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duhragonball · 6 months

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (212/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: This story This story takes place about 66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[21 April, Age 850. Toki Toki City.]

Trunks lay on the stone tiles surrounding the Time Vault. Beside him, Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, tended to his injuries. He was always reluctant to receive her healing power, since it required her to take on his battle damage for herself in exchange. But now that things had settled down, Chronoa decided that it was safe to continue healing him.

"You were awesome, Trunks!" said Goku, who hovered over them. Chronoa had brought Goku in as a last-minute recruit to counter Demigra's attack on the city. He was weary from the effort of repelling Demigra's final attack on the Time Vault, but he had only gotten a few bumps and bruises from the battle.

"Thanks, Goku," Trunks said. "But all I did was lend you my power to save the Time Vault. And I didn't have much to spare, unfortunately."

"Aw, that's only because Luffa beat you up so badly before, when that Demigra guy used his magic to turn you into a bad guy," Goku said. "After all that, it's impressive enough that you got back up at all!"

"You all did well," Chronoa said. "But it's not over yet. If Demigra had succeeded in destroying the Time Vault, all of history would have been erased. So the fact that we're all still here is a big win, but he's still got Tokitoki, and he could easily come back and try to finish what he started."

"What about Luffa?" Trunks asked. "You said she followed him into that portal he created."

"Yeah, that was weird," Goku said. "Demigra took us both down with those energy spears of his, and we were both stuck to the floor. Then suddenly she's up in the air, helpin' me get loose. Does she know a technique like Instant Transmission?"

"I don't think so. To be honest, I have no idea how she did that," Chronoa said. "But I'm sure that Demigra went back to the Crack of Time. It's the only place where he'd be safe from the destruction of the Time Nest. And if Luffa followed him there, she'd be facing him on his home turf."

"Then we've got to go after her," Trunks insisted, but when he tried to get up, he winced with pain and regretted his sudden movement.

"We've got to regroup," Chronoa said firmly. "If we go to the Crack of Time now, we'll be leaving the Time Vault undefended. We'd be playing right into Demigra's hands!"

"She's right, Trunks," Goku said. "You need to take it easy. Getting all worked up won't help anybody. I just wish I'd brought some senzu beans so we could heal you up faster. Maybe we should get the rest of the Time Patrol. I mean, this is a pretty big city, right? So where is everyone?"

"I teleported most of the Time Patrollers to a different planet before you arrived," Chronoa explained. "Demigra had put them under his spell, and he threatened to make them kill each other to stop Luffa. I was going to bring them all back once it was safe, but after what we've just been through... Well, I probably won't have enough power to make the trip for a while."

"Hmmm," Goku said. He stood up and looked around the Time Nest. The entire structure was shaped like an enormous birdcage, and the only view from beyond the gleaming metal bars was an eerie green sky with several planets floating in the expanse. "Hey, maybe I can save you the trouble, Supreme Kai of Time."

"You think you can bring them all back with Instant Transmission, Goku?" Trunks asked hopefully.

"Yep," Goku said with a smile. "Well, maybe. I mean, your pals are pretty strong, right? And there's a lot of them all close together, so I oughta be able to sense them. Then again, I've got no idea where we are right now, so it might be too far away..."

"We can't take the risk," Chronoa said. "You might not be able to find your way back, and Demigra could show up while you're gone."

"Oh, right," Goku said. "I guess I should stand by then."

"We need to be ready for anything," Chronoa warned them. "Demigra made a big entrance before, but now that he's lost the element of surprise, he may try something sneakier like--!"

"What's wrong?" Trunks said as she looked up from her work.

"That energy," Chronoa said. "It's Tokitoki!"

"I don't sense anything," Goku said. He began to look around in every direction, wondering what he was missing.

"It's a temporal signature," Trunks explained. "The Supreme Kai of Time can detect things like that, but we can't."

"Oh, I gotcha," Goku said. "Hold on... I thought you said Demigra turned Tokitoki into a piece of candy and gobbled him up."

"That's right," Chronoa said. "Demigra must be using his power to come back here. He's going to attack again!"

The three of them braced themselves, though they had no way to know which direction to look. Then they saw a flash of light coming from near Chronoa's personal quarters. Something materialized into view, and as they watched with bated breath, Goku smiled broadly when he finally recognized them.

"Well hey!" he said. "All right!"

It was Tokitoki, just as Chronoa had said, but there was no sign of Demigra. Instead, it was Luffa who accompanied him into the Time Nest. As she walked towards them, Tokitoki flew around her and made a shrill-but-affectionate cry.

"Tokitoki!" Chronoa shouted. "You're okay!"

"Luffa!" Trunks said. "Then Demigra is--"

She raised her thumb and then held it up to the side of her neck, and drew it melodramatically across her throat. If the meaning of this gesture wasn't clear, her victorious smirk told the rest of the story.

"I knew it!" Goku said with a cheerful laugh. "Then we won!"

The three of them went to meet Luffa and Tokitoki, and the bird perched himself on Goku's arm while they talked.

"Looks like you held up your end of things, Kakarot," Luffa said as she glanced around the yard surrounding the Vault. The grounds were a mess from the fighting, but at least it was all still there.

"Thanks, but, I had a lot of help from the others," Goku said. He looked her over and nodded when he saw the scrapes and bruises on her face and arms. "Looks like Demigra gave you a little trouble. Did he get stronger in that Crack of Time thingy?"

"He transformed," Luffa said, though she didn't elaborate. "It made things more interesting, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"Nice!" Goku said. "It's too bad, though. I kinda wanted to take another shot at him myself."

"So what now, Chronoa?" Luffa asked. "Demigra's beaten, and Tokitoki is safe, so that's it, right?"

"We still need to clean things up here," Chronoa said. "I have to retrieve the rest of the Time Patrol and then we'll repair the damage he did to the city. After that, maybe we can get back to normal around here. Demigra's gone, but there are still time anomalies that need to be handled, after all."

"Not to mention Towa," Trunks observed. "Luffa defeated her, but she's still out there, probably plotting her revenge. I think it's safe to say we haven't seen the last of her."

"And we need to get Goku back home," Chronoa said. "Wow, we've really got our work cut out for us, huh?"

"Oh, that's right. I guess you need to get back home to your own time too, huh?" Goku said to Luffa.

"Uh... that's kind of complicated," Luffa said.

"Huh? How come?" Goku asked.

"Sending me back would cause a lot of problems with the time stream," Luffa said. "I think I understand that a lot better now than I did before. But now that Demigra's dead, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do..."

"If you'd like," Trunks said, "maybe you could help us from time to time. The main threat has been dealt with, Luffa, but I could still use your help."

"Seriously?" Luffa said. She raised an eyebrow at this. "I figured you'd be glad to be rid of me, Trunks. Now that Demigra's out of the way, that wish you made to Shenron has been fulfilled, right? You can get someone else for whatever comes next."

"Maybe so," Trunks said, "but as far as partners go, you're the only one for me."

Luffa was speechless. "I... well, okay," she finally said. "Thanks. I guess I can stick around and see how things go. Sure."

"That sounds nice!" Chronoa said. "With the two of you working together, I'm sure we'll do well."

"Does that mean you'll be sticking around for a while, then?" Goku asked.

Luffa shrugged. "I guess so," she replied.

Goku's eyes lit up when he heard this. "In that case," he said excitedly, "Maybe we could have a match before I leave? You know, if you're not too busy or anything..."

She looked over at him and her eyes went wide with anticipation. "Is that a challenge, Kakarot?" she asked.

"It sure is!" he said. "The Supreme Kai of Time told me about you, but I didn't get to see much of you in action so far. So how about it? Are you interested in a little fight with me? I want to see your power. Show it to me!"

"That sounds like fun!" Trunks said.

Luffa was surprised to hear Trunks' enthusiasm for the idea. "You don't have a problem with this?" she asked. "You didn't approve the last time I challenged him."

"That was because you were in the middle of a Time Patrol mission," Trunks said. "If you fought Goku in the past, it would change history. But since the Supreme Kai of Time brought him here, to Toki Toki City, he's in our present, so it should be okay."

"Well now," Luffa said. She widened her stance and raised her arms as she stared Goku down. "That's just what I wanted to hear. I've been wanting to do this for a while, Kakarot. I was starting to think I'd never get the chance. I was worried Chronoa would send you back before I could give you a proper sendoff."

"Is that right?" Goku said. He raised his left fist and angled his shoulders as he inched closer to her. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!"

"My thoughts exactly," Luffa said. "Let's see if you have what it takes."

They each smiled as they prepared to do battle, but before they could begin...

"Wait! Don't do it here!"

Chronoa was suddenly between them, and she held out her hand at Luffa as she scolded them.

