Chapter 8

Fighting Stage - Point of view: Timeline Nine

It was Lapis - the version of Android 17 from Timeline Nine.

"Can I join the fight?" he asked them.

Eighteen raised an arm and fired a couple blasts at him. Which were however easily stopped stopped by his Android Barrier.

At the same moment though she was herself being attacked by Timeline Six Caulifla, who used the chance to charge forward and kick her in the gut.

This was quickly followed by Pan attacking her equally mind-controlled `partner´ Cabba. First with a blast fired directly at his face, which caused him to block it with his, but the blast also distracted him and left him unable to see for a short moment. And Pan following with a kick at the stronger SSj2.

Pan was also weakened, both by Haze Shenlong´s poison and by her earlier fights. But so was Cabba.

She was also being assisted by Oceanus, who fired a volley of blasts at Cabba herself and also added two small tornados that formed at the same time around Eighteen and him in an attempt to bring both their opponents off balance.

And Lapis used the chance to fire a number of blasts of his own at Eighteen. One struck her at the shoulder. Another one in the stomach, which was actually pushing her backwards, if only a little bit. And a third one.

He knew that this was a version of his sister. One that had, by what he had seen, at least under normal circumstances, not been turned into a killing-machine. But after what she had just done to his wife, he could not care much.

He attacked Eighteen directly, along with Caulifla and the two were reigning down a series of punches and kicks at the female Android. Who barely managed to put up a fight against the two. At least not compared to the immense power she had shown earlier.

It seemed Zangya had already done a pretty good job of weakening her.

They might all have already been weakened. Eighteen however seemed to be affected the worst thanks to Zangya. While Lapis was the least one.

The poison barely affected him. Neither did it much to Eighteen. But what the poison had not, Zangya and her techniqe had done to her instead.

Lapis had not taken any significant damage so far and with his eternal energy no fight would ever exhaust him. And this showed now.

"Not bad Android," Caulifla from Timeline Six commented as they both landed another hit at Eighteen, who was completely cornered now and standing dangerously close to the edge.

"Even if you beat me, you will never stop His Majesty Beby," she called out.

xxx

Point of view: Timeline Six

The mind controlled Cabba moved to assist Eighteen. But once again Pan and Oceanus were standing in his way.

"Cabba!" Beby called out. "Leave it. Come back, I need you for something else."

With that Cabba followed his master´s orders, turned around and left Eighteen to fight for herself.

"Hey!" Pan exclaimed and fired a blast after him as he moved away. "He fled," she said.

"Maybe we should concentrate on the other one," Oceanus mentioned. Gesturing a few meters away, where Lapis and Caulifla who were still double teaming Eighteen had her just at the edge of the stage.

"Or maybe..." Oceanus Shenlong looked at Pan. "Well, this is still a tournament and we are opponents, right?" she stated.

The meaning of her words was obvious. Now that one of the dangerous opponents they had teamed up against had retreated and the other was close to being eliminated, the would be going against each other again. Well, at least the Shadow Dragon gave her a warning instead of simply shooting her in the back, she admitted.

"I guess you are right," Pan responded. She raised her hand, trying to fire an attack on her.

But Oceanus already created another whirlwind with herself in the center, that knocked off Pan´s aim before she could even fire... and then lunged forward and landed a punch in her face that threw her off her feet.

Pan realized to her shock that she fell out of Super Saiyan and back into normal state.

"Haze´s poison is still affecting you child," Oceanus said. "You should better give up."

Pan gritted her teeth. She knew she was right.

"Giving up? Forget it," she said. "You will have to ring me out."

"If you say so," Oceanus responded.

She moved forward and placed another hit that send Pan flying out of bounds.

xxx

"Are you okay Pan?" Timeline Six Goku asked her after she landed outside.

"Don´t worry Grandpa. She did not hit me that hard," she said.

A second later Kibito - that meant one of the Kibitos present - appeared and used his power on Pan to free her from the poison and heal her injuries. They did not even know if it was the one from their timeline or another one.

xxx

Lapis and Caulifla now fired each a one handed blast at Eighteen that finally pushed her out of the fighting stage.

