Chapter 117 - Rouge and Rage
"Bulma!" Gohan gasped, staring in shock at the Super Saiyan woman. The training in the Room of Spirit and Time had paid off, and seeing her maintain Super Saiyan so flawlessly was astonishing. Yet, that was not as astonishing as seeing her alive and standing before him. "You're...alive? But I told myself you died!" Blinking, realising the insanity of the words that slipped out of his mouth, he rearranged the sentence in his head. "I thought you'd died. I saw the explosion of the Western Capital, and I couldn't feel your ki."
"We almost did," said Bulma. "Qirka's sensors picked up another ki signature incoming. We barely had any time to react before he sent the entire building up in flames."
Gohan blanched, a lump in his throat. "Were you the only ones who made it out?" He willed himself not to think in the negatives yet. Everything was going so poorly. He didn't know where Trunks was, or if Trunks was even alive. The very human race they were trying to protect may have just been dwindled down even further. Even Yajirobe, who Gohan didn't know well, but always seemed like the persistent type, might be dead now.
"We're...not sure," said Quirk lamely. "My mistress and Mai were the only ones I had time to reach; I am programmed to protect her, and Mai is important to my Mistress' son. As for the others..."
"...Mai is working on it," added Bulma, reading the look on Gohan's face, and interpreting it correctly. "Those two are cruel, but they aren't thorough. The one who attacked us...well, he looked like you, Gohan. We saw it briefly before the building exploded."
"The attack was just enough to deal severe damage to everyone, but not enough to eradicate the whole city," said Qirka. "I believe the attempt to kill us was a secondary goal - attracting the attention of you two was likely the primary objective."
"He succeeded," said Gohan, remembering just how easily Black had taken to his back when Gohan had lost his focus out of concern for Bulma and Qirka. "I'm just glad you're alive, and thank you for saving my mother. But both of you, you need to go." Gohan turned his back on Bulma and Qirka both, to see both Blacks glowering down at them from the dissipating smoke cloud. Neither was damaged, physically at least. Their pride, however, certainly seemed to have cracked.
"No," said Qirka. "I may not be on your level, but I am sufficiently powerful. The Mistress should take your mother and flee."
"I can't just let you—"
"I'm staying," said Bulma, butting across Qirka and overriding Gohan's objections. "Qirka, you take Chi-Chi and make a break for it."
"I- Qirka protested.
"Bulma, you can't!"
"Look at it this way," said Bulma. "Qirka has no energy to be sensed, and your mother is unconscious. These two can't track them if it's just them. If I go with them, a giant beacon of ki, at least one of them will pursue us."
"Alright, but why don't you simply flee to safety in another direction?" insisted Gohan. "You cannot stay here, you will die!"
"Because I'll die either way," said Bulma, shrugging. "Isn't that right, big guy?"
Gokū Black leered down at Bulma, his teeth bared in a horrible snarling smile. "Too right you are, woman. I don't know who you are, but I didn't expect another Saiyan."
"This will be the Saiyans' final day," said Gohan Black. "We will not permit escape."
Bulma stared at Gohan pointedly.
Gohan ground his teeth. This was a no win situation, and he knew it. Bulma had made immense progress in their training, but she was still only a Super Saiyan. There was only so much progress he and Trunks could make alongside her in a year, while still trying to help Trunks master Super Saiyan God. Simultaneously, her plan made sense. If Bulma and Qirka both left, she would be a beacon. If she fled on her own, she would still be hunted down and killed. Her safest place was next to him.
Damn it! Gohan was furious with himself. He'd thought leaving her at the city would have kept her and Qirka safe. He hadn't anticipated that Black wasn't working alone, so Black had been able to back him and Trunks into a corner, and split them up. And now, Gohan was stuck fighting two at once while protecting Bulma. In every sense, he was at a disadvantage.
"Qirka," Gohan said quietly, finally relenting. "Protect my mother."
Qirka nodded. Following Gohan's orders was not in her purview, but her order from Bulma had already been processed - Gohan's resistance was the one obstacle keeping her from following through. Fixing her glasses along the bridge of her nose, she hoisted Chi-Chi's unconscious body over her shoulders, and began to make a break for it.
"We said we're letting no one escape!" said Gohan Black, discharging a dark cored kikōha from his palm.
Gohan intercepted it, bursting it apart using his own blast as a defence.
