly corpse continued to pull itself up.

There had been enough power in that blast to kill him, but not enough to annihilate him. And that was just the problem, wasn't it?

This death deserved to be painful now. It truly did.

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Goku:

This is bad.

This monster was shredding through Gohan now. The power gulf between them was more than noticeable, and so far Gohan had managed to exploit Taro's arrogance to his advantage, but clearly that wasn't happening any longer. The exchange between the two of them was short, and violent. His son had been roundly defeated in under two minutes. He barely landed a blow. And now that monster was staring directly at them. This was the beginning of the end. He'd been in so many fights and he'd seen so many more than he knew when the end was coming. And there wasn't anyone else coming to save them.

Worse, he'd just watched his son die, again. He was already dead, but... it was never easy. It orbited his panic at the situation. Even his normal attitude of just trying to win was faltering. He'd been nothing compared to him, even at his maximum power. Now here he was, holding an incomplete spirit bomb and he had no means of defending himself.

The stare itself was vile, and Goku knew that this was going to be... quick.

"Kakarot," Vegeta's voice cut into his thoughts. "How much longer until it's ready?"

"Too long," Goku answered Vegeta honestly.

There was only quiet for a second before Vegeta sighed.

"I thought as much," he almost grumbled before looking over at him from the side. "I'll give you as many minutes as I can."

"It's not going to be enough," Goku warned.

"I know."

Flickering almost in the darkness, Goku sensed the change in the air when Gohan's body seemingly came back to life. But it wasn't alive. It just wasn't dead. Golden hair replaced black in seconds as his son tried to rise to his feet. Even from this distance Goku knew that several burns covered his form. What he saw next was the turning of attention once again. It was hardly relieving. The shadow of the fight ending at any moment emerged, but worst of all it meant something else. Gohan's role in the fight wasn't over, and normally that'd be a good thing. But he was hardly in a condition to fight right now, and his power was still far too far behind Taro's to continue. This would be the conclusion to a slaughter. Even if Taro took his time and tormented Gohan, it wouldn't be enough time to buy them the win they needed.

This was going to be just watching a monster kill his son, and probably torment him as he did it. It was hard to contain the anger he felt at that. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. This thing was able to ignore him and just do as it pleased. And if they didn't stop him, those two in the air would, Which would mean that their whole world would be destroyed as well, according to them.

"The boy isn't finished yet," Vegeta remarked, his eyes keenly staring at the situation as it unfolded. "How much longer he's going to hold out however, is very suspect."

It was then that Vegeta sensed something, something which Goku hadn't noticed yet. Turning his head sharply, he glanced towards where they'd left Piccolo and Goten.

"The Namek is there, but..."

Something emerged on the power spectrum around them as Taro closed the distance by walking to Gohan. It was something very familiar and Goku felt his heart stop.

No, no no what are you doing?

"Hey!" Goten shouted from behind Taro.

Immediately Goku looked at Vegeta, his eyes telling as much as his words could.

"Vegeta. Get him out of there."

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Taro:

There was heavy breathing on his cousin's part, which was understandable. The question was, was he really breathing, or was it required? It was a curious question. He might need to strangle him to find out the true answer in all honesty. On his knees, his cousin was trying to regain his footing, clearly. When he stopped in front of him, Taro felt his lip curl in something akin to disgust.

"You're still... here," he commented, almost wanting to say alive were it not for the halo over his head. "I'd be lying if I said that pleases me."

There was only breathing for a moment before his counterpart looked up at him. The energies around his body were increasingly intense, and it was something to note. He was still very small compared to him, even if he believed himself strong enough to manage a distraction, but the pool of energy around him was still growing. There was more concern there than Taro wished to admit. Was this part of his game preparing himself? To face down the corrupted nightmares he'd made in his own dreams, through this persistent vessel?

I don't want to play this game. I think it's time to aim towards the rewards, versus playing this any further.

Reaching up for his sword, Taro just looked back to Gohan with an intense gaze, his hand wrapping around the hilt of his blade.

"Hey!"

A voice emerged from behind him, and Gohan himself looked ahead with wide eyes, clearly concerned. And he had every right to be concerned, considering it was the voice of his little brother behind him. But truthfully, Taro was confused by the camaraderie displayed. Everything he knew of this world's Goten and Gohan told him they'd despised one another. Still, the reaction was real, it was genuine. It was very human. Such things you couldn't rely on to simply see every day.

And it was almost perfect.

When Gohan looked back up at him, Taro maintained his smile, before turning his back on the other warrior, and beginning to approach Son Goten. The teenager was breathing raggedly himself, his golden hair in the air with electricity around it. Hundreds of thousands of instances of struggle, play, and friendship played out before his eyes. It used to be very difficult to silence the second son of Son Goku. It wasn't really any longer. Especially once he realized that all Goten was, was a companion designed in his own mind to alleviate his loneliness. Being the only true thing in all of reality necessitated the need for small lies. Lies like others being more than a concept in his mind.

"He can't hurt you," Gohan breathed behind him. "Leave him out of this."

Turning his head to one side, Taro smiled directly at Gohan, a spark of his malice showing through. It was very easy to torment things which weren't real at all, really. Once you saw through the lie of what they were at their core, that was.

"No," he answered coolly, before beginning to walk towards Goten. "And don't worry Gohan, this time I won't drop my guard. I won't get overextended. You can watch him die in real time. As close as you want."

The golden aura in front of him burned intensely as Goten's energy flickered in front of him. This was the strongest Goten he'd ever seen, at least at this age. It was fascinating to see the others so comparatively weak, but the teenager so strong. This world's Trunks most certainly wasn't this powerful even. Still, seeing the boy standing there defiantly, his rage running over him and flowing through him like a high grade fuel was fascinating to view. He was absolutely hopeless, of course, but fascinating all the same.

It would be all the more fascinating when he started to pull pieces of him apart. It made the chorus wriggle with such agony when he did so. It was a sensation truly worth waiting for. Something fascinating however, was the near fearless look he was acquiring from the child, who knew how powerful he was.

Putting his hands to his side, blue energy expanded into his palms as the light around them was drenched in a bright, heavenly blue. An attack he was all too familiar with. Stopping his walk, he just opened his arms up, not even truly raising his guard.

"Alright, you may take your shot," he said almost gently. It was a matter of coaxing the right response. "But, you only get one."

From behind him he felt a swift motion as Gohan rushed his back. Stepping to the side and raising his arm, he blocked the incoming strike before driving his knee into the other Saiyan's gut. A long gag emerged before Taro tossed him back with a flick of his wrist.

At my full power when I'm not playing any games anymore, you crumble just like the others, don't you? You try to rise up like an avenging angel, but in reality you would need to rise like the unending tide to challenge me. You are a man of my creation... I am the force of nature itself.

As soon as his thought finished, he sensed the massive wave of ki blasting towards him. Turning his head back, he felt the wave collide with his form and simply wash over him, as little a bother as being in the rain. When the energy ceased, the light faded and Goten was still standing there. A defiant look was still written across his face. Well, this one definitely had teeth, didn't it?

"I normally make you much less frail, you realize?" Taro chuckled, beginning to take steps forward again. "Allow me to show you."

Opening his palm, red energy wrapped around his entire arm before forming into a dot having above his hand. Turning his eyes to Kakarot and the Spirit bomb, he then turned back to Goten.

"Goten! Run!" Gohan shouted, trying to rise from behind. "NOW!"

Too late, Taro flipped his arm forward as the tiny shard of light shot towards the boy, before only metres away from him, it expanded to its true form. The massive orb of crackling red and black energy appeared, still moving at maddened speeds. There was a disturbance in the air just before the orb struck Goten, and rolled past where he'd just been. The horizon turned into a fiery storm of violent energy in the distance, rivalling the sun itself seemingly as Taro was left standing there.

That one attack was more powerful than the Spirit Bomb currently was. Did they really think him so impoverished or stupid?

Still, it was disappointing that Vegeta had stepped in at the last moment. Only centimetres away from the outer limits of the threat range of the orb, Vegeta appeared, holding the arm of the dazed and shocked Goten.

"Well Vegeta, are you finally entering the fray? Because I will kill the boy-"

"You'll kill us all," Vegeta quickly retorted. "Why don't you finish with Gohan first? Or are you a coward enough to try and kill children first?"

What's amusing is Vegeta is attempting to shame me into not killing the boy. It's delightfully amusing. Normally he'd never shy away from letting anyone fight. Hell, in his prior life even in this world, Vegeta himself tortured and killed children across the universe, and then destroyed their homes and worlds. I loved watching that story unfold. The Prince of a lost race, who destroys others. Its poetic, really. I should award myself for creativity.

"I guess I'm cowardly enough. You can either die with the boy, or you can let him die first and buy yourself some time to reflect, Vegeta. The choice really is yours."

A hardened look crossed Vegeta's features as he closed his fist tightly. And with a sinister grin, Taro took another step before halting. Something insignificant was on its way here. A spec of dust drifted over an ocean of power, and that was fascinating to Taro. This was really happening? The power was different, but very much the same as he always expected it to be. Another valiant soldier come to defend the world, in this case little more than a human whose father was a braggart. When he turned and looked at Son Gohan, he almost doubted he knew the girl in the distance for a moment, before he noticed the glance that Gohan gave to the sky.

"I think it's time for you to go back to where you belong. Don't you think, Gohan?" Taro asked, his voice toned to almost a gentle point. "You can take those nightmares with you."

Opening his hand and pointing it towards the sky, his body began marshaling its power. Energy swept over his form and coalesced into his hand once more. A deep red aura flowed over his form, tainting him in its crimson light.

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Gohan:

Staring into the air, Gohan knew who was up there and it immediately made his stomach churn. The only reason she was up there was because of him. Her whole life would have been different if she'd never run into him, and he'd never fucked it up. A crime with a victim who was still alive, a victim he could see. An echo which drew him back, but at the same time repulsed him. The last crime he committed to fully, and committed. The last atrocity that he tried to fix and couldn't. And just like Krillin and Tien, there was nothing he could do.

Except when Taro spoke, he knew exactly what was being expected of him. Whether this monster knew or not, he knew enough clearly. Maybe in another world she was something more to him, the love he wanted, perhaps unspoilt by a ruthless killer willing to do anything to survive. The whole world looked doomed and there was no way he could save everyone. So this was his next crime, to let the mother of his daughter die up there, namely because she was desperate to help. He couldn't even save Goten, or Vegeta, or his father like this. Even with all this power he was still so far behind he could at best make Taro put some small amount of effort into it all. He knew when someone was being serious, and Taro was barely scraping on that edge right now. The only time he was serious was when he was fighting the rabbit-cat-man in the sky.

There was something surreal about watching the power flicker across Taro's body, and there was something cold about the choice he needed to make. The wrong place at the wrong time, described everything about Videl's life so far. She had the misfortune of meeting him, and so she was punished for it. She was punished by him, punished by circumstance, and punished by Garlic.A selfish voice in his mind told him there was nothing he could do, and any moment on this Earth, even while getting beaten, was better than a moment back where he was meant to reside.

The voice went quiet when Gohan's power flared around him. The golden aura around him trailed behind him as he raced through the air, at every moment he could sense Taro's power rising. The energies within him seemed confused by what was happening more than anything. But for the first time in a long time, something felt right about this. It was like a weight was being lifted off his shoulders, one of many admittedly, but one from the past. A lingering sense of guilt which had trailed after him ever since the World's Martial Arts Tournament.

When he appeared in front of Videl, her white aura stopped in the air as her eyes widened while looking at him in shock and horror. She looked exhausted, like she'd already been in a fight today.

"You're alive," her voice managed. "But.. but how?"

"No time, you've gotta go. Now."

"Crimson Destruction!"

This is it.

Twisting in the air, Gohan brought every bit of power to his fore. His arms reached out as a blinding wave of violent red energy exploded across his vision, before it focused into a single, devastating beam of light. When it struck him, his power was almost brushed aside immediately, burning away in the red light before his barrier crumbled in front of him. It was like seeing the world breaking down around him, as much as his power was breaking down. It was all an exercise in futility. Goten, Videl, Pan, his mother... his father... he was going to take this for someone. And it wouldn't matter. Even as he felt his energy buckle entirely, his thoughts were wrapped up still in things which he could never change, and a life he could never have.

Everything went red as his form was caught up in the energy, his skin seared and burned before he felt himself scream out as he was simply carried away...

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Taro: Timeline 2509

There was a nervous series of glances at him from his brother. Yes, Brass was his brother. He had to keep reminding himself of that. The dozen voices in his head all of them pleading with him every waking moment felt like they were peeling at the fabric of his mind. Everything felt so surreal, and almost unreal for him now. Vegeta was his father, only he recalled Turles was his father. But in every world they visited now where he existed, it was Vegeta who sired him, and always a boy named Trunks. It wasn't as though he had any great love for Turles, he most certainly didn't. It wasn't even that they only had some traits in common, no...

It was the idea that these Trunks, no matter how cruel their histories were, always had a thing in common which he felt was cruelly deprived of him. Their mother's loved him, and did so in an almost doting manner. The sensation of being wanted was something he'd never experienced before. Even now as these frail creatures were left broken in the recesses of his mind, each one of them pleading for release from the prison that had come to be their home... Taro couldn't help but wallow in their memories. Memories of the lives he'd been deprived. Years worth of happy events. Lives outside of a ruthless power hungry court. Even life in a devastated Earth with few resources and android killers seemed like heaven compared to the paranoia of expandability, or the constant play for more influence and succession.

Every time he lived in these lives now trapped in his mind Taro felt as though he was viewing the world from another lens. And it was a lens he'd crafted seemingly. The world was filled with more colours, but also more shades then he'd ever noticed before. Strangely... it was also less real. Everything he touched felt like it was conveniently placed, or setup as if it'd been destined to be there by an invisible hand. Everything seemed truer and nothing seemed real. It was a strange fate to face, but it was one which increasingly captivated his perception.

The stare from his brother however, was increasingly frustrating.

"Yes, Brass?"

"Junia and I have still been trying to figure out what's wrong with you? Where are you getting all this power from?"

Jealousy? Of course it was jealousy. They could only see the benefits of the strength and they couldn't see the expansion of the horizon. To know one's self was a power far greater than ki. To know one's self from another world, to know his purpose, his history, and memories? That was greater yet. Turning his full attention to Brass, Taro just raised a brow.

"I've been fighting in the same battles as you," he pointed out.

"Cut the shit. Two months ago I was a hell of a lot stronger than you. Now I can't even tell how far beyond me you are. But I know you are. What you did to Cell and Gohan back there was something I couldn't even dream of," Brass commented, pointing to the ruins of what had once been the Cell Games.

Brass had almost been killed by Cell during the encounter until he stepped in. And now here was the paradox of helping a Saiyan. They resented the fact they weren't the strongest, and would become suspicious of you if only because you appeared stronger. Even Junia had cast him a few shocked glances. It'd only happened after he'd confronted this world's Trunks of course.

"It's not so simple, brother," he explained calmly, though irritation was wrapped in his tone. "My priorities have changed. You can become as powerful as you like. It's not about power for me any longer. Perhaps that's how my strength has increased so much? I seek out something deeper."

There was a scoff at the remark as Brass brushed some blood away from his lip before spitting on the ground in front of them.

"You make a fool of the two most powerful beings we've come across, and it's not about power anymore?"

"Yes, that's exactly right."

"Then what's it about, Taro? What makes this all so fucking special to you? Where did you get it? Dragon Balls?"

The Dragon Balls? What a pleasant fantasy. This whole thing seemed like one fantasy, really. He was on a quest for knowledge... and lives, that really belonged to him. It felt natural, like it was increasingly an extension of his own life. Their calls and pleading in the back of his mind, a begging to return to a past that could never be again. Brass asking him where he 'got' it was primitive, and almost insulting. It was always his, he'd just not realized it until he'd first taken hold of his first, and ripped it out of the shell that housed it.

"No, Brass," Taro sighed. "You wouldn't understand."

"Look, I'm going to speak plainly right now. You can't just walk over Gohan and Cell in a few minutes, and tell me that I wouldn't understand. Now what the fuck have you been up to? What's the secret? Are you going to beat father yourself? Is that it?"

Defeating their father. Yes, that had been the big goal, making it for themselves and then returning home for conquest. Conquest was all that mattered. Conquest of what? A nightmare setup by their parents? Who would want to govern over something so lifeless and bleak? Especially with the world's they'd seen so far. Still, Brass was an important tool at times, and enjoyable to watch. To string him along? Well, perhaps that was the right idea.

"I have been taking power from the warriors I defeat," he explained.

"Oh? And how's that? You're not and Android, you're a Saiyan. It doesn't work that way."

"The interrogation technique which I was taught by father's associates, most definitely does work that way."

There was a long pause on his brother's part as Brass stared at him in shock.

"But that just takes a few select memories. That doesn't take power, or abilities. I don't understand."

"What is a soul, Brass?" Taro asked. "What is it, if not the sum of our memories. The sum of who we are."

Walking towards their craft, Taro couldn't help but smile as the wind brushed past him, causing his cape to flow into the air.

"To take them all, is to take everything they were. Everything... Including their power."

From behind, he knew Brass's eyes had widened in shock as his brother was left standing there. Brass had always been an island. The idea of taking from others his strength, not earning it, was foreign to him he knew. But this wasn't about earning things anymore. This was about the discovery of something incredible, and with every world he touched the surface of truth itself. With every world his mind expanded, and his experiences along with it. Brass sat in an intellectual gutter and thought only of strength.

Taro stood atop the highest mountains and peaks, and had learned to look within... and simply ask the universe aloud 'why'? All while listening to differences in the response, which were always just echoes.

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Vegeta:

He was gone.

Kakarot's boy was gone in a flash of light, saving some girl he couldn't even recognize. Or could he? There was something familiar about her, like he'd sensed her somewhere before. Either way, personal attachments were what lead to where they are now. And where he was was a grim place to say the least. They were all in a grim place now, even more so than a few seconds ago.

He turned his head back to Goten before looking up at Taro. It was up to the two of them to halt this thing from getting to Kakarot. A more hopeless cause he'd never fought. Gohan threw all that power into one moment trying to save someone, and she was gone too. What a waste.

"He's dead," Goten whispered, his eyes darting over the air where Gohan had been. "H-he killed him."

"You can't kill someone whose already dead. I simply sent him back to where he came from," Taro informed politely. "I let him go where he belongs."

Rage trembled through Goten's body before Vegeta placed a hand on his shoulder again.

"Go protect your father, this is my fight now."

There was a second of resistance as the boy looked up at him, but Vegeta didn't even bother making eye contact, and instead looking towards his soon to be killer. The difference was far too great. Even with as much strength as Gohan had, by the end of it, even with that power growing, it hadn't been enough to stop this thing. But a warrior never shirked from his duty to fight, to not only seek out battle but to defend his home and his kin. This world was his home, his family lived here, and he understood what that meant. Even if it was for no other reason than to defy the impossible, he would do his best to spit in the face of destiny before he accepted his fate.

When Goten's form flew away, Taro let him, before fully turning to look at him. A trail of crimson embers hung in the air where the beam had been that destroyed Gohan. The monster in front of him had killed his son more times than he could imagine. The idea of his boy, dying so painfully, so ruthlessly, all for this monster's vanity was something which left hate in his stomach, churning with bile.

"I don't often get the chance to confront you, well, at least not as much as I used to," Taro admitted to him aloud. "Which is strange. Of all the people I've imagined, you most of all, are the father my mind created. The strong, and noble Prince Vegeta, the last of a proud race's nobility. It sounds like a fantasy, doesn't it?"

"You've done nothing but slaughter my son," Vegeta spat back at him. "I'm going to break you in half. After that, I'm going to humiliate you in front of Beerus and Whis before I send you straight to Hell for everything you've done. But most of all, for what you've done to my son."

Anger seethed with every word as Vegeta's aura caught fire around him. Electricity skipped between his muscles as he was left standing there. His eyes only briefly looked towards the Spirit Bomb, towards the unlikely, no, impossible salvation it could bring. When he refocused on Taro in front of him, he knew his immediate fight could be his only concern, and he needed his hatred if he had any chance to hold out, even for a minute.

A sly, slick smile emerged on Taro's face however as he looked back at him darkly.

"Father," Trunks' voice left his lips, driving the spike more closely into his core. "I've become more than I ever was here. I'm going to remake my failed creation in a new image. And you're in my way."

A cold look then crossed his features as Taro took a single step forward, as if daring him to strike out at him. It was everything he had in him not to strike out foolishly and get himself killed in only seconds.

"And why would you want to stand in the way of your own son? When I first came to this world, the first thing I did was go to the time chamber. I know that's where you always hide him."

A chilled sensation Vegeta's veins as he felt himself almost choke. His own son wasn't in front of him. No, it was something far worse then that. This thing had murdered his son. Not just a son from another world, but his son. It'd murdered the son he'd adopted, years ago before the androids came. It'd then murdered his son from the 'primary' timeline, whose whole objective was to save the world. Trunks had died all alone, and he'd not even been there to die protecting him. The terror of his son's final moments must have been...

Trunks. I failed you. But I swear to you I'll kill this monster if its the last thing I do.

The energy between his fists crackled as Vegeta prepared himself.

"What's wrong, Vegeta? Nothing left to say?" Taro asked coolly. "You did kill my 'sister', after all. I never expected to trade with you, honestly. I'll never forget you for that, it was very memorable. I don't like it when people take my toys from me. But honestly... I must have realized that Brass and Junia were nothing but idle distractions for me now. They ceased helping me inform myself to the nature of my creation a long time ago. I should really thank you for helping me break my sentimental chains."

The arrogance this creature exuded made creatures like Garlic, Cell, or Turles seem rational.

"Oh? Well you can show your appreciation by dying-"

Vegeta prepared to strike, only to see Taro had already completely disappeared from view. His body almost seemed to freeze in place when he heard Taro from behind him.

"This is truly pointless, we both know that... I suppose it's just another one of those sentimental chains I was speaking about."

Pain exploded in his back like he'd never sensed before. The force of the blow vibrated through his very core, pushing through bone, muscle and fat as it rippled along. The air was sucked out of him before he tumbled forward helplessly, skidding along the ground once, bouncing as his hand trailed the top of the dusty ground, before he slammed face first into the dirt and dragged for almost a dozen metres. The dirt brushed against him harshly before he started to get up. Placing his hands in front of himself, Vegeta scowled as he prepared to rise, only to find a boot pressed against the top of his left hand already.

"I could finish this now, you realize Vegeta. But it's been so long since I've had the opportunity to kill one of you. And it's quite the occasion, considering you killed my sister. I think it's only fitting that we celebrate..."

Pressure was applied to his hand, grating the bones against the ground as it cracked the Earth.

"Don't you?"

Furiously, Vegeta lunged out with his free arm, only to find it caught by a hand. As if on cue, Taro stepped back and flipped him over by his arm, slamming him back into the ground before tossing him into a nearby crater. His body crashed into the wall before sliding down again. As soon as he took to the air his side exploded with pain before something collided with his cheek, sending him straight back into the ruined Earth below.

"I was very certain you would have fought harder for the memory of your sons, Vegeta," Taro remarked, his feet landed only a few metres away. "But you're so far beneath me, we both know I'm really holding back. And even then you can't even follow my motions. This has ceased being amusing to me, you can die now. Vegeta."

There was a pause however as Taro chuckled.

"If you ever get the opportunity, do tell me what Hell is like for you."

A shadow emerged over him as Vegeta looked up, seeing a figure looming over him before a foot was shoved into his back.

"You fucking bastard, you almost killed me," Junia seethed at Vegeta.

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Whis:

Oh the drama.

The sound of Beerus's milkshake reading its limit, the sucking of the straw coincided with the return of the villainous female Saiyan. An unremarkable power, at least by the standards of the threats he had to deal with. Lord Beerus being upset by his lack of a milkshake was a greater occurrence than her survival, admittedly. But there had been so much to absorb over the former minutes. The rise and fall of the damned one, Son Gohan, putting on a valiant effort to save his father and family. The desperate attempt to utilize an attack only known by a select few, namely the Kais, to defeat a monster whom seemingly has limitless power by comparison. And now the return of another nemesis, there to destroy the last remnants of her father.

But even Whis noticed something off about the last portion. Her arrival almost seemed too convenient. It was as if she was buying time. And that was another dramatic twist, wasn't it? All of these Earth-creatures were remarkable, truthfully. The tenacity with which they fought against oblivion, and the many styles they utilized to do it. A remarkable battle to be sure. One which would be remembered by almost no one, even as the mountains themselves trembled and fell in the midst of the destruction.

"Whis," an aggravated Beerus's tone peaked through as he looked to the bottom of the drinking container which he'd been eating out of. "My drink is empty. Why didn't you grab us more?"

The line was irritated and accusatory. Of course he'd grabbed Lord Beerus a comically large drink, but he could understand the frustration. If he'd been woken up, again, far too early for the third time within a year, he'd be furious as well. Well, if he was as much of a Madonna as Lord Beerus was, that is.

"I'll get you another one shortly," Whis promised, before looking directly down at Son Goku. Somehow, he knew he was the catalyst for all of the events that had transpired on this otherwise not very noteworthy world. "I am actually going to be a moment. I'd like to speak with one of the participants if that's alright."

"Wasting your time with a bunch of weaklings I'm going to destroy anyway doesn't seem to be the greatest use of your time, Whis," Beerus grumbled. "How about instead you get me another one of these milkshakes, before I do something like destroy this planet and break my word."

"Now Lord Beerus, what kind of manners are those? You should be more courteous to our hosts. They are after all, putting on the performance of their lives are they not? And besides, I'll get you your milkshake after I speak with the one using one of the techniques of the Kais."

In a flash, before Beerus could protest further, which he surely would, Beerus teleported himself behind Son Goku and his other son, Goten.

"-I can help-"

"Not anymore Goten, he's too strong even for Vegeta and me."

"And if you lose I'm going to die anyway!"

"That's not the point-"

Clearing his throat stopped the conversation almost immediately.

"Am I interrupting?" Whis asked from behind the pair.

The elder, Son Goku, turned and looked at him with wide eyes as he held the Spirit Bomb in the air above him, There was something outgoing about him, even now in these dark moments. Even after his son had just been defeated by Taro, there was an excitement about him just as they were meeting. It was fairly remarkable.

"Well, if you and you're friend could interrupt more, but without destroying my world, it'd be pretty good," Goku admitted before smiling at him. "It's an up-hill battle."

Smiling back at him passively, Whis nodded before taking several steps forward.

"I think a formal introduction is in order. My name is Whis, I watch over Lord Beerus," he greeted, before bowing his head. "And you must be Son Goku? I've been listening up above. It's very good to meet you, Goku. Oh! You're the one who beat Frieza, aren't you?"

"You're a lot more polite than the other one, and yea, I beat Frieza. He was a really tough fight back on Namek," Goku inclined his head upwards. "That's Beerus? What an incredible power. I can't even sense it, but he was in a class of his own against this Taro guy. If I get through this I'd love to spar with him some day."

That was adorable. The idea that Son Goku would be sparring with a God of Destruction. The idea that any mortal could spar with Lord Beerus who wasn't an abomination of a thousand super powered warriors or more, was highly unlikely. These Saiyans were strong, but the Grand Supreme Kai was overselling what they were most definitely. Still, there was potential there most definitely. It was remarkable even that they were this strong.

"I'm sure Lord Beerus would love to accommodate that if possible, at some point in the future," Whis remarked, mainly to sound respectful. "If he doesn't decide to destroy your world when this is all finished."

There was a brief disappointment and confusion from Goku, before he nodded and smiled again.

"If we even get that far," he commented lightly. "What brought you here though? Just curious about us?"

"That attack you're using. It's called the Spirit Bomb, it's an incredible powerful technique. Who taught it to you?" Whis enquired with an inquisitive brow. "It's not typical to see it."

