#lssjluffafic

[duhragonball]

[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

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (210/?)

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 takes place

[??????????????????????]

The Time Vault had been destroyed, and with it, all of history. All that remained of the universe was Demigra, who had committed the destruction, and Luffa, the last warrior left to oppose him. They were all that was left of the universe, or so it had seemed.

"Demigra has withdrawn to the Crack of Time, his former prison. Since the Crack is cut off from the natural flow of time, it shelters him from the effects of the Time Vault's destruction. And you, Luffa, are here, with the Scroll of Eternity, and your friend Dotz, and with.... me."

Luffa looked down at the Scroll of Eternity, which she had dropped on the white ground of this empty space. Then she looked up at the being who had emerged from the parchment. "Who are you?" Luffa asked. "What are you? For a moment, you seemed to be Tokitoki, the bird from the Time Nest, but that doesn't make any sense..."

"Because Tokitoki can't talk," said the mysterious figure. "And Demigra absorbed the Divine Tokitoki Bird, so how could he be here now, speaking with you?"

"Divine... Bird?" Dotz asked. "Luffa, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure I understand it myself," Luffa said, glancing back at Dotz. "I mean, I'm still confused to see you here, and I still haven't figured out where 'here' is."

"The truth is," the figure explained, "that Dotz is not truly present in this moment. Her psychic abilities allow her to peek into her own future. From her perspective, this is all a vision of things to come."

"Well, uh, yes, that's how I understood it," Dotz said. "I've been trying to find out what happened to Luffa ever since she disappeared on Planet Nagaoka. I've been improving my abilities, trying to get a better fix on her, until... now. But I have to admit, it feels like I'm standing here with you both. I can see and hear and touch Luffa, even though I know I'm still in my dining room at home."

"It's an impressive achievement, Dotz," the figure said. "The reason your vision is so clear is because so little remains of this moment in time. Only Luffa and Demigra, and the Divine Toki Toki Bird, which he consumed to achieve his power over time."

"And you," Dotz said. "Whoever you are. Was it you who lead me here?"

"No, you made it this far on your own," the figure replied. "I could have prevented you from tracking Luffa to this point, but I was pleased with your efforts, Dotz, and so I chose to allow you to share this moment with Luffa, as a reward to you both. Your long quest to find your friend has reached a successful conclusion."

"A reward to us both? Why reward me?" Luffa asked. "What did I do?"

"Funny you should ask that," the figure said. "Even now, you position yourself between Dotz and myself. You don't know what to make of me, or what my intentions are, but you still make every effort to protect your friend, even though you doubt you have the power to do so. It's no wonder that you inspired her so."

"Inspired?" Luffa asked. "What do you mean?"

"He...uh, I guess I should say 'they'. Well, they're right," Dotz said. "You're the reason I went to all this trouble, Luffa. Ever since you brought me out of that coma with your powers, I've been intrigued by who you are, what you represent. It was like my psychic foresight was intensified, and I could see things more clearly. And yet I couldn't tell your fortune, which only intrigued me more. And more than that... You stood up for me. Like that day in the Federation Council meeting. I don't think you should have killed that person, but it still meant a lot to me. No one's ever really stood up for me like that before."

"Hmmph. That was nothing," Luffa said. "You did a lot for the Federation during the Jindan War, Dotz. That honorless toad should have shown you some gratitude, but instead she spoke to you with nothing but contempt. She was lucky I made it quick."

"Yes, well... it still meant a lot to me," Dotz said. "After you went to Nagaoka, I got involved with some activist movements. I wanted to try to make a difference, like how you always did. Using my abilities to help others, it was kind of like how I tried to help you. And it changed my life. I could tell you all sorts of stories, but... mostly, I just wanted to say 'thank you.'"

"That's..." Luffa began to say, though she couldn't find the rest of the words. At last she crossed her arms and turned away. "I didn't..." she said, trying again to respond, but she couldn't.

"I don't know what's happening here, Luffa," Dotz said. "I'd like to help if I can. But even if I can't, I know you'll do what's best for everyone. It's not a prediction. It's just something I've very sure about."

"Thanks, Dotz," Luffa finally murmured. "I... don't know if you're right, but I appreciate the support. It's good to see you again."

"Yes, but it's time for Dotz to return to her dining room table," the mysterious figure said. "As I said earlier, I was impressed by your efforts, Dotz, and I wanted you to reach Luffa so you could express your gratitude, but you've done that now, and I have business with her that I don't want to reveal to others."

"Oh," Dotz said. "Well, I hope I didn't overstay my welcome."

"Not at all," the figure said. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Dotz." It was difficult to make out its features, though Luffa thought she could see a friendly smile within the diffuse glow of its form.

"Uh... well, oh goodness. I guess I really am going back," Dotz said. Luffa turned to look at her, and found her body was beginning to fade away. Dotz held up her hands and watched them with detached fascination.

"Dotz!" Luffa said with a sudden urgency. "Tell Zatte I'm sorry! Tell her--!"

"Zatte?" Dotz asked. "Oh, dear me. I didn't even think of it! I should have told you before..."

"Tell me what?" Luffa asked. "Dotz! What do you mean?"

Dotz continued speaking, but Luffa could no longer hear her. She continued to fade away, and when Luffa reached out for her, her hands passed through Dotz's body as though she were not there at all. Indeed, she never had been there. Soon, even the image of Dotz was no more. Luffa stared at the emptiness that remained, then looked back at the mysterious figure.

"What was she trying to tell me?" Luffa demanded.

"If I thought you were supposed to know," the figure replied, "then I would have allowed her to stay and answer you."

"Then you're in charge of... whatever this place is?" Luffa asked, waving her arm at the emptiness. "You're the one who brought me here?"

"It was Demigra's idea to corrupt the Scroll of Eternity and leave it in reach," the mysterious figure said. "I just used his plan to suit my own purpose."

"You said you had business with me," Luffa said. "Well, here I am. Is it about me fighting Demigra? Because the rest of the universe is gone, so there's not a whole lot else left for me to do."

"Are you ready to fight him?"

"Does it matter?" Luffa threw out her arms in exasperation, then stared down at her boots. "I don't know. Probably not. I just know I couldn't leave things where they stand."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," the mysterious figure explained. "You've been fighting for the Time Patrol, but mostly to take your mind off your problems. You never really understood their cause. And now you're about to rush into another battle without pausing to prepare yourself, or to appreciate the stakes."

"Why does that matter to you?" Luffa asked. "You seemed to be Tokitoki, but Demigra absorbed him. You don't look like any of the gods I've met so far..."

As she considered this, she looked back at the unfurled scroll lying near their feet. "You rose up out of the Scroll of Eternity. So maybe you are the Scroll, assuming humanoid form?"

"Interesting guess," the figure said. "But that's not it. The full truth would be difficult for you to comprehend."

"Ninth Eye..." Luffa muttered. It was an ancient oath used by her old friend Dr. Topsas. He had spoken it in reference to his religion. Luffa only said it because Dr. Topsas used to say it.

"Well, that's an even better guess," the figure said. "Let's approach it from that direction."

The figure did not change, and yet it assumed a more distinct appearance all the same. Luffa might have expected it to transform in some observable way, but this did not happen. There was no flash of light or colorful metamorphosis. She was now looking at an arachnoid creature, similar in appearance to Dr. Topsas, but with nine eyes atop his head instead of the usual eight. Each eye gleamed a dazzling blue, like sapphire gems. Where Topsas' pedipalps constantly fidgeted and wiggled to indicate his mood, this arachnoid remained very still, suggesting a preternatural calm that no mortal could achieve. He stood on four of his eight legs, and held out the hands on his other four limbs in a welcoming gesture.

Luffa was not impressed. "Are you telling me that you're God?" she asked. "That Doctor Topsas picked the right religion, and everyone else is doing it wrong?"

"You recognize this imagery, Little Mammal," he said patiently. "I'm not claiming this as my identity, but it makes a useful model."

"Then you're some sort of overseer?" Luffa suggested. "Chronoa's boss, if she has one."

The arachnoid divinity was replaced with a new form, one Luffa had never seen before, but was somehow recognizable nonetheless. It looked like an alien child, with a large, egg-shaped head, blue in the center, and purple on the sides. The child's innocent eyes looked up at Luffa, and he smiled enthusiastically.

"Nuh-uh, this is Chronoa's boss," the child said with a giggle. "He thinks she does a good job, but she still gets really scared whenever she meets him. I mean really really scared."

"I'll take your word for it," Luffa said. "But I still don't understand."

The child was gone and the Divine Tokitoki Bird appeared. It spoke with a voice that reminded Luffa of Son Goku, if he had a beak and ate birdseed for every meal.

"You were right when you said I couldn't be Tokitoki, but let's consider him for a moment, shall we? Chronoa once told you that Tokitoki creates time. That sounds rather important, doesn't it? And yet, Tokitoki doesn't appear to be able to speak. He can't even feed himself, which is why the Kais chose one of their own to look after him."

"Just like how the Scroll of Eternity can't protect itself," Luffa said. "Demigra erased all of history pretty easily now that I think about it. I mean, it was an impressive attack he used, but the power behind it wasn't that intense."

"All of history? Then how are we talking to each other now? And what's that lying on the ground there?"

Luffa shrugged. "I just assumed Demigra left a chunk of time for me to exist in," she said. "Or he made all of this with his new power. I mean, he absorbed Tokitoki, the real one. That means he can create time now, right?"

"That's right."

The divine bird floating before Luffa was gone, and Demigra now stood in his place. Luffa's eyes narrowed, but she did not attack. The body language was all wrong, and though it was a perfect recreation of her enemy, she knew instinctively that this was not the same being.

All the same, it was still unnerving to see Demigra with such kind eyes, gesturing at himself like an elementary school teacher giving lessons.

"Demigra took the Divine Tokitoki Bird and assumed its powers for himself. He wants to control time in a way that Chronoa never could. After all, the Supreme Kai of Time isn't supposed to control time at all. She is a steward, tending her charge. The gardener doesn't command the plants to grow, nor does he bloom the flowers himself. There's an order to these things."

"Is that what you are, then?" Luffa asked. "You're some sort of... personification of nature?"

The not-Demigra raised an eyebrow, as though considering her question. "That's an interesting way of looking at it."

He was gone, and a new speaker was there. Luffa did not recognize this one. He looked like an Earthling, but not like any of the Earthling Time Patrollers Luffa had met. He was a civilian, tall, middle-aged, and entirely unremarkable. Without making eye contact, he paced around the emptiness, as though unsure what to do with himself as he talked.

"They wrote all those stories about you back then," he said, occasionally running his fingers over his beard. "You used to read them in your spare time, remember? Back when you lived aboard the Emerald Eye."

"You know about that?" Luffa asked. It had felt like a lifetime ago, but in her early career as the Super Saiyan, she had developed a fan following, and since they knew little about Luffa herself, they began to write their own stories and share them through subspace communication networks. Luffa had sampled a number of these for her own amusement.

"Yeah, like that one where you were a werewolf or whatever. Chapter... hold on. Right, Chapter 23. Sorry. I had to look it up. 'Sergio Blackthorne'. Great stuff."

"How did you know...?" Luffa asked. "Wait, 'Chapter 23'? What are you talking about?"

"One way to look at this is like you're a character in a story," he explained. "That someone is writing all of this down, right now, as you experience it. Everything you've ever said, done, or felt is in that story, no different from that other one you read, the one where you get sold to a boy band and they--"

"Could we not talk about that one?" Luffa said, blushing.

"Oh, right, sorry about that. Anyway, your whole life is the story. The Divine Tokitoki Bird just makes the paper that it's written on. The Scroll of Eternity contains the text, and the Supreme Kai of Time makes sure no one rewrites Chapter 23 and turns you into an accountant, or a space whale. But who's putting the words on the page? Who decides what happens next?"

"You?" Luffa guessed.

"Well, that would be telling," he said with a smirk. "It'd certainly be easier to just say that. Free will is an illusion, and everything you say and do is decided ahead of time by an old man with a beard sitting on a cloud. Or an old man with a beard sitting in front of a computer. Or it's a Kai with a magic wand, or a nine-eyed spider, or a disembodied Providence. But if it was all laid out for you in advance, then you and I wouldn't need to have this talk, would we? Demigra wouldn't be a problem either. You'd just do what you're predestined to do, and he'd do what he's predestined to do, and it would all be a formality."

"He gave me a choice," Luffa said. "He planned everything out, but he couldn't be sure about anything after he took out the Time Vault, so he offered a peace deal if I left him alone."

"And you chose to reject his offer."

She shook her head and made a desperate groan. "It was all wrong," she said. "I mean, I thought it was a trick at first, but it all seemed so real, and the longer I was in that world he created for me, the more I wanted to stay there. But it just wouldn't work..."

"I know. For what it's worth, it was real. Demigra really did use Tokitoki's power to preserve a slice of the old history for you to live your life over again. But you did well to refuse his temptation."

"Don't misunderstand," Luffa said. "I didn't leave that world because of any sort of selfless nobility or keen insight. I was in there for six weeks, living out my days on Dorlu Prime, trying to make things the way I wanted them to be. But in the end, I just found new ways to screw it all up."

"Exactly. You saw through Demigra's lie."

"What are you talking about?" Luffa asked.

"I'm talking about why it's forbidden to change history," the mysterious figure said. The form he took became that of the Supreme Kai of Time, and for a moment Luffa thought Chronoa had somehow joined them in this empty place.

"You always wondered, didn't you?" she asked. "Trunks changed history, and Chronoa allowed those changes to remain, but no one else gets the same exception. What's so wrong with changing the past? How could it be a crime to prevent a tragedy?"

"Trunks was trying to save his world from those killer cyborgs. Or androids. I forget which," Luffa said.

The figure changed again, this time assuming the form of Cell, in his perfect form. "And Trunks' actions led to a much greater crisis," he said. "Who's to say which changes were justified and which were not?"

"But it all worked out for him," Luffa protested. "Kakarot died either way, but at least he got to come back to life later on in one timeline. At least one version of Trunks got to grow up with his father."

"Perhaps, but what about some other boy who might have lost his father in the altered world? Trunks might have made a better world for some people, but it could have become worse for others."

"You don't know that," Luffa objected. "And even if you did, how could he be expected to anticipate every possible consequence of...?"

The mysterious figure looked like Trunks now, and he raised his chin triumphantly as the realization finally dawned on Luffa.

"Oh," she said.

"Oh," the mysterious figure replied.

"In the world Demigra made for me," Luffa said. "He killed all the Tikosi, so that I'd never become the Super Saiyan. My father never had the chance to betray me, never had the chance to turn my husband against me. I thought I had it made, except I never had any reason to go to the Plutark system, which meant I never had the chance to save Wampaaan'riix's life."

"Go on."

"I... I had no idea what to do with my husband and my future-wife. And while I was still making up my mind, they worked it out on their own. Some sort of dopey 'arrangement.' You're saying that was all real? That wasn't some crappy illusion Demigra came up with?"

"It was a real scenario, yes."

Luffa threw back her head and punched her right palm with her left. "I could have murdered them both," she growled. "The way they talked about... about sharing me like some half-empty canteen bottle! I expected Kandai to treat me like dirt, but she was special!"

"She would be special," he said. "Later, when time had passed and certain things happened between the two of you. Just because you and Zatte fell in love at a certain time, that doesn't mean you were compatible at an earlier time. She had feelings for you, even back then, but she wasn't ready for those feelings yet. Neither were you."

"The cake," Luffa said.

"Cake?"

"Chronoa tried to explain it to me," Luffa said. She began to pace around the void in wide arcs as she considered it. "She said time is what keeps everything from happening all at once. You can speed things up or go forward or backward, but the batter still needs time to bake."

She turned back to the figure with a worried look in her eyes. "What are you trying to tell me here?" she asked. "That there's only one way that everything has to turn out? Only one path that we all have to follow, no matter how much it hurts?"

"No," the figure said. "That's not it at all. I'm saying that the pain you experienced in the past may lead to something worthwhile in the future. When someone like you or Trunks tries to change the past, there's a chance it may make things worse, or different, or maybe even better. But how could you, with your limited perception, ever know for sure? In the end, all you can do is trade one sequence of events for another."

"Like with Cell," Luffa said. "He was designed to absorb 17 and 18, but they were already dead in his lifetime, so he had to go back in time to when they were still alive. Except that just wound up getting him killed."

"Very good," the figure said. Now it looked like Luffa herself. "Do you think Cell would rather be imperfect or dead? The point is that the time machine never actually offer him a better path. In the end, it only gave him a choice between two bad endings."

"I get it," Luffa said. "I mean, I sort of understood when I picked up that scroll to come here. But now it's a lot clearer to me. Sooner or later, no matter which friends I got to keep, no matter how strong I might have become, I probably would have run into some other problem. I could keep Keda from dying or disappearing, but for how long? I could avoid becoming the Super Saiyan, but that wouldn't just solve everything. Maybe I'd find myself in a pinch where I'd need that kind of power. It might have taken me years to get there, but sooner or later, I'd realize Demigra's 'gift' wasn't really worth it. It's just that..."

"Yes?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes. "It hurts," she said as she began to ball up her fists. "Not just the Tikosi, but all the other things that went wrong. And maybe Dotz turned out better off, but I let so many people down. Maybe if I'd done things differently, the Saiyans could have done something about Frieza, or... I don't know. Maybe my wife and I could still be together."

"You carry regrets," the figure said. "Things you wish you could undo."

"Yes," Luffa said. "I guess someone like you wouldn't know anything about that."

"Not exactly. But that's just why changing history is so dangerous. Trunks learned the hard way that regrets and good intentions aren't always enough. Your friends prayed to gods who could be called 'all-knowing'. They would exist outside of time. Everlasting. Eternal. They would know everything that ever happened and everything that ever will. To them, it's all like reading every page of the book all at once. And such a being would be wise enough to know how to alter history without any unwanted side-effects. But you? It just wouldn't work."

"Then what good am I?" Luffa asked. "If I'm bound to fail, then what's the point of going on?"

"Going on is the point," the figure replied. "If I were one of those eternal beings... I think I'd take some interest in the temporal existence of someone like you. Someone who can fail and succeed. Someone who doesn't know how the story ends, and so she has to do the best she can with what she does know. She makes her decisions based on what she's learned in the past. Life experiences, information gathered by others, and stories passed down from her ancestors. It's not perfect, but it gives her a code of conduct, a way to decide what to do when the path isn't so clear, and the answers aren't so obvious."

The figure took a new form, this time resembling Son Goku. Despite the physical resemblance, his expression lacked the care-free cheerfulness of the real thing. He looked down at Luffa with a sort of detached warmth in his eyes, like a person looking at a photo of a beloved pet. She didn't care much for this.

"Eventually," he went on, "you might go on to set an example for others, and they can learn from your mistakes or repeat them all over again."

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, then fat chance," Luffa said. "Kakarot's gone, remember? Demigra destroyed the Time Vault, along with the rest of history. And even if he survived somehow, he doesn't know a thing about me. He grew up on Earth, barely knowing what a Saiyan was. All he ever heard was that I was a man who blew himself up one day. Whatever legacy I might have had is through him, and he's gone now."

"You think so?" the figure asked. "So why did you take the scroll and come here, then? Demigra left it for you so you could fight him. But if everyone's already gone, then what would be the point?"

"I just wanted to get away from that other world he made for me," Luffa fumed. "He took away my Super Saiyan power when he stuck me in my younger body, but I still wanted to fight him, if only just to show him I wouldn't play along with his dumb plans."

"I see. Then you expect to die."

"Either he kills me, or I win and I'm stuck in the Crack of Time for the rest of my life," Luffa said. "What else is left?"

"Maybe you should take a closer look at that scroll and see for yourself."

Luffa was confused for a moment, then she reached down to fetch the Scroll off the ground. As she held it open, an image appeared in the parchment.

*******

[21 April, Age 850]

"After everything is destroyed, I'll make a new history! My history!"

As Demigra shouted these words, there appeared around him dozens of copies of his scepter, only they were blood red, and glowing ominously.

"What?" Chronoa asked. "What do you mean by that? What are you thinking?"

"A new history?" Luffa asked. "Can he do that?"

As she contemplated the question, Son Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan and attacked. Luffa followed his lead, but Demigra was ready for them, and he flung his hands forward, sending the crimson scepters down at them like a hail of arrows.

The two of them managed to dodge some of the energy spears, but there were too many of them, and one finally went through Luffa's chest. Soon enough, she was pinned to the floor of the Time Vault, and Goku was brought down only a few moments later.

As Chronoa knelt beside Luffa, the Time Vault echoed with the howls of the arcane wind, mixed with Demigra's triumphant laughter.

"Everything!!" he shouted. "Begone!"

"Demigraaaa!" Chronoa shouted. She stood between Goku and Luffa, and watched helplessly as Demigra produced a large energy distortion in the atrium of the Time Vault. There was nothing anyone could do...

*******

[???????????????]

In the empty world, Luffa looked up from the Scroll of Eternity and her eyes narrowed with quiet fury.

"That bastard..." Luffa muttered.

"You noticed something?" the mysterious figure asked.

She rolled up the scroll and waved it at him angrily. "This was all another temporal incursion!" she shouted. "It's the exact same crap I've been dealing with since I joined up with the Time Patrol!"

"Oh?"

She pointed to the scroll with her free hand. "Look!" she shouted. "It's got the same purple smoke coming off of it, just like every other time Towa or Demigra screwed around with history. I didn't realize it until just now, because I'm used to letting Chronoa or Trunks tell me these things, but it's the exact same deal! Which means I can go back to before it happened and fix it! Just like every other Time Patrol mission!"

"Well that is good news," the mysterious figure said.

"Which means," Luffa continued, "I can save the Time Vault! Kakarot and the others can survive! The history we knew can still exist!"

She began to pace back and forth, pumping her arms furiously as she talked.

"You seem upset about this," the figure observed.

"I'm upset because that coward Demigra knew all of this could be prevented!" Luffa seethed. "He knew this scroll would be left behind, and he knew I'd use it to undo his final attack, so he needed a way to keep me guessing instead of figuring that out! That other Dorlu Prime... that was no peace offering, it was a damn diversion!"

"Then it sounds like you're ready to face him," the mysterious figure said. "I suppose I should let you get on with your work. Good luck, as they say."

"Wait," Luffa said. "You never explained who you are."

"That's right. I didn't."

"Then whatever you are, at least tell me why you bothered appearing before me like this," Luffa asked. "You must be some sort of big shot in the hierarchy of the universe. So why take time out of your day to talk with little old me?"

The figure's form became vague and undefined again. It shrugged its shoulders, and Luffa had trouble making out the gesture. It was like looking at a shadow among shadows.

"Well, at the moment, you're the only one left in the whole universe," the figure explained. "So that makes you more important than you might think."

"I guess so," Luffa said.

"And the Divine Tokitoki Bird likes you," the figure continued. "That matters to me. He doesn't befriend people easily. There's a legend that says those befriended by Tokitoki receive a special protection."

"Is that what this is?" Luffa asked. "Did he send you to help me out? Are you some aspect of his time power or something?"

The figure turned and walked away from Luffa. "I never said that," the figure replied. "Anyway, Tokitoki is trapped inside Demigra, so how could he send anything to you? But maybe if you defeat Demigra, you can free him, and ask him yourself."

Luffa wanted to know more, but she lost sight of the mysterious figure as his form faded into the white expanse of the world around her. She was alone again.

"No," she insisted. "I was never alone. Dotz was with me in spirit this whole time. All of you were, in your own ways..."

She held up the scroll and stared at it. When held a certain way, the scroll would send a Time Patroller back to the moment of a temporal incursion, where she could intervene and set things right. The trip would be instantaneous.

But Luffa decided to wait a moment before proceeding with her mission. Instead, she held the scroll and began raising her power level, increasing her ki higher and higher, and directing her senses inward to monitor it.

It only took her a few moments to surpass her maximum level from when she lived on Dorlu Prime. Just as she had suspected, the younger body Demigra had "given" to her was another trick. Illusion or not, it was only temporary, and she was back to normal.

She continued to increase her power, letting her anger drive her on.

Then, after a certain span of time, when she was ready, she used the Scroll, and disappeared.

NEXT: Into the Crack of Time.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #luffa #dotz

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (209/?)

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 1000 years before  66 years after  1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[12 March 238 Before Age. Dorlu Prime.]

Luffa had once been the Legendary Super Saiyan, until the Demon God Demigra offered her a chance to do it all over again. She found herself in a new history, where the alien hordes who captured and tortured her were all dead. With the Tikosi's extinction, and Luffa's foreknowledge of events to come, she had a chance to live her life the way she had always wanted. All of the friends, the love, the triumphs, with none of the loss, the regrets, the tragedies.

Or so it had seemed.

She was still trying to decide whether to accept Demigra's truce. His terms were simple. If she agreed to remain in this new reality, he would leave her alone. But if she refused to accept his triumphant ascension to godhood, then Luffa could confront him for one final battle. She only had to take the magic scroll he had left for her, and she would instantly travel from her world to his. Since that path lay open to her, she decided to take her time and see what this new world had to offer.

At first, it had seemed like a dream come true. She was back on Dorlu Prime, where she had spent her teenage years guarding the planet as a mercenary. Her treacherous father had left the planet in a profound despair. His plans for the future had died with the Tikosi, and only Luffa knew just how shaken this had left him. That suited her well, as it meant she could chart her own course without him.

Keda was alive in this world, still a healthy nine-year-old child, unaffected by the terrible conflicts that only Luffa could now remember. The same was true for Zatte, the captain of the Dorlun militia. In this era, she had been Luffa's best friend, although later they would fall in love and marry. However, in this era, Luffa was still married to her first husband, Kandai.

Luffa's plan was fuzzy in places, but the basic goal was to divide her time between the Dorlu Colony and finding mercenary work in the surrounding space sectors. That way, she could still have Zatte and Keda in her life, without taking them away from their home. From there, Luffa could reach out to other close friends she had made in the old reality. It would be a challenge to make contact with them all and befriend them all over again, but Luffa cared for them too much to simply ignore them.

But that part of the plan had ended before it could truly begin. She had contacted Dr. Topsas on Plutark VII, hoping to strike up a friendship with him while he put her in contact with Wampaaan'riix. Instead, he informed her that Wampaaan'riix had been killed in a Deathmatch tournament.

This had been a huge blow to Luffa, who had never even considered the possibility. In the old reality, Wampaaan'riix had survived the tournament, thanks to Luffa's refusal to kill him. This time, she had skipped the tournament, never suspecting that her Yetitan friend might lose his life to some other opponent.

After hearing the news, she was inconsolable for hours. The worst part was that she couldn't even tell anyone what was bothering her. There was no way to explain it.

In the old reality, she might have commiserated with Zatte through her telepathic abilities, which had become much more sophisticated after Luffa became a Super Saiyan. But in this reality, Luffa was still at the power level she had been at the age of nineteen. Telepathy on that level, with an alien, was impossible.

And eventually, after Luffa had neglected enough mealtimes in her despair, it was Kandai who reached out to comfort her. He didn't know why she was upset. Indeed, she had been distant towards him for days without any apparent reason. But he still knew how to charm her, and how to get her to vent her emotions without hearing the context behind them.

The answer was combat.

Their battleground was on the far side of the planet. Dorlu Prime was mostly a primeval wilderness covered in sparse vegetation and inhospitable wastes. The Dorluns had grand dreams for the planet, but their colony was only a tiny speck of civilization on an otherwise uninhabited world. And so it was easy for Luffa and Kandai to find a suitable place to fight without damaging anything important.

It was a one-sided affair. At her present level, Luffa's powers were no match for Kandai's, but that didn't stop her from hitting him with everything she had. As for Kandai, he held back, allowing Luffa to fight to her fullest without shutting her down too quickly. He still fought back, but only to keep her motivated to try harder.

In the end, Luffa put everything she had left into a final assault, charging all of her power into the fingertips of her left hand, and firing a focused beam of ki at his heart. But he was too fast to hit, and before she could react, he was grasping her by the wrist and spoiling her aim. She tried to headbutt him, only for Kandai to use his free hand to deliver a chop to her neck. Luffa collapsed to the ground in a heap. She was still conscious, but too weary to move.

"Not bad, Luffa," he said as he alighted beside her. "I guess training those blue folks really helped you improve."

"Th-thank you," Luffa said between gasps. When she finally found the strength to roll over onto her back, she saw Kandai had lain down beside her.

"Something's got you all riled up," Kandai said. "I don't know what it is, and I guess you're never gonna tell me, but I could sense it in those punches of yours. Oh, and that red laser beam thing you just used a minute ago. Where'd you learn that one?"

"Long... story..." Luffa said.

"Yeah, well your emotions were all over the place," Kandai said. "It's like you wanted revenge for something, and I don't even know what for. If I didn't know better, I'd think you wanted me dead."

"Maybe..." Luffa said with a bitter chuckle.

"Whatever it is, I'm sorry, okay?" Kandai said.

With a loud grunt, Luffa sat upright, and began grabbing at her black, sleeveless shirt.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"The same thing we always do after we spar," Luffa said as she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the side. "Unless you're not up for it."

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think you'd be in the mood," Kandai said. "You haven't been... I mean, for the last month or so..."

Luffa started taking off her boots next. "I know. I've had a lot on my mind, that's all. And... and..."

He kissed her before she had to struggle to find the words that she couldn't say. Luffa returned his embrace, and they continued on in this way, lying in the crater they had made in the dusty wastes.

She was conflicted about making love to him this way. She was married to him in this world, but in the old reality, they had become enemies, and she had pledged herself to Zatte. It felt wrong to pursue her feelings towards either one, but after the news about Wampaaan'riix, she couldn't stand the isolation any longer. She needed to be held, and to be reassured, and Kandai could understand her without the need for words.

Later, as she lay beside him, her head cradled between his chest and his arm, she decided to ask the question. "Did you know my father was negotiating with the Tikosi?"

"What?" he asked, somewhat drowsily.

"I found out," she said. "Don't ask me how. He was plotting something with them. That's why he was so grim after he found out they were all dead."

"You're kidding, right?" Kandai asked. "No... no, you're serious, aren't you? Well, no. He never said anything to me about it. What the hell were we doing during all those patrols then?"

"They wanted a Saiyan specimen," Luffa said. "That's what the Tikosi would do. They wanted the Dorluns to study their abilities, and they wanted to study our zenkai."

"Luffa, why are you telling me this now?" Kandai asked.

"Because I want a straight answer," Luffa replied. "And you're a lousy liar after we've... well, you know."

"No! He never said anything about this," Kandai said. "What, you think he was going to hand me over to them?"

"I don't know," Luffa lied. "He might have had someone else in mind. Maybe even me."

"You're his daughter."

"So tell me," Luffa said. "If it had been me, he would have had say something to you, sooner or later. Would you have gone along with it?"

"The Tikosi are dead," Kandai said. "Your dad's long gone."

"Answer the question," Luffa insisted.

He sighed, then said: "Well yeah, I probably would have. I mean, what else could I do? Fight your dad and take on all the Tikosi all by myself? I'd just get us both killed."

As chilling as the answer was, Luffa found the honesty refreshing. "I see your point," was all she could think of to say.

"I mean, what would you do if they had picked me instead?" Kandai asked. "You're telling me you'd rush off and die in a fight you knew you couldn't win?"

Luffa was about to say that she would, without question. Her pride as a Saiyan would have demanded it, and the example set by the tales of the Old Heroes would have inspired her to fight in spite of the odds. She had proven her convictions time and again during he career as the Legendary Super Saiyan.

But then she thought of Demigra's truce, and how she still hadn't decided whether or not she would accept it. The conflict with Demigra seemed pointless now. The Time Patrol no longer existed, and the history they had fought for was already gone. How would the Old Heroes of Saiyan Legend have dealt with that?

"I think, once, I would have died for you without hesitation," Luffa said. "Now... I'm not so sure."

"So it's this business with your dad that's been bothering you this whole time," Kandai said. "And you were worried that I was in cahoots with him."

"Let's just say I've been rethinking my whole life," Luffa said. "And I'm seeing everyone I know with a new perspective."

"Oh yeah? And what do you see in me?" Kandai asked.

"You're a pushover," Luffa said.

"Hmph. Yeah, I suppose you've got me there."

"You said before you prefer to go with the flow, that you prefer to be a follower. The truth is you're just a doormat. You'll play along with whoever offers you the safest or most profitable path."

"I never pretended otherwise," Kandai said.

"You're probably right," Luffa said. "I just assumed you were more principled than that. I saw something noble in you, but that was only what I wanted to see. I put you on a pedestal because you were so much stronger than me. The ideal man."

"You weren't complaining a few minutes ago, when I was--"

"Yeah, yeah, you do that part just fine," Luffa said with a wry smile. "I guess I let that cloud my perception too.

"So we can call it off here," Kandai said. "If that's what you want. No hard feelings. Strictly business between us from here on out."

"I didn't say I wanted that," Luffa said.

"Then what do you want?" Kandai asked. "You've always had this glint in your eye, Luffa. Like you craved something with all your heart, and you could never put it into words. So how do we get it for you? You always talked about starting a family, but... well, I think we already know how to do that."

Luffa sat up and looked around for her clothes. "I... I think we should head back to the settlement," she said.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" she said, more anxiously than she wanted to sound. "I just... remembered I needed to check on something."

*******

Luffa did not spend long in the settlement, and headed directly for the Saiyans' ship. She fetched the medical scanner, and waved it around herself. She had done this before, but only to investigate the lack of certain scars on her body. Now, she understood that Demigra had somehow transported her into her younger body, that was no longer a mystery. But something Kandai had said to her in the wastes had convinced her to perform a more thorough examination.

The results were as she suspected, but before she could truly react, she heard Zatte and Kandai on board. They were looking for her, and so she stepped out to greet them.

"I just got back from meeting with the Elders," Zatte said. "It's not perfect, but I think I have a way to join your crew, Luffa."

Luffa was confused for a moment. She had completely forgotten Zatte's report to her superiors.

"Wow, you really worked her over, huh?" Zatte said to Kandai as she pointed at several scrapes and bruises on Luffa's arms and head. "I could sense you two going at it all the way from here."

"Whoa whoa! Hey...!" Kandai said. "You could tell we were--?! Oh, wait, you meant fighting. Well, yeah. Sometimes a little spar is the best way to get out of a funk."

"Sure, it's just weird to see Luffa be the one who gets all worn out," Zatte said. "I can come back later."

"No, it's fine," Luffa said. "The Dorlun Elders. What did they say?"

"In principle, they like the idea of a Dorlun operative maintaining a presence in space," Zatte began. "The problem is that I have obligations here, to this place. I'm not at liberty to explain that, but I can't just be re-assigned offworld so easily."

"So they want some other Dorlun to go with us instead?" Kandai asked. "That wasn't the idea. It's you or nobody."

"That's what I told them," Zatte said. "And they agree, I'm the best qualified for the position. The Elders just don't like one Dorlun running off by herself with a pair of aliens. But I've read the Holybook, and I think there's a way to flip this around to satisfy them."

"Holybook?" Kandai asked.

"Their religious text," Luffa said.

"Oh."

"Basically, if there was a familial connection between us, that would clear everything up. A legal relationship-- like adoption or marriage-- can be just as valid as blood." Zatte paused and looked at them both before continuing. "All right, so this might be a little too radical for you Saiyans, but hear me out. If I was married into your family, then I would have sufficient justification to go with you, and the Elders would approve of my transfer."

"What?" Luffa asked.

"Married to who?" Kandai asked.

"Well, Luffa," Zatte said. "I mean, scripturally, it could be to either one of you, but you're not my type, Kandai. No offense."

"Are you out of your mind?" Luffa exclaimed. She pointed at Zatte, then at Kansai. "I can't marry you, I'm already married!"

"No, this could work," Kandai said. He began to rub his hand over his chin as he considered it. "Once we make it official, we're free and clear, aren't we?"

"That's right," Zatte said. "The marriage itself is the thing. Once that's accomplished, well, I can play it any way you'd like."

"Well, this could work, I guess," Kandai said. "Luffa and I had been talking, and maybe things aren't working out between us as well as we thought."

"Oh?" Zatte said. "I don't want to cause any trouble between you..."

"It's fine," Kandai said. "I'm not that thick-headed. If things play out that way, then so be it. Or Luffa can switch back and forth for a while until she makes up her mind. Right, Luffa?"

"I... I need to get some air," Luffa said.

"What's wrong?" Zatte asked. "Look, if this is a problem for you, I apologize. I just thought--"

Luffa ran past them and kept going until she had made it through the entrance hatch. She did not stop until she reached her personal quarters in the settlement.

It was all wrong. So very wrong. Wampaaan'riix was dead, and Dr. Topsas didn't even know him or Luffa well enough to care. Kandai barely seemed to value their marriage at all, and Zatte was willing to exploit that to get a berth on their ship.

Perhaps it would have been simpler to part ways with Kandai and make a clean break, but even that option was muddied by the results of her medical scan. She was pregnant. It was so early into the term that she hadn't noticed it before, but the scanners could tell. He was only a cluster of cells in her uterus, but her only son, Katem, was already beginning to enter this reality.

She could still cut ties with Kandai anyway. His behavior in the old history had already proven that he cared little for their son. He might have been grateful to be excused from the responsibility of fatherhood, but it still rankled her to consider it.

Then there was Zatte. Luffa felt like their relationship in this reality had gotten off to a wrong start. There was something cynical about Zatte's approach, something she couldn't put her finger on. Then it hit her: The Makyans.

In the old history, the Makyans had captured Zatte after the Tikosi massacre. Luffa never learned exactly when that was supposed to have happened, or why the Makyans had been on Dorlu Prime in the first place. Luffa had rescued Zatte from their power, and that had changed the entire dynamic of their romance. Luffa had no intention of letting Zatte fall into their evil clutches again, but that meant her relationship with Zatte would never be quite the same as what Luffa had once known.

And that only raised further questions. Was it right to keep Zatte off Dorlu Prime to protect her from a possible Makyan raid? Would the Makyans even go to Dorlu Prime without the Tikosi attack to precede it? How could Luffa warn the colonists of a threat she wasn't even sure about? And whatever she decided, what would be the effects of those choices?

Her son, Katem, had died in the old reality, betrayed by everyone who claimed to be on his side. She imagined him as a grown man, still calling himself "Xibuyas"-- the name King Rehval had given him. She imagined him dying, abandoned on some nameless battlefield, wondering why his mother had been too weak to spare him from such a fate. Now, she had a second chance to get things right for him, but was it right? Was it worth Wampaaan'riix's life? And even if it was right, how could Luffa be sure that her son wouldn't end up suffering the same fate, or worse?

She couldn't stand it any longer. Every action, every inaction, every decision she made in this new world was fraught with consequences. It filled her with a dread she couldn't describe, and in her haste to be rid of it, she flung open the cabinet in the corner, and reached out for the glowing scroll that lay inside.

Demigra threatened to kill her if she used it, but that no longer mattered. If he had the power he claimed, then she would die in battle and have done with it. And if not...

She had no idea what a victory over Demigra could even be. If he had truly destroyed all of history, then killing him would mean there would be nothing left, except for her. What then?

The thought of drifting alone in the emptiness was enough to stay her hand. Was that her fate? To be the last survivor of a doomed universe?

Her hands began to tremble. She set her teeth and balled her fists, drawing blood from her palms as she tried to force them to be steady. Then, with a defiant snarl, she reached out and took the scroll, moving as fast as she possibly could, faster than her mind could second-guess herself.

The scroll glowed more intensely as she drew it towards her chest . And just as she wondered what was supposed to happen, the world around her went white.

*******

[??????????????????]

Luffa remembered this place, or at least another one just like it. It was a featureless expanse. The ground was smooth and snow white, while the skies roiled with turbulent aurorae. The scroll was still in her left hand.

"I'm back?" she asked. "This is where I was before I ended up on Dorlu Prime. Isn't it?"

"Yes. It's good to see you, Luffa."

The sound of another voice startled Luffa so much that she nearly jumped out of her boots. She spun around, and found a familiar face, one she had never expected to see.

"Dotz?!" Luffa gasped.

She was a fortune-teller Luffa had befriended at the beginning of the war with the Jindan Cult. Much of her appearance was the same as the last time Luffa had seen her. Dotz was tall, dressed in a long purple gown with hood around her face. A mauve shawl was draped across her shoulders, and her thin bony hands were clasped together in a hopeful gesture. The only differences lay in some of the arcane ornaments she wore, and her age. The Dotz Luffa had known was middle-aged. Now, she looked to be much older. Her once-subtle wrinkles now cut deeper lines in her face, and the greying hair under her hood now shone stark white.

"Oh, goodness. You look just like I remembered," Dotz said with a smile.

Luffa stepped toward her and placed her free hand on Dotz's shoulder. "Where are we, Dotz? Did you bring us here? What happened to you?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "It's funny," she said. "I've been wanting to find you for so long, and now that you're here I can't think of what to say. I, uh, well... I didn't bring us here. Let me start with that. This is just where you happened to be when I finally found you."

"You've been looking for me?" Luffa asked.

Dotz nodded solemnly. "Yes," she said. "Ever since you vanished that day on Planet Nagaoka. Everyone believed you had died. I mean... well, the planet exploded and everyone knew you were there when it happened. It made sense that you had perished there. It made sense to everyone, but not to me."

"I survived," Luffa said. "A magic dragon rescued me and took me into the distant future."

"Yes, yes," Dotz said. "I knew it had to be something like that. Shenron."

"You know about Shenron?" Luffa asked. "Then you know the rest? The Dragon Balls? The Time Patrol?"

"No," Dotz said, "but I've seen bits and pieces in my visions. What I meant was that it had to have something to do with you being sent forward in time. That was why I could never get a proper reading whenever I tried to tell your fortune. My psychic abilities improved after we first met, do you remember?"

Luffa nodded. "We couldn't have fought the war without you, Dotz," she said. "Well, we might have, but it would have been a lot bloodier without your ability to predict which planets the Jindan Cultists would attack. And you worked so hard to improve your abilities even further. I... never really got the chance to tell you how much I respected you for that."

She became overcome with emotion, and before she knew it, she dropped the scroll and embraced Dotz with both arms.

"Oh, well, I wasn't expecting this..." Dotz said.

"I've missed you," Luffa said. "You and all the others... I..."

"There now... it's okay," Dotz said as she patted Luffa on the back. "I... forgot how young you were when you disappeared. To tell the truth, I've been trying to find you for so long, it started to feel like an abstraction. Now that you're here, I... well. It's very good to see you."

"How did you find me?" Luffa asked. "I don't even know where this place is."

"After the war, I continued to develop my abilities," Dotz explained. "It always bothered me that I couldn't tell your fortune, even a little. That's why I didn't believe you died on Nagaoka. That should have been easy to foresee, but I had no idea until it happened. Well, over time, I got better at telling fortunes. I learned some new tricks, and improved on some old ones. I found out you were still alive in the far future, but there was still something obstructing my vision. It took me a while to get it right, but I finally managed to get past that obstacle. And uh... here I am."

"You transported yourself through time?" Luffa asked. "You never had that kind of ability before?"

"Well, no, and I don't have it now," Dotz said. "I'm not really here, Luffa. I can talk to you and touch you, but I think that's just because this vision I'm having is so focused, so clear. There's nothing else here in this time and place. So there's nothing to distract me from what I came to find, which is you."

"Then... then there's nothing you can do," Luffa said.

Slowly, she released Dotz from the embrace and stepped back. "When I saw you, I thought you might have had something to do with the scroll, or this place. Or maybe you could take me back with you."

Dotz shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm not really clear on what's going on. I saw visions of a man, screaming something about making a 'new history.' Is that why there's nothing here? But how did you survive?"

"It's a long story," Luffa said. "A goddess of time needed my help to stop an evil wizard, and I failed. He destroyed... everything." She waved at the emptiness around them, as if Dotz had not already seen it for herself. "He said he made a timeline just for me to live in if I left him alone... but... it's no good, Dotz. I'd just make a mess of that world too."

Luffa pointed at the scroll she had dropped. "He told me that if I changed my mind, I could use that scroll to take me to him for a final battle. But instead it just took me to this place. I don't know why. I don't understand any of it."

"What about the other one?" Dotz asked. "I sensed another presence in this time."

"Who?" Luffa asked. "As far as I know, it's just Demigra and myself at the end of existence. Who else could there be? Wait... you don't mean..."

"That's right. She's referring to me."

The new voice was not one Luffa had heard before. She and Dotz looked around, but found no sign of the speaker.

"Who's there?" Luffa asked, unsure whether she actually wanted answer. She nearly suggested that Dotz should stay close to her, but thought better of it. Even if Dotz were truly here, what could Luffa possibly do to protect her?

At last, she noticed the scroll beginning to glow a brighter shade of purple, and it unfurled all on its own. Luffa watched as something began to emerge from the parchment, like an animal rising up from a murky swamp. The form was indistinct, more like a glowing fog than a person. Then, as it cleared the parchment, it took shape, and Luffa could recognize the vague outline.

"It can't be," Luffa said. "I mean, you're the only one left, but how can you be here?"

Despite Luffa's confusion, there was no mistaking the Divine Tokitoki Bird. He floated there with outstretched wings, and stared intently at Luffa.

"Well then, Luffa," the voice said. "Are you finally ready to fight?"

NEXT: One With Everything.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #luffa #dotz #kandai #zatte #dorlu prime #i gotta crosspost some chapters i already had up on ao3 #then we'll see if we can get the brand new stuff queued up #november's coming and i want this thing caught up nice and neat before i write more

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (200/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

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

In the Time Station, the Saiyan Earthling Mosh was locked in combat with corrupted Time Patrollers.  He fought valiantly, heedless of the odds as they turned against him.  

The Time Patrollers who were still on his side took inspiration from his courage and tenacity, but also his style.  Mosh was a show-off.   His tightly coiled hair was cut and dyed in a provocative fashion, and he dressed like a trendsetter instead of a warrior.  When he had a free moment in a battle, he used it to taunt his opponent, or to acknowledge friendlies who might be watching.  

This was not arrogance or contempt for the ways of martial arts.  Despite his outgoing personality, Mosh was very friendly and easygoing in public, and quite humble in private.   The flourishes and flexes he made in public were a front, a way to present an image of himself ahead of the real thing.  It lent him some confidence in a world where defeat and disaster could strike at any time.  

"Come on, for real," he said as he knocked out an Earthling fighter corrupted by Demigra's magic.  "If you all don't start trying harder, I'm gonna head out to the Time Plaza and see if I can find someone tougher.  Seriously, it's like you don't even want to take over the city."  

The situation was more dire than he made it sound, and he knew it.  The Time Patrol was made of up a wide variety of fighters across a broad range of skill and power levels.  There were a lot of warriors on the team who could defeat Mosh with ease, and it would be those who decided the outcome of the battle.   All Mosh could do was to fight as many of the lower-tier fighters to keep them out of the endgame.   If he could outlast them, then there was a chance he could lend a hand to the "big deal riders" as he liked to call them.   Trunks and Luffa were the first who came to mind, but there were others he respected as well, and he hoped they were doing all right.  

Cracking jokes during the battle was another way to ease his worried mind and focus on the matter before him.  

"You fought well, my friend," he said in a mock-serious voice as he dispatched a Namekian who worked on the janitorial staff.   "But fate had other plans the day she cast you against me in battle."  Mosh then made a humorous noise in place of a more traditional kiai shout.  

In spite of his levity, Mosh was a skillful fighter.  Indeed, it was a testament to his skill that he could be so playful during such a difficult battle.  But as he turned to face his next target, his face fell into despair.  

"The only joke I see here is you, Mosh," said Ravi.  

"Aw no..." Mosh said.   "Tell me this is some new technique of yours, Ravi."

Ravi was an Earthling graduate of the Neo-Crane School.  His fighting uniform was made with iridescent fabric to suit his own aesthetic, but the cut and color of the dogi was chosen to honor his master, the legendary Chiaotzu.  But now, the eldritch purple fog that surrounded his body indicated that he now served the forces of Demigra.  

"I don't need a new technique to defeat the likes of you," Ravi sneered.   He raised his left hand in front of his face and set his jaw.  

"Babe, don't do this!" Mosh pleaded, but there was no stopping him.  

"Kaio-ho!" Ravi shouted, and a beam of red light launched from the edge of his left hand.   Mosh only had time to cross his arms in front of his face to block the attack.   Dodging wasn't an option here.  There were too many fighters in the area, and many of them would have been seriously hurt if they caught one of Ravi's more powerful blasts.  

When the smoke cleared, Mosh was mostly unharmed, save for some singes on his clothes and the exposed skin on his arms.   He looked up from behind his arms and nodded.   "All right," he said with a cocky nod of his head.  "All right, we can do this.   You just get it out of your system then.  Just go on ahead and let it all out."

"You're pathetic, Ravi said.  "You're too cowardly to fight back, and your compassion for these weaklings makes you an easy target.   Kaio-ho!"

The red blast hit Mosh again, and he stood firm.   "Oh, you're talking trash now, is that it?" he said with a smirk.  "Demigra thinks you're gonna get me all worked up because you say all that hurtful stuff?  Quit playing, Ravi, you know me better than that."

"I know you're going to fall because you're too frightened to use your true power, Saiyan," Ravi said harshly.   "And in a fight like this, anything less will bring you to your doom."

He fired the Kaio-ho again, and again, and again.   Mosh blocked each  shot, but they were beginning to take their toll on his stamina.  By now, most of his cavalier facade was wiped away.  

"That's a low blow, Ravi," Mosh said as he gasped for breath.  "No.   It's low of Demigra for forcing you to use that against me."

"A Super Saiyan would brush of this kind of attack like it was nothing," Ravi taunted.   "But you can't do it, can you, Mosh?"

"You know it's not like that," Mosh insisted.  

"Then prove it," Ravi said.   "Or were you lying that night when you held me close and told me why you're so afraid to try?"

That touched a nerve, one that might have ordinarily sent Mosh into a blind rage.  And this would have been a strange sight to behold, since Mosh was well-known for his coolness under fire.   Even so, if Mosh had cut loose, it might have helped turn the tide for Chronoa's forces, at least for the moment.  

But the target of Mosh's unbridled fury would have been Ravi, and no matter how upset he was, it was impossible for Mosh to see that man as an enemy, no matter how hard his ki blasts hit, no matter what terrible things Demigra forced him to say.  

In the heat of the moment, Mosh could only see the man he cherished more than anyone else.  The man who had seen through his laid-back-class-clown act and accepted him unconditionally.   The man he was too nervous to call his boyfriend but they both understood that it was a big word for both of them and they could figure it out together.  

But the Saiyan heart had to send that passion somewhere, and if Mosh would not channel his rage into battle, then it would paralyze him completely.   He was so furious that he failed to guard himself against Ravi's next strike.   Nor did he sense the other corrupted Time Patrollers who had been sneaking up from behind.   They all fired together, and Mosh was finally taxed to his limit.  

He fell, and Ravi scoffed at him as he and the other corrupted Patrollers left to find their next target.   If Mosh had been conscious, he would have been chilled to the bone to hear his lover act with such cruel spite.   Mercifully, he lay there unmoving, oblivious to the battle around him.  

Unmercifully, this peace did not last long.  A purple aura began to appear over Mosh's body, and he slowly, painfully rose to his feet again.  His eyes flashed red, and his only thoughts were of his obedience to Demigra, and how best to fight for the Demon God's cause.

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.  Earth.]  

In West City, the tide had turned.    Luffa's latest mission for the Time Patrol had sent her back to Earth to repel an invasion from three of its greatest enemies.    Luffa had fought them off with ease, until their reinforcements arrived in the form of Vegeta, Gohan, and Gotenks.   While confident she could win the battle, Luffa worried that it would take too long, which would keep her away from Toki Toki City during its hour of need.   But now, she had reinforcements of her own, in the form of Son Goku.  

Now, the two of them battled not only Cell and Majin Buu, not only Vegeta, Gohan, and Gotenks, but several Cell Juniors, as well as  dozens of ki ghosts created by Gotenks.   In the parkland surrounding a defunct amusement park, Luffa and Goku leaped and flew in every direction as they sought to outmaneuver the swarm of powerful enemies in their midst.  

She had met Goku in past Time Patrol missions, but none of these had been "official", due to the nature of correcting altered segments of history.   Each time Luffa met Goku in the past, he would have no memory of their prior encounters.   But this time was different.   This time, Goku knew Luffa by name, and he had been briefed by the Supreme Kai of Time herself.   Luffa wanted to know more, but it was difficult enough to keep up with the battle.   It would be folly to get close enough to Goku to make conversation.  

"Can you hear me, Luffa?"

"Huh?"  was all Luffa could say.  

Saiyans possessed telepathic abilities, but it was tricky to use them across distances while in combat.   It was usually more practical to just call out.   And yet, she could hear Goku's voice anyway, even though he was surrounded by exploding ki ghosts.  

"Hey, it's me, Goku!" he said.  "I'm talking to you through King Kai.  He's a lot better at this sort of thing than I am, and this way there's less chance of Cell or Vegeta overhearing us!"

"King Kai?" Luffa asked aloud.  

"Sure!" Goku said.   "I was training on his planet in Otherworld when the Supreme Kai of Time came to find us."

"And that's how you got involved in all of this?" Luffa asked.  Majin Buu nearly caught her with an energy beam, but she avoided it in time.  

"Yep," Goku said.  "I guess you could say we've been deputized!  Right, King Kai?"

Now she heard another voice, anxious and motherly in tone.   "Goku, this isn't a game!" he said.  "The Supreme Kai of Time is a very important person.  I cannot stress how sacred this mission is."  

"Aw, c'mon, King Kai," Goku protested.   "The real battle is up in Toki Toki City, wherever that is--"

"He's right, Kakarot," Luffa said.   "This is no game.   That purple crap is the magic Demigra uses to control his victims.   I don't know how he got Cell, Buu, and Frieza here, but your sons--"

"Frieza?" Goku asked.  "You mean he's here, too?!"

"I took him out first!" Luffa explained.   "Then he must have wandered off."

"But I can't sense his energy..." Goku said.  "Frieza can't suppress it like we can, so he shouldn't be able to hide that way."

"The point is that we can free the others if we hit them hard enough," Luffa said.  "If one of us can keep them busy for a second--"

"Got it," Goku said.  "Let's start with Gohan."

That didn't suit Luffa at all.   "Like hell!" she said.   "Gotenks is the one spitting out all these stupid ghosts.  We take him out and things will get a lot simpler for us!  Or Cell, or Buu!"

"Nah, Gotenks isn't a problem," Goku said.   "And I've fought Kid Buu before.  Trust me, he's a lot easier to handle this way.  We should save him for last."

She was about to remind him that she had fought Kid Buu as well, but then she remembered that he wasn't aware of this.  Still, it irritated her how casually he had taken charge of the situation.  

"And how are you going to get at Gohan when there's twenty bogies zipping around him?" Luffa demanded.  

"Heh!   Check this out!" Goku said.  

Luffa was about to ask what he was talking about, when suddenly she saw multiple Gokus all over the battle field.  Majin Buu rushed after the closest one to him, and when this Goku did nothing to defend himself, Luffa rushed to help him, only for Goku to vanish when Buu reached him.  

The same thing happened everywhere else.   Two ki ghosts exploded in a mid-air collision as they tried to catch one of these illusions of Goku.  Vegeta attacked one illusion after another, in what seemed like an attempt to brute-force his way to the real thing.    

Luffa searched for Gohan to see if she could get a clear shot at him, and found that he was coming to her.  His mind, though addled by Demigra's magic, was still sharp enough to realize that Luffa was the only target he could be sure of, and so he focused on her.     She prepared to guard against his attack, but just as he closed in on her, another Goku appeared alongside him, which Gohan ignored.  

This Goku struck Gohan in the jaw, sending him hurtling into the ground.   All around Luffa, the illusions of Goku vanished, leaving the real thing floating next to her.  

"Not bad," Luffa said.  

"Guess they don't have the Afterimage Technique where you come from," Goku said.  

"I guess not," Luffa admitted.

"Check on him, will you?" Goku asked her.  In spite of the harsh expression of his Super Saiyan form, there was a hint of concern in his eyes.   "You can tell if someone's snapped out of it, can't you?  I want to make sure he's all right."

"Of course," Luffa said.   "But it might take a second..."

They separated as another group of ki ghosts flew after them.   Luffa took note of Gohan's position, but didn't go to him right away.    As she prepared her next moves, Goku continued to speak to her through King Kai's telepathic link.  

"Are you sure you're a thousand years old?"  He asked.

"I think it's more like eleven hundred," Luffa replied.  "Chronoa told you that part too, huh?"

"You actually call her by her name?" King Kai asked, horrified.  

"She told me to," Luffa muttered.  

"It's just that you don't look much older than Gohan," Goku went on.  "I was expecting some wrinkly old lady."

"The Dragon Balls transported me through time, Kakarot," Luffa explained.   "I'm only twenty-four."

"Well I'll be," Goku said.  

There was a Cell Junior between her and Gohan.   Luffa simply barreled into him, and drove her fist through his torso.    The creature burst apart an instant later.  When she finally reached Gohan, she knelt down beside him and put her hand on his chest to make sure he was breathing.  

"How is he?" Goku asked.  

"He's free of Demigra's influence," Luffa said.  "Hold on..."

A ki ghost almost got the drop on her, so she scooped up Gohan and carried him away before they could be caught in the blast.    

"You really leveled this guy," Luffa said once she had an opening.  

"You told me we had to hit 'em hard," Goku said.  

"Yeah, but he's your brat," Luffa said.   "I thought you'd hold back a little or something."  

"Nah, I know how much my boys can handle," Goku said.   "Same with Vegeta and Trunks."

She tried not to think of her own son, whom she had left for dead in the distant past.   "I thought you said Gotenks wasn't a problem," she griped as she dodged more of the ki ghosts.  

"Don't worry," Goku said.   "His fusion should run out any minute now."

"Well maybe I'm tired of waiting!" she said as she dove after the boy.  

"Luffa, don't!" Goku called, but she didn't reply.  

"You may as well let her handle it her way, Goku," King Kai told him.   "If the Supreme Kai of Time vouches for her, she must know what she's doing.   Besides, it can't be any worse than when Vegeta goes into business for himself, right?"

"That ain't the problem!" Goku told him.   He spun his body in mid-flight to avoid a tricky firing pattern from Vegeta and Buu.   "She's still carrying my son!"

*******

Luffa heard what Goku was saying, but she didn't bother to explain herself.   She couldn't leave Gohan lying on the ground, not when Gotenks was throwing ki blasts in every direction.  Luckily, none of their enemies were going wild enough to destroy the planet.   Luffa doubted this was out of any concern on Demigra's part.   More likely, the Demon God just didn't want to exhaust his puppets' energy before his agenda was complete.  She had seen similar tactics on dozens of alien battlefields.  Conquerors preferred to capture territory with as little damage as possible.   As much as they loved overwhelming force, they had to wield it carefully, or they would end up ruling an empire of ashes. So Demigra might spare the Earth, but sparing Gohan was another matter.

That left her at a serious disadvantage, since she had to carry the young man and fight at the same time.  She couldn't help Goku against the others, but she could distract Gotenks long enough to give him some room to maneuver.  

She had met Goten and Trunks before, and she had seen them perform the Fusion Technique in past Time Patrol missions.   Beerus has defeated Gotenks with ease, which came as no surprise, but what interested Luffa was that the boys separated again shortly afterward.   Goku may have been content to wait out the clock, but if there was a way to hurry things along, she was more than happy to try it.  

