.
CHAPTER 71
The All
The moment was as beautiful as a song.
There was peace among the rage. Streams of light like sands of time swirled in the winds.
Pan vaguely heard the parasite's voice egging her on, beyond her shield. His words crackled and fizzed away with the energy that encapsulated her and protected her and her loved ones.
They were her family. And she was filled with a Love that crackled and danced and sung as it hissed and bled with the feeling of immense impetus. She was connected to the universe. She was as stoic as the rocks; she was as free as the winds; she was as enigmatic as fire and as virile as the beautiful soul of her best friend as he lay cradled in her arms.
He had sacrificed his power for her. Her real Trunks. Her hero.
She had seen him - Trunks' soul was in his eyes. For a moment, he had awakened. He had spoken to her. Somehow, her real Trunks shone through and gifted her his power. And it was enormous. It was beyond anything she had imagined - at least fifty times beyond her limit. Her senses were invigorated as her body viscerally fortified with prowess and vitality. The energy augmented her blood; her pulse; her very bones.
Her reserves were replenished and filled and flooded, and spilled into a new tier of energy; a new transformation. Like a hearty meal, her energy was filled with Trunks' ki. A part of him pulsed through her. She carried his hopes and his trust. She carried his love.
She felt his weight in her arms. He was real. He was right here with her. Her real Trunks. And for this one moment, he was what grounded her, and reminded her what she was fighting for. He reminded her what she was willing to give her life to protect.
She hadn't ever held him like this. Not like this. But holding him now, like this, brought back the feeling of acceptance and belonging that she felt with him - from before she lost her loved ones to Baby. Before her Grandpa Goku died. Before she lost Trunks… and Giru…
But Trunks was back. At least for a little bit, he was there for her when she needed him most. He still fought for her. He was still her best friend.
And her best friend just made her a Super Saiyan. She felt Trunks' energy course through her veins as it powered every cell. She felt blanketed and comforted by the ki within her, knowing it came from someone she loved, and was given with love.
The rush of being a Super Saiyan was nothing like she had imagined.
She had always thought the power would be hot and erratic, like the feeling of its trigger of anger or despair. She had believed it was its own pool of power that manifested as an extra reserve, as if gifted from the heavens. She thought at least it erupted like a bomb within the body, or like a treasure chest with golden riches that inflated her reserves of power.
But instead, it was none of those things. It was cool. It filled and fueled her soul with a sense of purity. True resolution.
It was determination that manifested as power. Willpower. A sense of purpose and truth that went beyond the body and soul. To be a Super Saiyan was to be fueled by a promise…
I promise. She looked to Trunks with firmness in her eyes.
It was a promise… to avenge.
The Super Saiyan promise connected her body to all mass - all atoms and molecules that were the body of the universe. Her physical prowess was one with the building blocks of strength and power. Her body swelled and hardened with the matter as the universe built her up, charged her muscles, and stretched her physical limits.
As a Super Saiyan, her senses were heightened to all mass within the world - all atoms and molecules that were the body of the universe - its building blocks of strength and power.
All of her senses were heightened to matter within the universe. Her vision was brighter, crisper; her hearing was elevated; she could taste and smell the sweat and ash of warfare; and she could spatially sense her environment, to know exactly where everything was located.
She understood the relativity of matter which enhanced her spatial recognition for battle. All matter and its forces were within her domain. But also - all the balance of the universe was within her reach.
Within Pan, her light, bright physical Super Saiyan power swirled and danced in a circular ying-yang rhythm with her dark, energetic Mystic power.
As a Mystic Saiyan, she connected to all energy - the power that connected the void of space between atoms and molecules. It was the darkness that was always there before the light could fill it. It was the space between the body and the soul. It was the link that gave order and energy to all matter within space. It was the rattle, the potential, the life that could flow within the atoms and molecules. It was the love and purpose of a greater meaning that connected, directed, and drove matter's growth. Within the space between atoms was the soul and mind of the universe, that pulsed with all potential energy and the ability to create and destroy existence itself.
Together, the light Super and the dark Mystic created the All as they twisted and churned within Pan. Bearing such power, she understood the meaning of life; the meaning of having a soul, and a consciousness to make one's own decisions. Life was created to share life. To live meant to love, any measure of the many, many layers of love, ranging from caring to conceiving, and to pass hopes and dreams to another. To share forward potential. To create an opportunity for someone or something beyond yourself.