"I learned it from King Kai," Goku commented. "North Kai? Uhh, I learned it after I died the first time."

"Dad," Goten remarked. "The fight's still happening."

"Oh, am I distracting you?" Whis laughed before raising his hand in an apologetic manner. "Here, let me help with that."

Tapping his staff on the ground, the entire world froze. Save for himself, Lord Beerus, and Son Goku. The Saiyan's eyes widened as he lowered his arms, looking around at the state of the world around them and beginning to stretch. He seemed to be bewildered by what was going on, which was to be expected in all honesty. It wasn't often someone just froze time and space around them.

"Whis!" Beerus barked above. "This is making this more boring, not less!"

"Lord Beerus, I am in the middle of a conversation with Son Goku, and I would appreciate it if you respected that," Whis called back up to him. "And if you don't, we'll be changing your diet to remove a lot of the sweets you've been eating lately. You don't want to end up being as big as Champa, do you?"

A frustrated noise emerged from above as the purple skinned cat-man just growled begrudgingly before looking back towards the stilled fight in the distance.

"I am curious however, Mister Goku-"

"Uhhh, my surname is Son, my first name is Goku," Goku corrected. "But uh, whatever you prefer I guess."

Clearly he was still enthralled with the fact time had ceased to move since he'd started this.

"Oh don't worry about that. I'll turn it back on momentarily. The only one's here with any idea what's going on are Lord Beerus, myself, and perhaps you're friend over there, Taro," Whis explained. "But he can't do much, and we're too far away to hear us. And just because it doesn't totally work on him, doesn't mean he's moving quickly or overly aware."

Nodding a moment later, Goku just stared back at him for a few seconds.

"So, uhhh, what do you want to know?"

"You've died before?" Whis asked.

"We all have. I mean, me, Vegeta, my son Goten and my son Gohan-"

"Given that one of you who was fighting Taro is dead right now. I'll take your word for it. So you were allowed to train with North Kai and then return to life? That's a very unique honour indeed. It seems you may be destined for greatness," Whis remarked, before looking at Goten and then back at him. A curious question came to mind. "The other one, the one who Taro blew away a few moments ago, Gohan. The dead one. I sense his connection to Hell. I also sensed him gaining their power. I usually don't expect beings trapped in such a place to be exceptionally helpful when their world or universe is in danger."

There was a longer silence and Goku's happy demeanour turned down.

"It's not perfect," Goku explained. "He's a better person than you'd believe. It's not really his fault. It's my fault that he's stuck down there. But we're getting him out soon. Don't worry, we're not going to let everyone out I promise! Just Gohan."

Well, that's a fascinating insight.

Staring up at Lord Beerus for a moment, Whis then looked back to Son Goku.

These creatures have been passing through the realm of the dead and the living. They've been fighting all kinds of horrors and their powers seem to ever increase. Perhaps I was wrong about Abaddon's insight on their power. Any creatures which could do this, would increase in power and the potential to earn more power. It would impact all the beings around them even. And this Taro creature is another one of them who found a way to bend the rules of the world to acquire more. There is more to these Saiyans than meets the eye.

Taking a step back, and offering a small bow, Whis nodded to Son Goku.

"I suspect that you and your cohorts will find a way to win," he remarked. "It will be fascinating to watch this unfold."

Standing at his full height, Whis disappeared a moment later before time resumed.

Now, to get Lord Beerus something to tide him over...

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Junia:

I'm an idiot.

Standing with her foot on Vegeta, she turned and looked critically at Taro. The language describing her as a toy, or tool, didn't bother her at all, not at this point. Why she was even trying to bail out Vegeta at this point was almost embarrassing. Not for Vegeta, by any means, but for herself. She was going to need to talk her way about of this one.

Turning to her brother, as disgusting of an idea as that was, Junia looked at him with a level stare. Taro had always been the cold hand of Turles, operating as his emissary. He'd always been a ruthless, competitive beast which reflected his father far more than Brass ever could hope to. Now here he was, the grand manipulator and would-be tyrant was something far more than she'd ever have seen in her own world. The veil had been lifted from her eyes months ago as to what he was, but she ignored it out of fear and self interest. He had become the end of all things. Nothing else existed for Taro, except Taro. They were all apart of his grand vision of reality, and little else but playthings. Haunted moments of the man he was before crept to the surface to fill his own self interests of the past, but truthfully he wasn't that creature anymore.

The body was the same, but the mind couldn't be. Even if she disliked, Taro before... what he was now was something even she couldn't continue to ignore.

With her foot still pressed against her 'father's' back, Junia looked back down at his already beaten form before looking back up at Taro again.

"A surprise if I've ever seen one," Taro remarked, crossing his arms and looking in the direction of the Spirit Bomb.

In a strange glitch, it looked as though Taro moved out of place by a few feet. Still staring in its direction for several seconds, an irritated look written across his features.

"So, you're alive dear sister," he commented. "I found it very strange that this Vegeta, even with power close to yours, would find a way to defeat you. I thought your rage would always allow you to overwhelm them."

"Anger can be a disadvantage, when not used correctly," she commented in turn. "But he's mine. I'll finish this."

"Will you?" Taro's response was more than critical.

It was almost thrown at her like an accusation. Before she could process anything further, a hand grasped her neck and hoisted her into the air. Immediately her Super Saiyan aura exploded around her as she tried to defend herself, kicking at his chest. The blow landed and didn't even cause him to flinch. Fingers pressed into her neck and closed her windpipe. A choked gag escaped while she tried to breathe at all. Looking down at her attacker, she saw Taro staring back up at her, his own turquoise eyes staring lifelessly into her.

Pulling her towards him, her feet still dangling despite her knee strikes and kicks, he levelled a stare at her which felt like it was scraping the edges of her soul.

"Not a mark on you. Not a sign of damage outside of your clothes. You were healed. A senzu bean? Dende? I am no fool, Junia. You were spared by him," Taro's lip curled into something of a small smile. "You betrayed me. You were only doing this to try and save Vegeta. I can see it in your lying eyes."

A gasp for air was her only response as she felt her head growing lighter by the moment, desperately trying anything to breathe. Air, she needed air more than anything right now. Panic flushed through her veins at Taro's realization, and just as much at the lack of oxygen. Her hand moved up, grabbing at his face trying to pull him off her. Pressing her fingers towards his eyes and nose, but it was to no avail. How quickly she ceased to matter. How quickly she was forgotten. Worst of all, how quickly she was undone.

He's going to kill me.

A soft look seemed to cross Taro's features as he drew her closer to him again, reaching up with his other hand even as she batted at it, her right arm beginning to flail for a source of oxygen. Her legs stopped kicking deliberately and now started kicking out desperately.

"I can see you, Junia. I see you for who I thought I wanted you to be," he whispered, brushing his hand across the left side of her face. "I made you in the image of the person I wanted to have. You were inspiration and art. Born of the woman who bore me."

The fact he mentioned her mother was almost sickening. When Taro mentioned anyone, it was almost sickening. His dark appraisal of whatever he'd envisioned clouded everything he thought about, everything he touched. And now his dark vision was strangling the life from her. His finger caressing her cheek made her want to vomit. But it was all getting lighter now. The world was beginning to drift around her as definition seemed lost. Light was focusing increasingly into the centre of her vision as her legs and arm started to lose strength. The strength to gag was leaving her as her lungs in a desperate last attempted were heaving for the air that wouldn't come.

"You look like her when you're like this," Taro whispered. "You look like mother did before she died."

"And you've abandoned me, just like mother."

There was something about the way he said it, that even like this, she knew he killed her. There was always something in her, that had the idea that when she got home, she'd break the chains of the captive that had been her mother. Not just some Bulma from any world, but her mother. And now those chains could never be broken. As the world faded to black, she saw her father rise, striking at Taro with a punch, roaring as he did. It didn't change anything.

The only thing she noticed as she started to slip away, was the world was shaking...

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Videl:

Everything had been red only seemingly a second earlier. Aches filled her body as she groaned while trying to sit up. Where was she even? Was this all some kind of dream? Was any of it real? For a brief second she saw a deadman. Flying into the mouth of danger itself, she knew her chances of surviving were slim, especially given what'd happened in the city not long before. But someone had to show up to try and stop these things. She knew exactly what these monsters were. Phantom pains from old wounds told her as much. Her whole life since she'd first met Son Gohan, told her as much.

When her eyes opened again, instead of red, she saw the dusty ground her face was half laying on, and the body of someone she knew to be dead. Nothing made sense anymore, especially right now. It meant that all of what she'd just seen was real. Either that, or she'd been hallucinating since before the city, or even after. The notion that she couldn't make a difference followed her even here. With everything in turmoil, whether she could make a difference or not seemed to not matter. They were all doomed, so why not?

But now, now she was staring at a dead man. His eyes were closed. Blood leaked from several points on his face, including his ear, noise and mouth. Burns and lacerations ran across his body, and Videl could barely move to even look down at herself. She might be in shock and not even know if she was injured.

Trembling with adrenaline and perhaps the aforementioned shock, Videl reached out a trembling hand, touching Gohan's cheek as if to see he was real. The body was warm, almost like it was alive... almost. It felt stale in a way, as if someone had reheated a corpse. Maybe it meant he'd survived before, and only died moments ago. Lying to get out of things wasn't beyond Gohan, she knew that just from knowing him. The familiarity of what he was, both as monster and saviour, was uncomfortable to her. But now that he was gone, even if she'd not known he was-

... His eyes are opening.

Videl froze in place when she saw what looked to be a dead man, open his eyes, even if slowly.

"Uuhhh..." he groaned.

Nothing was believable anymore. She didn't believe her own eyes when she saw it. He was alive, still? How could anyone have survived what he was hit with? How? More curiously, how was he even here?

When his eyes focused, he stared directly back at her from where he lay. It was a strange sensation, looking into the eyes of a dead man. A man she'd not seen in almost a year. The last time they met, he'd dragged her into a hospital saving her life. The last thing she'd heard was from Pan, telling her how he was gone, and was gone saving her. And saving her had been short lived, hadn't it? Every time anyone did anything good for anyone, no matter the sacrifice, it just turned back.

"Are you alright?"

There was a long blink before she looked back up at him. Those were his first words after everything had happened? Are you alright? That was impossible to answer anymore. But physically she was in rough shape, so it wasn't even likely to be true.

"I'm in pain," her lost voice finally managed.

Maybe the words were truer here, than they had meant to be.

Nothing flinched on his features, but he did nod towards her before trying to sit up, before half falling back down. He looked like a wreck, and she knew he didn't feel right. Nothing about this seemed right at all.

"You're alive," she managed next, the awkward silence between them becoming almost too much.

"No," was his blunt answer, his tone almost distant. "I'm not alive."

That was a confusing statement to be sure. Namely because it didn't make sense. She never knew Gohan to be cryptic or particularly metaphorical. And it was clearly not designed to be an answer meant to be humorous. The words were delivered with a grim note behind them. There was resentment there, and pain. It was strange to see him at all, let alone like that.

Another hoist and he pulled himself up to a sitting position. His entire body seemed almost broken as he leaned into himself. His shoulder's drooped and his arms just lay on his legs as he tried his best to get his bearings. The clothes on his back were scorched from whatever had hit them, and it clearly would have burned through the cloth onto his skin as well. Managing to sit up herself, Videl felt one of his ribs was fractured right away. She winced while doing the motion but didn't make a noise beyond the struggle to sit up.

"How is Pan?" he asked after a few seconds. "Have things been better?"

No.

"Pan's gone," she barely found her voice after feeling almost frozen with a fear she couldn't fully grasp. "I lost her."

Ominously his head turned towards her, his eyes burning with something that made her feel like shrinking. Fear rose immediately as she felt him stare at her with a kind of anger she'd never seen before.

"You lost her?" he asked, his voice almost trembling with rage. "How do you mean you lost her?"

This was apart of her prison, wasn't it? Even with Pan gone, she could never escape the orbit of this thing. His tail twitched dangerously behind him before wrapping around his waist once again. Her breathing felt ragged in the face of what she was staring at. That was the look of someone who could hurt her, and wanted to hurt her. The blame was being foist on her immediately.

"S-someone took her from me at the hospital. A demon, the same one who fought Son Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament. He took her from me," she swallowed. "I swear that's all I know. I tried to find her Gohan. I didn't-"

The look didn't change for a moment, even as she frantically tried to explain for the first time to someone who would believe her. It melted away back to something more passive, before she saw his eyes searching at the empty dirt below them, trying to come up with something.

"It's not you're fault," he remarked. "I'll fix it."

You'll fix it?

"Stop trying to fix things," she finally said. "You only know how to make things worse."

The words slipped out before she knew what she was saying. She expected another hate filled glare, but instead he didn't make eye contact with her, he just looked into the distance, in the direction of the giant orb of energy hanging in the sky. The fact he wasn't looking at her, told her that he knew at least peripherally she was right.

"I'll get Pan back for you," he clarified, his features turning to something more grim and determined. "After I kill that thing over there. I'll get her back."

It was only then that she looked above his head. A hard lump slid down her throat as she felt her heard accelerate. That was a halo? It was terrifying to see it. It was a contrast to everything she knew. How could that be? How was that there? It moved with his head even, and she couldn't take her eyes off it. Of all the people she'd ever known, how could Gohan be what this looked like?

"You're an Angel?" she managed to breathe finally. "But-"

Tension in his shoulders immediately appeared before he did turn back to her, almost glaring.

"I'm not an angel," he remarked bitterly, hostility crept back into his voice as if it'd been waiting to pounce. "Don't call me that. I'm dead, I'm not some fucking Angel."

It was impossible to process, and she knew the look on her face told him that. He just sighed before looking ahead again.

"I'll fix this," he repeated, before starting to climb to his feet. "I don't have time to say anymore. I'll fix it-"

"Stop," Videl urged, trying to get up herself, even with the pain in her rib stabbing at her. "I told you I don't want you to fix it. I don't want you to fix anything. I don't even understand what's happening or how you're here."

This was going about as well as it always did. She couldn't believe he was alive, and now that he was saying he was dead and had a halo floating over his head, and something was different about him, she knew he wasn't lying when he said he was dead. But it didn't matter. He'd saved her again, and at the cost of himself. He was dangerous, and she knew that just from the glare he gave her when Pan came up. It made her almost afraid to see Pan again. It showed what she knew about Son Gohan, which was he was the villain and the hero. He saved the world, several times as far as she could tell. He'd also ruined her life, but tried to save her, but at any moment could destroy her again. Any connections she had with him were dangerous to have. It made her afraid not just for herself, but for Pan.

The strangest moment in her life, in all the chaos and pain it'd become, was still the moment she'd asked him to hurt her. She often wandered if he'd known how to really feel for another human being. In her quiet moments when she examined the thing which had overwhelmed her life, and driven her away from everything she'd cared about, or been comfortable with, there was a strange pity she felt for him. The only moments they shared with one another were painful, seemingly for both of them. The way he'd tried to look after Pan... the way he'd done it better then she ever could have at the time, told her that despite whatever he was, there was someone inside of there. All of that anger he showed, all of his cockiness or callousness, disguised someone who was running from something, or was in pain. Right now it was somehow clear to her more than anything. And that pain was what inflicted itself on everyone around him.

It didn't excuse anything, it didn't stop him from being an anchor on her life, and it didn't stop her from wanting to run away from it. But for now, it was something she could almost understand.

He stopped and turned to her, now as the two of them stood there atop the barren wasteland. Her eyes scanned the mountain range which had been so close to Satan City, wondering what the fate of the city itself was after this kind of devastation.

"You scare me," she admitted to him, admitting it just as much to herself as she was admitting it to him.

The response was just to swallow before nodding to her slightly.

"... I know," he answered, turning away from her and pointing towards the giant blue orb in the distance.

His hair flared up, and black flashed to gold.

The ground started to rumble as Videl, even with her limited ki sensing abilities, sensed the rising of something she could barely fathom. It was dark... but it was tremendous. Pebbles began rising in the air as she realized it wasn't just shaking here.

The world was shaking.

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Taro:

Vegeta's punches landed on his abdomen and chest, and quite frankly weren't worth his attention. All of that was focused squarely on the figure dying in his hand. The moments of life slipping into death, were something to be treasured. It was watching a fantasy pass into memory, a completion of a story. Right now, Junia, the half sister he never knew as his own, the woman he'd travelled with across hundreds of dimensions and worlds, was slipping through his fingers as her life was ebbing away. And it was happening because much like her mother, she had betrayed him. She had abandoned him. It was something he could have imagined, it was poetic even. The daughter treads in the footsteps of the mother, and leaves behind her sense and reason for her own personal gain.

The only surprising thing he couldn't believe, was that she'd tried to save Vegeta. And now, Vegeta was trying to save her. In fact, given the state of her armour, he was guessing Vegeta already had saved her. It was truly remarkable. It was a turn of fate he never imagined, even in this bizarre world he'd stumbled across. This place of surprise and the unexpected, had turned his last 'sibling' against him in the strangest turn of fate he could imagine.

Trunks, I can't... breathe...

The words whispered through his mind as the choir fell silent. The only noise he could hear, despite Vegeta's grunting and striking, was the choking last moments of a dying woman in his hand. And it was the same, soft death he'd heard from his mother a lifetime ago.

But the world was rumbling.

Looking towards Son Goku, he narrowed his vision on he and his son, Goten. Eyes then flashed to Piccolo's unconscious body before turning up to Whis and Beerus. The two were looking down at him, and eating something now. His senses were sharpened, honing in on the world around him even as Vegeta grabbed at his arm trying to pull him back from his prey. He ignored the insignificant Prince. It was remarkable that he was desperate to save the woman who would have killed him hours ago.

The energy was familiar, very familiar. He then began to realize what exactly was causing the planet to rumble. It's mass seemed so far away, but in reality there was a sun's worth of power nearby. This dark star emanated out broadly, soaking across the surface of the world as it rapidly approached. At its core the familiar energies of a creature that would stay dead resonated around him and through him. Something caused his lungs to flare with air as he sensed himself growing... angry at the idea that this was coming back. This weaker, damned, flawed creation would-

With incredible haste, as if he were in orbit around this power, it descended towards him, disrupting every energy field nearby. It was fast, remarkably fast. His eyes barely managed to trace the form before he felt knuckles shove into his cheek. Blood spat into his mouth from his teeth cutting into soft flesh as he felt his fingers twitch and loosen, feeling the neck that had been in his hand slip away. Pain, real pain, filled his head and vision even before he felt himself falling back in a tumble. His shoulder clipped the ground before he rolled back several more metres, skidding and sliding along his path across the ruined Earth.

When he came to a sliding stop, his hands were dug into the dry earth, his eyes staring directly at the ruined soil. There was a blink before he rose his head up, his body starting to rise from his fallen position, narrowing their gaze on the figure now walking towards him, moving past Vegeta and Junia, who were left behind him.

"Gohan," Taro greeted once more, unable to hide his contempt before spitting a bit of the blood from his mouth. "I take it you didn't take that journey back to where you belong."

"Before I go there, I want to make sure you're waiting for me," Gohan's words cut back at him, his turquoise stare intensely beaming back at him. "I'd miss you too much if you weren't there. Who wouldn't want to be around the only real thing in the world, am I right?"

The world began to rumble again as the golden aura around Gohan appeared in the air around him, as if his body just caught fire. More than mere pebbles lifted from the ground as chunks of the Earth were ripped up and scattered into the air. Huge masses of ground began to rip and pull up as lightning jumped between fragments in the air, tracing through the sky as it rippled upwards from Gohan's form itself. The intensity of the thrum, the heat from it all, scorched the landscape around them as fragments beneath him, protected by his ki field, started to rumble.

Looking down before looking up, the depth of this dark star, the depth of this energy of the damned, started to take shape for Taro as his eyes began to widen, sensing strength... Strength like he'd never sensed before. He knew Beerus was stronger than he was, despite his power being unreadable. He could sense Gohan's power. And he started to realize something which hadn't been true the moment he blasted him away.

No. No he can't be...

A yell roared out of the Saiyan in front of him as the scattered remnants of the Earth suddenly began to fall from the sky as the field peaked out about the warrior. A thousand chattering rocks and hardened bits of dirt came crashing down around them as if it was raining, with a few booms of heavy material. The only noise Taro could hear for the briefest of moments, as the choir began to slowly rise in the back of his mind once more, was the sound of the Super Saiyan aura and his own breathing.

... He can't be stronger than I am...

There was almost a squint on his part as he tried to see beyond just who was standing there, looking at the chaos his energy was wreaking on the world around them, through the third eye. The darkness of most of it was intense, he could feel it almost sickening the world around them. Swirls of dark purple, black, and red shifted and mixed with the very air around them as the world finally stopped rumbling.

This isn't real.

The conclusion was simple. Taro felt himself slowly start to chuckle as his lip curled up on one side.

"A clever trick. You've found a way to mask your power," he laughed aloud. "You can't have achieved this. The denizens of Hell would have never rallied in such numbers to help you of all people."

The silence on the other side confirmed his thought as he darkened his gaze on the other warrior. Perhaps his power had gone up slightly, but he was still no match for himself. His own golden aura emerged from its hiding, thrumming through the air as their energies mixed and clashed without them even making motion to strike one another yet. Bolts of dark energy arced between them, flashing like lightning as they stood opposed to one another. Every passing second of delay let Taro soak in this energy around him as the choir whispered in his mind, telling him the truths he wanted to hear, and those which he didn't.

He's going to free us.

He's going to kill you.

No, this is all a lie. It's a bluff.

He's but one mind.

Narrowing his gaze, he sensed Gohan's motives for only a second, feeling the aggression beginning to rise as the two ceased simply standing still. Taro began to steps to his right, his eyes never leaving Gohan's form as he felt his own heartbeat starting to rise. Adrenaline was naturally being produced as he sensed even if this was a bluff, there was a definite change in his enemy's power. This world was truly a den of his worst nightmares. Having to overcome challenge after challenge was time consuming, but he knew if he achieved his dreams here... then beyond lay a Utopia beyond any single, fabricated creature's imagining.

Gohan's feet picked up off the ground as he too started to circle him, beginning to tread ahead carefully. The two were looking for any sort of weakness they could observe. The burns across his body, cuts and bruises didn't seem to impact him at all. And of course they weren't as much of a hindrance to a dead man. That fact bothered him. Most certainly he couldn't regenerate, but to end him, one would have to end something vital. This time he wouldn't leave anything to chance. Turning his eyes once more to the Spirit Bomb, Taro narrowed them before shifting his attention back to Gohan.

Now.

In a flash of pure speed, Taro was already upon his adversary, his right arm elongated in a strike. Much to his shock, his fist, which should have connected with Gohan's head, sailed past its intended target. Looking down, he saw an uppercut swinging back in towards him, aiming for his ribs, shoving the fist away at the last moment and pushing back for only a brief second, Taro avoided the blow before he launched back into Gohan. A kick swung towards his enemy, slamming into Gohan's forearm as it guarded the strike, before he raised his own guard, a fist connecting with his forearm in turn. The two blows echoed across the emptied wasteland around them. The hollow graves of dead mountains reverberated before Taro almost snarled at Gohan.

A flurry of blows followed. The two figures disappeared to all across the battlefield save Beerus and Whis, and Taro knew this even as he focused on the fight. Fists, kicks, elbows and knees shot past one another before connecting in vicious blocks and strikes into guards. As if it took the world a staggering amount of time to catch up, by the time they'd exchanged five, or six blows, the world would boom around them with thundering explosions of force, rattling off like machine-gun fire as the world below rumbled. The air above them, the clouds of smoke and dust were cleared from the air with every strike. Finally an opening appeared. Striking down from Gohan's left, he cut into the other Saiyan's face with a vicious right. Despite the aggression and strength behind the blow, Gohan's body didn't launch back. His head shot to one side, and with the momentum from the blow, he swept around, circling back and delivering a vicious backhanded strike in return, staggering Taro himself in the air.

With a sneer and a snarl Taro slammed his fist into Gohan's stomach. Finally real blows were being exchanged. The gag from the other Saiyan determined it was indeed a very good hit. A strike came back at him as Gohan's own right caught him in the side of the head once again, stunning him this time. The world went hazy for only a brief moment. An angry sneer crossed his face before he blocked Gohan's follow up left, holding his arm in place. Forming an energy wave in his free hand, Taro prepared to finish this, before Gohan's arm shot out, grasping his wrist and pointing it up towards the air.

Thrusting his knee up, he connected again with the mid section and Gohan's features winced, before he threw his head back, and then threw it forward. The Front of his forehead slammed into the top of his own brow. Immediately the world began ringing as he felt dazed immediately. Before he could recover he saw Gohan wind up his leg, carrying force with it as he twisted once, and despite his best efforts to clear his mind and recover in time, caught him in the side of the head with a vicious kick. Blood leaked from his left eyebrow and temple before his body shot straight into the Earth below. The ground kicked up into the air, forming a barrier of soot and dust around him as he looked around him, sensing shifts in the air and ki around him as Gohan preyed on him, diving around the clouds the impact had formed already.

The air opened up in front of him as he raised his guard, only to realize it was a feint. Turning at the last possible splinter of a second, Taro met the blow head on. His head shot to one side as Gohan's dive kick came in from above. The ground tore open immediately behind him as his body ploughed through the top of the Earth. A giant crack flowed through the ground behind him as the force of the blow drove him further and further down his path. A humongous fissure emerged finally as his body stopped. Staring down the path his body had taken, he was left only to look at Son Gohan's figure standing in the distance.

There was no fascination. There was no idle amusement of how his mind had come up with some challenge to overcome. His right hand closed into a fist as his eyes darkened. Fiercely his breathing picked up before he started to rise, almost slipping as he did. The strike to the head had been so harsh, so strong, that he was still seeing stars. It was wrong. There was no way he should be so out of order. Blinking several times he almost staggered forward, his feet feeling almost slippery. The small crater in the side of the end of the fissure had an edge only a few centimetres from where he now stood, staring down the pathway of destruction his body had left behind.

This hadn't happened before. It struck him as it'd struck him in so many lives he'd lived. He wasn't the Trunks that lost to Cell in martial combat, or was brutalized by the Androids in another time. He wasn't the Trunks that was overwhelmed by Dabura and Babidi. He wasn't the Trunks that lost to Majin Buu, or was defeated by Cooler. He was the Trunks who rose above it all, he glided above those failures to imagine. But now here he was, staring down this pathway of annihilation, staring only back at the lone figure.

It was different than fighting Beerus. There was less to prove fighting him. The thought of just escaping hadn't crossed his mind because of a simple truth. That was the truth of his victory. Every obstacle he'd ever faced, even ones which had seemed insurmountable, he'd overcome. Whether it be in the original world of his 'origin', the first dream his body had possessed, where he saw Son Gohan die at the hands of Turles, or the countless worlds where he saw Son Gohan die against the Androids, or when he slew him himself... there was one simple truth. Gohan was less than up to any challenge, especially against him.

And now, for the first time he faced his 'cousin' as he remembered him from his own time. In this pale moment, he found that his adversary wouldn't die. And worse, he grew stronger with every passing minute. None of the reality of what this world was, a figment of his imagination, mattered. All he could see was the stance of a man staring back down at him, challenging not just him... but every moment of awakening he'd experienced since he'd unlocked the secrets to this world.

And that was enraging. His rage burned not only towards his attacker, but towards himself. A shriek emanated through his aura itself as it burst back to life around him. The world tunnelled towards his foil, ignoring seemingly the matter around him itself. Moving the very fabric of reality around him, Taro pulled himself through time and space in the blink of an eye, appearing in front of Gohan and roaring as he leaped into a punch towards his foe. When the blow landed, an echo boomed out as the other Saiyan's head shot back and his body kidding a dozen metres back, ripping up the ground beneath him and send waves of earth rushing back around him.