"I said I'd deal with you later," said Gohan, his eyes glinting, expression frigid. He turned towards Black. "Let her run away. You have two people right here to test your power against, right? We weren't done, Black."
Black frowned momentarily, and then grinned. He knew better than to take Gohan at face value, but at the same time, Gohan had a point. Gokū's body yearned for the challenge.
"Zamasu, he will just pursue you if you chase that woman down now," said Gokū Black. "Let's focus on these two for now. It isn't like we're in a hurry."
"...very well," said Gohan Black. He inhaled deeply, pulling his ki inward. A golden glow manifested around his body, morphing into a conflagration of red tinged with gold. His muscles shrunk, and his black hair was dyed crimson. "We can take our time."
"Trunks was just the appetizer," Gokū at Gohan. "I wish to savour the main course."
Of course he can also use God, though Gohan ruefully. Bulma is going to be outmatched in every sense of the term. I can't kill them both and defend her. But if I tell her to run, one of them is just going to break off anyway. Damn it!
"You know I can read your concern all over your face," said Bulma, cheekily grinning at Gohan. "Look, you. I don't intend to die just yet. Fighting isn't my thing, but I didn't run myself as a test subject for my own experiments for nothing. I'll do my best." Her green eyes bored into Gohan's, and the blue-haired Super Saiyan was confused. The Bulma he knew would normally be screaming at Gohan to get her out of this mess, preferably while also beating both of those two into the dirt at the same time. Was her spliced genetics having some effect on her mentality? He couldn't be sure.
"Well, damned if you do, damned if you don't," said Gohan. ""For now, provide cover fire."
"Right!"
Bulma extended a hand, launching kikōha from her palm, which snaked their way through the air towards both Blacks. Gohan ran alongside them, leaping into the air as the beams rushed towards the targets. Running his hand alongside one, its yellow colour was suffused with blue; gripping it, Gohan split it from the pack. While Bulma's initial bombardment slammed into Gokū Black, creating the obfuscation of a smokescreen, the sphere Gohan grabbed was lobbed towards his dark counterpart, exploding in a violent burst.
"Cowardly strategies befit mortals," said Gokū Black, brushing the smokescreen aside with the rush of air. "But you, Gohan, wield the power of the divine. Incomplete and imperfect though you are, why do you work alongside this mortal to fight us?"
"You wield our power and yet disgrace yourself by accepting the help of this lesser being," said Gohan Black, emerging from the explosion, damaged but intact. "Truly, the power of the divine is best wielded with a divine soul as well. Were there any doubt, you've destroyed it."
"I'm not here for your proselytization," replied Gohan. "If you think I'm using this power the wrong way, then that's all the justification I need. I don't need any other motivation than to protect what is important to me."
"And we will protect what is important to us," replied Gokū Black. "This beautiful expanse of creation, and a paradise unsullied by mortals. Creation is what we protect - compared to that, what can you claim to fight for?"
Gohan didn't reply. He didn't need to. These two wouldn't understand. Erasa, Pen, Goten, his mother, his father, his grandmother, his grandfather, and so many other faces flooded his vision as he closed his eyes. Taking a slow breath, Gohan let out a bellow. Ki, bright blue, erupted around his body, the flame of a god enveloping the body of a mortal man.
Gokū Black didn't see him move. Gohan lunged, his leg outstretched, connecting hard into the jaw of his dark counterpart. Gohan Black reeled, crashing through the trees and off into the distance. Turning his attention to the black garbed effigy of his father, Gohan kept up the pressure.
Knee to elbow. Palm to wrist. Blows connected and parried, bursting shockwaves out which reduced the ground beneath them to less and less substance after each exchange. Two individuals beyond the realm of the gods clashed, blue against pink.
"Now you make it one on one," said Gokū Black. "Did our words strike a chord?"
"He's not alone!" Bulma's voice called behind Gohan. The Super Saiyan woman had leapt up behind Gohan, both hands thrust out. A sphere of ki burst from her palms, taking Black entirely by surprise. The explosion was what Gohan needed. His fist rushed upwards, striking true into the face of Gokū Black. He snarled, furious, but Gohan was grinning cheekily. Gohan's own arm burst with ki, continuing the strike without stopping, his punch aiming straight towards the ground. Black was forced downwards, crashing into the dirt and funneling deeply down into the Earth.
"Not bad for a cheap shot," smiled Bulma. "Definitely not something your Dad would have liked though."