"If you two break the Time Vault," she warned, "everything we've just been through will be for nothing! We don't want that!"

"Oh, right," Goku said sheepishly. "Whoopsy daisy!"

He began to laugh, and Trunks joined in, then Chronoa as well.

"Hmmph. It's just as well," Luffa said. "I did just get back from fighting Demigra, and I could stand to freshen up. I've waited this long. We might as well do it right. Get some food, rest up."

"Exactly," Chronoa said. "You two have helped us a lot today, so you deserve to have some fun, but we need to work out the details and make sure the city won't get torn up any more than it already has."

"Where do we start, Supreme Kai of Time?" Trunks asked.

"There's still some Majins sleeping in their quarters," Chronoa said. "We'll wake them up and they can help us get the city operational again."

"Wake them up?" Luffa asked. "My roommate's a Majin, and she's an incredibly sound sleeper. If she slept through this entire battle, what more can we do?"

"Remember how I used my power over time to make Bulma's hair grow faster?" Chronoa asked. "It'll be like that. They'll sleep for days, but to us it'll only be a few seconds."

"Gosh," Goku said, awestruck by what she had just said. "You can really do that? The Supreme Kais I know weren't anywhere near that cool."

"Oh, that's nothing!" Chronoa said. "Altering the flow of time is child's play. What I'm really known for among the gods is my culinary skills."

"You don't say..." Goku said as he followed her toward the portal leading back to the city.

*******

With Demigra defeated, things moved quickly. Once Chronoa's full strength was restored by one of the Majin healers she had awakened, she performed several divine rituals which confirmed that Demigra was truly dead, and then she proceeded to return the injured Time Patrollers to Toki Toki City.

Trunks quickly took command of the handful of Majins from Gamma Shift. Among these was Dr. Reca, a Majin female who had tended to Luffa once before. She now examined Luffa at a secluded spot near a large chunk of the giant hourglass that had once floated in the center of town.

"Word travels fast," she said as she placed her hand over Luffa's forehead. "They're saying you killed Demigra."

"That's right," Luffa said. "I'm fine, really. You don't need to--"

"You're not fine," Reca said. "I'd need to run some tests, but I can sense a lot of temporal shifts in your ki. It's like you aged two months since the last time I saw you, and that was only a few days ago."

"I've been busy," Luffa said. She suddenly realized that only two days had passed in Toki Toki City, while Luffa had spent weeks in other time frames. First, Chronoa had sent her back in time to deal with the Ruby Loop, and then Demigra put her in that alternate version of Luffa's own past, a world where the Tikosi had never provoked her into becoming the Super Saiyan. And while the combat had been intense, she had managed to stay relatively healthy throughout the fighting. Still, all of it had taken a toll. It wasn't until Reca said anything that Luffa began to notice how tired she really was.

"This will help you for now," Reca said as her hand began to glow. "But you're going to need some rest later, and then I'll want to perform a more thorough examination later, after we get the city up and running."

"Fine," Luffa said. She was in no mood to argue, and the relief she suddenly felt in her bones and muscles was enough to convince her of Reca's point. "But what about the others? There were guys in a lot worse shape than me..."

"You hero types are all alike," Reca said. "Always telling me to work on someone else instead, like I don't know how triage works. Well, for your information, I've already seen to several other Time Patrollers, including a few Namekian healers, who are probably working on some other healers as we speak. So I've got plenty of time to work on you, okay?"

"Sorry," Luffa said. "I keep underestimating doctors."

"We'll have the whole Time Patrol back on their feet in a matter of hours," Reca assured her. "Then we'll start repairing the damage to the city. And before you get any funny ideas, when I say 'we', I mean me and everyone else in the city besides you, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Luffa said. "I'll go straight to bed, I promise."

"Are you single, Luffa?" Reca asked.

The question caught her completely by surprise. "Huh?" was all she could say.

"I only ask because people will start asking me," Reca explained. She fished a lollipop out of the pocket of her white coat and stuffed it in Luffa's hand before she could object. "I've seen this sort of thing before. One of you hotshots does something big and important and soon everyone wants to know all about you. People still ask me if Trunks is dating anyone."

"It's... complicated," Luffa said.

"Of course, of course," Reca said. "None of my business, say no more. But they'll probably have a big celebration later, and people will be throwing themselves at you, so... Well, I should probably move on to the next patient. Off to your quarters, then."

She was gone before Luffa could even thank her. She rose to her feet and immediately felt a wave of fatigue. She had already decided to follow Reca's instructions, but now it was clear that she never really had a choice. It was either rest in her quarters or pass out in the street.

*******

As Luffa recuperated, the rest of the Time Patrol carried on with the reconstruction. With their combined powers, the work proceeded swiftly. It also helped that Demigra had shown some restraint during his attack. Since he intended to use Toki Toki City as his base of operations, he left much of the infrastructure in tact. And so most of the damage was superficial.

As Trunks supervised work in the Time Nest, he made conversation with his teammates. As word got around about Luffa's triumph over Demigra, the Patrollers naturally wanted to know what had happened to her, and so Trunks had explained that she was preparing for a fight with Goku. This led to discussion of the venue for their fight, since Trunks still had to choose a suitable location for them.

The Parallel Quest system was the obvious solution. The city was equipped with special time machines that could take Patrollers to various stable time fragments. Each fragment contained a replica of some historical era. There, the Patrollers could fight freely and sharpen their skills without fear of damaging Toki Toki City. It was ideal for staging a Super Saiyan duel, but that only solved half of the problem. Trunks knew how give them a place to fight, but he still had to figure out where.

Fortunately, the other Time Patrollers were eager to offer suggestions.

"What about Planet Namek?" asked Excitebike, who worked beside Trunks as they filled in the craters in the Time Nest lawn.

"No, that won't do," Trunks said.

"Hmm, well respectfully, sir, I disagree. It's the place where Son Goku first achieved the level of Super Saiyan. What could be more appropriate?"

"That's just it," Trunks said. "It's a historic site for Goku, but not for Luffa. She's only seen the planet in Time Patrol missions. I don't think it fits."

"Right, right, right," Excitebike muttered.

Dewar was standing nearby re-installing the cobblestones that had been blasted out of the walkway to the city. "Hey, what about that planet in the South Galaxy?" he asked. "You know, the one Paragus tried to pass of as a new Saiyan homeworld? It's unfamiliar to both of them."

"No, Luffa's tail is the problem there," Trunks said. "If she sees the comet she'll turn into a giant ape, and I don't want her to have to wear goggles the whole time."

"Eh?" Dewar replied. "Welllll, Trunks, it seems like you're splitting hairs over this, aren't you? I don't think either of them would complain about being at a slight disadvantage, right?"

"That's true, Dewar, but I still want to make the playing field as level as possible. This might be their only chance to have this fight, and I want it to go well for them. I owe them that much, at least."

"If you say so," Dewar said. "Stillllll, better to have a planet picked out for them than none at all! You can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, eh?"

"Wasn't there a Saiyan homeworld before Planet Vegeta?" Excitebike asked. "What was it called? What, what, what...? Salado or Sardon or something..."

"Sadala," Trunks said. "It was destroyed in a civil war. It might work, but we haven't done much temporal reconnaissance of it. I don't want to stick them in the middle of some other battle, and I don't want to make them wait for us to do the legwork.

"Wellllll, it sounds like you want something impossible, Trunks," Dewar remarked. "I mean, a planet suited for Saiyans, but with no Saiyans on it? Where would you even look for something like that? It's too bad about the Dragon Balls, I guess."

"What about the Dragon Balls?" Trunks asked.

"I heard the Supreme Kai of Time used them to wish for Goku to come here and help fight Demigra," Dewar said. "So they're inert for a while, which means you can't use them to wish for this planet you want. Too bad, since I think Shenron's the only one who could help you..."

"Hold on..." Trunks said, "maybe you've got something there..."

*******

There was an ancient Saiyan proverb that said hunger was the best seasoning. It was something Saiyan chefs meditated upon to keep them humble in the kitchen. For all their culinary skill, even the simplest meals were delicious on an empty stomach.

In her apartment, Luffa put that philosophy to the test. All her roommate ever ate were sweets, so Luffa maintained a supply of cake batter in their refrigerator. She downed a bottle of this without thinking twice, then tore open a package of raw ground beef.

Normally, she had more discipline than this. She would have taken the time to cook something properly, and savor the entire experience. But the battle with Demigra had left a bad taste in her mouth, and she was more interested in moving on than in celebrating.

From a distance, it had all made sense. She couldn't just go back to her own time. Too much had changed. Demigra had tried to tempt her by offering a chance to go back to where it all began, a time before Luffa became the Super Saiyan. But it was all wrong, and thought it took Luffa a long time to realize it, in her heart she had known it was wrong from the start.

