The Three Legendary Saiyans
Chapter 82: Path of Entry.
"And that's everything we know about Cress so far; the point we're travelling to is exactly one year after the successful invasion and occupation of Earth, it'll be a world ruled by Cress and his personal squadron of soldiers who obey his every word" Future-Trunks explained upon finishing the recounting of the origins of Cress as much as he knew; though the events of a following year remained unknown to him.
After hearing the story of his alternate and evil self; Raijin sank into a chair with his left hand covering his mouth, unable to comprehend the atrocities that another version of himself had committed, the deaths of Goku, Vegeta and Krillin, paralysing Tien and Yamcha, traumatising Gohan but indirectly killing Bulma was the final straw to him.
From Raijin's point of view; Cress was everything he lacked as a Saiyan, having been raised and nurtured on Namek had all but eliminated the warrior nature he'd had to reclaim through Goku and Vegeta, they were two sides of each other; Raijin been the good-natured and positive force while Cress was cold, calculating, and ruthless.
"What is your decision? We'll need you to enter The Cress Timeline, once there we'll track down and defeat Demidra" Future-Trunks questioned Raijin for an answer; waiting as Raijin stared at him with a stare that told of his darker thoughts.
"If I accept… would you allow me to defeat and kill Cress myself?" Raijin spoke slowly; taking a deep breath before revealing his condition for joining this mission through time.
"You'd fight… yourself? That's madness!" Future-Mai exclaimed; finding the prospect of Raijin fighting an alternate version of himself to be ludicrous.
"Is it anymore mad than staying behind in your Timeline to defend you against Zamasu and Black?" Raijin answered back; speaking on how he sent Bulma, Goku and Vegeta back in Time while he stayed behind to continue the fight against near-unbeatable foes, fighting alone and barely surviving if not for her efforts to save him in return.
Future-Mai smiled softly; the truth being that she owed her life to Raijin for staying behind and protecting her from certain death at the hands of Zamasu and Black, giving him a nod of approval for his conditions of fighting Cress.
"Very well… I'll do it, I'll help you enter The Cress Timeline and defeat Demigra; and by extension… Cress himself" Raijin finally answered; grinning as he met the exuberant looks from his Future-Timeline Friends.
"Fantastic; I'm so grateful that you are willing to help us, Demigra cannot be allowed to escape us again" Future-Trunks almost leapt with joy from Raijin's agreement to help them, the path to an inaccessible Timeline being paved by Raijin's presence in their mission.
"However; you're going to need some better clothes… and that don't stink of sweat" Future-Mai spoke up; pointing out the sweat-stained clothes Raijin was wearing, clearly unwilling to be sat inside of a cramped space with a sweaty man.
"Good idea, I'll go change" Raijin spoke upon realising that his sweat-stained workout clothes, taking the hint and returning into The Gravity Chamber to get a change of clothes he kept stored in a separate locker-room, returning only a few minutes later in a blue short-sleeve/leg bodysuit with boots and gloves akin to Vegeta's.
"Raijin…" Future-Mai gasped upon seeing Raijin dressed in a Saiyan Outfit; almost appearing exactly like Cress only minus the black armour and slicked-back hair.
"I figure if we're going to an alternate timeline then I best try to appear like Cress… could fool some underlings" Raijin answered before Future-Mai could continue or Future-Trunks could speak on his choice in apparel.
"That makes sense; if we have to face Cress' Underlings and if we can pass you off as him then it'll be easier to bypass them" Future-Mai spoke confidently; having Raijin in disguise would only benefit them in the case of confrontation by the soldiers they'd likely meet.
"My thoughts exactly…. Though it disgusts me to have to dress like that reprobate" Raijin scowled as he spoke; having prepared the outfits for Vegeta after training in the Gravity Chamber himself but he rarely ever came by anymore and preferred to train on Beerus' Planet, choosing to don the outfit as a disguise.
"If you're ready; then we can begin preparations to enter The Cress Timeline" Future-Trunks spoke up; excited after Raijin's agreement to assist them in their mission to finally defeat and arrest Demigra.
"Do you have any idea where Demigra is? Any leads?" Raijin asked; looking up at The Time Machine; having hoped to never have to use the contraption again after barely escaped Zeno's Erasure of Future-Trunks' own Timeline by clinging onto the prongs.