"Dad took Vegeta's eye out," Gohan said, remembering the time Gokū had recounted the tale of his battle against Vegeta to him. "Also there's the Janken."
"Ah, that's right," nodded Bulma.
A rush of pink burst from the newly made crater, Gokū Black rushing up, his gray eyes pulsating. "Your fighting style truly is worthy of mortals," he said, disgust etched into every tone. "But you forget. I am not alone either."
"Bulma look ou-!" Gohan felt the godly ki before Bulma could react. Crimson this time streaked across the sky, his own shadowed duplicate collided with Bulma. A hand grabbed the woman's face, dragging her across the sky and into the horizon, towards the Eastern Capital.
"Damn it!" Gohan's broke into pursuit, his cyan aura bursting to life. Gokū Black was hot on his trail, grinning. A crackle of pink electricity shot from the divine Saiyan's hand. Gohan narrowly dodged, responding utilising his own blue hued counterattack. Black's arm ignited, cutting the kikōha in half. The kikōha ruptured around Black, falling behind him, fading into the distance. Hands grappled for Gohan, who bat them away with quick parries. Fist struck jaw, knee struck side.
Black was determined to keep Gohan from reaching Bulma.
Eastern Capital
Profanity mixed with grunts of pain escaped Bulma's mouth. Her lithe form was thrown from Gohan Black, careening into the nearest building. She was pretty sure every glass pane exploded at once, followed by the concussive force of impact shattering the metal skeleton of the entire twelve story structure. After that, it was simply a matter of everything crumbling down on top of her. Her hand breached the rubble first, and she sifted through the bulk of it to clear a path to stand up. To say everything hurt was an understatement.
I can see ditching regular steel for durasteel and plasteel was the right decision, Bulma noted, realising the metal chunks and shards were the outdated steel Earth no longer used in her timeline. I'd love to pat myself on the back but I'm pretty sure he's going to kill me before I can be too proud of myself.
Gohan Black landed nearly onto the ground. The street was already showing cracks from months of abuse and neglect. The methodical assault on humanity had left them relatively unable to do even basic maintenance on their own necessities.
"It isn't every day a mortal such as yourself crosses blows with a god," said Gohan Black. "The less you resist, the quicker I can make this. I prefer to give your kind quick deaths."
"Screw you!" said Bulma, flashing Gohan Black the middle finger. "I'm not going to just let you kill me." She nudged a button on the black arm of her Combat Jacket, keeping her wary eye on Black.
"Very well," he replied. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance."
The asphalt beneath his feet atomised in the seconds it took Black to rush forward. Bulma couldn't see him. The gap between them was far too wide. For talking a big game, she knew she had no way of backing it up. A clenched fist slammed directly into her stomach. Breath burst from her lungs, the woman's back distended. She felt her legs leave the ground against her will, and her vision became tunneled as she flew across the Eastern Capital.
Refilling her lungs, Bulma flipped over, grinding her covered fingers into the road. Skidding along, she glanced up, in time to see Gohan Black's divine aura pulsating above her. Moving his arm in a wide arc, the Super Saiyan God expelled a wide blast of ki. Bulma's vision was enveloped in a mass of light, before she herself was swallowed by the energy. The explosion burst high into the sky, reducing the street around Bulma for several miles to nothingness. Black hovered above the explosion, watching it die down, believing surely that he'd finished the job.
As the light faded, the deity was shocked to see Bulma entirely in one piece. She was spread eagled in a miles deep crater, but alive. Around her body, electricity crackled at odd intervals.
"How!?" Gohan Black said, astonished. "You aren't even a paltry imitation of the divine, like Gohan! You're just a mortal!"
Bulma slowly got to her feet, the electricity around her body spiking. Clambering out of the crater, an outline in her exact shape had formed around her entire body, and shattered like glass. The electricity faded as these glowing shards fell to the ground. "There's something about your choice of words there, big guy. Paltry imitation might be the exact right phrase." She waved her arm towards him, showcasing the wrist pointedly. "I spent an entire year training in the Room of Spirit and Time with Gohan. Don't you think I picked up a thing or two?"
The name 'Room of Spirit and Time' resonated with something in the back of Gohan Black's memory. "Ah, that's right. The room that lets you spend one year's worth of time in only a single day outside. That certainly explains a few things - but it doesn't explain you."