The ground beef was cold in her throat as she gulped down another mouthful. Her Saiyan stomach could digest raw meat with ease, and her hunger would be sated, but she couldn't help but appreciate how incomplete the experience was. A fresh kill would have the blood of the animal, and the scent of wild game. Properly cooked, the meat's proteins would be denatured into something exquisite to the palate. But this meat was minced, packaged and refrigerated, and lacked the primordial thrills of hunting or cooking. It was enough to sustain her, but it was fundamentally flawed.

And so was any notion of going back to relive her life. Luffa was a warrior, not a philosopher. She held no special interest in "destiny" or "fate", but her adventures with the Time Patrol had proven that even the worst parts of her life had been necessary in some way. Even if those events could be undone, it would only serve to diminish her as a person.

It was a harsh, difficult truth to accept. Perhaps, Luffa considered, this was why she was eating all of this raw food. Perhaps the truth would be easier to swallow if she had some other unpalatable things to wash it down with.

At last, she turned away from the refrigerator, and sought refuge in the shower. The past was past, and all Luffa could do was to take whatever satisfaction she could from it as she looked ahead to the future. Demigra was dead. As frustrating an opponent as he was, Luffa couldn't help but smile at the thought of his downfall. Her future with the Time Patrol was unclear, but at least there would still be a Time Patrol for her to return to. Chronoa had offered her some sort of reward for her service, though this was too uncertain to think about. And then there was Son Goku.

"Kakarot," she muttered under the stream of hot water.

A fight with a fellow Super Saiyan was a dream come true. She wasn't sure if he understood just how important it was for her, but he had still offered the challenge, and she had every intention of facing him. But she wasn't sure she was ready. It all felt too... sudden.

Her friends and family from the past had all died centuries ago, but from Luffa's perspective, they had only been gone a short time. Thanks to Demigra's power, she had even seen some of them a few hours ago. She accepted that it was wrong to try to go back, and yet it still felt equally wrong to move on.

But as she dwelled on her relationships from the past, she found herself reminded of the new friends she had made in the present. As she wondered what had become of Zatte and Dr. Topsas, she also found herself worrying about Mosh, and Dewar, and the other Time Patrollers she had not seen since Demigra's attack. She had to remind herself that they, at least, were probably fine. And even if they weren't, she could check up on them easily enough.

She could sense Jayncho's ki less than twenty meters away. The Majin was still in her bedroom, having slept through the entire crisis. There was something reassuring about this. Luffa had failed so many people in her life, but she had saved the people of Toki Toki City. Trunks had been badly hurt, but he would recover. Chronoa had taken a lot of damage from healing him, but she would recover too. The Divine Tokitoki Bird had been through a harrowing ordeal, but he would survive.

That word--"survive"-- resonated with her. In spite of it all, Luffa had survived everything that had come her way. The Dorluns cherished survival, in much the same way Luffa's own people treasured battle. But Luffa's wife Zatte had always spoken about how important it was to find something to live for. Many Dorluns, Zatte felt, were simply content to keep breathing, when there had to be more to it than that.

As Luffa mourned her wife, she kept coming back to their lack of funerary tradition. Dorluns left their dead wherever they lay, disposing of bodies only if it served to benefit the living. For them, the only true way to honor the dead was to go on living. Or, as Zatte might have put it, to find a reason to go on living.

Luffa had struggled to accept this, but now she wondered that maybe she had found something to live for without realizing it. The Time Patrol was a worthy enough cause, and the Patrollers were worthy comrades. According to Capsule Corp's genetic studies, the Saiyans in the Time Patrol were all Luffa's descendants, which made them family. And then there was Keda's miraculous presence on Earth.

It wasn't home, exactly. Luffa still felt very much like an outside in this place. And yet, it felt like a place that could be home.

She stepped out of the shower and toweled off, feeling surprisingly refreshed. For the first time since arriving in Toki Toki City, she began to feel optimistic. There was something to look forward to, beyond the fighting, beyond the work. Even beyond this match with Son Goku.

But she would still face Son Goku. As she put on a clean set of clothes, her anticipation for that battle began to swell. But what truly lifted her spirits was the anticipation of what lay beyond him...

*******

The most important repairs to Toki Toki City were things that only the Supreme Kai of Time herself could fix. The great hourglass that had floated in the center of town was a landmark to everyone who lived and worked there, but no mortal Time Patroller had any idea what it was for or why it was so urgent to rebuild it. The Kai called upon the Divine Toki Toki Bird for assistance, and Patrollers working nearby were treated to an inscrutable light show, as they floated in the air while glowing sand and chunks of crystal began to reassemble. Some of the Patrollers grew bored with trying to make sense of it, and so they returned to the mundane work of repairing shops, offices, and roads in the city. Others stopped and stared with fascination.

Among these gawkers was No. 44, who looked like a teenage girl, but was something more than her clerical job suggested. She watched the Kai work, not because it was interesting or breathtaking, but because she wasn't sure what to do with herself, and this was the one place she could find in the city where the people around her would be too distracted to strike up a conversation. Or so she thought.

"Hey there!"

She sensed the power suddenly winking into existence behind her, and though she recognized him from before, she was still surprised when she turned around to look at him. "Wha--?" was all she managed to say.

"Hey, it's me, Goku!" he said with a cheerful wave of his hand. "Remember? And you're... 45, right?"

"44," she said.

"Oh, right," Goku said. "Sorry, I'm not always good with names, and I've never been much when it comes to math. But I guess I was close, though, huh?"

"Of course I remember you," 44 said. "I mean, it wasn't that long ago..."

"Well, I wanted to thank you for helpin' us out," Goku said. "You were in such a hurry to leave, I didn't get the chance before, and then Luffa showed up and everybody else came back to the city and--"

By now, Goku's presence had begun to attract some attention. As much as the Patrollers were interested in Chronoa's cosmic repairs, many of them were great admirers of the famous Son Goku. Anxiously, 44 took him by the hand and tried to lead him away.

"Can we talk about this someplace else?" she pleaded.

"Huh? Well, sure, if you say so."

Without warning, he raised his hand to his forehead and before 44 could react she found herself standing on the roof of one of the buildings in the city. She recognized it as the Industrial Sector, but she wasn't used to seeing it from this elevation, and she had no clear idea of her exact position. All that remained constant was that Goku was still holding her hand.

"Is this better?" Goku asked.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Instant Transmission!" he replied proudly. "I was flying around earlier, but some people told me there's a rule against that, but no one said I couldn't teleport, so I've been checking out the city that way. It's pretty neat!"

"Could you give me a little warning next time?" 44 asked, gasping for breath. "You really startled me with that!"

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to go somewhere else to talk," Goku said with a shrug. "Anyway, there's no people here, so I thought this would be good."

"You didn't tell Luffa about me, did you?" 44 asked breathlessly.

"Well, no," Goku said. "I mean, you asked me not to, right? Besides, we all got to talking, and I kind of forgot about it for a while. But once everybody started working on the city, there really wasn't much for me to do, so I remembered again."

"I thought you'd be on your way home by now, Mr. Son," 44 said.

"You can just call me Goku, okay?" Goku said. "Anyway, I'm stickin' around because I asked Luffa to have a match with me, but the Supreme Kai of Time said we gotta wait to set it up somewhere so the Time Nest won't get wrecked again."

"You and Luffa are going to fight?" 44 asked. "Why?"

"Why?" As Goku repeated her question, he looked at her like she had grown a second head. "I mean, because she's really strong, duh. That'd be enough for me, but on top of everything else, she's a Super Saiyan from a long time ago. Now that's an opportunity I just can't pass up!"

"But you're on the same side," 44 protested. "And you're both so powerful. What if one of you gets hurt?"

"Aw, we'll bring along some senzu beans," Goku said. "It'll be fine. I've fought with my other friends lots of times."

As he said this, an eager smile stretched out across his face. "Hey, you know, while we're waiting, you and I could spar a little? I mean, nothing serious, just for funsies, right?"

"No!" 44 said, more sharply than she intended. "I mean... I'm not a fighter, Mr. Son... I mean, Goku."

"Really?" Goku asked. "I mean, you've got some impressive power. It's not on the level of Trunks or Luffa, but it really gave us a boost when we needed it in the Time Nest. And if you trained, I bet--"

"I'm not a fighter," 44 insisted. "I'm just a clerk."

"Oh," Goku said, looking more than a little disappointed. "Sorry, I guess I got carried away. It's just, your energy kind of has a Saiyan feel to it. Not exactly, but you don't look much like a Saiyan, so I figured you must be part-alien or something. Like my boys. They're half Earthling."

