IMPORTANT: I'm going on holiday this week, and won't be back for a week or two. I will continue writing the next chapters while away, but I will only occasionally have Internet access. So I will upload the next two chapters on normal Sunday schedule if I can. If they're late, rest assured they will be completed in time, if not uploaded, and I will then proceed to upload them as soon as possible. Don't worry, this is only for a couple weeks, it's not gonna be like the super-long break I had for exams. And, again, it will hopefully just be normal schedule anyway. So don't go anywhere. Okay? Okay.

Chapter 13: Time and Time Again

Toki no Meijin! Saichimeiteki na Ankoku no Ryuu?

Why is the title a dumb pun? Because I've kind of got a tradition of dumb time-related puns after the BTtL Kai time-travel ridiculousness.

Heaven's Bridge…

This level, at least, didn't take as long to traverse as the previous one had. It only took them a couple of minutes to near the exit, even allowing for a little time to recover energy from the battle with Glacius.

As they drew level with the doorway, there was no Shadow Dragon in front of it.

And then, quite simply, there was.

He had not moved there with mere speed—there was no trail of ki (and his ki was hard to miss), no blur or hiss of Instant Transmission or a similar technique, no glow of a magic spell or piece-by-piece assembly of Shifting. He was just…there.

The dragon sighed. "I do so hate pausing time like that. It's just too easy; there are mortals with that capability in this universe, the product of mere genetic mutation. I am loath to place myself down on their level." Black-clad, his pale eyes shone with an eerie light beneath his unkempt hair; distance and space seemed wrong somehow in his vicinity, and shadows writhed around him, obscuring where his legs met the ground. In a similar fashion to the previous two Shadow Dragons, his wings were not physical, instead formed of the same shadows as they flowed upwards and spread throughout the air behind him. "I suppose I should introduce myself…my name is Kronos Shenron."

"Yeah, I know." Pan stepped forwards. "Remember me?"

"Oh…from the place we were summoned at…" Kronos nodded. "Yes, yes…how you've grown since then, and in such a short amount of time. You're stronger than I am, I freely admit."

"But you still think you can win."

"Not exactly. 'Think' implies uncertainty." Kronos shrugged. "There is none here. I will kill all of you. Or if I don't, you will wish I had."

"Careful, guys, on the Lookout he—"

Kronos put a hand up. "Don't bother telling them the abilities I displayed back then." He smiled slightly. "I try not to use the same method of attack more than once during the same engagement. Suffice to say, I can bend and manipulate time to my whim. Please bear in mind that any attacks I use on you will merely be my tricks and toys—you cannot fathom what I could accomplish if I truly exerted myself." His eyes flashed for a moment. "Travel far back enough in time, nudge a few particles around in precisely the right manner, and entire galaxies cease to exist in the present."

I'm stronger than last time…faster… Pan braced herself. He won't do what he did before, anyway…at least, I hope he won't—I don't think I could bear it again. And hell, if last time it sent me all the pain I'd ever felt, if he did it twice would it count the first time and make the second twice as strong…? Ah, hell, doesn't matter…he's not gonna use the same technique twice. Well…only one absolute…we gotta keep moving.

She leaped, aiming herself directly at Kronos, hoping she could endure whatever he came up with this time. Kronos' arm twitched upwards, and he snapped his fingers. Abruptly, things got rather strange and, indeed, very confusing.

From Pan's perspective, a duplicate of her appeared out of thin air, hurtling towards her and crashing into her, knocking her away from Kronos; then, the world flashed for a second and she was now flying away from Kronos again, before crashing head-on into a duplicate of herself flying towards him, who promptly vanished.

From Goku and Raditz's perspective, a second Pan appeared out of thin air, collided with the first, and then the first vanished, leaving the second sprawled on the floor, completely confounded.

"Wait…what?" Goku stared, trying to make sense of things. "So…is that the real Pan?"