"Give it up, lady!" Gotenks called as he and his squad of ki ghosts chased after her.   "You don't stand a chance against the Grim Reaper of Justice!   And holding all that dead weight in your hands just makes you a bigger target!"

"You haven't hit a thing since you started this fight, you little twit!" Luffa called back.   "I only grabbed your brother to make things a little easier for you!"

"What?  How dare you!   Take...!  This!" Gotenks shouted.  

At least twenty ghosts converged around her, and Luffa allowed them to box her in.   She continued to fly away from the rest of the battle, and Gotenks followed to see how his attack played out.  

And then, over the skies of West City, all twenty ghosts exploded with a loud crack.    In celebration of his achievement, Gotenks started to wave his arms around and shuffle his feet in a victory boogie.  

"What what?  Yeaaaahhh!   That's what you get!" he jeered.  "And if you're not down with Gotenks, I got two words for ya!"

"Try again."

Gotenks gasped at the voice that called out from the smoke that billowed around the explosion.   As it cleared, there was Luffa, still holding Gohan in her arms, and completely unharmed.    

"B-but how?!" Gotenks asked.   "This is completely unfair!"

"You overplayed your hand, kid," Luffa explained.   "Sending that many ghosts after a single target?   Their combined power might have been enough to hurt me, but they got in each other's way.   If you can arrange them into the right formation, like I just did, you can use their blasts to deflect each other."

"Huh?" Gotenks said.   "But... how could you know that?  I didn't even think of it, and I'm the master of the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!"

"Oh, please," Luffa snorted.  "Back in my day, every Saiyan child knew how to make ki ghosts.   Most of them couldn't make them strong enough to win a real fight with that trick, but I had a lot more power to work with, and I made sure to work out all the angles."

"You're bluffing!" Gotenks protested.  "There's no way you can--"

Luffa began raising her ki and then opened her lips to release a white vapor.   It coalesced quickly, taking on the same shape as the ghosts Gotenks had been using.  But then the head of the ghost took shape, and it molded itself into a replica of Luffa instead.  

"Neeehhhh!" the ghost screeched.  "Amateur hour is over!"

"Y-you stole my move!" Gotenks protested.  "That's... that's plagiarism!"

"Really?" Luffa taunted.   "Is that ghost bit the only thing you can do?   Maybe you should come up with something new. Build some variety!"

"Oh that is it!" Gotenks snarled.   He tensed his muscles, and began to charge his  ki.   Like Luffa before, his yellow hair glowed like a torch, and his aura intensified.  "Your bootleg ghost doesn't scare me!   And I'm just getting warmed up!  This isn't even my final form!"

"Well that sounds interesting," Luffa said with a grin.   "Show me, boy!   Show me what you can really do!"

He obliged, and his body began to crackle with lightning.  Luffa could sense the sharp increase in his power, and it seemed as though Gotenks' boasts weren't all hot air.    His ki continued to rise, and just when it seemed like he was on the verge of something truly remarkable--

Luffa sent her ghost to tackle him, and it exploded on contact.   Gotenks was dazed, but not seriously hurt.  He stumbled in the air, but managed to avoid falling.  

"That was a dirty trick!" he shouted.   "And I-- wait, where'd you go?"

While he was still recovering from the blast, Luffa had slipped around him, using the lingering ki of the explosion to hide from his senses.  As he turned to find her, she threw a kick, and caught him square in the gut with one of her black combat boots.  

Gotenks made a loud gasp as all the breath was knocked out of his lungs, and he dropped to the ground like a stone.  He bounced as he landed, and his body separated into two boys in mid-air. Luffa found this extremely satisfying.  

The only trouble was that they were still conscious, and still tainted with Demigra's wicked spell.   Luffa landed beside them with a loud thud, and quickly laid Gohan on the ground as she moved in to check on them.  

"Wha--?" asked Goten.  

Trunks was similarly confused.  And since neither of them was in their Super Saiyan form, it made it that much easier  for Luffa to get the drop on them.   She felled Trunks with a chop to the shoulder, then knelt low and punched Goten in the stomach before he could get his bearings.    

They both collapsed, and the purple energy faded away.   Like Gohan, they were both free.  

The only trouble now was that it left Luffa with three bodies to protect instead of just one.    And she had left Goku in a serious bind.

She looked back at the part of the park where they had been fighting, and saw a yellow streak moving through the sky, furiously dodging several others.  

"Maybe I should take a second to catch my breath," she said to herself.  "And this way I can get a look at what Kakarot can really do."

*******

"What is she doing?" King Kai asked.  "That's gratitude for you!   You come all this way to help her win this fight, and now she's just standing there waiting for you to finish it by yourself!"

Goku blocked a kick and then ducked a pair of ki blasts before he responded to this.  "No, that ain't it at all," he said with a satisfied smile.   "She wants to see me in action.   She'll jump in soon enough."

"Are you sure?" King Kai asked.  "I mean, the Supreme Kai of Time did vouch for her, but even so..."

"See how she's staying close to the boys?" Goku asked.   "And she took care of Gotenks as soon as she could.   She didn't like to see a couple of kids being used like that, and that makes her okay in my book."

"But that still leaves you to take on four Cell Juniors, Cell, Majin Buu, and Vegeta!" King Kai sputtered.

"Don't forget Frieza," Goku said.  "He must still be around somewhere."

"Well, I can't find him anywhere," King Kai said.  "And I'd say you've got enough on your plate as it is!"

"Ask her to stay put a little longer," Goku said.  "Tell her I have a way to get Vegeta and the boys to safety."

"You're going to use Instant Transmission to take them someplace safe?" King Kai asked.  

"Nope," Goku said.  

With that, he dropped to the ground and threw out his hands, releasing a ki wave in all directions.   This was done mainly to get the Cell Juniors off his back, but it also caught Vegeta by surprise, and left Majin Buu wide open.  He then dashed straight for Buu, leading with his fist.  

"Ka..." he said in a low voice.  

Buu recovered quickly, and stood his ground.    He held up his hands and began charging an energy blast of his own to counter Goku's attack.

"Me..."

As Goku flew away from him, Vegeta began to give chase.   The Cell Juniors did the same, although they were too slow and too far away to intercept Goku in time to stop him.

"Ha..."

By now, it was apparent to anyone watching that Goku was charging the blast through his feet.   This special variation of the Kamehameha was rare in combat.   Goku had used it once in battle with Piccolo at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, but there had been few eyewitnesses to that epic battle, and fewer still who would have understood the true significance of the maneuver.  

"Me..."

Cell recognized it at once.  His creator, Dr. Gero, had used miniature spy robots to record and analyze Goku's battles, including the bout with Piccolo on Papaya Island.   The data was incorporated into Cell's programming, to the point where he remembered the battle better than those who actually saw it.  

As Goku closed in Majin Buu, Vegeta began to close in on Goku.   And then, suddenly, Goku vanished.

"Ha!"

Demigra's forces were aware of the Instant Transmission technique, but none of them were prepared for this application.  Instead of teleporting to a blind spot to attack from an unconventional angle, Goku instead reappeared only inches from Majin Buu's chin, and pointing in the opposite direction.    

And so, where Buu was prepared to block a punch, he instead took a Kamehameha wave in the face, at pointblank range.  As Vegeta reached out to attack Goku, he suddenly found Goku blasting toward him on a collision course.  

As the punch connected, Goku continued on his path, angling into the ground below, where he immediately leaped into one of the Cell Juniors.   With a wild howl, Goku delivered a chop to the creature's neck, decapitating it in a single blow.  The creature exploded into a cloud of ash and smoke a moment later.  

Vegeta recovered, but Goku didn't allow him a moment to get his footing.  He began firing ki blasts in rapid succession, keeping Vegeta off-balance as he flew towards him for another assault.  

"Come on, Vegeta!" he shouted.   "You can do better than this!"

But Vegeta was in no mood to try.  His keen fighting instincts had already been dulled by Demigra's magic, and Goku's onslaught had left him dazed.  To Goku's frustration, Vegeta could only block, which left him open to a simple throw.   He grabbed his fellow Saiyan by the seams in his chest armor and launched him into the path of an oncoming Cell Junior.   When Vegeta moved to avoid the collision, he left an opening, and Goku teleported into position to exploit it.   The sound of Goku's boot colliding with Vegeta's jaw was like a thunderclap.  

With a moment to spare, Goku fired ki blasts to keep the remaining Cell Juniors and Majin Buu at bay, and then he scooped up Vegeta and made his play.  

"Kinto'un!" he called out.    

As his enemies converged on his position, he raised his fingers to his forehead and vanished.  

*******

A few hundred meters away, Goku appeared at Luffa's side, still cradling Vegeta's unconscious body in his arms.  

"All right, get them out of here," Luffa said, "I'll hold the rest of them off."

"Thanks," Goku said, "but that's not the plan.  We'll take 'em together."

"And leave these guys out in the open?" Luffa protested.  

"Don't worry," Goku said.  "I've already arranged a little transportation."

Before she could ask, a yellow cloud descended onto the parkland.  It was no larger than a man, and it seemed too thick and dense to be made of water vapor.  Like a living thing, the cloud positioned itself at Goku's side.  

"Pile 'em on," Goku said.  "Starting with Gohan.  Hurry up!"

Luffa didn't understand what he meant, but lifted Gohan off the ground anyway.  Goku nagged her until she finally laid the young man on the cloud itself, and to her surprise, he did not fall through it.   Instead, he lay atop the cloud like it was a large floating cushion.  

"Good," Goku said as he laid Vegeta across Gohan's body.  "Vegeta can't ride Kinto'un, but he'll stay on if he's on top of Gohan.  Now for Goten and Trunks."

Luffa didn't understand any of it, so she kept an eye out for their enemies while Goku finished stacking Saiyans on top of the magic cloud.   At last, he was satisfied enough and send the cloud on its way.  

"Better take these guys to my house, Kinto'un!" Goku said.   "Chi-Chi'll know what to do with 'em!"

And the cloud suddenly took off into the sky, carrying its passengers like a miniature airplane.  

"What the hell was that thing?!" Luffa asked.  

"That was Kinto'un," Goku said simply.   "I'll explain later.   Right now we still gotta finish off the rest of them."

"Dibs on Majin Buu," Luffa said.  

"Aw, come on!" Goku said.  

"I've fought Cell four times already," Luffa said.   "I'm bored with him.   Besides, you've got a score to settle with him, don't you?"

Goku slammed his left fist into his right hand.   "Well, now that you mention it," he said more seriously, "yeah, I guess we do have some unfinished business."

"That's the spirit," Luffa said.  "Let's go."

*******

There was still the matter of the three Cell Juniors, but as Goku closed in on Cell, the creature's children moved to intercept.   This suited Goku, as he felt that he was leaving most of the work to Luffa.  

Years earlier, Cell had created a brood of Cell Juniors to attack Goku and his friends, in order to provoke Gohan into unleashing his full power.   It had frustrated Goku that he had been too exhausted and weak to put up more of a fight against the little monsters.  But that was before his training in Otherworld, before his battles with Majin Buu and Beerus the Destroyer.  Though he looked very much the same as he did when he fought Cell a dozen years ago, he was much stronger, and he proved it by taking on all three mini-Cells at once.  

With a furious yell, he struck one of them in the chest, stopping him in his tracks.  

Then he flipped in mid-air, and caught another one with a knee-strike.  

As he righted himself, Goku swung his right arm backward and struck the third with a back-elbow to the nose.  

While all three of them were stunned, he held out his hands toward two of the Cell Juniors and stared intently at the third.   With a sharp kiai shout, he fired white-hot streams of ki from both palms and his mouth.   The Cell Juniors were vaporized instantly.  

"Bravo, Goku," Cell called out to him.   He had uncrossed his arms to clap sarcastically.   "You've grown much stronger since our last meeting.   Perhaps you should've taken that senzu bean back then when I offered you the chance."

"I don't know how you came back, Cell," Goku shouted back.   "But you should know that you're no match for me now."

"Oh, I disagree, Goku," Cell replied.   "Your Super Saiyan sidekick over there did a real number on me before you showed up.  Given the chance, I'm sure she could have killed me in a one-on-one encounter.   Luckily, I had some help in this venture.   Your own son lent me a senzu bean to restore my injuries, making me stronger than ever before."

"It won't be enough, Cell," Goku said darkly.   Then he smiled.   "And this time, Gohan and the others ain't around to bail you out."

"True," Cell said.  "I did need their help, much as it pains me to admit it.   But now, their usefulness has ended.   Or did you think I was just standing here watching for no reason at all?"

Goku reached out with his senses, searching for some clue as to what Cell was talking about.   When he noticed it, his eyes went wide with shock.  "No!" he gasped.   "That energy!   You couldn't have!"

Cell chuckled as he raised his fists, which now crackled with swirls of white light.   "Oh, I have," he said triumphantly.   "Your little girlfriend up there really did a number on me, Goku, so I knew I would have to get creative if I was to have any chance of defeating her.   Fortunately for me, I am the perfect being, made from the cells of the greatest fighters in the universe, including your own.   So of course I would know the secret of your Spirit Bomb technique."

"That's impossible!" King Kai said, though only Goku could hear him at the moment.   "I invented that technique!   It can only be wielded by a righteous fighter, and against a wicked enemy!  Even if Cell could gather the energy, any Spirit Bomb he made from it would have no effect on you, Goku!  It'd probably just explode in his face!"

"You summoned energy from the Sun and all the life on Earth," Goku surmised.  "But you didn't channel it into a Spirit Bomb.   You just absorbed it into your own body."

Cell grinned.  "I should have known you'd figure it out, Goku!" he said.   He held up his hands and watched the energy dance on his fingertips.   "I was born with a complete knowledge of your battle with Vegeta.  You never had the chance to deploy your Spirit Bomb against him.   The best you could do was to transfer a sliver of its power to Krillin.  And when he accidentally launched it at Gohan, he was able to bounce it away, but Vegeta could not.  Oh, I've analyzed that battle countless times during my incubation underground.  Forming the Spirit Bomb itself would be tricky for me, but assimilating the energy?   Well it's no different from when I absorbed the bio-extract from those pathetic Earthlings in my imperfect form.  I knew it could work, but I never had the opportunity to try this before.   It was never worth the risk, but now that I've fallen under the influence of this... Demigra person.  Well, it seems I'm much more open to experimentation."

"Well, you've definitely got my interest, Cell," Goku said.   "Maybe Luffa shouldn't have been so hasty to call dibs on Majin Buu, but I still don't think this will be enough for you to win."

"By all means," Cell said.   "Let us put it to the test...!"

With that, the battle was joined.   Cell rushed at Goku with great speed, but Goku was ready for him, and blocked his initial strikes.  Both of them took to the skies, and there were thunderclaps all over the parkland they fought.  

*******

     [12 September Age 778.  Toki Toki City.]  

As the battle in Toki Toki City raged on, one Time Patroller had managed to stay out of the fray.  

She was a clerk, and while her service record indicated a substantial battle power, her usual duties involved processing supply requisitions and maintenance schedules.  When the fighting began, her supervisor was one of the first in the vicinity to be taken over by Demigra's magic.   Utter chaos followed, and all of the drills and battle preparation seminars had become completely useless.  

Cut off from anyone who could help her or give her useful instructions, the Time Patroller known as No. 44 fell back on her instincts, and struck out on her own.  

She had no real plan, other than to find a safe place to consider her next move.  Fortunately for her, there was enough action in the city that no one seemed interested in pursuing her.   And so as long as she stayed out of sight and didn't draw any attention to herself, she would be all right.  

44 had studied the layout of her office complex very carefully, and knew of a number of service corridors and access tunnels.  She followed them to a maintenance hallway built under the street, which led to the boiler room of one of the apartment complexes.  The further along she went, the fewer signs of life she found.   Everyone was moving into the streets to fight in the open.  Even the workmen who used the service tunnels when she had explored them in the past were long gone today.  

She didn't know what frightened her more: Fighting one of Demigra's unwilling minions, or becoming one herself.   The last thing she wanted to find in the tunnels was a workman glowing purple with a hateful red glow in his eyes.  Even as it seemed less likely that she would run into anything like that, the dread in 44's heard seemed to weigh on her like a heavy burden.  

At last, she reached her destination, and had to ascend above the street level.  It was still safer in the buildings, and the apartment complexes seemed to be nearly deserted, but 44 was still anxious about it.  As she climbed the stairwell, she could hear low rumblings from outside, and worried that the entire building might collapse around her.  Even the loud echo of her footsteps on the concrete was unnerving to her.  She considered flying, but decided against it, in case anyone might sense her ki.  

She reached the 15th floor and hastily moved through the halls, counting off the room numbers on the doors as she went.   When she found 1557, she took a deep breath and used an access key she had misappropriated from one of the maintenance crews.  She had held on to it just in case, but had never used it until now.  If it didn't work, she would have to risk forcing the door, and she didn't like that idea at all.  

The gentle 'click' inside the door jamb was almost sublime against the rush of her pulse and the din of the battle outside.  Holding her breath, she pushed open the door, and stepped inside.  

There was nothing particularly important to be found.  It was an apartment, no different from any of the others in the four complexes in Toki Toki City.  44 noticed how similar the architecture was to her own quarters, which made the decor seem a bit more surreal, like she had returned to her own apartment and found someone had replaced and rearranged everything.  

The main section of the apartment was the kitchen/dining area on the left, and the living room on the right.   The kitchen was a cluttered with utensils and cookware, a sort of "organized mess".  Yellow towels hung near the sink, and a pile of recipe cards lay in the corner.   The refrigerator was bare.  There was a magnet on the door which might have been used to pin something up like a note or a photo, but it was there alone, making the emptiness of the space seem even more profound.  

The living room was decorated with a more apparent sense of aesthetic.   A pair of canvases hung on the wall, each coated in black and red pigments.  The compositions were reminiscent of tree branches in winter, but the color scheme made them look more like blood vessels in deep space.  The furniture was also in various shades of black and red, including a candy dish made of red-tinted glass.   This was filled with peppermints.  Several dog-eared issues of "CAR" magazine lay on the sofa.

44 thought she would feel more at ease in this place, but instead she felt like an intruder.  After a minute or two, she decided to explore the rest of the apartment.  

The first bedroom she found was practically empty.  There was only a bed and a wardrobe.   Dirty laundry lay scattered on the floor, and there were dried bloodstains on the white sheets.   The yellow pants and black compression shirts made it plain that this was where Luffa slept, or at least tried to sleep.  

44 stood in the empty room for a while, sat on the bed.  She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth for a while, trying to shut out the sounds of battle in the distance.   She felt foolish for coming here, and yet she didn't know where else to go.  She had only met Luffa a few times, but she was all 44 had in Toki Toki City.   And in her fear, that tenuous connection seemed to justify almost anything.  

Eventually, she grew frustrated enough to get up from the bed and look around.  The second bedroom was more properly furnished.   The four-poster bed was black with red sheets and a red-and-black quilt.  Several plush animals were piled up in the bed, and it was because of these that 44 did not notice that someone was sleeping there.  

"Oh!" she yelped once she finally spotted Luffa's roommate.  She had heard of Jayncho, but had never met her before.  The Majin woman lay on her back, oblivious to the world around her, or the terrible battle that raged less than one hundred meters away.  Nor had she been disturbed by 44's entry  into the apartment, or by 44 turning on the light to explore her bedroom.  

44 knew that Majins were sound sleepers, and that their sleep cycles were long and strange.  The Time Patrol had them on an unusual duty shift for this reason, but by now, every other Majin in the city was surely responding to the attack.   And yet Jayncho was still asleep.  

"I... I'm sorry," 44 said.   She didn't know why she was talking to Jayncho when she knew she couldn't hear the words.  On some level, 44 supposed that she expected the Majin to be awake by now, and couldn't accept the fact that she was sleeping through everything that was happening.   On some other level, 44 found herself envying Jayncho.  At least she had a measure of peace that 44 couldn't find.  

She backed away from Jayncho's bed and sat down on the floor, leaning against the far wall, near the door.   There, she buried her face in her hands.  "I don't know what I expected," she said.  "I just... I didn't know what to do or where to go, or who to turn to, so I came here.   And I knew Luffa wouldn't be here.  I can't sense her energy, so she must be off fighting someplace else.   Or she's... already dead..."

The mere thought of it brought 44 to tears, and she regretted ever saying it out loud.   "What a joke," she groaned.  "I came all this way, just for her, and... what if I never see her again?  What if this is it?   What if I end up dying in all of this?  She'll never even know... I should have told her when I had the chance, but I couldn't.  I mean... how do you even bring up something like that?"

Jayncho made a quiet snore, but gave no other response.  

"I guess that's what made me want to come here.   I thought... if she's still out there, then she might swing by here eventually, and I could stay here and wait for her, or leave a note or something... Gahhh... I don't know.  I just thought, this might be my only chance.   And she might hate me for it, but at least she would know...  But she's not here and you are, and I don't know what the point of any of it was!"

44 covered her face with her hands and leaned into her knees and screamed with frustration.  "She might hate me," she grumbled.   "Oh, sure, like she wouldn't hate me right now.   A war shows up on my doorstep and I run away like a coward.  I'm pretty sure that's doesn't win much respect with Saiyans, does it?   Arrgh... I should just walk outside and hope a stray energy blast puts me out of my misery."

She leaned over and lay down on the carpet, curled up in a fetal position.  As she lay there, counting the red fibers and struggling with her own fear and shame, 44 noticed strands of brown hair.    She held one up and sat up to look at it more closely.  

"This is fur from a Saiyan tail," she said after a moment.  "I mean, it has to be, right?  So... I guess she must have spent some time in here, huh?"

She looked over at Jayncho, who did not move or respond.  

"She must talk to you a lot," 44 said.   "Maybe I should ask you about her when you're awake."

"No, she only really hangs out in here while I'm asleep."

44 was so startled by the sound of another voice that she nearly slammed the back of her head into the wall.  It took her a moment to realize it was Jayncho speaking, and then she blurted out: "You were awake this whole time?!"

"No, I'm not awake," Jayncho said.  

44 got up and stepped closer to the bed.  Jayncho's eyes were closed, and she did indeed appear to be sleeping.  It was as if she had said nothing.   Then she noticed something moving on Jayncho's bare shoulder.  

There was a second mouth on her skin.   And it was moving.  

"Sometimes I can hear things while I'm asleep," it said.   "And I talk back.  It's like a dream."

"I'm sorry," 44 said.   "I had no idea... I didn't mean to disturb you, and... I..."

"You're not bothering me,"  Jayncho said.   "You couldn't wake me up if you tried.  Luffa can't either.   I think she likes to talk to me while I sleep, because she's not comfortable talking about her problems with other people.  It's easier for her to say things to someone who won't hear it."

"But you can hear me," 44 said.  

"Sure, but Luffa doesn't know that.  And I forget it all when I wake up."

"This... this is so weird," 44 said.  

"You're wrong about her, you know." Jayncho said.  

"What?"

"Luffa, I mean.  She doesn't hate you.  She gets scared too.   I think she'd understand whatever you're going through.  And whatever it is you want to tell her, I don't think she'd hate you for that either."

"How can you be so sure?" 44 asked.  She sounded hopeful when she said it, even though she wanted to make it sound skeptical.  

"She's nice to me," Jayncho said.   "A lot of people around here think I'm weird.   I guess I am weird.  I'm not trying to be.   No one wanted to live with me in this apartment.  That never bothered me much, but Luffa seemed okay about it.  I don't think she had anywhere else to go, but she wasn't complaining about it or anything.   And she baked me a cake."

"What does cake have to do with it?" 44 asked.

"I like cake," Jayncho said simply.  "I don't know.  She gets along with me, sort of.  Most people wouldn't even try, and I didn't notice it until she moved in with me.   So... maybe it's the same with you.  Give her a chance."

44 didn't know what to say to that.   There was a long silence in the bedroom, interrupted only by the rumble of the battle outside.

"Unless you stole her stuff or something like that," Jayncho finally added.   "I mean, maybe she would hate you.  I don't know what you might have done to her."

"I didn't do anything to her," 44 insisted.  

"Good, then it should be fine." Jayncho said.   "Is she here?  Go ask her if she'll bake another cake.  It makes the whole apartment smell good."

"She's not here," 44 said.  "It... Look, you really need to wake up. Something terrible is going on outside, and they need your help..."

But as 44 spoke, she noticed the mouth on Jayncho's shoulder was gone.  She called out to Jayncho a few times, but there was no response.

And so 44 sat down by the wall, and tried to ignore the noises outside.

*******

While 44 took refuge in Luffa's apartment, Trunks was fighting his way to the retaining wall that separated the city from the massive hourglass that floated in the center.  Standing along the wall were several Time Patrollers under Demigra's control, and from their black cloaks and arcane chanting, Trunks was certain that it was part of Demigra's plan. When several Saiyan Time Patrollers moved to intercept him, Trunks was sure he was on the right track.  

"Back off," Trunks said.  "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt us?!" Laddis scoffed.  "You think you're something special?  We're Super Saiyans just like you, only you're outnumbered, chump!"

"I know that," Trunks said.   "So when I beat you, I won't be able to do it as quickly and painlessly as I took out the others."

He didn't bother to explain the rest.  Talking to them was pointless, since there was only one way he knew of to break the spell.  Trunks moved so fast that they didn't realize what he was doing.   He cut a wide arc with his sword, but didn't actually hit anything.   Instead, a yellow glow appeared along the path of his strike, and it spread outward like a ripple in a pond.   When it made contact with three of Laddis' group, they were knocked back and dropped out of the sky like stones.  

Even as this was happening, Trunks twirled and spun towards the rest of them.  He caught another one with his boot, then another with the pommel of his sword, then he spun around and drove his elbow into Laddis' face.  

This wasn't enough to bring them all down, however, and so he brought the edge of his sword into play.  Like a master chef, he weaved and slashed and darted around each of them.   To an outside observer, it seemed as though he was cutting them all to ribbons.  

But when he was finished, they all ended up with only shallow cuts on non-vital areas.  The results were still painful enough that they all cried out and clutched at their wounds with their hands.   And this was the opening Trunks needed.  

He tossed his sword in the air, then held out his hands.   With blinding speed, he moved his hands and fingers in a series of complex gestures, then brought them together and launched a powerful ki blast into the entire group.  

They were knocked unconscious as soon as the attack connected.   So certain was Trunks in his assault that he did not pause to make sure they were beaten.   Instead, he ascended, punching his way through another few enemy Patrollers before catching his sword in his hand as it fell back down from when he had tossed it earlier.  

There were others to fight, but each one Trunks overcame only reassured him that this was the correct strategy.  If Demigra's "chorus" were unimportant, then he wouldn't have his other slaves defending them so vigorously.  

He could sense the others.  Ziko and Hakusa had warned him about this, and they were right.  More and more of the Time Patrollers were being converted to Demigra's side.   It was like a shadow had fallen over the collective ki of the Time Patrol.   The ones who remained free continued to fight on, undaunted by the odds, but he knew that their time was running out.  

At last, Trunks fought his way to the retaining wall, and grabbed one of the cloaked Patrollers who stood upon it.  

"Baah cli dushh cli tuul, siid narsh plonn siess elech-- Hey!"

Trunks was shocked to find Taino under the hood of the cloak.  By now, it was clear that no one was safe from the effects of Demigra's spell, but it still unnerved him to see such a cheerful and good-natured Patroller singing ancient demon rites.   Yet he did not hesitate to strike, and knocked her off the retaining wall with a single punch.  

This drew the attention of the other cloaked figures, and they all turned to face him and raised their hands to attack.  

"That's right," Trunks said.   "Whatever you guys are up to, it's not happening until you deal with me first!"

He counted twelve of them, not including Taino, who appeared to be neutralized.   One of them, a Namekian named Bubbex, extended his arms and tried to grab Trunks' sword arm.  He avoided this by leaping onto the large cog that rotated beneath the great hourglass, surrounded by the retaining wall.  It turned slowly enough that Trunks could stand his ground and strike in any direction and hit one of his foes.  

An Earthwoman named Kate fired a Kamehameha at him, but Trunks was able to deflect this with his sword and send her tumbling off the wall and into the city.   Pima pounced at him like a tiger, but Trunks had already fought stronger Saiyans and won.  He simply rolled with Pima's lunge and drove his boots into the young man's abdomen, knocking the wind out of him.  

Above Trunks, the sand in the hourglass still glowed purple, but not as intensely as before.   He hoped that this was a good sign.  

"You've got to fight it!" Trunks told them.  "Demigra is using you!  I'll do everything I can, but I need your help!"

"Baah cli dushh cli tuul," sang Nema, an Earthling shapeshifter.   Trunks had never seen her true form, but her present appearance was similar to the warriors of the Demon World.   She stalked toward him with murderous intent.  

"Siid narsh plonn siess elech phol," sang Goma, a green Majin.  He was normally so quiet and soft-spoken.  Seeing him in this state stoked the fires of Trunks' rage.  

"All of you, stop it!" Trunks shouted.   Stop it now!"

With a rising scream, Trunks clenched his fists and raised his power level further, until at last he released a wave of concussive force outward from his body.  He knocked all of them from the retaining wall and stood unchallenged on the surface of the cog.  

"I'm through fooling around," he said.  "If I have to kill you guys to put a stop to this, then I'll just have to use the Dragon Balls to wish you all back.  But this ends here!"

For a few seconds, there was relative quiet, save for the sounds of battle in the distance.  Trunks scanned the view in all directions, waiting for anyone to climb up on the wall again to defy him.  

Soon enough, he spotted a few of them floating up to try again.

"Baah cli dushh cli tuul," sang Imai, a Namekian

"Siid narsh plonn siess elech phol," sang Goma, in spite of the pain Trunks had just inflicted upon him.  

Trunks waited until several of them were in position, then fired off another energy wave to knock them away.   But they kept coming, and in greater numbers.   It made no sense to him, as he was sure that he had put enough power into his attacks to incapacitate at least some of them.  

Then he noticed that thirteen of them had risen up to defy him.  He knew he had knocked Taino out, at the very least, but then he noticed it wasn't the same face under the cloak this time.  

"Baah cli dushh cli tuul," sang Ziko, who had taken Taino's place in the chorus.  

As Trunks realized the implications of this, he felt someone grabbing his leg from the edge of the cog he was standing on.  He looked down to find Hakusa, wedged between two of the cog's teeth.  She looked up at him and smiled.

"Siid narsh plonn siess elech phol," she sang.  The red glow in her eyes shone through the lens of the scouter she wore.  

The chorus grew louder as more Time Patrollers climbed up to join in.   As Trunks prepared to fight them off, he spotted Taino again.  She was dazed and disoriented, but one of the others had dragged her back into position and she wearily raised her arms to join them in their task.   Above him, the sand in the hourglass burned brighter.  

And then he heard loud crack, and saw a hairline fracture in the glass.  

Around him, the massive cogs began to slow down, ever so slightly, but enough that they began to strain against one another, producing a low, metallic whine.

"Dammit!" Trunks shouted.  "Damn it all!"

He raised his hand to the communicator earpiece he wore at all times.   "This is Trunks," he said.   "If there's anyone left, I need you to get to my position as soon as you can.  Repeat!  If there's anyone left--"

He was cut off by louder noises in the gears.   The cracks in the hourglass grew longer, and more numerous.  Soon, the sand inside glowed bright enough to illuminate the entire city.  Trunks didn't bother to repeat his call.  If there was anyone left to help him, they wouldn't be able to miss what was about to happen.  

Around him, the chorus chanted louder, and more fervently.   Trunks held his sword in both hands.   He was desperate now.  Desperate enough that he was prepared to slaughter all of them if it meant stopping whatever was about to happen.  And yet, some inner doubt stayed his hand.  The thought of his master Gohan's dead body, murdered by Gero's cyborgs, but betrayed by Trunks' failure and weakness.   And so while his mind knew that he had to take action, his heart caused him to delay.  

Then the hourglass finally succumbed to the energy building up inside.  Beams of violet light shone from the cracks in the glass, and at last, the entire structure burst apart like a raw egg in a microwave.

Trunks was able to shield himself from the blast, but there was nothing he could do but watch and wait for the dust to clear.  The city fell silent now.   The enchanted Time Patrollers fell silent, and simply stared up into the space where the hourglass had once been.  

At last, Trunks could make out an unmistakable figure.  

Demigra had arrived in Toki Toki City.

"Ah, Trunks," he said.   "How good to finally meet you in person."

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.  Earth.]  

While Goku fought Cell, Luffa renewed her campaign against Majin Buu.   The childish version of Buu had dominated Luffa during a recent Time Patrol mission, but she had become stronger since that encounter.   Now, she had enough power to destroy Buu's flesh, putting a hard limit on his seemingly endless regeneration ability.  

That still left Luffa with a tough job, as Majin Buu remained pliable and unpredictable, with no discrete organs or joints to target.   And now that he understood that Luffa could deal him lasting damage, he began to fight more carefully, using defensive tactics instead of attacking with reckless abandon.  

"Kakarot's not too bad," Luffa muttered as she powered through Buu's offense.  With his allies removed, he was now resorting to guided ki blasts to contain Luffa instead of the Cell Juniors and ki ghosts from before.   But it wasn't enough to stop her from smashing through and delivering a punch to his flat snout.    

"Yeah, that trick with the ki blast from his feet, and the way he took down those little blue bug things.   The old man might be almost as strong as I am!"

"Rrraaagghhh!" Buu screamed as he began his counterattack.  Luffa couldn't block every blow, but then, she didn't need to.  She was willing to take a few hits in order to keep him close.  

"You're not so bad yourself, kid," Luffa teased.  As she spoke, blood from her nose trickled down into her lips, but this only seemed to fan the flames of her aggression.   "Demigra was smart, sending you after me, and giving you all that backup.  He must have seen how bad you worked me over before, and thought this would be enough to tip the scales."

Suddenly, she snagged his arm after taking a punch, and she swung her legs up to Buu's chest.   As she planted her boots on his ribs and neck, she began to yank on his wrist, as though attempting to pull his arm off.   Normally, Kid Buu might have allowed her to do this, just to amuse himself by turning the arm into a worm-like appendage, or letting the flesh melt through her fingers as he attacked with the rest of his body.   But he had already seen what damage she could wreak upon an isolated limb, and so he struggled to shake her off of himself.

"There's just one problem with his strategy!" Luffa shouted as she wrapped her tail around Buu's other arm.   He extended his legs in order to kick at her, but it wasn't enough to discourage her.  Then she applied her ki to pushing them both to the ground at tremendous speed.

They crashed hard enough to make a crater in the parkland, and Luffa still didn't let go.  Buu began to thrash violently in her grip, but he still couldn't shake her loose.  

"See, if Demigra was stronger than you, Buu, he would have taken me on himself.   But he didn't, so now I know he's no match for me, and since you couldn't get the job done, then that means I'm still alive to make him regret it!"

At last, Buu shifted his tactics, extending his trapped arm, and grasping Luffa's face.    He could only scream, but his message was clear: Release me or smother.

Luffa's counter to this was to narrow her eyes and charge her hands with an energy that made her hands glow like hot coals.

As smoke began to billow from Buu's arm, he gave in to panic.   If he tore himself away from the arm, he would surely lose it, and bring himself one step closer to destruction.  But if he didn't, then Luffa's attack would damage even more of his mass.  And yet, there was still a chance he could suffocate Luffa before it was too late.  

Unaccustomed to such life or death decisions, Majin Buu opted to stay on the attack.   With his will bound to Demigra's magic, and his enemy in peril, he could do no less.

If this troubled Luffa, she didn't show it.  

As Buu's arm burned away, he continued to struggle, both with Luffa and with the pain.   At last, he could take no more, and he opened his mouth to release a ki blast at her.   In an instant, the crater they were in was filled with a pink light, tinged black from the soot and ash kicked up from the explosion.

For a moment, there was only the cacophony of the battle between Goku and Cell.  From the crater, there was nothing.  The ground in and around it had been turned to glass.   Then, a crack appeared, and Majin Buu emerged, like a infant bird hatching from a giant egg.  

He was dazed, and his arm and shoulder were gone, with only a charred patch of flesh on his chest where they had once been.   He struggled to regenerate the lost limb, but could only manage to sprout a tiny stub.  Flecks of pink matter spilled out of the wound, floating up and away from him like puffs of steam.

In spite of his injury, he quickly regained his bearings, and stared at the ground near his feet, searching for any sign of Luffa, dead or alive.  

After a moment, he stepped toward a certain spot, held out his remaining arm, and fired a ki blast at the vitrified dirt.   When he saw Luffa lying prone and unresponsive underneath, his impish face twisted into a vicious smile.  

With a gleeful cackle, he extended his arm and grabbed Luffa by the pant leg, hauling her up into the air and dangling her so that her head was level with his own.

Thrilled at his apparent victory, Kid Buu swung his head tentacle forward, and began to slap it across Luffa's face.   When she gave no reaction, he howled with laughter, then tried it again.  

It was all very amusing to Buu, until her eyes suddenly snapped open.  

Before he could realize what was happening, Luffa pursed her lips and spit something into his eyes and mouth.   It was like a stream of glowing yellow mist, and Buu screamed with pain as soon as it made contact.  

He released Luffa so that he could use his hand to wipe the offensive material from his eyes.  It covered him like phosphorescent paint, and after a moment's exposure, it began to burn.  

When Buu let go of Luffa, she did not drop.   Instead, she hung in the air, upside down, and slowly rotated to an upright position.   She regarded Buu for a moment, then turned her head and spit.  

"Yeah, let's see you fight with face full of that," she said.   "Final round, squirt."

And she commenced her attack.   Wounded and burning, Majin Buu still managed to put up some semblance of a defense, but this was all he could manage.  The ki Luffa had spit on him was burning his throat even as it stung his eyes and nostrils.  As he struggled, his usual shrieks and laughter were replaced with pathetic coughs and gagging noises.    

Luffa was the only one laughing now.  

She was relentless, for nothing short of that would win the battle.  Given time to recover, Majin Buu could eventually restore himself completely, and reverse all of the gains she had made against him.  So she refused to give him any respite.   She hammered at him with punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and ki blasts, pausing only to bat aside his good arm whenever it got in her way.  When she was satisfied with her efforts, she stepped back, and held up her hands on her left side.  

"Gallick Gun...." she said just before launching a column of purple energy into Buu's upper body.  

When the attack subsided, there was only a flash of purple streaking into the upper atmosphere, and Buu's torso and legs, which collapsed into a pile of pink goo in the grass.  

Luffa stepped up to the quivering mass and knelt down beside it.   "You're a tough bastard all right.   That knocked Demigra's magic out of you, but you're still alive."

The pink blob swirled around, occasionally forming an eye to glare hatefully at Luffa, or a mouth to moan and snarl at her.  

"Well, that's it, then," Luffa said as she lowered her hand over the puddle of Buu.  "I guess if I destroy this piece, there won't be anything left to worry about-- huh?"

As she charged her hand to attack, the pink liquid suddenly shrank and faded into the soil.  Luffa realized her mistake at once.  Even in this pathetic condition, Buu could still move, and he was probably more mobile as a fluid, since he could travel through the ground like rainwater.   But what she didn't understand was where he thought he could go.   What refuge could he hope to find in this place--?

"Kakarot!" she called out.  

*******

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

"How did you do it?!" Trunks demanded.   "How were you able to cast your dark magic into Toki Toki City?!"

Demigra made a slight chuckle before responding.  "You seriously expect me to explain it to you, Trunks?" he asked.   "Or are you stalling for time, hoping your friends will find some way to unravel my victory?"

"Neither," Trunks said with a defiant smirk.  "It's just that I'll need to write a full report on the breach in security.  And we'll need to know exactly what went wrong so that we can prevent it in the future."  He brandished his sword and added.  "So I want to get as much information from you as I can, before I kill you."

"Confident as ever, I see," Demigra said.  "Very well, I'll deign to answer your question, Trunks.   I've been awaiting this day for so long, it will be gratifying to tell someone else how it became possible."

Before he continued, he glanced down at the crowd standing in the city below.   He snapped his fingers, and one of the Time Patrollers, Percel, floated up to his side, holding a bottle of water.   Demigra received it from him, and then dismissed Percel with a gesture.  

"Pardon me," Demigra said.  "Revenge is such thirsty work.  Would you care to join me in a toast?"

"Get on with it, Demigra," Trunks said impatiently.  

"It was that duo from before," he began.  "Towa and her patchwork husband.  Mira, I believe he was called.  They provided me with the final pieces to the puzzle.  Towa could use magic to manipulate warriors, making them stronger and more aggressive.  But she couldn't control them completely.  I, on the other hand, could do far more, and so I refined her spell into something more suitable for my purposes.  Frieza was my first test, and he performed quite well."

"Frieza?" Trunks said.  "I thought Piccolo was the first one you tried to control.  After we defeated Towa!"

"That was what I wanted you to think," Demigra said.  "Towa was interfering with history to gather energy for her trifling experiments, but in doing so, she also disrupted the seal which kept me confined to the Crack of Time, where your beloved Chronoa had banished me long ago.  I needed more to escape, but I knew you would defeat her eventually, and so I used what little contact I had with the outside universe to control Frieza during his battle on Namek.  When that attempt worked in my favor, I allowed Towa's scheme to play out."

"If Towa was helping you," Trunks asked.  "Then why did you help Luffa thwart Towa's attempt to erase me from history?"

"Simple," Demigra said.  "He paused to take a sip of water and licked his lips with delight.   "Lovely.  I haven't eaten or drank anything in seventy-five million years.  You can't imagine what that's like.   But back to your question.  I wanted Towa to continue meddling with history, but only so I could escape and seize the Time Nest for myself.  If I had allowed Towa to erase your existence, then it would change the entire history of the Time Nest itself.  Mechikabura would still be alive without you to defeat him for me, and Chronoa might have organized a Time Patrol very different from the one we have today.  That would disrupt my plans, and so I had to send my mirage to intervene.   You're welcome, by the way."

"Get on with it, Demigra," Trunks said.  

"Fine.   Once your existence had been secured, and Towa's operation was neutralized, I began to test my influence over history's mightiest fighters.   Frieza, then Piccolo, then Majin Buu.  The Time Patrol stopped me at every turn, but those were only minor setbacks.  I needed to gauge your strength, and adjust my strategy."  

"So when your spell didn't work on Lord Beerus," Trunks said, "you had to come up with a new plan."

"My spell did work on Beerus," Demigra said with a dry laugh.  "Just not in the way you expected.  I never intended to control him directly.  But I knew his unmitigated arrogance would allow me to manipulate him to do my bidding just as well."

"That's nonsense!" Trunks said.  "Lord Beerus was onto you from the start, and once he saw what you tried to do, he wanted to destroy you."

"My point exactly," Demigra said. "Since he couldn't catch me, he went to Toki Toki City instead.   And during his visit, he left something of mine behind."

The realization hit Trunks harder than any blow he had sustained in the battle thus far.  "No..." was all he could say.  

Demigra laughed.   "You remember the Majin Emblem I smuggled into the Time Nest, don't you?" he asked.   "I could never bring such an explosive power directly into the Time Nest, but it was child's play to smuggle it in on Luffa's hand.  I used the same trick on Beerus.  That kickball transferred my magic to his body, but not to control him.   Beerus was able to resist my influence, but he neglected to purge it from his divine personage.  And as soon as he was in this city, it departed from him and carried out it's true purpose."

"Then you took control of one of the Time Patrollers," Trunks said.  "And you've been using them to spread your spell to the rest!"

"I knew Chronoa could never allow Beerus to wait here to destroy me himself.   Such a confrontation would annihilate the Time Nest.  Somehow, she would have to convince him to leave the matter to the Time Patrol.   Once he departed, my victory was assured!"

"Assured, huh?" Trunks said.   "If you were so confident, then what was the point of that time incursion you pulled before you came here?"

"I needed one last destabilization of the timestream," Demigra explained.  "One more push to allow me to breach this city's defenses.   And with my Time Patrollers active on the inside, it was simple to have them fetch versions of Frieza, Cell, and Buu from your Parallel Quest system, and send them back in time to West City on Earth.  And since the disruption originated near the Time Nest, it made my arrival that much easier to accomplish."

"That's all, then?" Trunks asked.  "It had nothing at all to do with getting Luffa out of the city long enough for you to make your move?  Because I was getting the distinct impression that she had you worried, Demigra."

"Were you?" Demigra scoffed.  "You'd do well not to confuse caution with cowardice, Trunks.  I have planned for this day for seventy-five million years.  I left nothing to chance, including your struggle with Towa, and the wish you made on the Dragon Balls to deal with it.  What was it you asked of Shenron?   'Give me a strong ally.  Someone with the kind of power to help me defend time itself.'  I believe that was what you said."

"Something like that," Trunks replied.  

"I couldn't dare ignore an ally like that," Demigra said.  "From what I've seen, Luffa is little more than a distraction, like Towa.  But the fact remains that Shenron granted your wish, and she is powerful.   I couldn't dismiss that, and so I used the wish against you, Trunks.  By sending those villains to the Earth's past, I created another disruption in history, which required her attention.   And so Luffa is defending time itself.  It just so happens that she's left the Time Nest defenseless in the process."

"You think you've worked out all the angles, Demigra," Trunks said, "but you've underestimated us."

"Please.  Don't bore me with empty rhetoric about the 'true power of the Saiyans'," Demigra muttered.   "Your warrior race's entire history is barely a footnote in the cosmic procession.  And your pitiful 'legends' mean even less to me."

"But Shenron sent me a Super Saiyan," Trunks said.  "And that got your attention, didn't it?  You said it yourself.  You couldn't dismiss that."

"And so I removed her from the board," Demigra said.   "Even if she can defeat my forces, by the time she prevails, there will be no Time Patrol to return to.   Face it, Trunks.  Your 'Legendary Super Saiyan' isn't coming to save you this time."

"And that's it right there," Trunks said.  "That's your fatal flaw, Demigra.  You say you've been planning this for millions of years?  Well, I think all that time has made you lose sight of the details.  I didn't wish for an ally to save me.   I asked Shenron for an ally to help me.   You just assumed I needed someone stronger than me to fight my battles for me, but that was never it at all.   I just needed someone on my level, who could handle things when I was busy elsewhere.   Like 'defending time' while I handle an invasion."

"You?" Demigra scoffed.  "I've already won, Trunks.   Your troops now serve me.   What is there left for you to 'handle'?"

"Your execution," Trunks said.  "Forget the legends, Demigra.  You see, you're about to fight a real Super Saiyan.  And I'm not talking about Luffa."

With that, Trunks began to scream, and as his ki increased, the golden aura around his body began to expand and flash like a firestorm.  

"Such useless bravado in the face of certain defeat," Demigra said with a smirk.   I shall have to--!"

There was no warning, no hint of an attack.   One moment Demigra was speaking while Trunks was floating in front of him.   In the next, Trunks had closed the distance between them, and his sword was now embedded into Demigra's torso.  The point of the blade poked out of his back, while the hilt was pressed against his abdomen.  

Trunks, still holding the sword, looked up at Demigra, and narrowed his eyes.   Then he screamed again.

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.  Earth.]  

Cell was just as skilled a fighter as he had been the last time Goku had fought him.   And despite Goku's estimations, it seemed that the Spirit Bomb had improved Cell's power a great deal.  It was a testament to Cell's design.    Long after he would have thought Cell to be an obsolete contender, the creature had managed to adapt and improve himself using the abilities and traits that had been part of him all along.  Dr. Gero would have been proud of his ultimate weapon, if he were still alive to see it in action.  

The real challenge was Cell's fighting technique.   As a boy, Goku had trained under Kami, whose assistant, Mr. Popo, once created a doll to serve as a sparring partner.   The doll was mystically animated, and it could mimic Goku's power and movements perfectly.   Fighting with Cell was almost the same experience, except that Cell could not imitate and anticipate not just Goku's movements, but those of Vegeta, Piccolo, and Frieza as well.

But Goku had learned from his loss to Cell twelve years ago.  When he began training in Otherworld, his first goal was to study every aspect of his defeat, and overcome those weaknesses.   This was what separated Gero's androids from true martial artists.  When Cell wanted to improve, he simply fed upon innocent people, or absorbed one of the other androids, or he fell back on the genetic traits and computer data that were built into his design.  A monster like him could never truly achieve the kind of fighting perfection that he liked to brag about.   Goku knew this as fact.  His son had proven it at the Cell Games, and Goku himself would prove it again here.  

Cell had been one step ahead of Goku for most of this battle.  Always blocking at just the right moments, always striking at any opening.   He had been keeping up with everything Goku had done, but only because Goku had allowed him to do so.   He needed to see what Cell could do with this increased power, and so he allowed Cell the illusion of fighting the same Son Goku he had defeated at the Cell Games, with the same moves and reactions that Goku would have had on that day.  

What fascinated Goku was that Cell was completely unbothered by this.  After a few minutes, he should have at least gotten suspicious.  Vegeta or Piccolo certainly would have.   Neither the Supreme Kai of Time, nor Luffa, knew how Cell, Frieza, and Majin Buu had come back.   But it seemed likely that they were somehow collected from history, snatched from the end of their lifetimes, and brought to this day and age.  That would explain how Cell didn't seem to notice that Goku had changed over the years.   From Cell's perspective, it was still the day of the Cell Games, and only a few hours at most had passed.  

Realizing this, Goku was satisfied with what he had learned, and so he gave Cell a taste of the Goku of Today.   He sidestepped a punch and used Instant Transmission to vanish from Cell's sight.   Cell spun around to catch Goku as he rematerialized, but instead Goku appeared above him, and landed a kick on the side of Cell's head.  

"What--?!" Cell gasped.  

He recovered quickly, but fell for the same trap.  Goku lured him in, then ducked under Cell's kick and threw a kick of his own, sweeping Cell's other leg out from under him.    As Cell tumbled, Goku fired a ki blast into his chest.  

"You're not--!" Cell snarled.  "You aren't supposed to be doing this!"

"Something wrong, Cell?" Goku asked.   "You don't seem to be enjoying this like you were before."

"You fool!" Cell shouted.   "I'll show you--!"

He lunged for Goku, only to be foiled again.   This time, Goku stood his ground, and caught Cell as he ran into him.  Then, with a furious shout, Goku arched his back and dropped Cell with a belly-to-belly suplex.  

"What?!" Cell gasped.  "Where did you learn to do this?!"

"The Grand Kai Planet," Goku said.  "Some of these moves don't suit me too well, but I still learned 'em, just in case they might come in handy.   Here's another one..."

As Cell scrambled to his feet, Goku threw out his hands and yelled.    Cell was blown back by an invisible wave of force, not strong enough to hurt him, but powerful enough to move him against his will.  He groaned and then braced himself from another wave, crossing his chitinous arms over his face.  

"These tricks of yours are nothing, Goku!" Cell sneered.   "My skills are unmatched!"

"You're behind the times, Cell," Goku teased.   "Here's one my son taught me."

He held out his hands, and a ring of yellow light appeared, and expanded to two meters across.  Then the ring shot out toward Cell, stopping just over his head.  Before Cell could react, the ring descended over his chest, and quickly shrank, wrapping him tightly and pinning his arms to his sides.  

"What... is this... supposed to be?!" Cell demanded.  

"Galactic Donut!" Goku said with a smirk.  "Goten and Trunks told me it didn't work very well on Majin Buu, but that only figures, since he can change his shape however he wants.  But against someone like you, Cell?  Well, that's a whole other story."  

"Ridiculous!" Cell shouted.   "This puny ring of yours can't hold me!"

But Cell could not break free, no matter how hard he strained against his bonds.  As he struggled in vain, Goku positioned himself and readied a Kamehameha.

"Just hold that pose, Cell," Goku said.   "This will all be over real soon."

"No!" Cell protested.   "I should have more than enough power to deal with the likes of you!  I sensed it!  The ki you're putting out doesn't compare with what I absorbed, combined with what I already had!"

"That's where you're wrong, Cell," Goku said.   "Not too long ago, I got a taste of something called 'Super Saiyan God.'   It didn't last very long, but my body remembered that power and I can still tap into a little bit of it when I need to.  Why else would I be able to handle you in my Super Saiyan form, when Gohan had to surpass the Super Saiyan to beat you before?"

"Super... Saiyan... God?!" Cell sputtered.  "What are you blathering about?!"

"The trick to godly ki is that you can't sense that power, not with the kind of senses we're used to using, anyway.   So when you look at me, you can only see a portion of my power.   Maybe most of it, but there's still that little bit you can't sense, and that's the part that makes the difference."

"Y-you're bluffing!" Cell said.   "This is just a trick, like when you surrendered to me before!"

"Sorry, Cell, but this time, you don't get your way.   And don't bother using Instant Transmission.  That Galactic Donut will just follow you wherever you go, and I'll be right behind you."

"No, this can't be happening!"

Goku was ready to fire, but before he could, something leaped out from the shadows and tackled him.  The Kamehameha went wild, launching up into the sky at an angle so steep that it would have never hit anything.   And the figure who ambushed Goku kept him on the ground, struggling to hold him.  

"You - don't - escape, you - miserable....monkey!"

The voice was unmistakable, and as Goku wrestled free of his assailant he knew exactly who it was, though he didn't understand how.   He put some distance between them, then charged his Super Saiyan aura to illuminate the area.  

"Frieza?" Goku asked in disbelief.   "But I didn't sense you at all.   How could you--?   Oh, man...!"

It was Frieza, just as Goku thought, but he had drastically changed.   The cyborg parts were no great surprise-- Goku had never seen them for himself, but he had heard about it from his friends after the fact.   It only made sense, after all, since the last time Goku had seen Frieza on Namek, Frieza had lost one of his arms and his entire lower body due to his own botched attack.  

But what truly horrified Goku was the limp expression on Frieza's face.  There was drool spilling from his mouth, and only one of his eyes seemed to be focused on what he was looking at.   And one of Frieza's arms hung at his side, as though paralyzed.  

Or dead.  

Was that why Goku couldn't sense his life energy?  

"Your - monkey - friend, that... she-devil... is - the - one - who - left - me - in - this - sorry - condition," Frieza said in a voice that sounded like he was talking into a tin can.  His mouth did not move as he spoke, though Goku did not understand how that could be.  

"Luffa did this to you?" Goku asked.  

"Her - attack, swift - and - sudden - as - it - was, broke - my - cervical - vertebrae," Frieza explained.  "I - perished - instantly, or - rather - my - organic - body - did.   But - my - cybernetics - survived - and - so - I - was - able - to - remove - myself - from - the - fray - unnoticed."

"And now you want to try to get revenge, is that it?" Goku asked.  

"One - benefit - to - this - state - is - that - I - am - now - free - of - whatever - enchantment - was - placed - upon - myself - and - the - others," Frieza continued.  "Before - I - only - sought - to - attack - any - Time - Patrol - agents.   But - now, Goku, now - I -am - free - to - pursue - my - own - vendetta."

"You really are a hopeless fool, Frieza!" Goku said.  "I tried to spare you on Namek... twice, and you still won't quit!  Now you've been reduced to a shell of yourself."

"Spare - me - your - pity," Frieza droned on.   "I - may - be - a - shambling - wretch, a - technological - horror, - but - I - can - reflect - upon - that - after - I - have - sent - you - to - oblivion!"

"Enough," Goku said.   "I never wanted it to come to this, Frieza, but it looks like I have no choice but to put you out of your misery!"

With that, he took a wide stance and held his hands together on his right side to charge the Kamehameha wave.  But as he fired, someone called out to him...

"Kakarot!"

Goku looked away for a moment, and while this brief indiscretion might have been enough for Frieza to escape in his prime, the half-dead Mecha-Frieza was too slow to capitalize, and so he was finally, mercifully destroyed by Goku's blast.  

But what concerned Goku was what he saw when he looked back at Cell.   He was still caught in the Galactic Donut ring, and Luffa was running toward them, and he could feel something underground.

"Wh-what?!" Cell cried as he sensed the same thing.    

It was Majin Buu.  Having soaked into the soil to escape Luffa's finishing blow, he leached through the ground, and emerged at Cell's feet.  In mere instants, Cell's legs were caught in sticky pink fluid, like an animal stuck in warm taffy.

In spite of the ki ring holding him, and the two Super Saiyans ready to destroy him, and the demon magic that ruled his thoughts, Cell was most panicked by the goo that expanded around him, like some gigantic amoeba threatening to swallow him whole.  

"Oh no!" Goku yelled.  

"Shoot him!" Luffa cried out!  "Aim high, and I'll go low!"

Goku had been slow to react at first, but he recovered quickly, and launched another Kamehameha at Cell's upper body.  He had tried this years ago, at the Cell Games, only for Cell to regenerate his entire chest, both arms, and head.   And so he feared the same thing would happen this time, but he put his trust in whatever plan Luffa had in mind.  

The energy wave hit its mark, and as Goku expected, when the dust settled, there was nothing left of Cell but an abdomen and his legs, which were enveloped in Buu's flesh.   But to his surprise, Luffa was there as well, wrapping her hands around Cell's legs.    She paid no heed to the pink goo that covered Cell's body, and her arms and face began to sink into it.  

"What are you doing?!" Goku shouted.   "He's gonna absorb you!"

Luffa's only response was to charge her ki, and her aura began to flash with greater intensity.  With a savage growl, her hands started to shine with a brilliant gold, and Buu's flesh began to burn.  

For a moment, Goku stood still, unsure of what would happen next.  If he tried to pull Luffa free, there was a good chance of them both getting sucked in, and Buu would emerge with the power of both Super Saiyans, with no one powerful enough to stop him.   Instead he watched with growing concern, and began to raise his power level, just in case Luffa's stunt didn't work.  

Seconds passed, and he could see less and less of Luffa's body as the pink mass enveloped her.   She did not struggle, but continued to apply her energy to burning Buu's body away.  The air began to grow hazy with smoke that stung Goku's nostrils.  

Then Luffa was gone, and there was only a rippling blob of pink slime.   The smoke still billowed from it as it contorted itself into a shape, and after a moment, Goku could see a face forming in the middle of it.  

It looked like Cell's features, but with Majin Buu's pink skin and black sclera.   It grinned at him in mischievous triumph, then its eyes went wide with dread.   The face twisted and stretched out over the mass of Buu's smoldering flesh, like an oil slick spreading across a puddle.   It's mouth opened wide in a silent scream, then faded away.

Then the entire blob began to turn black, and then it glowed red like a piece of coal in a furnace.   And then, finally, it vaporized in a flash of yellow.   For a moment, Goku could only see an impenetrable cloud of smoke, but he smiled and relaxed his guard.  

Suddenly, the smoke was driven away by a powerful gust of air, and Luffa stood alone in its place.   She was breathing hard, and her yellow pants were dirty with soot, but otherwise she was no worse for wear.  

"You got him!" Goku cheered.   "Nice work!"

"What were you doing over here?" Luffa asked.   "You had Cell outclassed from the start, so why were you taking so long to finish him off?"

"Oh.  Well, Frieza jumped me at the last second, and--" Goku tried to explain, but Luffa wasn't having it.  

"Forget that chump!" she yelled.   "You could have taken down Cell a long time ago, even with that extra power he had!  I was over there trying to finish off Buu, and you're here toying around with your guy?"

"Hey, I had it under control!" Goku said defensively.   "You're the one who let Buu get away from you, remember?   If you wanted Cell defeated so badly, you should've fought him yourself."