"I'm no fighter," replied Bulma tersely. "It's no exaggeration to say that I'm not even very brave. But if there's one thing I'm good at, it's tinkering. I siphoned off some god ki from Gohan, and created a neat little doohikey with it. I call it G.O.D. - Generated Obstructive Defense. The name needs some work, but it creates a shield of filtered god energy." Cheekily, she flashed her wrist at him again, before flipping him off for a second time. "You've have killed me in no time flat if I hadn't been deploying this."
"You would misuse divine power in that filthy way!?" snarled Gohan Black. "God ki is not meant to be toyed with for human whims!"
Bulma merely shrugged. "I needed my own insurance if I was following Gohan and Trunks here." Spreading her arms wide, both palms brimmed with bright yellow ki. Thrusting both arms forward, Bulma discharged kikōha. She pushed her arms through the air, pulling them back and repeating the motion, each time; the blasts Bulma let loose collided with Gohan Black, obscuring him in a cover of light and smoke. The Super Saiyan could feel each attack connecting, but she didn't know how much damage she was causing.
I just need to buy time for Gohan...or even Trunks...please, son!
"Pathetic."
Gohan Black walked through the onslaught of energy, each one impacting and bursting against him, yet not managing to pierce his aura. Staring at Bulma dead in the eyes, Black slammed the back of his hand across her face. He felt the contact of his hand against her barrier, and felt it shatter again; he'd applied more force this time, to work against her ridiculous little machine. He followed the flight of her body, keeping pace with ease. Both hands clenched above his hand, Black bringing the sledghammer down onto Bulma with immense force. The woman plummeted into the street.
It didn't even crack. It erupted in an explosion of asphalt, dust, and water, Bulma's body rupturing a water main on her way down. This time, Black landed in the crater with her, and was pleased to see her Super Saiyan form had dispersed, returning her hair to its usual lavender hue. Leaning forward, Gohan Black placed a bootheel to Bulma's head. Slowly, a malicious grin crossed his face.
"So much for your toys," he said. "I could wipe you out here and now; I promised a quick death. However, you made me work for it - I'm not against letting you die in the cogwheel of despair. Seeing you like this is staggering - but you're Bulma, aren't you?"
"S-So what if I am?" snapped Bulma, her voice muffled slightly into the gravel. "Took you long enough to recognise me?"
"I figured as much," said Gohan Black, his voice lifting with delight. "My compatriot had the very lucky pleasure of killing you in this timeline. It appears I myself will be afforded the same satisfaction of killing the greatest sinner! Did you ever wonder why we came to this timeline specifically? Why we used the Time Rings, which are so hard to direct towards the past, to find this gaping wound in the space time continuum and come here? It is because of you and your son!"
What?
Words failed Bulma. She was responsible for this? The desolation of Earth in the future? She and Trunks? That couldn't be possible. Trunks had done nothing but try to save everyone.
"The flow of time is never meant to be disturbed," continued Black. "That is why the Time Rings exist - fragments of the Kaiōshin of Time, whose body governs the flow of time itself - to allow we gods who preside over life to ensure that time is never altered! You—" Gohan Black pressed Bulma's face further into the ground "—saw yourself as above the laws of the divine! You crafted a machine that violated the laws of the universe itself, and sent your son into the past more than once to meddle with fate!"
Black extended his hand, a golden sphere with a dark core forming in front of his palm. "We could have killed Trunks when we arrived, you know. But he deserved to suffer, and my counterpart truly wanted to bring out the best in his power. The fun and games are over now - I'll eradicate you here, and seek out wherever Trunks is hiding - the pinnacle of human sin will be washed away!"
"You were amazing, Mother, Trunks answered her question as Bulma ran thin fingers through his hair. The sound of clipping filled the silence,
Bulma deftly shortening the length that Trunks' hair had piled on during his year in the Room of Spirit and Time.
"Grandfather didn't believe you could make a time machine - not the one I have, that actively moves backwards in time."
Bulma grinned toothily. "I must have already known time machines were possible - I met an old man named Ōmori who made one himself.
Jaco clarified all the details for me when I was old enough to understand it."
"That's even more incredible then," said Trunks. "You took a vague concept and worked so hard.
You really believed coming back would make a difference, even I wanted to hold on to that hope.
Though you also wanted..." Trunks' words came to an abrupt halt, and he looked sheepish.
"I wanted what?"
"I-I shouldn't say," said Trunks. "You'd never forgive me if I said anything."