She vaguely sensed her shield pounding with Baby's physical efforts to break through. But she was beyond Baby. She was one with the All. She was the All.
She pulled Trunks to the rock wall to peacefully lie against the stone next to Vegeta, who was no longer trembling and seemed to be breathing normally. They both looked so peaceful. But they both had Baby's eggs within them. When they would wake, they would be gone again. Trunks' awakening was just a breath of air in the wind. Pan knew this. And she knew what must be done. For Trunks. For Vegeta. For Grandpa. For Giru. For Papa. For Uncle Goten. For Uub. For Piccolo.
They were her family. And they were all gone. All gone.
And she was going to show Baby All her power.
All.
Pan turned to face Baby-Uub with a stoic frown. Her teal eyes were ablaze and her radiant hair stiffly spiked and hardened with her corporal form. She was All the physical.
He spouted things to her, and threw energy at her that was absorbed by the shield. She barely heard it, and instead focused on the crisp and crackling clarity within her.
She rose into the air just enough that the edge of her shield continued to protect Vegeta, and adjusted her pose to be in a cross-legged seated position, holding out her hands and closing her eyes.
She channeled Piccolo.
She felt each solid mass, and each liquid form. Her senses nipped the air and whipped the sky and bled within the planet as her consciousness soared, and wove, and intermingled with each and every existence within the universe. She was one with it. One with the All.
And as one with All, she found and mentally touched and prodded each piece of earthen rock of the mountainscapes that surrounded the growing lava whirl-sea. She caressed the molecules of the stones and crystals. She acknowledged their geological existence and their potential.
And then she steely galvanized the rocks into action.
With closed eyes and confident hands that spread out into palms facing upward, she lifted her arms steadily and slowly.
As Pan's arms raised, the planet lurched. Boulders and landscape shook and trembled under the immense power and pull of her mind… and then the landscape crooked and wailed as CRACKs and CRUMBLEs and rockslides anew fell… and All the rocks began to lift.
–––––––
Up was down and up again as the ground rolled and recoiled in topsy-turvy lurching waves. With a SHWING, Goku and Kibito phased into the world in a blur. They appeared in mid-air and hung in the air for a split second in confusion, unprepared to not have the ground where it was supposed to be. Then gravity suddenly yanked them down as they were unprepared for their fall.
Both shouted in unison as they dropped and landed hard, smack on their bottoms..
"Owwowow," Goku rolled back and then hopped up, rubbing his still-sensitive tailbone and embarrassed about their landing. Grimacing, he looked around in eye-widening confusion, "Where are we?"
Kibitoshin Kai, flustered by their awkward entrance, stood up also rubbing behind him. "We are on the Planet Tuffle. This is the planet that Baby wished back, and where you will represent me today to help evacuate the citizens."
A giant quake jolted underneath his feet, and he found himself trying to catch his balance again. He gave a cough as if to clear his throat, and then reached into the inner lining of his garbs, from where he pulled two dimensional-storage waterskins that were filled with many gallons of the Mystic tea.
"Take a waterskin," Kibito handed one of the containers to Goku. The teenager tied the waterskin to his belt and then looked around as he straightened his blue gi top and yellow gi pants, both of which were a little too tight and short.
Kibito looked at Goku seriously, his vision streaking with the shaking of the ground. "It will not be long before this planet is doomed." Kibito put his waterskin away back in his inner pocket. "Now listen carefully," He held up two fingers, "there are two parts to our plan."
Goku nodded, surfing his weight over another planetary rumble.
"First," Kibito started as he re-raised his index finger, "we will free everyone from Baby's influence. Second," he waggled two fingers, "we will evacuate this planet with everyone on that spaceship." He opened his palm and gestured to the city in the distance, where a massive ship was rocking under the planetary stress.
"Okay, got it." Goku nodded, "First free everyone and evacuate."
"Correct," Kibito cooly acknowledged as he pointed to his waterskin, "And to free everyone, use the tea inside your waterskin to splash or rub onto people's skin directly. It is infused with the Mystic grass. It only takes a couple drops to be free of Baby's influence."