Luffa stepped toward him and poked her finger into the front of his orange shirt.   "If I had left Buu up to you," she griped, "then you probably would have--!"

"Uh, excuse me, guys, but don't you have more important business to deal with right now?   The whole Time Patrol crisis and all?"

They both heard the voice of King Kai, and glanced upward, even knowing that he was speaking into their minds from the Otherworld.

"Dammit, you're right," Luffa said.   "We beat them all, didn't we?   I thought I wiped out the last traces of Buu, but if I missed any, he would have probably regenerated himself by now..."

"No, you got him," Goku said.  He looked around at the battleground and narrowed his eyes as he concentrated his senses.  "It's just like when we beat him on the Sacred World of the Kais.  There's no trace of him anywhere.   Or Cell, for that matter."  

"It's a good thing they were both so worn down," Luffa said.  "Otherwise, that stunt I pulled probably wouldn't have worked, and Buu would have gotten a second wind.  But if they're all beaten, why haven't they recalled me back to the Time Nest?"

"Huh?" Goku asked.  "I thought you used a time machine, like the one Trunks had."

"They have those," Luffa said, "but those are for training missions.  For stuff like this, there's a magic scroll that takes me where I'm supposed to go, and then it brings me back when I'm done."

"A scroll?" Goku said.   "Hey, that reminds me.   Do you still have that thing with you, King Kai?"

"Well, yes," King Kai replied.  "I've got it on the dining table right now, but--"

"Great!" Goku said.   "We'll be right there!"  

He held out his hand to Luffa.  "Come on," he said.  "I've got an idea."

Luffa took his hand, unsure what he had in mind, and then she suddenly felt herself... disappear.  

*******

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

Demigra coughed up blood.  Being impaled upon Trunk's sword, there seemed to be little else that he could do.  But Trunks was not content to pause his attack.  

Charging his ki, he drew back his weapon with one hand and fired a  blast of golden energy from the other.  Demigra was knocked back, and as he fell to the city street below, his blood spilled out of his wound like the tail of a comet.  

Trunks still was not finished.  Nor had he forgotten the crowd of Time Patrollers who were magically bound to Demigra's will.  As he followed Demigra to the ground, his bloody sword began to glow white, charged with his Super Saiyan power.  He raised the blade overhead as he landed beside Demigra, but instead of striking the Demon God, he swung the sword in a wide arc, releasing the energy in a wave that knocked away the Time Patrollers who gathered to defend their dark master.  

Then, Trunks struck Demigra again.   He raised his free hand, and clenched his fingers into a tight fist.  Demigra's body began to glow with a yellow light, and it levitated into the air.   With a furious kiai shout, Trunks swung his hand to one side, and Demigra's body was flung in the same direction.  He crashed into the entrance of the Tournament Arena, a facility located on the Time Plaza, near the portal to the Time Nest.  

Then Trunks held out his hand and fired a series of energy bursts at Demigra.  Before he could collapse, the bursts struck Demigra's neck, forearms, and ankles, forming a set of energy bonds that held him fast to the wall.    

As Demigra struggled against this trap, Trunks appeared before him in a flash.  Without a word, he drove his knee into Demigra's wounded gut.  

"Arrghh!" Demigra screamed.  

"It's simple," Trunks said.  "You thought you could overwhelm me with the Time Patrollers, Demigra.  You thought I would be so conflicted about fighting my friends that I'd never be able to stop you."

His sword was back in its sheath, and Trunks was now punishing Demigra with hard punches to his unprotected face and abdomen.  

"But you're the real threat here," Trunks said between strikes.   "And if I focus my full power on you, and only you?  Something tells me you won't be able to control your army of mindslaves.   Let me know if I'm wrong."

Demigra's only response was a pathetic gurgle and a trickle of blood from his mouth.  He tried to speak, but a right hook from Trunks cut him off before he could form the words.

"Normally, I'd finish this with a single blast, and destroy you quickly," Trunks said.   "But your illusion-casting has tricked us before and I'm not going to give you an opening to use any other spells you might have!   So my only course of action is to beat you to death, Demigra.  It's better than you deserve."

"N-no..." Demigra sputtered.  Then his eyes went wide as he screamed.  "No!"

Trunks was still attacking him when suddenly his next punch was halted by a powerful energy field.  "What?!" Trunks gasped.  

And then Demigra suddenly rallied.  With a surge of power, the wall around him disintegrated against the force of his red aura.   The golden shackles Trunks had used on him now faded away, and Trunks found his next strikes were cushioned by the sheer intensity of Demigra's power.   He literally could not lay a hand on the Demon God.  

At last, the field subsided, and Demigra stood before him, still wounded, but free.  

"I... have come... too far...!" he shouted between halting breaths, "to be stopped... by a worthless... insignificant... nobody like you!"

Trunks stepped back, not out of fear, but to give himself the proper distance to use stronger measures.   He extended his arms and held his wrists together as a bright yellow ball of energy appeared in his palms.  

The Buster Cannon was a technique of his own design.  Son Gohan had taught him a variety of classic attacks used by Goku, Piccolo, and others, but he had also warned him that Gero's cyborgs would be prepared for such measures.  

"I never had the chance to learn any of Vegeta's moves," Gohan had told him long ago.  "I know how much it would mean to you to use them in battle, but don't let it get you down.  The fact is, you've got plenty from your father, Trunks.   You have his fiery will, and his skill for innovation.   Use it to forge your own path, and you'll find a way to destroy those cyborgs with something they've never seen before!"

Trunks had taken the lesson to heart.  The Buster Cannon lacked the versatility of the Kamehameha, but it was faster to charge and easier to deploy.   And by keeping his arms in front of his chest, the move left him less open to attack on the left flank.  

The blast had taken out a large section of the tournament stadium, but Demigra survived.   That did not discourage Trunks.   The important thing was that Demigra had not used the chaos of the explosion to dodge or hide.  He had been forced to guard instead, and this would wear him down further.   It also gave Trunks a clearer picture of his enemy's stamina.  The wound in Demigra's torso was still bleeding, and after several minutes, the blood now stained much of his blue costume dark red.  But he still had enough in him to put up a vigorous defense.   It was frustrating, but Trunks kept his emotions in check.  A long, protracted battle favored Demigra, but it also allowed Trunks to study his opponent, and analyze his powers for weaknesses.  

More importantly, every second Demigra spent in this fight was another second he could not hunt down the Divine Tokitoki Bird.  It was Demigra's sole objective here.  Without Tokitoki, his entire invasion was meaningless.

Demigra was holding his scepter like a walking stick, and seemed to be using it for support.   It looked like it had been made out of several bones, with the hand of a humanoid skeleton at the top arranged to hold a red crystal orb.  This orb now glowed red as it generated a force field around Demigra to protect him.  Trunks was tempted to press his attack and test the limits of this ability, but decided against it.  

There were too many unknowns about Demigra.  This was a chance to learn more about his abilities.   If he truly were as weakened as he appeared to be, then there would be plenty of time to finish him off.  But if this was a trap, Trunks couldn't afford to blunder into it.  

"Y-you're not completely without patience, then," Demigra muttered.  "If you had laid a hand on me just now, you would have lost it.   A little defense I came up with to allow me time to do this..."

The red aura intensified around him, and Demigra rose to his full height.  To Trunks' amazement, the bloody wound in the demon's abdomen began to close up again, and the crimson stain surrounding it began to recede.  At first, Trunks mistook this for a healing ability, similar to the technique used by the Supreme Kai of Time, but then he realized what it truly was.   The blood was actually returning to his body, as if Trunks were now seeing a video recording of it being played in reverse.  

It was similar to a different ability Chronoa had.  When Trunks' mother had come to visit him, she would often ask Chronoa to alter the passage of time on her scalp, which caused her hair to grow faster.   Demigra seemed to be able to reverse the process on his own body, and literally undo any damage he sustained in battle.  

"There," Demigra said, raising his arms triumphantly.  He looked as fresh as when he first appeared from the broken hourglass.  

Trunks drew his sword and examined the bloodstains on the blade.   They still remained, though this seemed to be a contradiction.  

"You surprised me, Trunks," Demigra said with an arrogant smirk.  "I thought I had taken every possible contingency into account, but I've forgotten how ferocious a real battle can be.  I've been watching history unfold from the Crack of Time for so long, it seems I've lost touch with the real world."

"I've only just begun, Demigra," Trunks said.  "I don't know much about magic, but I'm betting that little stunt took a toll on you, one way or another.  There's a limit to how much damage you can reverse, and I promise you that we're going to find it.   But even if I can't, you'll never get your hands on Tokitoki if all you can do is stay on the defensive."

"A salient point," Demigra said.   "Perhaps I should have taken a more aggressive posture when I arrived here.  You have my word, Trunks, that I shall strive to do better."

As he spoke, he raised his scepter and laid it across his forearm like the barrel of a gun.   Before Trunks could react, he suddenly fired a barrage of crimson energy blasts from the red orb at the end of the scepter.  Trunks managed to avoid the first one, but the rest of them seemed to adjust their path through the air.  He had to pick up speed to stay ahead of them, and as each burst whizzed past him, they exploded on the walls of the city in the distance.

At last, as Trunks ran out of room, he swung his sword to deflect the next shot, but in the moment he did so, Demigra suddenly appeared right next to him, and used the opening to strike him with his scepter.  He managed to land several hits this way, until Trunks finally managed to bring up his sword to block it.  They continued this way for a minute longer, dueling through the tournament grounds.  The only sounds were the clang of metal against bone, until finally...

"Hrrrraaahhh!" Trunks screamed as he feinted a strike at Demigra's neck, only to shift his footing and drive his blade into the middle of the scepter.   He put a tremendous power into the blow, enough that the bone scepter cracked in two.   Demigra was thrown off-balance by the attack, and Trunks capitalized by spinning around and catching him in the face with a backfist.  

"You've lost, Demigra," Trunks shouted.   "You tipped your hand with that staff of yours.   You rely on it far too much!  You might still be able to fight without it, but you won't be able to reverse your injuries or pull any other tricks."

Demigra fell to the fighting stage of the arena, and glared up at Trunks with a wild, desperate hatred in his eyes.   "Don't underestimate me, boy!" he snarled.   "I am far from finished."

"Oh, I'm sure you have a lot of fight left in you," Trunks said as he stalked toward his foe.    He made sure to keep the tip of his sword between himself and Demigra at all times.  "They say an animal is most dangerous when it's cornered.   So I'll make sure to watch my step from here on, but you're still cornered, Demigra, and this is where you get swept into the dustbin of history!"

"You're right, Trunks," Demigra admitted.   "I'm no match for you without my scepter.   I can already tell that the difference in our powers is far too great.   I won't survive long without it."

Trunks stepped as close to Demigra as he deemed safe, and raised his sword to continue the battle.  But as he prepared his next strike, he noticed a cunning smirk suddenly appear on Demigra's face.  He backed away, ready to defend, but all Demigra did was raise his left hand.  There was nothing in his fingers but a handful of air.

And then suddenly, a second scepter appeared, and before Trunks could react, Demigra used it.  

He found himself surrounded by a field of profound darkness.  Bolts of green lighting flashed around him, and Trunks could feel the darkness closing in around him.   He tried to push back, but found there was no escape.  

It contracted around him with ruthless speed.   In that moment, Trunks felt a searing pain across his entire body, like he was being warped and stretched through some giant machine.   When it was over, he found himself lying prone on the tournament stage, disoriented and confused.   He looked around, and saw his sword lying beside him, just a few centimeters out of reach.  He rolled onto his side to take it...

...only for Demigra's boot to slam down on the flat of the blade.   Trunks looked up to find him holding two scepters.    The two splintered pieces of the broken one were in his right hand, while the second one flashed and glowed in his left.   There was a bolt of energy that flowed between the two ruby orbs, and then the broken scepter began to repair itself, much the same way Demigra had healed his injuries before.   Then there was another flash of red light, and the once-broken spear vanished.   Satisfied, Demigra took the remaining spear and held it in both hands, high over Trunks.    

"You were right," Demigra said with a manic glee.   "I wouldn't survive very long without this scepter, which is why I'm repairing it and sending it back in time to the moment when I needed it the most!   I trust you begin to understand the power I wield, Trunks, but if you need a further demonstration, then let me oblige!"

The Demon God raised his scepter in both hands, and above his grinning face, he formed a large ball of turbulent energy, with streaks of red and black churning  throughout.   Trunks scrambled to his feet, but he was too late.  Demigra brought down the scepter and pointed it at Trunks' head, and the energy ball crashed down on his target with brutal efficiency.  

For a moment, there was only the rumble and crash of Demigra's attack, punctuated by the pained howls from Trunks as he convulsed helplessly in the maelstrom.  

When it was over, Trunks lay helplessly on the rubble that was once the Toki Toki City martial arts stage.   He made a low groan, and his fingers and lips twitched as red energy continued to arc and ripple over his body.  

"Still alive..." Demigra observed.  "Not entirely unexpected, but I am impressed, Trunks.  After all that, you might still get up from that and put up a decent fight.   Fortunately, you'll never get that chance.   Ah.   There we are."

He looked up into the sky and quickly spotted the Divine Tokitoki Bird flying overhead.  Trunks could sense the bird's presence, and he wanted to get up and fight, or at least call out to Tokitoki that he should fly away and find someplace safe.   But he couldn't find the strength to even speak.  All he could do was to watch in horror as Demigra held out his left hand and fired a beam of dark energy.   When it hit Tokitoki, the bird was transformed into a tiny sphere of orange light, which then flew straight down toward Demigra.  

Trunks had no idea what would happen next, but then he heard Demigra chewing, followed by an audible gulp.  It wasn't hard to imagine Tokitoki's fate, and Trunks closed his eyes tightly when he thought about it.  

He sensed Demigra's power rising.   And then, he heard Demigra crouch low beside Trunks.  He laid the orb of his scepter on Trunks' chest, and chuckled for a moment before he spoke.  

"Now then," he said.   "It's time you and I had a discussion, Trunks, about your future with the Time Patrol..."

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.  North Kai Planet.]  

It was difficult for her to comprehend.  It was similar to the sensations she felt when the Scroll of Eternity transported her through time, or when the Dragon Balls brought her to Toki Toki City, but this was something different altogether.  It was as if her body momentarily ceased to exist, and then resumed existing as if nothing had happened.  

She looked around and found herself in a completely different environment.   The gravity was stronger, and the horizon was oddly curved.  It reminded her of a small planetoid, except there was a breathable atmosphere and grass under her feet.   The sky was pink, instead of the blue of mid-day in West City.  In the distance, Luffa could see a vast expanse of golden clouds, over which the planetoid seemed to float like a buoy in the ocean.  

There was a road on the planetoid, and a shiny red automobile parked near a dome-shaped house.   It reminded Luffa very much of Chronoa's personal quarters in the Time Nest.   Then she noticed the monkey watching her nearby.  

"Hey, Bubbles!" Goku said as he waved to the monkey.  "I'm back, and I brought someone with me."

Bubbles studied Luffa for a moment and made several enthusiastic primate sounds.  

"Luffa, this is Bubbles," Goku said.  "Bubbles, Luffa.  C'mon, we need to see King Kai."

Goku proceeded into the house, leaving Luffa and Bubbles looking at each other in an awkward silence.  

"Uh, nice to meet you," Luffa finally said.  

Bubbles only made primate sounds in reply.  

She shook her head, and followed Goku into the house.  

There, she found him talking to a short, chubby man in a black robe.   He had pointed ears like Chronoa, but that was where the similarities seemed to end.  His skin was a pale blue, and there were a pair of barbels dangling from the sides of his mouth, which made him look somewhat like a fish.   His eyes were concealed behind a pair of dark sunglasses, and there was a black skullcap covering his head.   A pair of antennae extended from the cap, though from the way they moved, Luffa couldn't tell if they were part of the hat or King Kai's anatomy.  

"Of course I didn't touch it, Goku," King Kai insisted.   "It's not my place to interfere in the affairs of the Kaioshin.  I haven't kept my position over the North Galaxy for this long by defying my superiors!"   At last he noticed Luffa and said, "Oh, it's you!"

Goku gestured to the scroll which lay on King Kai's table.   "Does this look familiar to you, Luffa?" he asked.  

"Yeah," Luffa said, stepping closer to inspect it.   "It's not the same one that I used to get here, but... Well, I never understood that part.   Trunks and Chronoa always said there was only one Scroll of Eternity, but we had thousands of them piled up in the Time Vault.   They were all the same Scroll, somehow, but only one of them would glow purple when there was a problem.  Anyway, this one seems to be in good shape, but why did she leave it with you two?"

"She gave it to Goku," King Kai said.  "But I knew he'd lose it if he took it with him to the fight, so I told him to leave it here until he was finished.  Uh... if you don't mind me asking, aren't you going to change back?"

"We're not finished fighting yet," Luffa said as she pointed to her hair.   "I have a feeling things are going to get wild back at Toki Toki City, and I want to be ready."  

"Well, your boss said I can use this scroll to get there," Goku said.  "She didn't tell me how it worked, though, but if you know what to do, then we should be able to get there in no time!"

"There's not much to it," Luffa said.   "You just pick it up and you get sent to the the time period in the Scroll."

"But that can't be right," King Kai said.  "Goku handed it to me after the Supreme Kai of Time left, and then I put it here.  And neither of us went anywhere."

Luffa shrugged.   "I guess you're right," she said.   "Now that I think about it, Trunks and Chronoa were always handling the Scrolls before I used them, and it never mattered until I picked them up.   Maybe it only works for a particular person?"

"Well in that case," Goku said, "Why don't you try holding it, and I'll put my hand on your shoulder.  That way, if you end up going somewhere, I should go with you, right?"

Luffa shook her head and went to the table.   "I don't know if it works that way," she said, "but it's worth a try.  All I know is that I need to get back to the City as soon as I can."

As she approached the scroll, she felt Goku's hand on her shoulder, and she winced.  There was something... odd... about Goku that she couldn't place, although his overly personable manner had something to do with it.  She looked back at him, and he was smiling and giving a thumbs-up sign with his free hand.  

"All right," she said as she picked up the Scroll.   "Here goes nothing..."

At first, nothing happened, and then she suddenly felt the now-familiar sensation of being drawn back to the Time Nest.  It was working!  The world went white around her, and a few moments later...

*******

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

...Luffa found herself back in the Time Vault.  

"Well how about that, Kakarot?" she said.   "It worked-- huh?"

She turned to speak to him, only to find he was no longer there.   She hadn't even noticed his hand was no longer on her shoulder.  

"Kakarot?" she asked.  Then she looked around and realized there was no one else in the Time Vault either.   She had hoped that Chronoa could explain her plan, and how Goku and King Kai were supposed to factor into it.   But the Supreme Kai of Time was nowhere to be found.   Neither was Trunks, nor the Divine Toki Toki Bird.  

"But that's not right," Luffa said.   "The bird lives here, and Trunks was supposed to be standing guard at all times!  Where could they--?"

For a moment, she considered checking the lower levels of the Time Vault.   Chronoa had recently shown her the "isolation ward" housed underground, where she stored various sensitive time anomalies and time-displaced persons.   It was designed so that no one on the outside could sense anyone on the inside, and so it occurred to her that Trunks and Chronoa might have sought shelter there.  

But she rejected this idea.   They wouldn't hide in a bunker during a crisis.   More importantly, Luffa had never learned how to get into the isolation ward.   She had never seen anyone enter or leave, except through time travel.  It was possible that there was no physical entrance, and only Chronoa knew the secret.  

Then Luffa noticed the Scroll of Eternity lying on the great octagonal table.   This was the scroll that had glowed purple, and had taken Luffa to the battle in West City.   The scroll on King Kai's planet was different, apparently, since this one had never left the Time Vault.  The purple glow had subsided, indicating that Luffa and Goku had successfully resolved that temporal incursion.   But normally Trunks or Chronoa would have put the scroll back in storage.  

"They must have left in a hurry," Luffa said.  "Which means--!"

She flew up the stairs-- literally flew, for she no longer cared about Chronoa's rules about flight in the city-- and burst through the doorway leading out of the Vault.  She intended to check Chronoa's house first, but the sight of the Time Nest grounds stopped Luffa in her tracks.  

There were small flames in the grass, and large chunks of displaced earth.   She could smell the sweat and feel the lingering traces of the ki that had been used here recently.   It was like so many other battlefields she had seen in her lifetime.  

Luffa rushed to the large arch at the edge of the Time Nest.  There was a great portal, which shimmered like the surface of a reflecting pool standing impossibly on its edge.  The portal led to the rest of Toki Toki City.   There was no way to know what was going on there until she passed through it and saw for herself.  Luffa steeled herself and stepped through to the other side.    

She thought she would be ready for anything.   She had expected to find the other Time Patrollers locked in a pitched battle with Demigra and whatever minions he brought with him.   On some level, she had imagined that the battle had already happened without her, and the Time Patrollers would all be celebrating on the other side.   Deep down inside, in a part of herself she refused to acknowledge, she wished that she could wake up in her own native era, and discover that a great many events in her life had all been a dream.  

But as Luffa emerged from the Time Nest, she found the main square of Toki Toki City completely deserted.  There had been a gigantic hourglass suspended there, surrounded by enormous brass cogs that turned and clicked throughout the day.  These now lay in broken pieces throughout the street.  And there, floating in their place...

"Demigra," Luffa said with a contemptuous growl.  

The Demon God looked down at her and made one of his unctuous smiles.   "Ah, Luffa," he said.   "I was wondering when you would show up.  Did you enjoy that little skirmish I arranged for you?   I trust it wasn't too taxing."

 NEXT: Under New Management?

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #trunks #goku #vegeta #gotenks #gohan #frieza #cell #perfect cell #majin buu #44 #jayncho #demigra #king kai #tokitoki #toki toki city #earth

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (199/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

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

The Time Vault was silent, save for the occasional coos and chirps from the Divine Tokitoki Bird.  His guardian, the Supreme Kai of Time, had left the the Time Vault to attend to some urgent matter, leaving Tokitoki in the care of her most trusted Time Patroller, Trunks.  

Though he was too modest to say it himself, Trunks was a natural leader. Forged in the conflict with Dr. Gero's killer androids and cyborgs, he had already become a formidable warrior when Chronoa recruited him to serve in her Time Patrol.  The Saiyan contingent were eager to follow him, as many of them saw him as their rightful Prince, due to his descent from the Vegetas.  Earthling Patrollers respected him for his pragmatic, hands-on command style.  They knew Trunks would never order anyone to do something that he wasn't willing to do himself.  The Namekians saw in Trunks a kindred spirit.  His serious and dutiful personality was very consistent with their own culture, and they admired his perspectives on combat as a last resort.   The Majins liked Trunks because he indulged their more whimsical eccentricities.  He trusted them to do their jobs well, and he didn't quibble over how they carried themselves while they did it.  And the Patrollers from Frieza's species were eager to work alongside the man who killed Frieza, liberating them from their greatest shame.

But while Trunks had the confidence of the entire Time Patrol, he still had lingering doubts about his own ability.  In his own timeline, he had been too weak to help his master, Son Gohan, against the cyborgs.  His mother, Bulma, had invented a time machine to give them a way to save their world, but Trunks had been dissatisfied with that course of action. Using the time machine was a tacit admission of his inadequacy, an admission compounded by his failure to anticipate the threat of Gero's ultimate weapon, Cell.   When the Supreme Kai of Time confronted him about his illegal time travel, he eagerly accepted the chance to redeem himself by serving in her Patrol.  He had found duty and responsibility to be an effective distraction from his shortcomings.   But in the quiet hours, when there was nothing to do but stand by and wait, there was always that lingering fear that his best would not be good enough.

At the moment, he was keeping tabs on Luffa's mission, while coordinating the defense of Toki Toki City.   Luffa was their newest recruit, and quite possibly the strongest as well.   Trunks had used the Dragon Balls to wish for a powerful ally to assist him in defending certain periods of history from the demon witch Towa, and Shenron had granted that wish by bringing an ancient Super Saiyan from the past.   Luffa was moody and disoriented from the experience, but eager to fight, and while she and Trunks had their differences, she had proven a reliable warrior for the Time Patrol's cause.  

Now, with Towa defeated, another demon sorcerer, Demigra, was attempting to exploit the instability of the timestream to his own advantage.  According to Chronoa, he had escaped from his prison in the Crack of Time, and it wouldn't be long before he made his move to seize control of the Time Nest.  Luffa had been eager to face the challenge, and Trunks had been grateful to have her on their side.   He wasn't sure how well the Time Patrol could manage without her in this crisis.  

And perhaps Demigra had the same idea, because his first move after escaping the Crack of Time was to cause a temporal incursion on Earth in Age 778.  Normally, Demigra used his magic to manipulate hostile fighters during historic battles, but this time he had chosen a time of peace, and his pawns were three villains who were supposed to be long dead by that year.  

No one had expected this.   Luffa had already proven herself to be more than a match for Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu in earlier missions, and Demigra's magic had been ineffective on stronger beings like the God of Destruction, Beerus.  It seemed as though Demigra had no other warriors to manipulate, but instead he simply gathered three villains together and dumped them into the same time period.  But how could he have done this?

Luffa's solution was as simple as it was brutal.  Since Demigra's incursion was clearly meant to draw Time Patrollers away from their defense of the city, she would tackle the mission alone, and they could worry about the how and why of it some other time.  

So far, her plan had worked well.   Trunks normally monitored Luffa's missions by watching her in the mystic Scroll of Eternity, and talking to her through an earpiece communicator, but Luffa had neglected to wear her earpiece to the fight, and when Trunks saw how well she was doing against Majin Buu, he turned his attention to Toki Toki City.  

"All sentry groups have reported in.  No sign of intruders," said a voice in Trunks' ear.   This was Percel, one of the senior Patrollers he had entrusted with security.  

"What about the Scouter readings?" Trunks asked.

"Hakusa reported no unusual power spikes," Percel replied.   "But if Demigra sends any artificial warriors..."

"We won't be able to pick them up on Scouters, I know," Trunks said.  He was well aware of the tactical considerations for artificial fighters, but there was no point in scolding Percel over it.   "Are the Majins in position?"

"Gamma shift is ready," Percel said. "I'd feel better if we could get the Alphas to wake up and help..."

"The Majins need their sleep, Percel," Trunks said.  "For all we know, Demigra might wait weeks to make his move, so we have to stay fresh in case this drags on for a while.   That goes for you too, by the way.   There's no overtime pay on this job, right?"

"Yes sir," Percel said.  "Is Tokitoki still secure with you in the Vault?"

Trunks looked over and found the cosmic bird gobbling seeds from his food dish.   "He's just fine," he replied.  "All quiet in the Time Nest."

"Glad to hear it.  Then if there's no new orders, I'll report back in an hour."

"Very good," Trunks said.  "Over and out."

*******

From his command post in the Time Plaza of Toki Toki City, Percel disconnected his call with Trunks and turned to three of his comrades.   "He's still in the Time Nest," Percel said.  "And he doesn't suspect a thing.  You know what to do."  

The three of them nodded and exchanged eager grins as they left Percel's office to begin their tasks.   Percel returned to his work, his tail swaying with anticipation of what was about to come next.  

*******

Fifteen minutes after leaving Percel's command post, the three Time Patrollers returned to the Time Machine Station in separate time machines.   To anyone watching, they had each embarked on Parallel Quest missions, a routine duty or training exercise performed by almost any Time Patroller.   The Station was designed to accommodate hundreds of PQ trips every day, and the time machines used to access the time fragments were coordinated and maintained by a crew of Capsule Corp. robots.

"How did it go?" asked Laddis as he opened the canopy of his time machine.  He was a Saiyan with a bad reputation in the Time Patrol. His defiant attitude had been blunted somewhat after losing a wager to Luffa, but he was still as arrogant and unsociable as ever.  Normally, he spent all of his free time with his inner circle, an unofficial team he called The Crapkickers.   But today he had other companions.  

"Piece of cake," said Taino.  She was a Majin woman who idolized the Ginyu Force. Despite her interest in such unrepentant villains, she was a model Patroller, and refused to have anything to do with hostile personalities like Laddis.   But on this occasion, they had a common cause.  

She held up a plastic storage container meant for food, and showed it to her partners.   "And I mean that literally," she added as she pointed her free hand at the tentacles on her head.   "One little zap, and that piece of Majin Buu I stole became a harmless piece of pineapple upside-down cake.  Goku and Vegeta were so busy struggling with Kid Buu on the Sacred World of the Kais that they didn't even notice me."

"Same story, kid," said Big League Chew.   Though much larger than the average Time Patroller, his Majin body was pliable enough to fit inside the time machine when he needed to use one.  He looked like a gigantic piece of grape bubble gum, similar to the one he was constantly chewing in his mouth.  As he stepped down from the time machine, he dusted his gloves off the seat of his baseball uniform and lifted his ball cap to reveal a small box of caramel-coated popcorn.  

"Transforming Cell's nucleus into Cracker Jack, well that was a cinch.  Tricky part was finding the thing in the middle of Son Gohan's Kamehameha blast before it disintegrated.  But that's my wheelhouse, so I wasn't about to strike out on this play."   He looked to Laddis.   "So how about it?  Did we get a triple?"

"Oh, sure," Laddis said.   "I just intercepted Frieza's spaceship before it reached Earth, and killed his dad before anyone could stop me.   The only hard part was that I couldn't turn him into a ham sandwich or a donut like you Majins."  Halfway out of the time machine, he reached down and pulled out an unconscious Frieza, his body recently rebuilt with cybernetic parts.   Holding his quarry by the tail, Laddis hopped down from the time machine and joined the other two on the platform.  

"So now we just have to get these three to West City before anyone notices you carrying a hundred kilograms of contraband," Taino said.  

"Don't worry about it," Laddis said.   "Trunks may have confiscated my Micro-Bands, but the way things are about to go down, we won't have to worry about he rules for much longer."  

"Yes," Taino said, in a low voice, very uncharacteristic of her usual ebullient self.   "It's time."

"It's time," Big League Chew repeated.  

"It's time," Laddis said.  

The three of them frog-marched Frieza along the Plaza, and headed for a pre-arranged location.   If asked, they were prepared to tell some lie about Frieza being a Time Patroller in a costume, but no one stopped them.   Frieza's species was common sight among Toki Toki City, and with his head lowered, there was little chance of him being recognized.  

A few passers-by did notice them, and recognized the alien they were carrying, but said nothing.   They simply went on their way, and slowed down only long enough to exchange conspiratorial smirks with Laddis and the others.  

At last, they reached a secluded spot in the Industrial Sector, where an Earthling woman was waiting for them.   Normally, Amura wore a bright violet dogi, and boots with magenta trim to compliment her hair.   But for this occasion, she was concealed in a black cloak, and knelt before a circle she had made on the lawn with red candle wax.  

"Quickly!" she hissed as she saw the others approach.   "It's time!"

Laddis dumped Frieza unceremoniously into the waxen circle, while Taino and Big League Chew set their cake and caramel-popcorn beside him.  They each fired pink energy beams from their head-tentacles, and the snacks transformed.    One became a blob of pink Majin flesh, while the other resembled a miniature figure of Cell, but pulpy and quivering.   In time, both would regenerate into the legendary monsters who had once threatened the universe, but not before Amura completed her work.  

While the others stood around the circle, she withdrew a bottle of water and held it up with both hands.   As she poured the bottle over the three villains, the water began to glow purple, and a dark fog surrounded it, anointing the villains with the same dark energy.  As she did the four Time Patrollers eyes began to flash red.  

"It's done," Amura said with a satisfied smile.   "They are our brothers now."

"Then send them on their way," Taino said.  "Hurry!"

Amura did not rush, nor did she dispute the point.  She gestured with her hands exactly as she had been instructed.  She recited the magic words perfectly, even though she now spoke in a language that had been extinct since before her species evolved.   It didn't matter whether she understood the meaning of the ritual.   It did not matter how much pain she felt as the knife drew blood from her left hand.   It did not matter why she needed to drip her blood onto the three villains in the circle.   All that mattered was that the ritual be completed as expected.   There was no room for error.  

And at last, the spell was complete.  While the Time Patrol was accustomed to their technology and the mystic powers of the Time Nest to move through time, there were other, more blasphemous ways to achieve the goal.   The four of them watched with fascination as the circle of wax was suffused in a pillar of energy.   It looked like a swarm of black hornets confined to an invisible cylinder.   And then, it all vanished-- the villains, the wax, the pillar of darkness, all of it.  There was only a patch of ash in the ground where the ritual had taken place.  

"Did it work?" Laddis asked.  

"Of course it worked," Amura said testily.  She had torn a strip of cloth from her cloak and was wrapping it around her hand when he asked.   Now, she raised her wounded hand, and pointed to the center of the city.   Blood still dripped from the wet bandage, but none of them noticed.  

At the center of Toki Toki City was an enormous crystal structure shaped like a great hourglass.   Golden sand funneled through it, and the glass was surrounded by gargantuan cogs of brass, like the innards of some impossible clock.  The gears turned one another, but there was no clear purpose to the mechanism.   It was a mystery known only to the Kais.   Most of the mortal Time Patrollers dismissed it as a simple monument.

But now, as the hourglass began to pulse with purple light, and the brass gears vibrated just enough to produce an eerie harmony, the four Time Patrollers watched with detached satisfaction.  The true purpose of the structure would remain a mystery to them, for the moment, its meaning to their conspiracy was clear.  

It was an omen.

*******

For all his strengths as a leader, Trunks was oblivious to the looming danger.  The first warning came when the Divine Tokitoki Bird began to screech and flap his wings in distress.   Trunks just thought this was because Tokitoki missed the Supreme Kai of Time.  

"You know, if you acted a little more affectionate while she was around to see it," Trunks said as he looked up from the status reports, "then maybe she wouldn't leave you alone with me as often.   I feel for you, pal, but I'm afraid I'm all you've got until she gets back."

The second sign was the lingering sense of evil power he felt.  Trunks had developed a sensitivity to evil ki in time distortions, but it was nothing like the divine perception of the Supreme Kai of Time.  His was only a rudimentary understanding, and he had already sensed Demigra's escape from the Crack of Time, and so he assumed this heightened sensation was only a continuation of that event.  

The third hint that there was something amiss was when Luffa's Time Patrol mission developed an unexpected complication.   But Trunks had become so fixated on the defense of Toki Toki City that he did not check the Scroll of  Eternity.  He thought about it, but decided that it was better to trust Luffa to handle it her own way.  Much of the tension between them had stemmed from his reluctance to accept Luffa as a partner, and he thought that it might mend fences to keep his nose out of her business.  

And so, Trunks did not notice what was happening in Toki Toki City until the enemy finally came to him.  To his credit, once he sensed the warriors in the Time Nest, he drew his sword at once and positioned himself between Tokitoki and the entrance to the Time Vault.  

But, alert as he was, nothing could have prepared Trunks for the enemies who now entered the Time Vault and stood before him.  

"The bird, Trunks.   Hand him over.   Now."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Percel?!" Trunks shouted.  

Percel was a dependable part of the Time Patrol's command structure.  He followed orders, but he could be counted on to seize the initiative when necessary.   It was unthinkable that he would betray the Time Patrol, and yet there he stood, with twenty Patrollers at his back to support him.  

"It's time, Trunks," Percel said.  "The Supreme Kai of Time is finished.   Her reign is over.  Surrender the bird to us, or face the consequences."

"You've been corrupted by Demigra's magic!" Trunks said.  The red glow in their eyes gave it away, but the evil in their ki signatures should have made it plain.  It was simply too hard for him to accept.  Even now, seeing it for himself, he wished that it was some illusion.  

"Demigra," Percel explained, "is the true Master of the Time Nest.  Tokitoki belongs to him.  Step away from the bird and stand down."

Trunks held his sword a little tighter.   "You know how this is gonna go, Percel," Trunks said.   "And I'm not going to hold back."

"Of course," Percel said.   "We all have our parts to play."  He gestured to his comrades.   "Take him down.   Now."

"Have it your way, then," Trunks said.   In spite of the situation, he made a confident smirk.  And then he began to scream.  

There were other Time Patrollers standing outside the Time Vault, waiting for further orders from Percel.   Suddenly, a golden light streamed out of the entrance of the Vault, and they all took a step back from the intensity of the power they felt.   They had expected to face stiff resistance, but it was hard to prepare for such a tremendous ki.   They quickly regrouped and moved around the entrance, only to be knocked aside.  

Trunks emerged from the Time Vault like a meteor.  He had already sized up this second wave before he had finished defeating the first.   Now, he stood still for a moment and raised his blade.   His hair stood on end, glowing a preternatural yellow, while his eyes blazed a wrathful green. The hem of his long black coat flapped wildly around his legs, as if he were standing in the midst of a terrible storm.   He was not.  

Trunks was the storm.

Few Time Patrollers had ever experienced Trunks' full power.  Luffa had witnessed it firsthand, when Trunks had come to her aid during a battle with Towa and Mira, and again when they had to prove their might to Beerus and Whis.  But the rest of the Time Patrol had never found themselves in such dire straits, nor had any of them been bold enough to try to pick a fight with him.   Neither was Trunks eager to show off his power to them.  As he had told Luffa, he refused to waste time fighting his allies.  His strength was reserved strictly for defeating his enemies, and he would do so without flourish or fanfare.   A fight was something to be finished all at once.  That was Trunks' martial philosophy.  

In this lay the foundation of his Saiyan Pride.  In his adolescence, Trunks had been baffled by his father's prideful ways.  Gradually, he began to realize that it was Vegeta's values that had troubled him.   Standing for those values had always made sense.  What Trunks had to learn was to decide what mattered to himself, and stand for his own truth without comprise.   He would no sooner surrender Tokitoki than he could cut off his own right arm.  The Time Patrol was more than just a sacred duty, or an obligation to the cosmos.  

They were a family, no different from his mother back home, or the other people of his world who had survived twenty years of attacks from Gero's cyborgs.  No different from the bond he had shared in the past, with Son Goku and the Z-fighters.  He would not forsake the Divine Bird, nor his fellow Time Patrollers, nor their city.  

And that was why no blood was spilled during Trunks lighting offensive on the enthralled Time Patrollers.   For all his speed and ferocity, for as much as his sword slashed and thrust at his foes, he was careful to strike with the flat of his blade.    No one would die on his watch, he promised himself.  

As he fought, Tokitoki took to the air, and flew in wide circles in the upper reaches of the Time Nest.  This worked to Trunks' favor, as the enemy was often distracted by the bird, and they would leave themselves wide open as they tried to leap after him.  But the risk was too great.  There was only so much room in the Time Nest to fight, and a battle here would put all of creation at risk.  

"Head for the city!" he called to Tokitoki.   "Get as far from everyone as you can!   I'll cover you!"

"Kiiiiiiiiiiii!" cried the bird, and just as Trunks wondered if he could understand his instructions, Tokitoki flew through the large portal that led into the main city.  

Even as Trunks prepared to follow, he could sense some of the downed Patrollers beginning to stir.  He would need more time to neutralize them properly, and there were sure to be more of them.   As much as he hated to leave the Time Nest unprotected, he knew his first priority had to be the  Tokitoki Bird, and their best chance was to get into the City.  

With a frustrated grunt, he turned away from the Time Vault and stepped through the portal, vowing to return as soon as Tokitoki was safe.

As he emerged on the other side of the portal, Trunks felt a chill run down his spine, as he realized that his promise might be impossible to keep.

*******

     [12 September,  Age 778.  Earth.]  

Luffa could not join the defense of Toki Toki City, because Demigra had arranged another time incursion to open a second front.  The self-styled "Demon God" was betting that the Time Patrol could not simultaneously defend itself while fulfilling its duty to preserve the course of history.  And so he sent three evil warriors to attack West City: Frieza, with his cybernetic upgrades; Cell, who had just discovered the frightening potential of his perfect form; and Majin Buu, purified in his original childlike incarnation.  

The Time Patrol would have to commit substantial resources to combat such a threat, and so Luffa went to tackle the mission herself.  Though she relished the challenge, there was more to her methods than simple courage or selflessness.  She believed herself to be the Time Patrol's strongest warrior, but she was also their newest recruit, and had the least familiarity with Toki Toki City, and its defenses.   They could hold the line without her, at least for a while.   As for Luffa, she had fought Frieza, Cell, and Kid Buu before, in recent Time Patrol missions.   And since that time, she had recovered a great deal of her strength.

"Come on!" Luffa said as she taunted Majin Buu.  She had already neutralized Cell and Frieza, and proven that defeating Buu was just a question of time.  "Let's get this over with so I can get back to the city and make Demigra think twice about his little pincer attack!"

Majin Buu was livid, but reluctant to fight as recklessly as he had before.   One of his favorite tricks was to separate his fluid body into numerous pieces, and attack from multiple directions.  But Luffa had managed to destroy some of his body while he was doing this, and while Buu could regenerate the lost mass, he could not do this indefinitely.  Most of his opponents wore themselves out long before Buu's regenerative powers could reach their limit, so he rarely had to worry about such things.   But Luffa was now strong enough to give him pause.

With a spiteful sneer, he raised his hand and curled in his fingers to call Luffa to attack him instead.  

"Fine!" Luffa shouted.  "Have it your way!"

Her golden aura flashed with a sudden burst of ki as she charged Buu, who stood his ground and glowed with a pink aura to match.  Despite her advantage over him, he fought ferociously, swinging his arms and legs to counter her attacks while responding with heavy blows of his own.  The air thundered around them as their fists connected.  

"Good!" Luffa cried out.  "You learn fast, squirt!   No more sloshing around and tossing big blasts in every direction.   You've got to tighten up and concentrate your power if you want to last against me!"

Even as she said these words, Buu raised the tentacle on the top of his head.  It extended slightly, then quickly lashed out like a cobra, and just as it circled around Luffa's neck...

She angled her next strike and sliced off the end of the tentacle with a razor thin beam of energy.   Before Buu could react, she backed way and grabbed the tendril in both hands.   Buu looked on in astonished dread as she held it out in front of her face and bit into it like an oversized pastry.  

Her teeth glowed, and lightning began to arc from her mouth as she made a low, guttural snarl.  Moments later, the entire length of the severed tentacle was suffused with a yellow aura, and then it began to smolder and blacken.  

Buu made another howl in protest, but it made no difference, as the piece of tentacle turned to ash and disintegrated in her hands, leaving only Luffa's satisfied grin.  

"Another wrong move, squirt," she said in mock-pity.   "How many more can you afford to make?  But that's not what you need to be asking yourself."  

She charged at him and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, causing him to stumble and stagger in midair.  

"What you really need to be asking yourself is: 'What happens if she gets her hands on my whole body, instead of just a piece?!"

Despite her ominous threats, Kid Buu didn't look much worse for wear.   He recovered from the kick quickly, then stuck his thumb in his mouth and blew on it, which somehow inflated his head enough to undo the dent Luffa's foot had made in his cranium.  He also regrew the severed tentacle as well.  But the beads of sweat on Buu's face told a different story, one Luffa was very eager to complete.  

"I wouldn't get too confident, if I were you!" called a voice from below.  Luffa glanced away from Buu to see who it was, but she didn't need to bother.   She recognized the approaching ki signature even as it flew up to meet them in the sky.  

"Cell?" Luffa asked.   "I'm impressed.  That hole I drilled into your brain looked like it would keep you down for a long time."

The bioweapon looked good as new, save for the mystical purple fog that wafted from his body, and the red glow in his eyes.   Buu had the same appearance, a signature of Demigra's demonic enchantment.  

"You underestimated us, Saiyan," Cell said haughtily. "We came here for one purpose, and that was to destroy you.  Did you really think we would let you prevail so easily?"

Luffa snorted.  "Out of the three of you, Buu's the only one who can defend himself."

"Is that so?" Cell replied.  "And who ever said there were only three of us?"

Luffa was expecting a sneak attack, but only from Frieza, since he was the one member of Demigra's team unaccounted for.   Instead, it was an altogether different ki that she sensed, and as she turned to meet it, she sensed another coming at her from a different direction.  And another.

They were all Saiyan powers.

She kept her back to Cell, knowing that she could overpower him if he tried anything.   The others swooped into view and took up positions around her.   It didn't take Luffa long to recognize the new players.  

"You've gone far enough," Gohan said through clenched teeth.  

"You're gonna get it now," said Gotenks. "It's butt-whoopin' time!"

"Silence," Vegeta grumbled.  "Finish her off.  Now."

All three of them had the same purple energy and red eyes as Cell and Kid Buu.   Luffa raised her arms and prepared for an attack.  

"Well, at least Demigra had the decency to make this a little more interesting," she said.

"Oh, it's far more interesting than you think," Cell hissed.  

As he said this, several more ki signatures began to approach Luffa.  She recognized these as well, and she began to chide herself for not expecting it sooner.

"Cell Juniors," Luffa said in disgust as the seven miniature duplicates of Cell arrived to join the others.  

"Thirteen against one!" Cell said.  "Face it, Saiyan.  No matter how strong you may be, you're sorely outmatched."

Luffa wondered why Cell continued to include Frieza in his count when she had already beaten him, but she had twelve other matters to worry about first.  The situation had worsened.  She still believed she could win a battle like this, but the cost would be too high.  No one knew how Demigra had brought Cell, Frieza, and Buu to this time period, so killing them had seemed like a viable option.  But Gohan, Vegeta, and Gotenks were supposed to live, which meant Luffa had to defeat them without hurting them.   And she had to do it without damaging West City beneath them.    Drawing her foes away from the civilians had seemed simple a moment ago, but now she had ten more enemies to wrangle.  The battle wasn't hopeless, but it would take time, and every moment she wasted in West City would play right into Demigra's hands.

She shook her head and smiled.  "Oh well," she said.  "Nothing I can do about it now.  Let's just get this over with."

Suddenly, she threw out her hands, and a golden glow shot out from her body in all directions, catching all of her opponents in an explosive wave.

*******

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

It was a full-scale war.   As Trunks stepped out of the portal from the Time Nest, he almost thought he had been transported to a battle on some other world.  But there was no mistake.  This was Toki Toki City, and in every direction he looked, he found Time Patrollers battling one another.  

The only exception was at the retaining wall which surrounded the giant hourglass floating over the center of the city.   There, Trunks spotted several Time Patrollers clad in black cloaks, all staring up at the hourglass.   With their arms raised over their heads, they chanted words in some alien tongue Trunks had never heard before.  Occasionally, the golden sand in the hourglass would glow purple.   Trunks didn't know what that meant, but he was sure he didn't want to find out.  

Overhead, the Divine Tokitoki Bird was circling the giant hourglass, making a series of distressed chirps and hoots.  Trunks had sent him here for relative safety, but it now looked like there was no safe place left in Toki Toki City.  

It was easy enough to tell who was on which side.  The Time Patrollers under Demigra's spell all had glowing red eyes, and their bodies were surrounded by an aura like dark purple fog.  With a furious shout, he charged toward the nearest enemy and dropped him with an elbow to the face.  

"It's Trunks!" shouted one of the Patrollers whose mind was still his own.  

"Let's give him some room to work!" shouted another.  

As he darted around the city, attacking enchanted Patrollers, his own forces began to rally and regroup.  For a few minutes, it seemed like the tide had turned, and it was only a matter of time before the insurrection was foiled.   As Trunks rescued Ziko from a pair of mind-controlled Namekians, it seemed like there was hope.  

"They started attacking all at once," Ziko said.   He was a bald Earthling with a long grey beard, and one of Trunks' most trusted advisers.  

"Why didn't anyone call me?" Trunks asked as he helped Ziko to his feet.

Ziko coughed for a moment before answering.  "It happened so quickly," he said.   "At first it was only a few of them, and we thought we had it under control.  But then more of us began to change, until--"

Suddenly, Ziko stepped away from Trunks and grasped the sides of his head with his hands.   "Grraaaahhhh!" he shouted, and he began to double over.  

"Ziko!" Trunks shouted.  

"Take him down!  Hurry!"

As Trunks looked on, Ziko's body began to glow with the same purple fog as the other affected Time Patrollers.   When he looked up at Trunks, his eyes glowed red with menace....

And then another Time Patroller blindsided Ziko with a precision kick to his jaw.   He collapsed into a heap on the cobblestone road.  

Trunks recognized her as Hakusa, a specialist with scouters and other ki detecting techniques and devices.   He was about to ask for an explanation, but there were too many enemy fighters ganging up on them, and they had to fire ki blasts to drive them away.  

"He was starting to change, sir," Hakusa said.  "I had to lay him out while I had the chance.  Things are dicey enough without Ziko on their side."

"But how?" Trunks asked.  "If Demigra can cast his spells into the city, why didn't he do this before?  And why not everyone at once?"

"I don't know," Hakusa said.  "It's almost like an infection, and it's spreading!" She tapped the custom scouter mounted over her left ear and read the readouts displayed on the screen that was positioned over her left eye.  "All I can tell you for sure is that something strange is happening in that hourglass."

"That's it!" Trunks said.  He swatted aside three Saiyan fighters as they  fell back to the Industrial District.  

"You know what they're up to?" Hakusa asked.

"No, but I'm sure the hourglass is involved in some way," Trunks said.  "It must mean something to Demigra, or he wouldn't have Patrollers standing around the thing doing that weird chant.  Maybe if we take them out, we can disrupt whatever he's planning."

"Easier said than done.   We're having a hard enough time defending the city," Hakusa said.   "And more of our people are getting taken over the longer this goes on.  If you're wrong, we might not have another chance."

"I know," Trunks said.   "But it's the only option we have.  They want Tokitoki, and at this rate there won't be enough of us left to protect him.   I've got to go on the offensive."

Hakusa fired a ki beam into a thin Majin man before responding.  "Okay, take your shot.   We'll cover you as long as we can."

Trunks nodded and took off.  It wasn't far to the retaining wall, but there were plenty of enchanted Patrollers in the sky to block him.   Trunks dispatched some of these with a well-timed Masenko.  

"It's over, Trunks!  The old regime is finished here!"

Trunks looked around to find Laddis, as well as a few other Super Saiyans backing him up, all contaminated with Demigra's spell.   Hakusa was right: this would be much easier said than done.  

*******

While Trunks fought in the city, the Time Patrollers under Demigra's spell took advantage of the situation, and secured the Time Nest.  Since there was nothing in the Time Vault besides the Scroll of Eternity, they shifted their focus to the only other structure in the Nest: Chronoa's personal quarters.  

"Keep looking!" growled a shrill, albino Namekian in an orange jumpsuit.  The arcane glow in his eyes was muted by the tinted visor of his motorcycle helmet, but the purple fog roiling off his body made it clear whose side he was on in the conflict.  

"Face it, Excitebike, there's nothing here!"

"Nothing, he says.  We're standing ankle deep in a pile of junk and he says there's 'nothing here'!"

Dewar swung his tail, sweeping aside a pile of mechanical parts that were sitting on one of Chronoa's endtables.  He was equipped with a Scouter, a sidearm, and a vast knowledge of historical information, but none of that was helping him find anything useful in the house.  

They had entered the Time Nest with a larger force, but when they found no sign of the Supreme Kai of Time, or any Patrollers still loyal to her, they dismissed the rest of their squad to rejoin the battle in the city.   Chronoa's house was small enough that they thought they could comb the entire building with just two people, but they had not reckoned on the amount of clutter in her home.

"Welllll now," Dewar snarled, "if you'd stop and think about it, Excitebike old pal, you'd realize that there's nothing here worth Lord Demigra's time!"

"Time, time, time, there's no time for time!" Excitebike ranted.  "This is the Kai's inner sanctum!  There must be something special stashed away in here, something Lord Demigra would want to know about!  A magic time ring, a secret weapon, anything!"

"And if she really had something like that," Dewar reasoned, "why would she risk losing it in a junk heap like this?"

That got Excitebike's attention.  "Oh," he said.   "Hmm... you might have something there after all."

"The whole city belonged to her," Dewar continued.  "If she wanted to hide something, she could put it anywhere she wanted.  She wouldn't put it in her house.  That's the first place someone would look."

"Then that's what all this trash is lying around for," Excitebike said.  A micro-transmission box was crushed under the weight of his bootheel as he walked through the hall.   "It's a distraction, designed to make us think that she doesn't have anything hidden anywhere!"

"Exactamundo!" Dewar cried.  

"Oh she thinks she's so clever!" Excitebike said.  "We'll just see about that!  Oh we'll see!   Well what are you waiting for?!  Let's get out of here and find someplace else to search!"

*******

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

There were too many unknowns.  

Chronoa trusted the Time Patrollers, and she had complete confidence in their ability to fight the imminent battle.  She also recognized that their skills might not be enough to win the day.  Demigra had proven to be a dangerous and elusive foe.  

She needed an edge, and she saw only one way to get it.  

Leaving Trunks and Luffa in the Time Vault, she had gone to her personal quarters, a humble Capsule House on the grounds of the Time Nest. Her home was a perpetual mess, always cluttered with various machine parts and gadgets that she never got around to putting away.  An enemy might rummage through her house to find some important item or information, but they would never be able to find anything among all the clocks and can openers and crystal radios and circuit boards.   As the Earthlings liked to say, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.  

Most visitors simply assumed that the clutter in Chronoa's home was a sign that she was disorganized, or too busy being the Supreme Kai of Time that she never got around to sorting out all the junk.  Who would have time to go through it all?  

Who indeed?

Chronoa was the Supreme Kai of Time.  The unofficial motto of Toki Toki City was: "There's time."  

Her powers gave her all the time she needed to organize her possessions.   Most visitors never stopped to consider this, but what never occurred to anyone was that she had already organized it all.   She knew exactly where everything was.   She would rearrange it all once in a while, but no one ever noticed the 'mess' had been reconfigured into a different 'mess'.

And so when she entered her house, she simply marched straight to a particular spot in the living room and dug through a pile of self-sealing stem bolts and multimeters to fetch a can of lithium grease.   Only it didn't contain lithium grease.   She had emptied it out and hidden a Hoi Poi capsule inside.  

She activated the capsule and when the smoke cleared, seven crystal orbs lay on the floor.   Each of them was orange, with a different number of red stars embedded in their center.  

Nearby, Excitebike and Dewar, possessed by Demigra's magic, were searching her home in vain.  They could not see her or what she was doing, thanks to her ability to alter the flow of time around her person.  They left, and she made no move to stop them.  All that mattered now was using the Dragon Balls.

The Dragon Balls were the Earth's greatest treasure.   When Bulma invented the Dragon Radar in Age 749, it ushered in an age where the Eternal Dragon, Shenron, would be summoned almost every year.   Wishes had to be used carefully, for there were only so many available, and so many existential threats to the Earth.   Trunks had already used the Dragon Balls in this year, Age 850, when he made the wish that brought Luffa to their aid.   That wish had not been made lightly, for it meant that there would be one less wish for the future.  

And yet, Chronoa had prepared herself an ace in the hole.  It would have been irresponsible to gather the Dragon Balls and hoard them in her house in case of emergency.  They were too critical to the course of history.  

This was why Chronoa had gathered the Dragon Balls from a time before Bulma was born.   In Age 610, the Dragon Balls had lain undiscovered for decades, and would not be missed by anyone.   And so she had gathered them and stored the Dragon Balls of this time in her home, with arrangements to return them once they were  no longer needed.  

At last, the day had arrived, and she laid them in the grass just outside the Time Nest.  The enchanted Time Patrollers continued to mull around on the grounds, but they had no idea she was there.  As Chronoa held out her hands, the Dragon Balls began to pulse with a bright orange glow.  

"Now is the time," she said ominously.   "We need your power..."

There was a flash of golden light, and an enormous green dragon appeared above her.   His long, serpentine body coiled around  the interior of the Time Nest.   His talons gleamed in the light as he made a low rumbling noise from his throat.  

"You have collected the seven Dragon Balls," Shenron thundered.  "You may ask for one wish, and this I will grant you."

Chronoa cleared her throat and began to speak.   She had no doubt that Shenron would be able to fulfill her request.  But would that be enough?

She chased the doubt from her mind and spoke her wish.  They would find out soon.  There was time enough for that, as well.

*******

     [12 September,  Age 778. Earth.]  

The battle in West City had not gone well.   Luffa had managed to kill two Cell Juniors and destroy a few more pieces of Majin Buu, but that was a hollow achievement at best.  Buu was far from beaten, and with his allies to support him, it might take hours to take him out of the fight.   As for the Cell Juniors, Luffa had a sinking feeling that Cell could spawn more of them whenever he wanted.   The bioweapon had been careful to keep his distance throughout the fight, as though he knew he would have to provide reinforcements later.

So far, the civilian population hadn't been hurt, although Luffa had failed to lure the enemy out of the city.  The best she could manage was to keep the battle confined to an amusement park that had been shut down for renovations.   The facility itself was built on a dome, elevated high above the ground, but the grassy fields surrounding it gave Luffa some room to maneuver.  

The conflict had become a virtual stalemate, as Luffa could easily defend or escape from almost any of their attacks, but if she tried to target any of them, they would always cluster together to stop her.  Her only chance was to keep moving and wait for an opportunity to strike, but that only dragged out a fight that was already taking far too long.  

"Really now, Vegeta," Cell called from the sidelines.   "Is this the best you can do?  I thought you were more formidable than that!"

Vegeta gave only a gruff snarl in response as he hammered Luffa with his fists.   She blocked most of his hits, but as she tried to back away, she got caught in a crossfire.   Three Cell Juniors and Gotenks were firing  ki blasts at her from all sides.

"Idiots!" Luffa shouted.   She broke away from Vegeta and held her fists close to her chest.   There was no time to dodge, so she concentrated her power and generated a defensive field.  As she summoned more power, there was a chilling tone in the air, almost as if the field she was producing were shrieking.  The ki blasts splashed harmlessly on the surface of the field, but Luffa knew she couldn't stay put for long.  She could already sense Majin Buu and Gohan charging attacks of their own to batter her defenses.  

But as she shot up into the sky, something followed her.   Out of the corner of her eye, she thought it was Gotenks, but when she tried to swat him aside, she saw the figure for what it really was... too late.

"Haaaaa-ha ha ha heeeee!" cried the ki ghost as Luffa's hand made contact with its chin.  Its face looked like Gotenks', but the rest of it was an indistinct white blob with doughy arms.   It was just like the Ghost Attack Luffa had often used herself over the years.  

As the ghost exploded in her face, Luffa had no time to be honored by the unintended tribute.   The blast wasn't strong enough to hurt her, but it did knock her to the ground, and she rolled across the parkland like an air-car tumbling out of control.  

When she came to a stop, she found she was surrounded.  Gotenks hadn't just made only one ghost.   Now there were twenty all around her, cackling with glee as their young master stood triumphantly in the background.   The others--Vegeta, Gohan, Cell, Majin Buu, and the  Cell Juniors, were close by.  

"You're dead meat, lady!" Gotenks said as he held up his fingers in a 'V' sign.   "One false move, and you get blown up into a million pieces!"

What infuriated Luffa was that even in this tight spot, there was still a chance to win, but it would only take longer and longer for her to secure a victory.  In spite of her frustration, she still readied herself to counterattack.    She couldn't give up, no matter how bleak the strategic picture was becoming.   The Time Patrol had sought her help for a reason.   She was the Legendary Super Saiyan, and she had a reputation to uphold.  

But it was beginning to feel like a Legendary Super Saiyan would not be enough.

She would fight on nonetheless.   For Luffa, there was no other way.  It was more than pride or resolve.  The sight of Gotenks acting as Demigra's puppet was sickening to her.   And the thought of the Time Patrol fighting Demigra without her was equally revolting.  