"But you're talking to me!" protested Bulma. "Come on, son!"
"N-No, Mother! You'd kill me!" Trunks refused, even when Bulma began to tug on his hair in an effort to pry it out of him.
Bulma felt heavy. Trunks could not be a sinner. That young man, who risked everything on her future self's hard work and hunch, could not be a sinner. This idiot with his foot on her head knew nothing about Trunks, about her son. Grinding her teeth against the dirt, Bulma's blood began to boil. Golden ki poured out from her body, erupting upwards in a geyser. Gohan Black felt himself forced off, staggering back, his prepared attack petering out and dying.
Within the pillar of light, Bulma rose to her feet. Her eyes were flashing white, her teeth gritted in fury. Her lavender tresses stood up on end, more rigid than ever before. Her golden aura licked at her body like flames, a blue light within the aura clinging to her body. The ground beneath her feet cracked and shattered, Bulma's very movements pressing against it. When she spoke, her voice echoed with presence.
"Just shut up already!" she snarled. "A sinner? Trunks!? He did so much to save everyone from something horrible - you don't have the right to call my son out! Not some shameless murderer like you!"
"What the hell are you?!" Gohan Black gaped. He couldn't understand it. This form, whatever it was, gave off the pressure of a god. He could feel the unique aura of the divine pouring out of her body, but it was mixed and muddled by the ki of mortals. It feels like the god form Gohan and Zamasu have been using...the one which combines Super Saiyan with Super Saiyan God...but it's off. The mortal ki is overrunning the divine; it's an uneven mixture. What the hell is this!?
"I may not be a fighter but I'm not going to let you get away with those snide comments!" said Bulma. "Come on, big guy! Let me show you what for!" Dirt, debris, and liquid atomised before it could burst high into the sky from Bulma's movement. Her fist slammed hard into Gohan Black's face; the man felt the weight from the force as well as from her ki, and his body ragdolled across the Eastern Capital. Bulma's eyes zero focused in on Black, the white glow fading to reveal burning emerald irises. "Let's go then, asshole!"
Gohan and Black's battle raged in the sky. Black had achieved his goal in detaining Gohan, keeping him just out of the Eastern Capital. This changed when a pillar of golden light split the sky. Liquid flame, rising upwards in defiance of physics caught Black and Gohan's eyes at the same time.
"What is that...?!" Black's eyes dilated. It wasn't coming from Zamasu, he knew that. Which could only mean Bulma had done something nefarious.
For Gohan, it was a breath of fresh air. He didn't understand what was going on either, but the year he, Bulma, Trunks and Qirka had spent in the Room of Spirit and Time had done something to Bulma. Her training had been focused more on the basics, but perhaps there was something to be said for being exposed to god ki for so long, even without being directly given it via training or the ritual. Reeling that elation in, Gohan brought his arm up to Black's side. The lariat plowed into the stolen Saiyan body, with Gohan applying his strength to push Black across the sky and into the city. Gohan crashed into the nearest building with Black, forcing him away with the flex of his muscles. Around the two of them, the building had practically exploded, shards and fragments falling down around them.
"I didn't expect you to put up this sort of a fight," said Gokū Black, forcing himself to his feet in the ruined street. "To be honest, I believed once I'd fully mastered the power of Son Gokū, nothing would stand in my way."
"Everyone makes mistakes," replied Gohan bitterly.
"No, I don't believe I have," said Gokū Black curtly. "I've merely not tried to be more like Son Gokū. There is something I know I can do..."
"What could you have in reserve, Black?" Gohan was confused. His father, while a great martial artist and genius fighter, wasn't sitting on a sure-win technique, at least not as far as Gohan had known him. The look on Black's face, however, hinted at a confidence Gohan truly did not like. What could Black believe he had that had been worth reserving until now?
"You know it well. It's a technique, devised by divine hands and used by a mortal. Returned to its rightful place at last!"
Gohan realised what Black was doing.
Far too late.
"Kaiōken!"