"You little shit," Taro sneered, before blasting forward, the shockwave he left behind him as he collided into Gohan once more, blasting the wave of Earth which had formed, into scattered drifts of ash.

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Vegata:

It was impossible to follow anymore. The speeds they were fighting at were faster than he could sense. Ki flashes appeared in the air faster than he could trace, but he could sense the two powers in question rapidly growing around him. It was like sensing two masses moving towards one another faster and faster, ripping each other apart all around them. Impact caused blasts rumbled around him as the ground beneath them cracked if only from being in the presence of the what was happening.

There was a still in the air, if only for a second, showing him a cutaway of Gohan being struck down into the Earth by Taro. It was the only image he saw as the ki around him descended into chaos, and the world was filled with the noise of a thousand explosions. Kneeling down, his own aura still protecting him, Vegeta looked down at the still breathing, heavily breathing Saiyan who'd intervened on his behalf. Her hand was still at her own throat, taking in air in huge gulps despite the quality of the air.

Trying to stop her from being strangled was the least he could have done, given he knew what had exposed her to Taro in the first place. The act of stepping in to foolishly try to save him. Looking down at her for a moment, she didn't need to say the obvious. It was the debt to be repaid. He'd spared her life, and she'd tried in turn to prevent the expiry of his own. Saying anything about it would have just brought it into the open, something neither of them wanted.

"We need to get space from this," Vegeta commented while Junia still took in gulps of air.

In front of them, Gohan's body slammed into the ground causing an indent in the dirt. He lay there uncomfortably idly for almost a full second, his eyes shut and his head to one side. When his own eyes opened, Taro appeared above him, diving in towards the other Saiyan with his hand opened almost like vicious claw, aiming for his opponent's face. Catching the hand in the air, Gohan looked up at it as it loomed above him, held in place by the wrist. For his trouble the other arm struck in, slamming a closed fist into his head. Blood and saliva shot out of his face as his head slanted to the side.

"I have existed before the first star was born," Taro snarled almost ravenously. "And I will be there when the last star falls from the night!"

Another vicious blow as delivered while Vegeta grabbed Junia's arm, yanking her back with him before energy caught fire in the air around them as Gohan's aura flickered from gold to purple. Arcs of black, red, and purple shot over the air around them. When he shoved his arm back into the other Saiyan's face, the sound of two auras merging set loose waves of hurricane level winds around them as the environment turned to total chaos.

"There aren't any stars in hell, I promise," Gohan's voice cut through the harrowing noises around them before the two figures disappeared in a blind flurry of motion again. "So you won't be around to see that happen anyway!"

Each impact the bodies made against one another didn't just leave force waves behind. Rippling waves of darkened ki burst through the air now as air wrapped around the entire badlands like a storm in and of itself. Flashes of light burst out so bright Vegeta couldn't even see when he turned his head back.

In a burst of speed, Vegeta landed back near where Kakarot was standing, the Spirit Bomb still growing above his head. Junia yanked her arm out of his hand and glared almost spitefully back at him. Another wave rolled past them, mixing ki, light and matter seemingly all in one. Vegeta raised his arm to shield himself as he felt his feet sliding back over the ground.

Two armies are doing battle over there, using that thing's body, and Gohan's. There is no way any mortal being could possess this kind of power on it's own.

Another still appeared in the air after a flash of light, Taro striking into Gohan's form again. Despite the vastness of the two power's fighting, he could sense Gohan's power at a higher frequency and rate than Taro's. But ever moment he'd managed to see so far, had the other one at an advantage. Perhaps it was experience operating with so much power, or the fact he didn't just have the power, but the stolen souls of his son. How many years of battle had he absorbed into him? It was impossible to tell. The only thing he knew was that he could hear his son shrieking in the midst of these aura's, and it made him angrier with every second it passed.

What made him even more furious was that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Incredible," Piccolo's voice cut in as he stepped ahead of them, his eyes daring forward before they turned to him. When they looked passed him, Vegeta felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as Piccolo's eyes widened in anger and horror.

"What's that doing here?" Piccolo's voice was deadly in its tone.

"A common enemy," Vegeta was quick to remark, stepping away from the girl as she finally started to rise, staring Piccolo down in turn.

"You seem very familiar. Have we met?" she mocked. "Is that more than one Piccolo in there that I detect? Everyone seems to be performing power mergers to stay relevant. It's pitiful. Don't you know how to fight on your own? Or were you too busy killing Brass with your ill gotten little boost?"

"Both of you quiet," Vegeta cut in. "Now. Kill each other after this is over. I'd rather not die because the two of you decided that you're immediate disdain for one another was reason enough to start a war over here when we've still got that thing over there to deal with."

The last thing he needed was a fight over here now as well. Especially since he suspected Piccolo in his current form was stronger than he was, which meant that any fight over here would be a pitched battle between the two of them, fighting against the Namek. That was the last thing he needed right now.

"Soo... Hi!" Kakarot's voice cut in as he smiled like an absolute oaf. "My name's Goku? What's yours?"

There was a surprised blink from Junia before she looked at Kakarot. Vegeta did as well while the world rumbled and another wave of air and light washed over them. The fact that neither of the adults he was standing here with had any clue how to address their former enemy was something which irked him. Of course she knew who Kakarot was, hadn't this moron figured out she'd killed him before?

An irritated look crossed her features before she crossed her arms, mirroring his own form.

"You already know who I am, and I've killed you before. I don't see the point in introductions," she remarked. "Pay attention to the fight. Especially if that floating trinket above you is going to be some means of bailing us out of this botched battle."

A laugh left Kakarot a second later however before he brightly turned towards him, as if forgetting that his own son was stuck in a life or death struggle out in front of them.

"I definitely see the resemblance."

Without realizing it, their faces matched in their outrage as they both turned on Kakarot like a pair of wolves.

"I do not resemb-" the two stopped, this time glaring at one another before glaring at Kakarot.

"We're not alike," Junia snapped.

"Not at all," Vegeta confirmed coolly.

Of course there was a passing resemblance, and if Kakarot weren't a fool, he'd have not pointed that out, especially right now.

Trunks. I'm going to free you from that thing I swear it.

When the Saiyan Prince's eyes turned forward, he saw only flashes of lights, and stilled moments in time. There was one, strange thing behind it all however. Gohan despite being stronger... seemed to be taking on the greater number of blows. It didn't make sense.

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Whis:

Oh he is very good.

There was something only he and Beerus could sense. Even while they took bites out of the wonderful cheese cake he'd stumbled upon in the moments they'd not been watching the fight, Whis could sense the powers raging through this battle. There was a sense of desperation now settling in on both sides. What was fascinating was the change in mood on Taro's side. His god complex was draining away rapidly, being replaced by something more... ravenous. Self preservation and a willingness to take the battle seriously had bled into his fighting style.

And what a fascinating style it was.

Despite his adversary being stronger, and faster, somehow Taro had manipulated the situation to his advantage. Time slowed at seemingly just the right time, or the space around Son Gohan seemed to bend at just the right moments, on just the right angles, to hinder his attacks or defence. Quite literally, Taro was watching time and space work against the stronger of the two, and as a result the battle was not decisively against the abomination. And it made sense.

How was it that when he moved outside of time, that Taro could see him and move to look at him? That wasn't just power... that was something born of technique, or alteration. This creature had become the nightmare he dreamed himself to be. In him, Whis could see the destroyer of worlds, the wrecker of all of time, and perhaps soon, all of space. In the body of ruined dreams below, lay perhaps the seeds of the end. The end of all things. And they were watching from on high as he fought against something just as unique.

There was an aura of unnatural energy around Son Gohan. The dark powers fuelling him at this time were anathema to his actions seemingly. But there was something else. The body below them, striking out against Taro's, was tainted with a kind of time-strain. It was as if he'd been afflicted by an obstruction in time. It was as if he was an echo of a split in time from a moment far earlier. Perhaps more than if, perhaps it was most definitely the case.

What was actually remarkable, and something he'd noticed before, was the fact that he could sense the growing pool of the damned giving of themselves for this Saiyan. The irony wasn't lost of him that those who were abusers, and themselves perhaps victims of the very world which would be destroyed or ended above, placed their power in the hands of the one among them who perhaps had shown them something in themselves. It was remarkable to think that maybe those who were condemned for all an eternity, would be the ones to reach out their hand and save the world in its last moments.

Fascinating.

The air seemed to warp around the two fighters again as Taro laid into Gohan as the Saiyan attempted to drive in for his next attack. Unlike the mortals below, Whis could see every moment of the engagement. There was a moment before he blow landed that Gohan clearly knew his movements were being unresponsive, or manipulated. Beerus had been holding back most of his power whilst battling Taro, clearly to obtain a measure of his enemy's power. Neither of these two were holding back. This planet was suffering under the weight of their battle across the heavens and the surface of the planet.

"The crazed one," Beerus commented. "He's manipulating the time and space around the other. What an incredible oddity. Anyone not able to notice that would be left absolutely ruined by it. Clearly the other Saiyan isn't fully aware of what's happening. In strength, and perhaps even skill he's better than the nightmarish one. Admittedly, it'd be easiest if I just destroyed him along with the whole planet..."

"Now Lord Beerus, we did promise to give them a chance."

"I'm just saying it'd be easier that way," Beerus remarked lightly while closing his eyes confidently. "Besides, even with that Gohan creature having this much power, I sincerely doubt he'll be the one to stop this monster. He can't seem to cope with the manipulative nature of the monster. At best he's a stumbling block."

Another blow rumbled over the landscape as Gohan's body slammed into the ground and rolled limply for a dozen metres, his face ending up half in the dirt before his hands pressed against the ground and he started to push himself up.

Hmm. Perhaps Lord Beerus is correct. A pity.

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Gohan:

Something's wrong.

Everything ached as Gohan coughed once, his lungs wheezing as they did. Spit came up a second later after he brushed fresh blood from his chin. He was always strong with math, almost being able to calculate where he'd want his body to go and anticipate such motions. For some reason all his moves seemed off. Despite the power which was flowing in his body, his dodges seemed sloppy, his attacks seemed off, and his movement was erratic. Something outside of himself, and outside of the power he was being donated, was responsible for this.

Landing nearby and behind his left shoulder, Gohan heard and sensed Taro land. For a few moments he'd felt his cocky, arrogant, delusional attitude beginning to wane when they'd first started fighting. The tone changed when he thought he was going to be outdone. Now that the roles were reversed, it was almost like some magical cure to any such changes. It was more than frustrating because he'd sensed Taro beginning to crack. Hell, he could almost smell his fear. After being involved in enough fights and slaughters, he knew when people were getting nervous.

Looking up into the air at his two most prominent observers, he quietly wondered if they were bizarrely interfering on behalf of Taro himself, before he tiredly took two steps to turn himself around and stare directly at the smug creature before him. Even with him breathing harder than he was before, Gohan could see the arrogant persona which had been there before. He could almost predict what was coming next, and it made him want to spit again just at the thought.

This piece of shit's killed me in other worlds no doubt. He claims he's totally ruined my life here and finds me and everyone I know just to be some random insect to torture and pull the legs off?

There wasn't any despair on Gohan's part as he sensed his anger rising. It was hard to stand still like he was even. Really, he just wanted to charge him and start bashing his skull in, not only to end the fight, but to give this monster a piece of what it deserved. This thing was the worst of his own people. This thing was the worst of the people from his past, and it just sucked people's lives into it like a black hole. Hell, the only person he might hate more than this thing, at least right now, was maybe Garlic.

"Oh you're so kind placing such importance on me Gohan-"

Shut. Up.

"I make the most fantastical obstacles to overcome," Taro said calmly, his voice hinted with amusement. "A being of raw power and rage. A being I essentially created by simply leaving waves in my path. The beginning and the end-"

"Would you stop gloating and just fight? You have no idea how hard it is to listen to you. You and Garlic, I swear you're secret weapon is making me want to kill myself instead of listening to you," Gohan shot back.

A sharp glance was cast towards him before Taro's smile reemerged.

"Very well, but there is one thing. Do you wonder perhaps even for a moment why everything has gone so awry for you, Son Gohan?" Taro asked. "We both know that you appear more powerful than I, even if we both know you're on the cusp of losing this battle. I could escalate but only at a significant cost to myself of course..."

It was him doing it somehow then? Immediately his brain went into high gear, rushing through a list of scenarios. What did he sense when he was off with his attacks or predictions? What was wrong with his perception? Everything seemed correct until a split second into it all it wasn't. It was always just as he was about to block, or just as he was about to strike. If that was the case, was there a chance he could change those outcomes? It was a question he needed to find the answer to, right away.

Purple energy crackled between his fingers while he sized up Taro, trying to find an opening while his opponent quietly assumed a defensive posture.

"Things are going awry, because this is my story. This is my world. What are you going to do about it?" he chuckled, looking up at the 'gods' above before looking back at him, just as confidently.

The answer was simple. Cracking his neck to one side before assuming his fighting pose once more, Gohan levelled his gaze on Taro as he prepared to attack again.

"Easy, I'm going to take it away."

"Such a pleasant fantasy. I truly made you an optimist in every world I come acros-"

Yea, he didn't need to hear this blowhard anymore. In a flash of motion Gohan charged forward, the image of his body being left in his wake as he closed in, pulling his arm back to strike directly into the other Saiyan's chest. Without Taro reacting immediately, his senses went on high alert as he almost sensed the world around him for what it was. He could see past the edges of what was physically there, instead almost seeing only through the ki which flowed through him. When he closed in, he struck his arm out, not sensing Taro moving at all. When his fist edged towards Taro's chest, those senses went out of control for the briefest of moments. His arm angled exactly as he planned it, but never connected. In fact, he wasn't where he thought he'd been only a sliver of a second prior. He was standing past Taro, his feet sliding against the ground.

Taro was exactly where he'd been. Looking around him, sensing what had changed, there was a realization.

He'd been the one who moved. His eyes widened as he realized it, turning his head back to Taro as he felt his eyes widen.

In the distance the massive ball of ki, the Spirit Bomb, was floating in the air, it's blue light showering over him as he stared at the contrasting figure in front of it. The darkness he sensed from Taro was very real, he could almost see it. There was a few seconds where he almost felt himself resign. The 'cousin' he never met, nor wanted, had moved him. He'd changed where he was in space and time. That was how this had changed.

It was in the space between them he felt something very subtle in the ki. It had been almost impossible to notice until he started looking for any kind of discrepancy that could have been throwing him off.

"I told you, Gohan. I am the author of this story. Both the destroy and the creator..." he reiterated, barely turning his head to recognize him. "And I can end this at any moment. Do you think I'd let you take that power from those miserable deviants? Do you think I would put myself into a corner? No. This is just a puzzle for me... And you were certainly a tough one to solve."

Taking two steps, Taro turned to face him, his eyes locking with his own. They were filled with achievement, delight, perhaps a muted sense of self indulgence. When he reached behind him, his hand firmly grasped the hilt of his sword, slowly drawing it. As he did the strange sense he'd felt before, the disturbance in the ki around them, seemed to pick up wildly. His hand closed tightly as he felt his breathing pick up.

Right now he needed to stay calm. Flying off the handle about this wasn't going to help, especially with what he'd just experienced. Time and space had just changed around him in the heat of the moment, in the core of his attack.

Invisible energy swirled around the blade as Taro held it in his right hand before sweeping it up in front of him, placing his left on the blade as well. White energy began to whip around it as it became visible. The air became almost stale as it was in the afterlife as Gohan felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. The blade was wrapped in ki now before the sword itself began to burn a white hot as well. The ground beneath him began to almost shift and change in that moment. It aged, and grass grew up from the ruined earth beneath him. He was left standing in place, trapped in the cone of unnatural energy coming from the blade.

Time was literally passing him by inside this place. Had he been alive, would he have aged to death? It wasn't possible for him to tell. Looking up from the grass to Taro. He couldn't move. When the blade in front of him swung upward, he sensed the shackles of time around him almost seem to loosen. The white hot blade almost seemed to sing before it was cut down, and then swung back and cut across.

"Chrono Cut!"

The words echoed over him in a voice that vibrated through the time around him. Energy cycled past him as he barely managed to step back, trying to move further. The cone of strange energy around him started to vibrate, fragmenting and fracturing all around him as the world in front of him turned white. The ground between them vaporized as the air seemed to turn to a burning vapour, before vanishing itself. With every ounce of his might and speed, Gohan blasted upward, trying to break free from the blast. It inched towards him at a fraction of speed seemingly, but his own motion was so slow all he could seemingly do was watch it coming.

As the wave approached... time started to break down around him. Looking to his left as he desperate pulled upward, he saw himself, peel away from him, before falling down. Looking up towards his salvation, he could see a dozen mirrors of himself doing so. At the last possible second time resumed at its normal speed before the white was blasted past him, just as his feet cleared it. The ground beneath him was annihilated. His time duplicates all seemed to resonate out of existence, save for the one who fell away, his scream echoing out over the open space which had become their battlefield.

And as soon as his double died, Gohan felt almost a piercing pain in his side, Unable to stay in the air even, he dropped to the ground and cried out, landing hard. His body had shut down for a second, it'd been as if he'd been killed. The same sensation he felt when Garlic beat him to death, in those last final seconds, had washed over him.

"Fascinating," Taro commented, beginning to take steps towards him, holding the sword as he did. "You're the first one to survive that. Well, survive is a strong term. You're not the first to dodge it..."

That pain had been his heart. It'd been shut down when his double died. The attack killed him. There was a brief huff of amusement as Gohan wheezed, before starting to get up. Slipping once as he did, his body fell back into the dirt as his arm trembled uncontrollably. Slamming his hand into his chest, the undead heart pumped back to "life' while Gohan was left choking for a few seconds.

He needed to find a way to win this. He couldn't just be a speed bump to this guy. He had the power he needed to stop him, he just needed to stop him. In a straight fight he had already showed he could win. But this thing could jump between spots like his father could. Now he was learning he could bend and manipulate time and space.

If he didn't stop him, everyone was going to die, including his mother, brother, father, and most importantly Pan. Even the thought of Videl dying, or even Vegeta was wretched. Trunks, Vegeta's kid, had been someone who he'd grown a fondness towards as well, and if he died he'd be letting him down. Not even just the version of Trunks in his world, but all of the Trunks that had been the victims of this monster.

No one deserved whatever had happened to them. Being trapped in this thing would have been a fate worse than death. It might even be a worse Hell than the one he was stuck in.

His father's friends, Tien and Krillin, had already been killed in a moment of pointless violence already. There was no need for this thing to murder them like that, they weren't any threat to him at all.

He couldn't block the image from his mind of this sword wielding demon slaughtering everyone he cared about.

Maybe it was a grim reminder though of why he was stuck in Hell himself. There deaths served no purpose, there had been no reason to kill them because they weren't a threat to anyone. Just like the majority of people he'd... relocated, in a life that seemed so distant to him that it didn't feel like his own.

I'm not going to let you down Pan.

His fingers dug into the dirt as he wheezed, looking over briefly to the spirit bomb in the distance, before looking back up at Taro, trying to catch his wind. The pain in his chest hadn't subsided. Looking up even hurt as he saw Taro now looming over him, sword in hand. The energy around that blade had been what had impacted space and time around him. In fact...

Taro wasn't a god, no matter how much he rambled about it. He couldn't control time and space...

The sword.

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Goku:

Oh no.

He saw him die. He felt his son die for a brief second when the white light had washed over him. It was impossible to not sense the disruptions in the ki all around them. And now Gohan was on the ground and couldn't even get up. Worst of all, his own arms were stuck in the air, trying to gather up enough energy to stop whatever this thing was. Turning his eyes to the two figures in the air, the two who had been looking on with amusement so far, Goku saw the purple one, Beerus, looking concerned. There was an actual level of concern, maybe even worry, he was trying to conceal.

"Gohan has lost," Piccolo's voice emerged, filled with a tone of disappointment and despair. "He can no longer win this battle."

And it was true. Even if he was "alive" right now, this was over. How long Gohan could hold up against this kind of attack? How long any of them could hold up to it? None of them could touch Taro right now. Even when he'd been merged with Vegeta they'd been nothing but a pest for him to deal with. And now Gohan, even merged with every enemy of their past, and the souls of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of denizens in Hell, despite being more than a match for this thing in raw power, was... helpless.

But there was something in him in that second that didn't give in to despair, and it was when Gohan had turned to look towards them, before he looked back towards his fight. There was a second he connected with him, and he could sense his son's resolve. It was the same resolve he sensed in himself when he'd faced so many adversaries in his past.

"No Piccolo," Goku heard himself before he even thought to saw it. "Gohan is going to win."

He could sense his Namekian friend turn his head towards him, and Goku turned his own head to meet his, nodding as he did. Piccolo seemed to regard him, looking for a chance to believe the way he did. A smile emerged on his green face before he nodded in turn. He'd learned to trust him a long time ago, and they both knew to trust each other's judgement.

"You've got to be kidding me," Junia scoffed. "Don't you understand? We're all dead."

Looking away from Piccolo towards Taro's former compatriot, he saw something unexpected. Her eyes were filled with anger and terror. It was the look of someone who'd backed the wrong horse, and was now terrified of the consequences. Her fist was balled so tightly Goku saw the beginning of blood dripping from her knuckles.

"Kakarot's judgement on this isn't flawed," Vegeta then remarked. "The boy is going to win. Taro is fighting the wrong kind of battle."

There was a pause as everyone turned towards him.

"He killed Gohan just now. He may have even killed him before as well. The only way for him to stop Gohan is to vaporize him, or drain it of all its energy, or render the body useless. Gohan's body isn't alive right now," Vegeta remarked. "Even with this kind of power on display, he's not fighting smartly. If I were him I'd just decapitate him and be done with it. But he's trying to achieve something."

"Gohan's going to look for an opening," Piccolo commented.

"And then he's going to take it, and that's his chance to win," Goku almost whispered aloud, his eyes flashing with the realization.

"Do it Gohan," Goten's voice chimed in.

In the corner of his eyes, Goku noticed Junia scoff in disbelief before angrily glaring at the battle.

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Taro:

I don't understand...

Even as Gohan struggled to get up in front of him, Taro felt his fingers tighten around the hilt of his blade. There was something disconcerting when he looked into his adversaries eyes. At this point in every fight he'd been in, he could always see the hopelessness in their eyes. Any time he took his time to take an opponent apart, he always wanted to see that moment where they realize their hopelessness. It was the conquest of his own imperfections made manifest.

In staring into his enemy's eyes this time, he who disbelieved in his true nature... he didn't see the look of a man who wanted to surrender, or give up. He was staring into the eyes of grim determination. It was the look of a man who would pay any price to win, and worst yet, believed that he could very well still win. Something dark and black emerged in his own chest as he tasted something which drove him almost mad.

It wasn't enough just to kill him anymore.

Before Gohan could rise, Taro snapped his leg out into a sharp kick, catching the other Saiyan across the brow. It split his eyebrow open above his left eye. Blood gushed from the wound almost instantly as Gohan's head shot back, blood trickling onto the ground as well as being shot across the dusty ground beyond. His cousin's knees remained firmly planted on the ground however, not letting himself fall back after the blow.

In a surprise second, Gohan shot forward from his prone position, striking at him with his fist in retaliation. His speed was faster than his own, but Taro was more than ready. Time itself bent to his will as his energy flowed through the blade. The hollow cries of the Trunks in his mind, and the essence of the sword itself, did little but spur him on. Simply moving to his side in this instance, Taro let Gohan plunge forward before raising up the blade itself and smiling, cutting him up and along the ribs.

Time emerged once more as Gohan slid forward. Blood trickled along the ground as well, soaking through his torn red shirt. Not even giving him the dignity to recover and realize what he'd done, Taro launched himself forward, driving a boot squarely between Gohan's shoulders. The pawn was sent tumbling forward, before emerging on his feet. The golden aura around him rippled several times as Taro cast forward the cone of time once again, focusing the blade. He could see the other warrior trying to prepare himself, in the sliver of time he was trapped in. He recalled the first time he used this technique, and watched Vegeta turn into nothing but a withered skeleton. This time an ageless body was staring back at him, defiantly.

With a sneer of disdain, Taro prepared the blade again as time around them warped, and reality warped along with it. The essence of space time swirled around the energy within the blade.

"Now," he commented to himself. "I have other things to do with my time..."

Swiping the blade out to Gohan in two distinct directions, he slashed open wounds in very fabric of space and time. White hot waves of something beyond just ki opened in the world, before launching forward.

"Chrono Cut!"

As soon as his words emerged, it almost commanded his attack forward, watching as the two waves cut through the very cone he'd just made. The temporal power of the blade faded as the attack burned its way through the cone before him. Regrown grass was turned to atoms before being cast out of the universe's very being, along with the dirt and air as the wave carved through his target. Gohan shattered into a dozen forms, before the 'original' appeared out of it all dashing towards him. Half way to closing with him, his body seized as his hair turned from gold to black, his power declining rapidly. Smiling, Taro let him descend towards him helplessly before simply appearing next to him, slamming his knee into his opponent's chest, before rolling past him and dropping both legs into his side, breaking at least one rib before Gohan's body plunged into the ground below.

Landing nearby, he saw Gohan's body pull himself up out of the small hole he'd made, dragging himself to his feet again. Blood oozed from his ribs, and his forehead, and now his mouth. Spitting the blood up out of his mouth however, Gohan seemed to just shake it off. Even to him it was shocking.

"It's just pain," Gohan breathed, shaking his head after saying the words, refocusing in on him. "You can't hurt me. I'm already dead."

With the determination of a man with nothing to lose seemingly, or perhaps everything to lose,

This is ridiculous.

It was time to put the sick dog down in the final act of their little engagement. Readying the blade once more, Taro smiled darkly at his counterpart, bracing his legs as another cone formed around Son Gohan, just as his hair flickered back up into gold. It passed upwards again as time accelerated inside the space in front of him. Grass grew again as Gohan was left in stasis where he stood. The blade flickered to life once more as Taro pushed it hard.

Briefly, he bothered to look up towards Beerus and Whis, a sinister edge crossed his lips as he saw the concealed concern written across the cat god's features. He could see himself dying in this attack, and Taro knew it. The blade vibrated with power before turning his attention back to Gohan. The other warrior was standing without even a guard up. This was too perfect. With a the edge of the sword matching the curve of his smile almost, he swept the blade forward, not twice, but five times. Cuts ripped through reality and time in front of him as the gashes appeared in their white forms.

"Chrono Cut!"

In a wave of white light, the cone shattered and was washed away. This time, unlike the prior, Gohan disappeared in the light as well. The ki field around his blade started to slowly fade as its power waned while it recovered from the exertion. Relief washed over Taro now that this hurdle had been overcome. This was his ultimate form of attack. No one had 'survived' it up until this point until Son Gohan, and he only survived as he was dead. Normally if any of the time fragments of the individual was hit, they would simply die, even if they dodged, and that was if they didn't die from old age first.

Finally, it's done-

It was then that he realized he saw the flash and afterimage of a dozen Gohans outside of the field of the blade's attack, if only for a brief second. None of them, not one instance or probability, had been hit by the wave, which meant-

Knuckles slammed into his chin, staggering him as he nearly lost consciousness. His momentary haze let his hand, his sword bearing hand be grasped by his adversary. Immediately he shot his left hand out, grasping Gohan's face as his thumb started to gouged towards the other Saiyan's eyes, digging his fingers and nails into his face. Blood started to stream within seconds as Gohan snarled through the pain, reaching up with his own hand and grabbing his throat. Trembling with his right arm, Taro tried to rip it away, but the iron grip of Son Gohan's hand was too much. He was... stronger than him. Every time he pushed his power, Gohan just pushed his own to new heights. Ki flowed through his left hand as he started preparing to finish Gohan, once and for all. A blast to the face at this range would be the last of his undead counterpart.