Goku frowned, "What? Only a couple drops?" He looked to his waterskin to inspect it.
Kibito nodded, "The Mystic power imbued within this tea will disrupt Baby's signal and will dissolve his eggs, which will pass through peoples' systems. As my part, I will provide Mystic tea within all fresh water supplies to inoculate everyone against Baby's eggs.
Goku's eyes and frown widened in realization, "Wait, we had this the whole time?" Goku wasn't sure why, but the strange feeling of suspicion that he had from earlier began to grow.
Kibito ignored him as he continued, "Next, we will evacuate everyone from this world."
"Right, evacuate." Goku looked stern with a focused brow as he unconsciously straightened his gi again. Something felt a little off to him, but he tried to shake off the strange feeling and re-focus on the mission. "So everyone goes into the spaceship?"
Kibito nodded. "The ship will evacuate all refugees. Use instant transmission to gather everyone there."
"Everyone?" Goku frowned in slight concern, "I'm not sure my body is old enough yet to do that much instant transmission."
"Do not worry," Kibito reassured, "Just gather your sons and bring them to Bulma. If you have time, you can cure citizens from Baby's eggs with your waterskin, but you will be needed elsewhere with the evacuation. I will handle curing the rest of the citizens of Tuffle and Earth. It will take some time for me to pour the Mystic tea into all of Earth's water supplies to negate Baby's eggs."
"Got it," Goku lifted his left hand and extended two fingers to his forehead.
"As a tip," Kibito looked hard to Goku and raised his right index finger upward to make a point, "The tea will make people go unconscious. Their nerve signals need to reset, so be prepared to carry some weight. Oh and-"
Goku stopped himself from instant transmitting, waiting for Kibito's next words.
"Bulma's ship will not have enough fuel for lift-off." Kibito looked hard to him, "So when you're done finding your sons and using the Mystic tea with your colleagues, remain by the ship and help people board it and take off until it is safely lifted out of the atmosphere. And do not for one second hesitate or look back."
"Okay," Goku nodded.
"So to review - First, find sons. Second, splash tea. Third, help get everyone evacuate onto the ship, and Fourth, help the ship lift off. Can you remember that?"
"Yep," Goku nodded. "But what about P-"
Kibito vanished.
"-an…?"
Goku lingered a moment, frowning as he considered his granddaughter was never mentioned as a part of either of Kibito's two plans. He again felt the weird feeling in his gut.
But then he thought better of it - this was Kibitoshin Kai, the Supreme Kai. Of course he had to have good intentions. He had saved Goku's life earlier that year and had supervised his divine training. Piccolo had even acknowledged that the Kais had a greater vision. There should be no reason for Goku to have any doubts. But… still, he did.
Goku reluctantly shook off the strange feeling, and with his left hand's fingers still to his forehead, he opened his mind and searched for his sons' familiar kis. Goku wanted to make sure he stuck to orders, so he chanted his four tasks under his breath as his sensory search scanned from horizon to horizon. "First sons, second tea, third evacuate, fourth lift off. Got this."
But as he searched for his sons' kis, he started to wonder if things could really be so simple. For some reason, he wasn't finding them.
He felt a few kis that included Trunks, Vegeta, Pan, what he thought was Uub, Buu and Baby off in one direction, and thought it was strange that neither of his sons was with the group. For the moment, Goku did not linger on any thoughts about that. If Uub was there, then Pan would be fine for a moment while Goku handled this task to find his sons first. But where was Gohan? Where was Goten?
And then he stopped and his frown deepened as he realized he had just finished his second ki scan of the landscape and came up short. What…?
His sons' kis were gone. Or at least they felt gone. Goku struggled to find them. With each second, the ground rumbled harder and more violently. The land under him jerked and heaved, growing more dangerous. Goku took to the air to continue his ki sensing. And for the first time in a long time, Goku started to feel worried.
If they were alive, his sons must have been gravely injured. But they had to be alive if Kibito suggested for Goku to find them. Kibito would have known if they were dead. They had to be alive. Kibito wasn't having Goku stall for time again, right?
"Where are you!?" Goku called out, with his voice echoing among the crags.