"They both were, or rather are," Kronos replied calmly. "I created a stable time loop. She travels back in time a few seconds, just in time to collide with herself, before that second's version of herself gets sent back to do the same, leaving one of her in the present. Don't worry, they're both the same person, just at different points in the timeline. A simple trick, to discourage physical assault."

"He's right…" Raditz admitted. "If that's the kind of stuff he can do when he's playing around…not to mention what he did on the Lookout…we can't get close to him!"

"I still don't really understand what he did…" Goku complained.

Raditz chuckled. "I guess after all these years, you're still a simpleton."

"Oh, so you understand it? Cool! So, what'd he do?"

"Well, uh…you see…I…it's…complicated."

Goku rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. You have no idea either. I'm not clueless, you know."

"If you're quite finished?" Kronos inquired. "I was rather hoping I could get to murdering you soon. Babysitting you three is already growing tiresome."

"You want to keep trying, Pan?" Goku asked. "Or should we rush him together?"

"Don't bother," Kronos interrupted. "Having demonstrated my defence capabilities, it is now my turn to attack." He folded his arms. "You, girl, are the only one of your group with the potential to harm me. So, I shall remove you."

"…fun." Pan stood, raising her guard warily.

"Let's see…how to do it…ah." Kronos nodded to himself. "Yes, that'll work. I'll just send you forwards in time—billions of years forwards. There won't be any life left on this planet, to be certain…not that you'd be able to return anyway—"

"Ka…Me…Ha…" Pan didn't wait for him to finish speaking. If I can just get the first strike in…!

"Begone!" Kronos' eyes widened, glowing with an otherworldly light, and tendrils of shadowy energy burst from the ground at Pan's feet, snaking up towards her.

Before they could make contact, however, Raditz barged her aside, the animated shadows striking him instead, one brushing Pan's leg as it passed. Both of them, however, vanished into a momentary vortex that hummed with dark, unfathomable power before disappearing too.

"Tch!" Kronos shook his head despairingly. "The idiot actually saved her. She was barely affected—she'll be back in a mere few minutes, and I'll have to think of an entirely new way to kill her!"

"And…Raditz…?" Goku chanced.

"He took the full force of my attack head-on," Kronos explained nonchalantly. "So he's now in the far future in her place."

Why, though? Goku wondered. I had been just about to make the same move—she's my granddaughter, after all…why was he so determined to get there first? Probably nothing special…just looking out for his family. He turned his attention back to Kronos, grinning. "Well, no need to worry." They've already tried to get rid of us like that today…he came back before—he'll find a way now.

"What are you…what's there to smile about?!" Kronos demanded. "You're alone and about to die!"

"Am I?" Goku brought his hands up, startling Kronos by charging his blast much faster than Pan had. "KAMEHAMEHA!"

I see…Lower overall power than her, but greater skill and energy control. Kronos gave an idle wave of his hand, and the incoming beam rapidly dwindled away to nothing. "Useless, of course."

"Okay…how?" Goku had to ask, though fully aware that he might not understand when told.

"If you really must know…" Kronos would never admit to himself that he loved explaining himself like this. "I greatly accelerated the flow of time your beam attack experienced. Essentially, hours, rather than moments, passed for the energy composing it—and in that extended time, it dissipated. I suppose I could have done the same to you, and aged you to death, but I'll stick to my rule and avoid repeating myself."

Goku lowered his hands from the firing position. On the upside, it means if he does something scary I don't have to worry about it again. Downside, I have no way of predicting what he'll do next. "You are a tough one…might just be the hardest foe I've ever faced…" he admitted.

"And there it is again!" Kronos wagged a finger, as if debating an intellectual point. "You're still excited! At first I found your endless optimism infuriating, seeing as I'm used to the opposite reaction…but now I'm simply fascinated, and more than a little puzzled." He strolled in Goku's direction, still talking. "If I was in your situation, had lived your life, I would be unutterably depressed—and not just at the current state of things."