Snapping his right arm away from his neck, Gohan batted away his own hand just as he launched his ki blast. Taro couldn't help but trail the shot with his attention, watching as it disappeared, his neck finally free to move.

Damn. I won't let this happen to me, I'll-

When he turned his attention forward, the bloody, and yet still quite heard forehead of Gohan shot forward, crashing into the front of his face. Blood oozed from his nose in seconds before he felt his skull vibrate with the impact. It was jarring, stunning, and too much pain for him to ignore. Taro stumbled back bringing his right hand to his face as his eyes shut tightly.

But it was only when he did that, that he realized when he looked up, Gohan was... he was... holding the sword.

"I got the feeling that this was more than just sentimental," Gohan breathed his body labouring just holding it. "Feels heavy."

Something hit Taro, it was like a mountain fell on him as his eyes widened and his heart raced.

Fear.

Immediately he prompted himself to rise, preparing to utilize a burst of speed to regain what he'd lost.

"Why is it that I'm also getting the feeling that a lot of those god-like powers... manipulation, time alterations, and instant movement, are all being driven through this thing, aren't they?" Gohan breathed. "It's a real shame..."

"That sword is not yours," Taro snarled. "You can't just take it from me! Do you understand!?"

"Yea, I understand plenty. I understand how astronomy works too by the way."

Taking several hopping steps back, as if gathering his strength, his body motioned to put all its power into his right arm. Taro winced, preparing his defence, holding up his guard as he expected Gohan to come at him.

Instead, the wind up lead to Gohan turning as he put all his strength into one great toss. The blade shot through the air, towards the heavens as Gohan's field burst around it. In the distance Taro saw it disappear from sight, leaving behind only a twinkle in the air. Reaching out after it, he commanded it to return, his fingers reaching towards it impotently as it just vanished.

"It was mine," he breathed. "You... do you... do you know what you've done!?"

Taking a step back, Gohan just breathed before nodding.

"I've made sure you're going to fight me like a man. That's just the first thing I'm taking. Next is going to be all those extra pieces you've taken in."

Fear flooded back into his system as Taro felt his body react in a way he'd not felt since he'd been... since he'd been back home. Stepping back furiously and fearfully, he snapped his jaws together, feeling sweat forming on his brow as he growled and bore his teeth. The sham of a calm arrogant exterior bled away revealing him for the primal, furious creature he was.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," he roared, letting his anger override his fears.

"Sure I do, I've got a lot of experience with your kind," Gohan remarked grimly. "After all, I deal with dead men all the time."

That does it!

Pointing his hand out, energy formed in the palm of his hand before a wave of crimson energy emerged. The jolt of energy collided with Gohan before it exploded. The force of the impact turned the entire battlefield red as he sensed it connect. The smoke and ash cleared within seconds, and he was left with the sight of Son Gohan standing there, his hand, barely scorched, raised in defence.

"You're going to need to learn to try harder," Gohan advised.

Fury overtook him as his energy spiked, orbs of red energy forming in both his hands.

His only response was to unleash that fury as bolts were sent hurtling, one after another at his nemesis.

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Gohan:

The gash in his side hurt. The open wound on his head hurt as well. His chest ached from the several bizarre heart attacks his body had suffered under the assault of the reality and time manipulating sword. He had burns across parts of his body, and he was sure he'd suffered a few fractures. It was all nothing, it was all just imagined. Every wound he suffered was just a thing, the pain he felt was almost numb if only because it was far worse where he came from. It was even far worse before he died. Ripping out his own cybernetic attachments. Losing limbs, being impaled, and being beaten to death were all things he could immediately recall. All that pain, all those scars, it blended together with what he experience in his wonderful afterlife.

To be burned to death once every few days no matter how desperately you tried to run away, or dying in a vicious, brutal fight with other denizens of the damned realm of Hell... it just made it all feel so hollow.

Why should he care, if he was wounded? So what? The pain... it was just a thing, a thing which held very little meaning to him barring the most extreme circumstances now.

Even now when the next bolt came crashing into him, Gohan sensed the energy, feeling it hit his right shoulder before he could respond. The world flashed in brilliant scarlet once again, but it didn't matter. The shreds of clothes he had left were blasted off his right side's torso, and all that remained of the energy wave was a singed mark. Ash and dust kicked up around him but he didn't care. Walking through it, it blasted away from him as the next bolt came rocketing in. One after another wave after wave slammed into him. Dozens upon dozens of blasts streamed into him before he closed to close range with his infuriated attacker.

How the tone of their engagement changed when he changed the rules. Before this Taro had been playing them all, this was all just a game to him. Well, as far as Gohan was concerned, this wasn't a game at all. Games were meant to inspire joy, or amusement. He didn't play games when he killed people across a thousand battlefields. This wasn't fun to him. Fighting Brass hadn't been fun to him. Fighting and killing Turles, and Broly, hadn't been fun to him. Watching Garlic hold his daughter hostage and then being murdered by him hadn't been fun. Getting the hell kicked out of him, cut, blasted, and burnt by this miserable, crazy piece of shit, was also not very enjoyable either.

Somewhere out there has to be better than being in a world with monsters like this thing... and me.

The thoughts dawned on him as soon as he cleared past the last crimson bolt, his chest marred with light burns and scuffs. The other Saiyan looked at him in absolute disbelief as his outstretched hand remained in place, his eyes were wide in a mixture of horror and shock. Perhaps it was like looking in the mirror reflection of his own shock when he'd attacked his father when he first arrived here, only to find that he'd done nothing.

"That's the look you should always be looking for," Cell's voice whispered through his mind. "It's perfect."

Ignoring it, Gohan stepped forward, hopping as he did, before pulling his right arm up and striking back. The backhanded blow cracked across Taro's face as he went hurtling back. Spit and blood emerged from his head as it shot one one side, his eyes wide with disbelief as his body careened back almost a hundred metres. A trail of raised dust was left in the wake of his body, making a perfect path towards him.

Breathing in carefully, even if he didn't need to, Gohan rubbed the back of his knuckles briefly before starting to walk towards Taro again. Despite the dark nature of the power flowing through his body, with every step Gohan took he felt a greater sense of purpose. Somehow it almost felt like a weight was being lifted off his shoulders while he walked the path towards Taro's downed form. If this thing was the thing that had created his entire timeline from the moment of his... extradition, from the planet, it didn't matter. The weight came from the idea that this thing had been every bit the monster he had, if not more.

And just like him, it'd left a trail of tears and monsters in its wake. Monsters created more monsters. How many half broken shells had he left behind? What happened to the beings of the universes he left behind, left with holes in their families and friends? Or forced to watch these horrors. The man was a cage, holding in him the lives of hundreds if not thousands of Vegeta's sons.

There was a real purpose behind him steps as he approached.

Pulling himself up shakily, Taro's eye spitefully looked up at him as he breathed in raggedly. A darkening bruise began forming on the side of his mouth, exactly where the blow had landed. It was the same maddened eyes he remembered Garlic staring at him with, filled with more hate than he could have personally ever had for someone. Which was of course saying a lot.

The air began to swirl once again as the planet itself started to rumble.

"You..." he hissed hatefully. "You think you've overtaken me? You think you've stripped away my means of defeating you?"

It was almost like fire was exiting his lungs as he stood up, heaving angrily as Gohan sensed ki beginning to emerge through the air. Briefly, he looked around him as the swirling cloud of ground particles swept up over him, masking his vision. Lightning crackled and even as it did, Gohan's feet pressed ahead, walking at the same pace unfazed by whatever he was to face. If Taro had a plan to defeat him in depth, he didn't believe it.

But even if he managed to kill him again... so what?

It wasn't like it'd have been the first time.

Hardening his gaze, looking past the world of the physical, he saw Taro's ki rising before he saw his aura. Energy spiked high as the other Saiyan roared in front of him. The trembling of the Earth made him finally stop as the dust was blown away, before waves of soot blew past him, originating from Taro's aura as it picked up all the loose particles and threw them around him in a wave of chaos. The golden aura of energy washed over him as lightning crackling around his form.

The screams of his victims echoed more loudly than they ever had before. The shriek in the air didn't cause Gohan to flinch. The only thing on his features was a hard look, staring directly forward as he looked at Taro's body and ki. The energy was wrapped in rage, and it was more of the "choir" than he'd ever seen before. It was almost as if he'd let loose a the hounds of war. Whatever the origin, Gohan felt the sudden rise in energy and held his ground.

The anger and hatred he saw in Taro's very stance couldn't send a clearer message. His form was braced, and he was barely holding himself back from lunging at him like a feral animal. Veins ran up his arms and muscles as they seemingly pumped more raw energy into him. His muscles were unnaturally tight, trying to bulge out but being restrained into place.

"Everything you have taken from me, I will reacquire," Taro hissed furiously. "And then I will take more than just your life, Gohan!"

"Well, does this mean I'm more than just a figment of your imagination?" Gohan scoffed, before spitting. "I'm flattered."

An angry fist raised up as the skies above them cast lightning from above, clouds beginning to hang overhead even after all the destruction they'd wrought.

The maddened, furious eyes in front of him seemed to almost become lucid for a brief moment, as if his enemy were in a trance. His hateful sneer turned into a long, confident smile.

"I know what I am, Gohan. I know my purpose in this world among many worlds. You are an aimless, broken doll. You are the warped, flawed vision of the creature you normally are," Taro commented. "The Gohan that so many of my other selves knows, is a noble being who would do anything for his friends and family. He would even die for them. He was gentle and caring. You on the other hand have lived as a coward, fleeting in and out of moments of bravery, but always looking to save your own skin."

Something cold filled Gohan's stomach as Taro spoke to him. Taking a defensive posture, he awaited the moment Taro demonstrated this power of his.

"You are afraid," Taro chuckled. "You've always been afraid. You spent your whole life running. Your fear turned you into the broken shell you are in front of me. A broken shell powered by the power of washed up, old nightmares who never had a purpose in my world but to act as playthings for my narratives. Did you slaughter all those people because you were the strong butcher of the North? Or did you slaughter them because you were afraid for yourself? Every other Gohan I've even known conquered his fear as a child... and here you are as a man..."

It was as if there was a delicate string in Gohan's mind, and Taro reached out with a needle and gently touched it, straining it. All of the physical pain didn't matter. This was something which left him almost snarling as Taro jabbed at him.

"Tell me... when you sacrificed yourself fighting that pitiful midget, you never intended to die for your daughter, did you? You thought you had a clever way out. Because I know you'd have run at the first opportunity, if you realized your life was actually at risk-"

"Gohan, I can't believe you thought so little of me-" Garlic's voice whispered into his mind, filled with the same disgusting amusement that made his skin crawl.

Alright. I'm done with this fucking garbage.

Blasting off a second later, Gohan appeared in front of Taro, winding back his arm as he moved before throwing his fist forward. It slammed into the crossed guard of Taro, much to his surprise. The impact left a boom to carry out over the wasteland around them as his foe slid back across the ground, even as the momentum carried he himself forward. While the two still moved at blinding speed, he struck out again, trying to hit Taro in the side with a body shot. Instead, the man who thought himself a god shifted to the side at the last possible moment, before striking back out at him. Much to Gohan's surprise, the blow cracked him across the side of his temple, staggering him even in the air as his body flinched back.

A blow landed on his stomach a moment later, before a hard knee crashed into his ribs, right where the gash was on his torso. Gohan gagged for a brief second before Taro swung around him, shifting all of his weight into his leg and spinning, colliding his heel into the back of his skull. Falling and rolling forward, Gohan's body tumbled only a few feet before he grabbed the ground itself, slowing himself to not bounce dozens of metres from the blow. Raising his guard, he caught the follow up assault off guard, Taro's fist slamming into his forearm.

Locking eyes with him, Gohan sneered himself before striking back in rapid succession, kicking up towards him before striking with his fist. The two disappeared in a blur of pure motion. Punches and kicks shot past one another as off blows connected on both Gohan and Taro. The ground beneath them crumbled and shattered away in seconds before random plots of land exploded from punches or kicks which sailed past one another, the force generated by the blows shredding the landscapes as it passed through the air.

Finally, Gohan connected with a straight punch, a hard one. Taro's head tilted back as he grunted in anger and disbelief. The son of Goku only noticed too late what Taro was doing, letting his body fall back and using the force he was hit with as momentum to turn and twist himself into a spinning back hand. When the fist shot over his own arm and crashed into the bleeding side of his head, Gohan felt one of his eyes blank out, his head became light and his body shot down towards the ground at tremendous speeds.

Neck first, he hit the ground limply before bouncing off the ground and hitting the ground front first, sliding across the ground, rubbing against his raw, burnt, and bruised sink for an extended stretch, leaving a trail of dust in the air behind him.

Coughing, he managed to start pulling himself up, being driven by his own ferocity at this point as he scowled. There was something else driving him as well. A rejection of fear, the very thing Taro told him had governed his life.

The reason it'd infuriated him so, the reason it'd been enough to take him off the defensive into the attack, admittedly now seemingly a foolish move, was because it was true. He murdered billions of people because he was scared that he'd get hurt, or killed instead. And all it lead to was him getting hurt, and stripping away his humanity. Piece by piece he'd given himself up, both in body and spirit, paying the price for being terrified. He killed people, by the billions, he killed his own men if they developed a conscience, and all just to keep himself alive.

Why? Because he was scared. He'd been scared of Raditz. He'd been scared of Paragus. He'd been scared of Cooler, and even Turles at first. Everything he did to condemn himself was all because he couldn't see past his own fear, his own want only for himself to live and at any cost. It was a fear he knew he conquered when he faced Turles. And he knew he conquered it again when he faced Broly. But he'd... failed when he faced Garlic.

In truth, he wished Pan had given him that Senzu Bean, even if it meant Videl would have suffered or died without it. Because that was his out, that was his chance to escape all this pain and suffering he had taken onto himself. Hell was forever, and forever he looked into the void now. It couldn't be unseen. And he was afraid of being there forever.

And that made him hate Taro all the more in this moment. It made him even hate himself, but he had to live with himself, even after he died.

He didn't need to live with Taro.

One hand pushed up against the ground as he found himself pulling himself up while Taro landed further away from him, smiling in self satisfaction.

"I promise, before this fight is over, I will retrieve my sword. And I promise I will kill you Son Gohan, with the knowledge that your life has been nothing but a mistake. A mistake I made in this flawed world-"

"I'm not going to let you win," Gohan seethed, his voice trembling. "I... I can't!"

The ground was now trembling for another reason. It was like a volcano inside of him. Muscles bulged outward for a moment as Gohan felt his neck muscles tense. Ki rose through his body, surging forward as he felt something snap. It was the same snapping he felt when he was a child, or when he'd been desperate to defend himself on death's door. His mind felt regressed as it rose, grabbing hold of all the ki of the damned and pulling it forward in a great storm surge of ki.

It was painful. His body was soaked in the blighted energy as steam rose off of it as his aura expanded wildly. A feral cry passed his lips as the sky turned black and the world trembled. Huge chunks of the once destroyed mountains, some hundreds of feet long and dozens of hundreds of tons, lifted in the air as the very ground around him started to rip apart.

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Trunks:

The chains loosened minutes ago. It was almost like he could breathe. Even when he shrieked into the air, almost entirely drained of his own power, he felt a strange relief, totally drained of his power seemingly. At the core of all of this even as he looked up, he could see the dark orb of energy above him, swirling and pulsating with power as it drank in all the agony, power, and memories around it. For a brief second it flashed, his eyes seeing through Taro's eyes.

The orb's strength was overwhelming, it was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was a pool of lives, a pool of strength which was almost like a put of despair. It was the source of all this pain, the source of so much suffering.

Trunks.

A voice not his own filled his head. The cries of agony from himself were almost drowning. Some of them were his voice as a child, others as a teenager, and a few as an adult or even senior. The chains around his body still cut into him. But did they? Did he even have a body? What was he even?

Trunks.

The feminine voice became more and more clear to him.

Wh-... who are you?

It was almost like he wanted to reach out, but his arm wouldn't move. It wouldn't budge at all.

You know me.

That voice... it was...

Supreme Kai of Time?

Memories came slowly trickling back into his being, being pulled through the pain and maddened whispers around him. Trying to regain his senses, he wished he could break past what bound him here.

Trunks, listen to me. I can help you through this. We need to stop him before this gets any worse. We only have one chance to stop him.

Looking through the representation of the world around him through his 'eyes', Trunks tried to gauge what he was really looking at. He saw a sea of chains dangling in the air, seemingly falling upwards, each one binding together a darkened figure. He could sense all their pain and anguish, as well as all of their power, flowing into the sphere which was above them almost like a black star.

For a brief second he could see through its eyes. The world flashed to one of light. Across from him a golden figure stood there, his power swirling around him as Trunks felt something he could barely grasp inside the presence of the monster he was inside. It was afraid... This thing was afraid of whatever... or whoever...

Gohan a thousand mind's whispered. The figure in front of him took on as many forms for him as there was voices. Some saw him in his orange and blue gi, others saw him dressed as a teacher, some saw him in Saiyan armour and others saw him dressed in casual human clothes. All of these depictions shared a mixture of feelings and emotion for all of them. Each one held him in a place and time that was important to them, and their sentiment mixed with the fear itself. For Trunks himself though, for the mind he knew himself as, he saw his friend standing there in the last moments before he went to face his destiny at the hands of the androids.

Where am I?

"Trunks. Its taken hold of you again. I can only help you so much. This is up to you. You need to break free from him. If you break these chains you can stop this thing before it causes any more harm to anyone else."

I don't know how to.

"You do Trunks. I believe in you. Just pull away, break the chains."

The chains felt as if they were growing even looser as he sensed the fear settling in. It wasn't just settling in inside of him, it was in Taro himself. For the first time this place of misery and pain was being joined by its master, and he could sense it. The only thing he needed to do was not be afraid. The others all feared something, they feared dying along with Taro, they feared more pain. They feared losing everything they had left of themselves.

It was almost contagious. For the brief seconds he considered it, tied to them in this network of nightmares, Trunks could understand why none of them pushed back anymore. None of them wanted to face their fears as much as anything else. He didn't either.

Grasping the chains which bound him, Trunks tore back as hard as he could. The fictitious steel which wrapped his from began to give. He breathed in heavily after the first attempt, feeling the chains wriggle as if they were alive around him, trying to regain their composure before with all his might, casting aside everything he felt around him, Trunks stared at the black orb above him with contempt as he tore away again, this time the chains bending before they tore free.

Hitting the ground, which was almost a glass mirror of obsidian, he stared back at himself once he hit the ground, before seeing a familiar face in the reflection next to his. The Supreme Kai of Time.

He felt weak, and it was hard just to keep himself up as he was. It was still hard to remember even half of who he was, but he understood now more than ever in many respects. He was Trunks, and he was the Trunks who started all of... this... so many years ago. Fixing his world lead to the destruction of thousands, tens of thousands... millions...

More then that even. This is just one of these nightmares.

"We need to find a way to free the others."

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Taro:

The aura in front of him began swirling into the air like a whirling tornado. This torrent of raw energy sent the rainclouds above into a downpour over the once drying battlefield as the Earth itself began to seemingly revolve around it. The power in front of him was already shaking the world. When a crack ran beneath Gohan's feet however, and the fissure ran straight past him, he sensed the energy around him and Taro felt his hand trembling slightly. The idea that he was outclassed by anyone, even Beerus, just seemed impossible. How could he have allowed this to happen? What self abuse could he have created for himself to have developed this narrative for himself?

To rise to the highest of heights, only to be struck low before he could bring about his united, perfect vision of his world...

You're all smirking aren't you? You can't wait to see my defeat... you all wish I was felled by this monster.

The audience didn't feel real, not without it in his hands. More than ever he needed the blade. That was his key to resolving this issue once and for all. Grasping it allowed him to tap into the creative powers of this world, his creative powers. Right now he was incomplete, even with so many of his fragments inside himself.

His hair was blowing in the wind as he heard Gohan's voice roar out as his power started to crest. The tide was overwhelming, he placed his arms up to block for himself even as his own aura was blasted back in the waves of energy and heat coming from this amalgamated being. This false reconstruction of himself had been turned into the weapon meant to strike him down. The ground started to break apart around them, collapsing in on itself for a square kilometre around Gohan himself. Losing his footing as a result, Taro's feet hung in the air as Gohan's did as well. The now swirling spire of aura pushed past the clouds above them as lightning and thunder rained down from above. The flashes illuminated his form as he could almost hear Gohan's voice in his head.

Taro.

His hand started trembling more as he gathered his own strength.

No. No I'm not going to let this creature defeat me.

Raising his hand to the heavens, Taro reached out with his mind and energy, reaching into the void between worlds, pulling on the blade to return to him. He sensed his mind grasp it, even as it fled the solar system at an impossible velocity. How far he pulled it was hard to tell.

Return. Return to me. You must return to me!

The ki around the world near him swept away, almost as if a massive entity moved through it. He only had time to look forward before he felt his stomach pull in as a knee collided with his gut. A gross hiccough and gag drained from his lips. Before he could even look up he saw a fist rising straight up in front of him, slamming into his face just around his left eye. The blow landed hard enough he felt his skull itself rattle as flesh almost immediately became hot as blood vessels burst around the impact zone. His entire body shook before he felt himself rising.

Only a second later a palm shot out, this time catching him in the chest. The wind was knocked immediately out of him as his body helplessly trailed backwards through the air, hitting the ground and skipping a dozen times over the surface of the Earth, as if he were a rock skipping across a lake. Each bounce barely reduced his speed. When he finally hit the ground for the last time he slid to an undignified halt, his face having been rubbed raw in the now increasingly wet dirt.

The Spirit Bomb itself seemed further away as he breathed in, looking up and seeing Gohan in the air. His eye was already started to swell over as he snarled viciously. This wouldn't be his fate, to be felled by this primal thing across from him.

His own aura flickered to life as Taro began gathering energy. His hands brimmed with power as it flowed freely, feeding off the fear of his occupants as they realized their own miserable fate should they fail. Tapping into their thoughts and memories, the proper technique was lifted to the fore as golden energy rippled off his fingers and arms.

The strength of his adversary was a fiction. One blow and it would be undone. One blow of sufficient, concentrated strength. His aura suddenly began to accelerate around him as waves of power began rolling up his form.

This thing thinks itself my equal. I made it too clever. It thinks that it can match the only truly living being in existence. FINE! We'll see it withstand this.

"Don't you know what you are?" Taro seethed, standing up to his full height. "Don't you know your place in all of this?"

The shout echoed across the distance between the two of them as Taro's arms shifted several times in rapid order as he formed the attack, assembling the series of complex motions required to unlock the ki necessary to form the attack that would seal the fate of his enemy.

"I am Son Gohan," was the only response as Gohan's feet touched down on unbroken ground far away, his voice carrying over the wind. "And I'm not a dream. I'm real."

White hot rage mixed into his ki, polluting it with his hatred and anger. The power flowing around him flickered violent with this influx as he felt his chest heave. The agonized cries of his pieces warped around him as he fed their power into the blast.

"Then you go back to where you fucking belong," Taro spat. "Burning Attack!"

He almost screamed it as he shot his hands forward.

A golden ball of energy formed and fired in almost an instant. The ball of power felt almost pure as it shot between them. The world seemed to slow down as Taro felt a vindictive sneering smile cross his lips. The orb resonating with the power of his fragments, and of his own power. It pulsated with his hatred as it closed in with the last nightmare he ever truly need to face. The last challenge which would defy him so directly. The dead man would be vaporized.

When the blast's light reflected on Gohan's features as it closed in, the son of Goku's own aura flickered purple for the briefest of seconds. A roar bellowed from the other Saiyan as he lunged into it while throwing his fist towards it in an uppercut. When his hand struck it, a wave of concussive force boomed out, exploding the ground beneath him and the blast as it cracked out over the open air around them. The bolt shot back and up, screaming over his head before it ascended into the sky above. Taro couldn't help but look up as he felt his stomach hollow out seemingly before the sky turned gold.

When the blast exploded, it did so in high orbit. It was like staring at a second sun in the sky.

His breathing became shallow for several seconds as he felt sweat forming on his brow before he looked forward at the monster standing there, his hand still in place. Gohan hadn't even bothered to look up at the blast as he had. When Taro saw the Burning Attack simply be bashed aside... knocked away and left to explode as far away as the moon, Taro tried to control himself. His heart was starting to race as he felt his power ebb for a brief moment as the same fear swelled through the ranks of his mind.

No... No it can't be possible. That attack was strong enough... it was concentrated. This isn't... I willed it but... it... it's...

His mind was searching through the memories and feelings of every piece of himself looking for answers. But it left him with a question which was starting to claw at the back of his mind as he felt the hair on the back of his neck rising seemingly as high as his Super Saiyan hair. It was something he'd never asked since he'd acquired the clarity of thought he'd possessed for seemingly an eternity, for a combination of thousands of lifetimes.

"What... what am I?" he whispered to himself, looking down at his hands before looking back up at Gohan.

What was he if this thing was real? What was he if all of this wasn't just apart of his fantasies. But how? Everything else had risen to match his expectations. Everything else he could hear as if it was music he'd composed on the winds. He'd seen to the heart of creation itself. He saw into the realm of time and space itself. He'd seen Stars born, and stars die. From the first world he came from before his awakening he understood even the simplicity of this flawed creation.

And now he could only look at his hands and be left in wonder. He saw his creativity in everything, his flawed concepts... and he'd worked towards the perfection of himself, and the reunification of his vision of reality. If he wasn't what he thought that meant he was just... just some piece of the puzzle. He wasn't the master of it.

He almost felt like heaving at the thought. Still bewildered, he heard the voice of the being which he could now centre his wrath on, a wrath that was feeling increasingly impotent.

"You're nothing."

Taro's world came back from the depths of his mind at the words. In that split second, he could see the Gohan of his prime world. The one which had died fighting his... supposed... father. The tyrant he'd made for himself to see what authority was. He saw the young man who'd rebelled supposedly for what was right. It was a lesson, to show him what folly virtue was.

With contempt in his voice, he admitted something allowed which even he felt would admit too much to Gohan. It would almost be a half admission to this creature's existence.

"This from the Saiyan who is a pale impersonation of the Gohan of every other world. Even in my body's first world... you died fighting Turles because you had virtue. What were your virtues in this flawed painting, Gohan? Running away?"

Taking a step towards him, Gohan started to walk.

The walk told Taro more than any words could about Gohan's idea of running away.

Fury rose to match his previous anger. His aura surged around him again as he pointed his hand out, scowling without even the veneer of a smile. Red energy coalesced in his hand and arm as his aura turned to a fiery red itself. His energy shifted past to new heights as he poured his own desperation into his attack, pulling and drawing more than he'd ever attempted before. The red around him shifted the tone of the darkening light around him as the rain from above started to blast the blown out landscape around him.

He placed his other hand on his arm, bracing it as he narrowed his eyes, targeting the approaching figure.

"Crimson Destruction!"

The world in front of him turned red as the wave appeared. The depth of the colour reflected it strength as he felt it make contact with Gohan. The fool hadn't even dodged. The end of the wave seemed to wash into the distance as it cut through the world in front of him as if it'd not been there. The sound of the resonating ki washed over him as much as the red light did. Confidence finally emerged from within as Taro felt himself almost relax for a moment.

When the flow of energy, running like a river, bulged near the end before it started to fragment and disperse into the air, he heard the sudden disruption in the beam as soon as he saw it. His eyes widened as he felt his heart jump again. He had no words to say before he focused the beam, narrowing its power directly on the point of the obstacle. The energy re-centred itself before he plunged more power into it. The break in his beam didn't stop, and then he felt something pressing against it. The bulged in the beam then started to get closer, almost step by step as he focused the Crimson Destruction on it.