"I'm not a Saiyan or an alien," 44 explained. She gestured to her face, which was a purple-grey color unnatural to Earthling humans. The same was true for her yellow irises, which seemed to shine from beneath the shade of her trucker hat. "I'm a cyborg. Red Ribbon model."

"Oh, yeah," Goku said. "I meant to ask about that. But doesn't that mean you're programmed to kill me? I mean, you must want to fight me a teensy bit."

"It's a long story," 44 said. "My design includes Saiyan genetics and other bio-enhancements. That's why I look the way I do."

"What's with the hat?" Goku asked.

"Wh-what about my hat?" 44 said. It was a trucker cap with the logo "98CIAL" printed on the front. All of 44's hair was stuffed inside it.

Goku craned his head to one side and pointed at her head. "Do you wear it to cover up your brain?" he asked. "I remember Dr. Gero had a glass dome on his head, and when his hat came off, you could see right inside. It was kinda gross."

"I don't have a dome," 44 said. "I just like the hat! It helps me blend in a little."

Goku made a skeptical look as though he weren't entirely convinced of this. 44 reached up to her scalp and pulled a length of white hair out from under the brim.

"Look, why would I have hair if I had a dome?" she asked. "I'm based on the 13-14-15 line. None of them had domes. Wait, 15 did, but his brain was a computer... Never mind..."

"Well, okay," Goku said. "I guess it doesn't matter much if we're not gonna fight. Too bad, though. With your Saiyan ki and those yellow pants, I thought maybe you were Luffa's student or something."

44 looked down at her clothes. She wore a thick belt with several pockets. Otherwise, she had adopted Luffa's trademark black and yellow fashion. Instead of boots, 44 wore black sneakers with black socks. Her pants were slacks, and her shirt was a blouse, but the general theme was more in line with what Luffa wore.

"I'm not her student," 44 said. "I just thought we were getting along, and maybe this would help."

"Oh well," Goku said. "I was hoping to find out more about her from you. Kind of scout the competition a little before we fight. But if you're not her disciple or sparring partner or anything.... Wait, if you two are friends, then why didn't you want her to know about how you helped us in the Time Nest?" Goku asked. "I'm sure she'd be proud of you for that. I know I am."

"The only reason I was around for that was because I was hiding from Demigra during the battle," 44 blurted out. "Everyone else got infected with his magic spell, and then the Supreme Kai of Time evacuated them from the city. But not me. I was in Luffa's apartment, because I didn't know where else to go."

"Sure you did," Goku said. "You came out and found us in the Time Nest, trying to stop Demigra's blast from blowing up the whole place."

"I only did that because I couldn't sense anyone fighting in the city," 44 explained. "I went to the Time Nest to see if anyone was still there, and there you were. I... I wouldn't have gotten involved if I had known..."

Goku smiled and put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, hey, hey," he said. "Listen. You may not be a warrior like me and Luffa, but you still did a really brave thing by lending me your energy back there."

"But I--!"

"You were scared, I know," Goku said. "I was pretty worried there myself for a while. I wasn't sure I could stop that blast. But we did it together. That's what matters, 44, and if Luffa were here right now, I'd bet she'd say the same thing. Well, maybe she'd say it a little meaner. Heh-heh! She's kind of grouchy, you know?"

44 lowered her head, concealing her eyes behind the bill of her hat as she wiped the tears from her face. "Look, you can't tell her about that. Please."

"If that's how you want it, then okay," Goku said. "I won't say anything about it to her. But I've seen her fight, and she's no dummy, 44. Sooner or later, she'll see for herself what a hero you are. I don't think that's something you can hide. Not for long, anyway."

"We'll see about that," 44 said. "As long as you don't tell her about me helping you against Demigra, that'll do. Let me worry about the rest."

"Deal," Goku said. "I don't understand it all, but you've got a good heart, 44, even if it's like some kind of robot heart or somethin'. And Luffa took good care of my sons when we fought Cell and Majin Buu on Earth, so I've got a good feeling about her. Whatever's going on between you two, I'm sure it'll all work out."

44 made a weary sigh. "I hope you're right," she said. "I wish I could explain it to you, but... Well, it's sort of a relief to talk about it a little bit. I'm glad you came to find me."

"Hey, no problem," Goku said. "The Supreme Kai of Time made me a deputy Time Patroller, right? So we all gotta look out for each other, don't we?"

"I guess you're right about that..." 44 said with a slight smile. Then she looked out at the city below and asked: "You can get me back down, can't you?"

"Huh?" Goku asked before he realized what she meant. "Oh, sure, sure. Just grab on to my arm, okay? It won't take a second..."

*******

While the shops of the Time Patrol were still recovering from the damage sustained during the battle, the various department heads in the city suggested that the victory celebration be catered. Trunks and Chronoa agreed to this, although when they received the delivery, they began to have second thoughts.

"How many Time Patrollers are there anyway?" Trunks asked as workmen loaded trays of barbecued pork into the dining hall. One of them, a young woman, made a flirtatious smile at him, but he was too focused on signing the paperwork to notice.

"A lot," Chronoa said. "I remember thinking Toki Toki City was enormous back when we opened it, but now it almost seems too crowded."

Trunks leafed through the last few pages and handed them back to one of the uniformed delivery drivers. "Speaking of that, have you had a chance to look at my PQ request? The one for Goku and Luffa."

Chronoa had scooped a glob of potato salad on her finger and had put it in her mouth when Trunks asked the question, so she could only nod and give a thumbs up.

"Thanks. It means a lot to me, and I'm sure it'll mean a lot to them, too," he said.

"It's the least I can do for them, but to be honest, I'm not sure I understand what the big deal is," Chronoa said. "We just had a huge battle, and Luffa fought several more battles before that. I know Saiyans love to fight, but what makes this one special?"

"Luffa was the only Super Saiyan in her time," Trunks said. "Fighting another Super Saiyan is something she's always wanted to do. When she found out I was a Super Saiyan, she challenged me on the spot, even though we were in the middle of a mission."

"Right, but you two already fought each other," Chronoa said. "When you were under Demigra's mind control."

"I know," Trunks said. "And she's probably still itching to challenge me later, now that I'm back to normal. But Goku's the one she really wants."

"But why Goku?" she asked.

"Because of the legend," Trunks said. "Gohan told me that my father once said there was only one Super Saiyan every thousand years. I never thought about the timing much, but apparently it's literally true. Luffa transformed almost exactly one thousand years before Goku did, and there was a Super Saiyan before her that lived about a thousand years earlier than that."

"Maybe so, but it doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Chronoa asked. "These days, there's lots of Super Saiyans."

"That's true, and it's not as big a deal to the rest of us, but it means a lot to her. It's like there's a lineage of once-in-a-millennium Super Saiyans, and she and Goku are part of that club. I think she's thought about him for a long time, even before she came to this time."

"What do you mean?" Chronoa asked. "She didn't even know Goku."

"Not by name," Trunks said. "But she probably believed that there would be another one like her in a thousand years' time. Maybe that was comforting to think about. I sort of understand what that's like. It was pretty tough for me being the only Super Saiyan after Gohan died. In my world, I might be the last one. So when I traveled to the past to meet Goku for the first time, it was kind of reassuring to see another Super Saiyan in person like that."

"I suppose I never thought of it that way."

"The thing is, I'm not sure if Goku understands all that. He may just like the idea of taking on a fresh opponent. But I'm sure the tradition means a lot to Luffa, and they both really helped us out, so arranging a proper battleground for them was the least I could do."

"I'm sure they'll enjoy it," Chronoa said. "And even if they don't, at least the city won't get wrecked all over again."

*******

[22 April, Age 850. Toki Toki City.]

The victory banquet went well. Son Goku couldn't complain, since he had eaten his fill of pulled pork, rice, and cole slaw. The Time Patrollers were mostly good company, although he found some of their questions confusing. One young woman kept asking him if it was true what 'they' say about Goku's best friend, Krillin. But she refused to explain what it was that 'they' said, and when he asked she would just gesture with her hands and say 'well you know.' Goku, in fact, did not know, and could not answer.

People were often confusing for Son Goku. While he enjoyed public gatherings-- especially ones with food-- he was something of a loner, spending most of his life in the company of fewer than five people at a time. His adoptive grandfather understood the joys of solitary living, and so had Master Roshi, and so did Goku's wife Chi-Chi, and their children, Gohan and Goten.

And so, while he was not especially self-aware of this aspect of his personality, Goku still felt a swell of relief when the party was over and a helpful Capsule Corp. robot escorted him to his guest quarters for bed. He lay awake for a while, eagerly anticipating the dawn, and the one person he had not seen at the banquet, the one he had been looking for the whole evening. He hadn't seen Luffa since she accepted his challenge in the Time Nest. Was she avoiding him for some reason? Was she not feeling well enough to go through with their fight? Or was this some sort of strategy? Had she been observing him without his knowing it?