"What's so wrong with my life?"

"Your whole universe!" Kronos exclaimed. "For most of recorded history, the majority of it was ruled by a family of unchallenged, despotic tyrants! Their only foes, a race almost as cruel and barbaric as their own—the Super Saiyan began as a figure of primal fear, not the warrior of hope you made in your image. And even though you intervened, it wasn't before countless planets were conquered, wiped clean of life, and sold off to fuel the empire. And what of the few true innocents out there? The Namekians—almost eradicated by cataclysm. The Tuffles—wiped out, the few survivors warped into twisted, empty things.

"The planet you call home was home to one of the finest minds in the cosmos, and it bent its mighty intellect to nothing more than petty revenge and wanton destruction! Your universe's supposed guardians, the Kaioshin, did not deign to liberate it from the grip of all these warring monsters—and when they did for once take action on something, they were easily destroyed by a creature of purest evil!

"And who, at the end of it all, is the strongest, the absolute authority in your universe? A childish, egotistical, self-styled god who thinks nothing more of destroying entire worlds than you do of swatting flies. That is the cold truth of your existence, that in the grand cosmic order of things, you do not matter. Individual mortals are barely worth noticing. War, death, tragedy—these are the only constants of your universe."

"You're leaving out some key players—us. Things have seemed a bit brighter around here in recent years, eh?" Goku crossed his arms, staring back in defiance.

"But not by design!" Kronos snapped, pacing back and forth. "To be sent to this planet, to injure your head in precisely that way, to be found precisely by the right kind of parent, to initiate your brother's change of heart—each of these things alone is ridiculously unlikely! You, and your little ray of hope, are the brief, transient product of a freakish run of luck and nothing more; they are not representative of the natural order. Besides," he continued, a gleam in his eyes, "your success was only possible because of the Dragon Balls—you would all be long dead without them. And yet even that was another cruel lie, mere means to an end for a foe greater than any you've faced before, just another group waiting to tear down everything you care about." He was panting slightly now, having delivered this little rant. "How…can you still…be so damned cheerful?!"

Goku gave this some thought, before shrugging. "Eh. Like I told the other guy, guess I'm just stupid that way." He smiled, burning his aura brighter. "No matter how much dumb luck it took to produce us, we are here and we're doing the best we can, Dragon Balls or no. So, are we gonna do this or what?"

"Very well…if you're so eager to die…" Kronos began to glow with ethereal light. "This technique will take some actual effort from me, due to the precision required, so you can be proud of that at least."

"I can't wait."

Earth, the far future…

The first thought that passed through Raditz's mind was, Well, it's pretty barren, but it's still here…does that mean the Eternal fails? No, if Kronos knew that he wouldn't have bothered fighting us…I guess, like the other Break's timeline, it's just one possible future…either if we defeat them, or if the Eternal had never come at all…something like that… This all passed through his head rather quickly, soon making room for the second thought.

The second thought was, Hold on. I can't breathe. The absence of a breathable atmosphere was the first hint as to just how far into the future he was. Had he been more of a scientist, or in less of a hurry, he might have wondered why the planet was still around at all, but he was decidedly not one of those and very much in the other, so instead focused on finding somewhere else to be, now.

A frantic scan of nearby space, and familiar locations throughout the cosmos, revealed one notable thing to latch on to—Namek! And…Namekians? After so long? How'd they survive when humans didn't? It was possible, of course, that humans or their descendants still lived, just no longer on Earth, but again, hurry. Whatever. I'll ask when I get there. Right now… He used Instant Transmission, making a jump directly to the source of Namekian energy.

It was, indeed, Namek, and what's more, he could breathe (always a plus). However, now that he had arrived, the Namekian ki he had sensed was gone. What's going on here…?

A few minutes of quiet puzzling later, he decided to make a visual survey of the planet, flying high into the atmosphere and pulling laps around it; this search eventually yielded a distant point of light, which he flew down to investigate.