He instant transmitted away, doing constant ki scans on a hot-and-cold search to find his sons' weakened kis. Meanwhile, the planet heaved again.
And after one more existential pulse, the entire planetary surface under Goku cracked and broke.
–––––––
Pan's blonde hair glowed brightly and lit the surrounding stones in high contrast dancing shadows as she levitated with her legs crossed and eyes closed. The black lightning nipped at her skin and continued to shield Trunks and Vegeta who both lay still against the rock behind her.
As she raised her arms in her meditation pose, All the rocks of the terrain began to float upward. Stones dripped with lava like a thick sauce as they rose into the sky, higher and higher, with masses upon masses of boulders splitting, connecting, circling and crumbling within the air.
All the rocks, All the boulders, All the mountainscapes rose and twirled, and danced, and converged into floating islands of rock within the sky. The rocky platform under Pan also croaked and cracked as it broke free from the confines of the ground and molten rock. As one, her platform and the rocks around it rose with her, and dripped in their ascent. Underneath, the melted rock swirled and spread as it broke free of its confines and began to swell, bubble and spread where the rocks once used to be.
Baby-Uub landed on Pan's floating platform, no longer focused on breaking her shield as he instead scanned the landscape from horizon to horizon in amazement. Pan could hear him mutter under his breath, "This power…" But then he was cut off from his thoughts as the planet screeched as if in pain.
A great RUMBLE defibrillated into a SNAP cracked the landscape in half. A tectonic plate of the planet GRRROOOOANNNed and acutely tilted upward, raining lava down as it gurgled and began to sink into the abyss. The abyss cracked and moaned, KKKRRRRRRRGGGGGRR, as it spread and split into massive parting of the red molten sea.
The lava began to pour down as fiery rapids over massive lava-falls. The planetary crust broke into a thousand floating plates that drifted among the flow, and cracks of land began to fall into the dark and deep ravine.
Pan opened her eyes to view Baby-Uub turn to look at her. His eyes betrayed hunger and also spoke to another emotion - awe. His face flushed with lust as he eyed her naked frame and he bit and sucked his lips as he considered his next thoughts and words.
"I've decided." Baby-Uub declared, as he sucked his bottom lip, and then bit it with the edges of his lips tilting upward, "I'll have you."
Pan rolled her eyes as she lowered her feet to the floating platform next to unconscious Trunks and Vegeta. She crinkled her nose as she inwardly raged over how these two who she were protecting had been taken and used for so long. Her face darkened as she coldly droned, "Not interested."
She lifted her right arm, still shielded by the raging black ki. Baby-Uub's lips curled up into a taunting grin.
And then the unexpected happened. A pink blur streaked through the sky in every direction as it bounced up rocks and shot at full speed toward Baby-Uub from his back-right blindspot. Pan saw it coming, but did not have enough time to open her mouth in surprise.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, popped Majin Buu. "BOO!"
Majin Buu phased in back of Baby with a POP sound and grabbed him with both arms wrapping from behind, pinning Baby's arms against his side.
"W-What!?"Baby-Uub was just as surprised to see him, and tried to struggle as a reflex as Buu lifted Baby-Uub into the air as his captive.
"Buu save Pan! Buu save Uub!" The djinn was hysterical.
A hundred arms shot out from every corner of his pink blob of a body. Majin Buu formed his mass into a spiked ball that had captured Baby and proceeded to smash and pound against Baby-Uub's chest as his dozens of pink arms stretched and continually wrapped them in circular motions around himself and Baby, smothering Baby in layers of arms and weight as he was dragged into Buu's body.
"W-! Whhbh!" Baby was still in shock as he struggled and wiggled within the arms, trying to break free as his body was held and crushed under Buu's pressure and weight. Baby tried to power up, but Buu held fast against it. Every few other labored breaths, Baby managed to get a scream out. ""AAaaaahhhh!" He was continually squeezed and compressed. "Get it… OFF o- m-!"
Pan was incredulous. She had never seen Majin Buu willing to fight. She was unsure of her next steps, and could only watch and focus on protecting her loved ones as she was afraid to get entangled in the djinn's battle. As Buu continued to layer and suffocate Baby who was still pinned and screaming, Pan instead decided to make a strategic retreat as she waited with baited breath for the result. Using her telekinesis, she broke apart the rocks under her platform so that her small section with Trunks and Vegeta could safely levitate. She then willed her platform away from Baby and Buu, adding space between her and Baby's struggle.