Just at the same time she fell out of the ring however Eighteen fired another very powerful blast at Lapis. And this time he did not raise his barrier in time and it hit him right into the stomach.

Lapis bend over in pain. His `sister´ had not held back at all it seemed. The attack had been on a deadly level and had left a serious injury. In fact the blast could have killed a fighter only somewhat weaker than him. It seemed the mind controlled Eighteen did not care much about being disqualified.

`Damn Beby,´ he thought.

Lapis had turned back into his normal state. He had been using Kaioken Times 10 the entire time. And still... Just how strong was this version of Eighteen? he asked himself. And this after Zangya had depleted her power.

Eighteen meanwhile had landed on her back outside. But stood up again a few moments later and walked to the other Timeline 10 members. Nearly all of them possessed by Beby.

But Lapis and Caulifla had a completely different problem right now. They had seen how Oceanus Shenlong had just challenged and then eliminated Pan. But since they had still been busy with Eighteen they had not been able to do something about it.

And now Oceanus had turned to them.

Lapis also noticed that Caulifla next to him had just turned from Super Saiyan Two into Base Form and looked like she could fall over any moment. That meant he was pretty much by himself.

By what he had seen of the Shadow Dragon she was a dangerous opponent. Quite powerful and her control over the air and her unusual techniques made her an even much more dangerous opponent.

But he had faced other dangerous opponents before and he was pretty sure he was stronger than the Shadow Dragon when he was at his best.

Only that he was far from his best right now. First was the injury. It hurt to even move. And the constant use of Kaioken had an effect even on an Android. He was not sure if he could use it another time in his state.

In short he was not sure if he could win this.

Oceanus just smiled at them. She raised and arm and shot Caulifla with a blast that hit her and pushed her out of the fighting stage.

"I guess asking this Saiyans to give up is pointless, isn´t it?" she commented.

xxxxxxx

Point of view: Timeline Eight

The fight between Future Trunks from Timeline Eight and the parasit Beby from Timeline Ten, in Vegeta´s body, had meanwhile turned more intense. Both opponents had for the last half minute mostly thrown punches, kicks and lower levelled blasts at each other.

Right in this moment Beby-Vegeta formed two ki blades in his hands. It was obvious that he wanted to injure him, so that he could enter and take over his body as well.

In response Trunks formed a energy blade on his own. Not exactly like the signature `Royal Blade´ that his Timeline Nine counterpart and his family had invented, but a more simple improvised one. But one that did it´s job.

Trunks parried another strike from Vegeta-Beby. And tried to land a few on his own, aiming for his `fathers´ arms, side and shoulders. Hoping to just injure his opponent so far that he was unable to continue to fight.

But like he himself did, Beby had managed to parry nearly all of his strikes. All what he had to show for was a small slize he had managed to place on Vegeta-Beby´s arm.

That was enough, Trunks decided.

In his Rage Form was still somewhat physically stronger than his opponent. The problem however was that this form was unstable and he could not hold it for long. But with the power Beby had absorbed from all the other Timeline Ten members and his last transformation, the gap had shrunk down immensely.

Trunks had hoped to overpower his opponent physically without having to use his more powerful ki attacks. At least that is what he had tried for a few seconds. But it was clear that this hope had been in vain. Beby had just become too strong.

And he knew that his father would have expected him to take Beby down, no matter that.

So he was charging up a Finish Buster at nearly his full power. He just held back so much that the blast would (most likely) not kill Beby and Vegeta.

Aside from the fact that he really did not wanted to seriously harm his father, this was still a tournament after all. And he also did not want to risk being disqualified.

Of course he also knew that his father, any version of him, would rather die than being controlled by this creature. But Trunks also hoped that this gods and the fighters from Timeline Zero could help them remove Beby and his mind-controlling eggs from their hosts after this fight was over. After he won this fight.

Beby-Vegeta responded by charging up a blast on his own - a Final Flash.

They both fired nearly at the same time and the blasts clashed right between them.

xxx

Tarble, who had been lying very close to the edge of the fighting stage after the beatdown from the Beby possessed Vegeta had now managed to stand up again after some struggling.

He was now watching Trunks fighting. This was now the second time he was seeing his nephew fighting this monster. And both times he was unable to do anything. Of course the last time Beby had not possessed Vegeta, but someone else.