"We only have one; and its tied directly to Cress, when we viewed his origins the first time in Chronoa's Library we noticed a sudden spike of dark energy when he expressed his desire for power, we believe that Demigra is hiding close to Cress and is the one fuelling his monstrous strength" Future-Trunks explained loosely; not giving up his previous encounters with Demigra nor the information that Cress' energy signature was strongly similar to that of Demigra.
"That would make sense; he'd never have been able to fight all The Z Fighter's alone and win if not for some kind of support" Raijin spoke; knowing full well if he took on the entirety of their version: Earth Special Forces, then he'd be crushed though he'd certainly put up a fight before going down.
"So are we going straight to The Cress Timeline?" Raijin posed his question; leaning back as Future-Trunks and Future-Mai sat together to pilot the machine, allowing himself to smirk as he wondered how their relationship has progressing.
"Yes; Chronoa has already given us the go-ahead to fly straight in once we have you and pave the path for us" Future-Trunks said as he sat himself in the main seat; his fingers moving across a keyboard like he was playing a piano as the controls lit up with life.
"And how exactly do we do that?" Raijin asked; wedging himself into the cramped space inside The Time Machine.
"You just place your hand here; and the machine will do the rest" Future-Trunks spoke; his fingers pointing to a small, black-screened scanner but his expression was one of caution.
"Sounds simple enough" Raijin spoke quickly; pressing his open left palm onto the terminal as the plate flashed green just as a red anklet materialised around his wrist, the machine humming into motion and the canopy closed around the trio before lifting off the ground and up into the air.
"Whoa… what the hell is this?!" Raijin barked with a tone of annoyance; raising his left hand and showing off the anklet that was firmly clamped around his left wrist.
"I'm sorry Raijin but that is necessary, because you are so powerful; we can't allow you to impact the flow of time in that world by using your Super Saiyan 2, 3 or 4, or your God Ki. your power could have dangerous ramifications to the natural flow of time" Future-Trunks explained carefully; describing that Raijin's full strength could dangerously pervert the course of the future that the inhabitants of The Cress Timeline could experience.
"So my power is being limited? To what exactly?" Raijin huffed with annoyance; accepting that his full strength would be inaccessible for the duration of the mission.
Raijin noticed that Future-Trunks and Future-Mai were struggling to answer his question; both looking back and forth between each other until Future-Mai opened her mouth and spoke the truth to him, "To be equal to that of Cress himself".
It took several seconds for Raijin to answer; the tension in the cramped space felt heavy until Raijin finally spoke again, "Is there a requirement to release it?".
"Yes, Cress would have to be either dead or unconscious and not a single soul would have to be present to witness you releasing the limiter, only then can the full extent of your abilities without any kind of paradox or timeline disruption" Future-Mai explained; showing Raijin the release on the underside of the anklet, Raijin quickly understood that the anklet wasn't just to hold him back but to keep an alternate history to go on without disruption from an outside source.
"That's fine with me; I intend to crush that monster" Raijin spoke to himself; ignoring the anklet on his wrist and focussing his thoughts on facing Cress, Future-Mai giving Raijin a concerned look as she assisted Future-Trunks with the prelaunch systems until all the screens and lights flashed green upon full activation.
Aboard The Time Machine; Raijin leaned back alongside Future-Mai as Future-Trunks tapped away at the console, the machine humming away as it floated up into the air, a silver-forked portal opening up high above their heads as The Time Machine floated up and higher towards the portal.
"This thing's been upgraded" Raijin muttered to himself; earning a giggle out of Future-Mai just as The Time Machine vanished into the portal and began hurling down the timestream, the myriad of branching paths in the form of glittering rivers winding on in an infinite number of directions to alternate realities that Raijin would never see.
"We'll be there in a moment; prepare yourself!" Future-Trunks spoke aloud; the timestream that The Time Machine followed was coming to an end at a silver portal just like the one they'd entered, with Future-Mai placing her hand upon Future-Trunks' while Raijin gripped the headrests of the seat until they passed through the portal but nothing prepared them for what they saw.
The once bright, colourful, and glorious skyline of West City had been turned into a dystopian cityscape where soldiers and grunts stood atop guard towers, the entire city having been converted into a prison full of the citizens and any enemies of those in power, and the worst sat at the centre with what used to be Capsule Corp.
Raijin muttered under his breath as he saw Capsule Corp but now a fortress bearing the emblem of The Frieza Force as the pod-shape ships launched out and dropped down from platforms bult around the building, "What the actual fuck…".