He landed, with some confusion, facing a sight at once highly familiar and completely alien.

This is…like that dream! The one both Goku and I had… Indeed, now he paid closer attention, Namek was somewhat altered—he stood on a large, flat landmass, not the usual network of small islands and lakes. In addition, the sky was dark—he'd assumed it had been night at first, but now realised that Namek wasn't supposed to have nights. There were no clouds, either, and only a very few stars dotted the nearly-empty blackness.

And, of course, it was hard to ignore the shining golden dragon coiled up in front of him.

"…you…" Raditz whispered. "You're the one…" he stared down at his hand. "The Dragon Fist…it's been summoning you…you gave it to us, in that dream. What's all this been about…?"

A great rumbling passed down the dragon's great body as it began to stir. Its head shifted, in a leisurely fashion, to face him. Its eyes flicked open, fixing him with a calculating stare. "My name," it eventually spoke, in measured, perfectly-enunciated tones, "is Gamma Shenron."

Deep space…

Bills glanced down at Whis' staff; it was emitting a persistent beep all of a sudden. Frowning, he held it up in front of his face—apparently noticing that he was now paying attention, it began to hum with a pale light. He called the other gods' attention, and just in time—from the orb at the staff's head, a flickering holographic image of Whis himself was being projected.

"Hello, er…Priest…if you're seeing this message…" He paused, as if uncertain as to whether to continue speaking at all or not. Making his mind up, he faced forwards, looking stern. "…then it means I have failed."

Q: Welp...Alpha just killed the Creator, I doubt the Eternal is going to be pleased with that one should she live long enough for him to find out but it was certainly impressive, and points to Goku for a rather inventive variant of his signature move, clever idea on your part. As for this chapter's dragon, I have to say he's probably the most despicable of the current group, Alpha just seems to be 'doing her job' as horrific a job as it is, Gaia was a bit sadistic and her ability was rather evil but she personally was not nearly as much of an arrogant backstabbing SOB as Glacius, Hades was severely overconfident, but once he lost his protection he went down rather fast so didn't have time to do much, Hephestus is rather reminiscent of some manner of knight and Helios would probably fit in pretty well among saiyans to be honest, time will tell if the one who apparently is the only other as old as Alpha will prove to be worse, anyways thats my thoughts, enjoyed the chapter and looking forward to next weeks.

A: Nice character analysis! Yeah…Kronos is mostly just bored. It's his default state of being.

Q: Something just occurred to me, since the dragon balls broke when the shadow dragons appeared will they be fixed like in gt?

Also what about the Namekian dragon balls what would happen if those broke from overuse?

A: We shall see if they'll be fixed or not.

As for the Namekian Dragon Balls, they are broken now, as a side-effect of what's going on (mainly to stop the inhabitants of the universe using them). But if they had got the build-up and broken first, the same thing would have happened, but the dragons would be less human-looking (Namek's DBs are the "default setting", and Earth's are kind of weird to the Shadow Dragons by comparison).

Q: Ooh, time for Kronos to fight. Wonder if that preview of his power you gave us still applies... As always, great work.

A: A little bit.

Q: Welp, Alpha f*cked up. Honestly the way you stay true to the characters is amazing. So do all Saiyans have the potential to get Devine Ki?

A: Divine ki? Only if they do the SSJ God ritual.

Q: I'm glad that you brought up that Bills and in this fic's case the other gods of destruction are no better than the Shadow Dragons of your fic. Only difference is he's on a smaller scale of destruction compared to them and this 'Eternal' thing they keep talking about. I personally don't like how Bills and Whis are the only ones that think they don't have to account for anything. Hell even Supreme Kai pointed out that the Universe was more important than Vegeta's stupid squabble with Goku and tried to stop them himself from waking up Buu. Too bad he was severely outclassed to actually stop them.

A: Bills…has gone his whole life believing he has the divine, natural right to do what he does; without anyone ever challenging him or being able to oppose him. No serious enemy has ever posed a real threat to him.