But it began to sink in for Luffa that she might win the battle and lose the war.   And that there would be nothing she could do about it.  

And then she heard a sound, like gas suddenly releasing from a pressurized valve.  It reminded her of the airlock hatches she had seen in various spacecraft.  

And as Luffa recognized the presence she suddenly sensed, she also recognized the voice that called out.  

"Gotenks!  Step away from her, right now!   If it's a fight you want, then you can take it up with me!"

It was Son Goku.

All of her opponents turned to face him, and Luffa used the distraction to scramble to her feet and get clear of the ki ghosts.   Most of them didn't even notice her as she leaped past them. They were too distracted by the newcomer.   It would have been smart to exploit that advantage, Luffa thought.   She could have used the lull in the battle to get some distance, or ambush another Cell Junior.    

Instead, she approached the man and waved her hand to warn him away.   She couldn't let him get hurt either.

"It's not safe here, Kakarot!" Luffa said.   "They're after me, and I can't fight them and protect you at the same time--!"

As she stepped closer, he walked forward to close the distance between them.   She expected him to be confused about her presence here.   She had met Son Goku before, but only in time anomalies that had been wiped from history.   Each time she encountered him, he would always ask who she was, and how she knew his name.

But this time, he made a confident smile, and held out his right hand.  

"You must be Luffa, right?" he asked.  "The Supreme Kai of Time told me all about you."

Luffa was so startled that she took Goku's hand without thinking.   "You... know me?" she asked.

"Some of it, anyway," Goku said.   "Now, how about we take care of these guys so you can get back to the Time Patrol, huh?"

Their foes gathered around them, and Cell chuckled with great relish.

"Ah, Goku," he said.   "I don't know how you survived, but this is splendid.   Killing you again will be far more entertaining than squashing this little no-count."

Goku glared at Cell and he withdrew his hand from Luffa's.   "I don't know how you got here, Cell," Goku said firmly, "but whoever's behind this is going to pay for whatever they've done to my sons!"

With that, he made a mighty yell, and his hair, which was already bright yellow, now glowed brighter, and his aura roared around him like a storm.  

And for the first time in long minutes, Luffa felt a renewed sense of triumph.

 NEXT: Ally to Good.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #trunks #chronoa #cell #perfect cell #cell juniors #majin buu #vegeta #gohan #gotenks #earth #toki toki city #big league chew #percel #laddis #amura

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (198/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [April 20, 850 Age.   Toki Toki City.]  

On the lawn of the Time Nest, Trunks stood by helplessly while the Supreme Kai of Time finished her story.  

"--And once the Blood Rubies mission was complete," she said, "she stayed in the isolation ward until she was fully healed."

"So that's how the Ruby Loop got settled," Trunks said.   "I heard it was resolved, but no one could tell me who did it, or when.  But wait... you're saying the isolation ward is under the Time Vault?"  

"That's right," Chronoa said.  

"But I was keeping watch over the Time Vault that whole time," Trunks said. "You and Luffa were there all along and I had no idea!"

"I told you," Trunks," Chronoa said, "it's designed to contain and conceal anomalies so they don't interfere with the flow of history.  If you could have sensed a second Luffa from two weeks in the future, what good would that be?"

"Well, yeah," Trunks said.  He sheepishly rubbed his hand over the back of his head.   "But I feel a little silly standing guard like that when you were so close by."

She smiled warmly at him.  "Don't say that," she assured him.   "I needed that time to study Demigra's power, and Luffa had to recover from that fight with Lord Beerus."

"I suppose you're right," Trunks said.   "She was in pretty rough shape.  I still don't understand why she was so insistent on getting Beerus to knock her out like that."

"Hah!  I wouldn't expect you to understand, Trunks."

They turned to find Luffa approaching them from the direction of the small capsule house which served as Chronoa's personal residence.  

"Ah, right on time," Chronoa said.   Looking to Trunks she added: "See, I told you it'd be all right.  From your perspective she was only gone a few minutes, and now she's back at full health."

"What about Lord Beerus?" Luffa asked.  "Is he still here?"

"No," Trunks said.  "He agreed to let the Time Patrol handle Demigra while he left to take a nap."

"Perfect!" Luffa said.   She raised her hands in front of her face and began flexing her fingers excitedly.  "He's a pretty classy guy and all, but he was beginning to make me nervous. Thanks for keeping Whis occupied while we fought, by the way."

"You were beginning to get nervous?" Trunks asked.  

"I had to get him to take me down in one shot, Trunks," Luffa said, ignoring his question.  "Kakarot used the Yamoshi ritual to try to fight him on even terms, and Lord Beerus still dominated him.   But now that I've experienced that power for myself... well, at least I can wrap my head around it.  I don't know how to surpass it yet, but..."

"Surpass Lord Beerus?!" Trunks said with considerable alarm.  "Don't we have enough to worry about right now?!"

Luffa rolled her eyes and snorted.  "Like I said, Trunks, I didn't expect you to understand.   You might have inherited the Super Saiyan power from your father, but you lack his ambition.   All that Saiyan blood running in your veins, and you treat it like it's just another resource, like that sword on your back."

"You're out of line," Trunks said coldly.

Luffa raised an eyebrow and leaned in towards him.   "Oh, is that so?" she asked.   "And what are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm not taking the bait, Luffa," Trunks shot back.  "I know how much you want to fight another Super Saiyan, but I've got more important things to do than cater to your whims."

"And that just proves my point!" Luffa shouted as she threw her hands up in the air.   "You're so fixated on the objective that you don't notice the opportunities along the way!"

Before they could continue, Chronoa stepped between them and held out her hands.   "Could we please save the bickering for some other time?" she pleaded.   "We're supposed to be on the same side, for crying out loud!"

"Fine, fine," Luffa said.  "I'd think you'd want my input after all the work I've been putting in lately."

"We can talk about it after we settle things with Demigra, okay?" Chronoa said.  "Right now, let's just head inside and-- Oh no..."

She put her hand to her forehead and shut her eyes tightly, as though responding to a sudden headache.

"What's wrong?" Trunks asked.  

Both Saiyans reached out for her, but the Kai shook her head.   "I'm fine," she said, "but we need to get to the Time Vault, now."

********

Even after descending the stair to the Time Vault's vast atrium, Chronoa did not relax until she spotted the Divine Tokitoki Bird perched on one of the stools at the great octagonal table.   The bird's rising warble was enough to satisfy her that he was safe and secure.   Even so, she remained concerned.    

Moments later, Trunks began to share her unease.  "What is that?" Trunks asked.  

"You can sense it now, can't you, Trunks?" Chronoa said.  

"It's an evil power...," Trunks said.   "It's far away, but...!"

"Well, I can't sense anything unusual," Luffa said.

"That's because you're still new to the Time Patrol, Luffa," Chronoa explained.   "Powers like these, acting across time, they're too subtle for most mortals.   The Time Vault is designed to amplify such signals, and Trunks has dealt with such temporal menaces before, so he can pick up these things while inside this room."

"Then what is it?" Luffa asked.  

"I can't tell," Trunks admitted.  "Could it be--?"

"It's Demigra," Chronoa said with a nod.   "He finally escaped from the Crack of Time."

"Oh, right," Luffa said.   "We saw him here in the Time Nest before, but that was just one of his illusions.  I guess the real thing feels different."

"We should alert the Time Patrol," Trunks said.   "Demigra could show up at any moment."

"I'm more worried about how he shows up," Chronoa said.   "He made it clear that he'd seize control of the Time Nest by force, but will he try so sneak inside, or does he think he's powerful enough for a frontal assault?"

"We could just throw open the gates," Luffa suggested.   "We already know he's coming, but at least that way he has to stand and fight in the open."

"Even if that were a wise decision," Trunks said, "I doubt he'd make it that simple for us.  Demigra's been testing and prodding us this whole time. He's waited seventy-five million years for this moment.  He's not going to rush into anything."

"Trunks is right," Chronoa said.   "We need to be ready for anything, even--!"

She suddenly turned and looked to one of the cupboards holding the various scrolls that comprised the Scroll of Eternity.   Even as the Kai raced to the edge of the room, the Divine Tokitoki Bird began to make a shrill cry.  

"Don't tell me there's been another change in history!" Trunks said in disbelief.  

"What?!" Luffa asked.  

After a brief search, Chronoa located the affected scroll and held it up for the others to see.   The parchment glowed with an eerie purple flame, a sign of temporal incursion which had become very familiar to all of them.  

"This doesn't make sense," Luffa said.   "You told us before that he was only changing history to destabilize the seal that was keeping him in the Crack of Time.   But if he's already freed himself, then why bother--?"

"It's a diversion," Trunks said grimly.  "Demigra may not need to cause changes in history anymore, but he knows we still have a duty to repair the damage.  He's trying to exploit that duty to divide our forces."

"Well, if that's his plan, he's picked a fine way to go about it," Chronoa said.  She had returned to the octagonal table, where she unfurled the scroll and pointed at the moving image that appeared on the parchment.

"That's West City!" Trunks said.  "On Earth!"

Luffa recognized the city, as she had visited it in previous Time Patrol missions.  She also recognized the three figures standing in the middle of a busy road.   She had fought each of them at least once before.  

"Frieza," Luffa observed.  "And Cell.  And Majin Buu."  

"That's impossible!" Trunks said.  "They're all supposed to be dead in this time.  I killed Frieza myself!"

"Maybe Demigra plucked them out of other time periods," Luffa suggested.  "I mean, he could do that, couldn't he?"

"He could," Chronoa said, "but if he had, we'd be dealing with four scrolls instead of just one.   I don't know how he managed to do this, but it's clear that he's ready for a fight."  

"This is bad," Trunks said.   "It'll take some serious power to stop those three, and once we send anyone to that era, Demigra will attack Toki Toki City."

"Relax," Luffa said.  "I can handle those three by myself, and still make it back in time to help the rest of you if Demigra shows his face around here."

"You've got to be kidding," Trunks said.   "Kid Buu nearly killed you the last time you fought, and this time he's got backup!"

"That was then," Luffa said.   She began flexing and stretching her arms to prepare herself.   "Let's just say I'm feeling a lot more like my old self since that rumble with Lord Beerus."

"We don't have a choice," Chronoa said.   "We can't afford to send a large  contingent of warriors to deal with West City, so it'll have to be Luffa."  She looked at her with a pleading expression.   "Just try to get back here as quickly as you can."

"Understood," Luffa said with an eager grin.  

"Trunks," Chronoa said.   "I need you to look after Tokitoki.   No matter what, don't let him out of your sight.  Demigra will be sure to go after him."

"Of course," Trunks said.  He turned to look at the Divine Bird, who was preening his tail feathers. Then he looked back at Chronoa and asked: "But wait, where are you going?"

Chronoa had begun to head up the stairs leading to the grounds of the Time Nest. "There's something I need to do while we still have time," she said to them.   I'll rejoin you as soon as I can.   Now carry out your orders!"

She turned and left without another word.  

"You heard her," Luffa said as she approached the scroll.   "And don't worry.   I'll make this quick."

Trunks might have asked Luffa to be careful, but she had already picked up the scroll and vanished into the past before he could speak.  

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.   Earth.]  

Luffa arrived in downtown West City, and immediately knew where to go.   Her targets weren't bothering to hide their power, which was no surprise.   What did concern her was that they weren't actually doing anything.   The images in the Scroll showed them standing in the middle of a road.  This had caused a great deal of panic in the area, but that was all.  

She flew to their exact location in a matter of seconds.  Cell was the first to notice her as she dropped to the street to confront them.

"Ah, there you are!" he said.  He uncrossed his arms and held his fists at his sides ready for battle.   "You see, my little friends?  Our patience has paid off."

"You were expecting me, Cell?" Luffa asked.   "Then we were right.  This was a diversion."

"A diversion?" Frieza spat.   "More like a trap, designed to snare foolish interlopers such as yourself."

There was an electronic quality to Frieza's voice, and as Luffa approached the three of them, she noticed how different he looked from the last time she had seen him.   In his final form, Frieza was a sleek humanoid figure with a thick tail and chalk-white skin.   That was still mostly true, although his lower body, left arm, and parts of his chest and head had been replaced with cybernetic prosthetics.  She had seen this while watching him from the Scroll of Eternity, but assumed this was only armor.  Now, as she drew closer, she could see the deep scars on the flesh that still remained.  

"What the hell happened to you, Frieza?" she asked.  "I guess Kakarot really did a number on you, but I wasn't sure he had it in him."

"You know about Son Goku then?" Frieza asked idly.   "Good, then I shall spare you the exposition and cut straight to the point.  I have come to this wretched planet to destroy it, and to take my revenge on your countryman, Saiyan.   But as eager as I am to get started, circumstances have forced me to stay my hand until you arrived.  I don't see why a filthy monkey like yourself should warrant such restraint, but now that you are here, my vendetta may commence."

"You still don't get it, Frieza?" Cell asked.   "I thought it would have been obvious, but you have been processing a lot of trauma lately.   I'll make it easy for you to follow."  

Cell pointed an accusatory finger at Luffa, who tilted her head to one side in fascination.    "I had just finished regenerating myself after killing Son Goku, and I returned to the battlefield to settle things with his contemptible offspring, when suddenly I found myself here.  Much as I would have enjoyed taking out my frustrations on this worthless city, I felt a compulsion to wait until someone showed up to stop me.    Clearly, someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to use us to destroy this woman, whoever she is."

"Yeah, that just about sums it up," Luffa said with a snort.  "You chumps are just pawns in someone else's game.   Does that bother you, Cell?"

"Not in the slightest," Cell replied.  "I was created by Dr. Gero to destroy his enemies, so this is nothing new for me.  And I've had plenty of experience killing Saiyans, so one more is no great inconvenience.   Indeed, it should be quite entertaining."

"And what about Majin Buu?" Luffa asked.  

"Is that his name?" Cell asked.   He glanced over at the pink child-like creature who had been pouting beside him.   "The little imp hasn't said a word since we arrived here."

Buu glared at Luffa and began to breathe heavily.   Then he started to laugh.    

"You know," Cell said, "this seems like overkill to me.  My design incorporates all the powers of Frieza, which makes him obsolete in this venture, and while the boy has a powerful energy, it shouldn't be necessary.   After all, I made short work of Goku all on my own."

"Silence," Frieza hissed.   "I have endured this farce for long enough, and I will not stand by and watch now that the object of my wrath now stands before me."

Majin Buu made a growl which might have echoed the sentiments of the others.  

"Oh, don't fight over me, boys," Luffa said.  "There's plenty to go around."

With that, she transformed, and the entire street was bathed in the glow of her Super Saiyan aura.   Luffa rushed toward them before they could react, and with a loud cry, she drove her fist into Cell's abdomen.   As he doubled over, she grabbed Frieza's tail, and swung him around, causing his body to collide with Cell's face.   One of their bodies-- probably Frieza's-- made a sickening, muffled crunch upon impact.  

She didn't bother attacking Majin Buu as she knew he would strike first out of the three of them.   Accordingly, she made sure to hit the others so they wouldn't interfere with her defense.   When the pink fist reached her, she had her forearms up just in time to block it.    

"Hrrraaahhh?" Majin Buu asked.  

"Yeah," Luffa said.  "You may not remember the last time we fought, but it doesn't matter, because it's not going to be that easy this time."

She held out her arms and fired a burst of golden ki energy that surrounded Buu like a cage.   Before he could assess the situation, Luffa kicked it up into the air like a soccer ball.    Luffa didn't watch it as it sailed through the air.   She only heard the Doppler effect on Buu's screeching as he sailed uncontrollably over the city.   Instead, she turned to her other opponents.  

Cell was staggering to his feet, just as Luffa expected, but to her surprise, there was no sign of Frieza.

"Impressive," Luffa muttered.  "At least one of you two managed to make this interesting."

Cell coughed up something purple as he clutched his chest.   "You... you're a fool to underestimate me...!" he sputtered.  

"Where'd he go?" Luffa asked sternly.   "Tell me, or I'll make this hurt."

Instead of answering, Cell made a desperate leap towards her.   His face was twisted with rage, though Luffa could see fear behind his pink eyes.   She had surprised him a moment ago.  He hadn't expected to be knocked down so quickly, and he was determined to prove that it was a fluke.  

"Vengeance Cannon," Luffa said as she quickly swung her left arm at Cell and fired a crimson beam from her index and middle finger.   The ki blast hit him at pointblank range.   If Luffa had been an instant slower, her fingers could have touched Cell's face.   Instead, the beam had to travel a few centimeters before it connected with his nose.   The exit wound passed through his lower back, then punched a hole through his right wing.  

Only his momentum carried him forward, and Luffa put a stop to that with a punishing elbow smash to the top of Cell's cranium.   He fell to the asphalt with a loud thud, and after a moment of convulsion, he managed to grasp his face in both hands.   Cell tried to scream, but the wound Luffa had dealt him had made this impractical. At best, he could only make a gurgling wail.  

There was still no sign of Frieza, and so Luffa took to the air to chase after Majin Buu.   She had intended to focus on him anyway, and if Frieza were planning something, it would be simpler to wait for him to come after her.   She found Buu almost exactly where she expected him.   The ki she had surrounded him with had detonated several hundred feet above the city, leaving a cloud of pink mist.    By the time she reached him, the mist had collected itself into several dozen small blobs, which now formed a multitude of tiny Buu copies.   They all snarled in unison when Luffa approached.  

"Demigra really did a number on you this time," Luffa said.   "Before, you would have destroyed this whole city, if not the entire planet.   But now you just wait for me.   Too bad."

The group of mini-Buus flew after Luffa like a swarm of insects.   Even as they attacked, some of them began to combine together to form larger bodies.  

"It's a damn shame, because I wanted to fight the real you!" Luffa said as she dodged and blocked their tiny fists and ki blasts.    "Not this puppet you've become!  Demigra thinks he's made you more focused, but all he's done is to make you predictable!"

She generated a concussive wave with her energy, just strong enough to knock the miniature Buus away, all except for one of the smaller ones, which she grabbed with both hands.   She then flew straight ahead with her arms out in front of her, driving her tiny captive into one of the larger Buus.   The result left both of them haphazardly merged together.  They would have recombined eventually, on their own terms, but by forcing them together before they were ready, Luffa was able to keep these two off-balance.  

"Rrrgh!  Raaaaah!" cried the two Buus, as they flailed their eight limbs helplessly.   The little one almost looked like he was drowning in the other.

The rest of the Buus were already coming after her, but Luffa had enough time for what came next.   Grabbing hold of her victim, she charged her hands with ki, until her fingers glowed like molten iron.   With a savage howl, she released the power into the flesh of both Buus, and they exploded in her grasp.  

When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of them.   The other mini-Buus halted in mid-air and watched with horror as Luffa held out her empty hands.

"Who's next?" she growled.  

Despite Kid Buu's nearly mindless appetite for violence and mayhem, despite Demigra's dark magic forcing him to attack Luffa at all costs, there was still enough sense in the creature to understand what she had just done.  As one, the mini-Buus all stared at her with the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression.  

They were afraid.  

As the realization sank in, they quickly joined together and formed a single Kid Buu once more.   The terror in his eyes quickly gave way to outrage.

"You're not as dumb as you look, squirt," Luffa said.   "I just wiped out a decent chunk of you, and you seem to have grown that back already, but how long can you keep that up?"

This form of Majin Buu never seemed to talk, but he seemed to understand her well enough.  He set his teeth and snarled as jets of steam fired from the holes in his head and shoulders.   His eyes, already glowing red from Demigra's magic, now burned with an even more intense hatred.  

"Yeah, you won't be splitting into pieces like that again anytime soon, will you?" Luffa asked.  "You'd better start taking this seriously from here on.   Hah!   Demigra sent you to kill me?  Well I came here to kill you."

She gave him no time to react.   Even before she finished speaking, Luffa rushed toward him, and landed a punch to his abdomen.   She followed with an elbow to the back of the head, then grabbed one of his feet and swung him further into the air.  

It was still dangerous to take Majin Buu for granted.   As confident as she was that she could now defeat him, he was still strong enough to hurt her if she gave him a chance.   If she took too much damage from this fight, it would be playing right into Demigra's plans, so it was vital that she defeat  him as decisively as she could.  

Still, despite the risks, she was grateful for the opportunity.   Challenges like Majin Buu were rare, and now that Frieza and Cell were out of the way, she could really enjoy the battle.   As she chased after Buu, firing bolts of golden ki from her fingertips, Luffa couldn't help but smile.

*******

Below, Cell lay in a heap on the road.  He was still alive, but too badly injured to move. Luffa's attack had punctured his brain, spinal column, and a number of organs unique to his artificial physiology.   He still possessed the ability to regenerate, thanks to the Namekian traits imparted by Piccolo's cells, but regeneration worked properly when growing back an entire body part.   If Luffa had blasted off his entire upper body, as Son Goku had done during their battle at the Cell Games, then he could have regenerated that injury with ease.   As it was, he was badly hurt, without the motor skills necessary to take care of himself.  

As he clumsily flailed his right arm over his head in a desperate effort to take action, a crowd of bystanders gathered around at what they thought was a safe distance.  

"It looks like that Cell monster!" was a common refrain among their chatter.

"But Mister Satan destroyed him years ago!"

"What happened to him?"

Some of them fled, unwilling to wait around for Cell to recover.   Others believed that there could be no safe haven from Cell's power, while others clung to the hope that their hero, Mister Satan, would rescue them again.   As they watched the creature, another figure appeared.   He descended from the sky and landed next to Cell's body.  

"You really blew it, didn't you?" he muttered as he knelt beside Cell.

"Nmmph... Whuhhh?" was all Cell could say in response.  

The crowd was understandably confused.  

"Who in tarnation is this guy?" asked one of the bystanders.   "I didn't think Cell had any friends."  

"He's got that same purple smoke coming off his body," said another.   "They must be working together!"

The man reached into the belt of his fighting clothes, and withdrew a bean, which he stuffed into Cell's mouth.  

"This should get you back on track," he said.   "And then you can finish her off."

Nothing happened for a few seconds.  The man simply remained at Cell's side and waited.   None of the onlookers knew what to make of it.   Then, at last, the purple smoke surrounding Cell's body began to glow more intensely, and he quickly sprang to his feet.    Rising to full height, he examined his hands, flexing his fingers as though making sure they still worked properly.    

"He's alive!" screamed one of the civilians.    

"Yes..." Cell said.   "Alive and well... and ready to return to the battle.   It seems I'm in your debt.   How ironic."

"Don't let it go to your head," the man said.   "Just concentrate on what matters.   Killing her."  

Cell smiled as he spared a moment to revel in the terrified faces in the crowd.  Then he cast his gaze in the direction where Luffa and Majin Buu had gone.    "Yes, of course," he said.  "The mission is all that matters now.  And this time, she will not escape me so easily, Son Gohan."

As Gohan looked in the same direction, his eyes glowed red, matching Cell's.   "This time," he said, "she dies."

 NEXT: A House Divided

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #trunks #chronoa #frieza #cell #perfect cell #majin buu #i went with mechafrieza instead of full-power like he was in the game #i hope that's okay with everybody since mecha is the coolest frieza form

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (186/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [9 May, Age 774.   The Sacred World of the Kais.]  

Just two days after his reactivation, Majin Buu had destroyed the Earth.   The Earth's defenders regrouped in Otherworld to figure out their next move, but Majin Buu followed them, and the battle continued on the holy domain of the Kaioshin.    

After numerous transformation, Majin Buu had finally reverted to his original form, which resembled a ten-year-old humanoid child.  His earlier forms had been a product of absorbing various enemies.   "Fat Buu" had arisen millions of years ago when Buu absorbed two of the Kaioshin.   The absorption of such holy beings had given Buu a more innocent and fun-loving personality, but this conflicted with his vicious and destructive nature.  "Super Buu" represented an attempt to resolve this conflict, and Majin Buu embraced his evil nature while absorbing other fighters in an effort to make himself supremely powerful.  

It was Vegeta who separated the Fat Buu from the evil Buu, which caused him to devolve into the original, childish form.   And yet, the Fat Buu survived.   When Goku and Vegeta failed to defeat Kid Buu, the Fat Buu stepped forth to hold the line.  But he was no match for the savagery of Kid Buu, and it was only a matter of time before he fell.   During that brief window of opportunity, Vegeta hatched a desperate plan to seize victory from the jaws of defeat.  

Unfortunately, the Fat Buu never lasted long enough for Vegeta to explain his idea to anyone else.  

"The little one!   What... what happened to him?" Goku asked.   The two Saiyans had been watching the battle from a safe distance.   The Fat Buu had been putting up stiff resistance, and for a moment it looked like it would take a long time for the Kid to defeat him, but now, the tide of the battle had completely shifted.  

"That little imp!" Vegeta snarled.   "He was never this strong when he was fighting us!  Was he holding back this whole time?"

Kid Buu's eyes glowed red now, and a dark energy roiled across his body like purple smoke.   Before, the Fat Buu would recover from the Kid's strikes.   Now, their duel had turned into little more than a one-sided beating.  

"This is bad!" Goku said.   "At this rate, the big one will be killed!"

"Hmmph!  Don't trouble yourself over him, Kakarot!" Vegeta muttered.  "You should be more worried about what the little one's going to do to us when he's finished over there."

Vegeta's warning came true almost as soon as he said the words.   The supercharged Kid Buu destroyed the Fat one in a blast of pink light, and then he turned his sights on the Saiyans.   To their credit, Goku and Vegeta stood their ground, but they were too exhausted to offer anything more than token resistance.    

Moments later, Majin Buu was the only thing left alive on the Sacred World of the Kais.   Then he destroyed the planet, just as he had done to the Earth.   And then he moved on, in search of other worlds to destroy...

There would be no one else to stop him.

*******

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

From the Time Vault, Trunks, Luffa, and the Supreme Kai of Time watched these events in the images that were mystically produced by the Scroll of Eternity.    

"What about Vegeta?" Luffa asked.    "He had that halo on his head, like Kakarot did a couple of missions back.   I mean, if he was dead when that planet was destroyed, then..."

"King Yemma restored his body so that he could help out in this battle," Trunks explained.   "Dead or alive, he wouldn't be able to do anything with his body destroyed.   We can't let Majin Buu win this battle!   The fate of the universe is at stake!"

"That's what I don't understand," Chronoa said.  She had kept quiet while they had been watching the altered history on the Scroll, but now she sat in one of the stools at the table and steepled her fingers.   "Why would Demigra interfere with this moment in history?  Unless we set things right, Majin Buu will destroy everything.   So why would he risk the universe to advance his plan?"

"He wouldn't," Luffa said.  "Think about it.  If he can control Majin Buu this completely, then Demigra doesn't need to worry about him.   He can let Buu run wild or seal him up again, like that evil wizard did before."  

"Then you think Demigra has plans for Majin Buu?" Trunks asked.  

"Maybe," Luffa said.   "Either that, or Demigra's just showing off what he can do.  This may just be him warming up...  So, what was supposed to happen in this battle?"

"My father had a plan," Trunks explained.   "He asked the Supreme Kai and Dende to go to New Namek, and use their Dragon Balls to revive the Earth and its population.  Then Goku would use the Earthlings' collective energy to create a Spirit Bomb large enough to destroy Majin Buu with one shot."

"A Spirit Bomb?" Luffa made a skeptical face as she took this in.   "Like the one Kakarot used against Frieza?   But that took forever to make, and it didn't even work!"

Trunks nodded.   "This one will do the job, trust me.   But you're right, it'll take a long time to set up the attack, and that was only possible because the Fat Buu kept the little one occupied.   But with Demigra amplifying Kid Buu's power..."

"The big Buu won't be enough," Luffa said, "so we need someone to pick up the slack, and that's me.    But if I can score a heavy blow early, like we did on Super Buu last time, then that should knock Demigra's influence right out of him, wouldn't it?"  

"It should," Chronoa said, "if you can hit him.   Remember, Super Buu was standing still when you did that the last time.    Kid Buu won't be so accommodating.    You may be stuck fighting him for a while."

"All right," Luffa said.  "Let's get started."  

"Right now?" Trunks asked.  "You just got back from the hospital."

"And the healers restored me to full strength," Luffa said.  "If I'm right, Demigra's trying to intimidate us by showing what he can do.   Then it's only fair that we show him what we can do.   But there is one thing I'll need before I go to this crazy planet..."

*******

     [9 May, Age 850.   The Sacred World of the Kais.]  

As she arrived in the altered history, Luffa considered working alongside the Fat Buu to improve her chances.   As much as she disliked double-teaming a single enemy, she had only ever fought Majin Buu by teaming up with Goku or Gohan, and preserving history was more important than playing fair.   Besides, she had begun to see the players in these Time Patrol missions as pawns in a larger game.   Demigra was her true enemy in this conflict.   Majin Buu's defeat was already destined to occur.    Any victory Luffa might have achieved over him in the past would be erased when the Supreme Kai of Time finished repairing the affected segment of time.  

The skies of the Kai Planet were violet, resembling a world in perpetual twilight.  There were no stars, only dozens of moons, each reflecting daylight from some indeterminate source.   Unlike Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan, who had each spent time on this planet during the Majin Buu crisis, Luffa still had her Saiyan tail, which would trigger a great ape transformation if she looked at the full moon.   Given the sheer number of moons, and the chaotic nature of the mission, it made sense for her to wear tinted goggles.    

Luffa had carried a lingering anxiety about the Oozaru form ever since she first became a Super Saiyan.  Her fear had been that if the two forms increased her power at the same time, she would lose control of her ki and her body would tear itself apart.  She had only attempted this once, in her final assault on the Jindan Cult on Nagaoka.  She had done it fully intending to die in the process.   Instead, she had barely survived, outliving Nagaoka just long enough to perish in space.   The Time Patrol had saved her, but her body was left weakened from the experience.    Luffa's powers still weren't fully recovered, and she had no intention of trying another "Golden Oozaru" stunt again, even though the threat of a Demigra-empowered Kid Buu made that a tempting solution.    With any luck, the Fat Buu's assistance would save her from having to consider that option.  

But when Luffa was close enough to strike, she found the Fat Buu was already dead on his feet.    He had been nearly unstoppable when Luffa fought him before, but Kid Buu had picked him apart with frightening ease.   And so, Luffa gave up any hope of joining forces with the Fat Buu, and concentrated on saving his  life.   As Kid Buu prepared a ki blast to finish him off, Luffa kicked it away before he could fire.     The giant pink energy ball careened into the sky, and exploded somewhere over the horizon.  

"Forget him!" Luffa shouted.   "I'm the one you want!   Unless you're frightened, that is!"

Kid Buu was not frightened.  He turned and glared at Luffa with a surprised expression, then tilted his head to one side, and his lips curled into a malicious grin.    When he opened his mouth, Luffa expected some menacing threat, or some other bold words.   Instead, he simply made a high pitched growl, then howled with laughter.    

"I have to say, this is a step down for you," Luffa said.    "The other forms had some character to them.   Maybe that's why you absorbed those people, huh?   You were trying to get some personality."

Behind Kid Buu, Luffa noticed Mister Satan kneeling beside the Fat Buu.   "What the hell is he doing here?" she asked.    

"Goku saved him just before the Earth exploded," came the reply from Trunks through her earpiece communicator.    "It's because of him that the Fat Buu managed to escape from the little one's body.   They became friends, you see."

"All right, so I'd better draw the Kid away from the others," Luffa said.  "Maybe he'll follow me if I--"

Kid Buu's attack came without warning.   He slammed into Luffa with blinding speed, and began punching and kicking her as they moved through the air.    Luffa managed to block most of his strikes, but not enough to prepare any meaningful counterattack.  

"Luffa!" Trunks cried out.  

She was about to reverse a punch into a throw, when Buu suddenly whipped around the tentacle on his head.  It stretched out like a rubber band and wrapped around her neck.   Before Luffa could react, Buu snapped his own neck back and flung her down to the ground.  

"This... is... not how I--"

Buu didn't let her finish, as he rained down a barrage of ki blasts upon her.   For a moment, her position was lost in a maelstrom of pink explosions.    

Then a beam of golden light shot out from the turmoil, as Luffa launched herself directly at Majin Buu.    She managed to score a punch to his head and abdomen, but it did little to faze him.   When she threw a kick at his back, her leg simply embedded in his pink flesh like it was tar.  

"Haaaarrrghhhh!" Majin Buu said as his entire body changed shape, reversing itself so that his front and back switched places.    Before Luffa could free herself, he had grabbed her ankle in his blobby, indistinct fingers, and he swung her around like a toddler playing with a ragdoll.  

He was laughing so hard at her apparent helplessness that he didn't even notice her charging her ki until the Gallick Gun blasted him squarely in the face.  

Luffa came to a stop and gasped for breath as she took stock of the situation.   The Gallick Gun had apparently vaporized Buu's head, along with a chunk of his chest, but she knew better than to expect that to slow him down.  

"Come on!" she shouted.   Without waiting for his head to grow back, Luffa continued attacking Buu's decapitated body.   Every blow was designed to shove him further away from the others.  

For what it was worth, her tactics seemed to be working.    Buu could reassemble himself very quickly, but he seemed to need at least a few seconds to gather himself together.    By pressing the assault, she seemed to at least be dragging out his recovery process.

When she saw the black sclera of his beady eyes, she broke off and moved away from him.   Buu's attacks were too ferocious and intense for her to keep blundering into them.   She resolved to keep her distance where she could, but Majin Buu wasn't going to make that easy for her.  

He stared at her for a moment as she backed away, then raised his finger and tugged at the lower lid of his left eye, and stuck out his tongue.   Luffa wasn't familiar with the gesture, but she knew it was nothing respectful.  

"You want a fight, is that it?" she said.    "Well come get me!  I'm right--Dammit!"

Majin Buu blindsided her again, this time flying rings around her at incredible speed.    Just as she had a fix on him, he broke the pattern and hit her with a headbutt to her forehead.  

Luffa tumbled out of the air, her eyes screwed shut as she reeled from the force of the impact.   As she fell, Buu raised his hands over his head, and a large ball of pink ki appeared over his head.    He began to cackle with glee, and the ball expanded in size.    

He launched the attack just as Luffa was about to hit the ground, but instead, her eyes snapped open, and she did a flip in mindair, less than half a meter from the turf.   With the enormous ki ball between them, Majin Buu had no idea what she was doing.   She raised her left hand to her head, then swung her arm out toward him.    

A thin beam of crimson light shot out of her fingers, lancing through Buu's attack and directly into Buu himself.   It only tore a small hole through his chest, but the wound was enough to distract his attention.  By the time he noticed his own ki ball flying back at him, it was too late to stop it from exploding in his face.    

Despite shoving the attack away from herself, Luffa was still caught in the blast.   She landed in a glen between two large hills, and stumbled back to her feet.   Buu's headbutt had drawn blood, and a red stain now covered much of Luffa's face.   She could sense Buu's energy, but couldn't get a feel for his exact location.    

For the moment, Goku and Vegeta were safe, and she considered her options.   Fighting Buu was a dangerous proposition.    As much as Luffa relished the challenge he presented, she suspected that she would lose an all-out battle.   In every exchange, it had taken her strongest attacks to drive him off for just a few seconds, while he seemed ready and willing to respond with incredible power and fury at any moment.  It was as if the boy simply never got tired.   He could keep up this pace indefinitely, while Luffa was already beginning to get worn down.  

"Trunks," she said.   "How are we doing on time?"    

There was no answer.    

Luffa reached for her ear to check her earpiece and found no trace of it.   It must have been knocked loose or destroyed at some point.  

Instead, she heard a whistle.    

Luffa whirled around and found Majin Buu, sitting on a rock behind her.    He was staring off into the distance, carrying on as if he were waiting for something.  

"Snuck up on me, huh?" Luffa asked.   "I get the impression you're just toying with me.  Is that it?"

Buu finally looked at her, and responded with a menacing leer followed by a giggle.  

"Fair enough," Luffa said.    "I know what it's like to be too strong, to have trouble finding worthy opponents.   You try to get as much out of the competition you can find.   Let me see if I can ramp this up a bit for you."

Buu regarded her for a moment and rolled his eyes.  

"Right, Kakarot and Vegeta probably did the same thing, and look where that turned out.   But I'm not quite like them, kid.   Let me see if I can prove it to you..."

She balled her fists and began raising her power.   The golden aura that surrounded her began to grow brighter.    Majin Buu didn't care.  

"Real sporting of you to wait for me," Luffa said.   "Guess you've got a few manners after all.   Now, let's try this again, shall we--?"

Kid Buu charged at her again, but this time Luffa was ready for him.  Instead of standing her ground, she leapfrogged him and fired a ki blast into his back as she sailed over him.   Without waiting for the smoke to clear, she planted her hands on the ground and sent a charge of energy through them, producing a massive explosion across a ten meter range.  

She was sorely tempted to press the attack, but she knew that was a trap.  Majin Buu was too resilient to hurt through conventional attacks.   She would exhaust herself long before she managed to do any lasting damage.  

Instead, she backed off again, firing smaller bursts of energy as she flew.   She didn't know if he would chase after her while there were still other targets on the planet, so she had to keep attacking him, even as she retreated.  

"Come and kill me!" she shouted.   "I'm right here!"

Majin Buu followed, but to her surprise, he didn't chase her though the air.   Instead, he ran along the ground, letting his noodly arms flap behind his back like tassels.    Every so often, he would glance up at her and make some primitive grunt.  

Just as Luffa began to wonder why he hadn't fired back at her, he opened his mouth, and began shooting pink blasts at her from below.   When she dodged them, he simply increased the frequency of his blasts, shooting more and more ki at her until the sky was practically filled with pink light.    

Luffa managed to avoid the assault, but she had to slow down to maneuver through the thick field of obstacles.   She continued moving away, determined to lead Buu further and further from the others, but she was suddenly grabbed from behind.   Luffa swung around, hoping to catch Buu with a backfist, but her arm hit nothing but thin air.   It was just Buu's arm, reaching out from the ground like some impossibly long serpent.  

"No, no, no!" Luffa shouted as she struggled to break free.   Buu's fingers had grasped the collar of her compression shirt, but she couldn't yank the fabric out, or even tear it away.   The material was too durable, too flexible, and before she could even think of another way out, Buu had flung her into the path of fire.    For a moment, it was all Luffa could do to block the explosions that buffeted her from all sides.   At last, she went limp, and managed to fall to a safer altitude.  

But "safe" was a very relative term with Majin Buu, and he went back on the offensive almost immediately.   Luffa expected a frontal assault, but instead he swerved around her, and began running in circles.  A moment later, Luffa understood why.   He had never released his hold on her shirt, and by running around her, he had wrapped up her whole body in his elongated arm.  

Buu seemed to find this extremely hilarious.   For a few seconds, he just stood there and laughed at her, pointing with his free hand.   Luffa struggled to get loose, but not very hard.   She was playing for time, and if Buu was willing to give her some, she was willing to take the breather.  

"Hard to believe you took down the other Buu so quickly," Luffa said.   "I guess you weren't in much of a mood to play around with him, huh?  Well, let's see how you like this!"

She bit down on the length of Buu's arm that was closes to her face, and the boy cried out in pain.   At the same time, Luffa launched herself into the air like a rocket, and Kid Buu suddenly found himself being dragged along in her wake.  

As she pulled him along, Luffa worked herself out of Buu's coils.   Whether it was the pain of her biting him, or the effort of preparing another attack, Buu had slackened his grip.  Before she pulled free, Luffa grabbed him by the arm and swung him into a rock formation just as she slammed into it at full speed.    

This didn't keep Majin Buu down for long.   The resulting impact reduced the rocks into dust, and Buu emerged from the debris with a vengeful expression.  

"Up here, stupid!" Luffa shouted.  

He turned to find her floating just overhead, holding her left hand over her face.    Her fingers were glowing red.    

When she released it, the red ki flashed across the distance between them and straight through Buu's forehead, right between the eyes.  

Luffa dropped to the ground and prepared another Gallick Gun to follow through.    For a moment, she watched Buu stumble around as he reacted to the hole in his face.  She doubted that he had any vital organs, and yet it did seem to inconvenience him slightly whenever she targeted his head or chest.  

Just as she prepared to fire again, Majin Buu raised his foot, as though unsure of his next step.    Then he drove his foot down hard into the ground, until his leg was half buried in a hole he had made.     Luffa wondered what was wrong with him, and then she got her answer, as Buu's foot emerged from the ground just in front of her, and collided with her chin.    

Luffa stumbled backward, and Buu kicked her again in the same way.   And again.   And again.

"Dammit!" Luffa shouted as she leaped back into the air.    She fired more ki blasts to cover her escape, but this time Majin Buu simply swatted them away as he chased after her.    When she tried to pick up speed, he accelerated to catch up to her.   Then he suddenly moved alongside of Luffa, and with a sneer he kicked her in the gut.  

Luffa doubled over in midair, and Buu went to work, battering her with rapid punches and kicks from all sides.  He paused for a moment, as if to admire his handiwork, then placed his finger on Luffa's chin, and raised it up so that he could look into her eyes.  

"Heeee-yeeeeeaaghhhh," he said, then he punched her in the face with both hands.  

As Luffa tumbled through the air, Buu fired more ki blasts, seemingly indifferent as to where they landed.   Everything around Luffa was pink light, or something being destroyed by pink light.    She was too dazed from Buu's attack to notice, however.  

Disoriented, Luffa couldn't tell where Buu was.   Desperately, she generated an explosive wave as she fell, to repel anything that might have hurt her as she fell.  When that subsided, she struck a tree branch, and then bounced off another tree, and hit several more before finally getting to the ground.    

She forced herself to her knees, and a sharp pain in her side confirmed what she already suspected.  Buu had broken at least one of her ribs.   She reached for her goggles, and found the lenses had been smashed to pieces.   Grimacing, she pulled what was left of the googles off her face and felt around her brow.    

Buu's double-punch had hit her in both eyes.   She could see thin slivers of light, but nothing more.    She couldn't open her eyes any wider, as the flesh around them had swollen them shut.    

"Well, so much for my fallback plan," Luffa muttered to herself.   She had no desire to use the Golden Ape form, and she had no idea if the planet's many satellites would have worked in any case.   But if she couldn't even see the moonlight, none of it mattered.  

But she couldn't afford to worry about that.    Majin Buu was still nearby.   Her senses were sharp enough to locate him even without her eyesight.   He was floating in the air, at least twenty meters away, laughing.  

"What... what is he waiting for?" Luffa asked.   Painfully, she rose to her feet, leaning against a tree for support.  And then she realized what he was doing.  

"Rrrr!  Rraaghh... Yaahhhr!" Majin Buu growled.  And then what little Luffa could see turned pink.   Desperately, she swung to the right to dodge what was coming.  

But she wasn't fast enough, and there came a searing pain in her left arm.   Luffa cried out as she collapsed on the ground.  

As she grabbed her left arm with her right hand, she could feel the open wound in her flesh.  It was bad, though the heat had cauterized the area.   It was as though a beam of light had carved a chunk of her arm away.   But Luffa knew there was no time to lose.  Buu would fire again.   He never seemed to tire out, so there was nothing to stop him.   She had to put more distance between them.   With a pitiful whimper, she took flight, doing her best to move in as erratic a pattern as possible to throw off his aim.    

For what it was worth, Buu seemed to be in no hurry to pursue her.   His tactics made no sense, until she reminded herself that he was no longer the Buu she had faced before.   This version was a little boy.   To him, Luffa was little more than an interesting bug he had found on the road.    Fighting her was a way to amuse himself, and nothing more.

He was only a boy.  

The pain in her arm forced her to qualify that observation.  

He was a boy who had learned to imitate her Vengeance Cannon!

She was running out of options.   For all the pride she had once placed on her Super Saiyan heritage, Majin Buu had made a mockery of it all.   She had staked her claim as one of the Old Heroes of Saiyan lore, but her love for combat seemed paltry in the face of a relentless killing machine like this!  Her signature move was just a plaything to him.   Her power, once thought to be supreme in the universe, was barely enough to keep her alive.   Her mother's training, with all the jointlocks and counterholds, were useless against a creature like this.

It was then that she realized that she had to shift her tactics.     She had already lured Majin Buu far from Goku and Vegeta.   All she had to do now was keep his attention long enough that he wouldn't go looking for a better fight somewhere else.   And she had to stay alive long enough to pull it off.  

Luffa unleashed another ki effect, but not to attack or defend.   The burst of energy was intended to cover her tracks instead.  By the time it dissipated, Luffa had transformed back into her base mode and taken cover on the floor of whatever forest she had wandered into.    

This was her backup plan, in case everything went wrong.  If she couldn't hold Buu's interest in a battle, she would try to lure him into a game of hide-and-seek.   It was something of a gamble.   Kid Buu was relentless, but also easily bored.   If he decided she wasn't enough of a challenge, he might decide to abandon the hunt and resume his attack on Goku and Vegeta.  

But in her current condition, there wasn't much more Luffa could do. To her relief, she sensed that Buu hadn't left the area.   At the very least, he was curious to see what she was up to.  

Then she heard explosions, one after another.   He was trying to flush her out by bombarding the entire forest.  

As she heard his shrieking laughter from above, she knew that this was never going to work.    

And then, one of his overpowered ki blasts came down on her head, and the hunt was over before it really ever had a chance to begin.

*******

Through his mirage, Demigra observed the rest of the battle with great satisfaction.  

He was not actually present on the Sacred World of the Kais.   Instead, he was trapped on the far side of creation, a prisoner of the Crack of Time.  Still, he had spent seventy-five million years plotting his escape, and had learned to project images of himself to almost anywhere he wished beyond the confines of his "cage".   He could even make these mirages solid enough to interact with the environment.   He could speak with others, cast his magic spells, and even smell the sweet air of the Kaioshin sanctuary.   It was almost like freedom.  

Almost.

Luffa had proven to be a persistent and resourceful enemy, but those qualities could only carry her campaign so far.   He had bewitched Kid Buu and made him defeat his corpulent counterpart much faster than he was supposed to.    Luffa had interpreted this to mean that she had to fight Kid Buu herself to buy time.  

Now, having bought that time with the last of her stamina, Luffa was helpless to deal with the true consequences of Demigra's intervention.   Kid Buu returned to harass the others, only to discover the Spirit Bomb in Goku's hands.   Vegeta was obliged to defend Goku, but he was too weak to do much more than take another beating.   The Earthling buffoon, Mister Satan, watched this desperate struggle, and called out to the people of Earth to lend their power to the Spirit Bomb.   Up to that point, the Earthlings had been reluctant to listen to the Saiyans, but Mister Satan was their champion, pathetic as that was.

And so, Son Goku was able to complete the Spirit Bomb, and the Fat Buu managed to rally just long enough to separate Buu from Vegeta and give Goku a clear line of fire.   Kid Buu was too strong to be easily overwhelmed by the Spirit Bomb, but that wasn't a problem.   In the mortal realm, the Namekians used their third wish on the Dragon Balls to restore Goku's strength, thereby giving him the power he needed to overcome Buu and complete the attack.

And this was the critical moment.   Demigra had enhanced Kid Buu's power for this single moment.   For now, the balance of fate had been upset, and now, Son Goku would not have the strength to push the Spirit Bomb into position.  

As he watched Goku and Majin Buu struggle, Demigra took in the heady sights and smells of the Kai Planet.  He supposed that Luffa could never have imagined his full motives for choosing this battle.  He had lived among the Kais once, and though he had never been granted permission to tread upon this holiest of worlds, it amused him greatly to do so now, albeit through one of his mystic proxies.   The irony alone was reason enough to intrude on this historic battle.  

Besides this, he longed to see if such an intrusion was even possible.  It was one thing to alter historical events on Earth.    To do so in Otherworld was another matter altogether.  

Furthermore, his control over Majin Buu had been nothing short of extraordinary.   It proved that he was ready for the next step, and for every other step that would follow.   First the Sacred World of the Kais would fall, then the rest of the universe, until finally, Toki Toki City...

Demigra was so pleased with himself that he almost didn't notice that the struggle over the Spirit Bomb had shifted.   Before, Majin Buu had managed to hold it at bay, and at times, he was even forcing Goku to give ground.   But now, Goku was pushing harder.  Demigra raised his scepter, and prepared to feed more magic into Majin Buu's body to tip the scales.  

It was then that he saw something approaching from the distance.  

"What in the world...?" Demigra asked as he focused his eyes on the speck that was rapidly approaching from Goku's side of the Spirit Bomb.  At last, when it was close enough, he recognized the figure, and he made an irritated scowl.

It was Luffa.  

She was bruised and bloodied, and her yellow pants were reduced to scraps sticking out of her belt and boots, but she was still alive, and still powerful enough to insert herself in this battle.  

"Having trouble, Kakarot?" she asked.  

"You?"  Goku only knew her as the mysterious Saiyan who kept Kid Buu away from him while he prepared the Spirit Bomb.   While Luffa had met him in past missions, Goku remembered none of these encounters, for the Supreme Kai of Time had ensured that those meetings never truly took place.  

"I know, I look like hell," Luffa said.   "Majin Buu really cleaned my clock, but he got sloppy, and didn't make sure to finish the job.   And I knew I'd get another crack at him here, so as long as I conserved some power and laid low, I knew I'd get my chance."  

"The Dragon Balls," Goku said with a grunt.   "They restored my power, but I still can't--"

"Hush," Luffa said.   "I know what you need.   Just focus on what you're doing."  

Demigra expected Luffa to attack Kid Buu, or to join Goku in shoving the Spirit Bomb toward its target.   Instead, she raised her hand, and placed it gently on Goku's shoulder.   Then she transformed, and the golden glow of her aura mingled with his.    

"This power!" Goku exclaimed.  

"Not bad, huh?" Luffa asked.   "I would have preferred to show it to you in a fight, Kakarot.  But that just hasn't worked out.   For now, you'll just have to settle for borrowing it."

Goku made a valiant cry and his own aura intensified with the donated energy.   "Wow!" he said.   "I don't know who you are, lady, but thanks!   You really helped us out!"

"I've always been there," she said.  "You won't remember this, but I wanted to say it anyway.   You're not alone, Kakarot.   You never were..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind.   Just put this little bastard away!"

Goku didn't need to be told twice, and he began to push the Spirit Bomb with renewed vigor.   Not so far away, Demigra watched in disbelief as the Spirit Bomb inched closer and closer to the ground.  Within seconds, Majin Buu was trapped, barely able to hold the enormous globe back.  

This would only be a setback, Demiga reminded himself.  His true plan could not be foiled so easily.   And yet, it surprised him nonetheless.   He had assumed from the last temporal incursion that he had the Time Patrol's measure.  

He looked at the Saiyans again, and while Goku was still driving the Spirit Bomb the rest of the way to victory, Luffa kept her right arm locked onto his shoulder.   As she supplied him with energy, she turned and looked directly in Demigra's direction.  

For a moment, the Demon God assumed this had to be a coincidence.   Then he saw her raise her left arm.   In spite of the injury, she managed to extend her hand.   Demigra wondered if she could possibly be foolish enough to attack him.   At this distance, there was no chance she could hit him, and her power level was far too low to be picking any more fights.    

But Luffa did not attack.   Instead, she simply held up her left hand, and extended her middle finger to Demigra.   In spite of the pain she was in, she made a defiant smirk.  The message was clear.    

 "Was this the best you could do?"

Demigra recalled his mirage from the Sacred World of the Kais.   Withdrawing his awareness to the Crack of Time, he set to work on his next move.   Soon, he promised himself, he would show the impudent girl the best he could do, and she would regret her insolence...

*******

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

Luffa rematerialized in the Time Vault, and collapsed immediately.   Trunks and Chronoa were not surprised, having watched her battle in the Scroll, but they were still very worried.  

"We thought we lost you for a minute there!" Trunks said as he lifted Luffa up in his arms.  

"So did I," Luffa murmured.   "Took everything I had to keep from passing out.  That kid's tough."

"Trunks,  get her to the hospital," Chronoa said.  "And you're cleared to fly in the city, got it?"

"Got it," Trunks said.   Without wasting another moment, he dashed out of the Time Vault, and through the portal that connected the Time Nest with the rest of Toki Toki City.    

"I still don't get how you lasted so long," Trunks said as he leaped into the air.   "Kid Buu defeated Goku and my father in a matter of minutes, and you had to deal with Demigra increasing his power!"

"Heh.  Couldn't let those two upstage me," Luffa said.  "Thanks, by the way."

"Huh?  For what?"

"For letting me handle that scrap my own way," Luffa said.   "You could have pulled me back to the Vault, or sent reinforcements."

"I had a feeling you were up to something," Trunks said.   "I wanted to give you a chance to make your play.   I just wish you didn't have to take such a beating to pull it off."

Luffa snorted.   "I'm glad... Chronoa didn't try to heal me," she said.   "I wouldn't want her to have to absorb this much damage."  

"I talked her out of it before you returned," Trunks said.   "She might have done it anyway, but I think those swollen eyes of yours helped convince her to let the healers handle this."  

"Nice..." Luffa said.  "Y'know, she's all right..."

As she fell into unconsciousness, Trunks reached the entrance to the hospital, and delivered her to the attending physician for treatment.   The Namekian healers on the staff would only need a few moments, but it would be best to let her rest for a while afterward.  

"Back again?" was the question asked by several of the people in the hospital.   Luffa had just returned from this place after completing the previous mission.  

"Yeah," Trunks said.   "Things have been pretty busy at the Time Nest.  But with any luck... I think it might finally be over..."

 NEXT: Extra Innings

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #goku #vegeta #trunks #chronoa #majin buu #demigra #sacred world of the kais #toki toki city

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (185/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [9 May, Age 774, Earth.]  

The Demon God Demigra had caused a change in history, one that would destroy the Earth and disrupt the course of future events.   It was up to Luffa, the Time Patrol's newest recruit, to set the timeline back on track.   But just when it seemed that her mission had succeeded, it turned out that Demigra had a failsafe prepared.  

What was supposed to happen was this: Son Gohan would return from the World of the Kais with the power to defeat Majin Buu.   Buu would then withdraw, only to return an hour later to absorb Gotenks and Piccolo, which would give him the power to turn the tables on Gohan.  

What was happening instead: Demigra had used his magic to control the Earthling warrior Tien Shinhan, and he had forced Majin Buu to absorb Tien.   Instead of retreating from Gohan and returning an hour later, as history intended, Majin Buu now stood his ground, and made use of Tien's vast martial arts experience.  

"The Multiform Technique," Majin Buu said as he stared down Luffa and Son Gohan.    "Quite the handy trick, wouldn't you agree?"

"He's changed," Gohan said.  "When Tien got drawn into his body, it's like Buu took on some of his characteristics.    His clothes, his movements... he even has Tien's third eye.   But what does it mean?"

Having replicated four independent bodies, Majin Buu now had twelve eyes, each of them gleaming red thanks to Demigra's magic spell.  They all smirked and sneered as they watched their enemies.  

"This is a mess," Trunks said.   He was monitoring Luffa from the Time Vault in Toki Toki City, and spoke to Luffa through a small communicator lodged in her left ear.    It was Trunks who had recruited Luffa into the Time Patrol.   He needed her help to resolve time anomalies like this one, but Luffa had recently discovered that Trunks had once altered the past himself.    In his own timeline, the conflict with Majin Buu had never taken place, but in this timeline, the timeline Luffa was fighting to protect, a different Trunks was watching from the sidelines, along with Son Goten and Piccolo.  

"Tell me about it," Luffa replied just low enough that no one else would hear.    From her perspective, all of this-- Majin Buu, the Time Patrol, Demigra-- was taking place in her distant future.    Luffa had been the Legendary Super Saiyan of her native era, and she had discovered that her lofty title was almost meaningless in an age where half-Saiyan children could master her proudest achievement.   She was beginning to get a handle on the Time Patrol work, but she was often too disoriented by the culture shock of this far-flung era to notice how good she was at the job.  

"It's not all bad," Chronoa said.   Her voice was like that of a young woman, but Luffa knew better.  Chronoa was the Supreme Kai of Time, a divine being from the Core World at the fountainhead of creation.   She was seventy-five million years old, an ancient even among a race of ancients, and one of the few beings in the universe who could give Luffa pause.  It was reassuring to hear Chronoa's voice in her earpiece.   Luffa needed some good news.

"You did the hard part already," Chronoa explained. "This part of the timeline will be much easier to repair now, so we shouldn't need to worry about preventing Buu from absorbing Tien."

"What about the absorption itself?" Trunks asked.   "Now that Gohan's seen it happen, he might be too prepared for when Majin Buu is supposed to use it on Gohan and Piccolo."

"I think I can deal with that," Chronoa said after a moment to consider it.   Luffa didn't understand what Chronoa did to "deal" with these anomalies after completing her missions, but she always imagined that the Kai would "massage" the imperfections out of the affected length of time.   Luffa's job, then, was to hammer the major problems back into a manageable shape.  

"Let me guess," Luffa said, "you can deal with that, but only after I've driven Demigra's influence out of Buu's body once and for all."

"Wow, you're really getting good at this, Luffa," Chronoa said.     "But, yes, I'm afraid you're right.  Sorry to keep asking more from you..."

Luffa felt a bead of sweat run down her face as she smiled.  "Don't worry about it," she said.   "I'm starting to get interested in this battle."  She glanced over at Gohan for a moment.   "And the odds don't look so bad from here..."

"Well then!" called one of the Majin Buus.   "Shall we begin?  Or are you too busy mumbling to yourselves?"

Gohan pointed his thumb at his chest.    "Bring it on," he said.   "I don't care how many bodies you have, Majin Buu.  You can't win."

"Don't be so sure, Gohan!" Buu replied.    "I know that I was able to duplicate myself before, but this time I've got a special twist.   Get ready for the...."

Without finishing, all four Buus charged after Luffa and Gohan, and attacked.   They worked quickly, never spending too much time in one place before moving on.   Luffa was both impressed and frustrated with the tactic.  Her own power aside, Gohan had dominated Buu before, and there was no reason to think that would change.   But Tien's experience had given Buu a path forward, a way to turn the disadvantage into an advantage.  

At last, one of the Buus managed to knock Luffa into the air, and while the other three kept Gohan busy, a curious grin appeared on his face.  

"Volleyball Attack!" he cheered.

"Oh no..." Luffa heard Trunks say in her left ear.   She had no idea what the Volleyball attack was supposed to be, but she suspected that she would soon find out.  

As she fell back to the ground, Majin Buu ran toward the point where she would land, then dropped and slid the rest of the way, such that his outstretched fist connected with Luffa just before she reached the ground.    The impact sent her back up into the air, where Buu quickly scurried to his feet to intercept her again.    This time, he put his hands together, and struck her from below, knocking her higher into the air.  

"Luffa!" Trunks cried, "you've got to watch out for--"

But it was too late.   As Luffa sailed into the air, Buu leaped after her, and struck her with a heavy, overhand blow from above, spiking her down to the ground again, but this time with much greater force.

"How about this?!" Majin Buu called down to her in the crater she had made.   Then he put his outstretched palms together, and raised them in front of his three eyes.    

"Luffa, get up!" Trunks shouted into her earpiece.  

She did not move.  

"Ki!" Majin Buu bellowed.  "Ko!"

"That's the Ki Ko Ho!" Trunks pleaded.   "Tien once used it to hold Cell at bay.  But with Majin Buu using it, that move could kill you Luffa!   You've got to--!"

"Ho--!" Majin Buu began to say, but then suddenly there was an intense flash of bright light as Luffa rolled to her feet and rushed straight at him.