But then he realized he was not longer alone.

"You have been really fighting well Saiyan, for someone who had according to Master Beby had been exiled for showing so little potential in his youth," he heard a voice. "But I fear it is over for you now."

It was Cabba. Another of Beby´s puppets. The mind-controlled saiyan had returned when his master called him back and was now standing right next to him.

"I will take you out quickly," Cabba said.

He charged up a blast in his hand.

"I see," Tarble responded grimly. "If that is so, why don´t I take you with me?" he called out.

With that Tarble fired downwards and blew up the ground they were standing on. The blast he used had only low power, but it was more than enough for it´s purpose. Both of them lost their footing as the floor beneath them was blown apart and dust filled the air around them.

Tarble transformed back right into Super Saiyan Two and fired another blast, in the opposite direction to his opponent and used the momentum to propel himself right into the possessed Cabba.

Without solid ground to stand on and unable to fly, this was enough to send both of them over the edge and out of the ring.

Beby watched with some annoyance how Tarble eliminated another one of his servants from the tournament along with himself. But he was still in the beam struggle with Trunks. So there was nothing he could do about it.

xxx

"Not bad Tarble," Vegeta from Timeline Six said at the sidelines.

Above them in the Spectator Ranks, Vegeta from Timeline Zero thought the same thing as his Timeline Six counterpart.

"Truly not bad," Future Trunks from Timeline Nine said as well.

But his and his wife Lazuli´s worries were more on Lapis, who had just been injured, by Lazuli´s counterpart of all people and was now fighting a Shadow Dragon.

And on their daughter, who was currently facing a very powerful opponent.

xxxxxxx

Point of view - Timeline Nine, a minute earlier

Zangya, seriously injured and looking like she could barely held herself at her feet, was however still in the ring.

"Do you need help?" Iolite asked, appearing beside her.

In some distance they just saw Timeline Ten´s Eighteen getting eliminated. But they had also seen the injury Lapis had received during it.

Zangya knew the alternate Eighteen was not exactly to blame for what she did under Beby´s control. But with what she had already done to her before when she was not being controlled and now shooting her husband, she was furious. And would not really mind it if something terrible happened to the Android.

"Just fight your own fights," Zangya said to Iolite. "If I get ringed out now, then so be it. But I don´t want to hinder your chances too."

"Okay," Iolite replied.

There were not many fighters left anyway. Iolite was looking around to see who was still there.

Aside from Zangya and herself, there were her father´s counterpart from Timeline Eight and Vegeta - or rather Beby - from Timeline Ten, who were currently fighting each other, her uncle Lapis, Super 17 and Uub from Timeline Six and the female Shadow Dragon.

The first round was nearly over. So much was clear. The last four would be declared the winner and there were only eight fighters left. And two of them were injured, who just happened to be her aunt and uncle Zangya and Lapis.

But they were not longer alone. Uub from Timeline Six was walking towards them.

Okay, Iolite thought. This was it. By what she had seen of him, she had no chance against this guy.

By what they had heard some of the other fighters saying, he was Timeline Six Goku´s student and a reincarnation of the Demon Buu. But he was several times more powerful than Buu had ever been. And on top of that Goku seemed to have thought him the Kaioken. going by his short outbreak of power earlier.

With other words, there was no way in Hell she could win.

Despite that Iolite was approaching him. She could as well at least try to draw him away from Zangya.

At least his teammate Super 17 was still standing in some distance and seemed to be watching the fight between Timeline Eight´s Trunks and Beby. Not that it made much difference, because she had no chance against either of them.

"Iolite, right?" Uub asked her.

"Yes," she replied.

"Are you ready to end this?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

Iolite transformed again into her Super Saiyan Three form.

She formed two Royal Blades in her hands and slized at him with both at the same time.

Uub however stopped the two ki blades with just his forearms.

Iolite pushed herself away from him.

Then she fired a large volley of ki at Uub. He blocked some of them, but the most missed him and burried themselves into the ground beside him.

Uub run forward, towards her, and just before he reached her, Iolite activated Infinite Geyser and the blasts that had just `missed´ him broke out of the ground and targeted him from behind.