So…he's essentially still very childish, and probably can't see his destructive work from his victims' point of view. But, now he's on the other end of the process…not to mention about to get at least one fairly nasty shock…

Q: I'm STILL trying to wrap my head around the difference between demigod ki and divine ki. It initially seemed like any amount of regular ki still loses to demigod ki, but demigod ki could trump divine ki. I just don't see the need for a 3 tiered system when 2 seems more practical.
Also does kaioken enhance demigod ki cuz that'd be super crazy awesome

A: I think the problem is that I sometimes go on for too long about it and make it sound really complicated. Divine ki is stronger than demigod ki is stronger than mortal ki. That's it at its simplest.

I agree, a two-tiered system would be much simpler. But I wanted something to explain things that were still ostensibly mortal-ish, but could almost match gods; for instance, Vegeta's freakout in Battle of the Gods, and the fact that given how crazy strong some people in GT are, lumping them in as just "mortal ki eh" seems a bit too much of a sweeping generalisation. So I created a middle level to account for stuff like that.

Q: Awesome chapter, also does the eternal eat other world? If not do the gods of destruction, shadow dragons, whis, and eternal go to otherworld when they die? Keep up the good work

A: Yes, it does, since Otherworld is only this universe's Otherworld. And where all those people go when they die…well, we'll get to that in-story.

Q: Captain Space, I want you to answer my question:
1. Since BTtL Future Kuriza was never in the Future Timeline because Future Raditz never kill BTtL Future King Cold, tell me did BTtL Future Goku didn't transform into a Super Saiyan in the Future Timeline. Yes or No.
2. Answer my what if, Captain Space: What if BTtL Future King Cold was killed instead of being spared by Raditz. Also, what if BTtL Future Kuriza was friends with BTtL Future Gohan and was around with him in the Future Timeline because BTtL Future King Cold was killed by Raditz and not being spared.
3. Captain Space, is it true that The Eternal is the main villain in Even Further Beyond.
4. Is BTtL Baby is in his adult form now in Even Further Beyond. Yes or No. Also, how did BTtL Baby no longer hates the saiyans and are they in good terms now.

A: Michael, Michael, I'll answer your questions, but you have this very demanding tone and it makes me hesitate sometimes…

1. He probably didn't, no. Maybe he would've transformed eventually had he survived, but the heart virus got him.

2. If Cold was killed like that, Raditz would have been around to fight the androids in the future. And…I guess the androids probably still would've won. Maybe he would've bought some more time and one or two other characters could've survived the initial attack. And as for the second part…I don't know, I guess Kuriza would've been around. Wouldn't have changed a huge amount of the story.

3. Seems that way, doesn't it? Though you could also argue it's Alpha Shenron…depends how you define 'main villain'. Alpha is around more and does more of the villain-y stuff…but is ultimately working for the Eternal.

4. Yes. And he still hates the saiyan race in general, but that race is basically extinct; he's come to accept that the current saiyans living on Earth are nothing like the barbaric savages that destroyed the Tuffles.

Q: Since there is no mentioning of the remote control blueprints to shut down Future Android 17 and 18, how did the original timeline Break kill the Androids in Timeline 3 and how did Timeline 3 Cell kill Break. Also, since BTtL Cell never got Vegeta and Frieza's cells, is your version of Cell is significantly less arrogant. Yes or No.

A: I'm not sure…hum. I don't actually know if that's exactly what happened, since I don't think I detailed the whole four-timelines thing like canon did. I don't know…something happened and Cell made it to the present in timeline 1.

And yes. He is (was) less arrogant and plans more carefully.

Q: Why does everybody keep forgetting about the Sleeping One?!

A: …that was Bills.

Q: oh poor whis, bills and the others sure are taking there sweet time.
Of course they are a group, but as we know in dbz group vs 1 stronger person never works.
so do they actualy have a chance against alpha

A: That's a very good question.