"Arrrghhhh!" Majin Buu howled as he covered his three eyes with his hands.    Nearby, as Gohan struggled with his other three bodies, the other Majin Buus glanced over to see what was wrong.

"Yeah, I thought so," Luffa said.   She had used her energy to create an intense light, which had hurt her opponent's three eyes badly enough that he had to abandon his attack to put his hands over his eyes.     "You may be able to regenerate from anything, but you're not used to having such sensitive vision, are you?"

"You!  I'll get you for this!" the Majin Buu growled as he rubbed his hands over his face.    But Luffa wasn't paying attention.   She was charging her ki further, building her power for another attack.    The blinded Buu tried to raise his arms in a defensive stance, but he couldn't see her.

"When did you learn the Solar Flare?" Trunks asked Luffa through her earpiece.

"Never heard of it," Luffa said.  "But I've run into aliens with three eyes before.    They have a lot of psychic abilities, but if you overload their senses they can't see you or feel your ki.   Now..."

She dashed towards the blinded Buu, who raised his left forearm in an attempt to block whatever attack was coming.   But Luffa's target was the forearm, and she struck it at full force.   With a loud snap the blinded Buu's forearm broke away completely, and tumbled away.  

"Gaaah!" he screamed.   As he clutched what was left of his arm, Luffa tried to strike him again.    This time, Buu moved away from her, backing off to a safe distance above her.    He then charged a ki blast in his right hand to throw down at her.    

"Look out!" Trunks warned her.   "His sight must be returning!"

"Not fast enough," Luffa said as she leaped into the air after him.    For a split second, it seemed as though she were going for a punch to Buu's jaw, but instead she did a flip and kicked him on the top of his head.   She expected him to fall to the ground, but instead, his head absorbed the impact, crumpling into a distorted shape that spread across his chest and shoulders.

Luffa hesitated for a moment at the sight of Buu's flesh quivering as he tried to reshape himself.    And so she was taken by surprise when a second pair of arms shot out from Buu's body and grabbed her.  

"Hah!" Buu shouted.    "You didn't know I could do that, did you?!"    

As Luffa struggled, Buu grabbed at her with his third arm.   Then he reassembled his head and laughed.  

"The Four Witches Technique!" Buu proclaimed.  "Useful for immobilizing stubborn opponents!"

He had secured both of Luffa's legs and her right arm, but she still had the left free, and so she fired a ki blast at his face.   This only annoyed him.  

"More like Three Witches, Buu," Luffa taunted.    "Or did you forget that other arm I broke off?"

Buu looked down at his wounded arm, then scowled at Luffa.   "You just wait till it grows back!"

"How long is that supposed to take--?  Ow!" Before she could even finish the question, Buu had reformed his arm and struck her in the face.   As she reeled from the blow, Buu grabbed hold of her left hands, and he extended all four of his arms, wrapping them around her arms and legs like ropes.    

Luffa strained against Buu's tendrils, but could not escape.   All she managed was to make another intense burst of ki energy to blind him again.    

"Arrrgh!   That won't do you any good!" Buu shrieked.  "Not anymore! I've got you, right where I want you, and you're not going anywhere!"

"You're not letting go, huh?" Luffa asked.  "That suits me fine!"

She suddenly stopped struggling, and then propelled herself directly into Buu's chest, and pushed him forward.  

"What are you doing?!" Buu asked.   In her ear, Luffa could hear Trunks asking a very similar question.  

"This three-eyed cowboy is going for one last ride!" Luffa shouted.  

By the time Buu managed to push back against the force Luffa was generating, the two of them had left the wasteland where they had been fighting, and entered the limits of a city.   Hours earlier, it had been filled with people, but Majin Buu had destroyed its entire population, along with every other living being on the Earth.    

Luffa drove Buu through the first tall building in their path, and out the other side.  And then another building, and another.   Then she angled towards the ground and they crashed together into a large truck on a street filled with empty vehicles.  

"Useless!" Majin Buu shouted.   "None of this can hurt me!   I can recover from anything you can throw at me!"

Luffa was still tangled in his arms, but she wasn't in any hurry to break free.   She kicked and punched the monster's body while his arms fought to hold her still.    Whenever he seemed to get close to immobilizing her, she opened her mouth to shoot a ki blast at his face.    

"Foolish girl!" Buu roared.    "You're just wasting your energy!   You can't beat me this way!   You'll only tire yourself out!"

"I'm not trying to beat you," Luffa said through clenched teeth.    "I'm just keeping you busy while Gohan beats you."

"Wh-what?"

"You were so eager to show off the techniques you learned by absorbing Tien Shinhan," Luffa said, "that you never considered the tactical situation!   You split yourself into four bodies, but each one is weaker than the original!"

"I don't need my full power to defeat a pathetic fly like you!" Majin Buu protested.

"Maybe not," Luffa said, "but Gohan was beating the pants off you before, and I'm not sure you gained much power from absorbing Tien.    You're a lot smarter, sure, and you have a nose now, but that's about it.   So if Gohan had you flustered before, then how well are your other three copies doing against him, with only seventy-five percent of your full strength?"

"No!   You're just trying to confuse me!   But it won't work!"

"Any minute now, Gohan will finish off your brothers and then he'll come looking for you, and how well do you think that's going to turn out?"

"No!  You're wrong!  I can just recombine--"

Luffa managed to bring her hands together just long enough to fire a ki blast through his chest.    

"You thought you were being really cute splitting up into multiple bodies, like that would throw me off my game.    Idiot.   Piccolo used the same trick a little while ago!   And before that, your Fat Buu form did something similar when I helped out Kakarot!   And before that, Mira used the Multiform Technique when he fought me and Trunks!   Oh, and the Cell Juniors thing.   And 17 and 18 ganging up on me.    It's not quite the same thing as duplication, but it's the same strategy.   I think by now I'm pretty much used to getting ganged up on.   You're not special."

Majin Buu didn't understand what she was talking about, and so he kept screaming as he fought.  

"The thing I noticed is that whenever you use this ability, it seems like you have to stick with the duplicates.    Piccolo's two bodies have to be touching before they could recombine, and you seem to need to reassemble all your goop, even though you can just grow more.    So I thought, 'What if I led you away from your copies?   Then you wouldn't be able to reunite."

That made Buu nervous.  "You're wrong!" he protested.    "I can sneak away, like I was about to do before Tien showed up.    I can blow myself up, turn myself into a fine mist, and pull myself together when no one's looking!"

Luffa made a loud cry as she increased her power.    "Yeah, that might work, except for this big chunk of you that's wrapped around me.    I don't know if you noticed this about me, Majin Buu, but I'm pretty damn conspicuous!"

"Arrrghhh!    All right!   I'll let you go!   I'll-- arrrrghhhh!"

The tendrils of Buu's body that had held Luffa's limbs suddenly went slack.   Up to that moment, she had felt like she was wrestling a pile of sentient taffy, but now Majin Buu's body had the consistency of melted candle wax.    She pulled free with ease, and flew clear of the pink puddle that pooled around him.  

"Something must not be going well," Luffa gloated.  "Yeah, from what I'm sensing, Gohan is really working over your other selves.   I guess you're feeling the same pain.    Interesting..."

Buu started to convulse, and his eyes pointed in three different directions as his mouth hung open.   It reminded Luffa of the look on Cell's face when she punched one of the cyborgs out of his body.    

"Can't... can't maintain it..." Buu gurgled.  "Not... strong enough...!"

His head reformed itself, and with a grimace, Buu screwed his three eyes shut as he released a long burst of steam from the vent-holes on the top of his head.  Then, at last, something emerged from the puddle of his body, as though floating up from an impossible depth.  

"That's Tien!" Trunks said in Luffa's ear.   "Why would Buu release him?"

Luffa snatched up Tien's body before Buu could have a chance to think twice.    She was prepared to hit the Earthling, since he was last seen acting under Demigra's influence, but he was unconscious.     Luffa flew him to a safe distance, and laid him down on the road.  

"What's happening on Gohan's end?" Luffa asked.   "You can see that in the Scroll, right?"

"Oh!   Yes, of course!" Trunks replied.    "Hold on... Yes!   The other three copies of Majin Buu are doing the same thing.   They each had a Tien Shinhan in them, and they're separating somehow!"

"Either Buu can't hold onto them any longer," Luffa guessed, "or he's realized that Tien's powers aren't helping him in this fight."

"You hurt me!" Majin Buu growled.  "Stupid girl!  I'll make you pay for that!"

He had begun to reassemble his body, but he moved away from Luffa as he did so.   He seemed to be in no mood to continue their fight.  

"Smart," Luffa said.   "Now you can escape and try again later, can't you?"

Majin Buu tilted his head to the left and sneered.   "I sensed the dark power in that one," he said of Tien.   "Yessss, I felt it inside of me.   That was what lured you here, wasn't it?   That dark energy belongs to your true enemy, doesn't it?"

"What do you know about it?" Luffa asked.  

"I know you'll get in my way as long as I kept it in my body," Buu said.   "And now that I'm rid of it, you won't be able to interfere with me any longer."

"You think I'll just walk away and let you go on with your business, is that it?" Luffa asked.  

"It's the boy I'm after," Majin Buu snarled.  "I can't allow any power greater than mine to exist!   Once I'm finished with him, I'll destroy everything else, and sooner or later I'll get around to making you dead."

"You're not worried about my power?" Luffa asked.   "I'm insulted."

"Hnnnnn... You may have given me a hard time," Buu replied, "but only because I split into four and reduced my strength.    Once I've regrouped, you're nothing to me."

"I'll take that bet, Majin Buu," Luffa said.   "Until next time..."

Majin Buu made an eerie grin as his body evaporated into a cloud of pink smoke, which blew away and dissipated.    As Luffa checked on Tien, she could sense the other Majin Buu copies merging together, then exploding.   The blast was powerful, but nowhere near as much as the sort of intensity that would be needed to kill a creature like Majin Buu.    

"I take it he used that explosion for cover," Luffa said.   "So he could get away from Gohan and put himself back together."

"That's right," Trunks said.  "History seems to be back on track.   You've done it, Luffa!"

But she didn't feel like she had accomplished much.    Stepping away from Tien Shinhan, Luffa looked out at the lifeless city and noticed jagged holes torn through many of the buildings.   It looked like someone had bombarded the entire region with ki blasts, and it wasn't hard to guess who would have done such a thing.

"Admiring the view?"

Luffa turned and fired a ki blast of her own at the source of the voice.   Behind her, Demigra smiled as the energy passed through him harmlessly.

"Touchy, aren't we?" Demigra said with a smirk.   "You won't find this mirage as solid as the last one you pummeled."

"What's going on?" Trunks asked.   "Are you under attack?"

"Stand by," Luffa muttered under her breath.   Somehow Demigra had the ability to conceal his presence from the Scroll of Eternity.     Luffa could see him clearly in person, but for anyone watching her from the Time Nest, it looked like she was interacting with a faint blur.  

"Did you come here to surrender, Demigra?" Luffa asked, "or do you have any more tricks to pull?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you," Demigra said.  "You said earlier that you wanted us to become better acquainted, so I thought I should be gracious in defeat.  The day is yours.   Well fought."

Luffa turned her head and spat on the ground.  "I don't need praise from a coward like you."

"I'm only stating facts," Demigra said.   He raised his bone scepter and gestured at their surroundings.    "Did you know that Majin Buu slaughtered the entire population of the Earth?   First he attacked the cities one by one, transmuting the people into candy and gobbling them up.  Then he stood upon Kami's Lookout and fired millions of ki blasts to wipe out whoever was left.   And whoever survived that was finally killed when he blew up the entire planet in a fit of rage, which should be happening in a little under three hours from now."

"Is there a point to this history lesson?" Luffa asked.

"Majin Buu is no mean opponent," Demigra explained.   "It takes great courage to challenge him, and even greater strength and skill to outmaneuver him as you just did.   You ought to be commended for your efforts."

"And you ought to be in a grave," Luffa replied.   "And if you ever manage to escape from the Crack of Time, that's where I'm going to put you, Demigra.   That's the only warning you'll get from me."

"What a loyal subject you are," Demigra said.   "I'm sure Chronoa is proud of your service.    Well, until we meet again..."

He vanished, just as Luffa was considering shooting him again.   It wasn't that she expected another attack to hurt him, but she was angry enough at him that she didn't care.   Instead, she took one more look at Tien's unconscious body and touched her earpiece to signal Trunks.   "That's it," she said.   "He just left.    It's over... for now."

Moments later, Luffa vanished as well, and the city was quiet again...

*******

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

"What I don't understand is what his strategy is supposed to be.  Towa and Mira were stealing energy, but Demigra just seems to be controlling people like puppets for no reason.  And if we hadn't stopped him, he would have sabotaged the battle against Majin Buu.   What good would that do him?"

"Maybe this is just a revenge plot," Trunks suggested.    "Like Dr. Gero trying to kill Goku to avenge the Red Ribbon Army.   Gero didn't care about bringing the Red Ribbon Army back.  All he wanted was to see Goku die, even if it meant destroying the entire Earth."

"You mean Demigra would rather burn down the whole universe than let Chronoa be the Supreme Kai of Time?"  Luffa asked.  "'If I can't have Tokitoki then no one can'?"

"He's already trapped in the Crack of Time," Trunks said.   "If he can't escape, then he doesn't have much to lose.  Destroying the universe out of spite might be all he has going for him."

"I don't know if I buy that," Luffa said.   "He acts so smug all the time, like he's already won, and we're too dumb to realize it.

Following Luffa's return from the Super Buu mission, Chronoa had ordered her to the hospital to have the Namekian healers restore her strength as quickly as possible.    Luffa returned to find Trunks monitoring the Time Vault alone, while Chronoa tended to the Divine Tokitoki Bird who lived in the Time Nest.    The two Saiyans sat at the large octagonal table, eating takeout food that Luffa had picked up on her way back.

"You think we may be playing into his hands?" Trunks asked as he reached for another empanada.   "That by preserving history, we're helping him somehow?"

"I don't know," Luffa said.   "It took him a while to set that crisis up, and he didn't seem too disappointed to see us fix it.    Then again, he's been plotting this caper for millions of years.   What's a few weeks to a guy like him?   He could just wait for you and me to die of old age."

"No," Trunks said.    "I don't think so.   He was eager to reveal himself in the Time Nest.   He wanted the Supreme Kai of Time to know he was making his move.   I don't think he'd send a message like that unless he was almost ready."

"True," Luffa said.   "Maybe he's got a specific interest in-- What is it?"

Chronoa had entered the Time Vault and was halfway to the cabinets  before Luffa could finish her question.    

"There's been a disturbance in the timeline," Chronoa said to them without turning around.   "I sensed... here it is!"

"Another change in history?" Trunks asked.    "So soon?"

"He probably timed it this way," Luffa said.  "The bastard.   He kept us waiting before, now he's springing a new one on us right away, trying to catch us off guard."

"Well, we stopped him before, and we'll do it again--" Trunks began to say, but the confidence drained from his voice when Chronoa unfurled the affected scroll on the table.    Once he saw the images in the affected history, all he could say was: "This is bad..."

"What?" Luffa asked.    "Where is this place?"

"It's the Sacred World of the Kais," Chronoa explained.   "And it's the site of the final battle to stop Majin Buu from destroying the universe."

 NEXT: The Gauntlet

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #gohan #trunks #chronoa #demigra #majin buu #tien shinhan #earth #toki toki city

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (208/?)

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 1000 years before  66 years after  1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[2 February, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

Luffa was not the Legendary Super Saiyan, but she still remembered another time, another life, when she was the Legendary Super Saiyan.  That life, that time was over.

In that other lifetime, at the age of nineteen, Luffa achieved the mythical status after enduring a horrific ordeal at the hands of the Tikosi.  After dispatching her father, Orij, who betrayed her to the Tikosi, she began her Super Saiyan career by hunting down her husband, Kandai, who had sold their unborn child to the Saiyan King, Rehval III, for study.  Luffa found a measure of solace with her second marriage to Zatte, the former captain of the Dorlun militia, and their friends: the young Dorlun Keda, the arachnoid physician, Dr. Topsas, the Yetitan Wampaaan'riix, and later on, the fortuneteller, Dotz.

That all came to an end when Luffa became embroiled in a conflict with the Saiyan Kingdom, which culminated in a final showdown on Planet Nagaoka.  Luffa used the light of the full moon to combine her Super Saiyan form with the Oozaru form, and ended up destroying the entire planet.  She had expected to die along with her enemies, but then she was rescued by the Time Patrol, a band of warriors from the distant future.  They recruited her to help them defend time itself, only to fall before the ancient Demon sorcerer, Demigra.

Demigra had triumphed by destroying the Time Nest, and along with it, the Scroll of Eternity, which contained the entirety of history.  But he had saved a small piece of it, and offered it as a cession to Luffa, the only other survivor of the old universe.  Luffa, it seemed, was the one foe he could not take for granted.  For the Time Patrol had used the Dragon Balls to wish for an ally, and Demigra feared that the wish, granted literally, could mean that Luffa was somehow destined to thwart Demigra's plans.  Unwilling to put that to the test, he offered her a truce.  If she agreed not to oppose him in his plans to create a new history, then he would allow her to live peacefully in the last remnant of the old history, a world where she never became the Super Saiyan.

And so, Luffa was nineteen again, a mere Saiyan housewife in a family of mercenaries, stationed on Dorlu Prime.  The Tikosi had not yet carried out their massacre of the colony, and this time-- thanks to Demigra's intervention-- they never would.   Thanks to his magic, the Tikosi had all turned upon one another and they were all dead.  Orij's betrayal would never take place, and Luffa could live her life over again, without the trauma that had changed everything.

*******

     [3 February, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

Technically, Luffa was still thinking it over.  There was a Scroll of Eternity lying in a cabinet in her living quarters on Dorlu Prime.  According to Demigra, if she opened the scroll, it would bring her to the Crack of Time, where Demigra was busy preparing his new history.  Once there, Luffa could renew hostilities, and Demigra would accept the risk of a final showdown.

*******

     [6 February, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

Technically, Luffa was still thinking it over.  She could use the scroll at any time, so there was no need to rush.  She had missed Dorlu Prime, and its dull, dreary scenery was a perfect place to recuperate and plan.  If she chose to fight Demigra again, she could do it on her own terms.  Here, she could consider strategy, or even train for the fight.  And the longer she waited, the more surprised Demigra would be when she finally rejected his offer.

*******

     [14 February, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

Technically, Luffa was still thinking it over.  After the second week, she decided to return Kandai's affections.   In the former timeline, Kandai had gone along with her father's betrayal, but in this world, the Tikosi were all dead, and so Orij's scheme was undone before it could ever truly begin.  Luffa had been uneasy around Kandai, but she also discovered how much she had missed him.  And it was hard to hold a grudge against him for something he hadn't done yet.    Luffa told herself it was to keep up appearances, so no one would notice that anything unusual about her behavior.  That she happened to enjoy the way he would plant his hands on her sides was immaterial.

*******

     [19 February, 238 Before Age. Dorlu Prime.]  

Technically, Luffa was still thinking it over.  She had kept a professional distance from Zatte during this time, hoping not to complicate things after that impulsive kiss they had shared.  They had been married in the former timeline, but that was still years away.  It would take time to transition away from Kandai and towards her true love, but Luffa had tipped her hand.  For her part, Zatte seemed to respect Luffa's embarrassment over the incident, but it still changed their friendship.  Things would be awkward for a while, but in the end, it wouldn't matter.

*******

     [27 February, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

Technically, Luffa was still thinking it over.

Practically, she had been so busy making plans that she hadn't given much thought to Demigra, or the scroll, or the Time Patrol.   With the Tikosi dead, life on the colony was different, and everyone was figuring out what to do next.  Everyone except Luffa's father, who had been plotting with the Tikosi all along.

Ever since he learned of their extinction, Orij had been despondent.  The Dorluns had agreed to extend their contract with the Saiyan mercenaries, long enough to verify that the Tikosi were truly dead, but this would only confirm what he already knew.  And so, while everyone else prepared for the future, Orij was left to wonder how things had gone so wrong.  No one knew that he had been secretly conspiring with the Tikosi, and so no one really understood what was bothering him.

No one but Luffa, and she had no sympathy for his loss.

She had more important people in her life to worry about.

*******

     [1 March, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime.]  

"What's on Plutark VII, Luffa?"

The Dorluns had a communications array for contacting other planets and starships in deep space.  It rarely saw much use, since the Dorluns preferred to keep to themselves.  Today, Luffa sat at the controls, while Keda watched her with great interest.

"Just some friends of mine," Luffa explained.  "I think you'd like them too.  If I can ever get ahold of them on this thing, I might invite them over.  Introduce you."

"Your dad left today, didn't he?" Keda asked, still eyeing the controls.  She reached for one of the translucent plastic buttons that was glowing green.

Luffa brushed Keda's fingers away before she could touch it.  "Hey, I told you to be careful with this stuff," she said.  "Governor Coyto will put us both in jail if you break it."

"Nuh-uh," Keda said.  "You'd just bust out."

"Yeah, well what makes you think I'd take you with me when I escaped?" Luffa asked.   "Nah, never mind.  I guess I owe you, kid."

"Owe me for what?" Keda asked.

Keda had infiltrated the Tikosi Hiveworld and eventually rescued Luffa from their clutches.   Luffa had felt indebted to her ever since.  She couldn't explain that to the child, since those events had not happened yet, and never would.

"Never mind," Luffa finally said.  "Just don't touch any of these controls.  I can't get through to Plutark today, but I might have better luck tomorrow... so I can't have you messing around with this stuff and breaking it, all right?"

"Okay," Keda said.

It felt surreal to tell Keda not to touch any of the equipment, since Luffa had seen an older, more capable Keda operate most of a starship by herself.  Luffa had shown her much of the basics, and Keda had learned from a few others, but she was mostly self-taught.  She even had a knack for figuring out the controls on other ships with unfamiliar configurations.  It would probably only take a few days for her to figure out how to operate the Dorluns' communication array, but there were more experienced technicians in the colony, and the need for Keda to learn such things never came up.

It was better this way, Luffa told herself.  Here, Keda could just concentrate on being a kid.  She could live her life the way she was meant to, without being a sidekick for the Legendary Super Saiyan.

"What about your dad?" Keda asked.

"What about him?" Luffa said, still looking over the readouts on the monitors.

"He left," Keda said.  "This morning.  Kandai took him up in your ship, and then he came back without him.  He said he dropped him off someplace."

"Yeah, they salvaged a Tikosi ship during their last run," Luffa said.   "Father's going off to do his own thing, but we still need our ship, so he'll be operating out of the Tikoshi ship from now on."

"Forever?" Keda asked.

Luffa shrugged.  "Who knows? He might trade it in for something better.  That's his problem now."

"No, I mean, he's not coming back?" Keda asked.

"I told him I was thinking about going solo," Luffa said.  "Turns out Kandai wants to tag along.  That leaves Father on his own, so he decided to move on."

"Didn't you want to say goodbye?" Keda asked.

"Not really," Luffa said coldly.  "I said everything I needed to say to him already."

That was true enough, though Luffa didn't want to explain the details to Keda.  Luffa alone knew the truth about her father's scheme, though she couldn't confront him, since she lacked the power to defeat him if he chose to fight.   It was better this way.  He secretly feared Luffa's potential, and without the Tikosi to help him exploit it, he was eager to get as far from his daughter as he could.  And that suited Luffa as well.  If they ever did meet again, she planned to be ready for him.

Still, she could tell from Keda's expression that the youth was not satisfied with this, and so Luffa reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

"It's fine," Luffa said.  "I can always contact him if I need to talk to him.  But right now I've got more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Keda asked.  Luffa couldn't help but smile.  She had learned long ago that there was no way to stop Keda from asking questions, but one could distract her with new questions.

"Like confirming that you and your people are truly safe," Luffa said.  "And if the Tikosi really are gone, then we can start to plan for the future..."

*******

     [6 March, 238 Before Age.  Tikosi Hiveworld.]  

The planet was just like Luffa remembered it.  From orbit, the Tikosi Hiveworld looked like a large ball of mud.  There was some sparse vegetation, but no farms or roads or any other sign of civilization.   The Tikosi kept these hidden beneath earthen fortifications.  Like ants and termites on many other planets, the Tikosi dwelled in underground tunnels, but their advanced technology allowed them to remain hidden indefinitely.  They grew food in hydroponic vats, drew energy from geothermal taps, and maintained their fleet of spaceships in vast hangars constructed under hollow mounds of dirt.  An unsuspecting visitor would easily mistake it for an uninhabited world, and by the time that visitor got close enough to the surface to realize the truth, it would be far too late to escape.

"Hard to believe it was so close to us," Zatte said as they walked across the barren surface.  "I mean, thirty light-years isn't close, but still..."

"Surprised the hell out of me too," Kandai said from a few steps behind her.  "We passed through this system a few times, and I thought it might make a decent base, but the scans showed nothing unusual.  Well, nothing unusual then.  But now...well, you can tell this placed used to be inhabited."

As he said this, he stepped over the half-burned corpse of a Tikosi adult.  Its broken exoskeleton shattered under the weight of his bootheel.   All around them, thousands of bodies just like it lay scattered around the city.  The earthworks that had once covered the area were now partially collapsed.   The western edge of the city was still shaded by a partial dome of dried mud, while chunks of dirt lay in the streets in the center.  On the eastern side, the dome had collapsed completely, burying countless Tikosi underneath.

Not far from their position, a column of smoke wafted out of a wrecked machine.  This odor, combined with that of the Tikosi casualties, was what stirred Luffa's memories the most.  As she surveyed the ruined world, she could only compare the devastation to the carnage she had wrought when she first transformed in the Legendary Super Saiyan.   She had managed to restrain herself from slaughtering all of the Tikosi in that reality, but she had destroyed most of their warriors and infrastructure that day.  Seeing them all dead wasn't all that different.

She hung behind Kandai and Zatte, glaring at the scenery without really seeing anything.  She already knew what had happened here.  All that really mattered was letting the Dorluns confirm it for themselves.

"Over here," Kandai said.  He gestured to a pair of Tikosi bodies lying in the doorway of a partially collapsed building.  Each Tikosi had four arms, and all eight of their hands were still locked around each other in a death struggle.

Zatte drew closer, and knelt down to examine the bodies.  "Interesting," she said.  She pointed at a hole that passed through the thorax of one corpse and continued on into the head of the other.

"We found a lot of them like this," Kandai said.  "They died at each other's throats.  Literally.  Looks like a third bug must have snuck up on them while they were fighting, and took them both out with a plasma rifle."

Zatte had reached the same conclusion, and was already looking around to find the shooter.   "There," she said, pointing to another structure nearby.

Luffa was staring off into the horizon when she heard Zatte snapping her fingers.

"Hey.  Hey, dummy," she said.  "Wake up, will you?"

"Huh?" Luffa asked.

"Clear away that debris, will you?" Zatte asked with a grin.  "I want to check for something."

"Debris?  Oh."

Zatte was pointing at a collapsed building behind Luffa.  It only took a moment for her to hold out her hands and produce a burst of force that scattered the clumps of dirt in all directions.  Much of it was knocked away in large pieces, while the rest was pulverized into dust, which hung in the air like an ominous orange cloud.  What remained was a much shallower pile of dirt, and the remains of several Tikosi corpses that had lain underneath.

"There it is," Zatte said.  She headed for the site of the former building, patting Luffa on the shoulder as she passed her.

"Something bugging you, Luffa?" Kandai asked.

"No," she said.  "I was just distracted, that's all."

"She misses her grill, that's all," Zatte said as she sifted through the dirt.

"Yeah, I should have known," Kandai said.  "Not that I mind the company, but it kind of sucks that you won't have dinner ready for us when we get back."

"Got it!" Zatte said, raising a dusty weapon from the debris.  A Tikosi hand was still clinging to the handle, and she had to wrestle it free before standing up.   She wiped off the metal surface of her prize, then inspected it.

"Now how did she know where to find that?" Kandai asked.

"She's more formidable than you might think," Luffa said.  The truth was that each Dorlun had a special ability, which the colonists had kept secret from the Saiyan mercenaries.  Luffa had only learned of this later on, when Keda had used her own ability to help save her from the Tikosi in the old reality.   Zatte's power was revealed to Luffa months later.   She could manipulate different forms of energy, and this gave her certain perception that Saiyan senses couldn't match.  A plasma rifle had no ki signature, but Zatte could locate the power cell inside the rifle quite easily, if she was tuned to its particular energy patterns.

"This one shot the other two," Zatte concluded.  They were rolling around that spot over there, and this one stood right about here, and..."

She leveled the weapon, and fired it at the pair of corpses, then walked over to inspect the new hole she had put in them.

"Burn pattern's consistent," she said.  "I might have suspected an enemy of stealing their weapons to cover their tracks, but seeing all of this... it's pretty clear they turned on each other."

"That's what I said from the start," Kandai told her.   "Hmmph.  'Formidable'."

"Oh, she's pretty handy with a rifle like that," Luffa said.  "I bet she could take you out without too much trouble."

"Yeah?" Kandai said.  "How about it, Captain?  You think so?"

Zatte aimed the rifle at his chest as she considered it.  "I'd need a few hundred yards for safety," she said.  "And a better scope.  But yeah, if you weren't on your guard, Kandai, I think I could put you down."

Luffa couldn't help but chuckle at this.  In the old reality, Zatte had shot Kandai while he was busy trying to kill Luffa.  It was surreal to see the two of them getting along so well.  It had been like this before.   Zatte and Kandai were never close, but they got along reasonably well.   Luffa just hadn't appreciated the rapport between them until now.

Kandai laughed as well.  "I can see why you two are so close," he said to Luffa.  "While I've been out with your dad, you two were back on Dorlu Prime plotting against me."

"It's nothing personal, Kandai," Zatte said.  "I have to be prepared for anything."

She checked the Tikosi rifle and removed its power cell, then tossed them both to the ground.

"I'm satisfied," Zatte finally said.  "Governor Coyto still wants me to take aerial recordings of the planet's surface, maybe find one of their computers, but at this point I think that's just a formality.   Everything you told us checks out, Kandai.  I can't imagine why the Tikosi turned against each other like this, but they're definitely all dead.  If Coyto wants to know more, that's his call, but it's a job for a forensics team, not mercenaries like you two."

"Good," Kandai said.  "Nice to see there's at least one of you blue people that listens to me once in a while."

"It never hurts to verify these things," Zatte said.   "Our species didn't last this long by being reckless.   But we can talk about that on the ride home.  Right now, I just want to get away from this stench.   You mind if I borrow your wife for a little while?"

"Fine, take your pictures for Coyto," Kandai said.  "I'll meet you back at the ship, ladies."

Luffa watched him take off, and kept staring into the distance after he vanished from sight.  At last, Zatte took her by the hand to get her attention.

"You're really out of it today, you know that?" Zatte said.

"Huh?" Luffa asked.

"I need you to fly me over the planet's surface," Zatte said.  "Were you not paying attention?  Maybe I should have had Kandai do it, but it's more fun when you're the one carrying me."

"Right, sure," Luffa said.  She shook her head, and scooped Zatte up in her arms, one hand gripping her knees, the other tucked under Zatte's shoulder.

"Oh," Zatte said.

"What?" Luffa asked.

"I just wasn't expecting this," Zatte said.  "I mean, it's fine.   Uh... really fine, but  uh...."

Luffa grumbled under her breath and leaped into the sky.

*******

     [10 March, 238 Before Age.  Interstellar Space.]  

"That's right.   'Topsas'.  He runs a clinic in the city.   Yes that's the number I have, but there was no response on the line.  All right.   Okay.  Well, thanks for checking it out for me.  Luffa out."

Luffa pulled off the headset and tossed it onto the deck.  The communications array on Dorlu Prime was more powerful than the one on the Saiyans' ship, but their position relative to Plutark VII was apparently more favorable for interstellar transmissions.  None of that mattered, though, when Dr. Topsas never answered his subspace radio.

She stormed out of the pilothouse and made her way aft to the habitat section.  There, she found Zatte and Kandai sharing a kettle of nutrient tea.

"You should have seen his face!" Kandai said.  "I didn't know their eyestalks could stick out that far!"

Luffa only caught the end of his anecdote, but judging from Zatte's laughter, it must have been very funny.   She still wasn't used to how well the two of them had been getting along, but after four days alone together, it was starting to feel more normal.

"Any luck with that doctor you told us about?" Zatte asked as Luffa approached.

"No," Luffa said.  "He's probably busy with a patient or something.  I may have to go there in person."

"You really think he can score us a better ship than this one?" Kandai asked.

"Trust me," Luffa said.  She hadn't bothered to explain the details to them, since they wouldn't understand.   As far as they knew, Luffa had a contact that could provide them with better transportation.  The truth was that Luffa planned to steal the same star-yacht she had been "awarded" in the former version of reality.  And she planned to reach out to Topsas and Wampaaan'riix while she was there, since she knew they would all be in the same place.   It would be awkward befriending them when they didn't know her yet, but she would figure that out when the time came.

As she passed the small booth where they were sitting, Kandai reached out and took hold of her tail.  "Hey, hold up a second," Kandai said.  "We wanted to talk about some stuff."

Luffa gasped, more from surprise than discomfort, then stepped backward, letting Kandai reel her in until he was sitting beside him.

"I can't believe you two do that," Zatte said.

Luffa had forgotten about it herself until they set out for the Tikosi Hiveworld.  It had been easy to keep her distance before, when she had first arrived in this new reality.  Dorlu Prime offered plenty of ways to be alone, and if she acted strangely on that first day, it wouldn't be so conspicuous.  But now that grace period was over, and she faced greater scrutiny aboard a small ship with two people who knew her so well.  Fortunately, she found it was getting easier to fall back into the old routines.

"He's just making sure I haven't gone soft," Luffa said with a smirk.  "So what's the big deal?  If this is about dinner, I already told you..."

"I want to come with you guys," Zatte said.

Luffa's jaw dropped.  That had been her plan all along, but she hadn't expected Zatte to just blurt it out in front of Kandai.  She looked over to him, and he smiled.

"We were talking earlier," he said, "and we both realized we had the same idea."

"But it's your show, Luffa," Zatte said.  "I mean, we kind of discussed it the other day, but... well... I didn't want to push for anything."

"Well, I'll push for it," Kandai said.  "I think you should let her join us.  So how about it?"

"Hold on," Luffa said.  She looked at Kandai with one eyebrow raised.   "You're asking me to bring her along?"

"Well sure," Kandai said.  He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer.   "You're the one who wanted to split off from Orij, Luffa.   This is your caper.  You decide who's on the team, or if there even is a team."

"I just thought... You and Father were so much stronger than me," she said.  "I mean, yeah, it's my plan, but I didn't think you'd be this comfortable letting me call the shots."

"Kandai's a chain-of-command kind of guy," Zatte said.  "So am I.   I'll admit I had my concerns, but hanging out with you two on this mission, I can tell we all work together well.  And Kandai feels the same way."

"She's not much of a warrior by our standards," Kandai said, "but she can handle herself better than most aliens I've met.  And she brings a lot of other skills to the table.  And she's not as squeamish as I thought she'd be.  The other Dorluns, I don't think they'd be too eager to dig around a dead planet full of Tikosi corpses."   He glanced back at Zatte and added: "Uh, no offense."

"None taken," Zatte said.   "That's why I wanted to come along.  Now that the colony is secure, I'm not sure there's much more for me to contribute.   But if I could serve on this ship, I could do some scouting, and maybe identify some potential threats to Dorlu Prime before things got out of hand."

"Of course, that'd mean sticking close to this sector," Kandai  said.  "But we've been using her planet as a base for years anyway.   We just wouldn't be getting paid to stand guard over it."

"I think I can talk Governor Coyto into letting me join your group," Zatte said.  "I'd still have to clear it with the Elders, but I have some ideas to convince them.   So, what do you think, Luffa?"

"You're seriously okay with this?" Luffa asked Kandai.

"Oh, come on, Luffa," Kandai said.   "You girls are best friends, right?  I'd feel bad if I split you two up."

"Riiiight," Luffa said.  She had impulsively kissed Zatte a month ago, and had regretted it ever since.  In this era, Zatte had unrequited feelings for Luffa, which weren't supposed to be requited until much later, after Kandai's betrayal.  But without the Tikosi and Luffa's father, Kandai's betrayal could never happen.  This left her in a very awkward position, one made even more awkward by how well the three of them seemed to be getting along.

"The best," Zatte said with a knowing grin. She winked at her with her right eye, the one Luffa still hadn't gotten used to seeing again, since Zatte originally lost it during the Tikosi attack that was no longer destined to happen.

"Well, let's see how the Dorluns feel about it," Luffa said.  "But if they're okay with it, I mean... sure.  I'd love to have you aboard, Zattie."

"Zattie?" Zatte asked.

"Well she we can't keep calling you 'captain'," Kandai said.  "On a starship, that kind of thing gets confusing."

"Ha-ha... right," Luffa said anxiously.  "Anyway, if you can clear it with your people, then you're welcome here with me... us.   Both of us.  Yeah."

"Great!" Zatte said.  She jumped up from the booth and went to the other side, where she gave Luffa a hug.

"I'm really looking forward to this," she said as she finally released Luffa and reached over to shake Kandai's hand.  "And I won't let you down, I promise."

"She'll hold you to that," Kandai warned Zatte as he pointed at Luffa.  "My wife can get pretty demanding."

"Oh, I know all about that," Zatte said.  "And this time I don't have fifty Dorluns to back me up like I did in those training drills.  Listen, I should get started on my report for the Elders.  Luffa, when you have some time, you mind if I pick your brain about some things?"

"Sure," Luffa said.  "After dinner, maybe."

Luffa waited until she heard the hatch close on Zatte's cabin, then looked up at Kandai.  "You're really okay with this?" she asked.

"You keep asking me that," Kandai said.  "It was my idea.  Well, I guess we all thought of it separately, but that just means we're all in agreement, doesn't it?"

"I just thought you'd object to having an alien on the crew," Luffa said.  "Or you'd have a problem with me splitting off from Father.  Or... having a woman on the ship with us."

"Oh, so that's what this is about," Kandai said.   "Thought I'd get jealous, is that it?"

"Well... are you?" Luffa asked.

"Luffa, you're the one who wanted us to get married," Kandai said.  "You wanted the happy homemaker bit, the litter of brats, and all the rest. I, uh, enjoy your company well enough... uh... well, you know what I mean."

"I hear you," Luffa said.  This was as close to a love declaration as he had ever made.  Sparing him from finishing it was the most honorable way for a Saiyan mate to receive it.

"Right, well... if it ends, it ends.  Personally, I don't think you're the type to run off with some alien chick."  He glanced back in the direction of Zatte's cabin before continuing.   "I mean... I'm not blind.  I see the way you look at her sometimes.  I get it.  Some of those blue women aren't bad at all.   I'm not into their weird colorations, but that why they invented light switches.  It's the lack of tails that I can't get around--"

"Let's try to stay focused here," Luffa chided.

"All I'm saying is I'm not your dad, Luffa.  I worked for him because it was easy money, and his daughter practically threw herself at me.  I know he was real particular about how his ship was run, and he didn't mind using his higher power level to get his way.  Me, I'm more of a follower.  If you and 'Zattie' wanna run the whole show and use me as muscle, I can live with that.   If you want a divorce, I can handle that too.  As long as I'm well paid and well fed, I think I can handle just about anything."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.   She had always thought of him as more principled, at least somewhat like herself.  That was what made his betrayal hurt so much in the old reality.   But  now, it was clear that she had only ever seen in him what she had wanted to see.   She had been, after all, an idealistic, lovestruck teenager, convinced that she had a duty to marry a proper Saiyan mate and raise a family.   Like her parents had done... or so she had believed at the time.

And she always assumed Kandai was driven by the same duty.  Instead, he was ambivalent enough that he could take or leave their marriage as long as his basic needs were met.

It seemed so obvious now, and yet she had never suspected it before.

"The truth is," Luffa finally said, "that I'm not really sure what I want out of this.  I guess with all the changes we've seen, it's too fluid for me to make up my mind.  Maybe that's why I thought you'd put your foot down on something like this.  In a way, I almost want someone to decide for me."

"Now I don't buy that for a minute," Kandai said, squeezing her tightly in his arm.  "You're just like your old man... well, not just like him, thankfully... but you're too bossy to be indecisive.   But I know you want Zatte on this crew, and she seems up for it, so we might as well play it out and see what happens."

And in that moment, with the quiet thrum of the ship's engines, and his scent filling the air, Luffa found herself remembering just what she had found so attractive about him in the first place.  She had misunderstood him in so many ways, but he was also very pliable and receptive to her ideas.  He would listen to her ramble on in the small hours, and none of her aspirations were too radical for him.  And so, overcome with that affection, she said the most loving thing a Saiyan could say to their mate:

"I'm gonna get dinner started."

*******

     [12 March, 238 Before Age.  Dorlu Prime]  

"Who is this?"

"I already told you.  My name is Luffa.  I'm a Saiyan.   I wanted to talk to you about the Deathmatch Tournament they're holding on Plutark VII."

After returning to Dorlu Prime, Luffa continued her efforts to raise Plutark VII on the communications array.  At long last, she had finally gotten a response, but her triumph seemed less than satisfying.

"Then you ought to contact the tournament organizers.  Though if you want my advice so badly, then I would counsel you to steer clear of such a competition."

Luffa rolled her eyes and groaned.  The alien on the viewscreen was her old friend, Dr. Topsas.   He looked the same as the last time she had seen him, five years in the future, in another reality.    But Topsas did not recognize her at all, and she had forgotten how blunt and dismissive he could be towards strangers.

"Doc, I'm not looking to enter the tournament.  I wanted to get in touch with one of the participants.  And I happen to know that you provide medical services to the competitors between rounds."

"And how could a little mammal like you possibly know about such things?" Topsas asked.   "Not that I am admitting to anything of the sort, mind you."

The truth was that Luffa had entered the tournament on Plutark VII,  and met Topsas backstage. She had gone to Plutark seeking to test her skills, and the competition had proven very beneficial.  By the time she faced her last opponent, a Yetitan named Wampaaan'riix, she had become so powerful that he was no match for her.  Then she discovered that her Saiyan telepathy had been greatly enhanced, and she decided to test that ability on him.  She had hoped to learn his fighting strategy and nothing more, but instead Luffa ended up learning almost everything about the man: His name, his homeworld, his family and personal history, and his deep regret that he would meet his death at the hands of Luffa.  And so, Luffa was overcome with empathy, and spared the Yetitan's life.

This had greatly upset the tournament organizers, as mercy was against the rules in a Deathmatch Tournament, but their security forces were no match for her, and Luffa convinced them to let the matter drop, in exchange for a star-yacht owned by one of the principal owners of the event.  In time, Luffa's actions on Plutark VII won her the gratitude of not only Wampaaan'riix, for sparing his life, but of Dr. Topsas as well.

"You never approved of the Deathmatches," Luffa said, "but you still felt an obligation to treat the competitors, even knowing they would probably die the same day.   The medical boards all boycotted the events, and threatened to revoke the license of anyone who cooperated with the tournament organizers.  But you worked out a deal to practice there in secret, Doc.  Your pride as a physician would allow for nothing less."

His pedipalps began to tremble in a particular way.   Knowing him as well as she had, Luffa could interpret his body language to some extent.   His arthropodic gestures were impenetrable to most humanoids, but Luffa could tell he was concerned... and curious.

"An interesting story," he said after a short pause.  "But even if it were true, I fail to see why a Saiyan warrior would go to the trouble of blackmailing a doctor."

"I'm not trying to blackmail you, Doc," Luffa said.  "I just wanted to get your attention.  I'm looking for a Yetitan by the name of Wampaaan'riix.  My... sources... tell me he entered this year's tournament.  Chances are, you helped patch him up."

"And what of him?" Topsas asked.

"I have some business with him," Luffa said.   "I'm... not at liberty to say more."

"Ah, of course.  I might have expected something like this," Topsas said ruefully.  "There's a bounty on his head, isn't there?  Or you're looking to avenge some terrible deed he may have committed.  Or perhaps he simply had unpaid debts."

"What?" Luffa asked.  "No, that's not it at all. I just want to--"

But Topsas had heard enough.   "Ms. Luffa, was it?  I am quite busy today, and while this conversation has been very intriguing, I must say that I've had my fill of romance for one afternoon.   The fact of the matter is that your Wampaaan'riix is no longer available for 'business', yours nor anyone else's.  He was pronounced dead yesterday."

"Dead?!" Luffa gasped.  "That... that can't be right!"

"You seemed quite familiar with the Deathmatch Tournament a moment ago," Topsas said.   "Were you unaware of the rules? The competitors fight to the death, and the winners go on to face one another, until there is only one survivor.   Your friend did enter the tournament, and he did not win.   Therefore..."

"But that's impossible!" Luffa said.  "He won every round until--!"

It suddenly hit her like a bolt of lightning.  Wampaaan'riix had won every round before facing Luffa.  She had simply assumed that he would have continued winning, if she hadn't been in the bracket.

But in the old reality, she had stopped the entire tournament.  Dr. Topsas had been very grateful to her for this, but she had only done it because the tournament organizers had dared to oppose her, and she found fighting them to be more amusing than the scheduled opponents.  In that version of history, the Tournament was canceled, and Luffa never found out who would have been her next opponent, or the one after that.

And while Wampaaan'riix would have made it that far in this new reality, there was no telling how he would have fared in the later rounds.

No.   That wasn't true.  There was telling.   Dr. Topsas was telling her right now.

"He... he can't be dead..." Luffa said.   "He had wives... and children..."

"So I had assumed," Topsas said.   "I have, of course, contacted the Yetitan authorities to inform the next of kin--"

"This can't be right," Luffa said.   She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she was too upset to care.   "It can't."

Topsas sighed.  "I recognize that you soldier-for-hire types are notoriously stubborn about these matters," he said.  "You are, of course, welcome to come to Plutark VII, where you can view his death certificate in person.  A waste of time, I should think, but alas, it is your time to waste."

Her dear friend was dead, and Dr. Topsas, who had been like a second father to her, was talking to her like she was a bothersome nuisance.    She didn't know what to say, or even what she was feeling.  And so, she didn't bother trying to express herself to him.  She simply terminated the call, and let the video monitor go blank.  Dr. Topsas could resume his practice.    The 'little mammal' would trouble him no further.

For a long while, Luffa sat alone in the Dorlun communication center.   She did not move, and so the sensor in the room deactivated the lights.  It was a device intended to conserve power, typical for the ever-cautious Dorluns.  There was only the light from the consoles, and the long, murky shadows they cast from Luffa's figure in the chair.

"I spared him," she finally said.  "I never imagined..."

As she wept, she stared down at her black fingerless gloves.   Between the dim, multi-colored lights, and the tears in her eyes, her hands were little more than indistinct blurs.

They began to tremble.

 NEXT: The Decision.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #luffa #lssjluffafic #zatte #kandai #keda #dr topsas #tikosi hiveworld #dorlu prime

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (196/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [August 31, 749 Before Age.]  

One story proceeds a certain way, another may follow a different course, but the cycle is the same, and every story in the cycle shares the same beginning.  

A little girl aims a slingshot at a bulldozer operator, and fires.  

The man protests, for he is only doing his job, but his job involves clearing an entire village, and the farmland that surrounds it.   It is the girl's home, and while the other villagers watch with helpless dread, she can stand no more.   Her outrage compels her to take action, no matter how small.  

It is the flowers that pushes her over the edge.    A patch of wild pansies.   They are scraped from the earth along with the rest of the topsoil, like a brush scouring grime off a dirty pot.   She was named 'Pansy', after the flowers.   Seeing them destroyed so thoughtlessly made her suddenly very aware of how callously her village was being destroyed at the same time.   Like the flowers, her friends and neighbors could only stand by and watch it happen.  

It was all for the king.  King Gurumes was obsessed with Blood Rubies.  The land was rich in the red gemstones, but he wasn't satisfied with the ones that turned up during irrigation projects.   King Gurumes wanted them all,  and if he had to dig up his entire territory, he would.   If he had to bankrupt his kingdom and destroy his subjects' homes, it seemed he would do that as well.  

And so Pansy simply could not stand it any longer, and so she took aim and fired.   She did not expect one of the royal guardsmen to strike her with the butt of his rifle.   Even as the bludgeon was inches from her face, she could not believe it was actually happening, that the king's soldiers would attack her so brazenly.  

And then a mighty hand reached out and caught the rifle just before it could hit her.   Her father had suddenly stepped forward to save her.  He was big and strong, and that was enough to intimidate the guards, even with their firearms, but the king had hired mercenaries as well, and one of them, Bongo, was even bigger and stronger than Pansy's father.   The fight was mercifully short, as Bongo only needed to send a message to the villagers: You can't win.   When he was satisfied that his point was made, he left Pansy's father and rode off to the castle.  

It was only a moment, but the realization changed Pansy forever.   A realization of power.  That day, she set out from the village in search of Master Roshi.  

The flowers were helpless, and Pansy had used her slingshot to defend them.   The guards stepped in to attack her, and her father came forth to protect her.   And then Bongo arrived to counter her father.    It was all a contest of power, it seemed, and if that was so, then only the strongest of them all could be counted on to settle the matter once and for all.  

And who was stronger than Roshi, the Turtle Hermit, the Invincible Old Master?  

But it wasn't just a matter of strength alone.   The flowers were weak, but they had still spurred Pansy into action.   In the same way, she hoped to convince Master Roshi to fight for her people.  That was her advantage.   Even if she was outmatched, she could still influence events, she cold still change the course of history.

She just had to be brave enough to try, and persistent enough to see it through.  

The journey to Roshi was long and perilous, but she knew she could make it by taking one step at a time.  

And when she finally reached Roshi and he refused to help her, she carried on, making her plan work with others.   Son Goku, and Bulma, and the rest.  

And when other setbacks happened, Pansy kept trying, again and again.   She would get it right eventually.   She just had to keep working at it, one step at a time.   One step at a time.  

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

*******

     [October 1, Age 767.  Earth.]  

Nineteen years after Pansy fired her slingshot, her husband Son Goku stood with her in Bulma's workshop as they regarded a strange visitor.   She was a Saiyan time traveler who called herself Luffa.

"I don't get it," Goku said as he crossed his arms over his chest thoughtfully.   "If you're from the future, don't you already know about everything that's happened?   I mean, why'd you come back to this time in the first place?"

"It's complicated," Luffa said.   The truth was that she was from the distant past, having been recruited by the Time Patrol to resolve certain temporal anomalies.   One such anomaly was the Ruby Loop, a time fragment that kept resetting itself to September 1, Age 749.  The length of each cycle varied, but they would always end with the destruction of the Earth or the removal of the Blood Rubies from its surface.  

Luffa's mission was to study the Ruby Loop and find out what was caused it to behave like this.   She was accustomed to time anomalies caused by deliberate sabotage, but Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, had assured her that the Ruby Loop was a naturally occurring phenomenon.   Normally, such missions were left to the Patrol's Deep Time Investigation Department, but Chronoa was convinced that Luffa could succeed where more experienced Patrollers had failed.  

To that end, Chronoa had tasked Excitebike to take Luffa into the Ruby Loop and show her around.  The Namekian Time Patroller used an advanced time machine built into a motorcycle, which allowed him to navigate the cycles of the Ruby Loop with ease.  But his vast experience in the Ruby Loop proved to be his downfall.  

"I'm still learning the ropes," Luffa said after searching for a suitable explanation.   "My partner knew this stuff inside and out, but he's been compromised.   That's why I came to Bulma.   The tech in that bike over there doesn't exist in this era, but it's all Capsule Corp, so I'm hoping she can help me figure out how to send a distress call."

"Compromised?" Bulma asked.   She was still sitting on the motorcycle, poking at the console between the handlebars. "What happened to him?"

Luffa turned to look at Goku and Pansy before she answered: "I think he might have been exposed to the Blood Rubies."

"Aw no!" Goku said.  

"You mean he's been cursed?!" Bulma cried out.  

Their reactions were to be expected.   It was Pansy who behaved differently.   There was something strange about this adult Pansy whom Goku had introduced to Luffa as his wife.   Luffa had briefly met her as a child when Excitebike was showing her around, but that had been in a different time cycle.  This version of Pansy should have had no memory of that encounter.   And yet, she seemed very troubled by Luffa's presence.  And now that Luffa had brought up the Blood Rubies, Pansy turned pale, and lowered her head, letting the bill of her snapback hat cover her eyes.  

"I know some of your planet's history," Luffa said.   "You've had dealings with Saiyan invaders, and some of you traveled to Planet Namek.   But if I'm going to help my partner, I need to know more about the Blood Rubies."

"Well that's easy enough," Bulma said.   "It's because of the Blood Rubies that we all met.   I was looking for the Dragon Balls, but so was King Gurumes, because he thought Shenron could save him from the curse."

"And did he?" Luffa asked.

"No," Bulma said.  "Pansy made the wish before anyone else could say anything.   She asked Shenron to build a big wall around Gurumes   Castle, and seal up all the Blood Rubies in there with him.  We've been keeping tabs on him ever since."

"I've seen the wall," Luffa said.   "I thought Capsule Corp built it, and it surrounded the entire kingdom."

"Oh that's a secondary containment," Bulma said.   "Thanks to the curse, King Gurumes turned into this big monster, and we were worried that Shenron's wall might not hold him.   And we had to relocate the rest of the population to other parts of the world because of the ecological damage done by his mining operations."

"Then King Gurumes can't be helped?" Luffa asked.  "You just had to wall him off forever?  I would have thought Kakarot would have put him out of his misery by now."

"Well, it ain't like I haven't thought about it," Goku said.  "When I was a kid I couldn't even hurt him, but now I'm a lot stronger than he is.   The trouble is that nothing will kill the guy.  Bulma summoned Shenron will the Dragon Balls were all in his stomach!"  Goku held up his hands and swung them apart to indicate a great explosion.   "We all thought he must have blown apart into a million pieces, but somehow he must've pulled himself back together.   The same thing happens every time anyone attacks him."

"Is that how it'll turn out for Excitebike?" Luffa asked.    "Will the Blood Rubies turn him into the same kind of creature?"

"I'm not so sure of that," Bulma said.   "I've been monitoring Gurumes for years now.   "If someone else got afflicted with the same curse, then they'd probably be drawn to the Blood Rubies just like him, and they'd have to get inside the wall to get at them.   But there's no evidence of anyone breaking in."

Luffa wasn't entirely satisfied with that reasoning, for she had lost Excitebike in a previous time cycle.   She didn't know if he would be carried over when the Ruby Loop reset.    For all Luffa knew, the Time Patrol had already rescued him.  

But why hadn't they come for her?

"All right," Luffa said.  "Let's say I buy that for now.   My superiors will have to find a way to help my partner.   All I can do is report the incident, and that'll have to wait until Bulma can figure out how to contact them.  In the meantime, I'd like to hear more about your battles, Kakarot.   I know you defeated Frieza and Vegeta, but there must others."

"Sure, but I already told you," Goku said, "my name ain't Kakarot.   It's Son Goku."

There was a hint of resentment in his tone, but that didn't stop him from pulling up a stool from one of Bulma's work benches and taking a seat.   "Let's see," he began.   "After that time we all met, I went to train with Master Roshi.  I competed in the World Martial Arts Tournament a few times, and then I fought the Red Ribbon Army."

"Interesting," Luffa said.  "Anyone else?"

"Sure," Goku said.  "There was King Piccolo, and then he came back as Piccolo Junior.  He really hated my guts, but we still had to work together to stop Raditz, and Pansy convinced him to train with me in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."

Luffa glanced at Pansy.  "Is that so?   You must be pretty persuasive.  Then again, you'd have to be a bold talker to be a Saiyan's wife."

Pansy looked as if she had swallowed a fly.   "I... just told the truth," she said.   "Piccolo wanted to rule the world, but if the Saiyans destroyed it first, then--"

"Aw, don't be so modest, Pansy," Goku said.   "We never would have won that fight if it weren't for you!"

"That's right," Bulma said from the timebike.   "Raditz said it would take the other two Saiyans a year to arrive, but Pansy tracked their ships, and managed to predict their exact time of arrival.   And she even anticipated that 'fake moon' trick they used to turn into giant apes!"

"I've heard of that technique," Luffa said.   "I've never tried it myself, but it must come in handy for a Saiyan who wants to transform without a full moon.  But how did you know about it, Pansy?"

Pansy shrugged.   "I... well, I didn't know.   I just guessed.   Goku can make all kinds of energy blasts with his ki,  so why not make a big ball of light that shines like the moon?"

"True," Luffa said.  "But what about the cyborgs?   Or were they androids?   I always get them mixed up.  How did you deal with them?"

"That was me," Bulma said.  "When we found out Dr. Gero was planning to send them after Goku, the guys started training for the battle, but then Goku came down with a heart virus.  So I convinced them to let me use the Dragon Balls instead.   I asked Shenron where I could find Gero's lab, and we broke in and deactivated his cyborgs before he could turn them on."

Luffa nodded.   "That's clever thinking," she said.   "How did you find out about Gero, though?"

"I'm not sure," Bulma said.    She looked over to Pansy.   "Hey, how did you find out Gero was out to get us?"

Pansy looked even more flustered, if such a thing were possible.  

Luffa smiled at Goku.   "I can see why you married her," she said.   "It seems like Pansy is the linchpin of your group."

Goku made a happy chuckle as he looked proudly at his wife.  "Yep, she sure is!" he said.   "She's helped us out a bunch of times.   That's why I brought her along when Bulma called.   Whatever trouble you're in, Luffa, I'm sure Pansy can come up with an idea or two that'll help."

"I hope so," Luffa said.   "But don't oversell her talents.   Next you'll probably tell me she helped you with that heart virus you were   talking about."

Goku beamed proudly.   "Y'know, as a matter of fact--"

Before he could finish, Pansy suddenly put her arms around his shoulder and began to tug him closer to her.   "Goku," she said.   "Let's go back home."

"Huh?  But we just got here, and this seems pretty important."

"I... I don't feel well," Pansy said.   "Please.   Take me back home."

"What about Cell?" Luffa asked.   "And Majin Buu.   Have you guys run into them yet?"

"Cell?" Bulma asked.

"Majin Who?" Goku asked.  

"I've only skimmed the files," Luffa said.  "So maybe I got the dates wrong.  Funny, I thought they would have shown up by now.  Cell's a bioweapon growing in a tank in the basement of Dr. Gero's lab, and I think Majin Buu is sealed up in the mountains somewhere.   Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"These guys you're talking about," Goku said.   His eyes narrowed as he stood up to approach Luffa.  

"Yeah?" Luffa asked.

"Are they strong?" Goku asked hopefully.  

Luffa nodded.  "Let's just say that even a Super Saiyan might have his hands full with them."

"Goku, please!" Pansy said.  "Let's go..."

"Aw, can't we stick around a little longer?" Goku pleaded.   "I think we oughta hear about this..."

"For all we know, she's making it up," Pansy argued.   "We can't trust her anymore than the other Saiyans we've dealt with.   Remember how Raditz betrayed you?  Your own brother, Goku!"

"Well, yeah," Goku said.   "But she seems a lot nicer than--"

"Wait," Bulma said.   "I don't know about Majin Buu, but we did go through Gero's lab pretty thoroughly, and we did find a gestation tank in the sub basement.   There was some creature floating in it, but it was too early into its development for anyone to figure out what it was.  Was that Cell?"