But Uub just reached backwards with one hand and formed a large circle of ki that blocked all the blasts at the same time, while he used his other hand to punch Iolite in the gut.

She doubled over in pain and she dropped out of her Super Saiyan Three form into normal Super Saiyan.

Damn it, she thought. Like she had feared, she was outmached and her techniques so far achieved nothing. To that came that she felt exhausted and tired.

Uub grabbed both her arms, pressed them against her body and just lifted her up. Then he moved nearly instantly to the end of the fighting stage and simply, nearly gently, dropped her over the edge.

xxx

"You are a very good fighter," Uub said to her as she was lieing outside, "but as you know, this is a tournament."

"Yes exactly," she replied to him. "I will not hold it against you that I lost."

Her parents Trunks and Lazuli moved next to her.

"Iolite - you did great," her father said to her.

"How are you feeling?" her mother Lazuli asked.

"I-... tired and somehow, I don´t know."

"Don´t worry. Can you use the healing magic that you have leared from Kibito on yourself?" Future Trunks asked her.

"I used it a few times earlier," she stated. "But I still got exhausted quicker than I should have."

"You have been poisoned," Trunks told her.

"Poisoned?"

"It looks like this Shadow Dragon Haze Shenlong had used some kind of poison myst on half the fighting stage," Lazuli stated sternly. "These Angels had neutralized it out here, but since it was not against the rules, they had let him use it inside. Your healing had probably neutralized the poison as well, but since it was still in the air around you, you just got affected all over again and ended up using a lot of energy on your healing magic."

"I see," Iolite replied. "Well with some luck I might be immune now when it is purged from my system."

"Maybe. But since both you and Haze Shenlong are already out, I don´t think it will be much a difference now," Lazuli commented.

xxxxxxx

Point of view - Timeline Eight

The beam-struggle between Future Trunks and Beby was still going on.

But after a short time Trunks was getting the upper hand and his blast pushed Beby´s back towards him.

"Do you really want to kill your father?" Beby called out. "Even if it is just an alternate version of him?"

"My father would be the first to tell me to take you out at all costs," Trunks responded. "Besides that I know he would be rather dead than being controlled by you."

The point where their blasts were clashing moved another meter closer towards Beby.

"Is that so?" he said. "Then, if not your father, maybe someone else?"

Beby looked sidewards. To the point where the assembled group of Timeline Ten fighters were standing.

Trunks followed his gaze... and what he saw made his blood freeze.

Timeline Ten´s Eighteen, who had been ringed out a short time earlier, was standing there, right in front of her timeline´s Gohan, less than a meter away from him.

And she had her hand stretched out and a ki blast already formed in her hand, aimed directly at Gohan´s heart.

Gohan, just as much under Beby´s control like Eighteen, was meanwhile just standing there, completely powered down and defenseless, while his lover was about to kill him.

Was this the reason Beby had ordered Cabba not to help Eighteen earlier? Trunks thought.

The rest of Beby´s mind controlled servants were standing in a circle around them, keeping anyone else from interfering.

He saw that Goku and Vegeta from Timeline Six, his own and Eighteen´s counterparts from Timeline Nine and the only two members of Timeline Ten that Beby did not control Caulifla and Kale were all looking at the situation as well and looked ready to interfere.

But before them were standing Timeline Ten´s Piccollo, Goten, Trunks, Dabura, and Cabba blocking their way.

"So you are hiding behind hostages?" Trunks commented. "Why shouldn´t I be surprised?"

"This is the purpose of my servants, to live and to die for me," Beby stated. "Now, how about you stop your attack? Otherwise the counterpart of your mentor will die And through the hand of the woman he loves. You don´t even need to die. Just give up and step out of the ring. Or just let me eliminate you."

"We could bring Gohan back with the Dragon Balls, after we have dealt with you," Trunks retorted.

"Maybe," Beby responded. "But even if you manage to do that, he will still have died. And he and everyone will remember that it happened. Is loosing to me really such a great price to avoid this?"

In this moment Beby managed to press Trunks blast back again by a few centimeters.

No, Trunks thought then. Should Beby actually manage to win this tournament, there was no telling what he might wish for. He knew of course that there were other fighters here who could manage to stop Beby.