His right arm started to tremble at the output as he sensed his own power started to weak before golden light broke through the red in front of him. It was a break in the river, but only one piece to end it all. Another fist caught him in the side of the head as Gohan moved through the steam and connected with him. The hit landed on the side of his face once again, crashing into his cheek as he felt his body lose hold of the beam, stumbling back.

A kick rose up, catching him in the side side of the head, hitting his temple and forehead. Blood spat out of the swollen part of his brow with this hit, before Gohan spun around once and stepped into his next right, putting all his force behind it. Taro felt the punch before it landed, clipping him in the mouth and nose. Blood shot out of his nose and his teeth cut his mouth before Taro was sent flying into the ground. This time he didn't skip he he ploughed face and shoulder first into the dirt on an angle. The ground piled up from his impact, leaving a mound of dried, but increasingly dampened mud. A small puddle of liquid was already forming where he lay his face half covered in blood and mud.

With a trembling hand, he brushed some of the mud-blood-saliva-mucus mixture from his from his nose and mouth, trying to assess what had just happened to him. What... what had just happened?

"You're finished."

Taro's eyes flashed to life as he looked away from the mound of earth he'd almost eaten seconds early. His hand pulled a fist of wet dirt into his hand as he squeezed it hatefully before throwing it at Gohan's face in spite. He wanted to scream and yell almost incoherently at this monster in front of him.

"I am not finished!" he screamed as Gohan's head tilted to one side as the mud shot past him.

"You're throwing mud and insults," Gohan remarked dispassionately. "You're eating through your power with these attacks. I know you've spent over half your strength already and are spending more by the second. You can't keep up with us anymore. You're done. You know you're done too. And you know you're not a god."

The last words caught him most as he felt his chest heaving. He almost felt like he could vomit. A dry heave almost happened as his whole body started to tremble. This... this wasn't happening. This world was pitiful, the most flawed vision he'd seen in years and... and he was covered in mud, staring in the face of a defeat he never wrote for himself. How could he lose if he was the creator of all of this? How could he have allowed this to happen?

Unless he wasn't the one driving this. There was no sign of the blade either. All he had to rely on was his increasingly complete form... and it was losing to this imitation of both a Gohan, and himself.

"You... you've not seen anything yet," he managed to speak through his anger and fear.

Not a fear of Gohan any longer, but a fear of not being what he needed to be.

"Tall words from a man laying in a mud pit."

When Gohan took another step pointing his hand out to finish him with a key blast, Taro surged upwards, zipping past the other Saiyan as he rocketed into the air. Turning in the air as he reached the ceiling of the clouds seemingly, Taro felt himself breathing in and out laboriously. There had to be a way around this. It couldn't end like this. Even now he could see Gohan, even from this distance, just looking at him daringly.

"Whose running now?"

Gohan's words rang through the air between them as if they were on his mind. Mud covered hands clenched into balls of rage as Taro felt his teeth show. Blood tainted his left eyes' vision as it leaked into the wound. Every blow he'd landed depleted him significantly. Every major attack he'd tried drained him and resulted in nothing.

A coward? He thinks I'm the coward...

His mind cycled to his last option. One which he knew would degrade him perhaps too much... but he was running out of options. In fact, he'd run out of options. Now he was left here in the air to regroup, and found himself unable to rally beyond this one technique.

Lowering his altitude in the sky, Taro felt his aura shift from yellow to orange. Energies began to swirl around him as Gohan stared up at him daringly. Perhaps his words of cowardice and running had worked perfectly. Encouraging Gohan to challenge the beam was exactly what he wanted. The ki around him exploded as he locked his hands together. It reached a new height as he began feeding the very life force of himself and a thousand others into the core of the attack. Screams died in the air as they became too weak to scream any longer. Unfolding his locked hands into a triangle, Taro looked down at the defiant Gohan below.

"I am the sole being of this universe. And before I send you back to Hell you'll know it," Taro breathed, the words almost there to convince himself more than Gohan. "I am beyond a god. When I dream, I make the Gods."

A blue and purple orb appeared in Gohan's hands as he began to shift his own form, as if preparing to challenge him. He had no clue what was coming his way.

"Time to wake up."

The jab caused Taro's chest to rumble with a growl as he focused everything into one point. The ground around Gohan seemingly caught fire with the orange energy as it formed a barrier around him, showing exactly where the beam would land. If Gohan didn't stop this, it'd not only kill him, but punch a hole straight through the planet, and anything else on the other side for a dozen light years. His own breathing regulated before he let his own life force seep into the shot.

There was no need to banter any longer, his response to the disrespectful comment was simple.

"Tri-beam-HA!"

The world in front of him flashed brilliant as the attack was unleashed, even as he sensed Gohan's own power declining briefly. No attack was going to stop this now. When the blast landed, a blast comprised not only of his own ki, but of the life force of himself and every fragment he possessed, it would vaporize the undead warrior beneath and-

"Cataclysmic-"

There was a light beneath him, shining purple and blue as Taro felt the power below suddenly skyrocket from the lows he sensed before. Much like the great rise before Gohan had simply turned the battle on him, Taro felt himself breathe in sharply as his eyes peeled through the triangle his hands formed, looking at the orange-tinted Gohan and the light emerging from his hands as he shifted them to his side. The sound the orbs in his hand made as they merged into one was overwhelming, just as loud as his Tri-Beam's.

"Ka-me-ha-me-!"

No. No this isn't possible! I can sense it! HOW?!

"-HA!"

The attack exploded below, slamming into the Tri-beam at the last moment. Taro held his hands in place, focusing all his mind and strength on keeping the attack on course. The wave of darkened blue blasted into the wave as Taro pulled everything he could rally into reenforcing the blast.

"HA!" Taro shouted as he unleashed a lesser Tri-beam to help the prior, reinforcing it. When the second wave hit, the beam started to descend further to the Earth again. Breathing in and out angrily, Taro urged his attack forward.

I will not be humiliated like this. This is my world. This is mine. You all know this. I know you're all watching! I am not-

The wave halted in mid air as it started to inch back as the blue-purple wave started to push back against him.

"HA!" another wave rippled down the path of destruction, reinforcing his prior attack once again. This time as it expanded and shoved back down, it pushed violently for only a second before it started to inch back, now falling back even faster.

Sweat formed on his brow as Taro felt his chest heaving as he sensed the same panic from before. The panic his choir now felt rushed through him.

"HA!" another attack launched, this time not even halt the advance for a second as his own attack fell back into complete retreat. It held firm for only a few seconds longer before the entire orange wave shattered.

As soon as it did, blue light burst through as he peered down directly into it. Behind it all he could see Gohan standing there, his arms pointed up towards him. Behind him he could sense tens of thousands of spirits, all of them standing behind him, but they may as well have had their hands on his back. Cell, Turles, Garlic, King Cold, and the faces of thousands of demons and monsters he'd imagined only in dreams which he couldn't recall. For a second, they didn't look like things he'd dreamt up. They looked like beings... beings who had rallied under their own will behind a cause. And Taro felt his heart stop just before the wave hit and simply washed past him.

Taro's body burned as he screamed out when the river of power from below washed over him. He was caught in it and was lifted into the heavens, seeing nothing but blue energy which seemingly burned his very frame from existence. With a huge herculean effort Taro in one last desperate bid, tossed himself to one side.

From there... he just... fell.

When his body landed, it did so without even making a crater. His own aura had weakened to the point where he knew he would struggle against beings of half his own strength or less. Much less even. The sky above let cold rain pour onto his scorched frame. His hands couldn't stop trembling even as he lay there almost helplessly.

Barely, he managed to sit up as he saw Gohan's form standing only feet away from him. It was like something cold ran up his spine, urging him to back away. He couldn't help but let his fear betray his appearance before he almost jumped back, sliding away on the mud instead.

"Any last words?" Gohan asked, his own words sounding breathless, ki already forming for his finishing shot.

It would still take more than a few seconds to gather the energy necessary to finish him, but only just. The grim reaper was right in front of him.

This thing is going to kill me. I can't die it's impossible! This can't be happening!-

Before Taro could respond, he felt his jaw fall open as he tried to speak but nothing came out. He wanted to negotiate, now it was time to try to find a way out... He'd... he'd...

A flash of silver came between the two as a blade plunged into the ground, up to the hilt next to him. Taro grasped the handle within seconds before staring directly at Gohan.

"Go to Hell," Taro spat hatefully, his fears evaporating before he projected himself into another realm...

The skies were yellow and the ground was grey.

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Turles:

Shit.

It only took him a second to stare into the air and see the familiar, if not utterly worn figure of Taro hanging in the sky. The air was stale as always, but it livened up as Turles felt the ki sweep over him. There was only one reason he'd be here, and Turles was ruthless enough to understand why. Clustered around him were Saiyans, demons, and myriad other species all condemned to live down here in this nightmare. Even now as Garlic hang in the air, a blasted symbol of their united power, Taro knew there was little to no chance to doing anything to stop this thing. Which meant damage control.

"W-what's he doing here?!" Babidi squawked.

"Is that him?" Raditz's voice emerged from the crowd. "But how?"

I'm not going to let this little bastard ruin this for me.

Determination drove the Saiyan as he sensed Taro's energy rising above them. Rushing forward with purpose, he grabbed Babidi. Looking up, he knew Garlic would survive whatever attack took place. The odds of Gohan survive very long without any support was... slim. But if he did, this wouldn't be over. As frail as that hope remained, he would not be stuck down here for the rest of eternity. He was going to escape this miserable place, no matter what this time-jumping piece of shit thought.

"What're you doing?!"

"Saving you," Turles spat, reeling back his arm and throwing Babidi away with all his might.

The tiny yellow creature squealed frantically as a green bubble appeared around him in the form of his personal shield.

"What the Hell is that?!" Bojack shouted as the sky above them started to glow a bright purple.

That Bojack, is the end of the best laid plans.

Turning to look up, the off-brand son of Bardock stared up and instead the attack which was forming. He knew exactly which one it was, ironically. They were about to be blasted away by rapid fire shots.

"Oh I know this one!" Garlic laughed openly at Taro. "Please tell me you're a better shot than Gohan was!"

Panic swept through the mob as these creatures who'd defied their nature to influence the world beyond them, realized what was about to happen. Some stood still, others rushed for cover or flight. Some prepared to attacks but it didn't matter. With a burning resentment of his own in his eyes, Taro stared into the face of the man who he'd aimed to help kill, the man he'd apparently made in another world, and the one he'd hoped to topple for his own gains. Revenge was a dish best served cold... and Turles if given the chance, would be taking his revenge on this pitiful creature.

In a flash of light a thousand bolts of energy rained down as he saw the Catastrophe Gun unleashed. All he could hear in the background before the blows landed, atomizing him among much of the crowd, was the sounds of the maddened dwarf Garlic, cackling.

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Gohan:

Where did he-

It took only seconds before Gohan felt his entire body stall. He gagged for air as all of the power, as vile as it was, vanished. Shreds of it remained as he sensed only Garlic still connected with him. All of his muscles felt like they were lined with lead weights within seconds. Even breathing felt comparatively difficult. It was like being emptied of everything which kept him even moving. The proud stance he'd taken only seconds before his victory disappeared as Taro and the sword itself disappeared.

Even when the blade had been in his hands before, it felt like it was dense, weighting several tons. Breaking it might have taken more time than he had, throwing it was the only option. Now he wished he'd spent more time and snapped it. Because right now he knew exactly what was going to happen. His shoulders slumped even as all the fatigue of the fighting he'd participated in followed him. It was an atrophy he couldn't overcome as he stepped forward several times. His hair faded back to black for a second before he pushed every bit he could to maintain his form.

Not that it was going to matter.

When Taro reappeared, he grinned at him confidently.

"I knew there had to be a way. I knew that in all this, I'd not made something so unstoppable that even I couldn't discover a way around it," he commented lightly. "The Z sword is a very important item to me. Denying me it was a very brilliant move on your part."

Even as exhausted as Taro looked, Gohan knew he was screwed. Entirely screwed, in fact.

Maybe if I can keep him talking-

"I know you're preparing to assault me, Namek," Taro remarked as Piccolo appeared behind him.

Vegeta landed a second later, sliding to his side.

"You've been worn down," Piccolo's comment felt empty. They all knew that Taro's power was now many fold their own. He eclipsed anything any one of them could handle. "You can't keep doing this forever-"

"Oh I have, have I?" Taro chuckled. "I think you'll find you won't see the difference, given how weak you are..."

He raised his hand in the air and the world turned white. When he turned to look at Vegeta, he'd already jumped back, knowing exactly what this was. The ground beneath Taro cracked before a wave of destruction rolled out. It was like a small asteroid striking the face of the Earth as Gohan felt himself kicked up and blasted back. His entire body felt shredded as rocks and other small objects cut into him before the light faded.

When the cold rain poured on his scraped, burnt body, it felt like agony. He shivered when he woke up despite himself. He couldn't help but smile at what he was about to experience. Maybe if Taro was sadistic enough, it'd buy the Spirit Bomb some time. When he opened his eyes, he felt a kick strike his side, busting several ribs immediately. Gohan choked as his body lifted off the ground from the hit, before he felt the hilt of the sword crack him in the side of the head as well. Blood immediately poured from his hairline as he felt his skull fracture from the blow. The world changed into a lighter place before he flopped onto the ground. The lead muscles in his body felt like putty. Reaching out weakly, his hand pushed into the soft mud he found himself in, trying to pull himself up.

"Still trying to get up?" Taro asked aloud. "Here, let me give you a hand."

Another kick came, this one in his chest, pushing him back onto his knees. Staring at the other Saiyan for only a moment, Gohan moved to raise his guard, and only one arm came up to block. Blood blasted out of the clean stump where his left arm had been. He'd lost both his arms before when he was alive at varying points, one from being blown to bits and the other from being ripped off. The clean cut left him in shock, the pain having not set in yet. Feeling warm blood running down his face, Gohan dropped the facade of his guard before just smiling, feeling his chest start to rumble.

He was laughing.

Laugh at all of this. Fighting this thing on the surface of the Earth. Trying to save people and failing, again. The gods were above them, threatening them with destruction of their own and just watching this fight unfold. Fine, he didn't need the Gods. They'd not been around to help him before when he'd been set down the path that lead him here. Supposedly set down this path by Taro himself. This was how it all ended. He would be banished back to Hell in a few moments, perhaps after Taro tortured him, and then he was going to murder everyone before he just escaped the wrath of this Beerus creature.

His hair faded to black while he was chuckling, unable to hold his form any longer. The sensation in his arm was starting to become real but it was just pain. The fracture in his skull was just more of it. The cracks in his ribs were just reminders of previous injuries he'd sustained.

"I'm glad you enjoyed my little joke," Taro commented. "I thought it was amusing."

Shaking his head while he remained in his knees, Gohan coughed once, stopping his laugh.

"You're joke wasn't very funny," Gohan remarked. "It doesn't really cut it for my humour. No, I'm laughing at you."

There was a pause as the supposed only being in existence paused, staring back at him intensely.

"You're laughing at me?" Taro paused only a second after, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Oh please tell?"

"For the only being in existence, you sure wasted a lot of time on a dead guy," Gohan remarked. "A dead guy who apparently wasn't as good as your own Gohan."

There was a moment of Taro's amusement disappearing, his eyes turning to solid, quite, bubbling anger. The blood dripping from his eye was still real, and Gohan just stared at the opening with his own quiet resolve. If he was going to go back to Hell, and this was all going to just end... he was going to make this bastard leave with something to remember him by.

The Z sword plunged into his chest as Gohan felt his body lurch into it. Flesh was cut through like butter as the blade grazed his spine. Blood trickled down his lip almost immediately as he looked up at Taro's eyes again, seeing something close to delight playing on his features. Gohan's right hand twitched several times as he tried to move, tried to grab at him and gouged. It trembled as he tried to pull up the power to do anything...

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Brass:

This was eternity. Here... here in this fucking shithole. It wasn't hard to notice how bleak it was. He walked in the land of the valley of the damned, and knew he himself was damned to be stuck down here. And worst of all, he'd chosen to get sent down to this shit hole because he didn't believe it could happen. Even without knowing him, his brother had been looking out for him. It was a strange level of compassion from someone he'd never met. Well, he'd met his Gohan and hundreds more, and there was a piece of him who was Gohan.

"You could have redeemed yourself."

Scowling, Brass ignored the voice he kept hearing in his head. The dancing, posing idiot was hardly the best candidate for his first absorption. He should have gotten Taro to beat the Hell out of a Mystic and taken that one first. Now his stint down here, for all eternity was going to seem a lot longer than it had to be. If only because he was going to have this fucking drone trapped in his head. It made this condemned existence seem all the worse. He was mad enough at himself he could have spit steel nails instead of saliva.

His Saiyan frame stared to walk again, admiring his surroundings, before in the distance he saw the faintest sight. A series of purple explosions, only tiny specs, appeared, and inside of it he felt the decline of thousands of powers at once. It was terrifying that something like that could... Taro?

Taro's power was imprinted on it almost right away. How the Hell had Taro died? That was impossible. He'd felt the powers on Earth when he left and there was no way they had that kind of strength. A string of worry wove itself through his thoughts as well as he realized if Taro was dead, no matter how unlikely, Junia would be dying shortly as well. A panic almost washed over him as he looked towards the blasts intensely as they faded.

Without another thought of reservation, he took off, his golden trail being left behind him. Taro's power evaporated as if it hadn't been there. Mountains of spikes passed under him, as well as massive grey fissures and lakes of blood. This place was a very empty wasteland. A few horned structures which belonged to, he guessed, Ogres lay in his path as well. But when he arrived at the source of the blasts, even as all the ki started to fade, the Saiyan was greeted by a sight of grizzly destruction.

Bodies were torn to bits, those that hadn't been vaporized that is, in the blasts. The level of destruction was uncommon for Taro to reap, but it did leave him in wonder as to why he did this. Slowly descending from above, he landed next to the dead form of King Cold. The only oddity he noticed right away was an uncommon little rat floating in the air. Admittedly, he was in his giant form at the moment, but Brass knew what a weasel Garlic was.

"Oh? You seem very strong, care to engage in the same charity these fools had been?" he laughed. "Lost causes are such delights to watch fall apart."

"Lost cause?" Brass asked aloud.

The unfortunately familiar sound of Cell's body growing struck his ears before he turned his head sharply, seeing the android and his little bastards made whole again. Their regenerative powers were always a pain when you fought them. You usually had to kill them at least twice.

"We've been having a bit of trouble, Saiyan," Cell's strained voice remarked after he shook the excess goop off his form. "Your comrades appear to have been felled by it at that."

"I don't have any comrades down here," Brass scoffed. "Not that you'd know anyway. And least of all trash like this."

With the final comment, he kicked the arm of a dead Saiyan, before cracking his neck to one side.

"I'm bored though. So we can figh-"

A Namekian appeared as well, clearly having regenerated. His power seemed unimpressive, but he reached out, pointing his hand at the giant, oddly strong Garlic Junior. Well, he knew Garlic was stronger in this world if he'd killed Gohan. But it was strange, he started feeding him his energy, just as a tiny midget, Babidi, rushed into view.

"Where is the sorcerer?" the green giant bellowed.

"I will reinforce the connection so more power can go through!" Babidi shouted.

"What's the point?" Cell scoffed. "Even with all of my children assisting, we don't have the power of an army of the damned-"

"What is going on exactly?" Brass asked aloud again.

"These fools," Frieza's voice smoothly remarked. "Including my loving father, thought to intervene using the immortal's life to transfer energy directly to Son Gohan for him to battle the monster whom came down here and slaughtered them."

They're... feeding power to Gohan?

Closing his eyes, Brass's senses felt a strange connection in Garlic's ki. He couldn't follow it, but he knew somehow where it was going...

If he'd had Garlic's power when he first fought me, he'd have won handedly. This is a recent event. And if Taro was here, he only came here because it was working.

A smirk crossed his features. His big brother was always the best at working out roadblocks. He was going to finish off the creatures of this world and-

"Kill your mom in this world. He's going to kill your other self, and he's going to send Gohan back here. The same Gohan who offered you a chance to get out of all this."

Rolling his eyes, Brass almost growled as he heard his alternate brother's voice in his head.

Quiet. I don't need your bullshit right now-

"You were afraid of what Taro had become. I know you were, you've got quite an open mind up here. Do you really want him to murder everyone? What would the point in that be?"

His eyes traced down for a moment, taking in the information as Frieza's arm pointed up towards Garlic.

"I suppose to humour my father, I too can lend my power in his absence. The Saiyan boy was a good bit of sport. I'd love to watch him get just enough life back in him to die horribly to this 'new' Saiyan," Frieza chuckled. "A tragic death is the only fitting one."

Reluctantly, Cell seemed to do the same within a few seconds.

"I am uninterested in a lack of results," Cell begrudgingly admitted. "But I want to see that Taro burn for humiliating me."

Staring at these things Brass knew to be monsters, the Saiyan stared up at the grinning Garlic hanging in the air as the red, sickly energy pooled around his frame.

"What would have your Gohan done, Brass?"

Died like a fool.

"You did anyway."

An angry huff escaped Taro as his hair turned gold as he glared ahead. Lightning crackled around him as the others stared at him in shock. The familiar Super Saiyan aura began humming around him.

I'll slaughter these idiots and-

"Help Taro?"

Yes.

"Or you could do the thing I know you want to do. Give your power to Gohan, Brass. Reach out and-"

Like fucking hell! He killed me!

"He tried to save you. Even in this world where he's so flawed to be stuck down here, he wanted to save you. The same way that your Gohan wanted to save you from your father's influence. The same way he wanted to save his world. Just like he wants to save his world now."

It was looking down options down. One was dark and one was light. Even these monsters... somehow picked the light one. They'd apparently even tried to kill Gohan at least in Frieza's case. Why would they try to influence this fight? He didn't have time to ask.

"Oh, aren't you intimidating?" Garlic chuckled.

His hand motioned for a moment like it was going to raise as he stared at the giant. Looking down at it for a second, he could almost imagine his brother... his real brother, the first real brother he ever knew, holding it for a brief second.

"Gohan wasn't weak, Brass. When he died fighting your father, he was showing how strong he was. It wasn't about winning the fight. It was about being strong enough to do the right thing. Something that this world's Gohan clearly took too long to find out. But even now he's trying to do the right thing, and he tried to do the right thing by you. Taro isn't going to wish you back. He's not going to do anything. He's going to leave you behind so he can continue to murder and... do to Trunks everywhere what you did to me, only worse."

"Is this what your brother would have wanted?"

All those battles. All that time spent looking for the power to be the strongest, to break his own chains and be free. It was all empty, because his own brother had broken his chains even without being the strongest, hadn't he? Where he'd let himself be guided down the path towards this. This place here had become his destiny. He remember King Yemi not even getting past the pages of what he'd done in his own world before he condemned him.

Reaching out, Brass felt his power connect with Garlic's.

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Gohan:

Fingers gripped onto the side of his head as Taro appraised him, he could feel hot energy beginning to form.

"You've succeeded in distracting me, Gohan," Taro breathed. "But not long enough to make any real difference."

How close he'd been to finishing this abomination off.

How close Taro was to his face right now? He wished he could just grab it and rip it off. Slowly, his chest started to almost buckle as Taro started to turn the blade, looking at that rather than his eyes. Even Gohan cringed as he gasped out as bones started to separate and non functioning organs sent horrific signals back to his brain.

"That's the sound I wanted to hear," Taro remarked. "That's the sound of a misbehaving aberrant creation."

Then something happened. Power flowed into him as he sensed his connection to the afterlife revitalize. It didn't stop him from almost screaming as the sword scraped across his bones, brutalizing his ribs. He wanted to grab it, but all he could do was let his arm hold itself in place, wanting to grab something, anything. When he looked up again, he still felt Taro's hand on half his face.

"Now, I believe I'll begin pushing the blade up, I wonder if I can get through your neck slowly before you cease being function-"

Finally it was enough, Gohan reached out, grabbing Taro's face, over his swollen eye. He clung to it desperately, wanting to rip it off as he'd envisioned. Instead, it was Taro's turn to start laughing...

Power opened up inside of him. His muscles ceased being lead and turned to steel. He controlled his screaming as he growled, trying to focus himself. His hair caught fire, turning to gold once more as Gohan felt something massive enter his power. Garlic, Cell, Frieza, Slug and... Brass.

The power was so recent, it was so familiar. It was intense, massive even. Even with all this strength coursing through him he knew he couldn't even harm Taro with a strike. Even with all of this strength, his body was crippled, and soon to be doomed. Getting through his skin would be almost impossible. Staring at the bloodied side of Taro's face, Gohan's hand clinging to it in these moments between seconds, he focused all the ki he could into one point at the tip of his palm. There was a massive glow of purple energy as he vengefully formed the Calamity Blaster.

Even as he stared hatefully into the face of his would-be killer, the former Planet Trade Officer only saw a fraction of a micro-second where Taro understood what he was doing and surprise crossed his face, but it was too late. An explosion blasted out as Gohan's hand was violently swept away. The blast scorched him as he'd invested too much of his strength into it. Flesh burned off his chest and neck, but he felt Taro's grip on the sword break as his cousin was sent sailing back, hitting the ground almost lifelessly.

The world went still as a gentle breeze blew past him, and he couldn't help but just breathing, trying to control himself. A trembling leg moved up as Gohan rose to one foot, and then the other, bringing himself up. His arm was still on the ground, having rolled away in the blast. Reaching up with his right hand he grasp the hilt of the blade and was reminded of pulling steel rods out of his body from when he was a child. Carefully he drew the blade out of his chest, trying to avoid cutting further into his form. His arm was left trembling as he held it in place, staring down at the blood drenched blade.

A weeping wound was left in the centre of his body, and his back. Blood trailed from his arm and his face, and... everywhere. Dead or not, things were beginning to break down at an accelerated rate. Even if he didn't 'die' in the next few minutes, he might not be functional soon.

Taro's body was still unmoving as he planted it between his feet on the ground, bracing his feet against it a second later as he grabbed the hilt. Power coursed through his body as he focused everything, every last spec of strength into bending the blade. Power resonated out of him, washing over the wasteland around him. The thrumming noise from the power was intense. Briefly, Gohan's vision turned black as his body, even while dead, began shutting down.

Not now. I need this.

When it flashed open again, he felt the blade beginning to wax. The hilt bent slowly as the blade started to slowly, barely bend.

Across from him, the rain poured on Taro's form as he started to move. His head was facing the other direction as he started to groan, moving one hand up to his face.

"Uhh... wha?" he murmured. "Where... where... My eye..."

The confused noise was followed up by confusion as he started to rise, barely noticing him as the other Saiyan seemed panicked.

"My eye!" came the shout a second later, his hands desperately moving over the left side of his face as he searched.

When turned towards Gohan himself for only a sec, Gohan saw the work he'd done. Where his left eye had been was now a gore torn burn in his face. Blood oozed out of the half melted patch over his face.

C'mon, break... BREAK DAMN IT!

When Taro stopped his turns, looking for any sign of his vision, the other Saiyan pause for several seconds, dark power dripping off his form. The tension in his body was real.

The blade in his hand started to bend further as Gohan's arm continued to push down, feeling the blade starting to give more. His hand was trembling, as were his feet as he forced everything he had left into the effort.

You piece of fucking garbage... BREAK!

Just as Taro turned to him, with one last pushing twist, the sound Gohan had been looking for came out.

Snap.

The metal gave way at the hand and the lower power of the blade snapped from the warped and bent bottom of the sword. Immediately the weight of the blade disappeared seemingly. It was as if some magic which had been in it was immediately let out. Stepping away from the broken blade's end as it fell onto the ground, Gohan raised the broken half of the blade he still carried in his hand, blinking hard as he did.

Taro's rage was already apparent across his face as Son Gohan just breathed in and out, his vision going hazy again.