As her platform floated to a spot a safe distance away, she watched as Buu continued to gain his advantage over Baby, and when she felt she had a moment to collect herself, turned and checked on the two Saiyans behind her. Her eyes turned to Trunks, and despite her battle-numb emotional stasis, she felt a stir of nostalgia she had thought she had repressed a long time ago. She thought of how he had looked in her eyes just now - how she had seen his soul.
She got on a knee to kneel beside Trunks, and reached out with her right hand to brush back his loose and tangled bangs. She felt the warmth of his skin. He was alive, and he was right here. She thought it was cute and funny to see him in a ponytail. She wanted to tease him so badly. She wanted so much to talk to him. She missed him.
"Pan."
"HOLY!" She reacted with a jump and spin in surprise at the sudden ambush, with all blood draining from her face. She was caught! Her attacker was within her shield!
She realized her own death during the moment of her spin. Her vision was in slow motion as she realized her mistake, and how she had allowed herself a moment of weakness through her distraction. Before her eyes could turn to her assailant, she knew she had failed. She was so stupid! Piccolo would have never let her live this down. It was over!
And then her eyes fell on the figure, and her eyes widened.
Her mouth opened to gape in confusion and alarm, as she stuttered, "W-Who?"
She had no idea who this purple-skinned and tall androgynous man was. He was not human; his skin was ageless with long, straight white hair pulled back from his widow's peak. He wore a red tunic and a disarmingly pleasant smile.
When he spoke, his voice had an ethereal cool sound, as musical and serene as if the wind were channeled through a wind chime. "Hello Pan. I am the Supreme Kai, the Lord of Lords. And I am here to complete your Mystic training."
Behind Kibito, Baby continued to scream as Buu encompassed him as if swallowing him from within his own belly. His terror resonated as loudly as the collapsing landscape below as both of their kis erupted and tangled in their fight.
"My Mystic training?" Pan was stupefied with confused eyes. She had no idea who this guy was, where he came from, or why. "Wait, you're from Other World?" She had a thought, and inquired, "Did Piccolo send you?!"
The man smiled pleasantly. "Piccolo is aware."
Pan's eyes widened as her heart beat faster. If this was true, and if he knew Piccolo, then maybe she could trust this person. The thought of Piccolo made her heart wrench.
"I have chosen you, with your Legendary powers, to be my champion today," the Supreme Kai stated as he commanded her purpose.
"Champion?" Pan blinked.
Kibito reached out right hand and touched her temple. At first, Pan winced back, unwilling to have him touch her. She was still unsure of who this person was. She had never seen a Kai before, and from what she heard of them, they tended to have their own agendas.
He kept his hand outstretched for her to pause and consider. "Open your mind."
Pan hesitantly calmed and let him touch her temple. And then, using a similar method as reading minds, he projected his Vision through his fingers and into her mind. He closed his eyes, and Pan's eyes heavily closed in turn.
THE CREATION.
Pan saw the darkness before there was light. She saw the light create energy, and the energy creating form. She saw the clouds congeal and cool. She observed rocks filling with water, and green covering the land. She witnessed the creation of each life - each strand of DNA that made all blocks of sentience and choice. She wove it. She was the creator.
I am showing you a memory. The voice was from everywhere. Of All possibility. Of All potential.
Learn your limits.
And then she saw the planet crushed into a wet molten putty and stretched and bent and broken into sections that cooled. The rocky substance whirled in space to form many moons, each one remarkable and colorful and beautiful as they reflected gibbous light from their closest star. And then the moons swirled and crashed in a collision that re-melted them all back into a putty. The putty then squeezed and reformed as a planet again.
Learn your tools.
And then a periodic table appeared before her. It was all just numbers and symbols and gibberish, surely something Trunks may have been able to interpret… but... then suddenly she understood the elements. She understood how the molecules connected through electron bonding. The knowledge flowed into her like the electric energy that pulsed in her blood. She wove material, mass, molecules, proteins, acids, and building blocks to life. They were her tools. They were her weapons for transmutation.