But he could not bother to take that risk. Not to mention that some of the others did not seem to be any better than him. If there was only a chance of someone like Beby or the Shadow Dragons winning, it could lead to a disaster for entire universes.

Beby needed to be stopped. He knew this.

But still. The thought of seeing Gohan dead again, seeing him die right in front of his eyes. Trunks felt his hands shaking while he was trying to hold up the blast.

"You seem distracted," Beby said. "What do you say, we could at least stop shooting at each other until you have made up your mind?"

To back up his words he lowered the power of his blast a little bit.

Then he suddenly jumped aside, out of the way of Trunks blast, which hit the barrier separating them from the Spectator Ranks and Beby stopped his own Final Flash in the same moment.

Trunks stopped his own blast as well. Not because he agreed to Beby´s offer, but because he would risk hitting others if he redirected it in the direction that Beby had jumped to.

But he and Beby took aim at each other right again.

"In the moment you fire again, Gohan will die," Beby said.

xxxxxxx

Spectator Ranks, Lord Zeno´s Loge

"That bastard," Goku from Timeline Zero said as he saw the alternate version of his son being taken hostage by Beby.

He and the other Timeline Zero members could move down there in the blink of an eye and interfere if needed, like they had shown before.

But even they would hardly be able to get there, get through the other Timeline Ten fighters and stop Eighteen´s blast, all in the split-moment she would need to fire.

"If I could raise a barrier between them, I could block her shot," Seventeen said. "But even I can not form a barrier that precisely over such a long distance. They are standing only centimeters apart."

"Technically this is not against the rules," the Highpriest stated. "Lord Zeno had never made a rule that forbids to take your own teammates hostage."

"Only because nobody, not even Lord Zeno had ever thought that anybody would ever actually do such crazy bullshit like this," Eighteen pointed out.

"That is true," Zeno himself pointed out. "Still it is not against the rules. But if anybody stops them, we will not say anything, right?" he looked at Future Zeno next to him.

"Right," Future Zeno agreed.

"I could use Instant Transmission to appear rigth next to them," Goku said. "But like Seventeen I am not sure if I would appear close enough. Centimeters were never an issue before with the Instant Transmission."

"Not to mention that the surprise of you suddenly appearing next to her might cause Eighteen to shoot in the first place," their own Gohan pointed out.

Ultra Instinct could be a way to move that fast. But the drawback here was the same that gave the technique it´s advantage in the first place, the body moved practically on autopilot without the conscious mind... and so without any real plan.

"I am still waiting for a better chance," Goku replied. "Maybe she will get distracted for a moment or something."

"So do I," Seventeen said. "But with some luck the guys down there will do something before we do. They are far closer and in a better position."

xxxxxxx

Point of view - Timeline Nine

Lapis was hit by wave after wave of razor-sharp wind caused by Oceanus Shenlong.

He tried to shoot her, but the wind constantly threw off his aim.

At the same time Oceanus also formed a blast in her hand.

To which Lapis responded by raising a barrier sphere around himself and charging a blast of his own.

Of course neither of them could actually shoot each other as long as the barrier was up. And for Oceanus trying to break it would not only be practically impossible given her powerlevel, but also wasting her energy.

So they were both just watching the other to make a move.

And finally Oceanus made one, by creating an even stronger storm around them, the strongest she had so far, but contained to the part of the fighting stage they were standing on and not reaching the other fighters around them. One that actually started to move the barrier sphere itself from it´s place.

Lapis reacted by deactivating the barrier and at the same moment firing the blast he had prepared.

Unsurprisingly it missed, given the wind. But it prompted Oceanus in coming a bit closer, just like Lapis had wanted to and firing her own. Which also did not hit. Ironically the storm she herself had summoned was a great part of the reason she had not been able to hit him.

Lapis now did what he had planned all along and formed another barrier-sphere, a much larger one. Not just around himself, but around both of them.

The sphere was around twelve meter in diameter and it stopped and reflected Oceanus wind. So that she now could not longer use it without being effected herself.

Oceanus was nearly being blown off her feet by a wave of her own wind.

Lapis use the chance to move forward and hit her right in the face. Oceanus was thrown back by his punch and slammed against his barrier he had just formed around them.