The thought of that excited him, though eventually he drifted off to sleep. For the next several hours, Son Goku slept well, dreaming of his wife and children, and also a monster truck that he had seen on television once. In the dream, the truck could talk and it was friends with Goku. They went on adventures together.

When he awoke, he put on his gi and found the same robot waiting for him outside his door, ready to escort him to anywhere in the city he wished to go. Naturally, he asked it to take him to a place where he could get some breakfast.

The Blinking Twelve was a popular restaurant among the Saiyan community in Toki Toki City, and the robot led Goku there. It reminded Goku of a diner he had visited with Bulma a few times in West City. He took a seat and was about to order, when a familiar voice called out from the entranceway.

"For shame, Kakarot."

He quickly turned to find Luffa at the door. He had not sensed her presence, and he did not know how she had gotten so close without his noticing. From the grin on her face, it seemed that she took great satisfaction in his uncertainty.

"There you are! I was starting to worry about you, Luffa," Goku said. "When I didn't see you last night, I thought you might have decided to cancel on me."

"Hell no," Luffa said. "I just needed some time to prepare. Trunks has a place all picked out for us, but I thought you and I should have eat first."

"Oh sure!" Goku said. "I hate fighting on an empty stomach. Pull up a chair, I was about to order--"

"Not here," she insisted. "I've commandeered a kitchen in the cafeteria. You were raised on Earth, so I thought I would do you the honor of preparing a proper Saiyan breakfast."

"Is that right?" Goku said. "Well, I can't turn that down. You've got style, Luffa. I've been in a lot of battles, but I've never had an opponent feed me before a fight."

"Right this way," Luffa said, waving him towards the door.

As Goku approached her, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. He considered asking her how she had slept, but he decided against it.

Everything he needed to know about Luffa, he reasoned, would be revealed to him soon enough.

NEXT: Fight.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #goku #trunks #chronoa #dewar #excitebike #44 #dr reca #toki toki city #wow i actually made it this far #huh

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duhragonball · 2 years

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (187/?)

Continuity Note: This story takes place about 1000 years before 66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[19 April, Age 850. Toki Toki City.]

Luffa's most recent mission had involved a harrowing battle against Kid Buu. She had prevailed, but just barely. Upon her return to the Time Nest, she was taken to the Toki Toki City hospital as quickly as possible. The Namekian healers could mend her injuries in mere minutes, but they could not undo her fatigue, and so Luffa was kept under observation while she slept.

When she awoke, the first thing she saw was a creature with pink skin, cruel eyes with black sclera, and a toothy grin. Luffa transformed on pure reflex, and in a flash the room was bathed in a golden light from her Super Saiyan form.

"Wha--?!" she blurted out. "What the--?!"

"It's all right, calm down. I'm just checking your readings."

With the room lit up, Luffa could now see the figure was wearing a white coat and black pants. It was a Majin woman, like so many others Luffa had seen in Toki Toki City, including her own roommate.

"I'm Dr. Reca," she said. "You're in the Toki Toki City hospital. Everything's fine."

"Sorry," Luffa said. "But you look a lot like--"

"Kid Buu, I know," Reca said. She pointed at her nostrils, which looked like the holes one might see on the snout of a reptile. "It's the nose, isn't it?"

"Yeah, kind of," Luffa said. "Also, I just fought him before I got here and..."

"Yes, I've heard," Reca said. "It sounds very impressive. Not many fighters could stand up to our ancestor, especially in his pure, original form. How did you do it?"

"I... I was just doing my job," Luffa said. "It's not like I beat him or anything. I just kept him busy for a while."

Reca walked around to the side of the bed and began checking machines connected to wires that were taped to Luffa's arm. As she worked, Luffa noticed a pair of pink tentacles on the doctor's head, which were intertwined to resemble a length of braided hair.

"Well, word's gotten around the city," Reca said. "I think you've definitely captured the Majin community's attention. We don't take much seriously, but our Grandfather Buu is kind of special to us all."

"Look," Luffa said, "It wasn't anything personal. He was possessed by Demigra. I had to fight him, or he would have altered the course of history."

"Of course, of course," Reca said. "All in the line of duty. How are you feeling?"

Luffa sat up and flexed the fingers on each hand. "Pretty good, actually. Last thing I remember was getting healed up and then falling asleep."

"Yes, that was three days ago," Reca said.

"Three days?"

Reca pointed at Luffa's arm. "Yes, we had to insert an IV tube to keep you hydrated. You're probably hungry. Let me see..."

Reca reached into the pockets of her coat until she found a pen. She then raised the braided tentacle up from her head until the tip was pointed at her hand. A beam of pink light shot from the tentacle, and the pen was suddenly transformed into a large chocolate bar, which she handed to Luffa.

"It's got peanuts in it. Saiyans like peanuts, right?" Reca asked.

"Uh, sure..." Luffa said. "Thanks."

"I did a few touch ups on you while you were asleep," Reca said. "Sometimes Majin healing powers can help things that Namekians can't. And sometimes it's the other way around, but Trunks told us you've been having some trouble with your ki ever since you got here."

"I have," Luffa said. "But I'll need to test myself before I can really tell if you did me any good."

"Of course," Reca said. "Drop by and let me know, okay?"

*******

Luffa returned to her apartment to find Jayncho lying on the floor, thumbing through a magazine about cars. She would occasionally sip from a glass of creme soda with ice cream scoops in it. Jayncho looked a lot like Dr. Reca, except she was red instead of pink, and her head tentacles were styled into a faux ponytail instead of a braid, and her nose looked more like a nose.

"Where have you been?" Jayncho asked idly.

And so Luffa explained her latest mission, and the convalescence that followed, leading right up to her encounter with Dr. Reca.

"She just seemed kind of... strange," Luffa said. "Like she was of put off by me fighting Majin Buu, but she wouldn't just come out and say it."

"Well, he's our ancestor," Jayncho said. "You'd be kind of ticked off if I beat up your ancestor, wouldn't you?"

"Not really," Luffa said. "Actually, I think I'd like to see that. You're not mad at me, are you?"

Jayncho shrugged. "Kid Buu's kind of a jerk anyway," she said. "Goku's the one who killed him. You just did what you had to do for the sake of history."

"Yeah," Luffa said.

"Besides, it's the Good Buu who was our ancestor. You saved his life by intervening. So, you know."

"Sure," Luffa said. "You know, the fat one, he's really tough. You should be proud of him--"

"It's just that... the Kid Buu form is where it all started," Jayncho said. "He's like the pure Majin, you know? We all carry him inside of us. I guess it means more to us than we wanted to admit."

"Great, he puts me in the hospital for three days and I'm the bad guy."

"You're not the bad guy," Jayncho said. "It's just kind of weird for people. Majins, I mean. It's like you being the Legendary Super Saiyan and all. How would you feel if that just went away, and it didn't matter anymore?"

"'If'?" Luffa shouted. "That's what happened! I've been dealing with that since I got to this stupid town!"

"Oh, yeah," Jayncho said.

"I lost most of my power, then I finally managed to turn Super Saiyan again, only to find out everybody else can do it too! And no one even remembers me in this era! All they care about is Kakarot, and apparently when he beats Majin Buu, he gets a free pass!"

"Are you hungry?" Jayncho asked. "You always gripe about Goku when you're hungry."

"Enough!" Luffa said. "I've got better things to do than listen to this!" She grabbed a bag containing a spare set of clothes and headed for the door.

"What about lunch?" Jayncho asked.

"Make it yourself!" Luffa growled. With that, she slammed the door behind her and marched down the hall.

*******

[1 July, Age 761. Earth.]

The Parallel Quests were the optimal training exercise for Time Patrollers. Each PQ was created using a fragment of altered history, usually involving a battle. These fragments had been cut off from the main timeline, and were completely isolated. Most of them only spanned fifteen minutes or less, with no true beginning or ending. As such, nothing in the PQ's was genuinely "real", and the Time Patrollers could do practically anything they wanted without causing any damage to the space-time continuum.

In this particular instance, being able to do "anything" meant not even completing the assigned mission. In this PQ, the opponents to face posed no great challenge, and so Luffa was free to unleash her power in a remote wasteland on Earth. As she screamed, the intensity of her ki formed dust devils on the sandy flats, and the ground beneath her was pulverized into a crater. Luffa simply floated in place, the eye of a miniature golden hurricane.

"Oi! Could you turn that down?"

Irritated, Luffa reduced her power level to something more manageable, and waited for the others to approach.

"That's better," said Dewar. As he floated down beside Luffa, the third member of their group, No. 44 followed close behind.

"What is it?" Luffa grumbled.