He tried to speak but couldn't, so all Gohan managed to do was smile at Taro as the one eyed Saiyan was left staring at him in a combination of horror and hate.

A shrieking roar escaped Taro as he tossed his hand forward, opening his palm and the world turned to red. When the wave hit Gohan, it took only a blink for him to disappear in the light, feeling his body simply wash away.

You lose.

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Taro:

Wha?

Gohan clinging to his face had been remarkably brilliant. It was always gratifying to watch the dead, or soon to be dead, desperately reaching out for him in hopes of finding salvation. Their stories ended every time all the same. It ended with his victory over his imagined mythology. The list was endless. Even in timelines without Kakarot and his friends, or even himself, it was always remarkable to watch these creatures try desperately to hold on. They had no real insight of course, they were just pawns, every last one of them. Even the pawns he allowed to play out their roles, Junia and Brass, had their moments he could truly dig into.

But this time there had been a purple flash behind his face, and the world turned to darkness. But only on one side of sight lit back up. It was impossible to tell what had happened. Even now as he lay on the ground, he could barely tell how long he'd been there. Reaching up, he pressed his fingers onto the region of his face where he knew his receptive organ had been. Instead of finding the familiar shape, he found melted, warped flesh.

He murmured softly for a second, as if barely realizing what had happened. The world flashed to life from his one remaining optical input. When he pulled his bloodied hand away, the truth of it could be seen.

"MY EYE!"

Stumbling about in confusion, Taro's right eye scanned the landscape for any sign of his left. It was a desperate hunt for something which no longer existed in his skull. How could have this happened? This never happened before. In none of his dreams or visions had he lost anything important. It was always himself, undivided, unimpeded even. And now he couldn't tell if his eye was gone. In that brief second, he'd sensed not only the expected energy of Son Gohan, but a myriad of other weaker forces. And one weak force in particular.

Brass...

Turning to look at Gohan with his one remaining eye, Taro's questions of himself were rekindled in that moment. Something here was impossible. It was impossible that his visions had finally been proven wrong... or it was impossible that this was happening, or... it was impossible that he was who he thought he was. Pulling his hand up to his face once more time, he tried to find his eye in futility one last time as he stared down Gohan.

Snap.

The blade in Gohan's hand cracked in two as the warped metal was bent until it broke. The disbelief that his eye was gone rapidly evaporated, to the disbelief to rock his world once again. It seemed unbelievable to him. The blade snapped in two. The bent and warped half of the blade had had been between his feet stood there for a second as if standing in defiance of it all, before the clump of useless metal fell to the ground. It's weight seemed gone. And it was gone.

The energy he'd learned to draw from the blade had just simply... disappeared. The blade had cut through anything, and with his power flowing through it, it could even cut through time and space. Within it he'd found the power of creation itself. And now... now it was gone. It was apart of him as much as his eye had been.

My eye... my sword... you've... you've taken it all from me!

Raising the broken sword into the air in front of them, Gohan tossed it into the mud between them. It immediately became soiled by the rain water from above, immersing the blade in earth mixed with water. And there it lay, a broken piece of himself. A fragment he knew he could never obtain again. He'd pulled it from Son Gohan's corpse years ago. And now it was Son Gohan's corpse in this world, who destroyed the blade itself.

And with it, he'd destroyed a bigger part of him than just his eye. The blade... the Z sword. It was the key to creation, and it was just... it was gone. Worse than being gone, it was utterly annihilated.

Was this even real?

The only real thing he felt now was his anger. This... this... this thing had robbed him of more than it's entire existence was worth. It'd robbed him of the ability to create or to control in the way necessary to rebuild his world. Was this world even his world? This ruined, malicious timeline seemed impossible to have been created on its own. The Trunks he'd absorbed in this time... The fragments he'd reacquired... had shown him a world which was flawed. It was a world rife with sadness, half victories, struggles and sacrifices which were never imagined in the worlds of so many. And now it'd made him sacrifice as well.

How could he have imagined a nightmare like this?

You didn't.

A familiar voice, a fragment within himself whispered to him a terrifying truth he'd wanted to run from. He hadn't made this world. And if he didn't make this world, or these creatures within it, he didn't create their counterparts across the cosmos and time. It meant that everything he believed about himself was a lie. It also implied that all of the struggles he'd lived through, the lives he'd lived in different bodies, weren't even his own. He was just one creature spinning through time and space with a legion of others, none of them relevant, all of them subject to the whims of an indifferent universe. The tyrant he thought he'd imagined as his father, was just a tyrant... and was his father.

The mother who abandoned him reluctantly, the woman he strangled to death to leave the world which had been his prison, and had been the first experiences of life he had... was just another flawed person, she was his mother. It meant all these other worlds with Trunks in it where he'd first experienced the real compassion of other people were just people who'd been given better lives than his, in this indifferent universe.

Something beyond anger, or rage, swelled up inside him as Gohan barely stood in front of him. The creature from Hell had dragged him to Hell already. A hateful shriek escaped him as he pointed his hand at him directly, unleashing a wave of raw power. He felt it make its impact and Gohan didn't even try to block or dodge. There was a look on his face that was accepting of what was happening, which only infuriated Taro more.

As the light faded, there was nothing left of the undead warrior.

Taro breathed in and out heavily, his lungs full of fire as he felt his arm trembling still.

Taking a step to the left, he saw Piccolo pulling himself from a mountain of debris, trying to get up, as Vegeta braced himself for combat.

Beyond him he saw Kakarot, and he sensed Junia. Beyond all of them lay Beerus and Whis.

If this is all real... If none of this is my vision. Then I will defy the order all the same. I will make it in my image. I am not just some finite organic organism. I am Taro. To live and just die cannot be my fate! I refuse it! I reject it!

Kakarot is the key to this... to all of it.

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Trunks:

Gohan.

He saw it happen through the eyes of his killer. There was a shock that moved through the creatures chained around them. How many of them had known the son of Goku? How many of them had been mentored by him, or had him as their best friend's older brother? Perhaps Gohan had even been a surrogate older brother of their own? He could sense the changes around him as he grabbed another chain, trying to break it free.

They can only break free on their own, can't they?

"Look at yourselves! You just let him kill Gohan!" Trunks shouted. "And he's going to kill dad next!"

"... He does it all the time," a voice murmured above him.

Turning his head up, Trunks stared into his own face, of someone who was defeated. The look behind his eyes was almost gone. There was no light there. Looking around at the other floating chains, Trunks felt a lump in his throat. Were they all this way? All of them so broken that they couldn't imagine a world outside of what they were living in? He hoped that he wasn't too late to stop this thing.

"But you can stop him!" Trunks shouted. "All of you can stop him! Break free!"

A few chains wiggled, but then their efforts died shortly after.

"He's the one in charge. When he wins, he'll make sure you're put back in your place. He's too strong-"

"He's only strong because all of you are feeding him power," Trunks fired back. "Stop it! Any of you who can stop giving him power! Only you can save everyone. Taro can't stop us all together! He relies on us being weak."

A few more chains rustled around them as Trunks felt his own frustration building. No one wanted to fight, no one wanted to get away from the agony of this place? Every second he felt he was bound in those chains he felt himself screaming in pain. How could they not want to break away? How could they not want to change things? Or fight back at the very least?

"I don't want dad to die," another voice chimed in finally.

A rustling chain finally snapped as a young teenager fell from a set of chains. Immediately the Prime Trunks rushed to his side, looking at his younger self. It was trippy as Hell to see himself like this. He reached out, grabbing his shoulder.

"My dad's out there," the boy breathed.

His dad? Of course he's his- This is his timeline.

"Help him," his younger self urged him, before looking at his surroundings in a haze. "Please!"

A few more chains rustled, but nothing came of it.

"We have to do something. One Trunks in this amount of time isn't amounting to anything. We've got to save as many as we can-"

Or we need to give them something easier to do.

"I know what I'm going to do," Trunks declared as he stood up at his full height. "I'm not going to give my power to this monster. If you can't fight, you can do one thing. I know you all can do this too. I'm going to give my power to Goku."

Raising his hand in the air, Trunks felt himself reaching out for the Spirit Bomb. The teenager next to him grabbed his shirt to pull himself up, but his arm was already raised as he did. The power flowing up the orb continued in spite of them, a steady stream running towards its peak.

Looking up at the pulsating, dark heart behind all of them, Trunks felt helpless. Slowly however, this bleak, dark nightmare, saw something remarkable. Power still flowed to the blackened orb, but light was beginning to emerge along the chains themselves, illuminating this place for the first time, revealing it for the empty world it was. Blue energy trickled off the chains, pulling away and disappearing into the abyss, but it was finding its way, wasn't it?

Dad. Goku. Piccolo. Stop this guy once and for all. We'll do our part.

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Vegeta:

Taro could bluster all he wanted, but Vegeta could do math on what he was looking at. The other warrior had seen a 75 percent drop in his fighting ability. Hindered by injuries and having spent significant totals of his power, Vegeta knew that Taro was hardly in the position of strength he'd been in even minutes earlier. The only problem was he was still a power that dwarfed Kakarot, Junia, Piccolo, Goten and himself by many fold. Kakarot's eldest boy had disappeared in a wave of crimson, but he'd given them an opening, and Vegeta clearly understood it.

Even now as he prepared for the onslaught he was about to face, the Saiyan Prince felt a nervousness which was uncharacteristic for him to rush through him. He'd seen this thing roll over everything, including a merged being of Kakarot and himself. But that all seemed to disappear when his mind focused in on the fact this thing had killed his son. Not just some other world's son, it had murdered the child he'd fathered. Worse yet, his boy was trapped inside of it. When this thing powered up, his son screamed along with the rest of those poor creatures trapped inside of it. Even if this fight took his life, Vegeta could rely on his outrage to fuel his resolve. This monster was going to be stopped no matter what it cost.

The Namekian rose to his side, stepping into place almost in synergy to him, preparing his defence.

"He can't get by us while Goku is still holding the Spirit Bomb," Piccolo's voice rumbled. "If he gets past us, only Goten stands in the way."

"The girl is another obstacle," Vegeta offered, his eyes tracking Taro as he was left in place where he had been after slaying Gohan.

The exhausted adversary they now faced started to take a few steps towards them, sizing both of them up. Vegeta's chest vibrated deeply with a growl as he held himself back from launching at him. A pointless, suicidal assault wouldn't do them any good at all. It was hard to control himself enough, even a wrong word might set him off as Vegeta's aura manifested around him. The familiar Super Saiyan aura thrummed around his form.

"Vegeta," Taro's voice opened through the air as the other fighter laboured, wiping some blood from his lip before turning to look at the Namek. "Piccolo..."

The Namek swallowed before his own aura illuminated around him, before turning green. Something remarkable was about to happen, and the Saiyan Prince could sense it in the air between the two of them. The Namek's power was also rising dramatically. There was something more here than Vegeta was apart of.

"Look for chances to get shots in," Piccolo remarked. "I'll do what I can."

There are multiple beings in the Namek as well. Can no one fight on there own? What a pitiful way to obtain more strength.

"You'll do what you can? Oh how adorable. How many universes have you interfered in and gotten the result you wanted? You couldn't beat Brass. Your time of intervention is coming to a close after today. I'm not only going to kill you in this world. I am going to erase you from having ever existed you green irritant."

"This is where it ends, Taro," Piccolo responded. "Regardless of what happens to me. You're finished. Once we're done with you, we'll destroy the time machine you and the others have been using, and without the power from the sword-"

"Oh this is much better," a shrill voice interjected between them all. "You have no idea how long it's been since I stretched my legs. At least..."

All three of them paused before looking to their right. An old man was here? What sense did that even make? The only thing that was off was that he looked like a Kai.

Who cares?

"You," Taro's voice opened up as he examined the old man for several moments. "I know you... I've killed you..."

"And I know you as well," the elder man remarked. "You deserve the fate you've woven for yourself. You're even worse than-"

The old man looked up, his eyes opening in terror.

"Lord Beerus!"

"Old man! I wondered why that sword looked familiar," Beerus remarked. "Have you learned your lesson yet? Or do I need to find something else to seal you away in."

Without another word, Taro opened his hand's fist, pointing it towards the elder, as red energy formed rapidly. In under a second he'd deploy it to annihilate the elder Kai.

"Demon Ken!"

Piccolo's frame bolted forward, blasting off at a speed Vegeta couldn't match himself, trying to take advantage of the opportunity. With his free right hand, Taro blocked the incoming kick from the Namekian seemingly without any effort at all. In a blur of motion, Piccolo's body blinked out of existence seemingly, and Vegeta could begin to see it after focusing in on it for several seconds. Punches, kicks, and other strikes were all useless as Taro haphazardly and with minimal effort, shut down every one of the Namekian's attacks.

An opening to attack? The Namek is moving faster than I can and he can't even get this thing to use more than one arm. And his power must have depreciated by three fold since his fight with Gohan.

A red wave opened up in front of them before it overtook where the old man had been standing. It wasn't cowardice by any means holding him back, it was waiting for the right time to strike. Taro had overwhelmed him before and he knew exactly how he operated. His fight with Gohan had been very illuminating.

Both Vegeta and Taro knew the attack on the old man didn't land. Taro was left standing there, still repelling the Namekian's best efforts before catching Piccolo with the back of his hand, snapping his knuckles into his face. Looking up into the air, Vegeta, and he suspected Taro, saw the old Kai hovering with Beerus the Destroyer and his associate.

"Dad."

That was his son's voice in his head. Vegeta stiffened at the sound of it, almost stopping himself to look for it. He knew it was just in his head however, there was no vibrations carrying it through the air. The only thing he sensed in sound waves was the sound of Taro slamming his elbow into the Namek's gut, sending the other alien to this world launching back.

"Dad. Look behind you."

Look behind me?

Was he going insane? Taking one step back, Vegeta's eyes widened when he turned his head. It was like an awakening to his senses. Kakarot's attack, the Spirit Bomb, was immense. He'd never seen such a gathering of energy in the entirety of his life, and it was still growing. It was growing rapidly even. Inside of it he could sense life from the Earth and beyond, but overwhelming there was a familiar strength to it. Trunks was in it. The same dark power which Taro was drawing from, had its inverse flowing into the Spirit Bomb.

"We're trying. You've gotta keep him away from Goku. Piccolo's not fast enough or strong enough."

Turning his head back to the fight, he saw Taro walking towards a half broken Piccolo.

"Namek, if you can hear me. I know you have that manoeuvre, the Special Beam Cannon. I want you to aim that to kill once I distract him."

"How're you going to hold his attention, Vegeta? Even I can't. Attack now, it's our only chance-"

"Taro!" Vegeta shouted, shifting his form away from having the Spirit Bomb at his back. It was still there, but perhaps if Taro wasn't directly looking at it, he might not realize how severe his situation was. "Are you going to pick on some pitiful Namek, or are you looking for a real challenge?"

The monster who'd murdered his son and so many others stopped in his steps as Piccolo just breathed, bringing himself up to his feet once again. The Namek made eye contact with him before looking at Taro again.

"You're even weaker than the Namek. And I've killed you a hundred times Vegeta. I've killed versions of you which are dramatically more impressive as well. What makes you think you're going to be able to stop me, exactly Vegeta? What makes you even think that you'll be a challenge?"

"Because you're prisoners have been talking to me."

Trunks, if you can hear me, tell me something I wouldn't know.

There was a pause from Taro while he considered what the Prince of all Saiyans just told him. Vegeta barely noticed the rain pouring down from above as Taro took several steps in the mud before turning his face towards him, his head shifting from the Namek.

"My prisoners, you called them?" he asked openly. "Really Vegeta, I'm hardly the warden of a prison. I am them, and they are me."

"We're all held in place by chains in his mind. He feeds on us through them. The more pain he causes us, the more power and memories he can pull from us."

Disgusting. The very idea of it sickened him, even if the victims weren't related to him. This thing was more than just some living nightmare. It was a chamber of horrors, drawing in his son and others like him as its victims.

"I know about the chains you shackle them with in your mind. I know how you feed on that choir of yours."

That was enough to make Taro pause. A sinister, dark look crossed his features as he looked at Vegeta coldly. Vegeta knew what he was going over in his head, it was the same thing he'd been through himself when he'd faced defeat at the hands of Cell the first time. How much does he actually know? Does he have power over him, or some technique or trick? Or is he just lying and guessing correctly. It turned out Cell was indeed stronger than he was, much to his shame. The opposite in this instance, wasn't true. He didn't have some grand plan to win, and he wasn't stronger than Taro. It was all a bluff to get him away from the Namekian.

"If we do this right, Namek, we can stop him long enough for Kakarot to stop him."

"Good luck, Vegeta."

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Gohan:

Walking into this miserable way-station again didn't do much for his attitude. After all these ingrates hadn't even agreed to let him stay out of Hell to go back and rescue everyone. All the same, he walked through the gates like he owned the place, if only because he'd done as much as he could be asked. When he approached the desk under the guard of several ogres, Gohan's eyes scanned the room before settling on the big purple clad demon behind the desk.

"I did everything I could," he admitted.

"We saw. Very impressive," The Ogre King Yemma conceded. "Thank you very much for your assistance. I'm sure it's a mark on Pikkon's pride that a lowly denizen of Hell outperformed him so much. Especially since we saw how you rallied the forces down there to even help you. You really are Goku's son."

There was a brief second where Gohan felt himself smile at the compliment, nodding to the King before crossing his arms expectantly.

"Well, it's going to be a different experience being above the clouds rather than below them-"

"Son Gohan, we were being serious before when we told you that there was no amnesty for your previous crimes. And the battle isn't won yet."

Gohan's head rose in almost indignation.

"Well why doesn't Babba just send me back?"

"Well, now that you've died out there in this form, you cannot return there with my aid," the fortune teller admitted. "You're really stuck over here without getting wished back now, kid."

Well, I wish someone fucking told me that before I did the job. God damn it!

"So I go off and try to bail your universe's pantheon and existence out, I nearly kill him, weaken him and take away his most important abilities, and you fuckers are still going to send me back to-"

The gavel bounced off the desk as he felt the doors open up beneath him.

No no NO!

Without even realizing it, Gohan's surprised and furious scream echoed through the room and down the corridor before he descended back into the place he'd earned in the afterlife.

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Goku:

This was insane.

The Spirit Bomb's size increased every few seconds, almost pulsing to a bigger and bigger size. It was now so massive that it was pushing waves of the spare dirt away in waves beneath it. So far Taro hadn't noticed it'd grown this big, but Goku could sense his latest source of power. Trunks was feeding the Spirit Bomb, hundreds of him, maybe all of them. They'd broken free from Taro, at least in some sense, to give this over to him. Which meant it was down to Piccolo and Vegeta to distract him.

The fresh memory of seeing Gohan die, as much as a dead man could die in front of him, was hard to just stand back and watch it happen. There had been a half dozen times in the last seconds where he wanted to lower his arms, grab Gohan, and transmit himself somewhere safe. But doing that would abandon the Spirit Bomb itself, and abandon the very thing Gohan had been fighting to do, which was defeat Taro.

"I want to fight," Goten angrily remarked. "I'm tired of just sitting back here."

"If he gets past Vegeta and Piccolo-"

"You're all such children," Junia scoffed. "If, you mean when."

The girl had been among their enemies when this all started. She was just as powerful as Vegeta right now and he knew it. The fact they'd left her behind showed him that whatever had transpired between the two of them, it'd been important enough to Vegeta to want to keep her aside. Which given what he knew about her, was surprising. This girl had been killing Vegeta across time and space. Nothing was said as to why she'd changed sides, but given she wasn't injured, but her clothing and armour was damaging, he was guessing Vegeta beat her, and then spared her.

And that made Goku smile. Even in all of this tragedy and destruction, there was something good to come out of it, even if they lost. Not just for Vegeta, but for this Junia person. She'd been given a chance to confront her hatred, and maybe even if it wasn't gone, she'd pushed past it enough that maybe she could see a better future for herself.

It's like Gohan.

But Gohan's story wasn't entirely a happy one, was it? Just because you changed course, didn't always mean that things could be just... undone. But what mattered wasn't the outcome, it was the journey. It was about improving yourself, wasn't it? It was about letting go of who you were, and becoming who you should be.

"Why am I even bothering to stay back here. I know him better than either of those fools," she then added.

"I think Vegeta knows that, so he wanted to make sure if they got past Piccolo and-"

"I am not an idiot, Kakarot, and you will not treat me as one," Junia's voice cut back at him angrily. "That fool is stupid enough to think he's going to protect me. He's lucky I don't take advantage of his guard being dropped to me and kill him for this."

Clearly she was very mad at Vegeta. Probably wasn't the best time to fan the flames further. In fact, Goku was pretty sure doing so might lead to an irrational response from her. So it was time to not say anything and keep the situation under control. Yep, that was what time it was. Otherwise the entire endeavour itself could collapse.

Still, Goku smiled at her back before looking at the fight unfolding in front of them.

Vegeta's drawing Taro's attention so Piccolo can gather energy. I hope you know what you're doing Vegeta.

"Is this version of Vegeta brain dead?" Junia asked after a moment. "The Namek should be taking the brunt of Taro's attacks."

"Vegeta knows that," Goku assured.

Looking up, she then noticed the size of the Spirit Bomb above them, as if detecting its full power for the first time. Her eyes widened in shock before she turned back to look at him.

"Yea, I think that's why Vegeta's doubling down."

Her look told him she was already planning something. Which was either good, or it was bad. It was hard to tell. And if he knew Trunks, Vegeta, or Bulma like he thought he did, and she was anything like them, there wasn't going to be a whole lot he could do about it. Right now he was just hoping whatever she was planning, it worked out.

"Let's not do anything rash, Junia," Goku remarked.

"Rash," she almost spat back at him. "The second Taro realizes this thing can kill him, you'll see something rash happen."

There was a thundering boom in front of them as Vegeta's body plunged into the surface of the mud ahead of them.

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Taro:

"It's not going to work, you realize Vegeta," Taro commented.

How much of a fool did they think he was? He knew Vegeta was doing this so that Piccolo could charge his Special Beam Cannon. Regardless of how much of a connection Vegeta had established with one of his... pieces, it was not a cause for concern. Really, he should just eliminate this bothersome version of Vegeta. In a distance second place to Son Gohan, this version of Vegeta had been his biggest road block. He'd pulled his sister from his side, and directly intervened in his plans. Kakarot himself wasn't as annoying as the supposed Prince.

Out of the corner of his remaining eye, he could see Piccolo gathering energy. The green field around him was intensifying. Strangely, he didn't seem to be focusing his two fingers together for the Special Beam Cannon. Was he really preposterous enough to think that any other attack he had would work? Really, Vegeta could barely withstand three hits from him just now. If it weren't for him sensing the Saiyans energy from the muddy and water filling pit he'd just bashed him into, he'd have assumed that Vegeta were dead.

"I know you're just letting the Namekian power up some absurd attack, Vegeta," Taro remarked. "You realize even if he's almost twice your strength doing this, you're both together about as threatening as you were to Frieza before he killed you."

Instead of rising from the mud, a half dozen waves of energy fired up at him.

Why do I bother? I need Kakarot out of all of this. If I am... given I am not the only sole being in the universe, perhaps I can afford to absorb someone who isn't one of my counterparts. With Kakarot I can defeat Beerus. I will take his ability to instant transmission, go to the Planet of the Kais, reacquire the blade I need from this world, and then utilize it to defeat Beerus through the Chrono Cut. He's not already dead, now is he? After that I can still finish my plans. I can still rebuild everything in my image. I can be what I always believed I was.

We make our own fates. I will be the genesis of a new universe shaped in my image, and I will scatter all these failed timelines and realities to the winds of fate. I know it can work. All reality can be mine. I just need to reach out and take it. It's not too late for my dreams to be made real by my will.

Knocking each bolt aside without any effort, Taro sensed Vegeta move up to his left flank, where he had his blind spot. He could still sense his movement through the air however, and sense his ki. Without a second thought he blocked an incoming fist, letting it slam into his left forearm. A frustrated noise left Vegeta's throat as the other Saiyan growled at him.

So strange. I am a Saiyan then. It's not just some body I imagined for myself, this is what I am. How... barbaric.

"I'll humour you, Vegeta. You have two minutes before I kill you," Taro remarked. "You're not worth more than that. And I'm only even bothering to humour you because I want to sense which piece of myself is most traumatized by your suffering and death so I know who to punish."

The entire choir seemed displayed, as it always was, when Taro swung around Vegeta's guard and landed a devastating blow from behind on Vegeta's lower back. The Saiyan Prince cried out in shock and agony as his body flinched forward, his chest pushed out and his legs and arms pulled back before he launched forward. Appearing in front of him, Taro thrust his fist into Vegeta's gut. The blow landed hard and the Saiyan hunched over his fist, struggling to breath.

"You know, I just realized all those other Vegeta's I've killed, or that Junia have killed, have never seen their sons in the afterlife," Taro commented. "And it's fitting that neither will you."

I'm curious if he'll find it within himself to pretend to be a better roadblock.

Pulling his fist out of his gut, the dimension traversing Saiyan simply took two steps forward before swinging out a backhand, sundering Vegeta's form with a blow to the head, sending him sliding across the mud, his body once more building up a hill worth of it as he flowed across the surface.

Without pursuing, Taro turned to Piccolo himself, seeing the field around him as green bolts of electricity danced across his form. It was pitiable, really. The fact that these rotten no-counts had cost him an eye, and his sword. But he was confident he could get it all back. A senzu bean for his eye, the sword of this world for his own, and even Kakarot's knowledge. It could all be his once again. Really, it wasn't even these no-counts who cost him anything, it was Son Gohan.

Of all of them he resented him the most. There was no reason for him to challenge his view of the world. Because if anything through strength of will alone he'd make his dreams a reality all the same. Still, the idea that he was just some mortal flawed creation left an ulcer gnawing at his insides. He wasn't destined for greatness unless he brought it about himself. None of this were grand schemes of his own design, or at least not many of the challenges he faced. He'd faced off against real, flawed, sentient beings. Beings whom had no right to deny him his wants, especially challenging him so brazenly as those hell-bound savages had with their pitiful avatar.

Clever, but no clever enough, father.

It'd been clearly Turles's plot from beyond the grave, along with Cell and several other miserable failures.

"Tell me, Namek," Taro started, staring at Piccolo as he desperately gathered his energy. "Are you happy now? With the idea that I'll be killed by Beerus even if you should fail? After all, you're the one whose chased me into at least a few different universes, aren't you?"

There was a lack of response from the green avenger. Fine, apparently he'd exhausted all of his remaining 'good will' with the Namek. Perhaps he could utilize some violence to change his mind.

"Not that I'd be impressed with your attack anyway," Taro raised his hand, gathering energy into his palm. "But I think I've tolerated you for more than long enough now. Goodbye Namek-"

Before he could launch the attack, from his left side, again, he sensed the energy and heat from an attack approaching him. He didn't bother moving as it impacted him. The blast detonated on him and it felt like a warm summer's breeze as far as he was concerned. His long golden hair drifted for a second with the bolt's explosion before he took one step to his side and readjusted his left foot. It was Vegeta.

"Still conscious I see," Taro observed.

Standing there, a bruise forming on the side of his head, and his hands outstretched from having fired the blast, Vegeta closed his fists a second later and prepared himself.

"You're ador... ab..." Taro's eye shifted above Vegeta to see what he could only think was the most horrifying thing he'd ever seen in his life.

There was a complete loss for words. He'd only not detected it because it sensed so familiar, so much of its power was directed from him. It was his power... Trunks' power. It was enormous. It was like staring at a moon being in orbit only a few kilometre's from the Earth's surface. His one remaining eye dilated as his heart started to rush. There was no gaming around what that was. This was no grand plan for him to overcome. This was his own power turning against him, and it was hanging in the air. Cold sweat immediately formed as he felt his mouth agape.