"Probably," Luffa said.   "I just heard Gero grew him in his lab.  I don't know how long it took.  I guess you already destroyed him, though."

"That can't be right," Bulma said.   "Because if we really did stop Cell that day, then you never would have heard of him.   So maybe there's another one in a different facility... and even if there isn't, that still doesn't account for Majin Buu."

"You'll do just fine," Luffa said.  "It's all history from my perspective."

"Maybe so," Goku said, "but it sure gives me something to look forward to.  It sure beats keeping an eye on King Gurumes all the time, anyway."

Pansy was now gripping Goku's torso in a desperate embrace, with her face buried in the orange fabric of his dogi.   "Well, I guess we'd better head back," Goku said.   "Call me if you need anything, guys."

"But... but!" Bulma objected.   Goku vanished before she could say any more.  

"Oh, relax," Luffa said.   "I'm not going to hurt you.   I'm so hungry right now I feel like a stiff breeze would knock me over."

"Well, he's still a jerk for cutting out like that!" Bulma grumbled.  

"How'd he do that, anyway?" Luffa asked.  "He sensed our energy to teleport here, but this time he would have been teleporting back to an empty house, right?"

"Oh, he sometimes stops at Master Roshi's on the way," Bulma said.   "He'll fly the rest of the way, but this gives him a convenient way to make a quick exit.  Ugh... well, at least I think I have a handle on the comm system for this thing...  I can't make any promises, though."

"Don't worry," Luffa said.  As she spoke to Bulma, she continued to look at the spot where Goku and Pansy had been standing before they vanished.    "Yeah, I'm starting to think I won't need to send a message out just yet..."

*******

     [12 May, Age 760.   Earth.]  

The air-car swooped over the Capsule house like a fighter jet making a strafing run, except it came to a sudden stop and hovered directly over a patch of bare earth.   Then it descended, alighting on the ground as gently as a leaf.    Unfortunately for the young woman who emerged from the air-car, her mood was far more turbulent than her arrival.

It had been a long day for Pansy, who had been criss-crossing the globe in search of important information.  She returned home with little to show for her efforts.   But at least she was home, and she could take comfort in the arms of her loving husband.   He would listen to her complaints and frustrations, and make some disarming remark that had nothing to do with any of her problems, and then he would hold her in those mighty arms of his and everything would feel better.  

"Goku?" she called as she entered the front door.    "Goku, dear, where are you?"

He was usually there to meet her when she arrived.   His keen martial arts training had given him such acute senses that he could tell when she was home before she could get inside.  But this time there was no sign of him.  

"We're in here, Pansy!" Goku called.  "I got a surprise for you!"

His voice came from the kitchen, which was surprising to Pansy, since Goku hardly ever cooked.  He had learned some basic culinary techniques from living alone in the wilderness, but he mostly left the meals up to Pansy.   Tonight, she was hoping they could fly to the nearest town to get takeout, but as she approached the kitchen, the aroma she smelled made her wonder if he had already picked something up.  

Except, she could hear something boiling on the stove, and someone was chopping vegetables.    Had Goku planned something special?   Pansy considered the date, and could think of no special significance to it.   It wasn't her birthday, or their anniversary, or anything like that.  

As she entered the kitchen, Goku was there at the threshold to meet her.  

"Hi, Pansy!" Goku said with a broad, easy smile.  "I hope you worked up an appetite, 'cause we're having a bunch of great stuff for dinner!"

"I noticed!" Pansy said as Goku embraced her.   Looking over his shoulder, she could see plates of fish and curry, among other things.   "It smells wonderful, but who helped you with all of it?" she asked.  

"Oh, that's the surprise," Goku said.   "You'll never believe who I met today.  Check it out!"

He released her from his arms so that he could gesture to the other side of the room, and when Pansy looked, she felt a chill run down her spine.  

"Hi," said the woman chopping vegetables.   From the seat of her yellow pants, a brown, furry tail swayed idly behind her knees.    

"Her name's Luffa," Goku said.   "And she's been telling me all about her people-- my people-- the Saiyans!"

Luffa set down the knife and removed the protective glove from her right hand.   "It's a pleasure to meet you, Pansy," Luffa said as she reached out to her.    "Kakarot's told me so much about you that I feel like I know you already."

"Y'hear that?   'Kakarot'.   That's my Saiyan name," Goku explained. "It sounds kinda weird to me, but Luffa said that's what my parents called me, back on Planet... uh..."

"Planet Vegeta," Luffa said.   "Don't worry, I know it's a lot to take in."

Pansy said nothing.   She simply let her arms drop to her sides, and her mouth hung open as Luffa waited cordially for her handshake.   At last, Luffa opted to bow at the waist.  

"Sorry, I'm still getting used to Earth customs," she said.   "I hope you don't mind me comandeering your kitchen like this.   It's just that Kakarot and I had a few things to discuss, and I needed something to do with my hands."

"This... this isn't..." Pansy began to say, but she couldn't find the words to finish the thought.  

"Look, it'll be a while before we're ready to eat," Luffa said.   "Why don't you wash up, Kakarot?   It'll give me some time to get to know your wife."  

Goku sniffed at his left shoulder and winced.   "Heh... yeah, I guess I did work up a sweat catching all those fish for you.  Okay, if you guys need me, I'll be outside, warmin' up the bath!"

"Take your time," Luffa said.   "I'm sure Pansy and I will have a lot to talk about."

Once Goku was out of earshot, Pansy finally found her voice.  "Who are you?" she asked.   "Why have you come here?"

"You remembered me," Luffa said.   "We met back in that forest, and then the timeline reset.  Then I met you again at Capsule Corp., and you turned pale, just like you are now.   But Kakarot met me in the last loop, and he doesn't remember it today.  So what makes you different?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Pansy said.  

"You thought I was Oolong back then," Luffa said.  "The first time we met, you were running around in the woods.   Then you bumped into our campsite, and saw Excitebike and me.  You asked us which one was Oolong, because you expected to find him out there.   I didn't pick up on it at the time, because I didn't understand how any of this stuff worked.   Excitebike said you always met Oolong out there, but you're not supposed to know that ahead of time.   Each time is supposed to be a first for you.   But you were expecting to meet him."

"Why did you come here?" Pansy asked.

"To prove my theory," Luffa said.   "You acted very suspicious at Capsule Corp in the last cycle.  And the others kept telling me how you seemed to know how to handle a big crisis before it happened.   It got me thinking you could remember the previous loops.   So I used my time machine to go forward a few years, after the timeline reset again.   From Kakarot's perspective, it's still several years before that day we met at Bulma's house.   But you remember it, don't you?   Even though from his perspective it hasn't happened yet."

"What do you want with me?" Pansy asked.

"Answers," Luffa said.   "I think I finally figured this out.  You're not the cause of the anomaly.   You are the anomaly."

Pansy's lower lip began to quiver.   "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"The timeline resets whenever the Blood Rubies are removed from the Earth, or whenever the Earth gets destroyed," Luffa explained.   No one else remembers, but you do,  Pansy.   When we were talking in the last loop, Bulma mentioned that you used the Dragon Balls to wish for a big wall around King Gurumes and the Blood Rubies.  But why would you do that?   My partner told me you sometimes wished for the Blood Rubies to be removed from the planet, which resets the loop right from the start.   But once I figured out that you remember things from one loop to the next, it started to make sense.    You're trying to prevent the timeline from resetting.   So you do things a little differently each time, trying to avoid whatever went wrong before.

"Timeline?" Pansy asked.   "You're not making any sense."

"You know what I'm talking about, Pansy.    I've seen how this works.  I can travel forward in time and jump to the next cycle of the loop."  

"No, I don't know anything about this," Pansy insisted.  

"You learned that walling off King Gurumes would work, at least for a while, so you wanted to get that going as early as possible," Luffa said.   "But you didn't count on other threats showing up, like Piccolo, or Vegeta.  So you had to figure out ways to prepare Kakarot to meet those challenges.   That's why you married him.   You need him close by so you can steer him in the right direction."

"That's not true!" Pansy said.   "We love each other!"

"Then what were you doing at the Northern Mountains today?" Luffa asked.  When she saw the look on Pansy's face she added: "Don't bother denying it.   Kakarot told me all about the trips you've been taking lately.   The old Red Ribbon base that he cleaned out, the wreckage of Muscle Tower, that naval base out on the ocean.   You're trying to track down Dr. Gero, but why?  Unless you remember what I said before, about Cell..."

"What is Cell?" Pansy asked, still trying to sound innocent.  

"Enough," Luffa said.   "You had the advantage before.  I'm so worn out that Kakarot could have given me a hard time that year, so this time I made sure to visit him before he transformed into a Super Saiyan.  So even if you could turn him against me, it wouldn't do you any good.   Oh, and I brought a friend with me this time."

"A friend?  What are you talking about--?" Pansy began to ask.  Then there came a sharp chirping noise in her handbag.   She reached into it and withdrew a communicator, and when she answered it, Bulma's voice sounded on the speaker.  

"We've got trouble, Pansy!" Bulma said desperately.   She wasn't shouting, but she was very close to it.   "It's the Gurumes Wall.  The early warning system just went off!"

"He broke out?" Pansy asked.  

"That's just it, I can't tell!" Bulma said.  "The monitors show him still inside the wall, but they're also picking up a second signal on the outside.  It's like there's two of him all of a sudden!"

"Two of him?" Pansy said with a gasp.   She looked at Luffa as she said this, who simply crossed her arms and made a satisfied smile.  

"The Royal Military is already sending reconnaissance planes to check it out," Bulma said, "but we'll need Goku on this one, I'm sure of it! We may even need to summon Shenron!  Do you guys still have the Four-Star Dragon Ball?"

"Well yes, but--" Pansy tried to answer, but Bulma didn't wait for the rest.  

"Okay, great!  Find that big lug and tell him to get his orange butt in gear!   I'll call back as soon as I know more!"

And with that, Bulma closed the channel, leaving only the sound of the simmering pots in the kitchen, and the deafening silence of  Luffa's triumphant smirk.  

"You did this," Pansy finally said.   "That partner you talked about.   You said he was affected by the Blood Rubies like King Gurumes."

"Then you do remember," Luffa said.   "I lost him a while back, and I was worried about how I could track him down.   Then I started thinking about it.   I was distilling my own urine, for drinking water, you see.   It gives me plenty of time to think.  So eventually I wondered if I lost him because my people back home already rescued him.  They could have just plucked him out of that moment in time, and from my perspective it would be like he just vanished."

She turned and picked up a carrot from the counter and bit off a chunk of it.  Pansy watched helplessly as she waited for Luffa to finish chewing it.  

"Yeah, so then I wondered why they didn't extract me while they were fetching him.    And it hit me: What if I'm the one who fetched him?   I can't get him out of this time fragment, but I can move him forward or backward through it.  I just didn't remember doing it because I hadn't done it yet.   And I didn't have a reason to move him until I met you and found out what you've been up to."

"What I've been up to?" Pansy asked indignantly.   "Lady, I'm trying to fix things!"

"Exactly!" Luffa said.   She pointed the rest of her carrot at Pansy like a fencer scoring a hit.  "That's why the Time Patrol could never figure out what was behind all this.   The only way to draw you out was to start actively making things worse. "

"You have to get your friend away from the wall!" Pansy pleaded.   "If he's been affected by the Blood Rubies, he'll try to force his way inside, and have a hard enough time keeping King Gurumes in there as it is!  If they both run loose--!"

"Who cares?" Luffa asked.  "You know as well as I do that none of it matters.  The worst that can happen is the Earth blows up or the Blood Rubies get taken away, and then everything just starts over!"

"Don't you think I already know that?!" Pansy shouted.  

"Then why are you bothering to change anything?!" Luffa shouted back.

"I don't know, maybe so I can die of old age for once!" Pansy screamed.  

They both fell silent, and there was only the sound of the simmering pots once more.  At last, quietly, Pansy spoke again.

"It never works," Pansy said.  "I remember every loop, and something always goes wrong to cause it to start over.  At first I took it for granted.   I thought it was supposed to be this way, but then I slowly realized I could change things.   I used to tell Shenron to get rid of the Blood Rubies, but then I told him to do other things instead, and we'd get more time.   But then something else would happen, and everything would reset.    So I started trying to find ways to fix that too."

"How long have you been at this?" Luffa asked.  

"I don't know," Pansy said honestly.    "There's not really a way for me to keep track.   I... I don't know..."

Tears began to well up in her eyes.   "I never really thought about that until you asked.   You're the only one who could ask.   For a really long time, this all just seemed normal, but it can't be.   You wouldn't be here otherwise.    You'd be like all the others."

Luffa picked up an empty glass on the counter and spit out the carrot she had been chewing.    "So you've been at this for a long time," she said.   "What have you got to show for it?"

"I can fix it," Pansy said.    "I've gotten so close.   I just need a few more tries to get it all right."

"Get what right?" Luffa asked.    "This life, where you keep King Gurumes and the Blood Rubies contained, and then you grow up with Kakarot, get married, watch him save the world a few times?   And then what?   You die of old age, and then it starts up again?"

"It's all I have," Pansy said.  "You wouldn't understand."

"Then tell me.  What's this about?" Luffa asked.    "You're not part of this world, but you keep trying to make it work.   Why?"

"'Why?'   Where else can I go?" Pansy said, her eyes welling up with tears.   "The rubies are cursed.    Either they go, or the planet goes, but either way, the rubies end up in another world.   And I go with them."

"Other worlds?" Luffa said.  "You mean besides Earth?"

Pansy nodded.  "Maybe it's always been Earth, but it was too different to recognize.  I don't know how long it's been this way.    I didn't always know it was like this, and then one day... it started to seem familiar, and I could remember the old loops."

She shook her head and sat down at the wooden dining table.   "I used to see so many terrible worlds," Pansy said.   "They would fight over the rubies, and destroy themselves.   And then one day, I found myself here, in this world.   I went looking for Master Roshi, but I met Goku and Bulma instead.  They helped me, and summoned the Dragon Balls, and I asked Shenron to restore the land.   He removed the Blood Rubies from the land of Gurumes.    And then... it all started over, just like always.   But it was mostly the same.  Earth, my village, Goku and his friends...

"At first, I would play everything out the same way.    I knew if I let things run their course, King Gurumes would swallow the Dragon Balls, and then Bulma would summon the Dragon and I could wish for the land to be restored.  And then everything would just... reset.    The cycle was only three days long, but it was a fun time, and it was better than waiting for the whole world to be destroyed."

"But then you wanted more," Luffa said.  

"Bulma, Yamcha, and the others, they were my friends, " Pansy said.   "Every time the loop started over, I would wake up in the same world, and I would look forward to meeting them again for the first time.   And then we'd all be together again, but we'd always have to go back to the Land of Gurumes to find the Dragon Balls and make the wish.  And it would all start over.    It was so wonderful having friends, but I never got to do spend any time with them!    So I started looking for ways to drag things out.    I tried hiding the Dragon Balls, but that never worked for long.    Bulma's radar was too good at finding them.   One time I convinced Pasta and Bongo to keep the Dragon Balls for themselves, so at least King Gurumes wouldn't eat them.    But it always came down to the wish, so I would try asking Shenron for different things.    I wished to rule the whole world, and that seemed to help.   I could banish everyone from the Land of Gurumes and at least contain the problem, but it never seemed to work out, and Bulma and the others never liked me much whenever I made that wish."  

"That's where the barrier came from," Luffa said.    "You didn't need to be Queen of the Earth to keep people out of Gurumes' kingdom, not when you had Shenron and your friends to help you."

"It wasn't easy," Pansy said.  "Once, I wished for Shenron to take the people out of the land, but they just started coming back.    I wished for invaders to drive them out, but they always discovered the Blood Rubies, and it just made things worse.   Then I got creative.     I'd wish for special powers, like you and Goku have.   That opened up some more options, except Shenron can only make a person so strong.   I could stop the Red Ribbon Army from going after the Blood Rubies, but then King Piccolo and the Saiyans would come after me."

"So what did you finally come up with?" Luffa asked.    

"I wished for Chi-Chi to die."

"Who?"

"Goku's wife," Pansy explained.   "Or, the girl who would grow up to become his wife.   It... it's weird talking about this out loud.   I've tried to explain it to some people, but they never understood.   I spent a lot of loops in a mental institution, so after a while I learned to keep all of this to myself."

"Why kill her?" Luffa asked.    "What good would that do?"

"Because I eventually realized that the only way to keep people out of the Land of Gurumes was with Goku's help!   Master Roshi told me that he wouldn't interfere, and I was worried that Goku would be too busy when I needed him.    But one time, when I wished for super strength,  I met Goku at a tournament, and... we fell in love.   It was wonderful, until the Blood Rubies ruined it all, just like they always do.   I thought he wouldn't notice me unless I was a good fighter, but then I found out the real reason.   In every loop, if enough time passed, Goku would always end up with a woman named Chi-Chi.   I could win Goku's heart, but not while she was around.   So I tried to do a bunch of things to keep them from meeting, but I finally figured out that it was just simpler to wish her dead.    After that, it was easy.   I used a loop to track down the four-star Dragon Ball's exact location, and then each time, I would wish for Chi-Chi's death, then wait a year and be at that place when Goku went searching for it.    It belong to his grandfather, you see.    He always went looking for it.   And once he found me, I would stick with him and join him on his adventures.   I learned to cook his favorite foods, and I learned exactly what to say to him, and...

"It sounds so awful now that I'm explaining it all," she said.   "You must think I'm a monster.   I manipulated Goku, yes, but... he was always so gentle and so sweet.  I really do love him.   I always have."

"Pansy, I'm probably not fit to judge the morality of your actions," Luffa said.   Her voice was a bit softer now.   "But from a purely strategic perspective... I mean, you have to know this won't work.   All you're doing is delaying the cycles, but nothing really changes."

"You're wrong!" Pansy insisted.   "I know the exact date and time that the Saiyans will land on Earth!    I know where Dr. Gero's lab is!   I can get Bulma to use his work and build an army of android warriors if I need to!   I can stop Babidi from releasing Majin Buu before it ever happens!   I just need to do some more reconnaissance, and if you'd be willing to help me--!"

"And then what?!" Luffa demanded.   "At best, you'd only manage to live out your natural lifespan, but once you die there's no one left to save the Earth, and then it all resets again."

"I know, but it's the only existence I have," Pansy said.   "I have to do something. "

"Pansy, you don't belong in this world!" Luffa insisted.   "You, The Blood Rubies, Gurumes,  you're all connected to this somehow."

"You think I'm responsible for any of this?" Pansy asked.  "It's out of my hands, Luffa!   I'm as much a prisoner of this loop as everyone else.  It's just that I'm the only one who can see the bars.   But maybe you're right.    I'm as cursed as King Gurumes.   I'm just as trapped by the Blood Rubies as he is."

"No," Luffa said.    "This has to stop.    It's all wrong.    I'm finally starting to see just how wrong and... and I can't just let this go on."

"What can you do to stop it?" Pansy shouted.   "If you kill me, I'll return in the next loop!   If you take the Blood Rubies, you'll be corrupted like King Gurumes and your friend!   You'd probably destroy the world, and the loop will start over!   And you can't destroy Gurumes!   Goku's a Super Saiyan and he's already tried!"  

Pansy tried to be tough, resilient, the way she had always been in the face of adversity.   As a little girl, she had stood up to King Gurumes' soldiers.  She had sought out Master Roshi, and faced countless dangers alongside her friends.   With Luffa, the Time Traveling Saiyan, Pansy had no idea how to deal with the situation, except to stand firm and be as brave as she could be.  

But in the end, she found herself putting her head down on the table and sobbing into the sleeves of her red sweater dress.  It wasn't for fear of Luffa, or the many unknown dangers she represented.    Pansy could face such challenges.    

What brought her to tears was that she finally had someone who could understand what she had been going through for her entire existence.   And when Pansy confided in this time traveler, this Saiyan-From-Nowhere, the great futility of her life was laid bare.   As cathartic as it was to tell someone--anyone!-- these things, it also reminded Pansy of the pit of despair that she had lived with for countless years.   She had done her best to ignore that despair, but no longer.

And then, she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.   Pansy looked up to find her husband, clad in a pink terrycloth robe.  

"Goku?" she asked.   There was no sign of Luffa, save for the glass of chewed-up carrot she had left on the counter.  

"She told me you were pretty upset," Goku said.   "So I came in as soon as I could.  Well, I got this robe out of the closet first.   You said you didn't like me walkin' around the house with no clothes on."

She glanced down at his feet, and saw the water he had tracked in from his bath.   "Wh-where did she go?" Pansy asked.    

"She didn't say," Goku said.   "But she told me you were upset, and that I should take care of you, like a 'true Saiyan', whatever that means.   And she said I should tell you that she was gonna fix it."

Pansy took a deep, unsteady breath and rose to her feet.   Goku embraced her at once, and she shook her head as she pressed it against his chest.   "Oh, Goku..." she said.   "She can't fix it.   I've tried.  You've tried.   We've all tried so hard.  There's nothing anyone can do."

"Hey hey hey...." Goku said as he  gently patted the back of her head.   "It can't be that bad.  Whatever it is, we'll deal with it together, okay?"

"No," Pansy said.  "You don't understand, and neither does she.   We've tried..."

"Well, okay," Goku said.   "I guess I don't understand, but that's no reason to give up.   Anyway, she said something else before she took off.   I guess she wanted us both to hear it."

Pansy made a pathetic sniffle and looked up to meet his eyes.    "What is it, Goku?" she asked.  

There was a faraway look in his eyes, and he made a funny sort of smile, the way she had known him to do when he was anticipating a battle with a great fighter.  

"Well," he finally said.   "I guess it's nothing much, but I just liked the way she said it.   She looked at me and said 'I'll just have to try harder.'"  

Pansy just looked at him, unsure what to say.  

 NEXT: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #goku #pansy #earth

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (193/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z. 

     [3 September, Age 749.  Earth.]  

One story continues with a desert bandit getting shot in the chest.

More of a boy than a man, the bandit roamed the desert, living off whatever valuables he could steal from luckless travelers.  But this was just a diversion from his true longing.    He always wanted to find love and to get married.  And yet, he felt an intense anxiety around women, which was why he chose to live in the desert in the first place.  On the off chance of encountering a pretty girl in his travels, he could simply ride away and find easier prey.  

But the loneliness could not be escaped so easily.

By chance, he encountered such a girl, and when his panic had subsided, he spied on her companions and discovered a treasure that would allow him to have his fondest wish granted.   He could be freed from his anxiety around women, and could pursue romance without difficulty.   All he had to do was to eliminate the rival fortune hunters, and storm the gates of Castle Gurumes.  

For Yamcha the Desert Bandit, this was no trouble at all!  

With Puar, his shapeshifting partner, at his side, it would be even easier!

But there were distractions.   The girl he had accidentally run into, she had not been so easy to forget, or to avoid.  And inside the castle, there were other treasures beside the wish-granting Dragon Balls.  He found storerooms filled with gemstones, and his bandit lifestyle could not resist gathering some up while he was at it.    A bonus prize for his trouble.  

But in the time he spent on the gems, he ran into the girl again, and got careless.   A guard shot him with a machine gun, and would have surely killed him, if not for the gems hidden under his clothes.   His bandit instincts told him to play possum, to lie still until it was safe to move on.   But the guard turned on the girl, and he felt compelled to act.    

And so, with red stones spilling out of his torn shirt, Yamcha fought in defense of a stranger, a girl he could barely stand to be around.   Worse, the guard he fought turned out to be a woman as well, which only made things more awkward!    

Why had he done this?  Perhaps it was always in his nature.   Under different circumstances, he might have always chosen to do the right thing.   Perhaps it was always Yamcha's fate to be a hero, with or without the Blood Rubies.  

But in this cycle, the gems are always there, compelling him, tempting him, saving him, only to lose him.   The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

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

The Supreme Kai of Time called it her "isolation ward", a secret chamber beneath the Time Vault where she stored secrets she couldn't share with the mortal warriors who served in her Time Patrol organization.  

Luffa was the newest recruit of the Time Patrol, but she found herself confined to the isolation ward after losing an exhibition bout with the God of Destruction.   This battle happened on the 20th. To expedite Luffa's recovery from the defeat, the Supreme Kai of Time used her powers to send Luffa back in time to the 6th.   Luffa arrived two weeks in the past, and the Kai-of-two-weeks-ago placed her in the ward for safe keeping.  

Luffa didn't understand all of the complications of time travel, but she at least knew that it was a bad idea to change the past, and that meeting one's past self  would cause problems.  So it made sense for her to stay out of sight until the rest of Toki Toki City could "catch up" to her.   She was still sore from her fight with Lord Beerus, and a week of bedrest didn't seem like the worst idea in the world.   But it wouldn't be that simple.   Once Luffa was healthy enough,  the Supreme Kai of Time revealed a new mission, one that involved another room in the ward.  

"It's a rock," Luffa said after staring for several awkward seconds.  

"It's not a rock," the Kai said with annoyance.   She pointed at it, as if Luffa hadn't been paying attention.   "Look how it's floating in the middle of this room.  It looks like it's made out of red glass, and it's got this eerie, pulsating glow!  What kind of rock looks like that?"

"Okay, it's a weird, pretty rock," Luffa admitted.   "Look, Chronoa, if you tell me this is some sort of time anomaly, I'll take your word for it, but what do you expect me to do about it?  Am I supposed to fight this thing?"

"Of course not," Chronoa said.  "If that was all it took, I would have had your present-self handle it.  Not everything can be solved with violence, Luffa."

"Well, it usually works for me," Luffa said with a smirk.   "And that's kind of my main skillset, so unless you want me to cook dinner for it, I'm not sure why I'm here."

"Believe me, I don't understand it either," Chronoa said.   "Before yesterday, I never would have troubled you with a matter like this.   I've got specialists who investigate these kinds of anomalies, but this one's had them all stumped for a long time.  The Ruby Loop has frustrated a lot of Time Patrollers.   Some ask for transfers to other departments, and others ask to take another crack at it, but only after a long vacation."

"And what makes you think I can do any better?" Luffa asked.  

"This," Chronoa said.  She had already shown the note to Luffa, but she held it up again anyway for emphasis.  "My future self left-- will leave-- this note taped to you when she sends you back in time.   'She's ready.'"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm 'ready'," Luffa said as she pointed at the stone.  "Ready for this?"

Chronoa nodded.   "It doesn't make much sense to me now, but my future self will write this message knowing that I would be able to interpret it.   So I thought about all the jobs around Toki Toki City, things that I would never ask you to do because of your inexperience and... uh... temperament, and I thought of the Ruby Loop."

"What if you're wrong?" Luffa asked.  "What if I can't pull this off?"

"Then I'll have to think of something else," Chronoa said.   "But if I'm wrong about this, then it means I misinterpreted my own message.   My future self would remember everything I say and do during this case.  So it seems to me that she would write something guaranteed to give me the right idea on the first try."

"Uh-huh," Luffa said.   "Well that still doesn't explain what you expect me to do with this thing.   All the other Time Patrol missions involved me going to some historical period and kicking the crap out of guys like Towa, or Captain Ginyu.   This is just--"

"A rock, yes, you already said that," Chronoa grumbled.   "I know it may look like an ordinary chunk of crystal, but that's just the form these anomalies take when they're contained like this."

"Contained?" Luffa asked.  

"It's complicated," Chronoa explained.  "But the short version is that we're looking at the three-dimensional surface of a much larger four-dimensional object.  I've managed to reshape it so that it's easier to store.  But that's only a temporary solution.  This thing has an effect on the rest of spacetime, and it's going to have to be dealt with eventually."

"So it's like one of the scrolls we deal with in the Time Nest?" Luffa asked.  

"Not quite," Chronoa said.  "This is more like a piece of the Scroll of Eternity, and a bad copy at that.  Think of our universe like this big huge book that documents everything that's ever happened, or will happen.   Well, this red rock you're looking at is like an extra page that got torn out and crumpled up into a ball."

"Then it's like the Parallel Quests we use in the City," Luffa said.  "Ravi told me about them once.  He said you take defective sections of time and trim them down, and that's what we use for training exercises around here."

Chronoa was genuinely surprised to hear her say this.  "I didn't realize you understood the PQ's so well," she said.   "Well, you're on the right track.   A lot of the PQ's started out as naturally occurring temporal anomalies like this one.  They end up containing a lot of redundant history, basically copies of events that we already have in the main timeline.   So I'll trim them down to a more manageable length.   That's why all of the PQ's are fifteen minutes or less.  I just have to keep the changes, since that's where the anomalies are, and if I can get them small enough, they're easier to contain.   But what you've seen in the PQ's is the end result.   This one right here is the 'before' picture, and it's a lot trickier than the others have been."

"Then you want me to untangle the anomaly," Luffa said.   "The same way I resolved the anomalies Towa and Demigra caused."

Chronoa shook her head.   "No, I want you to find the anomaly."

"What?"

"I told you it would be tricky," Chronoa said.  "You're used to having all this laid out for you.  It's easier when it's a deliberate action by a time traveler, because they leave a trail for us to follow.  Or we can consider their motives, and figure out what changes they've made based on what sort of outcome they'd find favorable.   And Demigra seems to want us to know what he's up to."  She pointed at the stone.    "But this?  No, the Ruby Loop is completely natural, and that makes it tough to tell the altered events from the normal ones.  There's no intelligence at work here, no one to out-think."

Luffa crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath.   "Well, this isn't what I had in mind, but it beats sitting around here waiting for permission to leave.  I might as well take a look and see what I can find.   Do I just touch it like the scrolls?  Or is there some other way to get in there?"

"Oh, no," Chronoa said.   "You don't want to go in there by yourself, Luffa.   You might get lost, and it could take days for you to find your way back.  It's not safe to go in there alone, especially without provisions."  

Luffa gave her a funny look.  "Provisions?  You make it sound like I'll be in there for a lot longer than a week."

"You might," Chronoa said.   "My future self may not have known whether or not you'd be finished by the time she sends you here.   Or maybe you weren't sent back by the me from your own time, but another me from even further in the future..."

"Ugh, okay, enough with the speculation," Luffa said.   "Just tell me how I'm supposed to go about this."

Chronoa gestured to the corridor outside.   "Well, the note says you're ready for this, but I still thought it would be a good idea to give you as much help as possible, so I called in one of our best investigators to accompany you on the mission.   He should be arriving any second now."

They stepped out into the hallway, and when Luffa found no one, she looked to the doorway at the end of the hall, expecting someone to walk through.  Instead, there was a crackle of energy in the hallway itself.  It reminded Luffa of ball lightning, and other electrical effects she had seen during battles involving powerful ki users.    

Her first impulse was to prepare for a possible attack, and she held out her arm to keep Chronoa behind her, but to Luffa's surprise, the bright bolts of energy culminated in nothing more than a faint image.   As it faded into view, Luffa could make out the contours of a two-wheeled vehicle with a helmeted rider.

"It's okay," Chronoa called out over the growing rumble of the engines.    "This is the guy I was expecting!"

The motorcycle was an experimental modification of a Signia-II Motocross J.    The frame was orange to match the rider's jersey and pants, which were both KINESTATIC S-7, low poly fiberweight material.   His white boots were macro-sintered Flywheel Sabre Class, and his white gloves were Tension GRIP Special Grade: O-zero.   The helmet and mask were Intertorsion 9BF, a custom design by the Rheo Corporation.     He flipped the kickstand and dismounted, and walked towards them.    

"This is Excitebike," Chronoa said.    "He'll be in charge of the mission."  

He removed his helmet, revealing the features of a Namekian-- bald head, pointed ears, and a pair of antennae dangling from his forehead, just above his brow.     The only difference was that his skin was a chalky white color that Luffa had never seen before with his species.   He looked around the room as though expecting someone to ambush him.   When no one did, he gave a crisp salute to the Supreme Kai of Time and began looking at Luffa as if he were checking a loaf of bread for mold.

"This is Luffa," Chronoa said.    "The partner I was telling you about, remember?"  

"Partner?" Excitebike said anxiously.    "Hmm, oh, right, right, right.    I do remember.   The new girl working with Trunks.    The Legendary Super Saiyan from the Third Century Before Age."    He sneered as he added:   "Not exactly partner material, if you asked me."  

"Aw, come on, Excitebike," Chronoa said.   "Think how much she can learn from you.   Besides, this will be a good chance to test out Red Rover."

"Now now now wait just a minute," Excitebike protested.    "I never agreed to that name!   You know I can't stand it.   Can.   Not.  Stand.  It.     And besides, I've done a lot of tinkering to get it to peak efficiency.   If I took a passenger with me, why, it'd throw off the whole balance.   My fuel economy would plummet five percent.    At least."  

"Well, that's no trouble at all!" Chronoa said excitedly.    "You shouldn't need to travel very far for this one.    Just a trip there and back again.   I doubt it'll put much strain on your engine."  

"Yes, well, that's hardly the point, now is it?" Excitebike grumbled.   "You, er, really want me to take her along, is that it?"  

"Something wrong with me?" Luffa asked.  

"I've seen you in the field," Excitebike said.    "Extraliga, for example.    Not exactly what I'd call disciplined martial arts."

"We sent Excitebike back to your era," Chronoa explained.   "Part of Dewar's research into the time you came from."    

"Then you're a fan of my work," Luffa said with a grin.  

"Hardly," Excitebike groaned.   "Madam Kai, if you're ordering me to take this maniac along with me, then I have no choice but to lodge a formal protest.  Deep time investigations are a very delicate business.   Now, suppose she loses her temper and tries to blow up the sun or something while we're out there?"

"I'm crazy, Namekian," Luffa said.   "but I'm not stupid."

"Luffa has my full confidence on this mission," Chronoa assured him.  

"Sure I do," Luffa said.   "Show him the note."

"Note?" Excitebike asked.   "What what--? What note?"

Chronoa had been holding it in one hand, which she now quickly concealed behind her back.   "That's not important right now," she said firmly.   "Luffa's proven invaluable on recent Time Patrol missions.   She's defeated Towa and Mira, and she's managed to hold her own against Majin Buu more than once."

Luffa wanted to add that she had fought well against Beerus the Destroyer, but that battle hadn't actually taken place yet, and Chronoa had already scolded her for trying to discuss future events.   Also, her shoulder and neck were still sore from that fight, and she doubted that such an anxious-looking Namekian would be impressed by her tale, even if she could tell it.

"Oh, I'm sure she can bash heads with the best of them," Excitebike grumbled, "but this sort of work requires a more delicate touch."

"Maybe so," Chronoa replied, "but you've gone on several expeditions into the Ruby Loop, and you haven't made much headway in all that time, have you?"

Excitebike had been looking at the doorway leading to the glowing red rock when she said this.  He suddenly turned around and looked deeply embarrassed by her words.  "Headway?" he repeated.   "Well I... that is-- I mean, it's very delicate work, you understand..."

"Well, maybe we need a different approach," Chronoa said.  "Something less delicate.   Luffa can offer a fresh perspective."  

Excitebike mumbled a response to this, but it was mostly incoherent, barely audible gibbering.  He was trapped and he knew it.  

"I'm glad you're willing to give this a chance," Chronoa said pleasantly.  "You did gather the supplies like I asked, didn't you?"

"Supplies?   Oh, yes," Excitebike said.  He pointed to a pair of compartments on the back end of his motorcycle, and then withdrew a plastic case from his jacket.   "Hoi Poi capsules containing enough food and water to support myself and a Saiyan for a full year."

"A year?" Luffa asked.   "You think we'll be in there that long?"

"I learned the hard way not to overestimate the Ruby Loop, Miss," Excitebike said.  "It's possible to live off the land, but I don't recommend it.  Not after what happened to Dimson.   That expedition lasted four months.  If it weren't for my ability to survive on just water alone... well, it would have been just too bad, wouldn't it?"

"Then it's a good thing you'll be there to supervise Luffa on this mission," Chronoa said.   "So, are you all set?"

Excitebike frowned, then glanced over to Luffa.   "Just get on the bike and hold on.  And don't scuff the finish!"

Luffa complied, though she remained skeptical, even as she wrapped her arms around Excitebike's waist.  "How is this thing supposed to get us into the time anomaly?" she asked.  

"How, how, how..." Excitebike grumbled.  "She wants to know how.  The same way it brought me here, you nincompoop!"

"Good luck," Chronoa said with a friendly wave.   "And please try to get along!"

Excitebike muttered something under his breath as he revved up the engine.   Luffa noticed the same sparks and crackles of lightning that she saw before, and as Excitebike turned the throttle twistgrip, the motorcycle propelled itself forward, and Luffa saw the hallway blur out of view.    In its place was a darkness that reminded her of interstellar space.   Instead of stars, there were streaks of color that zipped around them from every side.  

It suddenly dawned on Luffa that she was still able to breathe, even though they were completely exposed to whatever environment they were passing through.  Was there air in this realm?   Would there continue to be air?

She set her jaw and tried not to think about it.

*******

     [1 September, Age 749.  Earth.]  

"Let go of me, will you?!"

Luffa released her grip on Excitebike and looked up to find their surroundings had changed again.  They were now parked on a small road that wound around a mountain.   The sky was blue and the foliage was green.  As she took this in, Excitebike dismounted and began fiddling with a small notepad he kept in his jacket.    

"Where... are we?" Luffa asked.    

"September 1, Age 749," Excitebike said.   "Earth.   Specifically the Mount Paozu region.   Or, more accurately, the version of Mount Paozu that exists in the Ruby Loop."  

"Oh," Luffa said.  

"'Oh' she says.   'Oh'."

Luffa got up off the bike and held her hand over her brow as she took in the scenery.   "I just expected something more... bizarre," she said.   "I must have done a dozen Time Patrol missions on Earth by now. A few were on Namek, and there was that one on the Supreme Kai Planet, but otherwise, it's all been Earth."

"Is that right?" Excitebike said disingenuously.   "Fascinating."

"Did you used to live on Namek?" Luffa asked.  

"Huh?"

"I was told Frieza destroyed it," Luffa said.  "Was that before or after you were born?"

"Before," Excitebike said.  "I grew up on New Namek.   It's basically the same as the old one, or so I've heard."

"What are you doing, anyway?" Luffa asked.  

"Taking down the readings on the instruments," Excitebike muttered.   "'What am I doing?'  Honestly."

"I was only asking," Luffa said.  

"Well how else am I supposed to calculate fuel efficiency on this build?" Excitebike asked.  "Odometer, flux capacitor, torsional readout... it all goes in the book, every trip.   No exceptions.   I run a tight ship around here, Luffa.   Tight tight tight."

"So I gathered," Luffa said.  

"Oh, you 'gathered', huh?  Well gather this: I'm in charge of this expedition.   I don't care how strong you are, or whose ancestor you're supposed to be.   You follow my lead at all times, and save the planet-busting for some other mission, got it?"

"I think I can live with that," Luffa said coldly.  

She couldn't see Excitebike's eyes under the dark visor of his helmet, but from the way his lip was curling into a snarl, Luffa was fairly sure one of his eyelids was twitching with rage.  She hadn't set out to irritate the Namekian, but he seemed to be the type who managed to become annoyed no matter where he was or what he was doing.

Just as he was about to give her a piece of his mind, a shadow passed over them.  They looked up to find an aircraft passing through.    

"Right on schedule," Excitebike grumbled.  

"You know that pilot?" Luffa asked.  

"Know them?" Excitebike asked.    "Of course I know them.  They're Bongo and Pasta.   They always pass over about this time of day."

"So?" Luffa asked.  

"So they're not supposed to be here!" Excitebike said.   "Historical records show them nowhere near Mount Paozu on this date.   But in the Ruby Loop, they always come here in that plane, and head straight for Son Goku's house."

"Kakarot?!" Luffa asked.   "How is he mixed up in all of this?"

Excitebike pressed a button on his motocycle, and it immediately imploded, transforming into a small capsule that landed on the road.  He scooped it up in his hand and stuffed it in his jacket.   "Follow that plane," he told Luffa, "and you'll see exactly what I mean."

"You're on," Luffa said.  

Before Excitebike knew what was happening, she grabbed him in one arm and launched herself into the air.   Despite the plane's lead, Luffa had caught up to it in almost no time at all.  

"Don't!" Excitebike wailed.   "If they see us--!"

But Luffa did not slow down, nor did she intercept the jet, as Excitebike feared.   Instead, she angled her flight to pass high above the plane, and leveled off at an altitude that allowed her to track her quarry while taking in the terrain below.    

"Are you crazy?!" Excitebike shouted.  

"But not stupid," Luffa said.   "I can't sense Kakarot's ki anywhere.   I thought I might be able to spot his goofy orange suit from up here, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of him."

"What's wrong with orange?!" Excitebike demanded.  

"Oh right," Luffa said, recalling Excitebike's own fashion choices.   "Well, it doesn't exactly improve stealth, for one thing..."

"He's down there you little--!"

Luffa didn't see what Excitebike was pointing at, but when she trained her ki senses on that part of the road in the valley, she noticed a faint power that was distinctly Saiyan.   Believing Goku to be sick or injured, she began to descend over his location.    

"Watch out!" Excitebike protested.  

"Oh, don't worry," Luffa said.  "I'll find us a safe spot to hide in.   I just want to know what happened to make him so weak.  He was pretty pathetic back when he met Raditz, but at least he was--"

As she alighted on a hillside near the road, she finally spotted Goku, and was astonished to see him so young.   He looked to be no more than eleven years old.   His clothes were about the same, except they were blue instead of orange.   He was dragging a large fish by the tail, but he had stopped in his tracks to watch Bongo and Pasta's plane pass overhead.  

Luffa found herself feeling a twinge of pity for Son Goku.   She had heard that he had been sent to Earth as an infant, and that he grew up with no knowledge of his Saiyan heritage.   But to see him so young, foraging for food with such a meager power level, she finally understood just how grim his childhood must have been.  

As Luffa contemplated this, Goku continued to watch the plane recede into the distance.  

Then he was struck by an oncoming motorcycle.

"Holy--!" Luffa gasped.    It wasn't the impact that shocked her.   Rather, it was the way Goku's body behaved afterward.    He didn't even notice the oncoming vehicle, until the last possible moment, and by the time he did see it, he was too slow to avoid it.   A normal eleven-year-old Saiyan child might have preferred to allow the collision to happen.   The vehicle would have been totaled, the driver likely killed, but the child would have been completely unfazed.   But Son Goku was knocked off the road and slammed face first into a nearby boulder.

To his slight credit, Goku at least survived the accident, but he was still slow to recover.  The motorist also survived, and Luffa was surprised to find a young Bulma crawling up from the overturned cycle.    The two of them argued, each accusing the other of being some sort of monster, and then Goku drew a red staff from a sheath on his back, and began to attack.  Panicking, Bulma produced a small handgun, and opened fire on Goku.    

The entire battle was a farce.  Of the two, Luffa found Bulma more impressive.  She had shut her eyes while shooting, but somehow managed to hit Goku three times.   The bullets staggered Goku, and he paused to rub his forehead.   He was a pitiful sight to behold.   If Bulma had been carrying more powerful armaments, she could have finished Goku off easily.  

As it was, Goku prepared to renew his assault, and did not stop until Bulma managed to convince him that she was a girl and not part of some horrific creature.   This prompted Goku to conduct a thorough inspection, as he had apparently never seen a motorcycle or a girl before in his entire life.

"Now do you get the picture?" Excitebike asked Luffa.   "It's all wrong."

"I'll say it is," Luffa replied.  "It took him forever to get that staff out, and what good does it do him when he doesn't even know what he's fighting?"

"No, you nitwit!" Excitebike hissed.   "I'm talking about this entire event!   This is the day Son Goku met Bulma and she convinced him to join her in her search for the seven Dragon Balls!  Don't you know anything?!"

"Well, they just met," Luffa said.   "Why, is that not how it's supposed to happen?"

"Of course not!" Excitebike said.   "They were much closer to his house when she reached him, and that plane wasn't flying by, and she was driving a car, not a cycle!"

"You act like you expected me to just know all of that," Luffa said.   "Why, is this important?"

"Is it important...?" Excitebike groaned.   "Of course it's important!  This is the moment when Goku and Bulma became friends!   Without it, Earth's history would be completely changed!   No downfall of the Red Ribbon Army, no Super Saiyan, no Majin Buu redemption, no Trunks, no Time Patrol!"

He pointed down at Goku, who had discovered a Dragon Ball that had fallen out of Bulma's wrecked motorcycle.    

"It's all because of that," Excitebike said.  "Goku has a Dragon Ball just like it at his house, but until Bulma showed him that there were others, he just thought it was a keepsake!  But once he decided to help her find the entire set, he finally had a reason to venture out into the world and grow stronger!"

At this point, Goku and Bulma became agitated, and they started to run down the road, as though chasing after the plane that had passed them.    Before Luffa could ask, Excitebike was already explaining it to her.  

"Pasta and Bongo," he said.   "While we've been watching this little drama unfold, they've gone to Goku's house to take his Dragon Ball.  You see, it's all gone wrong!   They're supposed to set out together and meet Master Roshi's turtle.   Then they go to Aru village and meet Oolong, then Mount Frypan, and then they have their climactic showdown with Emperor Pilaf, who has the last Dragon Ball."

Excitebike waved his arms frantically toward the west.  "Instead, Goku and Bulma will end up chasing Pasta and Bongo back to the Kingdom of Gurumes!  Oh, they'll run into Oolong, Yamcha, and Roshi along the way, but in the wrong order, and in the wrong places!"

"All right," Luffa said.   "So we just have to stop Pasta and Bongo from taking Kakarot's Dragon Ball.   I can catch up to those two in no time.  So could you, I'm betting."

"Oh, just like that, huh?" Excitebike asked.   "Wrong again.  Did you notice that Dragon Ball that fell out of Bulma's bike just now?  How many did you see?"

"How many?" Luffa asked.  "There was only the one."

"Exactly!" Excitebike said.  "But Bulma was supposed to have two Dragon Balls when she met Goku.   She found the two-star ball in a storeroom in her own house.  That inspired her to investigate the Dragon Ball legend.   Once she invented the Dragon Radar, she tracked down the five-star ball in a valley north of here.  That was on August 21, but in this timeline, she never found the Dragon Ball, because Pasta and Bongo had already taken it from the valley by the time she got there."

"Then what are we doing here?" Luffa asked.  "If that's where the change in history is, then we should go further back in time and intercept Pasta and Bongo then."

Excitebike smiled, and Luffa found this unsettling.  He looked like a man who had finally caught a pesky rodent in a trap.

"I was waiting for you to bring that up," Excitebike said.   He reached into his jacket and deployed the capsule that contained his motorcycle.  

"We're leaving already?" Luffa asked.   "Did you only bring me here to make some kind of point?  What the hell is this?"

"Come on," Excitebike said as he mounted the cycle and began setting the controls.   "I'll show you exactly what's going on."  

Luffa found his enigmatic behavior infuriating, but there seemed to be nothing else to do but play it his way.   As satisfying as it would have been to rough up the Namekian, it would accomplish nothing.   His power level was substantial, but it paled in comparison to her own.

No, her pride demanded that she carry out the mission.  Chronoa had expressed doubts about her ability, and while Luffa enjoyed the role of hired muscle, she didn't like the implication that she couldn't be anything more than that.  Chronoa had been very diplomatic about it, but Excitebike was much more eager to say the quiet part out loud.  

If Luffa could solve the Ruby Loop, then she would beat Excitebike at his own game, and Chronoa would have to acknowledge all of Luffa's skills.  For now, that meant following Excitebike's lead, at least until she understood the puzzle well enough.  

And so she threw her leg over the seat and put her arms around Excitebike once more, and watched the world around them fade out as he accelerated the motorcycle.  

     [16 May, Age 767.  Earth.]  

This time, the ride only lasted a few seconds, and when it was over, they appeared in the middle of a bustling city.  

On Luffa's right, she noticed a range of buildings that had been severely damaged by an energy weapon.  They were cordoned off with yellow tape and orange pylons, while work crews surveyed the destruction.  

"What are we doing here?" Luffa asked.  "Who attacked this city?"

"The androids," Excitebike replied.  "Dr. Gero, and No. 19.  This is Papaya City, on Amenbo Island."

He dismounted and walked to a news stand on the street corner.   The old man behind the counter tried to strike up a conversation, but Excitebike ignored him.  Luffa jumped off the cycle and followed him.  

"What are you talking about?" she asked.   "The business with the androids happened when Kakarot was a grown man!  You said we were going back in time, not forward!"

"Oh, we did," Excitebike said.   "I can show you the coordinates to prove it.   Exactly ten days further into the past.   But take a look at this."

He handed Luffa a newspaper from the stand, and pointed at the date on top.  Luffa was still getting used to reading Earthling script, but she had gotten good enough at numbers to get the general idea.

"May 16, Age 767...?" she read aloud.   "That... that can't be right."

"Right, right, right," Excitebike grumbled.   "Oh, it's right all right.   And you're right.  It shouldn't be right, but it is.  Riiiight.   Now you know why we call it a loop.   Go far enough in either direction, past or future, and you end up going back around."  

"Hey, lady, are you gonna pay for that?" the news stand owner asked.    

Luffa shook her head and tossed the paper back on the counter.   She and Excitebike walked back to their ride.  

"September 1, Age 749 is the earliest date anyone's been able to observe inside this thing," Excitebike said.   "It took us weeks of trial and error just to figure that out.  Before that, we didn't even know it was a loop.  We just thought the time machines were malfunctioning and sending us to random dates."

"But this doesn't make any sense," Luffa said.  "I don't understand much about this, but you and Chronoa made it sound like this whole thing formed when an anomaly caused a change in history.  But the changes happened outside of the loop itself?  So how can we fix it?"

"How?" Excitebike asked with a grim smirk.  "How how how.  That's what the best minds in the Time Patrol have been trying to figure out for two years.  That's what the Supreme Kai of Time suddenly thinks you can sort out for us.  Well go right ahead, Miss Legendary Super Saiyan.  Suppose you tell me how to fix it?"

Luffa looked at him for a moment, then back at the ruined buildings.  As much as she wanted to offer a response, she had no answer.  

 NEXT: The Wasteland.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #chronoa #excitebike dti #goku #bulma #earth #toki toki city

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (197/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [1 October, Age 761.  Earth.]  

One story reaches its climax with the Super Saiyan charging headlong into the Kingdom of the Blood Rubies.   Her body is sore from recent battles, and weary from hunger and thirst, but she pushes onward, glowing bright yellow like a meteorite burning through the heavens.  

Luffa was chosen to investigate the Ruby Loop, a time fragment that had been puzzling the Time Patrol's finest minds for two years.     Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, was convinced that Luffa was uniquely qualified for the job, despite the apprehension of Excitebike, a stalwart agent of Toki Toki City's Deep Time Investigation Department.

The Ruby Loop was unusual for two reasons.   First, it was contaminated with the Blood Rubies, which did not exist in the true historical record.    Second, the Ruby Loop was a continuously repeating cycle of time.  Each cycle began on the same day, September 1, Age 749, and ended with the separation of the Blood Rubies from the Earth.  

What the Time Patrol could never understand was what to do about it.  Time fragments had to be contained and trimmed down to a manageable size, but the Ruby Loop constantly expanded itself with each cycle, and every cycle was slightly different.   Some lasted only a few days, while others stretched out for years.   And no one could understand why a naturally occurring time anomaly would behave this way.  

Luffa did not have the complete answer, but as she approached the great wall that surrounded Gurumes' castle, she believed that she would have it soon, just as Chronoa had predicted from the beginning.  A squadron of fighter jets from the Earth's Royal Military attempted to intercept her, but she outmaneuvered them with frightening ease, and fired energy beams from her fingertips to discourage them from trying again.  

The wall had been built to contain King Gurumes and the Blood Rubies he had mined from his land.   At the beginning of this cycle, like all of the others in the Ruby Loop, King Gurumes had become obsessed with the gemstones, and ruined his kingdom to gather them all in his castle.   Since Gurumes could not be killed, the solution in this cycle was to quarantine him along with the Blood Rubies.  It was an uneasy stalemate, but it mostly worked.   Gurumes was insane with hunger, but he would not venture out of the wall and abandon his treasure.   In turn, the presence of the Gurumes-monster was enough to dissuade fortune-hunters from trying to steal the Blood Rubies for themselves.    

Luffa had visited the wall in a previous cycle.   That version of the wall surrounded the entire border of the kingdom.   This version was smaller but more heavily fortified and reinforced.   There was also an enormous hole in the eastern section.  Royal Military troops were swarming around the entrance, desperately working on a way to repair the breach.  

She flew past them without slowing down.  By the time they saw her, she was already five kilometers into the containment zone.  

Enormous footprints marked the course of the creature who had broken through the wall.   The land inside the containment zone was parched and ruined from mining operations.    The impressions in the ash and dust would vanish with the next stiff wind, but for now, they led straight for the wrecked castle in the center of the zone.  

Seconds later, she arrived at the end of the trail, and found two thirty-meter tall behemoths locked in combat.  One was King Gurumes.    

The other was Excitebike, the Time Patroller who had brought her to the Ruby Loop.  

"They'rrrrre miiiiine!" roared the Gurumes-creature.  He had once been a normal Earthling human, but something had changed him.  It was said that no food could satisfy him a second time, and so he went mad from hunger after he ran out of options for his meals.   He sought the Dragon Balls to wish for a solution, but even this was denied him, and he transformed into a swollen mockery of himself, with blotted purple skin, jaundiced eyes, and an unnatural strength.  

"No! No! Noooooo!" screeched Excitebike.   The Time Patroller had once been an albino Namekian dressed in an orange jumpsuit and crash helmet.  He was an expert in researching time anomalies, which he explored using a special time machine built into a motorcycle.   Excitebike had logged more hours in the Ruby Loop than anyone, and he had warned Luffa that the curse could affect anyone.  Even Time Patrollers were not immune, as he had personally evacuated colleagues who had shown early signs of the same mutation that affected Gurumes.  

Somehow, Excitebike had succumbed to the same effect.   As he fought with Gurumes, it would have been difficult to tell the two monsters apart.   Excitebike's Namekian antennae were the only indication that he was from a different planet.   And Luffa could still recognize his shrill, needling voice in the guttural shrieks.  

She still didn't understand how he had been affected this way, and so quickly.   Excitebike had insisted that they eat and drink rations he had packed for the mission.  The theory was that food native to the Ruby Loop might somehow carry the Blood Rubies' curse.  But Excitebike was a Namekian, who only needed water to sustain himself.  

It was for this reason that Luffa had spent the last several days drinking only water she had distilled from her own urine.  The thought of a bloated purple monster with a Saiyan tail was enough to frighten her into this self-deprivation.

Below, Gurumes and Excitebike fought evenly.   The Namekian was the stronger of the two, but it made no difference.  Each time Excitebike dealt any injury to King Gurumes, his body would reassemble itself and the battle would be renewed.   And both seemed to be fixated on claiming the hoard of Blood Rubies in the wreckage of the castle.   Left unchecked, they would simply fight without end.  

Luffa planned to check them.    

With a loud, sharp cry, she flew down and struck Excitebike in the jaw with her right fist.   As the giant tumbled over, she spun around in midair and fired ki blasts as King Gurumes, destroying his entire head and most of his chest.   It wouldn't kill him, but it would give her time to focus on her comrade.

"You weren't this big when I brought you here, Ex," Luffa said as she landed on his chest.    "You ate all our rations in one sitting, and you started turning purple and acting freaky, but nothing like this!"

"Get... get awayyyy from my rrruuubies, you nincompoop!" Excitebike growled.   He raised his massive hands to attack her, but Luffa stood her ground.  

"I probably don't need to knock you around for this," Luffa admitted.  "But I'll be honest, I've been itching to hit something since we came to this stupid time fragment, and you were kind of a jerk even before you turned into a curse-monster."

He snarled with rage, and Luffa crossed her arms over her chest.   "I'm done playing it subtle," she said.   "Now I do this my way.   I'm just gonna make as much noise as I can around those Blood Rubies and see what happens.   Maybe I can't remove them from the planet, but I bet I could fuse them altogether and see if they'll burn.  How about that?"

Excitebike's hands slammed together around Luffa, and there was a brief silence, broken only by King Gurumes' groans as his body knitted itself back together nearby.   Excitebike made a sort of grunt that might have been mistaken for a laugh.   Then he began to tremble as a yellow light shone from between his palms.    There was a muffled scream, and then--

"Not good enough!" Luffa shouted as she blasted his hands away from her.   "I've taken a hit from Beerus the Destroyer!  Beerus!   Sure, it hasn't happened yet, because Chronoa sent me back in time to recover from that fight, but you probably don't even understand what I'm saying right now!"  

With a loud yell, she stomped on Excitebike's chest with such force that the ground shook beneath them.   He cried out from the blow, but there was no sign of any serious injury.  

"You two are indestructible, but you can't fight worth a damn!" Luffa said.  "What little intelligence you have left seems to be all focused on those stupid rubies!  It's pathetic!  And what did either of you do to deserve this?  Gurumes picked up a pretty rock?  And you?  You were the one who told me not to drink the water here.   You freaked out when I almost touched a Blood Ruby, so what did you do to end up like this, and why did it affect you so quickly?"

"Ssstay away from myyyyy rrrubieesss!" Excitebike moaned.    

"Why?!" Luffa shouted back.   "What's so damned important about these things!   I brought you forward to this cycle and dumped you in the middle of nowhere, but I knew you'd head straight for this place, but why?   What do they mean to you?"

"They.... neeeed meeeeee..."

The words came slowly, almost painfully, but there was no mistaking their meaning, or the emotion behind them.  Luffa was genuinely stunned to hear them.    So much so, that she did not notice King Gurumes closing in behind her.  

"What did you say--?" Luffa asked just as Gurumes slammed his fist down upon her.  

"Get awayyyyy!" Gurumes bellowed.  "Get awayyy from my ruuuubiesssss!"

"Miiiiine" Excitebike snarled.  

As they resumed their battle, Luffa tumbled clear of them and ended up on the ground.  Gurumes' clumsy attack had not hurt her, although she felt a twinge of embarrassment for being so easily blindsided.  

The air around her was thick with dust that had been kicked up from all the fighting.   Excitebike had once expressed concern about even breathing the air in the Ruby Loop, but there was nothing Luffa could do to protect herself from that.   She had learned to operate his time bike well enough to move back and forth through the Ruby Loop, but she had not found a way to escape the Loop, nor send a distress call to the Time Patrol for help.   She was on her own, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she found a way out or succumbed to the curse, one way or another.

"They need you?" Luffa shouted as she rocketed back up to confront Excitebike again.   She positioned herself between his face and King Gurumes' oncoming fist, then swung out her arm to release a ki wave that knocked Gurumes aside.  

"Miiiiine!  Mine!  Mine!" Excitebike howled.    

"What do you mean they need you?" Luffa howled back.   "They're just a bunch of useless rocks!"

"You dolt!  Can't you hearrrrrr them?!" Excitebike growled.  

Luffa was about to answer with a furious, defiant remark.   She would have told him he was mad, or a fool.   Then she would have hit him.  

This was what she would have done, had she not been floating so close to Excitebike's enormous face.   For in that moment, as King Gurumes rose up again to make another assault, Excitebike turned his head to see him, and Luffa found herself staring into his gigantic  left ear.    

Luffa didn't know much about Namekians beyond the basics, though she did know that they had exceptional hearing.   And in that moment, it suddenly dawned on her that maybe Excitebike really was hearing something.