"Wellll now," Dewar said. "You don't have to be so grouchy about it. Your friend here was doing so well taking on Raditz that I thought I should check up on you before she finishes the mission."

Luffa glared at 44, who was now wearing baggy yellow pants and a black shirt. She still wore her "98CIAL" hat and jacket, and the bulky tool belt around her waist, but otherwise it looked very much like she was trying to imitate Luffa's fashion.

"Good," Luffa said. "But you two can do better than that. At your level, Raditz should be child's play, and a few Saibamen shouldn't be any trouble either. I don't know why you wanted to tag along on such an easy mission."

"I fought them alone," 44 said. "Dewar didn't help me, I promise."

"Yeah, I only wanted to join you guys because it seemed like the only way to talk to you, Luffa!" Dewar explained. "First you're on a mission, then you're in the hospital for three days, and now you're back to training!"

"I've got things to do," Luffa said. "What's on your mind, Dewar?"

"Did you ever spend much time in Camelian space?" Dewar asked.

"What?"

Dewar produced a Hoi-Poi Capsule from his pants pocket and opened it to release a folder of printouts. He then shuffled through these and handed a few select pages to Luffa.

"We've made some good progress on narrowing down your history," he said, "but there's been some conflicting reports about you. In particular, there's a Saiyan man who conducted raids on the Camelian Empire's frontier. Of course, he doesn't match your description, but a lot was made about how he did things no single Saiyan could do. He'd tear through heavily armed planets like he had a whole raiding party at his back, but witnesses claimed he was acting alone. You would have been--ohhhh-- let's say nineteen at the time."

"Nineteen?" Luffa exclaimed as she glanced at the pages. "That couldn't have anything to do with me. I spent most of that year--"

She suddenly grew very quiet, as she recognized a printout of a blurry photo of the mysterious raider. Then she blurted out a profanity that had not been heard for a thousand years.

"Ehhhh?" Dewar said, taking a step back. He did not recognize the word Luffa spoke, but the look on her face was enough to communicate its meaning. "You, uh, know the man?"

"He's my father," Luffa snarled. "This was what he was doing the whole time I was... Never mind."

"He had incredible power too, I take it?" Dewar asked.

"No he didn't," Luffa said. "By Saiyan standards he was strictly average. He only got this powerful by letting others experiment on his body. They used...!"

She quickly shoved the papers back into the open folder Dewar was holding.

"Hey, you don't have to fill me in on the whole thing," Dewar said. "He's not you, and that's the main thing I needed to clear up. It's just that there were a lot of sources that claimed you were a man, and it seems like a lot of the most credible ones were based on these reports. It definitely helps to have the real thing live and in person for questioning, hah?"

Luffa's hands began to tremble, and she quickly shoved them in her pockets. "It explains a few things," Luffa said. "There was a lot of confusion about me at the time. Mostly, it was a lot of fools who couldn't accept the idea that a woman could do the things I could do. But sometimes it seemed like people were genuinely confusing me with someone else. I never could figure it out, but it looks like Father was sabotaging me before I even got started."

"What happened to him, Luffa?" 44 asked.

Luffa looked at the girl as if she had forgotten she was there. "What do you care, kid?" she growled.

"I'm just... curious," 44 said.

"Oi, 44, read the room, will you?" Dewar said. "The lady obviously doesn't want to talk about it, and--"

Luffa faced 44 and stood about the same distance apart from her as she had with her father that day. The teenage girl was taller than Luffa, and so Luffa had to tilt back her head to lock eyes with her. The wild glare and dark circles under Luffa's eyes were no less intimidating, however.

"He betrayed me, so I killed him," Luffa said. "I gave him a free shot, just to see what he could do. Then I punched him, right about here--"

Luffa made a fist and gently held it up against 44's abdomen, though there was nothing gentle about her expression as she relived this moment.

"One strike, and I destroyed his liver. It would have taken him hours to die that way, so I offered him a quicker way out, if he told me something I needed to know.

She held up her hand in front of 44's face, mimicking a ki blast technique. "He answered my question, so I blasted his head off."

"I... I see," 44 said.

"Not a very wholesome story, is it?" Luffa said with a mirthless smile. "I doubt a cyborg like you could relate, 44. You don't even have a father, do you?"

"No," she said. "I don't.

"Trust me, you're better off," Luffa said. "You know, the stupid thing is, I actually miss him sometimes. He never really cared about me, but he had me fooled for a lot of years. Sometimes I wish I had let him live. But I guess I would have lost him anyway when I got brought to this era. So, 44, now that you've heard that story, are you sure you still want to wear my colors in battle?"

44 took a deep breath before answering. "I just thought... well, you seemed to enjoy my company during the Broly mission," she said. "And you invited me to accompany you on other missions. I thought if I wore the same clothes... well, it seemed like a show of solidarity..."

She looked like she was about to tear up, and Luffa decided to back off. "Forget it, kid," Luffa said. "I'm just in a bad mood, that's all. You can wear whatever you want, just don't assume I'm some sort of role model, all right?"

The girl nodded anxiously, and Luffa returned her attention to Dewar. "Well, was there anything else you wanted to know?" she asked.

"Uhhh, no, I think that'll do 'er," he replied. "Heh-heh...That's my little joke. "Do 'er? Dewar? Eh?"

"Fine," Luffa said. "Let's get the mission settled so I can reset to something more challenging. I really need to be alone right now, with something I can hit."

*******

[19 April, Age 850. Toki Toki City.]

"I think she doesn't like me," 44 said after they returned to the PQ station. Luffa had already taken off in the time machine to embark on a more difficult mission.

"Nah," Dewar said. "She's just under a lot of stress, kiddo. I'm in research and you're a clerk. The biggest problem we gotta deal with is a papercut, but she's out there tackling the real trouble. Super Saiyan or not, it takes a toll!"

"I hope you're right," 44 said.

"Don't worry," Dewar said. "It's not like she's gonna take a poke at you or anything. If Luffa were the type to fly off the handle like that, she would have done it to me a long time ago!"

"I hope you're right. I just... want her to like me," 44 said.

Dewar waved his tail sympathetically as he put his arm around her shoulder. "Hey hey hey," he said, "it's all right. Once you get to know her better, you'll see she's a real sweetheart. I should know!"

"How?" 44 asked.

Dewar proudly pointed his thumb at his chest. "Welllll, I happen to be a pretty good judge of character," he said. "You learn what makes folks tick when you study history, and when you've spent as much time around people as I have, you can start to tell these things. Luffa's not the hothead she comes across as. Trust me!"

As he finished speaking, one of the PQ Time Machines suddenly blinked into view. It descended onto the platform and the blue canopy began to open. Luffa jumped out as soon as the opening was wide enough for her to fit through, and she stormed through the crowd with a murderous look on her face.

"Where is he?!" Luffa growled. "He's going to answer for this!"

"Er, problem, Luffa?" Dewar asked as she walked up to him. The only answer she gave was to shove him to one side so she could keep going on her way.

"Something must have gone wrong in one of the PQ's she was using," 44 suggested, but she said this only after Luffa had walked far enough past them that 44 was reasonably sure she would be out of earshot.

"I guess so, but she was only gone a few minutes!" Dewar said. "What could have set her off so quickly?!"

*******

"She's still alive!"

Luffa had found the one she was looking for on the baseball diamond in Toki Toki City's residential zone. The field lacked even the most modest accommodations that players were used to. The dugouts were simply a pair of benches positioned just beyond the foul lines. But for those passionate about the game, it made no difference. Big League Chew was such an individual.

"Something wrong, Ace?" he asked as Luffa stormed onto the field.

"I sensed someone on Planet Namek!" Luffa shouted. "Trunks told me you were the most qualified to investigate it, and you found nothing!"

"Oh, that," he said. "Real sorry that didn't work out the way you hoped."

He was big, even by the standards of male Majins. Big League Chew looked a great deal like his famous ancestor, the fat version of Majin Buu. Except he was purple instead of pink, and even taller and rounder. He also wore a purple baseball uniform at all times. The only other colors he wore were on the red-green-and-yellow cap that shaded his eyes. It was a memento of his extraordinary career with the West City Taitans ball club. And Luffa did not care about any of this.

"You blew it!" Luffa said. She was now close enough to stand directly in front of him, though she was too short to poke him in the chest like she would have normally done in such a confrontation. Instead, she jabbed her finger at his belt buckle as she glared up at him.

"Say what?" Big League Chew asked. "Ma'am we went over that time frame at least a dozen times. And not just me. We're not perfect-- nobody bats a thousand-- but we're not exactly Bush league, either. Your friend wasn't on Namek that day."

"But she was on Earth a decade later!" Luffa. "I know because I sensed the same familiar ki when I went through the Parallel Quests involving Majin Buu!"