It's... It's immense.

How? How had this happened? How was that his power?! How had Vegeta known about... The cold stone in his stomach grew a shade colder as he realized something. His right eye looked down, scanning the air in front of him, seeing an almost invisible amount of energy bleeding off of him, and floating towards the Orb in the sky. Only it was really an incredible amount of energy. It'd been gradually feeding into the attack for long enough to make it into the gargantuan thing it was now. There was still time however, there was still time to stop Kakarot before he launched that thing at him.

About to lift himself off, Taro felt another bolt hit him.

Vegeta.

Turning his focus back to the warrior in front of him.

"You knew this was happening, didn't you?" Taro accused darkly.

"Is it hard to tell? Is that why you need to ask? Or can you blame that on your newly adjusted depth perception?" Vegeta shot back.

Without another word Taro snarled before launching himself at Vegeta. His leg caught the Prince across the side of the head before he sensed Piccolo fire. Piccolo fired multiple shots at him, even. A series of bolts began to encircle his position. The Namek couldn't miss this much, which told him it was the Hellzone Grenade. Dozens upon dozens of orbs heaped into the air around him, trying to prevent his movement.

It was only going to take a moment to force his ki barrier out and shatter them all.

Though something was off about it. The orbs seemed to be a mild discolouration. Perhaps it was this version of Piccolo's attacks? It didn't matter.

"Really? Let me show you-"

"Hellzone Beam Cannon!"

Hellzone Beam Cannon?

It was enough to give him pause for one second. All of the beams didn't plunge in towards him. Instead, twisting beams of energy fired from each one, each one sending the drilling energy waves down towards him from all sides. Each side hit, burning into his ki barrier before hitting the surface of his skin. It burned already damaged flesh as blood came to the surface and his body felt like was condensing under the force from all sides.

When the beams reached critical mass, the explosion followed. Even Taro felt himself tumbling through the air helplessly before he regained his position. Blasting up into the air, above the small mushroom cloud which was forming, he breathed in heavily. Pain saturated his body. Burns welded over his skin as his arms trembled. It couldn't have killed him, even if he was weaker than he was now. But it was a spit in the face. The Namek knew it wasn't going to beat him, he just used that attack out of spite to anger him and draw his attention.

Well you have it now you Green bastard!

Without even uttering a threat, Taro roared as he cast his hand out, three bolts from a short Catastrophe Gun being unleashed in the Namek's direction. All three detonated above the air near the Namek himself. Piccolo's energy almost entire disappeared in a single burst of power. His torso, left arm, and badly savaged head, all on fire while burning, flew out of one of the blasts before unceremoniously hitting the mud, rolling into a large, dirty puddle.

Immediately twisting in the air, Taro prepared to launch himself towards Kakarot when a fist collided with his head. It was enough to move his head to one side. It irritated a prior cut on his cheek and his split eyebrow and empty socket withered in pain from the blow. An annoyed growl exited his nostrils as he turned his attention once more to Vegeta.

"You will stop-" Taro snapped, striking Vegeta in the ribs with a vicious left hook, hard enough to feel his bones fracture. "Interfering!"

With the second word uttered thunderously, Taro pulled back both his arms above his head, and delivered an axe-handle smash. The collision was powerful enough that an entire force wave boomed out from the blow. The mud beneath them, even by dozens of metres, cratered violently before Vegeta's body slammed into it face first.

I'll finish killing you later.

The cool rain still drizzled onto his skin as Taro tried his best to catch his breath, almost forgetting about the doom that was approaching him from only two or three kilometre away. When his dark eye turned its way back towards the Spirit Bomb, it was already bigger than before. Inside himself he was desperately looking for a means of ceasing this leak of energy. Where was it coming from? All of his power streams seemed intact. Most of the choir seemed to be assembled. It didn't make any sense. But he could still sense the energy in the air leaving him.

I need to stop this now.

Everything he'd striven for could be lost. Everything he experienced for years could just vanish into the dustbin of history, and with it everything he was. His death would mean his end. There were no second chances, not for him.

Energy warped around him at the thought as Taro blasted off, covering a kilometre in a fraction of a second before another gold figure rushed him from the front. Son Goten was already at him, roaring as he charged. The teenager overshot him as he sidestepped him in under a second, winding up a massive mule-kick before delivering it the other Saiyan's back. Golden hair turned to black as the body rocketed into the distance. The annoying child who often put forth herculean efforts would not be tolerated. Looking after him a second, taro prepared himself to move forward when he saw another figure in front of him. The most familiar of his adversaries.

The most familial as well.

"Junia," Taro seethed, breathing heavily as he looked both at her, and the moon worth of energy behind her.

"Taro."

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Junia:

It was staring down a gun barrel. She knew Taro was moving to kill or knock out Kakarot before the Spirit Bomb could be launched. Taro knew he would have to go through her, and he easily had the power to do it, even in his diminished state. She needed to position him where she needed to be to achieve her own goal. All she needed was one opening and it would stop all of this.

What would the world look like for her after this? What path would she walk. In front of her was her past, beyond Taro was her future. Floating in front of her wasn't just Taro, but everything they'd come from. The world where she'd been born to a power hungry vicious beast. The world where she was a tool to be used by others. The reality of being that toy while trying to liberate herself. All of her hate and anger was still with her. She had no regrets. The least of her regrets would be deciding to fight this monster after he revealed what he really was.

But she did know that Taro was out of his mind, that Brass was dead... and so was her mother.

A pulse of golden energy rippled off her form as electricity caught fire in the air around her, making her intentions known. She needed him to come at her, and she needed him to be off his guard for just the right moments to make this all come together.

It didn't happen.

A solid fist she couldn't even follow shot past her face, taking some of her blood with it as her body fumbled backwards in the air before another blow smashed into her ribs, and then a knee connected with her stomach. Every blow knocked the fight further out of her. She'd never been hit so hard in her life. It was all of her effort to keep her mind clear and conscious in the burst of attacks she'd just taken. Only a short while ago, in this very battle, Taro had nearly strangled her to death, emulating supposedly how he'd killed their mother.

Already he was about to move past her, presuming his victory. A hateful sneer crossed her features as she spat blood and saliva out of her mouth, grabbing his right leg as he pushed past her. Focusing all of her power for a brief second, she wrenched him back, throwing him in front of her. In almost disbelief, Taro turned and stared angrily at her.

"You'd betray your own brother for the father you always despised?" he snapped angrily.

"I betray a brother for the mother he killed," she retorted.

His eye scanned to the Spirit Bomb before locking back onto her with a deadly tint.

"Fair enough," was all he said before he launched himself forwarded at her again.

There was a glimmer of something in how he moved, and with just enough time she caught it, raising her left arm and catching his first strike. The blow almost made the bone in her arm buckle as she receded back from the strength of the hit. Both of them were quite surprised she'd managed to intercept the first blow, Taro's one remaining eye raised itself as he stared at her before a vicious left came in, easily compensating for the right. This one slammed into the right side of her head. The force of the hit was so hard that her own vision went blurry on the right side. Permanent damage, she immediately knew, as warm blood oozed down the right side of her face. It didn't take long before another blow was landed, this time a body shot. Trying to work through the pain, she sluggishly kicked back. The block on his part was instant, and another response was immediately as Taro held her leg in place with one hand and simply backhanded her.

The last hit sent her flipping back.

In front of her a familiar glow was forming as she realized Taro was aiming to remove her from place. An energy attack it appeared. In this case a replica of Gohan and Piccolo's Masenko. Her half defined vision stared at him as he prepared to launch only for his head and body to flinch forward as both Vegeta's feet crash landed in the back of his head at full velocity from above. The energy dispersed while a mildly pained expression crossed his face, written with surprise.

It was almost infuriating. Vegeta's intervention was the only thing that would just saved her from an ugly and violent end. Being a charred corpse wasn't at the top of her life goals, but certainly getting saved by Vegeta, again, wasn't exactly competing for first either. It wasn't gratefulness she felt by any stretch.

"Vegeta..." Taro growled dangerously as the two Saiyans squared off. "You have interfered for the last time!"

In a flash of motion Junia saw Taro lay into Vegeta once again. Blows which were meant to tear mountains apart rumbled through the air as Vegeta tried his best to guard. The final blow in the brief, violent exchange saw made even Junia cringe, but inside of it she saw her moment. Taro's fist caught Vegeta in the jaw, shortly after hammering the Prince's head with a series of other blows. Black hair replaced gold as his body fell away.

This was her one opening. Her one chance. He was exactly where he needed to be. Red energy formed in her hands as Junia blasted off at full speed. Taro's blind side was facing her, and she knew he didn't think an energy attack would assist her. She build up speed and momentum, looping up in the air before diving down directly at Taro, swinging the energy bolt up and into his chest. A self confident, but irritated Taro turned at her, giving her a look which told her he was unimpressed. When the bolt hit his chest however, and his body rocketed back she saw the look of unpleasant disbelief on his features.

With a cunning and malicious smile, Junia focused all of her power, centralizing it on the bolt as her hands reopened, red energy rippling off of them as the bolt travelled with Taro towards the rainclouds above.

"Red Gravity Bomb!"

When the bolt opened in the sky, a massive orb, generating intense gravity fields opened up. Time seemed to slow down even as the surface of the Earth below it began to break apart almost instantly. Scarlet energy filled the air, seemingly matching the blue light of the Spirit Bomb, and she floated in between the light. Her chest was heaving from the effort as the thrumming orb in the distance pulsed. Pieces from the battlefield below started to drag itself up towards the intense orb of energy.

Another pulse came, but this time as a small piece of the orb flinched away, Taro breaking out of the false star's field and diving towards her. He was snarling like a vicious animal. His one eye looked frantic and furious as he roared while approaching her. The initial launch seemed violent, but his speed slowed to a crawl a few hundred feet in front of her, before he found himself fighting the force of gravity, draining him back in towards it. The clouds about began orbiting the sphere as Taro's body plunged back towards it.

A wave of relief washed over her as she saw his mouth emoting, but didn't hear Taro's scream of frustration and fury. The sound was being caught up now in the attack's field. Along with waves of debris and clouds, she saw her brother disappeared into the melee in front of her, drenched in red light.

Her arms were shaking as she sensed her power being challenged almost immediately again as Taro's body erupted out of the attack once more. This time he came ever closer than he had the time before, before he fell back down to the surface of the Gravity Bomb.

"You need to hurry up, Kakarot."

She couldn't see behind her, but she could see in front of her.

"It's not working. It's not drawing enough energy anymore. It'll take forever to gather what's left. Something's blocking his flow of power to the Spirit Bomb. How long can you hold him?"

Something?

In front of her, Junia saw blue light emerging from the Gravity Bomb. It became almost a shroud around it. The energy was trying to move towards the Spirit Bomb, only was caught in the Gravity Bomb itself. The irony wasn't lost on her. The field was the only thing keeping her alive, and keeping Taro at bay, but the faint glow of energy in front of her, unable to escape the attack, meant that they were trapped in limbo.

Another explosive rise from Taro lead to her flinching back. She felt his fingers, outstretched, cut through the air in front of her, this time hearing him snarling like an animal as his one eye looked at her with more hatred than she'd ever imagined.

"KILL. YOU!"

Slowly, the force of the attack overwhelmed him, sending Taro falling back towards the heart of the red glow behind him, a faint trace of a yell evaporating within seconds. The next attempt would be his last. If she moved and focused her energy away, he would break free without question, the field around the gravity bomb would weaken without her feeding it so directly. Even now the planet itself couldn't survive long term exposure to this. Molten rock was already rising up below up as it was pulled towards her attack.

This was a trap. A trap for both Taro, and herself. Even now as she focused as much as she could, she could sense him gathering energy for one last breakthrough.

Not a chance Taro.

This was where it was all going to end.

A pulse ran through the air, escaping the gravity field as she sensed a massive exertion of force. Her eyes widened as she saw the slowed blur of Taro for only the fraction of a second before her hands went weak. Her mouth fell ajar outside of her own will as she felt something warm rolling down her lips. She was choking. Looking down, she saw an arm inside her abdomen and chest, having gone through the bone, skin, and organs. Looking to her right, feeling numbness taking over her, Junia's eyes set on Taro, who was staring back at her, breathing intensely.

The red star in the distance shattered like a broken globe, dispersing as her power was sapped from it.

"You could have had so much more, Junia," Taro told her quietly. "Now take part in the destruction of the world you've decided to call home. And remember... you've earned this, Junia."

When he pulled his hand out, Junia felt her body become a stone. She fell, seeing trails of blood in the air left behind, knowing it was hers. Everything still felt slowed, like the gravity bomb was in effect. Things were strangely quiet. The only thing she could hear was the wind whipping around her while she drifted through the air. Breathing became almost impossible. The pain was so immense she barely understood where she was.

Looking above her in this slowed world, feeling her hair go from gold to black, she saw the blue energy which had been in the air, having gathered at the periphery of the Red Bomb's field, go rushing past like a tidal wave, flooding towards the Spirit Bomb. The edge of the bomb came into her view and she couldn't help but smile, even now.

The world came to a stop, the drifting ended, when her back hit the hard dirt below. The landing was jostling. She didn't have the power to raise her head, not because she didn't have the ki, but the body itself wouldn't respond. She knew why, she'd seen it a dozen times. A few hours ago she was experiencing it, but this felt very much different.

I'm dying.

Her head moving to the right, she saw Vegeta trying to pull himself up a few metres away. The one who'd bought her all this time, all these hours, to make decisions she'd only quietly thought to herself over the months and years of watching what she cared about evaporate. Taro would die, and he would die soon. The Spirit Bomb was complete, she knew it.

What surprised her most was when she saw Vegeta crawling towards her. He was almost entirely without energy, his wounds holding him back. It was a sight she never thought she could see. A sad parody of the dreams she had as a child, where she imagined her father was some kind of hero keeping her and her mother safe. Fantasies which had been killed viciously by the reality of her world.

In a hundred worlds she saw Vegeta crawling towards his dead family, trying to save them after they'd murdered them, and thought nothing of it. That was just a weak Vegeta's final moments. Just sentimental last moments of a dying man who earned his fate.

The look on his face, told her the strength it took to make that crawl. A crawl she'd once laughed and mocked. Now she found herself unable to breathe but desperately trying to do so, bleeding profusely, and dying. In this moment she saw a creature she'd only known for a day trying to get to her, as if to somehow defy the world and save her. She knew it too, even if Vegeta wouldn't say it himself. Something warm other than blood trickled from her left eye as she rasped, feeling her mouth close tightly.

When he ended up at her side, he was trying to appraise the damage. He didn't say a word while looking it over, but looked her in the eyes and told her the truth.

"You're dying," he breathed, barely able to keep himself awake, let alone save her.

"I know."

Above them a thunderous whoosh came overhead as the Spirit Bomb was flung forward. But she barely noticed, and Vegeta himself didn't look away.

"Get out of here. Get free from the blast."

A small smile crossed Vegeta's lips before he shook his head.

"I don't have the strength left to fly, girl," he informed her, before sitting next to her. "I think we'll have an up close view."

She knew he could still try to escape. She was guessing he could stand by now, and perhaps had enough power to make a run for it. He was staying with her because she was dying. Perhaps he wanted to see Taro's death up close as well, given all he'd done to him.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her vision growing darker by the second as she felt life slipping from her fingertips. "Why did you spare me?"

"You made the right choice," Vegeta told her after a moment, smiling as he looked towards something blue flying overhead. "You're out from under the shadow."

On her world, she knew about how Vegeta had fought Frieza near the end. Even when things seemed hopeless, he defied him to the end, making the decision to free himself. He didn't answer her question, but his own remark answered it enough. A smile painfully formed across her lips before she reached out, grabbing his hand stiffly. She couldn't say what she wanted to, not even in her mind. But she could give a gesture.

Her power flooded out of her body body, flowing into Vegeta's. She didn't tell him what she thought, she could barely put together what she thought. But she could see all the father's she'd murdered trying to take care of their loved ones, the one's she mocked before she'd murdered. She could see the countless victims she had across dozens of planets on her own world, and she could see the infinite victims she'd slaughtered across time. For a brief second, she felt like she was giving them the power to see their families again.

Her purple energy flowed over to him as Vegeta stared back at her in shock as her world started to fade.

Go see your family, Vegeta.

These were her last thoughts before the darkness.

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Goku:

That's it!

A flood of power flowed into the Spirit Bomb as it grew even further in magnitude. He could sense Taro's energy and Junia's, and sense her power declining rapidly between the two of them. He knew what a dying power felt like. He barely knew her, but she seemed like someone who could have changed. Maybe she was someone who had, and she was another victim of this monster.

Tien, Krillin, Gohan, and now Junia.

It was going to stop here. This was the end for this Taro monsters. They didn't get saved by the two ominous God's above, they saved themselves.

Heaving his arms forward, Goku released the Bomb above just as Taro approached for his final assault. The other Saiyan came into view at the last second before the small moon worth of energy descended on him. It was strange, he could almost feel the Earth's magnetic field responding to the mass of energy which was now hurtling through the air. Taro's body tried to dodge at the last moment, but Goku saw the bomb make its impact before starting to move towards its trajectory towards where the Red Gravity Bomb had been, moving towards the open wound in the surface of the Earth. Sweeping waves of force rapidly rolled over the landscape as the life energy from as far as he could project, as well as Trunks' power, flowed through the Bomb.

Every inch Goku could sense Taro gnashing his power at the bomb, trying to throw it back and away from himself. It was too late to do anything about it and Goku knew it. And if he knew it, Taro was going to know it as well. Hovering into the air, Goku felt exhausted from his prior bought earlier, and from being the conduit for this much energy for the Spirit Bomb. The bomb approached the Earth's surface as the magma and broken rocks below started to fragment and shatter even further. Amidst the intense noise from it all, Goku could hear furious screams of anger and desperation from the man who'd dubbed himself the only being in existence.

A familiar name was shouted out in all of it, making Goku smile despite the nature of it. The vengeful tone to Taro's roar was something Goku felt was well deserved.

"SON GOKU!"

When the Spirit Bomb made its touchdown above the magma, the world turned white. Only the black outline of the horizon of the Earth could be seen by Goku among the energy. The intensity was so dramatic his own feet lifted off the ground, throwing him back past the rapidly dispersing weather patterns above.

I hope Piccolo and Goten got clear of the Blast. They must have. I know I could still sense Piccolo's power a few moments ago.

In the core of the explosion, Goku sensed Taro's power evaporating, boiling away like water over a flame.

Thank you for giving me the time to stop him, Gohan. Thank you for everything you've done for me Krillin. Tien... you're three eyes still kinda scare me, but thanks too. And Junia? I saw what you did, thank you as well. And Trunks... I know you were with us this whole time.

When his feet landed on the sold ground below, Goku's eyes spanned out over the wasteland, seeing a massive black pit in the distance as the blue and white light faded. Traces of the Spirit Bomb's energy rose into the air, the after-effect of the blast.

"Very impressive, Son Goku," Whis's voice came from above, the man with a blue halo around his neck remarked.

"That was the Spirit Bomb, wasn't it?" the elder Kai who Goku hadn't noticed before commented. "A masterful example of it I think."

"Not very impressive," Beerus remarked. "I would have preferred to see him die with my own two eyes, rather than in a flash of light."

Hah, you can't please everybody.

"Thanks," Goku remarked, before looking towards the battlefield once more, sensing traces of Trunks' power still among the blast site.

"I've lost a lot of friends today," he grimly commented up to the three figures above, before smiling. "But I think we can fix that."

There was a look of surprise crossing Whis's face however a second later.

The world suddenly went dark.

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Piccolo:

It was everything he had left to grab Goten before the blast and fly for safety. Even now his stamina was entirely drained after replenishing his body and running from the blast as it occurred. When the shockwave blew past him it still sent him out of flight to crash into the surface below. It was finally over at least. The nightmare had reached its conclusion. All through time and space they would still have replicas of the three, things could and would never be the same, but the Supreme Kai of Time got her wish. The original instigators of this descent into madness were finally stopped.

It was a sorrowful moment. He sensed Trunks' energy dispersing all around him as the bomb exploded, reminding him of the countless lives across hundreds of timelines which had been snuffed out by this monster.

Sitting up, Piccolo spied several trees. This area hadn't been totally annihilated by the fighting, though downed trees still littered his landscape. The Earth was still recovering from Gohan's battle with Garlic. The weather had been colder in general. Crops hadn't done as well, and now they were adding even more chaos after their last battle. At some point, soon, they were going to need to use the Dragon Balls to fix the Earth, not just save the people.

Still... It was over.

He didn't even have the power to fly at the moment. How many worlds had he seen fail? Hell, this was his world as much as the previous one's had been. Honestly... he knew this was do or die, but he never expected it to end like this. To end in their success, it was always a long shot. A smile crossed his lips as he let himself fall back, he couldn't even justify meditating right now.

We did it.

There was a lot to fix now. Especially from this world. The Piccolo of this world had been less... morally progressed, than he'd been. The Piccolo of this world, what was he saying? He was the Piccolo of this world.

I've got to find Pan.

The first priority among everything was finding the girl, as soon as he made sure everyone else who was alive was alright. This world was flawed, even without Taro and his lackeys invading it. But it was his world now, and it was his world to try and fix. Monsters still lingered amongst the stars. He didn't even know what the Supreme Kai did to stop Majin Buu from emerging really. And that didn't take into account Frieza's Corporate-Monarchy the Planet Trade still existing either. Especially if this timeline had that monster Cooler in it. Of course, he'd be weak enough to deal with now, hopefully.

Goku's power fluctuated wildly a second later, before going dark.

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Taro:

The Spirit Bomb above him was intense. It's power was overwhelming and the air around it scorched his energy and flesh. Everything he put into pushing it back seemed to only push it further forward. This was the death he feared since he'd overcome Son Gohan. This was the fear which the other Saiyan had put into him. This wasn't some fantasy for him to explore, this was his existence on the line. An existence which was no short lived.

An existence which forced him to dispose of pawns like Junia when they ceased being useful. The half-sister he'd been living with for years had been an idle story for him to amuse himself with. Her struggle to overcome her father turned into her capitulation to him. It was a dismal end, but he ceased her from humiliating herself further, at least.

How many worlds were all the better for his having gone there? How many had he slaughtered the Kais, or all the fighters worth purging? It would allow growth in all those timelines for new creatures to fill the void. Not that it mattered, the chaos those universes would find themselves in would be short lived, if only because he was going to end all of time and reality and start anew.

Only now he wasn't. His very own energy was fighting against him. All those fragments of himself... all those independent creatures he'd brought into line, were pulling back from him and diverting their power. The fear of their own deaths or pain seemed to be a distant past for them. They knew their own end would come at the end of this Spirit Bomb, and they were still allowing it to happen. They were shedding his control... they were denying their purpose.

When the bomb detonated, it was almost like a cleansing effect. His body was purified in the light, it was purified of all the sins of the others against him. In the light he could see his life flash before his eyes. The earliest moments of watching Turles slaughter aliens, or watching Gohan take his stand against his father. He could see his mother's eyes as the life was shed from them, and he could see Trunks the first time he'd learned they were one and the same. Inside this purity, only one thing remained true to him.

Hatred.

A hatred of the cards he'd been dealt. Whether it be the circumstances of his conception and birth. Whether it be the apathy and manipulations of his father. It was focused in on so much more. A hatred of Son Goku, an intense hatred of Son Gohan, and Prince Vegeta. A hatred of the Gods and a hatred of the histories themselves. In that hatred he found his purpose, even more clearly than before.

As the light faded, Taro found himself staring a blue sky. His body was weak... He could barely raise his right hand at first before he managed to start pulling himself up. It'd consumed all of his strength to survive in the core of the energy which had been thrown back at him. The choir was silent for the first time in years, leaving him only with one set of thoughts to touch and tap into... his own. All of their power had fled him, leaving him only with that strength of his body... of his true dark heart.

A trembling hand came up in front of him as he breathed in and out, pulling himself to his feet. There was still power in his muscles. There was still strength in his own aura. A body and aura which remembered a thousand lives being in it. His strength was a shadow of what it had once been, but that shadow's reach extended far further than whatever Son Goku had left in him.

Crawling from the edge of the crater, Taro found his feet, just as his eyes found Son Goku. Traces of the traitor's energy was scattered in the air. There was the method of his salvation and redemption. Son Goku was the key to his victory, a victory over Beerus even if he played his cards right, and if he was wrong... a method to his escape.

His hair was black now, unable to obtain a Super Saiyan form, but his strength still eclipsed that of Son Goku, especially in this state. He lined himself up perfectly as Goku chatted with the God's above. With his ki focused into his right fist, Taro bolted forward, rushing as fast as his feet would carry him. The blow was lined up perfectly to crash into Goku's jaw. As soon as the strike landed, Goku's body went limp as his head shot to one side, his frame collapsing into the ground. Unconscious and prone, Taro saw his enemy ripe for his plans.

Standing over him, Taro couldn't help but let out a laugh as he thrust one fist into the air victoriously.

I did it! YES! It's all MINE! I have overcome it all! To Hell with you Son Gohan! Junia, you thought yourself so clever! Son Goku you fool! HAHA! I am to become more than I ever could hope to have been!

An irritated and annoyed sound escaped Beerus.

"Well, it would seem you survived. And it would appear that you've won," Beerus's words cut through the air. "I am guessing that means its my turn again."

That familiar cold feeling entered his blood as Taro turned his head up towards the God above, he almost snarled.

"I'm not done with this one yet. Once I'm done with Son Goku, I'll fig-"

"You beat him, and you beat the others. It's my turn now. I guess I can destroy you... and this planet, it's a shame. I was beginning to appreciate its cuisine."

Reaching out with his hand, Taro started to kneel down to grasp Goku's skull.

No! I need time to finish-

Golden light flashed from behind him as Taro blinked, before a seeping pain filled his back. Already on his knees, Taro called out in pain as his hands moved to his back before almost falling onto his front. That wasn't Beerus's attack, but where did it come from?! He didn't understand!? He'd won! There was no one left to deny him his final prize! Another dead warrior? Was that it?

Trembling as his head turned, trembling with a rage at that, Taro's one eye saw a single figure standing there, his face locked in grim determination.

"Vegeta," Taro sneered, his chest heaving as he started to climb to his feet.

This was his last obstacle? Vegeta? An injured, battle worn Vegeta was the last one standing? If anything it might buy him time to take Kakarot's life for his own. It didn't erase his sneer however. The resentment he felt towards Junia's father was very much real. The man who was the father of most of his fragments was standing there, looking ready to fight.

"Well, well, well," Beerus chuckled. "I must admit I'm surprised. I never thought Vegeta would be the last man standing."

There wasn't a word from the Prince as his aura started to intensify. It grew around him before finally it burst back into its Super Saiyan form. Electricity rippled through the air as his hair arched further upwards, demonstrating exactly which form of Super Saiyan he'd taken on. Inside of that power he could sense Junia. She had given him her power, hadn't she? Enough to rejuvenate his strength. A final attempt to stop him, like striking out from beyond the grave.

There was a look of determination on the Saiyan Prince's features. Taro could see a will to fight he rarely saw even in the Z fighters across multiple timelines and dimensions. A vengeful stare and what Taro could only understand as a look of self realization were written across the Prince's fate.

It won't make a difference, Junia. He doesn't have what it takes to stop me, even as weakened as I am.

"You've destroyed enough lives," Vegeta said. "I have seen what you are. You have humiliated everything our race stands for. You have hunted me down across time and space as a coward, attacking without warning and destroying and killing everything which cannot defend itself. You then came here, and as soon as it became hard you started to flounder. Where is all that power now, Taro? Has it abandoned you? Good, now you can stand and fight as who you really are."