As the implications of this raced through her mind, she was blindsided again by the two titans.   Luffa's power was enough that she could have broken her fall, but she was so focused on her train of thought that she simply allowed herself to hit the ground instead.  

As Gurumes and Excitebike fought on, the ground shook with every step they took.  The air thundered with their mighty blows.   Luffa ignored them as she struggled to fit the pieces together.

What if the Blood Rubies were a life form?  

What if they could communicate, but in a way that only Namekians could perceive?  

What if the Curse of the Blood Rubies was not a curse at all?  

What if it was a message?

And what if that perception only came after repeated exposure?   Other Time Patrollers had been affected by the Blood Rubies in less time, but they, like King Gurumes, couldn't "hear".  Namekians could, but they, like Excitebike, wouldn't eat the food in the Ruby Loop, and so it would take longer for them to be affected.  

But Excitebike had spent more time in the Ruby Loop than any other Time Patroller, and maybe he had finally reached a tipping point.  And yet, even if he could receive the "message", his body and mind were unable to handle it.   If Excitebike could even understand what he was hearing, he couldn't seem to do what was needed.  He simply lumbered towards the Blood Rubies, and started fighting anyone who got in his way.  

It all seemed to make sense, but Luffa had no idea if any of it was actually true.  There were Namekians who lived on Earth, such as the warrior Piccolo, so why hadn't he experienced any of this?  The Kami of Earth was supposed to be a Namekian, so why hadn't he intervened?  

Luffa thought of Pansy.   She alone, out of everyone in the Ruby Loop, was aware of past cycles.   She had tried to use that knowledge to alter the course of events in each new cycle, hoping to bring about a more favorable outcome.   Maybe her meddling had prevented Piccolo or Kami from interacting with the Blood Rubies.  By walling them up in the Land of Gurumes, Pansy may have prevented a reckoning that otherwise would have been inevitable.  

Was that the answer?  Find Kami or Piccolo and bring them to the Land of Gurumes?   Luffa shook her head as she considered it.   The risk was too great that they would suffer the same fate as Excitebike, and then she would have three or four monsters brawling around the castle ruins.  Namekians were only a clue to the mystery, not the solution.  But what did that leave?

She shuddered when the answer came to her.  

"Attention, intruder!"  

Luffa looked up from where she had been standing to notice a dozen aircraft hovering overhead.   The Royal Military had finally caught up to them.  

"You have entered a restricted area!   Withdraw at once or we will open fire!"

The lead craft had some manner of speaker system, and its commander was trying to reason with Luffa while another squadron opened fire on Excitebike and Gurumes.  Luffa watched the unfolding battle with detached interest.   None of them were any threat to her, and the outcome of their fight would make no difference at all.  

She threw out her hands and generated an explosive wave of golden ki energy.   It was meant as a diversion, not an attack, though it was powerful enough to rock the nearest aircraft and disrupt their propulsion systems.   When the explosion faded, Luffa was gone.    

While the Royal Military searched for her, she was already moving at blinding speed, making for the broken castle.  

Most of the structure was little more than a pile of bricks and stones, but there was still enough left to be somewhat recognizable as a building.  Luffa only needed to clear a path to her objective, and her ki blasts were well-suited for this.  

As she worked, she felt her Super Saiyan form begin to falter.   She had only partially recovered from her defeat at the hands of Beerus, and the days without food had taken a heavy toll.   She did not need the Super Saiyan form to proceed, but she insisted on maintaining it anyway.    

"Suck it up," she muttered to herself.   "Most of the time, you're begging me to let you run wild, always right there, under my skin.  But now when things get tough, suddenly you don't want to play anymore?  Hah!  Too bad!"

It was useless bravado, and she knew it.   Luffa knew her body well, and she knew she didn't have much time left.  It didn't matter.   Everything depended on the mission.  A slow, lingering failure would be no different than if she crashed and burned.

At last, a gleam of red caught Luffa's eye, and she cleared away enough debris to find what could only be the remains of the storehouse where King Gurumes had hoarded his treasure.   There were some gold and silver trinkets scattered about, but it was mostly Blood Rubies.   To see so much of anything in one place, it was difficult to imagine anyone thinking of it as rare or valuable.   The piles of red stones looked like bloody wounds seeping from the dark grey hide of the ruined fortress.  

As Luffa approached the ones closest to her, she could feel the same curious fascination she had experienced before, when Excitebike had warned her to never touch them.    Was this what his Namekian ears had "heard"?  Or was her hunch all wrong, and the Blood Rubies were merely unliving rocks with bizarre physical properties?

Luffa shut her eyes tightly as she prepared herself for what would come next.   She had come to this place with only half a plan.   Everything seemed to come back to the Rubies, and so she believed that this was the best place to force a confrontation, but she also knew what would happen to anyone who spent too much time with the gems.  

"Damn it all," she grumbled.   "This'll either work or it won't.  No sense in dragging this out."  

And with that, she snatched one of the Blood Rubies up into her left hand.    

Nothing happened.  

Luffa held the ruby in her hand.    There didn't seem to be anything overly special about it.   She decided to pick up a few more, just to see if that would help.   And then she felt it.    It was like hunger, but not quite.    Days without food had made Luffa acutely aware of the difference between genuine hunger and any other sensation.   This was   not the same.   It was not a craving, more like a... longing.

She heard nothing, save for the rumble of battle outside the castle.    

Luffa took one of the rubies in her other hand and held it up to her lips.    She had no idea why, and didn't even notice she was doing it until she felt the crystalline surface against her tongue.   There was no flavor to it at all, and yet something told her that it would be very satisfying to swallow...

And then she remembered what she was doing here, and tossed it to the ground.  

"Stupid!" she said.   "This isn't getting us anywhere."  

She immediately felt a twinge of regret for throwing the stone, like she had dropped a small child.    What was it about the Blood Rubies that could make her feel such emotions?    There was something almost desperate about them, like they craved attention.    But that was madness.

Or was it?    

"They need me," Excitebike had said.   What could they possibly need him for?

She scooped up the ruby that she had dropped, and held them all together in her cupped hands.   Then she lowered her face into the pile, jostling them a bit so the corners of the gems wouldn't poke at her flesh too badly.  

"I'm going to feel pretty stupid if this doesn't work," Luffa said to no one in particular, "but then again, if I'm right, I'll be kicking myself for not trying this from the start."  

She concentrated, and reached out with her thoughts.    Her golden aura flashed brighter.   And then...

*******

The castle, and the Land of Gurumes, even the Earth itself, were all gone.  There was only Luffa, and... another.  

"You..." the other said.   "You are within... me?"  

It wasn't a place, more like a dream.    Everything was "red", but Luffa couldn't literally see any of it.   She just knew herself to be surrounded by red, even if she couldn't experience it directly.   In the same way, the person speaking to her didn't really look like anyone in particular, but Luffa couldn't help but feel that she was with a woman who looked like Pansy.   Then again, sometimes the woman seemed almost like Luffa's wife.  

The figure began to look more defined to Luffa's perception.   She had an eyepatch like Zatte, which seemed strange, since it hadn't been there until Luffa noticed the resemblance.   And then, when Luffa finally did notice, the woman lifted the patch, revealing a red gem where her right eye would have been.  

"I guess you could put it that way," Luffa said.   Her own words weren't entirely clear either.   She was saying these things, but she was not hearing her own voice.  

"You are... not like the others?" the red being said.   "You... hear our call and... you answer?"

"My species is telepathic," Luffa said.    "Earthlings may have similar powers.   Kakarot definitely has my ability, but he probably doesn't have my experience using it.   He probably wouldn't think to try it out on a bunch of rocks, but he hasn't run into as many weird aliens as I have."

"Please... stay.    Stay with... us..."

The red being approached Luffa with a desperate embrace, and Luffa couldn't help but return it.    Despite the abstract nature of this encounter, Luffa could feel herself patting the other on the back as they hugged.

"You want me to be with you," Luffa said.    "Is that why I almost swallowed one of those rubies?    You were trying to get me as close to you as possible.   Why?"

"Want you.... want you... to want us.    Want."

"That's what you did to King Gurumes," Luffa said.    "You made him want you.   He got so obsessed, but he didn't even know what he was feeling.   I thought you were making me hungry, but that wasn't exactly it.   I'm something of a gourmet myself, but I'm too practical to eat a rock.  And I can't spend you on anything because I don't really need money.    You still made me feel those things, though.  Gurumes didn't understand it, so his mind reacted as if it were hunger and greed, but that's not it at all."

"Please... be with us..." the red being said.   "Never leave..."

"You're lonely," Luffa said.    "You're confused, and so alone."

"Don't go..." the red being pleaded.   The eyepatch was back, and Luffa could swear she was hearing her wife's voice.  "Anything you want.    Anything..."

Luffa let go of the red being and stepped away.   "I don't think you understand what you've been doing to the people in this time fragment," she said.    "I know how you feel, but they can't comprehend you, and it's hurting them.    You've got to stop this."

"No... please..."

"I can't let you keep doing this," Luffa said.    "You can't stay in this place, with these people.    But I can try to help you.    Do you remember how you got here?"  

"Darkness... then awake?   Destruction.    Many destruction.   Repeating.     Fractured.   So broken.    Lone...ly?   Incomplete."

Luffa could sense the red being's memories.  Much of it was too alien for her to comprehend, but she still grasped the basics.  The Blood Rubies were a single object that was shattered somehow.  The fragments ended up in Gurumes' kingdom.   They could sense the life forms around them, but could not interact with the outside world in any meaningful way.  

But somehow, some way, perhaps after many years across many cycles, the Blood Rubies managed to create a connection with the Earthlings.   In one village, a woman gave birth to a baby girl, a child who seemed human in every way, but in fact, she was a part of the Blood Rubies.   It was a desperate experiment, and it almost worked, except that by binding a piece of themselves to the Earthlings, the Blood Rubies lost their own connection with that piece.   And so the child grew up as an Earthling, completely unaware of her true nature...

"Pansy," Luffa said.    "She's part of you, whatever you are.   But she doesn't know it.  And she's lonely too.   She wants to live with Kakarot and the others, just like you want King Gurumes to treasure you.   But why does everything reset when you're removed from the planet?"

"Dragon... tried... take us away.  Hurt.     So lonely.    Returned.   Always return.   Please..."

Luffa was beginning to understand.   She wasn't sure how much was intuition, and how much was the telepathic rapport.    The Blood Rubies were a living creature, and somehow they could move through time.    One way or another, they created Pansy to communicate with the people of Earth, but it didn't work.  Pansy forgot that she was ever part of the Blood Rubies, and she blamed them for the problems in her homeland.   When she wished for Shenron to restore the land, the Rubies couldn't bear to be removed, and so they reset the timeline.   Luffa supposed this same loneliness was what caused the loop to reset whenever the Earth was destroyed.    

"You would have explained all this if you could," Luffa said.   "Pansy was born knowing, but she forgot by the time she was old enough to tell anyone.   King Gurumes was the most affected by you, because he kept so many of you in his castle, and he actually swallowed a few.     But his Earthling mind was too alien to understand any of it.   He just thought he was starving."

"The visitors," said the red being.   "Ones like you.   Tried to tell them.   Only one could hear us, but faintly."

"Excitebike," Luffa said.  "Yeah, he wanted to do something.   Gurumes could only see you as treasure, but Excitebike wanted to solve the mystery of this time anomaly.  You used his desire to communicate with him, but he still couldn't make sense of it."  

"But you," the red being said.   "You hear, and you answer, and you come to us.   Please, be with us.  Anything you want.   Please. You know that you want us."

"I want you?" Luffa asked.   "Sure, I wanted to accomplish the mission too, but Excitebike was working this case a lot longer.  What do you think I want from you?"

"You crave... diversion... from your loss," the red being replied.   "We are both... incomplete.  Let us be incomplete... together."

The eyepatch was there again.   Now Luffa could see more of Zatte's features in the red being, as though a sculptor had carved her likeness into the crimson stone.  

"Y-you don't understand," Luffa said.   "It's not the same thing.   My wife... well she's dead.    Her culture teaches that it's important to move on.  I... only... See, I'm trying to honor her memory by getting on with my life..."  

The red being looked as inscrutable as ever.   It watched Luffa, patiently waiting for her to continue.  

"Okay, you're right," Luffa said.   "I have been avoiding it.  I loved her so much, and now she's gone, and I'll never see her again.     There's nothing I can do about it, so I figured I might as well throw myself into my work.    This Time Patrol business is weird, but it gives me something to do, right?  And I thought it wouldn't hurt if I stayed busy..."

She stopped and turned away from the red being as she tried to compose herself.   This was pointless, as spatial relationships held no meaning here, and Luffa found she was still facing the red being, no matter what she did.  

"You're not going to let me off the hook with this are you?" she said with an uncomfortable smirk.   "All right.   Centuries ago, I knew this doctor.   He was like a second father to me.   I... I miss him too.   I miss all of them, but...  Look, he used to put me back together after a fight, and he'd accuse me of letting my opponents get in a few free shots.    I'd deny it, or tell him I was just taking their measure.    Heh.   Doc had eight eyes, so I guess he must have seen right through me.  I was just using the physical pain to cover for the emotional stuff.    My mother.   Dad and Kandai turning on me.  Every other rotten thing that ever went wrong in my life.   And now I'm doing the same thing in the Time Patrol, only it's Majin Buu and the God of Destruction instead of some loser mercenary force or a Saiyan cultist."

The red being reached out with its hand.   "Your pain runs deep," she said.   "Like ours.  We can comfort each other.   Please."

"We have the same problem," Luffa said.    "But not the same solution.  I think I can help you with your trouble.    I just need to explain all of this to Pansy, and then... well you might not be the way you were before, but at least you'll be whole again."

"Yes...." the red being said.  "That would be... good.   But what about you?  Luffa.   You would help us.   We want to help you.   How can we ease your pain?"

Luffa smiled.   "Thanks for the offer," she said, "but it's not that simple for me.   But if I can help a few people like you along the way, well, that's something.   Maybe it helps me work out what I need for myself.  Sorry if that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"It helps you... to help us?" the red being asked slowly.  

"I guess that's one way to look at it, yeah," Luffa said.  

The red being's features changed again, this time looking more like Luffa's own features.  She made a grim smile to match the real thing.  

"Then we will help you help us help you," the red being said.    "And so we will be together in your cycle."

*******

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

Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, had isolated and contained the Ruby Loop in a special chamber built beneath the Time Vault.   To most beings, it appeared to be a red crystaline object vaguely resembling a human heart.   The Kai had a more cosmic perception of the anomaly, and she watched it carefully while she waited for her Time Patrollers to report in from their expedition.  

Suddenly, the red crystal began to glow, and Chronoa raised her arm over her eyes to shield herself from the crimson light.  Her other senses noticed temporal changes within the anomaly, and for a moment, she became concerned.    

Then, she sensed something more encouraging, like the pieces of a machine fitting into place, or a lock gently yielding to the proper key.  She held out her hands and with a power beyond mortal comprehension, she guided and contained the Ruby Loop as it began to change.  

And then, the red crystal was gone, replaced by a pair of figures on a motorcycle.   The engine was not running, and the woman at the controls was cradling something in her arms.  The man seated behind her was naked and trembling.  Even if Chronoa had not recognized them, she immediately understood that they had been through a harrowing experience.  

"We're back?" Luffa asked as she looked up to see Chronoa.   "I thought we were going to need the bike to get us home, but I didn't even have a chance to fire it up."

"Wha... what--?" Excitebike mumbled.  

"You did it!" Chronoa said.    "I don't know how you pulled it off, but I have the time fragment under control!  Whatever you did with the anomaly--"

"Anomaly?" Excitebike murmured.   "No.  No.  No.   Got to... listen...."

"He's in shock," Luffa said.   "I'm not doing so great myself, but you'd better take care of him first."

Chronoa nodded and went to help Excitebike dismount from the motorcycle.   "What happened in there, Luffa?" she asked.  

"I'll tell you what I know," Luffa promised, "but as far as the anomaly goes..."

She held up the object in her arms, and Chronoa saw what looked like a baby sculpted out of red crystal.   The Kai's eyes widened with amazement.  

"...Well," Luffa said, "I think I've got the anomaly right here."

*******

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

Excitebike recovered quickly in the day that followed.   Though he wished to return to duty, Chronoa placed him on extended leave until further notice.  He was displeased with her decision, but kept his objections to himself.   Luffa was not surprised that he neglected to thank her for her help, but she saw no point in confronting him about it.   His ego had been bruised badly enough for a long time to come.  

As for Luffa, she had to remain in the chamber beneath the Time Vault for several more days.   Chronoa had sent her back in time to carry out the Ruby Loop assignment, and now that it was over, Luffa could go back to the present.   But she still needed time to fully recuperate, and so Chronoa did not send her back right away.  

Luffa had to spend these days in the isolation ward hidden beneath the Time Vault.  This quarantine was necessary, because her actions could alter the course of events in Toki Toki City's recent history.   This did not bother her much, since she needed the rest, and she had Chronoa to keep her company.  They spent much of their time together discussing the Ruby Loop mission.    

"I don't understand it completely," Luffa said.   "But Pansy was the key."

"Right," Chronoa said.   They had gone over it many times, but each discussion of the mission provided new insights, and neither of them seemed to mind the repetition.  "You said the Blood Rubies created Pansy to try to communicate with the outside world, but it ended up backfiring.  It ended up fracturing them, and that just made it even harder to establish contact."

"Pansy told Shenron that they didn't need the Blood Rubies, but she needed them, because they were part of her," Luffa said.  She stopped in her tracks and put her hand to her chin as she reconsidered it.    

"Or she's a part of them.   The point is," Luffa went on, "she was so afraid of the curse that she avoided the Rubies as much as she could.    I had to link their thoughts together, and once I did that... well, like I said, I don't understand it all, but I guess it worked.    The hard part was explaining it to her, but she seemed to trust me enough to let me try it."

They were walking together through the halls of the isolation ward.   Luffa took a sip from a bottle of protein shake that Chronoa had brought her from Toki Toki City, and watched the muscles of her right arm as she flexed it.    

"You seem to be getting your strength back," Chronoa said.  

"Yeah, I should be back up to my full power soon," Luffa said.   She couldn't tell Chronoa about her battle with Beerus, or how it tied into the conflict with Demigra, because from Chronoa's perspective, those events had not yet happened.  

"Well, you should be all set for whatever happens next," Chronoa said.  "I'll zap you forward a few days so you can reappear in the Time Nest right after my future self sends you back, and that'll put everything back on track.  

"I guess your future self was right after all," Luffa said.  "She thought I was ready, and you guessed that she was thinking about the Ruby Loop, and it all seemed to work out."

"It sure did," Chronoa said.   "You did a fantastic job, Luffa.   You might even call it legendary.   Eh?"  

"Thanks," Luffa said, "but it feels like a hollow victory.   I mean, I'll take some pride in knowing this was something Kakarot never would have been able to figure out, but I only guessed right because I've seen so many weird things in my time.    And because... well, I know how it feels to be that lonely.   I don't blame Gurumes for thinking it was a curse.   If you're not used to that kind of thing... I guess it would seem like an evil spirit or something."    

She sighed and took a long sip of her shake.   "I like to hit stuff, Chronoa," Luffa said.   "If you could find me a mission where I punch something, I'd really rather be doing that instead."  

"I'll see what I can do," Chronoa said with a smile.   "You know, Luffa, you've got friends here.   You left a lot of loved ones behind in the past, but we Time Patrollers care a lot about you, too."  

"I know," Luffa said through clenched teeth.    She shut her eyes tightly as she spoke, as though trying to keep the tears inside.     "That's why I brought Pansy here.   I mean, I'm not sure I could just leave her behind.    I guess I had to bring it back here, but... I thought... well, you can help her, can't you?  This isn't some time crystal you lock up in a storage compartment.   She's alive somehow.   And I took her away from everyone she cares about."  

Chronoa pursed her lips and didn't answer right away.    "It's too early to know for sure," she said.  "I'll need time to study this, make sure there's no risk to Toki Toki City.   But I'll try."

"Well, if you have to keep her locked up, I'd like to visit at least.   This all happened because she was so lost and isolated.   She needs someone, and right now I'm the only one she knows."  

"That sounds fine, Luffa," Chronoa said.   "I may need your help to communicate with her.  And this might give you some experience for dealing with other deep time investigations."

"Oh, come on," Luffa said.   "After what we went through, I'm doubt Excitebike would ever want to get within a hundred miles of me again."

"That's not what he told me," Chronoa said with a chuckle.     "He requested you for a transfer to his department.  Oh, wait, he asked me not to tell you he said that.    Whoops."

"You're kidding."

"Don't sell yourself short, Luffa," Chronoa said.  "You may see yourself as someone who's only good for hitting, but you're so much more than that.  The proof is right here."

They had reached a wing of the facility where Chronoa kept various time fragments in containment.   Each was stored in a transparent bubble, surrounded by enormous tree roots that extended down from the tree that lived within the Time Vault above them.   Most of the time fragments resembled geometric shapes, or abstract patterns, but the one Chronoa pointed to looked like a baby girl, sleeping soundly in its bubble.  

"She's a cute kid," Chronoa said as she tenderly patted one of the roots on the bubble.  

"You really do care about her," Luffa observed.  

"Sure I do," Chronoa said.   "I don't understand her yet, but she's part of history, just like the rest of us.   I don't know what to do for her yet, but it's my duty to find a proper place for her... Is something wrong, Luffa?"

Luffa took a deep breath before answering.   "Well... it's just that... I wanted to apologize for not telling you myself."

"About what?" Chronoa asked.   "Did you leave something out of your report?"

"No, it's not about the Ruby Loop," Luffa said.  "I mean, the whole business with Keda being alive on Earth during Kakarot's era."

Chronoa stared at her for a moment and blinked twice.   "I'm sorry, but who is Keda?" she asked.  

"My friend from the past," Luffa said.   "The one I sensed on Namek."

"I thought Big League Chew already investigated that," Chronoa said, "and he didn't find anything."

"Yeah, but I found her again on Earth a few years later," Luffa said, "so we checked again, and confirmed it this time.  I don't know how it happened, but she ended up in West City.   She's still living there now, in the year 850."

"Are you kidding me?!" Chronoa exclaimed.   "Why didn't you two report it to me?"

Luffa was stunned.   "I thought you already knew," she said, taking a step backward.   "I was putting off telling you, and then you brought it up, and said you'd already heard about it..."

"From whom?" Chronoa said.   "I haven't talked to Big League Chew in days.   It's a big city, y'know.   I can't keep up with everybody!"

"Well, who else could have told you?" Luffa asked.   "He and I were the only ones who knew about it and when I was cooking for Lo--"

Luffa stopped before mentioning the name "Lord Beerus".   She had cooked him a meal to convince him to let the Time Patrol handle the Demigra crisis, but that was before Chronoa had sent her back in time several days.   Which meant that the conversation she had with Chronoa over the griddle that day had not happened yet.  

"Oh crap," Luffa said.   "I'm the one who told you.   Right now."

"Oh," Chronoa said.   "Don't worry about it, Luffa.  Those kinds of predestination paradoxes happen all the time in this business."

"Wait, you're not mad about this?" Luffa asked.  

"Of course not," Chronoa said.   "You've told me now, and apparently some time later I'll tell you that I already know about it, and then I'll send you back in time to now, when you'll resolve the paradox.   Nice and neat."

"I really hate this stuff," Luffa said.  

"The important thing is that you finally trust me enough to tell me," Chronoa said.  To be honest, I was starting to worry that you weren't fitting in around here."

"Then what are you going to do about Keda?" Luffa asked.  

"I don't know yet," Chronoa said.  "I just found out, remember?  Ask my future self when you get back to your proper time."

"Okay, that's fair," Luffa said.  "I just... I know it would screw things up if you sent me back to my own era.   A thousand years ago, I mean.   But Keda shouldn't cause much of a disruption... I don't want her to be stranded somewhere because of me."

"I can't promise anything," Chronoa said.  "There are rules to all of this.  I have to consider the greater good."

"I understand," Luffa said.  

"You know, Luffa," Chronoa offered, "I can't make any guarantees about Keda or the Ruby Loop, but I think you've done enough good work for the Time Patrol that you deserve some kind of dispensation."

"Dispensation?" Luffa asked.  

"Sure, like a boon.   We can talk about it later, after we get synced up, but think about what you'd like to ask for, okay?  If you and Trunks can take care of Demigra, then I'd say you've more than earned it."

"Well, okay..." Luffa said.   "But what makes you think I won't ask for something bad?"

Chronoa looked away from the Ruby Loop and smiled at Luffa.   "Because we trust each other now," she said.  "And we're on the same side, aren't we?"

Luffa sighed, then took another sip of her protein shake.   "Sure," she said.   "I suppose we are..."

And the two of them stood there for a time, watching the red crystal as it slowly evolved from a time anomaly into something else.  For too long, it had been retelling the same story, again and again, with slight variations on the theme.   Now, at last, a new path lay open.   The cycle of the Ruby Loop could now join with the larger cycle, a story of all creation.

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

 NEXT: The Battle of West City.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #king gurumes #excitebike #earth #toki toki city #chronoa

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (195/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [1 September, Age 749.   Earth.]  

One story continues with two mercenaries robbing a child of his dearest possession.  

Pasta and Bongo are craven opportunists.   When King Gurumes begins destroying his own land in search of more Blood Rubies, his people become restive and unruly.   His military and royal guard are stretched thin protecting his mining and construction operations, so he hires foreign mercenaries for added security.   Gurumes' vast wealth pays them well, but Pasta and Bongo want more.  

When they hear of the King's terrible curse, they tell him tales of the seven magic Dragon Balls, and the fabled wish that could free him from his endless hunger.   Gurumes promises to pay them anything they want in return.  

The exchange rate is a curious one.  Legend holds that the Eternal Dragon can grant any wish imaginable, but Pasta and Bongo crave only profit, and there is plenty of that to be found.   Gurumes would sell his kingdom for the wish, even as he slowly destroys it to unearth the Blood Rubies that so fascinate him.   And  while the Blood Rubies might fetch a high price, King Gurumes does not dare to sell them, for he cannot bring himself to part with a single gem.   And so, when Pasta and Bongo steal the Four-Star Dragon Ball from the little boy's house, they leave a single gold coin as payment.    

For some, that might be a great bargain.  Individually, each Dragon Ball is useless.   Master Roshi trades his away without a second thought.   Bulma is resourceful enough and dedicated enough to track down the other six, but most would probably be happy to accept a chunk of gold and let someone else take up the grand quest.  

But the boy does not care about gold, or rubies, or Dragon Balls, or wishes.   For him, the orange crystal with four red stars is not valuable for what it is worth, or what it can do.   He treasures it for what it represents: the memory of his adoptive grandfather, who once held it as a keepsake.  

If he were an ordinary child, then he might have to suffer the injustice of Pasta and Bongo's crime, but Son Goku is far from ordinary.   He fell from the heavens, with the blood of the Legendary Super Saiyan running through his veins.  But when he arrived on Earth, he was nothing.   An outcast from his own people, a weakling orphan with no memory of his heritage and no prospects for his future.   Like a single Dragon Ball, he was useless and easily ignored.

It was Son Gohan, a kindly old man, who found the boy and gave him value.  He took the boy as his grandson, named him, sheltered him, and trained him in the martial arts.   And the boy never forgot that kindness.   When his grandfather died, the boy kept the orange ball with the red stars in a household shrine, and spoke to it as if it contained his grandfather's spirit.   For what Son Gohan represented could never be destroyed, much less purchased.  

What price can be put on love?   A gold coin?  A kingdom?   A castle full of Blood Rubies?  

This was what Pasta and Bongo and King Gurumes could not understand.  In their desperate greed, they could not imagine anyone wanting something more, and having the courage to fight for it.   They could not imagine a boy venturing out into the world for the first time for something more precious than treasure.  They could not forsee that boy mastering the Kamehameha on his first try, or joining forces with friends who would help him set things right.

This is why Pasta and Bongo's schemes would always fail.   Each time the story is told, each time they come to the Land of Gurumes and offer to track down the Dragon Balls, their path leads them to Son Goku, and then to ruin.  All because they could not conceive of something worth more than money.  

According to Saiyan folklore, once every thousand years, a warrior of their race rises up to have incredible power.  Son Goku is the culmination of that cycle, destined to take his place as the next in a long line of Legendary Super Saiyans.  Pasta and Bongo are merely soldiers of fortune, unremarkable and easily replaced, a footnote in some more important tale.    Their destiny is obscurity, again and again.

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

*******

     [2 September, Age 749.   Earth.]  

"And that's all I know, I swear!"

Emperor Pilaf lived in a curious fortress in the middle of nowhere.   The architecture resembled a cross between a mansion and a dungeon filled with robotic weapons and attack dogs.   To a spacefaring mercenary like Luffa, it was the most familiar-looking thing she had ever seen on the planet.  In her travels, she had encountered countless tin dictators and warlords who lived in similar facilities.  

With his pointed ears and clammy blue skin, Pilaf looked more like a demon than an Earthling.  Despite his regal attire, he had only two subordinates: a dog-man named Shu and a human woman named Mai.  They carried themselves with a bit more dignity than their Emperor, although this wasn't saying much.  

Luffa turned her back to the three of them, staring instead at the wreckage of the mechanical deathtrap they had tried to use against her when she first arrived.  

"Let's go over it one more time," she finally said.  

Pilaf quailed in terror, and Luffa shivered with revulsion.   His cowardice was almost too much to bear.

"You were searching for the Dragon Balls," Luffa said.  "And you found one a few days ago, but then Pasta and Bongo stole it from you.   They left a gold coin as 'payment', the currency of the Land of Gurumes."

"Th-that's right," Pilaf said.   "Wow, you really have an excellent memory.  Not like Shu at all.   He's always forgetting things, leaving his chew toys and throwing stars just lying around--"

"Aw, I said I was sorry about that, Sire," Shu whimpered.

"You know," Pilaf said, ignoring Shu, "I could use a lady with your talents in my organization!  Expansion, that's the key to a successful enterprise, and I think the next fiscal year is going to be very busy for us.   If you're interested, I'm sure Mai could find you an application form--"

"Quiet!" Luffa snarled.   There was a series of yelps and shrieks as the three of them trembled in fear, and then she continued.   "How did Pasta and Bongo find your Dragon Ball?   I thought you needed a special radar to detect those things."

"They took our locator device!" Mai said.   "Word got around that we were searching for the Dragon Balls.  We even contacted them about it early on, to see if they had any leads.   At the time, they thought it was all just a fairy tale, but once King Gurumes hired them, they must have decided to come after us and steal all our research."

"Idiot!" Pilaf screeched.   "You can't just tell her that!   That's highly classified information your divulging!"

"Sire, she's already captured us," Mai said wearily.

"Well... you could at least sound a little guiltier when you answer her questions!" Pilaf whined.  

Luffa ignored their bickering and stood silently for a few minutes.   At last, Shu spoke up.  

"Uh, ma'am?  It's none of my business, but if you want to know about Pasta and Bongo so bad, why don't you track them down and question them?"

"I already have," Luffa muttered.   "Twice.  And I've talked to the Ox-King, Oolong, Yamcha, and several officials in the Land of Gurumes.  I've even talked to you before, Shu.  Several years in the future, but on a different cycle of the loop, so you wouldn't remember that."

They were confused, naturally.   To Shu's credit, he did his best to remain calm.   Luffa supposed that he had experience from placating Emperor Pilaf's tirades.  

"Well maybe you should take a break and have somethin' to eat?" Shu suggested.   "Emperor Pilaf has a bunch of good food in the pantry.  I mean, you are hungry, right?  That tail of yours is moving kind of the same way mine does around suppertime--"

Luffa suddenly spun around and growled at them.   "Of course I'm hungry!" she shouted.   "I haven't eaten in days!   I don't dare, because if I do I'll end up like him!"

"Him?" Pilaf asked innocently.   "Him who?"

Luffa stormed out of the room, smashing her way through a wall rather than using any of the doors.   Pilaf and his henchmen followed her and watched carefully until she levitated into the air and took off into the sky.  

"S-she's gone, Sire," Mai reported nervously as Luffa receded into a tiny dot in the clouds.    

"Yes, I see that," Pilaf snapped.   "Now I want both of you to start cleaning up this mess so we can get back to work."

"Sire, she really wrecked the place," Shu pleaded.   "It'll take us weeks to clear the debris."

"And it'll cost a lot of zenni to replace the equipment she destroyed," Mai said.  

"So?" Pilaf sneered.   "Don't bother me with petty details, you two! I need this facility to carry out my plans to take over the world!"

"Well, what about one of the backup stations, Sire?" Shu suggested.    "Like the one out in the desert?"

"Are you suggesting that I, the great Emperor Pilaf, abandon part of my domain?" Pilaf demanded.  

"Sire, what if that woman comes back?" Mai asked.

Pilaf didn't answer right away.   Instead, he made an audible gulp as he considered the question.  

"My decision is final," Pilaf said.  "We'll evacuate this base immediately.   It's not a retreat, of course.  Merely a strategic withdrawal."

"Very good, Sire," Mai said knowingly.  

*******

On an uninhabited island, Luffa had set up camp, and spent an hour distilling potable water for herself.   She had not eaten since the night she found Excitebike devouring their supplies.  There had been enough food to sustain a Saiyan for a year, and somehow Excitebike had eaten it all.  

What made it truly strange was that Namekians did not require any food.   It was as though he had become a completely different life form that night.   The overwrought, snobbish Deep Time Investigator had become a brutish creature, obsessed with his next meal.  

There was only one explanation, which was the one Excitebike himself had explained to her earlier that evening:  The Blood Rubies.

The Supreme Kai of Time had assigned them to investigate an anomaly called the Ruby Loop.   It was supposed to be a naturally occurring time distortion that contained a fragment of history.  Everything on Earth was the same, except for two key differences.   First, the course of events repeated itself, always starting over on September 1, Age 749.   Second, this Earth contained a mysterious mineral known as the Blood Rubies.   The Kingdom of Gurumes was lousy with them, and somehow they had affected the mind of King Gurumes.    In his obsession, he began to destroy his own kingdom, and he interfered with the saga of the Dragon Balls.

In some loops, the Dragon Balls would be used to remove the Blood Rubies from the planet.   In others, the danger of the Blood Rubies would be recognized and the people of the world would attempt to contain them by walling off the Land of Gurumes.    But some how, some way, the Earth would eventually be destroyed in some terrible conflict.   In either case, the removal of the Blood Rubies from the Earth would cause the cycle to reset and begin again on September 1, Age 749.  

The Time Patrol had been exploring the Ruby Loop for two years, and learned of the curse that affected King Gurumes. It was believed that the Blood Rubies had caused it somehow, mutating his body into a swollen monstrosity, and leaving him with an insatiable hunger.   When Time Patrollers began to experience mild symptoms resembling Gurumes' condition, rules were put in place to avoid any food or drink native to the Ruby Loop.  

Luffa was no Deep Time Investigator.   She had only been with the Time Patrol for a few weeks, recruited for her great power more than anything else.   Nor was she a scientist or a doctor, who might be able to understand such things.   Still, she knew enough to conclude that Excitebike had caught the same curse that had affected Gurumes.  

He hadn't eaten or drunk anything other than the rations they had brought with them.    And he had warned Luffa not to touch the Blood Rubies, since they were believed to be the source of the curse.   Excitebike even wondered aloud if the air itself might be contaminated with the dust of Blood Rubies that had been crushed by Gurumes' mining operations.  

The man was careful to a fault, and yet he had been affected more severely than any of the other Patrollers he had described.   Luffa could only guess that it was a chronic exposure to the Blood Rubies.   Chronoa had told her that Excitebike had logged more hours in the Ruby Loop than anyone else.   That was the reason she had assigned him to show Luffa around.   The Supreme Kai of Time believed that Luffa was capable of solving the mystery, but she needed an experienced hand to fill her in on the details.  

As she watched the colorless drops fall from the spout of her condenser coil, she hoped that Excitebike had told her enough, because she wouldn't be getting any information from him anytime soon.  

After she had found him gobbling their supplies, she had tried to reason with him, but found that his mental state was deteriorating rapidly.  He tried to flee into the woods, and when she stopped him, he would scream about the Blood Rubies, like the ones he had shown her in King Gurumes' storerooms.   It soon became clear that he wanted to go back there, and there was no way to talk him out of this.  

Eventually, Luffa was forced to render him unconscious, using the same technique she had shown him earlier that day.   But while she studied his motorcycle to find a way to call for help, he woke up and escaped.  

"And that," Luffa said to herself, "was how I blew the mission.  Best I could do was figure out how to drive the bike, but I can only go back and forth in time.   I can't figure out how to get back to Toki Toki City, or even send a message.  About the only thing I can do is track Excitebike down, but I can't do anything for him."

Luffa looked at the half-filled bottle of tepid water and sighed.   She wished she could drink it all right away, but she had to make it last.   Excitebike had warned her that the food in the Ruby Loop might be dangerous, but his strange transformation had proven that she couldn't trust the water either.   As unpleasant as it was, the safest course was to distill her own urine.  This was nothing new for spacefaring peoples.   Luffa had lived most of her life aboard various starships, and each of them had waste extraction systems to recycle precious moisture.   Doing it herself with a pot and a copper coil was another story.  It was slow, dreary work, and the odor only made things worse.    But what truly eroded her morale was the memories that it brought back to her.

"I thought you were just jerking me around," Luffa said as she thought back to her wife.  

Zatte had taught her how to construct and operate primitive stills for just such an emergency.  A survivalist from a species of survivalists, Zatte had known dozens of designs for the purification of water.   Occasionally, she would demand that they go to some remote place and practice building them together.  

"We lived on a luxury cruiser, never had any trouble getting fresh supplies, and even if it got this bad, I would have just gone to the nearest freshwater lake, or let you handle it for me, since you knew how to do all this crap," Luffa muttered.   "But no.   You wanted me to go through all this myself, make sure I could do it without you.    'Just in case.'"

The still Luffa had built was well-designed.   It had been easy enough to steal a few feet of copper tubing and solder it onto a metal bottle.   But it was not a long-term solution. She would continue to lose water through her respiration and sweat, and the volume she was recycling would gradually dwindle to nothing.   Eventually, she would die of thirst, or take her chances on the water native to the Ruby Loop.  

"Nothing like a deadline for motivation," Luffa said.   "You told me this was only a stopgap, a way to buy time to forage, to plan.   Heh... I used to complain about how boring this was, and you said the time was a blessing, a chance to take stock of the situation and think about the next move.  The whole time... all I could think about was the way the flames reflected in your eye, and the smell of your hair..."

Luffa shut her eyes tightly.   There were, after all, other ways to lose moisture.  When the silence of the island became unbearable, she spoke again.  

"I found Keda," Luffa said.   "She didn't die like we thought.   Somehow she got zapped into the future, and ended up on Earth.   I still need to talk it over with  the Supreme Kai of Time.   I kept putting off telling her about it, but she already found out from someone else, so that doesn't matter.   I would have told her myself, but I just didn't know how to explain it.   Keda... well, she  seemed safe there.   Happy.   I don't know if it's right to take that away from her, but it feels wrong to just leave her.   It's Chronoa's call, probably, but I don't think she'd understand.   Of course... if I don't get out of this mess, I may never find out what she decides..."

Frustrated, Luffa stood up and paced around the fire.    

"This is stupid," she said.   "This whole.... whole time fragment is inside a red rock floating in Chronoa's basement, and I can't contact her!  I can go back and forth through time, interrogate anyone on this planet, but it doesn't do any good because no one knows what's going on, and I don't know what questions to ask!    And Keda's alive and well in West City right now.  I could fly to her house whenever I want, but I'm too nervous to-- Wait a minute..."

It suddenly dawned on Luffa that this time fragment was like the one she had used to track down Keda before.    It was only a piece of history, but it included everything from the real timeline.   The Earth was almost exactly the same, and so were all the people.   It was a duplication of the real Earth, changed only by the circumstances unique to the Ruby Loop.  

She had understood this when she was briefed on the mission, but she only acknowledged this on a factual level.   At times, she had to remember that this was not the same Earth she had visited before in past missions.  For other Time Patrollers, this was probably more intuitive, since nearly all of them hailed from the Earth, or knew it well.  

Excitebike had only really shown Luffa the beginning and ending of a recent cycle of the Ruby Loop, but everything in the middle should have been fairly similar too.  Somewhere in the middle of those years, a Keda would have appeared on Planet Namek and would have been wished to Earth by the Dragon Balls. Unless something involving the Blood Rubies had altered those events somehow.  Keda might be on the Earth in the Ruby Loop, but she might have been living at a different address.

But Keda wasn't the one Luffa had in mind.  As she waited for the last drops of water to fill her bottle, she began to rehearse her story.  Even if her plan could work, it would require a lot of convincing...

*******

     [1 October, Age 767. Earth.]  

"And that's why I came to you."

Bulma cradled her teacup in her hand as she digested Luffa's story.     After a few moments of silence, she set the cup on the table and shook her head.  

"A time traveling Saiyan...?" she said. "And you're on our side, like Goku?  That alone is pretty far-fetched.  After all that trouble we had with Raditz and his two friends, I thought Goku was the only Saiyan left."

According to the history Luffa knew, Vegeta had taken up residence in Bulma's home by this year.  In this cycle of the Ruby Loop, however, Luffa had sensed no trace of Vegeta's ki anywhere on the planet.  

"The other Saiyans," Luffa asked.  "What happened to them?"

"Oh, they're dead," Bulma said.  "Piccolo killed Raditz, and then those other two showed up about a year later, but Goku showed them who's boss.  The last one--the little guy-- he followed us to Namek, but he must have run into Frieza's soldiers.  We never saw him after that.   Good riddance, I say.   Those guys were real creeps!"  

Bulma suddenly noticed Luffa's tail laying across the armrest of her chair and her indignant expression softened.   "Uh, no offense," Bulma added with an awkward chuckle.  

"Don't worry about it," Luffa said.  She was too tired and hungry to worry about Vegeta's fate.  "I've met my fair share of Saiyans, and our bad reputation is well-earned.   Anyway, where I came from," she continued, "you invented the first time machine on Earth.  I'm positive that my own timebike is based on the same technology.   If you could take a look at it, I'm betting you can help me send a distress call back to my base."

"But you're talking about something I haven't even thought of yet," Bulma objected.  "If you can really travel back and forth on that motorcycle of yours, then why not go a little further into the future and ask me then?"

Luffa shook her head.  "I would if I could, but it doesn't work that way."  She didn't bother trying to explain the cyclical nature of the Ruby Loop, or that the older Bulma whom Luffa had met in Toki Toki City was from a completely different timeline.   It had taken Luffa hours to locate a longer cycle of the Loop, one which allowed this version of Bulma to age past thirty-four.   Luffa couldn't tell her the truth, which was that Bulma would suddenly become a teenager again in a few days.  So instead she kept it as simple as possible.

"You're all I've got," Luffa said plainly.  "Will you help me?"

Bulma thought about it for a moment longer before answering.   "Well, I'll take a look at it," she said.   "I mean, how can I pass up a chance to see a working time machine?  But I can't promise anything."

"I understand," Luffa said with a sigh of relief.   "Just see what you can do, that's all I ask."

"Let's head down to my workshop," Bulma said with a reassuring smile.  "I may need to run some tests."

For the first time since she arrived in this strange time fragment, Luffa began to feel hopeful about the mission.  She hadn't achieved the objective, but if she could get word to Chronoa and have Excitebike safely extracted, then they could at least lick their wounds and plan for another expedition.   As horrible as Excitebike's transformation had been, it might turn out to be a valuable clue that would shed some light on things.  

All Luffa knew was that she wanted to leave the matter to someone else.  Her body still ached from her defeat at the hands of Beerus, and between that and the hunger that gnawed at her belly, she knew she was in no condition to solve anything.  As Bulma led her into the repair bay and switched on the shop lights hanging from the ceiling, Luffa headed straight for the closest chair and helped herself to a seat.    

"You said you have it stored in a capsule?" Bulma asked as she threw a white labcoat over her shoulders.  

"Right here," Luffa said.  She withdrew a Hoi Poi capsule from her pants pocket and tossed it into Bulma's waiting hand.   Bulma activated the capsule and dropped it onto an open space in the bay.   The capsule exploded into a puff of smoke, which faded to reveal a futuristic two-wheeled vehicle.  

"Gosh.  This looks like something out of a movie," Bulma said, barely containing her excitement.  "You're telling me I invented this?"

"Not directly," Luffa said.  "But I'm sure your tech is all over this thing.   And even if it's not, I doubt anyone else on this planet could make any sense of it."

Bulma sat down on the bike and began looking over the controls.   "You know, I've thought about time travel before, but I've been so busy working on the fortifications around King Gurumes that I've never had time for those kinds of projects.    It's nice to know I'll get the chance one of these days.  I guess things must settled down in the future."

Luffa didn't know how to respond to that, and so she tried to pretend she wasn't listening.    "It's a pretty big place you've got here," she said.   "You must have a big family."

"No, it's just me and my parents," Bulma said.   "My sister stops by every few years."  

"You don't have any kids?" Luffa asked.

Bulma shook her head, but didn't look up from the motorcycle's console screen.   "Oh, you know how it is.  I never could find the right guy.  Besides, I'm still enjoying the single life."

That settled it.  There was no Trunks in this world, which suggested that most of what Luffa knew about Earth history in this era wouldn't apply.   As helpful as Bulma might be, she may not have had the same background as the one Luffa had met in Toki Toki City.   This version seemed to have devoted much of her life to containing the Blood Rubies.  

As Luffa pondered Bulma's qualifications, she noticed her pressing a button on a wristwatch she wore on her left arm.  

"Any trouble?" Luffa asked.  

"No," Bulma said.   "You're right, this is Capsule Corp.  I mean, the peripherals are.   The bike itself seems to be remodeled from a Signia-LR, or maybe some later model they haven't built yet.  But the computer console runs on my dad's operating system."

"Then you can figure it out!" Luffa said hopefully.  

"Maybe," Bulma said.   "I still need to learn how this thing works, but at least it's familiar to me.   I just... need a little more time."

Luffa wanted to tell her to take all the time she needed, but she wasn't sure how much they had to spare.   She leaned back in her chair and tried to ignore the pangs in her stomach.  

And then, suddenly, she sensed a Saiyan power in the room, appearing as though out of nowhere.   Luffa glanced to her left and saw Son Goku standing in front of a tool case with two of his fingers pressed against his forehead.  

"Kakarot?" Luffa asked.

"Hey!" Goku called out to Bulma as he lowered his fingers.  

"Well it took you long enough!" Bulma shouted.      

"Hey, we got here as soon as we could!" Goku said with a smile.  

"You told me it was called 'Instant Transmission', Goku!" Bulma scolded.   She had dismounted the bike and was now angry wagging a multimeter at him.   "'Instant' means 'right now'!"

"I told you!" Goku said.   "It doesn't work that way.  Sure, I can move from one place to another instantaneously, but I gotta concentrate to make it work.  Besides, I have to have a strong ki to get a fix on so I know where to go.  You're not a fighter, so it's tough to sense your energy from so far away."

Bulma slapped her palm against her forehead and gestured wildly at Luffa.   "What, so you can't sense her?"

Goku glanced over at Luffa and shrugged.  "Well, no, now that you mention it.  Not from Mount Paozu, anyway.   Wait a minute..."  

He approached Luffa slowly and looked her over until his eyes finally widened with surprise.  "You're a Saiyan?" he asked.  

Luffa waved her tail gently and rolled her eyes.   "You don't miss a trick, do you, Kakarot?" she said.  "I've been suppressing my ki to avoid unwanted attention, but I guess Bulma must have contacted you without me noticing."

"Sorry about that," Bulma said.  She held up her left arm and pointed at her watch.   "But we've had a lot of trouble with Saiyans, and Pansy thought it would be a good idea to call if we ran into anything unusual."

"Pansy?" Luffa asked.  

"Uh-oh..." Goku said.   "I forgot to bring her with me."

"You forgot?" Bulma yelled.   "What's the matter with you?!"

"Take it easy," Goku said.   He held up his hands in as submissive a gesture as he could muster.   "I'll go back and get her.   It won't take but a second!"

Bulma pointed her thumb back at Luffa.   "A second?  What if she tries something funny while you're gone?  She could take me hostage or... I don't know!"

"I came to you for help," Luffa said.  "Why would I do anything to screw that up?"

"I know," Bulma said apologetically.   "It's the principle of the thing..."

"Back in a jiffy!" Goku said.  He had already placed his fingers against his forehead, and he vanished before anyone could respond.  

"What a jerk," Bulma groaned.  "He keeps showing off that teleportation trick, but he's such a scatterbrain that it almost doesn't do him any good.   He might as well have flown all the way here."

"Why bring him into this?" Luffa asked.  "If you thought I was a threat, you sure didn't show it."

"I believe your story," Bulma said.   "I mean, this bike of yours would be pretty hard to fake.   But you're still a Saiyan."

"So is he," Luffa said.  

"Yeah, but he's different," Bulma said.   "I've known Son since he was a little boy.  Anyway, after the Gurumes crisis, we all agreed to stay in touch whenever anything weird came up, and you have to admit that time traveling motorcycles definitely fit the description."

"Okay, but--"

Before Luffa could finish her thought, Goku suddenly reappeared, this time with a woman holding his other hand.  

"We're back!" Goku said cheerfully.  

"Hey, Pansy," Bulma said.   "Sorry to bother you like this."

"Don't be," the woman said.  She was wearing a red sweater dress and white boots.   "The signal watch was my idea, remember?   So what's up?"

"She is," Bulma said, pointing to Luffa.   "She's a Saiyan from the future, and she wants me to fix her time machine."

"Time machine?" Pansy asked.   Bulma tried to point out the motorcycle to her, but Pansy couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Luffa.  

It was during that awkward pause that Luffa began to remember where she had seen the woman before.   The night Excitebike began to mutate, they had been preparing their campsite, when they saw a little girl wandering through the woods.    Luffa had wondered about the child's safety, but Excitebike assured her that it was nothing new.   The girl always came through the woods in that direction, as she always met Goku and Bulma at the beginning of each cycle of the Ruby Loop.  

Now, Luffa had traveled forward nineteen years, and she was seeing the same girl as a grown woman.  Her long red hair had been styled with a curling iron, and her brown eyes looked more determined than before, but the snapback hat on her head looked almost exactly the same as the one she had worn as a child.    

And yet, even though Luffa remembered Pansy, there was no way that Pansy could remember Luffa.    According to Excitebike, everyone who lived in the Ruby Loop reset with each cycle.  Luffa had traveled across several cycles to reach this moment, and so this version of Pansy ought to have no memory of meeting two Time Patrollers in the woods.  

So why was Pansy staring at her so intently?

"Sorry," Goku said to Luffa as he walked over to join them.   "I got in such a rush that I never got around to introductions."

"I already know you by reputation, Kakarot," Luffa said.   "You're the Legendary Super Saiyan of this era."

In spite of her troubles, Luffa couldn't resist the urge to mention that.   From the moment she had first seen him transform into a Super Saiyan, Luffa had longed to face Son Goku in battle, but circumstances had made that impossible.  The Ruby Loop might have offered a rare chance for them to fight, but Luffa was too weary and dehydrated to fight him at her fullest.   Their match would have to wait.  

"I guess you must've heard about what happened on Planet Namek, then," Goku said.   "Well, I ain't 'Kakarot'.  I may be a Saiyan, but I was raised on Earth. My name is Son Goku."

Luffa had no intention of ever calling him that, but she saw no point in arguing over it.  

He then reached out and put his arm around Pansy's waist, drawing her close to his side.    "And this," he said with a warm smile on his face, "is Pansy!    She's my wife!"

"Your what?" Luffa asked.  

Luffa didn't know much about the Earth's history, but she was certain that this wasn't right at all.   She had forgotten the name of Goku's Earthling wife, but she remembered her having black hair and a much stronger ki than Pansy.   And according to Excitebike, Goku and Bulma never would have met Pansy in the proper course of history.   Their hunt for the Dragon Balls in Age 749 was supposed to lead them in a different direction, away from the Land of Gurumes, and away from Pansy.    

But in the Ruby Loop, things had proceeded differently.    Here, Goku did meet Pansy, and they must have fallen in love and married, while Bulma never married at all.   It wasn't such a surprising change, once Luffa stopped to consider it.  

So why did Pansy look so nervous?

 NEXT: Blood will tell.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #bulma #goku #emperor pilaf #mai #shu #pansy #earth

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (194/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [2 September, Age 749.  Earth.]  

One story continues with a little girl pleading for help from an Invincible Old Master.   So great is her desperation that she feels no one else can save her homeland.   So great is her resolve that she has braved dangers on land and sea to find him.  

Master Roshi was short, bald man of advanced age and poor manners.  Living in solitude on a tiny island, the Turtle Hermit had long forgotten the social niceties.   In the outside world, he would surely be put in jail, if any prison could possibly hold him.  

As Pansy made her plea for assistance, his island was attacked by a submarine from the land of Gurumes.   Roshi's house was destroyed, but he retaliated with an even mightier assault.    Before Pansy's amazed eyes, the old man swelled to three times his size, and launched a beam of blinding light from his hands.   The Kamehameha.   The Turtle Destruction Wave.

It was an invincible power!  

And he refused to use it on her behalf.

The Turtle Hermit claimed that he was far removed from worldly life and desires, as though this forbade him from interfering.   Yet he advised Pansy that she did not need his assistance, for she already had wonderful friends who had already joined her cause.

"I'm certain there are times you feel all alone," he said.   "But helping each other is what people do!  I believe that bringing friends and strength together can always make any wish come true!"

Pansy found these words hollow and meaningless at the time.   But she had the ride home to ponder their meaning.  She had felt all alone, even as Bulma and Oolong and Son Goku had joined her crusade.  

And her friends did have power.    Besides Bulma's weapons and Oolong's shapeshifting abilities, Son Goku learned the Kamehameha technique on his first try.   His blast was far weaker, but it was a testament to his boundless potential.

Roshi seemed to believe this would be enough to make the difference, but Pansy was not so sure.  

"He can wax philosophic all he wants, but I say that old pervert is just too lazy to make the trip!"

That was Oolong's opinion of Roshi's decision.  The pig-man was a cynic and a coward, so it made sense for him to project his own sentiments onto the Turtle Hermit.   And yet... Oolong was going along, where Roshi had stayed behind.  If Oolong wasn't too lazy to join them, then why not the Invincible Old Master?

Unless he was certain that Pansy and her new friends would be enough.  His words had seemed like empty reassurances, but what if--in his infinite wisdom-- Master Roshi had sized up the situation and decided his power truly was unnecessary?

Was it really that simple?   Was it just a matter of friends working together to help each other?  

And if that was true, then why did Roshi live alone on an island?

Perhaps his brief contact with the outside world had been enough.   It had been enough for Goku to learn the Kamehameha,  and to receive the gift of the flying cloud, the Kinto'un.   So the trip to his island had not been a waste after all.   Each fateful encounter made subtle changes to the story, like the gears in a clock, or the cells in the body.  Each corpuscle flowing through the veins, alone, but never truly alone.  

The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

*******

     [16 May, Age 767.   Earth.]  

It was called, unofficially, the Ruby Loop.  The Supreme Kai of Time and her agents, the Time Patrol, had been studying the phenomenon for two years.   From the outside, the Ruby Loop looked like a chunk of red crystal that floated and glowed in one of the Kai's storage rooms.   But it was possible to enter the crystal, and find a world that could only be described as a time loop.  Events would proceed, then suddenly start over from the same date.  

According to the Supreme Kai of Time, such time loops and other anomalies were able to form "naturally".  As the divine steward of the timeline of the universe, one of her duties was to prune the flow of history, removing such anomalies when they proved dangerous to the main timeline.  But the Ruby Loop had proven far too strange to be easily dealt with.  Unlike other time loops, which could be trimmed down to under fifteen minutes, the Ruby Loop was neither brief nor consistent.   Some cycles lasted mere days.   Others spanned eighteen years or more.  

Still, the Kai was unwilling to give up on the matter, and so she sent two Time Patrollers to explore the Ruby Loop once more.   Excitebike was a Namekian from the Deep Time Investigation department.   He had traveled the Loop a number of times, using a custom-built time machine designed around a motorcycle.    He was condescending and anxious and irritable, but there was no more qualified expert on the matter.  

His partner for this expedition was Luffa, an ancient Super Saiyan recruited by the Time Patrol to defend history from the evil machinations of Towa and Demigra.   Luffa's power and ferocity were undeniable, but the Supreme Kai of Time harbored doubts about Luffa's fitness for Time Patrol duty.  And so, she assigned Luffa to the Ruby Loop as a test of skill.

And so, Luffa found herself on an alternate version of the Planet Earth, staring at a large wall, while Excitebike lectured her about its importance.  

"The Kingdom of Gurumes," Excitebike said.  "In the real timeline, it's just a humble nation with an agrarian economy.  But here?   Oh, here here here... it's a mess.   Why else would they build a wall around the place?"

Luffa rapped her knuckles on the surface and listened to the metallic clang they made.   Then she looked up to take in the size of the structure.   According to Excitebike, it was one hundred meters tall, and three meters thick.  

"And you said this thing surrounds the entire country?" Luffa asked.  "How did they build it?  And why?  If they're just a bunch of farmers--"

"Gurumes didn't build it," Excitebike said testily.   "It's not there to keep people out.   It's to keep him in.   That's what the Capsule Corp. records show, anyway."

"Capsule Corporation?" Luffa asked.  She only knew the organization through Trunks, the leader of the Time Patrol, whose family ran the business.   "How are they wrapped up in this?"

Before Excitebike could answer, a patrol robot flew toward them.   It bore a Capsule Corp logo, and a pair of laser-rifles mounted to either side of its body.  

"Attention!" it said with a dispassionate, tinny voice.  "Trespassing is strictly forbidden in the containment zone!  This unit is authorized to use lethal force, as per Royal decree number KC9211900..."  

"Well, come on," Excitebike said.   "It'll be easier to show you in a different time period."

Luffa followed him back to the time bike he had used to bring them to this place, and the robot sentry did not follow, apparently satisfied that it had frightened them away.  

*******

     [1 September, Age 749.  Earth.]  

Because of the nature of the Ruby Loop, Excitebike could drive his vehicle forward ten days into the future, and end up seventeen years in the past.   As surreal as Luffa found this, Excitebike seemed to enjoy the convenience of it.   "Fuel economy" was something he cherished greatly.  

They materialized in the same location on the borders of the Land of Gurumes, but this time the great wall was gone, and in its place was a wasteland.   In the distance, Luffa could make out heavy machinery and other signs of heavy industry.  

"Is that some sort of mining operation?" she asked.  

"You're sharper than you look," Excitebike said.  He stored the motorcycle in a Hoi Poi Capsule and stowed it in his jacket.   "We'll fly over so you can see it up close."

Luffa knew little about Earth history, aside from what little she had picked up from Time Patrol missions.   She had quickly determined that ki adepts were practically unheard of in this time and place.  As the two Time Patrollers flew over the land, no one sensed their powers, nor did anyone think to look up.  

Below them, Luffa saw construction crews and survey teams milling about in all directions.  Some of them were erecting mining equipment, while others were demolishing houses and silos.  Nearby, a crowd of civilians stood by and watched.

"It looks like they're building all of this on top of farmland," Luffa said.   "And they seem to be in a big hurry."