And in that moment something happened. Oceanus form seemed to shift and change. Instead of the teal-skinned young woman, Lapis saw for a short moment the figure of another monstrous looking humanoid Dragon before him.

Then it shifted again and Oceanus was back looking like before.

"What?" Lapis said surprised.

Oceanus looked at him with a deep frown, looking both angry and emberassed. She was looking around the the other fighters and the audience. As it seemed nobody was paying much attention to them.

Most were concentrating on the fight between Beby and Trunks and the hostage situation. But since they were in a stadium filled with hundreds of people, it was very unlikely that truly nobody had noticed anything.

"Do I see that right that you are a shape-shifter?" Lapis asked.

Oceanus looked like she was gritting her teeth.

"In some sense yes. What you just saw was my natural form," she admitted. "But I am able to make myself look like this. But not forever. And it is still not my real body."

"But long enough to make everyone here think that it is, it seems," Lapis commented.

"It is still not my real form," Oceanus hissed angrily. "What you see here is not much more than an illusion. My real body is the grotesque `thing´ you have just seen. But... if I could get that wish."

"Do I understand this right, that you only want to win this tournament to turn this into your real form?" Lapis stated. "But your comrades want something like universial chaos?"

"Yes," she replied.

He was trying to wrap his head around the idea that this Shadow Dragon seemed to be a girl with issues about her looks.

Lapis knew of course that he could not really trust anything the Shadow Dragon was saying. And even if she was speaking the truth now, her teammates might force her to get along with them anyway.

"You realize that your chances are practically zero, right?" Lapis stated. "You are very powerful, yes. But there are many people here who are just above you by far. And don´t get me wrong, but I can not even see you beat me. Especially not if I were actually in good shape. And I am not even the strongest here."

Oceanus frown deepened even more. But she said nothing. She knew he was right.

"Besides, even if you were somehow the last one standing, how do you think your comrades would react if you simply fulfilled your own wish instead of theirs?" he said. "They wouldn´t be happy, I imagine."

"So what?" she replied. "Are you saying I should better help my brothers and my other teammates wish for chaos and destruction for a few galaxies or even a universe or two? Don´t misunderstand me, under different circumstances I would gladly help them. I am a Shadow Dragon and I feel the same need as them to destroy the galaxy where I was born from."

`So much for the idea that she is harmless,´ Lapis thought. But still...

"You know, my team has actually no idea what we should wish for if we win," he stated. "We are quite happy and if we need something we can use the normal Dragon Ball which the Namekian Dende has made. So how about an offer?..."

He continued to say a few more words.

At the same time however, in a short distance away, the scene had just played out in which Beby had forced the mind-controlled Eighteen to take an also controlled Gohan hostage.

Lapis took a look over to them. It was against the rules of the Tournament to attack people outside the ring or the other way arounf. There was nothing he could do. As long as he was in the Tournament. To hell with it, he thought. As long as people like Beby did not win, it did not really matter who did.

He looked around. The Seventeen and Eighteen from Timeline Zero were up in Zeno´s loge and Super 17 was on the other side of the fighting stage. He was the closest of his counterparts.

He looked over to Super 17 and gave him a nod. Then he looked to his wife Zangya, who was standing quite close to the circle of mind-controlled Timeline Ten warriors, only that standing inside the ring and they out.

Then he turned back to Oceanus Shenlong. Who had been watching him, ready to continue the fight at any moment.

"Okay - think about what I just told you," he said to her. "Goodbye then."

He turned around and walked the few meters towards the end of the fighting stage.

"Hey - what are you doing?" Oceanus asked confused.

Then Lapis took the small step over the end... He was out.

Participating Timelines:

Timeline Six: GT Timeline (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z series and movies five, nine and thirteen)

Timeline Eight: Alternate Future Timeline (connected to the GT instead the Super timeline.)

Timeline Nine: Alternate Future Timeline (based on the fanfic Dragon Ball OT from Raos)

Timeline Ten: Unseen timeline - A timeline where Cell did not came from the future (based on my story Unseen Timeline)

Timeline Eleven: Reign of the Androids - A timeline where Doctor Gero and his Android have taken over Earth.

Timeline Twelve: Alternate GT Timeline