Northern Mountains, Earth
"ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪꜱ ᴄᴏɴꜰʟɪᴄᴛ ᴏᴄᴄᴜʀʀɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴀꜱᴛᴇʀɴ ᴄᴀᴘɪᴛᴀʟ," No. 16's entire body shifted towards the mouth of the cave, his steel grey eyes focusing firmly towards the East. "ʙɪᴏʟᴏɢɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢꜱ ᴄᴏɴꜰɪʀᴍ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴀʟ ɢᴇɴᴇᴛɪᴄ ᴍᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴛᴏ ʙᴜʟᴍᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀɪʏᴀɴ ᴠᴇɢᴇᴛᴀ, ɪɴᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴜᴀʟ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ, ꜱᴏɴ ɢᴏʜᴀɴ, ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴜᴀʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʟʟ 'ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ', ᴀɴᴅ ᴀɴ ɪɴᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴜᴀʟ ᴡʜᴏ ʙᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴍᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏɴ ɢᴏʜᴀɴ ᴀꜱ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏɴ ɢᴏᴋŪ."
"I know," said Trunks. He felt everything in his sleep - the two black-garbed imposters fighting Gohan and his mother. Gokū Black was even stronger now - he had attained a new Super Saiyan form, combining God with Super Saiyan, just like Gohan had. Trunks fastened his jacket over his body, though to his surprise, his sword had gone. It had been here before he'd fallen asleep. "Do you know where my weapon is?"
"I have it," said Dochi. Her arrival had been preceded by the rumbling of the door which concealed what she had said was her laboratory. Cradled in her arms was a bundle, in which Trunks could see the wrapped hilt of his sword protruding. Lightly, Dochi tossed the bundle towards Trunks, who caught in deftly and removed the cloth. Revealed to his eyes was a magnificent black broadsword, the exact mirror of his previous blade, yet as dark as the night sky. His blue eyes reflected the midnight steel, and Trunks found himself lost for words.
"What...this isn't my sword...but..."
Dochi held out the scabbard, which Trunks took carefully, and sheathed the blade within it. "There is a train of thought concerning whether an object, when parts of it are replaced over time, is the same original object. I'm sure you'll feel that here. This weapon is your original hilt, with the blade reforged with my technology using a metal ore I pulled from meteors a long time ago. It isn't naturally found on Earth, but is unlike any mineral I've ever seen. That blade, wielded by a ki user like yourself, should never break again. Consider it my gift, for not blowing Gevo to pieces."
"I...I don't know what to say," said Trunks, feeling truly as if he did not have the words to describe how he felt. Androids had made his life Hell for so long, and yet here he was, having been saved by two of them, and even being given a blessing by one before venturing to his next battle. "Why did you save me?"
"I like this planet," Dochi replied simply. "Gevo likes its animals. You fought before to save it. I want you to save it again. Now go. My sensors aren't picking up ki from your friends, but the biological readings are still there. Something weird is happening."
"How can I repay you?" asked Trunks, smiling at them for the first time.
"Don't die," shrugged Dochi. "And maybe come back and visit. I think Gevo liked your company."
Trunks couldn't think of what to say. Clipping his sword's buckle over his jacket, the young man ran to the mouth of the cave. Glancing back at the two Androids for one final time, a white aura burst to life around his body, and Trunks took off into the distance.
"ᴡʜʏ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴇʟʟ ʜɪᴍ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴡɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ʜɪᴍ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ?" inquired No. 16. "ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴜʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇᴅ ʜᴀᴠɪɴɢ ᴀ ʙɪᴏʟᴏɢɪᴄᴀʟ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ?"
"Shut it," Dochi said, turning back towards the doorway to her laboratory. "I'm not lonely in the slightest."
A/N: Ahhhhhhhhh I barely made it! The finish line! I always like to have a chapter up by or on Christmas, and lo' and behold, I made it! I know I've not seen you all since Hallowe'en, and I am sorry for taking that long, but I have been busy. Fourth quarter at work, Tale of the Sky Maiden, and my drawing have definitely taken up a lot of time. Regardless, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I am very very aware that this is gonna be a contentious chapter, but I jumped the shark so long ago that this is just giving the shark wings at this point. I've mentioned it before, but Super Saiyan Rage is a favourite of mine. I set this up a little while back, so I am glad I was able to pay it off. But Gohan vs Black's surprise is something I've wanted to pen for a long time; it makes no sense IMO that Black did not combine Rosé with Kaiōken. Gokū could do it with Blue and Black should have all of Gokū's techniques. So I knew from the off that I was going to have Black do this. Alright, everyone! I'll be taking tomorrow off to relax. You all have a Happy Christmas, a Happy Holidays, and I will see you guys in 2024 in the next exciting chapter of the Erased Chronicles!