"Is that what this is about?" Big League Chew asked. "Listen, I know there's a lot of Majins giving you the Bronx Cheer for fighting Kid Buu the way you did. Truth is, I feel a little choked up about it myself, but I know what it's like. I was on the lineup that day when Lefty Wallace pitched his last game. He was on-track for a no-hitter, a perfect game to cap off a brilliant career. But when I went to bat, the ball sailed right into my wheelhouse. For a split second, I thought about whiffing it, but I couldn't do it. Lefty Wallace deserved my best, and that was what I gave him. I hit a triple, and the crowd wasn't too happy about it. For a few weeks, my self-respect was all I had--urk!"

Luffa had levitated up to the height of his head and she grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. "Shut. Up!" she said. "Listen to me. Keda somehow ended up on Namek. I don't know how you missed her, but she was there. From what I hear, she would have been teleported to Earth right before it exploded. She must have laid low there, but while I was in the PQ, I sensed her energy again."

"Where? When?" Big League Chew asked.

"Somewhere near West City," Luffa said. "The day Babidi and Majin Buu were going to destroy it. That's all I could sort out before the time fragment ended. There's so many people on Earth that I can't get a good fix on her location. And the whole Majin Buu thing was a distraction, so that only made things harder. But then I remembered you, and how Trunks said you were so skilled at tracking people down."

"Shoot, Ace, if you wanted my help, you should have just asked," Big League Chew said. He had only been momentarily surprised by Luffa grabbing him, but now he had fully regained his cool composure. "Thing is, if I struck out before, what makes you think I can find this girl now?"

"Because this time, we're going to do it together," Luffa said. "I'll keep Majin Buu off your back, and you can sniff out her exact location."

He thought this over for a moment and smirked in approval. "Shoot. It just might work. I know West City, and it's starting to sound like this kid of yours only shows herself when you're around. You can flush her out, and I can step in to clean up."

"I'm glad you approve," Luffa said. "Because we start now."

*******

[7 May, Age 850. Earth.]

"Majin Buu, what are you waiting for? Finish her off, now!"

For all of his wicked magic, the Evil Wizard Babidi was nothing more than a spectator for the battle between Buu and Luffa. She had no idea where Goku or the rest of the Earth's defenders were supposed to be, but it didn't particularly matter. This was only a fragment of time, and the people who existed within it were of no great consequence. Luffa wasn't fighting Majin Buu to defend anyone, or to preserve the timeline. She wasn't even doing it as a training exercise, although that end was achieved all the same.

The purpose of this battle was to produce enough ki to get Keda's attention, assuming she really was somewhere on Earth to be found. The last two times Luffa had sensed Keda, it had been while she was using her Super Saiyan form. Keda was the type to keep as low a profile as possible. When Big League Chew and the other Time Patrollers had searched for her on Namek, Keda might have suppressed her energy, because she didn't want to risk being discovered by unknown aliens. But Luffa's power represented something Keda might trust, and if Keda sensed Luffa fighting Frieza or Majin Buu, that would definitely get her attention.

This particular fragment was only seven minutes in duration. Luffa's plan was to raise her power as high as she could go and to fight Majin Buu as aggressively as possible. Majin Buu's strategy, on the other hand, was to kill anyone who got in his way.

"Mean lady really strong!" Buu squealed, "but not as strong as Buu is!"

"How are we doing?!" Luffa called out. She was speaking into the communicator hidden in her left ear. This confused Babidi, who kept demanding to know to whom she was speaking, but she had no intention of explaining it to him.

"Struck out again, Ace. I lost her," came the reply from Big League Chew.

"Dammit, we may have scared her off!" Luffa said. "She can sense your power too, and if she senses a Majin coming, she might think it's another enemy working for Babidi."

"Should we reset the mission, Ace? Try again?"

"Not yet," Luffa said. She was fistfighting Buu in close quarters while she spoke. At first, she had been reluctant to try this, due to Buu's great size and his fluid body structure. And yet, she had managed to frustrate him this way, as he seemed to lack experience in melee attacks.

"You no beat Buu!" he squealed.

He was right, of course. Luffa was stronger than she had been during her first battle with this version of Majin Buu, but even if she could defeat him, she doubted she could finish him off before the PQ mission ran out of time. And yet, Keda was sure to hide her power as long as Buu remained a threat.

As Luffa considered the dilemma, Buu's voluminous gut suddenly spread out and enveloped her.

"Brilliant move, Majin Buu!" cheered Babidi, who was hovering at a safe distance from the fight. "Crush the life right out of her!"

Luffa threw up her elbows over her head, and pushed back against the Majin flesh that now pressed against her from all sides. The pressure was manageable, but she could tell that he was only enjoying the moment before he began to bear down on her with his full power.

Resetting the mission, as Big League Chew had suggested, would be useless. They would just have to face the same problem all over again.

Ignoring Buu was no answer either. With no one to stop him, he would destroy West City long before they could locate Keda.

It seemed like the only answer was for Luffa to search West City while Big League Chew held Buu off, except that would be even more difficult than what they were already doing. Her senses weren't as sharp as his, so it would take longer to find Keda, and Big League Chew simply didn't have the strength to last in a battle like this.

And then, just as Buu's body had collapsed around her completely, cutting off what little air she had left, Luffa suddenly knew what to do.

She erupted out of Majin Buu's stomach like golden magma blasting out of a volcano.

"No! Majin Buu! What has she done to you?!" Babidi cried.

Luffa didn't waste time looking back to see. If she had done any damage to Buu at all, he would pull himself back together in no time. Instead, she moved away from them, and closer to West City.

"I've got to shoot you down, Chew!" Luffa said. "Prepare yourself!"

"Run that by me again, Ace?" Big League Chew replied.

"Keda thinks you're a hostile, and we don't have time to convince her you're not!" Luffa said. "But if I attack you, and you suppress your power, she'll think you've been neutralized!"

"Don't see how beaning me helps us steal a base," Big League Chew said.

"Because I'm going to shoot you down right over the city," Luffa explained. "You'll seem to be falling, but you'll actually be landing as close as you can to wherever you sensed Keda before. At that range, you should be able to pinpoint her, right?"

"Sure, Ace, if she stops suppressing her ki," Big League Chew said. "But if she balks..."

"Don't worry about that," Luffa said. "She'll power up again once she senses me winning. She wants me to find her, she just doesn't want to give away her position to the enemy. Now get ready! I'll try to be gentle, but I have to make this look good!"

"You're in the nosebleed section, Ace," Big League Chew said. "How're you gonna tag me from all the way over there?"

Luffa might have made a confident rejoinder to him, but Majin Buu had already recuperated and was preparing to attack her again. Luffa kept her back to him until the last possible moment, and she his giant yellow mitts were just inches away from her head...

...She let herself drop, allowing him to pass by her. In the moment of confusion, she flew back up to his level, then raised her index and middle fingers and swung her arm out at the back of Buu's head.

With a furious scream, she fired, sending a crimson ki blast straight through Buu's head and into the horizon beyond. Without delay, she pressed her assault on Buu, punching his back while Buu's arms flailed around his damaged head.

A moment later, she sensed a sudden drop in ki from West City, and she heard a yelp from her earpiece communicator.

"Th-that's some fastball..." Big League Chew gasped.

"Majin Buu, what are you doing?!" Babidi screamed. "Stop fooling around this instant and do something nasty to this young lady, do you hear me?!"

Luffa continued battering Majin Buu, and as she did, she began to yell. Her power level increased, rising higher and higher as she continued to press her attack. It was a theatrical gesture more than a true strategy. It would take long minutes to defeat an opponent like Majin Buu, which meant that she would need to conserve her energy instead of making a grandstand play. But Keda didn't know any of this, and Luffa only needed to make it look like she was winning.

"You're finished, Buu!" Luffa shouted. It was a lie, but it helped her get in the spirit of the deception. At the very least, fighting him at this intensity would make for an interesting exercise. As her fist pounded against his pink, rubbery flesh, she noticed the impressions left by her knuckles were getting deeper and deeper. Buu did nothing to counter, but that was typical for this version of the creature. He always let his opponent run wild before turning the tables on them. Even as she pummeled Buu, Luffa was mentally preparing herself for the payback he would dish out.

And then, Majin Buu suddenly decided he'd taken all he could stand. With a high-pitched "hmmph!" he tensed his entire body, repairing what little damage Luffa had done to it, and knocking her away like an errant crumb on his vest. The look on his face was so grim and spiteful that Luffa wondered if he was about to transform into one of his more sinister forms.

"You make me mad," Buu seethed. "Big power."

If looks could kill, Luffa would have already been dead in that moment. As it was, she backed off and raised her arms over her face, expecting the worst.