The Mystic power was never meant for mortals, but in this timeline, in this universe, you have it. You must wield it like a god. But know that neither Saiyans nor humans were built to handle the power of the All. Stick with what you know, and you will last long.
"That is all I can tell you," Kibitoshin Kai said down to Pan as he withdrew his fingers from her temple. "The rest is up to you to take down Majin Baby Buu."
Pan felt like she was in a daze as she came out of the vision, with the real world swirling back into her vision, its shy in dark shadows with clouds that reflected the red of the lava below, as the land itself was cast in a shades of dancing fire, and bright blues and purples from the full Earth overhead.
And then it hit her, what the Supreme Kai had said.
"What? Majin Baby Buu?" Pan's heart leapt. And then she remembered the stories of her family fighting Majin Buu, and how the battle to stop him had exploded the Earth and killed her family and friends in the process leading up to it. The idea of that kind of battle admittedly started to intimidate Pan.
"But…" Pan swallowed with a hopeful tone, "Buu is winning right now against Baby."
Kibito ignored her. "You have heard the tales of the dangers of Majin Buu."
"Yes," Pan's gut felt heavy.
"It is said he is as old as time immemorial. He is the manifestation of evil in the universe. Just as Mystic energy is fueled by selfless love and potential, Majin energy is powered by selfish greed and oppression. They balance, but neither can stop the other. Both must exist as universal laws. As such, it is impossible to kill Buu. He is immortal." He paused, then continued, "And now he will be infused with the persona and talents of Baby."
Pan's blood ran cold.
"How do I stop him?" Pan swallowed, feeling doubt for the first time, despite her swirling golden aura and black lightning that crackled around her.
"Either neutralize him through a trap or a seal, or he must remain in an eternal state of death. Through this, you will also damn Baby."
Pan was growing even more unsure of herself. "What do you mean? How do I trap or damn them?"
"That," Kibito nodded to her, "is up to you and your Mystic ultra instinct. I cannot guide you further. There can only be one Mystic in this universe among gods and mortals, and that is you, Pan."
"Only me?" Pan's mouth dropped. She had no idea her unknown power was so rare.
"Piccolo knew of your Mystic power and gave you the tools you will need to control it. You were always meant to be standing here today. Your destiny has called you to this day."
"My… destiny?" Pan's eyes darted between the Supreme Kai's eyes.
Instead of answering, the Supreme Kai simply smiled warmly to her.
Pan's attention was jerked away when she heard Baby-Uub screaming in the background as he writhed within the innards of Majin Buu. "Nooooo!" His bones began to break under the immense pressure. "You can't kill me! I will TAKE YOooOoooooooohhhh…hhh…." He was squeezed and compressed beyond his ability to take another breath.
As Baby-Uub's body was crushed in a horrific display of macabre, something new and unexpected happened. All of Buu's body broke apart and pushed and pressed into his own center, looking like he was imploding into where Baby was being crushed. As the layers of Buu were sucked inward, it became clear that the pink body was entering Baby-Uub's body, in a direct reversal of how Baby bodysnatched his victims.
Baby-Uub's screams were deafening as the pink flesh finished sucking into his flesh. His body twisted and pulsed and reshaped like a water balloon bending and flexing out of shape. It looked as if another body within his body was stretching to try to take over.
And then Baby-Uub's eyes glazed over as if his soul had been sucked from his body, and he teetered on his feet, in a daze.
Then, Pan felt it.
The evil ki erupted into her senses like a nuclear warhead. The sheer power and weight of it hung over her like a wet, smothering miasmic blanket of dread and fear. Her body trembled under the pressure of the ki. She realized at that moment that she was naked; it never even crossed her mind before, as she suddenly felt naked and vulnerable to this beast of a ki.
And then the beast's eyes came up and locked on hers.
For a moment, there was an air of acknowledgement. The enemy still looked like Baby-Uub as his eyes betrayed his respect for her and her power level in the moments leading to their battle.
And then as Pan tried to draw a breath, the enemy gave a grin that twisted more, and more, and more, until it physically could not pass beyond his cheeks. The smile was so wide and tight, that it was unnatural and unholy. A newfound realization of her danger also triggered her ring to pulse like a dragonball's glow as she considered Trunks behind her.