…

…what?

Q: Question what would happen if a LSSJ combined with an Oozaru?

A: …Green Oozaru…?

I guess one could conceivably do that combination, yeah, though it'd be even harder to control than the Golden Oozaru. Sadly Break does not have a tail, but a greenish SSJ4 would look pretty cool…

Q: Lastly, could Pan's red hair come from Gohan's Godly Ki leaking into Pan during the ritual? Would explain why she beat Cell like that.

A: That might play a part in it…? I put her unique transformation system down to a combination of varied factors (a few chapters back), but that could well be one of them.

Q: Ice powers and ice wings...mm...kinda reminds me of tourisho and his you get the idea from why is goku stronger than kinda doesn't make sense to ,keep up the good work as could you tell me where you live and maybe your name,if you don't have any problem that is

A: 1. I don't know who "tourisho" is.

2. Why is Goku stronger than who?

3. Uuuuuummmm…I kind of do have a problem with that. Sorry.

Q: Just wanted to ask:
Does Goku need to be Super Saiyan to have Demigod Ki, or can he have with his Kaio-Ken? And also, will Kakarot return by any chance?

A: He does, since that's where that potential is. Kaioken can still further increase his power…but only to the extent it could before when he went Super Saiyan (i.e. it's not practical).

Q: Delayed Kamehameha, huh? That's...actually more of a sadistic, pragmatic attack; I'd never expect Goku of all people to come up with that. I think Frieza'd be proud of such a technique.

A: I'd imagine he didn't intend to use it on an enemy like Glacius; it's probably meant to surprise and stun enemies much stronger than him, who won't be killed by it. But Glacius went and made it 'you-or-me', and as we saw in canon with Frieza's final attack, that is the point Goku will just blow you away.

Q: If anytime You come to a holiday or reach a milestone, I was wondering if You could make a special chapter. Something like BTtL meets Canon!

A: Uuuuuuuhhhh…may…be…?

Q: also since raditz and goku both have demigod ki, does it mean tht the dragon fist of raditz which was on demigod lvl even before he became a demigod is somehow on the god lvl now?

A: That's the thing that's always been weird about the Dragon Fist…no matter how much the brothers' power increased, it stayed at the same level (so to answe your question, no). I've hinted at it being an outside source, separate from their own powers, before, and next chapter we'll finally get an answer…maybe. Depends how I pace it. Soon, anyway.

(But the Dragon Fist is still stronger than they are, so it's still their most powerful attack.)

Q: Very good, I liked it, and I admit the part when Goku realized he crushed Gohan made me shed manly tears... Btw, it's Yajirobe.

[chapter 4 review]

A: In the manga/Japanese, yes. In the English dub, it's Yaijerobe, and when I started this story that was the only version I knew of.

Q: Does Omega have divine chi? And would Goku's "SSJ4" in GT be weaker than Pan in this?

A: I don't know…I tend to put most high-level GT stuff at demigod level, but Omega was pretty insanely strong…but of course, no mention of divine ki…eeeehhhh…I'll go with 'unclear'.

And it's hard to compare the two. I would say they're probably about equivalent, maybe?

Q: If goku and raditz were both ss4 and they fused with potara, how would they match up against the eternal?

A: Not well, since they would have high demigod or low divine ki, and even divine beings are afraid of the Eternal.

Q: Okay, so this new big bad baddy has never had a fist strike him... Well we will see just how long that lasts lol. So I was wondering, with this chapter, does that mean goku now has demigod ki within the super saiyan form like raditz? Oh and now what would happen if he went super saiyan two or three?

A: Yes, he does. And not much, since SSJ2 and SSJ3 are just sub-forms like USSJ, although they're far superior to it; the demigod ki potential within Super Saiyan is just part of that mythical form, and isn't affected by trying to force your body to strain to produce more ki, like SSJ2 and 3 do. If that makes sense? I hope that makes sense.