Something barbed about the remark made the amalgamated Saiyan almost spit at Vegeta, his own aura growing. Transformation was beyond his reach. Even now as he tried to push his aura forward, the injuries across his body hindered his form. The air around him still caught fire with electricity however as Taro's power superseded Vegeta's. A smirk drew across his face as he kept his power level constant, trying to maintain enough energy to deal with this meagre threat.

Another wave of power rolled off Vegeta however, surprising Taro as he focused his one remaining eye on the other Saiyan.

"You have killed my son. You have killed my son from another world. And you have killed a thousand more like them. You even killed your own, because they saw you for the weak minded fool that you are," Vegeta seethed. "I will avenge their deaths. They are from an ancestry of noble Saiyan blood. They aren't the spawn of some low-level scum like yourself, with delusions of godhood! Now you will face the power and wrath of a Saiyan Prince!"

A powerful aura burst from Vegeta's form as dust kicked up around him. There was no way Vegeta could have maintained this much strength! It was like he'd not even been in battle up until this point!... Where could he be...

Junia. I can sense her power in him. She gave him her remaining energy?

When Vegeta appeared in front of him, Taro only had a sparse moment to block, his arm catching Vegeta's at the last second, which happened right before the self proclaimed Saiyan Prince landed a hard blow on his abdomen.

In a state of near disbelief, Taro gagged for a second before staring resentfully into Vegeta's features. How dare he?

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Vegeta:

Another hammerblow landed when Vegeta shifted his weight and slammed his elbow into Taro's left facing, this time another painful body blow over one of the burns he'd acquired. A stifled growl came his way as Vegeta grunted before striking out with a kick, trying to keep around Taro's body. Blurring out of existence with pure speed a moment later, Vegeta felt his next blow intercepted by Taro's own guard, the two freezing in place for a brief second before Vegeta's head shot to one side, avoiding a straight right punch. In a flurry of motion the two struck out at one another in a rhythm, trying to detect the weaknesses in the other party's defence. He could sense Taro's superior speed in all of it, but pushed further all the same, aggression acting as his shield as he kept this monster on a back-foot.

I'll kill you.

It only took one slip on Vegeta's part for his assault to come undone however. A knee found its way to Vegeta's centre as he was staggered by the blow, knocking him out of his order of attack. Before he could recover Taro had already landed the straight right he'd been looking for at the start of their engagement. Before his body could hit the ground a boot had already come up beneath him, kicking him back into the air before a swinging elbow caught his midsection again. Blood shot out of his mouth before Vegeta went flipping back through the air before hitting the solidified, dried mud behind him.

There was no time to sit back and hold position. Instead, the Prince immediately launched himself from his prone position, rushing ahead with full speed, throwing a fist out. Another guard intercepted him, this time the collision sending shockwaves over the surface of the Earth.

Striking around with a kick, he caught Taro's hip with a vicious strike before being punished within a micro-second by another vicious punch, this one hitting him so hard he could barely tell where he was for a second. Instinctively he ducked as Taro aimed to finish him with a massive round-house kick. The force of the kick swinging over his head sent a wave of destruction sweeping past him. Opening his palm, Vegeta gathered energy rapidly before thrusting his hand out, sending a destructive wave of energy at Taro at point blank. With a speed Vegeta couldn't quite match, his adversary shifted aside.

This time, when Taro countered, the roundhouse connected. Taking him off his feet, Vegeta flipped back this time, slamming onto the ground face first, the brunt of the attack's force wave picking him up just as he landed and sending him scattering backwards.

When he came to, Vegeta could only see Taro floating above the battlefield, staring down at him with his one eye. Trying to rise, the Prince found himself falling back finally. The massive expulsion of energy to keep up so quickly had been exhausted. Even trading blows with Taro felt like a losing proposition. It didn't matter however, behind this battle he could see the last fading moments of life draining from Trunks' eyes. Even kneeling next to Junia as she grabbed his hand, filtering her power through to him, he realized just how much he had to prove to stop this thing. This thing that had terrorized his family even in this world.

I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans. I am the father of Trunks and Bulla. I am the strongest Saiyan alive. It is my duty to overtake this monster. This disgrace to the entire Saiyan Race, this coward, must be stopped.

Finding his feet, Vegeta managed to get up as he stared back at the one eyed bastard staring back at him. His golden aura still traced around him as he breathed in heavily, gathering up the strength he needed to win this fight. He needed to win decisively, soon.

"Catastrophe Gun!"

A dozen bolts fired out from Taro's hand, which broke up into others. A rain of purple death descended towards him and Vegeta had no choice but to turn on his heel and bolt. Behind him the world ignited into purple fire as the blast waves exploded. A rush of fresh adrenaline pumped through his system as he took off at the last moment as more bolts landed behind him, sending him almost scattering through the air with them before he launched off the ground. Fresh cuts covered his body from rocks and shrapnel from the blasts he'd failed to avoid.

Swinging through the air and tilting his direction towards Taro, Vegeta felt his fury and ferocity rising through his pain and pushing past his reason.

"TARO!"

The other Saiyan twisted to face him, opening his hand again as red energy gathered at the core of his hand.

"Crimson Destruction!"

The wave of red energy cut through the air in front of him, burning its way towards him. It seemed almost impossible to dodge, but tilting his frame hard and pushing his ki just as hard, Vegeta pulled to the side at the last moment, flying with intensity and speed fast enough to blur right past Taro. Putting his hands together into an axe handle, Vegeta swung up with both arms in an upper strike, crashing it into the side of Taro's already badly damaged ribs. A shocked, wheezing gasp escaped the black haired Saiyan who lurched to the side, before Vegeta focused all his power into a sweeping kick, rising as he did, the kick caught Taro in the side of the face. Blood spat into the air before the monster which took the lives of Kakarot's friends and his family went flying into the ground below. The smoking ruin of a crater exploded with his body's impact as Vegeta breathed heavily in the air.

His own body had seen extensive damage. Concussions, cracked ribs, burns, and lacerations. He was bleeding energy rapidly fighting at this intensity as well. This wasn't the decisive blow he'd needed. He was still looking for the path to his victory. The path to saving the world.

From the smouldering wreck below, a massive wave of purple energy rippled out, blasting the crater even further in diameter before the smoke was blasted away as well. A horrifying scream of intense agony and outrage echoed from below.

"VEGETA!"

Smiling, Vegeta just breathed in and out heavily from his perch above, trying to assess his battle plan.

I need the opening.

Kakarot wasn't there to help. The Namek was gone or out of power. Gohan was dead... well, he was dead even while fighting, but he was back in Hell by now. Goten was unconscious. Junia was dead. There was no one left to do this. This was the way it was meant to be though. This was his battle to win. It was his family who'd been wronged. It was his burden to bear.

"Come at me you one eyed freak! Show me what you can do!" Vegeta shouted back. "That is unless you bow before your prince!"

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Taro:

It was always very easy to see why his father had despised Vegeta on a personal level. Now it was easier then ever. Standing between him and his ultimate victory was this short, miserable creature with an inflated ego. He'd barely considered himself a Saiyan in years, and now he was being asked to kneel before this prince-ling who thought himself his superior. If only because he was weaker than his usual state? A more frustrating ignorant monkey couldn't exist. With the choir silent, Taro felt his hand close into a fist as he scowled.

I'm going to peel your skin off while I take Kakarot's mind and powers, Vegeta.

Up until this point, he'd believed the most irritating warrior he'd ever fought was this world's Son Gohan. But now, unable to just kill Vegeta out of hand, Taro had a new opinion that the Saiyan Prince was easily more annoying than Son Gohan. At least Gohan had the excuse of already being dead.

Casting a glance towards Whis and Beerus, he snarled when he noticed they were now eating popcorn. As if this was some kind of entertainment for them. They'd seen how entertaining this was when he Chrono-Cut Beerus and killed him.

All I need to do is get past Vegeta. A washed up Saiyan from an era before this world. Frieza's pitiful slave. The one who could never surpass Kakarot. The one I've seen Junia kill hundreds of times. The one I've personally killed almost as many times. Does he really think I'll just kneel down for him? I have seen more wonders than this ignorant simian could imagine. I've peered through time and space and seen the beginnings of whole universes. I have fought creatures beyond his imagining, and squared off against the God of Destruction. I have killed Kais, mystical creatures such as Majin Buu. This monkey thinks I am going to kneel before someone as pitiful as himself?! He's not even Kakarot!

It wasn't possible to stop himself from barring his teeth as a long, angry growl left his chest, even as his lungs wheezed from the repeated damage he'd suffered.

"It doesn't take two eyes to see what a fool you are Vegeta," he rasped with acrimony. "I'm not even going to give you the chance to beg me for your life. I have more important things to do than bother with you longer than I have to."

There was a rise in Vegeta's energy levels briefly as Taro's eye scanned him. The change in ki in the air made him try to guess what it was.

"My turn," was all Vegeta said as two golden orbs appeared in his hands.

Narrowing his one eye, it widened a second later as Vegeta's hands pointed out and a stream of energy waves launched from his hands. Hundreds of bolts of energy twisted and spiralled through the air towards him. Spitting angrily, Taro blasted back, the ground where he'd been a split second earlier exploding in a series of blasts which rapidly followed him. This wasn't the first time he'd seen Vegeta turn to launching a series of energy blasts to overwhelm a clearly superior opponent. Turning about his facing, Taro rocketed towards the blasts themselves, slipping in between them. Golden bolts of energy whipped past him before he emerged unscathed, slamming his palm into Vegeta's head as he came to the source of the blasts.

The Prince's bolts stopped as he tried to raise his guard, only it was too late. A four punch combo of rights and lefts slammed into his body, this time not just fracturing ribs, but breaking them. Two well placed kicks landed next, striking Vegeta's head with both blows before driving into him with a firm elbow to the chest. The smaller of the two of them, both in power and strength descended from the air and crashed into the ground.

Breathing in and out, Taro blinked several times, trying to keep himself almost conscious from blood loss and trauma.

Son Goku. I need to get Son Goku.

Descending from above himself, his feet landed on the ground until he heard coughing from the cloud where Vegeta had landed.

Goku was perhaps thirty metres away. Vegeta was only ten metres away by contrast. Turning his head to where Vegeta was now on all fours, trying to get up, something in him almost snapped. Did no one on this fucking planet ever give up? Every step of the way they'd obstructed him. They'd torn away the shield which protected him. They'd turned his primary source of power against him. And now they even sought to deny him his destiny.

"Really Vegeta, this is pathetic at this point," Taro snapped. "You can't justify getting up. Stay down and I might even spare you, for your son's sake."

Another cough left Vegeta as he got to one knee.

Rolling his eyes, Taro knew where this was going. It was going where it always went.

Pointing his hand out, Taro slowly began gathering his depleted reserves of energy. He was certainly in a better position than Vegeta, but... Well, spending any more and he'd be far too exposed. The worst thing he could imagine right now was Kakarot waking up.

He might actually lose if that happened.

"Any last words, Vegeta?" Taro asked, mirroring Gohan's remark to him early.

Breathing heavily, Vegeta nodded.

Well, it looks like someone did accept their place-

"Just three... Big Bang Attack!"

He'd not even noticed Vegeta conserving and gathering his energy as he'd started to get up. Taro's eyes widened in horror as the white-blue hot bolt of energy was fired fight Vegeta's right arm as the Prince pulled himself up at the last second. Dropping the notion of his own attack, Taro reached out, grasping the bolt with his hands as it closed with him. His feet immediately slid back as the orb resonated in his hands. His hands started to tremble as the blast nearly overtook him. Worse yet, his fingers had grown numb now from so much energy flowing through them. Barring his teeth again, Taro roared angrily as he felt himself being pushed back further, the ground beneath him sliding back with his feet.

You all know I'm going to make it past this. How many attacks like this have they tried? Gohan's modified Kamehameha and Cataclysm Cannon. Kakarot's Spirit Bomb. Piccolo's new Hellzone attack. The Big Bang Attack is a nuisance at this point! I am not finished!

Golden lightning trailed past his head as Taro tried to determine what was going on. Even as his own ki rose to match the attack, he wasn't pushing his frail body towards a transformation he didn't have the remaining energy or stamina for. Vegeta's own power was centred in the blast. A near wind tunnel of energy was forming around him however. More sparks of power rippled past him, this time rippling around the still stable, but ever present Big Bang Attack.

Finally his feet stopped sliding. He was beginning to take control of the blast.

Vegeta. I'm going to throw this back at you for what you've d... Where is he?

In front of him he couldn't sense Vegeta any longer. It was then that he sensed a thousand voices beginning to emerge in his mind, causing chaos.

"You can do it dad!"

"Free us!"

"I believe in you father!"

"Alright Vegeta! Finish this!"

"I always knew you could overcome whatever came in your path, dad."

"Stop him once and for all!"

The chaos caused his one eye to frantically search ahead of him as he looked through his own mind, sensing chain after chain break.

How dare all of you?! I take you in, give you purpose, unite us into one being. We were going to create a new world together and you've betrayed me. When I get out of this-

Suddenly, the golden lightning intensified as Taro finished taking over the Big Bang Attack. It was only then that he could sense behind him. It was Vegeta?!

Turning his head to the right, his one eye peering behind him, his eye widened at what he saw.

Vegeta's hands were thrust forward, energy surging around him, golden lightning rippling off his form. His aura was reaching for the heavens as he focused all of his remaining power into one point.

"You should have bowed," was all Vegeta said.

No. No this can't be happening to me. This is impossible-

"FINAL FLASH!"

A wave of golden light emerged behind him which blinded his eye. Unable to release the Big Bang Attack in front of him, Taro felt the Final Flash hit him in the back before he saw the blast hit him. The heat was intense as flesh didn't just burn, it peeled away from his skin. His mouth opened immediately as he felt himself scream as his body was launched forward and up. Power ate through his body as the Big Bang Attack began destabilizing in his hands.

NO! No not like this! Kakarot was right there! It's just... It's just VEGETA!

Focusing all his remaining energy on himself, Taro desperately tried to shield himself from the blast, losing control of the Big Bang Attack as he did. His body began trailing towards low orbit before he finally felt a handle on the energy. Chunks of energy had been vaporized from his body. Organs were in the process of failing as the intensity of the energy coursed through his body, beginning to warp it within the confines of the beam.

He was coming apart.

VEGETA!

The Big Bang detonated.

Atoms dematerialized. The bonds which held his cells together began to unwind as his body was picked up into the light around him and scattered further and further apart. His own desperate screams were lost as a great chorus rose up from the remnants of his aura around him. Before the Final Flash itself fully detonated around him, one could swear they heard cheering as Taro's aura was burned away with his body. The ashes were then swept away and scattered across the sky in a blinding blue and golden light.

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Vegeta:

Trunks, my son, you're free.

In the distance in the sky, Vegeta could see a rift opening around where he sensed Taro's power fading into oblivion. It was almost like a hole in space and time had formed around where the blasts had united and detonated.

Gold hair turned to black as Vegeta felt himself just breathe. He could barely stand at this point. In fact, he wasn't standing within a few seconds as his body finally gave in and he collapsed onto his back. There was nothing left to give in him as he just lay there.

Bulma. I'll see you soon.

Relief overcame him as Vegeta found himself smiling from where he lay. It was finally over. All of this was over. His pride even kicked in as he felt it surge at the idea that he'd defeated this thing. Certainly others fought it as well, but it was Prince Vegeta who avenged his fallen sons. It was Vegeta who'd stopped this thing from destroying his home.

Take that Kakarot and Gohan.

There was a light rumble in his chest as Vegeta let out a small laugh, unable to help it. It was finally over. From the moment he'd suffered the waking nightmare months ago, seeing Junia's form for the first time... to the moment where that beast was finally killed by his hand.

It was hard not to notice the footsteps as Kakarot came into view, his fists on his hips looking up into the air where Taro had been.

"Wow! Good job Vegeta, I got worried for a second there. Hey, did you see where those God people went? I think they left. Vegeta? Hellloooo... Vegeta?"

Instead of answering, Vegeta felt himself blink several times before the world turned to darkness, finally his exhaustion catching up with him.

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Author's Notes:

Bet you didn't see that ending coming! Wow. I actually am going to write a bit about why I did this as large as I did. I do apologize again. Part of it was this ended up being bigger than I had originally intended, in totality. Originally Taro was only supposed to get two chapters, not three. Least of all the biggest single chapter in the entire story, which was bigger than most of the stories on . It was important to me to give the characters their time to develop and showcase the fight.

One thing I find most people do, is gloss over their fights in their stories. For me its one of the most important times to broadcast who the characters are. We got to see Gohan at his best. Goku at his best. Vegeta at his best. And Junia at her best. Really this Chapter belongs to them more than anyone else. Taro's character grows and develops in this chapter as well of course, just not in a positive way.

I also will spoil that the ending to this chapter has changed three times. All in the development stage through to me writing the first thirty pages. The original plan for the ending was actually to have Gohan pull off the win. I decided against it because I really felt that his character, though important to the battle, and connected to Taro, shouldn't have been the one to finish him. So I restructured the fight to give Gohan an opportunity to weaken Taro enough and foil his plans, but not give the win to Gohan directly. Gohan gets a huge assist, but not the goal.

The next ending that was planned was for the Spirit Bomb itself to finish off Taro, not burn away all of his remaining power and severe his connection to the Trunks. This had been the running plan for quite some time, up until about a month ago.

The next was to have Junia and Vegeta defeat Taro, but that ending didn't feel right. It didn't feel very TLR.

So the final ending was decided on by me a few weeks ago. Vegeta, someone who my audience has often told me I don't respect enough, would get the big win over the most powerful villain so far, and the most nefarious piece of shit to really show up in this story. And it made sense when I thought about it. Vegeta is the most connected to everything. He was the first to hear of their coming. Taro's victims are always his sons, and Taro had absorbed his birth-son without him knowing, his alternate son, and the primary Trunks. On top of that, I made the decision that Junia would be killed by Taro as a means of really getting into her character's head, and because I really think it made the most sense in the situation, giving Vegeta further motivation.

I'd thought to break this chapter up into two at one point. However I felt it important that it went up as one piece. I also don't believe in parcelling out content just to get more reviews. I ideally hate having battles broken up at all. Which means I already felt bad about doing that at all for these last 5 chapter releases.

I think I earn reviews through delivering a solid, entertaining story with compelling characters. I shouldn't need to partition out a fight into 5-8 pieces to get a higher score.

A personal message about reviews!:

That being said. This chapter took me almost 4 months to write. It is 112 pages long, and around 60,000 words. I hate to ask, but if you could leave me a review, I would genuinely appreciate it, even if you read this months later. This is a wrap-up for a saga with my first original villains in it for this story, and I really would love the feedback. If you don't like it, that's totally cool too, I do want to hear if you didn't enjoy parts of it. I just don't want to hear that you didn't enjoy the Saga you know... 14 chapters later, on a chapter which has left this saga long behind.

I appreciate it, and hope you've been entertained with the novel I've basically delivered to you today. lol

Important note for further updates:

Now, onto some more serious facts. I now work a job that is a salary position, that eats up 50 hours a week of my life. I run in an RPG group on Wednesdays and Fridays, which eat up another 10 hours of my time. I have multiple other obligations outside of writing TLR. If there are delays in chapters going up, its not because I want it to be that way, it's because my life is stressful and hectic. But on a good note, going forward chapters are going to be much more focused. Chapters will be 8-24 pages, which means I should be able to get 1-2 out a month, depending on my work schedule. There isn't any major fights planned until maybe November or December releases of next year. So I'm not exactly expecting any major delays to my next releases.

But I did want to let you guys know that my life is crazy busy, and I do apologize if that means delays have to happen sometimes.

I am hoping that I will have Chapter 69 out before the end of December, maybe before the first few weeks of January.

Also. I update my USER PROFILE. Which can be read. I give the date and how far in I am while I have a chance to write. If I get anything significant done, I put it there. I also post to the DBM forums sometimes, and will post some updates there too.

A few other notes about Character's and Music:

Taro

Music was a massive inspiration for this chapter. A few notes would be that I was directly inspired for most of Taro's scenes by music from a series of places. Blade Runner 2049's soundtrack was a huge inspiration for instance, especially early on. Nine Inch Nail's whole Album "With Teeth" was immensely influential just to get the character and his ideas and motivations right. I also will admit I took a line from Caligula for him, regarding him being born before the stars and will live longer than they are held in the night's sky. Gore Vidal will curse me from his grave I'm sure. :P

Gohan:

Gohan's scenes were a myriad number of songs for me to get right. The typical ones you can expect which have been mentioned before (Mountain at my Gate was hugely important when he overcame Taro for the last time, knocking the Burning Attack Away, overwhelming the Crimson Destruction Wave, and blasting away the Tri-Beam), I used Where by Ultraspank (the definitive Gohan theme song lol) when writing him after he saved Videl and returned to turn the tide against Taro. There was a Nine Inch Nail song I used at one point when envisioning him surviving so many attacks from Taro, which is from With Teeth, called "Everything" which I thought was really fitting.

Vegeta:

For Vegeta, there is an old AMV on the internet going to Blink 182's Adam's Song. If you Youtube "Blink 182, Vegeta" it's the first result. It was a major influence on how I wrote him this chapter. I also saw it first when I was a teenager many years ago (not long after it was release in 1999. Ugh. Time flies folks)

The scene where he intervenes, saving Goku however at the end, before he gets to the final challenge against Taro, was totally the Theme song from Kai and Super. In Kai I believe its called "No More!". It was a perfect fit for that moment when Taro's blasted from behind and has to turn and confront his last challenge, the one he can't climb past.

Junia:

For Junia's death, there is a track on Metric's called "The Face Pt 2". It was really inspirational for me to write her last moments. Those quiet moments where she's just laying there, and when Vegeta arrives. Its almost liberating, a sensation of drifting away and seeing the world through a very... almost detached, cosmic lens. It almost brought me to tears when writing it because of how she's grown as a character since I introduced her. She's very different from Gohan in a lot of ways, even her "redemption" is, and the nature of her grievances and problems.

Reviews:

TaitanoRules555: Sequel to the Saga? Sure. Sequel to The Long Road? Probably not. Where would it end if I did sequels upon sequels? Even the current part of the story is really an expansion on my original idea. Originally my story was going to end with the Garlic Junior Arc. I wanted to have closure for other things, and more character dynamics explored, so I made a decision before Chapter 45 and 46 to expand it. So technically this is the sequel already! You're lucky ;)

Guest1: Oh man. We may actually get to see Future Pan! And others! I've got a micro-Saga I've been tinkering with...

Guest2: Pure Badass Awesome you mean? :P

Guest3: To quote Dragon Ball Abrdige's Vegeta "Power Levels are bullshit". Because they are. They are just artificially used to express what is wanted from the fighters are the time, they are utterly unscientific. I accept that people are stronger or weaker than one another. I have that kinda geared in my head. I don't agree with a numeral, scientific power level system, just beacuse its really artificial and gives the illusion of power levels... when really, the fights are rigged my friend. They know whose going to win before the match starts!

Hek'UnnSkipper: Cooler? There is way more terrible shit out there than just Cooler! Worry not! The darkest times have not even come yet! Lol

Guest4: Thank you! That's very flattering. It was really important to me to get all these characters right this Saga. I'm really hoping they meet peoples' expectations. I really loved writing Vegeta and Junia's scenes together however. They're a great pair of troublemakers. And Gohan's fight with Taro was loads of fun too. I actually really enjoyed when he overtook the Tri-Beam and Taro was left floating there holding his dick once things had really turned sideways for him.

Pyromania101: Worry not, there won't be a Beerus saga. Whis and Beerus will be around from time to time, but there won't be any Battle of Gods. :)

Perfect Carnage: Owlman is awesome. And I think you celebrated Junia's survival a little early ;)

Anomymous: Beerus never went to full power against Taro. Taro was relying on that for his plan to overcome Beerus, even. So yea, we never saw Beerus go all out by any stretch. He was very relaxed for the most part. Much like a cat toying with a mouse. He realized this chapter it might have gotten him killed from the Chrono-Cut, as he might have been foolish enough to challenge it... And Gohan was getting help from people older than 10,000 years down there. Every ancient evil was showing up to give him power, if only to give them some chance of influencing an event outside of their own misery and demise.

Nikola the Einstein: At this point, Taro's been stopped infinite times, essentially, and has been slaughtering an infinite number of times. Reality itself will always be on the knife's edge, and Toki-Toki city is being defended from every more dangerous attacks. And then you've got whole realities being eaten by other baddies because of their interference. So worlds where Cell, or Buu win, and snowball to galactic threats.

Thomasthetmc: I think its a natural progression for them to make. Out of everything they've done, Zamatsu was okay, and the Tournament of Power has been alright.

Masvan: BANG! 112 page climax! Lol

Maxridelover: I try :)

Nathanielcookson: They used the earrings. Super establishes that any fusion without an immortal leads to a 1 hour fusion by Portara earrings. Some people don't like it, it worked for me though so I nabbed it. Just like people dying, noncannon stuff says after you die (while dead) you're not dead for good. Canon says you are. I went with the one that's more convenient for me, and made more sense to me. I hate to say it.

Luke: So much delicious food ;)

Guest5: I don't think they have a relationship. Well, not a romantic one. Videl's a PTSD person whose pride was destroyed, and was forced to be around her abuser. Gohan is a damaged, PTSD person with a massive guilt complex and wants to "fix" things. I'd like to pair them honestly, but I just think it'd be a betrayal of their characters to do so. Worry not though, this will be explored more in the story. :)

Blades of Fury: I hope you liked the further developments :)

KarrenaDBZ: Yea! That piece of shit just got a one way ticket via what I'm calling the FINAL BIG FLASH BANG! Lol

Maximussj: I hope you enjoyed the conclusion as much as the last chapter. :)

DarknessRising11: Gohan knocked some reality back into that bastard. But he was so angry about it, he still wanted to make his own reality and destroy this one, just to make his dream a reality, ironically. Lol

Megacharizat: It's complicated. But I don't anticipate they can be a couple. There could have been a couple, but Gohan botched it. In fact, he botches a lot of things. I actually really look forward to him eventually meeting canon Gohan... They'll get a chance to see what they have in common!... And what they don't :\

DBZ fan the first: Thanks :)

Guest6: Without Junia, Taro would have killed Goku before he could have gathered enough power from Taro himself for the Spirit Bomb. It was really sad to write when she started to realize her means of holding Taro, held back his power however. It kinda sealed her fate, but she was doomed anyway if she didn't do it. All around tragic.

Super Mystic Gohan: Thanks!

Tess4aria: I can't fucking wait to write Pan again! I'm even excited to write 17. I should be able to soon too! Oh man! That'll be awesome. I think Gohan will at the very least bump into Trunks at least once.

PetrusMagnus: I hope you enjoyed this conclusion to the chapter just as much. :)

Guest7: Thank you!

AlphaShenron: Yea. He did. :(

Ultimate Black Ace: We know each other! I think I responded via chat.

Guest8: We've still got quite the path to follow down this Long Road I think. :)

Guest9: You are too kind!

Thomasthetmc: Hah. Yea. If Taro had to fight Beerus at the end of this chapter, even at full strength, someone would have gotten "DESTRUCTION"'d. Lol

CrazyScythe: The epicness is over 9,000 hopefully now. :)

Team Soda: Yea, Taro is way stronger than Kid Buu or Super Buuhan. Power Levels are just an illusion. Character's powers will change based off what the writer wants, whoever the writer is. I have an order of who I think is strongest compared to who, but I don't have a power level system, I have a general "ranking" and "league" system personally. What rank are they in what league, basically. And you got your wish, because Taro is super dead. And no one's wishing that piece of shit back. And Taro knew about some events in Super just from people he'd... eaten. Lol

Guest10: Thanks. I appreciate your review. :)

G: I tried!

Guest11: Life happened. :(. See above notes, but hey, you got 112 pages and 60,000 words for your wait. :)