"Take Vegeta and Trunks and get out of here," Pan nodded to Kibito, "I'll handle Majin Baby Buu."
Kibito nodded, seeming to have noticed them for the first time, "Oh yes, of course, Vegeta and Trunks."
Kibito walked behind Pan to view Vegeta who was lying against a rock cliff with Trunks to his right. Kibito bent slightly to take Vegeta's left wrist with his right hand. But as Kibito looked down at Vegeta, he had a Vision of something unusual among his future - an unclear path that was wavering, shimmering like a hologram that was gathering particles for existence. The potential path that Kibito saw was enough to stop him in his tracks. Something sinister.
Something was wrong.
And then as he looked down to Trunks, something strange happened.
Visions danced before Kibito's eyes. He saw the strings of prophecy dancing around his soul, with chakra tethers that writhed and rattled like snakes, each reaching out to try to grab and take hold of the timeline. The prophecy was struggling to become written.
With widening eyes, Kibito saw the third forked prophecy that sparked and glitched around Trunks, with dark energetic tendrils that connected to Vegeta like a plasma globe. Kibito saw the plasmic tendrils of possibility seeking to touch others, crying out for Gohan, and wailing for Goku.
The impossible future. It was right here. Everything was about to start. The conception of greatest villain to the the Kais - a collective nemesis even bigger and more formidable than Majin Buu. All of it was here, to be started by Trunks. He contained the potential for the largest and deadliest war of all the rest of the era of life, that would involve all of universes… and all of the timelines.
Kibito saw the very real potential for emptiness - a true Nothing. There would be Nothing left for the Kais and the mortals. There would be no more souls.
What he saw… was the rise of the Androids. Paradox.
Kibito's corporeal form shuddered as his aether sparked within. His eyes narrowed as loathing swarmed within his divine energy.
He leered at Trunks, and glared at Vegeta, full of rage and preordained vengeance upon realizing the threat to the universe.
Like many of his Visions, Kibito saw the All of the third prophesied fork around Trunks, and all of its sub-forks - All of which would trigger upon Majin Buu's downfall. Among the sub-forks was the dreaded third prophecy, the Paradox prophecy - the nightmare that he had to avoid at all costs. If triggered, it would become known today after Trunks would later realize the inevitable deaths of both his best friend, Goten, and his bonded wife, Pan.
Kibito was here today to prevent Trunks' awakening by ensuring that the correct prophecy would be enacted. Kibito's true purpose was to save the living universe, even if it meant to be proactive and make sacrifices along the way. Mortals would never be able to understand the Kais' larger picture. Mortals needed the Kais to help guide them toward a mutually beneficial future, or else universes could fall to fairytale-nightmare tyrants like the legend of Paradox.
This was where he, the Supreme Kai, needed to step in and enact his own will to ensure his chosen future path.
Kibito knew he only had a split moment to make an executive decision, and he made it. Despite the Kais' taboo about interfering with mortal destinies, Kibito decided to override it. Exceptions could be made for existential crises. And in this case, it would be best to eliminate the source before it all began. It was for the good of the universe.
As Kibito looked at Trunks, he saw that this was the moment of Trunks' weakness. This was Kibito's clearest opportunity to be vigilant and to prevent the Paradox prophecy from triggering into existence. And he could do it without any witnesses except the Kais. Trunks' death could be a write-off for this battle. This was the only moment he could get away with it.
Kibito's lips curled into an unseen snarl as he tightly grabbed Trunks' right wrist with his left hand. He cursed under his breath, "Paradox…"
With both of his hands locked around the wrists of both Trunks and Vegeta, Kibito looked to Pan, whose eyes were locked on the monster on the opposite floating platform, and nodded to the back of her head as his plastic smile twisted into an unseen, baleful grin. "I'll take care of them."
And then the Supreme Kai popped out of existence, with both Vegeta and Trunks in tow.
–––––––
–––––––
–09/25/23–
Author's Note: This chapter officially pushed this story beyond 300k words! Thank you everyone who has been on this journey so far - old and new readers alike. There's also lots more to come. I look forward to your thoughts (especially now, since FFnet has been dealing with broken story stat glitches for the past week and a half)!