What followed was something she could only describe as "an explosive wave, but pink." For a moment, Luffa simply tumbled through the blast like a leaf in a hurricane, but the ki she used to protect herself held fast. When Buu's fury subsided, she was surprised to find herself relatively unharmed.

The rest of the Earth, however, seemed to be a different story. There had once been green terrain and blue waters below them. Now, there was only exposed bedrock, and veins of glowing orange where magma threatened to rise up between the cracks in the scarred landscape.

Not far away, Majin Buu still floated in the air. He looked much happier now, having vented his frustrations. Luffa could find no sign of Babidi. If Buu had spared any concern for his master's safety, there was no way to be sure.

"You still alive?" Majin Buu called to her. "Wow, you strong. More fun for Buu!"

Luffa set her teeth as she reached out with her senses. She was reasonably confident that she could hold out against Majin Buu for a while longer, but she wasn't sure if there was anything left of West City to protect. And then, just as she found a great emptiness where a large Earthling population had once been...

*******

...Suddenly, she found herself standing next to Big League Chew, at the same spot where they had left the time machine they had used to get there. Majin Buu was gone, and the destruction he had wrought was undone.

"What happened?" Luffa asked.

"We struck out," Big League Chew said. He pointed in the direction of West City, then gestured in the other direction, where Luffa could sense Majin Buu's immense ki, rapidly approaching. "Whatever he did a minute ago, it wiped out the whole town, so we failed the mission. Time Machine automatically reset us back at the start, Ace."

"Yes, I gathered that," Luffa said testily. "I meant what happened on your end? Did you find her?"

"Came real close," Big League Chew said. "Your pal raised her ki again, just like you said she would, but I needed to get closer, and I couldn't get there quick enough without raising my own power." He placed his right arm over his left shoulder and grunted. "And that beanball of yours didn't do me any favors. You really are a headhunter, y'know?"

"Sorry," Luffa said. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she could see the results of her attack, it only shamed her to caused such harm to an ally. "I owe you one, Chew."

"Not yet, you don't," Big League Chew said with a shrug of his good shoulder. "I'm a little sore, but that doesn't mean I can't throw. We can try this a couple more times, and we're sure to pull this one out in extra innings."

"No, it's no good," Luffa said. "We've established she's here, and that's something, but even if knew exactly where to go, it doesn't do any good to contact her in this time fragment. And I don't know how to convince the Supreme Kai of Time to let me take a time machine to the actual West City of Age 774. She won't let us do anything that will alter the past, so until I work that out, it's not worth putting you through all that pain."

Big League Chew looked out at the horizon. Majin Buu hadn't flown into view yet, but he soon would. He moved his jaw a few times, then spit out the gum he had in his mouth.

"Think you might be right, Ace," he finally said. "Squeeze play isn't the way to go, but that doesn't mean we can't try something else..."

"You've got an idea?" Luffa asked.

*******

[19 April, Age 850. Earth.]

The house was one of the older Capsule Corp models from the previous century. Some of the siding was worn or covered in moss, and the garden surrounding it seemed to threaten to overrun the entire property, but the lawn ornaments were relatively new, and the mailbox flag was pointing up, and a modest air-car sat parked in the driveway.

Luffa and Big League Chew stood on the sidewalk that ran alongside the yard. It was an idyllic suburban scene. Nearby, children were playing a game of street hockey, and a man was repairing a grill in his garage. No one paid much attention to the Saiyan and Majin. Neither species was an unusual sight on the Earth in this era, but the two Time Patrollers had also taken the precaution of wearing disguises to be even less conspicuous.

"Gotta keep a low profile," Big League Chew had said before they left Toki Toki City. "This is my native era, and I played for the West City Taitans until recently. Someone might bug us for autographs."

Luffa trusted his judgment, but she didn't care much for the denim jackets and baseball caps he had picked out for the trip. They drew a few curious stares from the neighborhood, but no one recognized or suspected them, which she took as a good sign.

"So this is the place," Luffa said quietly as she gestured to the house.

"No doubt about it," Big League Chew assured her. "I remember this area from the mission. After you shot me down..." He pointed his massive thumb over his shoulder, "...I ended up just on the other side of those houses there. I sensed her, but I didn't have time to get a good fix. But they kept good records back in '74, and the pencil jockeys back at the Time Patrol are first string. All we had to do was cross-reference all the census records for this neighborhood."

Luffa nodded. They had checked and double-checked their research before coming to this place. She already knew it was the right address. All they had needed was a place to start looking, and the rest had come together quite easily. Keda might have made the search more difficult by using an alias, but she hadn't bothered. After all, she had been stranded on this strange planet, centuries in her future. She never would have expected anyone to recognize her name. Even better, she had stayed in the same house long after the Majin Buu crisis.

"'S'matter, Ace?" Big League Chew asked. "We're here. We already cleared it with the Supreme Kai of Time. Trips to the past are fouls, but nothing in the rulebook says you can't visit Earth in the present. You can walk right in and see your buddy whenever you want."

Luffa swallowed hard. "That's not what I was trying to accomplish," she said. "I wanted to prove that she was on Earth, that she got stuck here somehow, and that we needed to send her back home. If what those recordkeepers found out is true, she would have shown up around 763 or so. But now it's 850, and she'd have to be..."

As Luffa did the math in her head, she heard a latch click from the house. There was a creak as the door swung open, and then a voice...

"Come on outside, and I'll show you the tomatoes. They're really growing up fast."

Several seconds later an old woman stepped out, accompanied by a pair of small children. Once they were clear of the doorway, Luffa noticed a third child, a little girl, standing hesitantly at the threshold. The old woman looked back and waved to her.

"Well come on," she called out. "Don't you want to see the tomatoes?"

The girl smiled meekly and shook her head.

"You don't? Well suit yourself. We're gonna look at the garden."

She continued on her way with the other children, a boy and another girl, and led them through the rows of plants that took up most of the yard. There seemed to be no particular rhyme or reason to the tour. The old woman would stop occasionally to point out something trivial, or to gently ask the children not to play in the loamy soil. Eventually, the girl in the doorway finally decided to join the others. If any of them noticed Luffa and Big League Chew watching them, they did not show it.

"Is that her?" Big League Chew asked Luffa quietly. "I mean, she looks old enough."

"I'm not sure," Luffa said. Keda was a shapeshifter, which had surely helped her infiltrate Earthling society. Assuming her Dorlun powers worked as well as they did when Luffa last saw her, then Keda could have looked like anyone. The old woman, one of the children, or the man fixing the grill on the other side of the street. There was no way to be completely certain, and yet, according to the records, the house did belong to a woman named Keda, age ninety-nine.

"What are those, Mammaw Keda?" asked the older girl.

"Oh, that's loofah, dear."

Luffa had to stifle a gasp when she heard the word. For a moment, she thought the old woman had noticed her, but they never looked in her direction. Instead, the old woman simply gestured at a row of vines growing alongside the west wall of the house. They clung to a wooden frame that had been build onto the carport. Lengths of twine and wires were wrapped around each vine to support it. Several long, green fruits hung from the vines, which the old woman showed off to the children.

"They're not quite ready to be picked," she said. "Honestly, I don't have much use for the taste anyway."

"Then why do you grow them?" the older girl asked.

The old woman smiled gently at her. "Oh, I like the challenge, I suppose. It's not easy to grow these things at my age, or in this climate. And they remind me of someone I knew when I was a little girl."

"You were a little girl, Mammaw?"

She chuckled softly and patted the child on the head. "Well of course I was. But it was a very long time ago..."

Luffa tapped Big League Chew on the arm. "We need to get out of here," she said.

"What's wrong, Ace?"

"Nothing," Luffa said. "I just... We need to go. Now."

"But you didn't even go talk to her--"

"Come on," Luffa snarled, and she took him by the hand and led him away. Once they had found a secluded spot, they took off into the air, and Big League Chew followed her back to the time machine that had brought them here from Toki Toki City.

"I don't get it, Ace," he said. "We went to all that trouble to find her, and you didn't even say hello. Not that big a deal, I guess. You can always come back tomorrow, but it seems kind of funny to stop just short of home plate."

Luffa didn't answer him. She didn't know what to say, or how to feel. It had all been so simple to her before. The problem had seemed like an abstraction. An eleven year old girl was thought to be dead, only to turn up alive and lost in time. But the woman she had just seen, who had settled down on the Earth, started a family, and lived most of her life there...

Luffa had no idea how to respond to that. She didn't know what to think, or how to explain it to Big League Chew, or anyone else. And so she simply flew back to the time machine, and let the onrushing wind dry the tears that were now running down her face.

NEXT: Partycrasher.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #big league chew #keda #majin buu #babidi #dewar #44 #dr reca #jayncho #earth #toki toki city #westwingconvert #dunno if you're still around but here's your answer

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