"That's because they are," Excitebike replied.  "King Gurumes brought in hundreds of contractors during this year.   Every one of them is being paid handsomely to produce results as quickly as possible."

"But what are they mining?" Luffa asked.   "Gold?"  

"Gold.  Hmph.  Guess again," Excitebike sneered.

"Praseodymium?" Luffa asked.  

"No, it's not--" Excitebike's smug grin suddenly fell into a confused grimace.  "What the hell is that?"

"I did a tour on a planet where they fought a whole war over lanthanoid refining," Luffa said.   "Everyone kept telling me praseodymium was worth a lot of money.  Superconductors or something."

"Well it's not prase-- priso-- whatever you said," Excitebike muttered.

"Neodymium?" Luffa asked.  

"It's rubies!" Excitebike shouted.  Fortunately, they had moved far enough from the people below that he wasn't heard.  

"Rubies?" Luffa asked.  "I thought those were made synthetically."

"Not on Earth," Excitebike said.   "Not in this era.   Besides, these are no ordinary gems.   The locals here call them 'Blood Rubies', and they're said to carry a curse."

"What kind of curse?" Luffa asked.  

Excitebike waved his hand at the ground below.    "What kind?  Isn't this enough for you, Luffa?" he asked.  "On New Namek, we were taught to take care of the land.  The Earthlings use it to grow food, and yet these Earthlings are bent on tearing it all up for the sake of a few baubles!  But if you really want to get into the heart of it, we need to pay a visit to the king..."

He pointed to the horizon, and began flying in that direction.   Luffa took one last look below, then followed him.  

*******

Minutes later, they arrived at the castle.  It stood in the center of what had once been a majestic lake, but Gurumes had drained it and  stripmined the lakebed for Blood Rubies.    When the operation had finished, the miners moved on, leaving the castle surrounded by what resembled a crater.  

Security in the palace was impressive for the era, but still no match for the Time Patrollers.  Luffa and Excitebike could fly over walls and force their way through locked doors.   As they approached the dining hall, they encountered a handful of guards, but these were easily dealt with.  

"A few precision nerve strikes," Excitebike said as the soldiers surrounded them in the corridor.  "I can render them unconscious and no one will ever know how it happened.   I'm sure you'd rather blast their heads off and drink their blood, but--"

Before he could finish speaking, Luffa seemed to vanish, then reappear an instant later.    The guards suddenly froze in their tracks, their eyes wide with shock.  Then their limbs went slack, and they collapsed to the floor like puppets whose strings had been cut.  Their weapons clattered on the stone cobble, and then all was silent.

Luffa looked at Excitebike and held up her left hand.   Her fingertips glowed with a faint yellow light.  

"Was this what you had in mind?" Luffa asked.  

"Er... something like that," Excitebike said.  

"Maybe they'll wake up in time for you to take them out as we leave," Luffa suggested.  "I'd be interested in seeing it done in the Namekian style."

Excitebike muttered something under his breath as he stepped over the guards and led her into the dining hall.   It was a spacious room with marble pillars, designed for elaborate banquets and glamorous occasions, but with most of the windows shuttered and all of the lamps doused, it reminded Luffa more of a mausoleum.  

She sensed King Gurumes before she saw him.   His ki was low, but it was still much stronger than she would have expected for an ordinary Earthling.  More importantly, there was a peculiar darkness to his strength, which resembled the kind of wicked magic used by various demons and wizards Luffa had fought in past battles.  

What little she could see of Gurumes was almost as unsettling.  He was four times larger than any typical Earthling Luffa had seen.   His ears were pointed and his skin looked rough and lumpy.  His wide mouth hung open like the maw of some enormous fish, revealing a thick, slimy tongue that moved restlessly back and forth.  

Luffa raised her hand and produced a brighter glow of ki energy to illuminate the room.   She immediately regretted it, as this revealed the purple color of Gurumes' flesh.  His entire body looked like a septic wound.  His right eye was bulging out of its socket, while the left eye winced as he growled with discomfort.  

"So... hungry..." he moaned.   His voice was like the sound of the machines he had purchased to grind up his land.  

"What... happened to him?" Luffa asked.  "Are you saying the Blood Rubies did this?"

"We aren't sure how," Excitebike said quietly.  "But it's almost a certainty.  In the true history of Earth, King Gurumes never looked anything like this.  And we've had geologists examining the land of Gurumes very carefully in the main timeline.  There's no sign of anything like the gems found in this world."

Luffa held her hand in another direction, and noticed something shiny next to Gurumes' throne.    It was a pile of rubies, scattered around his swollen feet.  

"Those are the Blood Rubies?" Luffa asked.   "I expected them to look... well, different.   They're pretty enough, I guess, but they look like any other red gemstones.   Hardly worth tearing up a kingdom over."

"The whole castle is full of them," Excitebike said.  "I can show you storerooms with nothing but sackfulls of these things."

"But why?" Luffa asked.  "You said he's spending a fortune to mine these things, but he has so many already.   If no one wants to buy the things..."

"Buy?  Buy?" Excitebike said.  "Hmph.  That's not it at all.  I'm sure he could find a buyer, but King Gurumes doesn't want to sell.  At least, not anymore."

Luffa looked back at Excitebike in surprise, then looked back at King Gurumes.  "He's bankrupting his kingdom... mining all these gems, just so he can keep them?"

"We think the Blood Rubies have some sort of influence on the king," Excitebike said.  "That's why we saw that wall around the entire country eighteen years in the future.   In some of the cycles, Capsule Corp builds it to contain the Blood Rubies, so no one else will end up like King Gurumes here."

"S-so... hungry."   Gurumes muttered.   He began to cough, and for a moment Luffa thought he might drop dead that very moment.   Instead, he opened his mouth and unrolled his tongue to reveal four Dragon Balls.  They glowed orange, briefly illuminating the spittle gathered around Gurumes' inhuman mouth.  

"He ate the Dragon Balls?" Luffa asked with growing disgust.  

"They're his only hope now," Excitebike explained.  "Gurumes has been cursed with insatiable greed.   One Blood Ruby isn't enough for him.  He wants them all.   But he also can't be satisfied by anything else.  He can't ease his hunger with food anymore.  Whatever dish he tries, it can only satisfy him once.   The next time he eats it, it's like he didn't even have a meal.    And Gurumes had a passion for fine dining.   So by the time he understood what was happening to him, he had already eaten almost every unique kind of food on Earth.   His chefs had to get creative, inventing all new dishes for him, and when that no longer worked, Pasta and Bongo came to him, offering to track down the Dragon Balls for him.   Gurumes believes the Dragon can sate his hunger once and for all."

Luffa was familiar with the Dragon Balls.   It was the Eternal Dragon, Shenron, who had brought her to the Time Patrol in the first place.   Trunks had wished for a powerful ally, and Shenron had chosen Luffa out of all of space and time.  The Time Patrol seemed to trust the Dragon, but they still had doubts about Luffa herself.   She wondered if Shenron could actually solve Gurumes' problem, or if the Dragon's solution might leave Gurumes' dream unfulfilled.  

As she contemplated this, Luffa stepped closer to Gurumes' throne.   Repulsive as he was, she was fascinated by his pitiful condition.  She had grown up on folk tales, which often featured characters succumbing to gruesome fates because of their moral failings.  To witness King Gurumes being transformed and consumed by his own avarice, for Luffa it was like seeing one of those folk tales brought to life.  

Without really thinking about it, she crouched near his throne and reached out for one of the Blood Rubies that had fallen away from the pile.    Luffa cared little for the gems' monetary or aesthetic value.   It was their power that now intrigued her.   Whatever they were, they had somehow dominated a man and compelled him to sack his own kingdom.    

"Luffa, don't touch that!" Excitebike cried out.    

Her fingers stopped less than a centimeter from the Blood Ruby when she noticed King Gurumes beginning to stir.

"Whoooo darrres--?!" he growled.    

Luffa glanced up to find him staring straight at her.   His right hand curled into a swollen fist, which he raised menacingly above his head.   As he rose painfully to his feet, his left hand clutched at the side of his face.  

"Those arrre... miiiiine!" he slurred.  "Lousy... theeeeiivessss!"

"He... he's still conscious?" Luffa asked.   "Before, it was like he didn't even know we were here."

"It's the Blood Rubies, you clod," Excitebike snarled.  "After everything he's done, did you really think he would let you take one?"

Gurumes lurched towards Luffa with all the grace of a reanimated corpse.   His regal clothing, tailored to fit his distended body, only made him look even more horrific.   Drool spilled from his mouth as he grinned stupidly at Luffa.   Then he stumbled and fell flat on his face.  

"So... hungry," he wailed.  

"We need to leave," Excitebike insisted.   "If this keeps up, we might aggravate his transformation, and that could alter the timeline of this loop..."

"Aggravate?" Luffa asked.   "You mean he gets worse?"

*******

Following their visit to King Gurumes' castle, Excitebike took Luffa to a forest, where they set up camp for the night.  The time-cycle was supplied with Hoi Poi capsules containing a small dome-house for shelter, and enough rations to sustain them for a full year.  Luffa built a fire and sat outside as she gobbled down servings of freeze-dried ham and vegetables.   Nearby, Excitebike nursed a canteen of water.

"These things aren't half-bad," Luffa said as she wiped her face.  "Put a little of this nutrient-paste on it, and it gives it a nice tangy flavor.  Reminds me of some combat rations I looted from an enemy camp on Planet Bultran."

"Oh that's nice.   Very nice.   Well, we'll see if you still enjoy it after a few more days," Excitebike said.  "After all, you won't be eating anything else for a while."

Luffa ripped open another tube of nutrient-paste and squeezed the entire serving into her mouth.    "So why is that, anyway?" she asked after swallowing.   "You and Chronoa acted like there was something wrong with the food in this place, but it seems normal enough to me."

"That's what Swepo thought too," Excitebike said.   "Until he began to show symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Luffa asked.  

"He's a Saiyan like you," Excitebike said.  "No, not like you at all.   He has some table manners.   But he still liked to pack it away, and at the time there didn't seem to be any harm in it.   Then he started acting funny.  His appetite got out of control.  He ate more and more, and it never did any good.  And his skin started to look different, like he was bruised all over."

Luffa's eyes narrowed as she took in the Namekian's story.   "You think he came down with the same curse that got King Gurumes," she said.  

"We spent a lot of time in and around Gurumes' Land," Excitebike said.  "If the Blood Rubies are responsible for what happened to their king, then Swepo could have easily been exposed to a Ruby or two.   He might have inhaled some ruby dust.   Some of the mining equipment can crush a Blood Ruby."

"What happened to him?" Luffa asked.  

"We went back to the Time Nest," Excitebike said.  "Then he made a full recovery in less than a day.  After that, we made strict rules against eating and drinking anything in the Ruby Loop."

"But if it's the Blood Rubies that caused the problem," Luffa said, "then it should only be an issue in the Land of Gurumes, right?  The rest of the world should be uncontaminated."

"The whole planet is contaminated," Excitebike said.  "There may only be Blood Rubies in one small country, but the fact that they're on Earth at all is at odds with history!  We can't take anything for granted here, not until we get to the bottom of this.   And I doubt we'll be figuring that out anytime soon."

Luffa stood up and wiped the dust off her pants.     "This all feels like one of Towa's schemes," Luffa said.   "If she turned out to be behind all of this, it would make a lot more sense.  Like she's corrupting and mutating King Gurumes as part of one of her bizarre experiments."

"Well, it's not Towa," Excitebike insisted.   "I keep telling you, this is a natural anomaly."

"How can we be so sure?" Luffa asked.  "You said it yourself.   You've been studying this thing for years.   It all comes back to Gurumes and the Rubies, but we can't even see the moment when they first came into contact.  If I were Towa, and I wanted to cover my tracks, I might try to disguise my tampering... make it look like it happened naturally."

Excitebike replaced the cap on his canteen and took a deep breath.   "Fine," he said.   "Fine.  Fine.  Let's say you're right.  Let's say there is someone behind all of this.  How do we find them?"

"Neutralize Gurumes," Luffa said after a short pause.   "Whoever it is, they wanted Gurumes to get cursed and turned into that... creature we saw.   They wanted Gurumes to interfere in Bulma's search for the Dragon Balls. But Towa's spells would burn out after I beat up her victims, and Demigra's power sort of works the same way.  I bet if I hit Gurumes hard enough, the curse would be lifted."

Excitebike shook his head.   "Why do you think they walled him up in his own country?" he asked.   "Left unchecked, Gurumes eventually becomes an unstoppable menace.    Un-stop-a-ble!  I've read enough reports from past loops to know that this planet has thrown everything they have at Gurumes.  Conventional weapons don't put a scratch in him.   He survived having Shenron emerge from the Dragon Balls he had swallowed.   Goku even tried to fight him as a Super Saiyan.  None of it works."

"But the wall does?" Luffa asked.  

"By that time, he's practically mindless," Excitebike said.   "He won't wander far away from his hoard of Blood Rubies.  The wall is mostly there to discourage him, and to warn the authorities if he breaks out.   No one seems to know how strong he really is, but he seems to be practically indestructible.   And his hunger makes him lash out sometimes.   So the wall is a safeguard, but no one knows how effective it really is."  

Luffa held up her fist and grinned.  "Yeah, well... I'm pretty sure I can dish out a little more than Kakarot could.  And even if I can't do much damage to Gurumes, fighting him might flush out whoever's behind all of this.   Or if that doesn't work, maybe separating him from the Blood Rubies would do some good--"

"There!  Right there!" Excitebike said.   He rose to his feet and began angrily pointing his finger at Luffa.  "This is exactly why I can't stand rookies like you!"

"What'd I say?" Luffa asked.  

"What, what, what?  The same thing all of the others said whenever they learn about the Ruby Loop for the first time!  'Well if the Blood Rubies aren't supposed to be there, why don't we just remove them?'  Don't you think we've tried that?"

Luffa crossed her arms and made an expectant face.   "Well, what happened?" she demanded.  

"Nothing!  Everything!" Excitebike shouted.   "We did a cleanup operation a long time ago, gathering up every single Ruby-- by force when necessary-- and everything seemed to go fine, until we found out we couldn't remove them from the Ruby Loop.  The cargo container would be empty when we got back to the Time Nest.  Then we tried to haul the Blood Rubies into outer space, but as soon as we reached the upper atmosphere, they vanished!  And do you know where they ended up?"  

He waited a moment for Luffa to answer, and when she shrugged he thew out his hand and pointed to the west.   "They went right back to the Land of Gurumes!" he said.   "And the whole loop started over again, like nothing had ever happened!"

"Oh," Luffa said.  

"Ohhhhh," Excitebike groaned sarcastically. "We even tried using the Dragon Balls in this world to remove the Blood Rubies, but it ended up the same way.   As soon as they're removed from the planet, the Loop resets.  We think that's why the duration of the Loop changes from one cycle to the next.   Either something happens to the Rubies, or something happens to the Earth.  The cycles we've managed to chart always end at some major event.   Vegeta and Nappa's invasion, the day Mecha-Frieza landed, and the whole mess with Dr. Gero's androids.   Or maybe something else happens, but it seems unlikely that it's a coincidence-- What... what are you doing?!"

Luffa reached out with her left arm, and it began to glow with yellow energy.    She then turned her palm downward at her feet.   "You mean if I destroyed the Earth right now," Luffa asked, "I mean, right this very second.  Then this would all reset to the beginning?"

"Nownownow cut that out!" Excitebike shouted.  

"I'm not going to do actually do it," Luffa said with a mischievous smile.   "Just answer the question."

"Yes!" Excitebike said.   "The world would reset and we'd be standing right here, a few hours earlier!  But it wouldn't change anything!  So just put that away!"

Luffa nodded and the glow on her arm began to fade away.   "All right, all right," she said.  "You're too jumpy, Excitebike.  I thought you Namekians were supposed to be calm and spiritual."

"And I thought you Saiyans were smart enough to control yourselves..." Excitebike muttered.  "You might not be able to destroy the Earth we're standing on, but you'd probably kill me at least.  So why don't you just knock it off with the theatrics you... you...!"

But Luffa was already busy considering her next move.   "It sounds like all we've got is the change in history, which we can't even observe because it happened before the beginning of each cycle," she said.   "Wait... the people in the Loop know what happened before, don't they?"

"What are you babbling about now?" Excitebike asked.

"I mean, Kakarot has a Dragon Ball because it's been sitting in his house," Luffa said.   "And Bulma invented the Dragon Radar to find it.   That all happened before the first day of the Loop, right?"

"Of course," Excitebike said.  "Those moments aren't actually part of the Loop, but the outcomes of those events are still in tact."

"Then Bulma remembers things that happened before the beginning of the cycle," Luffa concluded.  "We can't travel to the day she invented the Dragon Radar, but if we asked her, she could tell us all about it."

"That's true," Excitebike said, "but what does that get us?"

"I'm just using it as an example," Luffa said.  "It's actually Pasta and Bongo I'm more interested in.  King Gurumes may not have a clear memory of things, but Pasta could probably shed some light on all of this.   From what you told me, it sounds like they never had anything to do with the Dragon Balls in the true timeline."

"That's right," Excitebike said, somewhat impatiently.   "But what can they tell us?   Gurumes hired them to track down the Dragon Balls for him.  They're just mercenaries."

"Good," Luffa said.  "Because mercenaries sometimes know things that their clients wouldn't want to share with the regular army.   Pasta and Bongo could shed some light on things."

"Why should they talk to us?" Excitebike objected.  "Unless you plan to force them, and that still wouldn't stop them from lying..."

"Oh, I have my ways," Luffa said with a smirk.  "I just need to touch them, and--"

"What was that?" Excitebike suddenly said as he whirled around  and began to scan the darkness around them.  

Luffa was confused, but only until her Saiyan nostrils caught the scent that accompanied the noise picked up by his Namekian ears.   For a brief moment, she expected to find an enemy, one of King Gurumes' soldiers, or perhaps even some demon wizard who had chosen to reveal himself as the mastermind of the Ruby Loop.  

Instead, it was a small Earthling child who stepped out of the shadows.  She wore a red dress with a white pinafore apron over it.  The ensemble matched her red hair and the white meshback cap she wore.   From under the bill of the hat, her inquisitive brown eyes scanned the Time Patrol Campsite and took in the pair of aliens.  There was an awkward pause, until finally she took a step back and blurted out one question.

"Which one of you is Oolong?"

"Oolong?" Luffa asked.

"Better move along, kid," Excitebike said nervously.   "Go on, get out of here!"

The child did not need to be told twice, and she turned and ran as quickly as her legs would carry her.  

"What was that all about?" Luffa asked.  

"That's Pansy," Excitebike said.  "She's one of Gurumes' subjects. When they found Blood Rubies in her village, King Gurumes ordered it demolished so the mining crews could take over.  She didn't like that very much, so she ran off to seek help from Master Roshi.  She made it to this forest, where she eventually runs into Son Goku and Bulma."

"So that's another change from the genuine history, then," Luffa said.   "Hmmph.   She never would have gotten involved with them if it weren't for the Blood Rubies."

"Even if she had," Excitebike said, "she wouldn't have met Bulma and Goku here anyway.   If Pasta and Bongo hadn't stolen the Dragon Ball from Goku's house, they would have taken a different route, leading them to Aru Village."

"Aru Village?" Luffa asked.  

"One of the Dragon Balls was there," Excitebike explained.  "The six-star ball.   But Goku had to save it from Oolong first before they could get it.  Oolong was terrorizing them with his shape-shifter powers.   Apparently, in this altered time, Pasta and Bongo got to Aru first.   They might have forced Oolong to prey on this forest instead.   Of course, he didn't realize it was so close to Yamcha's territory.    So in this timeline, they all met in one night."

"That seems like a strange coincidence," Luffa said.  

"We can track down Pasta and Bongo in the morning," Excitebike said.  "I doubt it's much of a lead, but it's better than doing nothing.   Now let's get some sleep."

*******

Luffa wanted to follow Excitebike's orders.   She was still sore from her loss to Beerus, even after Chronoa had partially healed her and given her time to rest.  And while they had not spent long in the Ruby Loop so far, it had been a lot to take in.   But sleep never came easily to Luffa, and so she found herself lying awake, staring at the ceiling of her small bedroom.

The entire mission frustrated her, and while Excitebike had done much talking and explaining, she felt just as confused as she was at the beginning.  As irritating as Excitebike was, she suspected that he was just venting his own frustrations with the Ruby Loop.  It was difficult for Luffa to grasp the problem, and even harder to suggest any actions that the Time Patrol hadn't already tried.  

And yet, Luffa had to come up with something, for Chronoa believed she was the only one who could solve the mystery.   She had sent Luffa back in time, with a note for the Chronoa-of-last-week. The note cryptically read "SHE'S READY", and the Chronoa-of-last-week concluded that this was in reference to the Ruby Loop.  And past-Chronoa's guess must have been correct, or otherwise future-Chronoa would have written the note to be more clearly.  This was Chronoa's reasoning, anyway.  

At first, Luffa had been willing to play along, but staring at the ceiling in the dark had given her time to reflect on the absurdity of it.   No one actually wrote the note.  Chronoa had penned the words on the paper, but she didn't think of them herself.   She was simply transcribing the note when it arrived from the future with Luffa.  The whole thing depended on this idea that "SHE'S READY" was this profound, unmistakable message that had to be true, and yet no one actually sent the message; it was merely forwarded through time in an endless cycle.    

Worse, it bound Luffa to a destiny she was now obligated to fulfill.  Her impulse was to step back and support Excitebike as he took charge of the mission, but if that were possible, he would have solved the case on his own a long time ago.  If Chronoa was right, then Luffa would have to do something, because she already had.

It was the certainty of it that Luffa found so paralyzing.   If the outcome was so inevitable, then what did any of it matter?

It reminded her of the way Luffa's wife would speak of divine purpose.   Providence, Zatte had believed, would use Luffa for some important role in the grand design.   Apparently, the Dragon Balls must have agreed, as Shenron brought Luffa to the Time Patrol to grant their wish for a powerful ally.   And now Chronoa had created a prophecy for herself, stating that Luffa was the key to an entirely different problem.  

Luffa raised her left arm and looked at her knuckles in the faint moonlight from the window.   All she wanted to do was fight.  It was one thing to inspire people.  That was just a matter of being a great warrior, and setting a standard that others could look up to.   But this business of "special destiny" was something else completely.  

As she mulled over this, and several other grim thoughts that had been on her mind for some time, she suddenly noticed a strange noise coming from outside the window.   At first, she thought it was some wild animal lurking around their campsite.   Then she saw a flash of light, which was followed by an obnoxious alarm.  

Luffa sprang into action immediately.  She clambered out of her room and headed straight for the door, slowing down only to check on Excitebike.   The door to his room was wide open, and his bunk was empty, which did not surprise her.  Namekian hearing was far more sensitive than her own, and he might have heard the intruder long before Luffa.  

She stepped out into the night and found a figure squatting over his motorcycle.    The glare from the headlights made the intruder look like an indistinct shadow, and the shrill horn of the timebike's security system drowned out whatever he might have been saying.  

He was hunched over the side compartments of the cycle, rummaging through the bags of Hoi Poi Capsules that contained their supplies.  

"Get away from the bike!" Luffa shouted.   She would have thought Excitebike would have already intervened.   He had beaten her outside, and yet there was no sign of him, even when a bandit was threatening his prized vehicle.  

As she approached the raider, she wondered why Excitebike hadn't just stowed the timebike in its own Hoi Poi Capsule, the way he normally did.   He seemed to cherish the machine like it was a member of the family.  

And then she suddenly remembered that Excitebike had put the bike in its capsule.   She remembered seeing him put the capsule in the pocket of his jumpsuit before they went to bed.   Then what was it doing out here?  

She reached out to grab the intruder by the shoulder.   Whoever he was, he paid no heed to Luffa's warning.  Judging from the size of him, he was probably used to intimidating people with his bulk.  

"I said--!" Luffa growled, but as she pulled the intruder away, she finally got a look at his face, and her eyes went wide with horror.  

"What?! What?! What?!"  he snarled.  

It looked like a pale-skinned Namekian, but his body had swollen, and the cuffs and legs of his orange jumpsuit had been torn to rags by the expansion.   His mouth was covered with half-chewed food: freeze-dried ham, mixed vegetables, and nutrient paste.   There was no mistaking it, as the wrappers that contained the rations lay scattered at his feet.  

"Excitebike?!" Luffa gasped.  "What's the matter with you?"

"Leave me alone!" he screeched.   "Can't a man have a midnight snack in peace?!"

 NEXT: Lonely Among Us.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #excitebike #pansy #king gurumes #master roshi #oolong #earth

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (192/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z. 

     [3 September, Age 749.  Earth.]  

One story ends with a little girl offering an apple to a king.    

The king used to be a monster, but now he's naked.   But at least he's not a monster anymore, so he's not that worried about it.    But he's so hungry.   As a monster, he couldn't satisfy his cravings, no matter what he ate.   He learned of the seven magic Dragon Balls, which could grant any wish.   He paid dearly to acquire them all, but in his desperate hunger he swallowed them, and then another summoned the Dragon, which burst forth from his distended, inhuman belly.  

He should have died in that moment, but somehow he still lived, and somehow he heard the little girl's wish:

"We don't need the Blood Rubies!   Just turn my land back to the way it was!"

And it was done.    

But the land was more than just earth and rivers and trees.    The land had a spirit too, and was that spirit not bound up with the people who called it home?    Villagers, farmers, merchants, and yes, even kings.   That was the only explanation King Gurumes could imagine for his survival.   Either the dragon restored him along with the land that bore his name, or the dragon lifted his curse by removing the Blood Rubies.    

Now, he is alive and human once again.    Even the hunger has changed.   It feels more like real hunger, and the craving subsides the moment he swallows the first bite of the little girl's apple.  

In that moment, King Gurumes feels the full weight of his shame.   He had nearly destroyed his own kingdom, all for the sake of the Blood Rubies, as treasure he didn't even need.    Now that the Blood Rubies are gone, he wonders why he ever wanted them in the first place.    

And yet, he can't help but look up into the sky, and wonder what became of those beautiful red stones.    Where did the Eternal Dragon take them, and what would happen to them?

And then, a short time later, it all comes to an end.    The land, the king, the little girl, the apple, all of it.    There is no prelude, no sense of climactic doom or relief.   No gentle transition, like a person drifting off to sleep.  There is simply the last moment, and then nothing afterward.   The ending.  King Gurumes, and everyone else in his world, is suddenly gone.

But not for long.  As this story ends, another begins.   The cycle continues.   The heart beats, and the blood of this tale continues another lap on its endless course.  

*******

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

The dreams were a little different each time, but they always played out the same way.    There were so many nightmares that haunted Luffa, but then she came to Toki Toki City.   Then the dreams began to change.  

She would sometimes find herself in the dining hall of her old star-yacht.   Or she would be back on the colony on Dorlu Prime.   Or even in the habitat section of her parents' starship, where she spent her early childhood.   And she would be there, talking to her parents, like nothing had changed.   It would be dark.  

Sometimes the family's missions involved silent runnings, where her parents would reduce power to as many ship's systems as possible to avoid detection.  Luffa enjoyed these times.   There was nothing else to do but wait for the ship to coast towards its destination, and so her parents would sit in the habitat section for hours, sometimes days, and just be with her.   It was such a comforting experience that Luffa almost felt ashamed of herself for craving it.   Her parents were long dead, and that ship had been scuttled a long time ago.   But her subconscious mind allowed her to seek refuge there, and for a time, the nightmares would be held at bay.   At worst, Luffa would sometimes remember that she was no longer a little girl, and this would feel awkward in the dream.   Her mother and father would seem so much smaller by comparison.   And then she would recall that she was the Legendary Super Saiyan, but her parents' younger selves never seemed terribly concerned about it.  

"It just sort of happened," Luffa would mumble in a confused explanation.   Her mother would shrug, and her father would pretend to check the sensors.    

"You're probably wondering about her," Luffa would sometimes say, for she would suddenly notice her own wife in the dream, there on the ship with them, even though the real Zatte had never been on the real ship.  But the dream-logic made this discontinuity a mild faux pas at best.    

Zatte would say nothing, but snuggle up next to Luffa as they sat on one of the two sofas on opposite sides of the hab section.   Luffa's parents would sit on the other, and it was just the four of them.  

"I, uh... well, I got married.   She's an alien," Luffa would say.   "Well, you know her, Father.   Before you died...."  

This was when it became odd, as Luffa's mind tried to rationalize her memories with the dream.   She had killed her father a long time ago, but he was here, now, and everything was okay.   Her sleeping mind concluded that her blow must not have been fatal after all, and he was alive again, and everything was okay.

There would be a sort of rambling, one-sided discussion of Luffa's bisexuality.   She had never told her parents about this.   In the dream, no one seemed concerned about it, but she had always felt a need to spell it out to her parents, and this seemed like a good opportunity.   She vaguely heard her mother's voice, perhaps from the other room, saying she had always known.   But Luffa couldn't tell for sure.   Maybe she had imagined it.    

"Did you say you always knew?" Luffa asked when her mother returned.   Her mother didn't answer, and Luffa felt unwilling to press the issue.    Zatte was there, warm and fragrant and affectionate as always.    The scent of Dorlun sweat in her eyepatch mingled beautifully with the odors of the hab section.    It felt right.   It felt like family.  

"The Time Patrol wants me back for another mission," Luffa said to her.    "But it's not so bad now that you're back, Zattie.   I... well, it still hurts, you know."

"What hurts?" Zatte asked, staring up at Luffa, her left eye sparkling like an emerald.    

"When you died," Luffa said.  "I know it wasn't on purpose, and it all worked out."  How had it all worked out?    The dream didn't know or care, so long as it had.    "But it still tears me up inside.   All that time I thought you were gone."

"I am gone, Luffa," Zatte said.  

Luffa didn't understand that.   Later (How much later?  Minutes?   Hours?), Luffa would realize no one was in the hab section.   Zatte would be gone.    Her mother would be gone.  She would wander the ship trying to find them, or even check aboard the star-yacht, or in Toki Toki City.    They would be nowhere.    She would go to ask her father in the pilot section, but he would be gone too.   And gradually, the realization would set in.   They were all dead, and they were never coming back, and none of this had made any sense, because none of it had been real.    

And then Luffa would wake up.   Not to daylight, or chirping birds, or anything else that might take her mind off what she had just experienced.    It would always be the darkness of astronomical twilight, with just enough light through the window of her apartment bedroom to make it plain where she was.   The blankets would be tangled around her legs, and she would always try to go back to sleep, but never succeed.   She just lay there for a time, while the tears evaporated from her face.    

"Idiot," Luffa said to herself as she finally surrendered to the day.  "She's gone.   She's dead.    Leave her in the past.   It's what her culture demands.    I can honor that at least."

She rolled out of bed and went to the shower.    Once she was dressed, she knocked on her roommate's door to see if she was awake.  

"What is it?" Jayncho's voice called from behind the door.  

"Just checking if you were awake.    You want breakfast?"

"Whatever," Jayncho said.    

This was close enough to a 'yes' for Luffa, and so she headed for their small kitchen to begin.    She liked Jayncho, mostly because she was blunt and uncomplicated, but Luffa had begun to prefer it when Jayncho was asleep.   She had gotten into the habit of talking to the Majin woman while she slept.   Majins would pass out for days at a time, and they were very sound sleepers, and somehow Luffa found it easier to say certain things when there was someone else in the room who couldn't possibly hear.    If Jayncho hadn't answered the knock, Luffa probably would have entered the room and talked about her dreams.    As it was, she found cooking to be a good way to take her mind off her troubles, and making an extra serving for Jayncho helped extend that therapeutic experience.

After a time, Luffa carried a pair of plates to the table and set one at Jayncho's seat.   The Majin stared at it for a moment, then looked up expectantly at Luffa.

"What?" Luffa asked.   "Don't tell me you want more whipped cream on top.  You might as well just eat that stuff straight out of the container."

"No, it's fine," Jayncho said.  "It's just... aren't you going to set a plate for her?"

Luffa had no idea who she was talking about.   There was no one else in the apartment, and when she looked around to see what Jayncho meant, she didn't actually expect to see anyone.   And yet, there was an old woman sitting beside Jayncho now.   She looked like an Earthling, but her body suddenly changed, her skin turning blue, and her hair turning pink.

"Keda?!" Luffa gasped.  

"You don't have room for me anymore?" Keda asked.   Her body had now fully assumed Dorlun form, but she continued to change anyway, growing older and older.  In seconds, her wrinkled skin began to wither and flake off of her body.

Luffa took a step back and dropped her own plate.   "No..." was all she could say.

"Isn't she family too?" asked another familiar voice.   Luffa looked around to find her son, Xibuyas, standing in the doorway.   He had been raised to despise her, and she had tried to kill him on Nagaoka, but somehow he had survived, at least long enough to become the consort and general of...

"Aren't we all your family, Luffa?" asked Queen Seltiss.   She had been a teenager--Princess Seltiss-- when Luffa last saw her, eleven centuries ago.   Now she wore the finery of Saiyan royalty, like the painting she had seen from Dewar's historical files.   Somehow she and Xibuyas had both survived the destruction of Nagaoka, married, and assumed control of the Saiyan kingdom.  

Then Luffa heard the clicking, and the scratching.   She was accustomed to these noises.  During her months-long captivity, the insectoid Tikosi made such noises all the time.  They haunted her nightmares ever since.  

But this time it wasn't the Tikosi clawing at the walls of her apartment.  This time, when the multitude of grasping fingers came tearing through, they belonged to Saiyan hands.   Most of them were dressed like Time Patrollers.  Others wore the uniforms Luffa had seen on Frieza's soldiers.  

As they swarmed over Luffa, she looked back to find Keda reduced to dusty skeleton.  Jayncho was still sitting beside her, cutting her pancakes with a fork.  

"We're gonna need a bigger apartment," the Majin said glumly.  

Luffa struggled in vain.  There was no stopping the mob, no escaping them.  And as they crushed around her from every side, tearing at her hair, ripping at her flesh and clothing, she could hear Seltiss laughing from the doorway.

"Well what do think of your descendants, mom?" Seltiss asked.   "Are you proud of your brood?  Because you're nothing to them.   At least my generation hated you.   But these Saiyans?  They don't even know you ever existed."

Luffa tried to scream, but there were too many hands grasping at her mouth, strangling her throat.   What little air she could breathe was hot and stuffy.  She was trapped, completely trapped!   And just when it seemed like she would never escape--

*******

Luffa awoke with a scream.   The world around her was dark shadows held at bay by a bright yellow light.   She was hyperventilating.   She had no idea where she was.  

Years of dealing with trauma had forced her to learn how to react quickly to these situations.   The Tikosi had tormented Luffa with their cruel experiments.  The ordeal had led her body to achieve the legendary Super Saiyan transformation, but it had also scarred her psyche.  Luffa spent much of her life aboard spaceships, and the Super Saiyan power gave her the raw strength to cause a hull breach with a single, unthinking blow.  The only way to cope with the nightmares while traveling in space was to quickly come to her senses and begin the process of reigning in her power.  

She forced herself to control her breathing, and locked her forearms under the crooks of her knees.    Even though her every instinct pleaded for her to run, to fight, to move, she refused.   She had to remain as still as possible, until that thing inside her was brought to heel.

As she lay on her side, curled up in a ball, she reached out with her senses, telling herself again and again that there was nothing there, nothing at all that could harm her.   She curled her tail around her waist and stared at the end of it, watching the golden glow of the fur as she willed it to turn dark.   And finally, after long minutes, the glow obeyed her, and Luffa found herself in the gloom.

"Idiot!" she snarled to herself.   She took the nightmares personally, as if they reflected poorly on her character.  Those who knew Luffa would all speak highly of her great courage, but in Luffa's mind, she saw herself as a craven weakling, always fighting to rise above that status.  

Gradually, the realization sank in for Luffa that she had no idea where she was.  This was not her apartment, nor her star-yacht from centuries in the past, nor the hospital in Toki Toki City.  The odor of the room was more similar to the Time Vault, but not quite.  She was sitting on a futon in the center of a small room with stone walls.     She had noticed a small window while she was glowing, but now she couldn't see anything on the other side.  

She thought back to the last thing she remembered, hoping to understand what had happened.  Beerus, the God of Destruction, had come to the Time Nest, demanding to face Demigra, the Time Patrol's latest enemy.   As such a battle would have destroyed Toki Toki City and everything in it, Luffa offered to destroy Demigra on Beerus' behalf, and he reluctantly agreed to consider it following a demonstration of her fighting ability.  

It had been a tremendous honor.   Luffa had heard only brief tales of the God of Destruction in various alien mythologies.  To meet him in person was a thrill.  To see him fight Son Goku during a Time Patrol mission had been a privilege.  But Luffa could now say that she had sparred with Beerus personally, and perhaps even earned a measure of his respect.   At the end of their exhibition, she asked him to defeat her with a single strike, so that she could experience some small sample of his true strength.   Beerus had deigned to grant her request, and knocked her out with a single chop to her shoulder.  

Luffa didn't actually remember the exact movement of that attack, but her shoulder and neck still ached from the blow, and she couldn't remember anything after that.  So unless she had lost some other fight in her sleep, it all seemed to add up.   Someone must have brought her to this place to recuperate.  

Feeling calmer, Luffa decided to explore her surroundings.   She could sense no ki energy from anyone.   She had met beings that could conceal themselves from her ki senses.   Beerus was the most recent and noteworthy example, but her surroundings still smelled like Toki Toki City, which should have been bustling with powerful warriors.  

Luffa held up her left hand and concentrated until a ball of yellow energy coalesced above her palm.   She used it like a lantern as she took in her surroundings.   The room was mostly featureless.  There was a toilet and sink mounted along the wall, and a small desk with a stool. It looked more like a prison cell than an  infirmary.   The window she had noticed was part of the door.   She tried the handle, and was surprised to find the door unlocked.  Then she checked the handle on the other side and noticed it had been locked, but only from the outside.  A sign was posted which bore a pictogram warning people to keep out.  

Luffa shook her head and moved on to the hallway.   There were other rooms, but their doors were ajar, and with no sign of anyone inside.   Then, at the end of the hallway, she noticed another door opening, and a small figure emerged.   Suddenly, the room was illuminated, though Luffa could find no light fixtures.  

"Good, you're finally awake," Chronoa said.   "Maybe now you can help me get to the bottom of this."

Luffa had no idea what she was talking about.

*******

"So I was in my house, just minding my own business," Chronoa said, "I was trying to meditate on my past experiences with Demigra, and figure out how we should handle him now that he's back.   But then you suddenly showed up.   Just lying on my couch like you had been there all along."

The Supreme Kai of Time had led Luffa to a lounge area that was in the same building as the room she had been in.   There was a kettle on a hot plate, and the Kai used her powers to make it boil in a fraction of the time it would have normally taken.  

Like Beerus, Chronoa was a god, but it was harder to think of her that way.  The Kai was a very small woman, even shorter than Luffa, who was below average height among Saiyans.    Chronoa's rose-colored skin and pointed ears might have meant something to Earthlings, who were unaccustomed to dealing with beings from other worlds, but Luffa had dealt with far more unusual aliens.    And Chronoa was far less overbearing than Beerus the Destroyer.   The Kai commanded the Time Patrol, and she was responsible for the preservation of history itself, but she still treated her mortal subordinates like friends and peers.   It was hard to think of Chronoa as a god, much less a god who had lived for seventy-five million years.  

"So I brought you here," Chronoa said.   "And I've been keeping tabs on you for the last day or so."

She carried the kettle back to a conference table and began to pour it over a pair of mugs she had set out.   Luffa's mug bore the words "Multiverse's Best Supreme Kai of Time!"   Chronoa's mug had a print of the periodic table of chemical elements.   Between them was a  tray of crepes and tiny sandwiches, and Luffa helped herself.  

"Where is 'here'?" Luffa asked between crepes.

"I call it the isolation ward," Chronoa explained.   "Sometimes I get a visitor from a different time frame, and it might be dangerous to let them mingle with anyone else.   They might hear things about their own future, or reveal future events to others.   So I built this place underneath the Time Vault to keep them quarantined until I could figure out what to do with them."

"Quarantined?" Luffa asked.   "You and Trunks brought me here from the past, remember?  He used the Dragon Balls to wish for a powerful ally, and I got yanked across the centuries.   And you're only just now worried about what that might do to the timeline?"

Chronoa nodded patiently as she waited for Luffa to finish.   "Centuries are actually easier to deal with in these situations, believe it or not," she said.  "What makes this situation so sensitive is that you've been transported a few days through time.   Do you remember the date?"

"April 20," Luffa said.   "Well, you said I've been out for a full day, so it must be the twenty-first by now."

"No, it's not," Chronoa said.   "Here, in this moment, it's April 6.   You've gone back in time, Luffa."

"What?" Luffa asked.  "But how could that--?!"

"I sent you," Chronoa explained.   "Well, I will send you back, eventually."

"But how could you know it was you if you haven't done it yet?!" Luffa demanded.  

"Because I've done this sort of thing before, from time to time," Chronoa explained.   I always leave them on my couch when I do it, because that way my past self will notice it right away, and I'll know it was me.   I don't know exactly why my future self sent you, but you were in pretty rough shape when I found you, like you'd lost a fight.   So I'm assuming I needed you healed up, but there wasn't time to wait."

Luffa looked herself over for a moment.   Her yellow pants and black compression shirt were scuffed and damaged, but she couldn't find any of the scrapes or bruises she had sustained from fighting Beerus.   Her shoulder was still sore from Beerus' finishing strike, and she still a weariness from that battle, but it wasn't as bad as she would have expectd.  

"I guess you must have gotten someone to heal me up," she said.  

"No, I had to do that myself," Chronoa explained.   "I couldn't risk taking you to the hospital, or even bringing someone from the staff here.   So I used my own empathic healing powers to take the damage from your body into mine.  But I couldn't get it all in one go, so I had to do a little bit at a time.   And I'm still not done yet.   Someone must have really worked you over, Luffa."

Luffa rubbed her hand over the area where Beerus had delivered his finishing chop.   "Yeah, you might say that," she said with a wince.   "I'm still pretty sore, but I guess I got off pretty light, considering it was B--"

"No!  Shut up!   Stop talking this instant!"

Chronoa had suddenly leaped out of her seat and was now standing in her chair, waving her arms wildly.    Luffa hadn't seen her this upset since Beerus arrived in the Time Nest.  Although, if what Chronoa was telling her was the truth, then Beerus hadn't actually arrived yet.

"What's your problem?" Luffa asked.  

"You can't tell me what you've been doing," Chronoa insisted.   "If you do, then it'll create a paradox!"

"Didn't you already do that by sending me back in the first place?" Luffa asked.   "I mean, now you know you'll have to send me back on a certain day.   Wait, have I got that right?"

"Yes, but that's all I know, and my future self took that into account!" Chronoa said.  "But if you tell me anything more than that, it could upset that cycle.  We've got enough problems on our hands already, what with the Demigra situation and all.   Unless you've already defeated him in your time..."

Luffa opened her mouth to explain that she hadn't, but Chronoa cut her off before she could say anything.    

"No!  Don't tell me!" she squealed.  "I don't want to know!  Well, I do, honestly, but I can't!"

"All right, sheesh!" Luffa said.   "I got my clock cleaned, and we'll just leave it at that.   But I'm feeling better now, so why don't I just go back to my apartment and I can cook myself a proper meal and sleep in my own bed?"

"Because you can't," Chronoa said.   "Because you're already there."

Luffa could only offer a perplexed look.  

"From your perspective," Chronoa explained, "this moment in time is in your past.   What were you doing two weeks ago?"

"Working for you," Luffa said.   "I was training so I'd be ready for Demigra, and then I'd stop by the Time Vault to check up on things."

"What else?"

Luffa shrugged.   "I'd go home and go to sleep," she said.   "I'd eat.   Maybe hang out with Dewar or Mosh, or one of the others."

"Exactly!" Chronoa said.   "You can't just go back to your own apartment, because your past self is already there.   Do you remember meeting your future self on April 6?"

"What?  No!"

"Then there you go!" Chronoa insisted.   "Not only are you forbidden from meeting your past self, but we now know that it couldn't have happened!  You must have listened to me when I told you this, because you never went and found your past self."

"I think I hate this," Luffa grumbled.

"You hate it?" Chronoa whined.   "How do you think I feel?  I can't stand dealing with these kinds of situations!"  

"Well then why did you send me back in the first place?" Luffa asked.  

"I already told you, I don't know!" Chronoa seethed.   "I haven't done it yet."

"Okay, okay!" Luffa said.    "This isn't helping anything.  Look, I'm feeling better now, and I appreciate you taking the time to heal me up.  But if there's nothing else for me to do here, then why don't you just... zap me back to my present time?  I mean, you can do that, right?"

"Sure I can," Chronoa said.  "But it's not that simple."

Luffa planted her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands.  

"Well, it's not," Chronoa said.  

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Luffa asked.  "I can't just sit in this ward of yours for two weeks and wait for everyone else to catch up."

"Normally, I'd agree," Chronoa said.  "Sending you back would be the most sensible option, because it would minimize any temporal contamination.  But I think my future  self had something else in mind for you, Luffa."

She began to reach into the inside of her purple coat and fished around for something.   Just as Luffa began to run out of patience, Chronoa finally withdrew her hand and held up a piece of paper, which she placed on the table.  

"What's this?" Luffa asked.  

"I found it stuck to your shirt when you showed up on my couch."

Luffa unfolded the paper and found two words written on it in big letters.  

'SHE'S READY'

There was also a heart drawn under the words, but Luffa ignored this.

"That's my handwriting," Chronoa said.   "I think it's safe to say that I sent this message to myself."

"I'm ready?" Luffa asked.   "Ready for what?"

"I have a hunch about that," Chronoa said.   "It couldn't be anything you were already involved in, because I already have a Luffa of my own working for me in this time period.  My future self wouldn't just loan me her Luffa for that.  It'd be redundant."

"Sure..." Luffa said.  By now she was prepared to go along with almost anything Chronoa said.  

"So I started thinking about other assignments," Chronoa said.  "To be honest, I had to get creative.  There's a lot of jobs that you just aren't cut out for, Luffa.  Shenron brought you to us to help us fight Towa, Mira, and Demigra.   And you've done well with that, but there's a lot of jobs that you just wouldn't be qualified for.  No offense, but you're kind of hard to get along with."

"Hmmph!" was all Luffa had to say to that.  

"Well, something must have changed my mind in the future," Chronoa said, "because I'm going to send you back to this point, with a note that tells me you're ready.   Ready for something that I wouldn't have considered before today."

"Look, if you've got a job for me to do, let's just get on with it," Luffa said.  "Point me at whatever you need beaten up, and I'll handle it.  Sorting out this time travel business is your end, Chronoa."

Chronoa smiled warmly.   "See, that's exactly the sort of attitude I'm talking about," she said.   "That's why I never would have picked you out for this mission.   But now that I've thought about it... well, it's  so nutty that it just might work."

She hopped down from her chair and gestured for Luffa to follow her out the door.   "Come on," she said.  "It'll be easier if I show you."

Luffa sighed and grabbed a few more sandwiches to bring along with her.  

*******

Fittingly, perhaps, Chronoa simply led Luffa back to the same room where Luffa had awakened.  Only this time, she kept going down the hallway, and pointed out a different room a few doors down, one which Luffa had not noticed before.  

"I don't get it," Luffa said.   There was a red glow from the window, but before, the room had been dark, and the door was ajar.  Now, it was locked, and Chronoa was inserting a key she had taken from her jacket.  

"It's a security measure," Chronoa said.  "In case anyone stumbles across this place, they'll have a hard time finding anything they're not supposed to see.   Each of these rooms is confined to a different time dimension.   You're only seeing it like this now because I'm aligning it with your perception."

"Sure, whatever you say," Luffa said.   She wasn't sure why she bothered asking questions about these things.  

"It's the same reason you can't sense any ki energy outside of the ward," Chronoa added.  As she unlocked the door, she pointed her other hand toward the ceiling.    Trunks is in the Time Vault, right above us, but he can't sense us and you can't sense him."

"Oh," Luffa said, glancing up at the stone surface above her.  

"So far, all of the missions you've done for us have involved bad guys trying to tamper with history," Chronoa explained.   "Demons like Towa aren't so different from the enemies you must have battled in your own native era."

"Pretty much," Luffa admitted.  "You're saying there's more to it than that?"

"A lot of temporal anomalies are naturally-occurring," Chronoa said. "You'd think they'd be easier to deal with, because there's no hostile actor behind the trouble.   And sure, sometimes they're not so bad, but every so often we find one that's not so easy to fix.    And then there's the ones where we have trouble figuring out what the problem even is."

Chronoa opened the door, and gestured for Luffa to follow her inside.   As she crossed the threshold, she saw a large red crystal floating in the middle of the empty room.   The glow she had seen earlier was being generated by the object.   It pulsed with red light, almost like a strange, inorganic heart.  

"I don't have an official name for this," Chronoa said.  "But over the years, we've had a few Time Patrollers study it, and a few of them came up with nicknames.   Most people, though, they just call it 'The Ruby Loop.'"

Luffa had no idea what it was, or why it was important.    And so she simply stared at the object, knowing that she would have to discover its secrets the hard way.

Perhaps Luffa was ready, but she wasn't sure that she was looking forward to it.

 NEXT: Cry Excitebike!

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #chronoa #toki toki city #earth #pansy #king gurumes

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (190/?)

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 takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

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

Inside the Time Vault, Chronoa monitored Luffa's mission with great concern.   The Scroll of Eternity allowed her to view everything that was happening in the affected time period, but there were complications that made it difficult to tell what was happening.  

"We still can't see or hear Demigra in the Scroll," Trunks observed.  He was Chronoa's closest and most trusted aide, and the field leader of the Time Patrol she had formed to assist her in her duties.  Under different circumstances, she would have sent Trunks to handle such a delicate mission, but he was too closely connected to the events and people involved, and his presence ran the risk of upsetting the balance of the affected timestream.  

And so, instead, she had sent Luffa, the Time Patrol's newest recruit.  Luffa was easy to spot in the mystic images displayed by the Scroll.   Her hair glowed bright yellow while she used her Super Saiyan form, and her baggy pants were colored to match.   The trouble was that Luffa wasn't doing very much, and so monitoring her didn't seem particularly helpful.    

"It looked like Lord Beerus was being affected by Demigra's magic," Chronoa said.   "But then he just seemed to snap out of it.   Maybe he attacked Demigra, but there's no way to tell from here, not while he's able to hide his presence from the Scroll like this.  We'll have to wait for Luffa to give us a report."  

"At least Goku survived," Trunks said.  "And the Earth wasn't destroyed.   I never knew about this event.   Goku transforming into a Super Saiyan God?  It's feels so unreal."

Chronoa nodded absently.  From Trunks' perspective, all of it was unreal, because he came from another timeline where Goku died of a heart virus years before he ever had the chance to discover the Super Saiyan God form.   Trunks had traveled back in time to prevent that tragedy, and in doing so, he had violated a cosmic rule against altering the past.  Chronoa had allowed both timelines to continue to exist, in exchange for Trunks' help in running the Time Patrol.   So it was no wonder that he wasn't well-versed in the timeline he had altered.  He had his native timeline to focus on, and his duties in the Time Patrol as well.  

"What I don't understand is why Luffa is just... floating there talking to Lord Beerus," Chronoa said.  I don't like it..."

"Can't you bring her back to the Time Nest?" Trunks asked.  "The mission is over, isn't it?   Whatever Demigra is up to, it must have failed."

"I don't want to risk upsetting Lord Beerus," Chronoa said.   "If I brought Luffa back now, I'd interrupt their conversation, and he can be a bit... touchy about these things.  You saw what he did to your father over a serving of pudding."

"Oh, right," Trunks said.   "It's amazing that there could be anyone that strong.  I'm glad it's over, though."

"Is it?" Chronoa asked.  She looked up from the Scroll and locked eyes with Trunks.   "The situation with Lord Beerus may be resolved, but Demigra's still out there, planning his next move.   He may not have been able to control Beerus the same way he could control Majin Buu, but the fact that he even dared to try is troubling all by itself."

"That's true," Trunks said, "we shouldn't relax just yet.  Still, what else can Demigra do from here?  Luffa and I are powerful enough to deal with Majin Buu if he tries to control him again, and it looks like Demigra's spell won't work on anyone stronger than that.  He's boxed in."

"That's what I'm worried about," Chronoa said as she chewed her lower lip.  "You know what they say about animals being most dangerous when they're cornered.  Demigra's been planning this for a long time.  I don't think he's finished just yet."  

She looked back down at the Scroll to see if Luffa was still speaking with Beerus and Whis, only to find all three of them were gone.   "Where did they go?" she asked.  

"I don't know," Trunks said.  "I wasn't watching."

"Ugh... just when I was about to bring her back to the Time Nest," Chronoa said.   "They must have gone back down to Bulma's birthday party to get another snack!  Well, Lord Beerus is free to do as he pleases, but we need Luffa back here to tell us what the heck is going on..."

She touched the Scroll gently, moving her fingers across its parchment to reverse the images to the moment before they disappeared, but before she could find the exact moment she wanted to view, she sensed something that caused her to forget about the Scroll altogether.

"Someone's in the Time Nest," she said with a gasp.  

"An intruder?" Trunks asked.

"I don't know," Chronoa said, "but it wasn't one of our people coming in from the City, and I didn't bring anyone in from the timestream."

"Then we'd better not take any chances!" Trunks said.  "I'll check it out, but you'd better stay here in case you need to call in reinforcements!"

As he dashed out of the main atrium of the Time Vault, Chronoa looked back at the Scroll.   Even if they were being invaded, it would need to be put in proper storage.   But before she could deal with that, she noticed the images it displayed, and her eyes went wide with terror.  

"Oh no..." she said.   "Anything but that!"

*******

"Oh my, L-lord Beerus!   It has been quite a while, hasn't it?!"

Chronoa emerged from the Time Vault to find exactly what she feared the most.   She almost wished that it had been an intruder.   Even Demigra would have been a sort of relief.  If her ancient enemy had finally decided to make his move on the Time Nest, then at least that would end the tension that had gripped the Time Patrol for the past several weeks.   But instead, she found Luffa, who had returned with Beerus and Whis.  

"You brought them back with you?" Trunks asked Luffa under his breath.    

"I couldn't exactly tell them no..." Luffa said with an uncomfortable smile.  

"Good point," Trunks replied.   Then he addressed Beerus directly.   "It's a great honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Beerus."

Chronoa was over seventy-five million years old, and Beerus was quite ancient himself.  She had nearly forgotten just how long ago it had been since they last met, but there was no forgetting the regal bearing of the God of Destruction.   A lean, rangy felinoid, his hairless skin was purple.   Each of his pointed ears was almost large enough to cover his entire head.   His large, yellow eyeballs seemed to bulge from his skull, and his eyelids stretched taut across them.    Every expression he made bore a hint of menace that underscored his lofty title.    His raiments signified his role as the God of Destruction: Loose-legged blue pants, leather shoes, and an broad usekh collar and a sash, each bearing the pattern that symbolized his divine office.

While they were technically peers in the cosmic design, Chronoa still trembled in the presence of Beerus.   As the God of Destruction, he had the authority to destroy anything he saw fit.  He tended to reserve that power for those things which managed to test his patience.  

All in all, it was best to avoid Beerus altogether.   Failing that, the safest course was to stay on his good side, and do nothing that might annoy him.   Chronoa had never heard of Beerus destroying a Kai, but there were stories of him doling out worse punishments.  

"Yes, it is an honor," Chronoa said.  "Er, allow me to introduce my staff.  You already know Luffa of course, and this is Trunks, the son of Vegeta and Bulma."

"Hmm... I do recall a purple-haired Saiyan child back on Earth.   Then you must be the man he grows up to become," Beerus said as he rubbed his chin and looked Trunks over.

"Well, er, it's a bit more complicated than that, sir," Trunks said, doing his best to hide his anxiety.  

"Yes, well as much as I'd like to exchange pleasantries," Beerus said calmly, "I don't want to interrupt your duties here in the Time Nest.   So I'll come straight to the point.  It's about that Demigra fellow."

"D-demigra?" Chronoa asked.  

"He tried to make a fool of me," Beerus explained.   "Well you must have seen it all from here.   Luffa tells me you normally monitor her activities whenever she goes on these time missions of yours.  So I want to find out where he is."

Chronoa took a deep breath.  Beerus didn't need to explain what he wanted to do with Demigra when he found him.   He had threatened to destroy the Earth over a cup of pudding, after all.   But why would Demigra risk involving the God of Destruction in his conflict with the Time Patrol?   Whatever Demigra's motives, she knew it would be futile to try to withhold information from Beerus.  

"He's imprisoned," Chronoa began.   "Long ago, I banished Demigra into the Crack of Time."

"Indeed?" Beerus said.  "What a dramatic-sounding name.  Luffa mentioned that Demigra uses mystic images of himself to interact with the outside world.   We encountered one of these 'mirages' on Earth.  So I take it that means the real Demigra is still in this 'Crack' you speak of."

"That's right," Chronoa said with a grim nod.   "However, I fear that he may break out soon.  He's already threatened to seize control of the Time Nest."

"Hm, I see," Whis said.   Beerus' attendant was not a deity like Beerus and Chronoa, but neither was he a mortal like Trunks and Luffa.   Tall and thin, Whis loomed over the others like a shroud, although his prim and unassuming demeanor belied his enigmatic nature.   "So Demigra was changing history to create some sort of exit for himself."

Chronoa nodded again.   "That is what I've suspected," she said.   She hadn't shared this with Trunks or Luffa, but there was no point in denying it.  "Another demon named Towa had been experimenting with using temporal distortions to weaken the barriers surrounding the Demon World.   Demigra may be doing the same."

"That suits me fine," Beerus said with a smirk.   "And you believe he'll come here when he escapes.    Okay, then right when he comes out of hiding, I'll destroy him."

"Nice," Luffa said.  "I was hoping to take a crack at Demigra myself, but this could be almost as much fun, Lord Beerus."  She elbowed Trunks' arm.   "You should have seen the look on Demigra's face when he realized his plan had backfired."

"Well, that would solve all of our problems," Trunks said.  "I can't thank you enough for your assistance, Lord Beerus."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, I assure you," Beerus said.  "Then if that's settled, perhaps--"

"No no no, please don't!!" Chronoa screamed.  "Lord Beerus, please.   If you fight in this world, it would completely destroy this dimension of time!"

At last, Luffa and Trunks understood the danger, and their enthusiasm for Beerus' proposal evaporated.  

"Destroy the dimension of time?" Trunks asked quietly.

"The hell--?" Luffa asked, less quietly.

"Yes, I know," Beerus said, indifferent to her outburst.  "I'm the God of Destruction.  I do have expertise in these matters."

Chronoa's first impulse was to try to convince him of the importance of the Time Nest, and of Toki Toki City, which surrounded it.   Both were suspended within a dimension of time separate from the rest of the universe, which made it possible for her to carry out her stewardship of Tokitoki, the Divine Time Bird.   With someone else, she might have been able to explain that destroying the Time Nest would unravel the fabric of creation itself, but Beerus simply didn't care.   The end of the universe was someone else's problem, not his.

And so she fell back on a more mundane strategy.   "Oh, I know!" she said hastily.   "I'll cook delicious meals for you if you promise not to fight here.  Cool?"

This seemed to upset Luffa and Trunks a great deal.

"You can't!" Trunks said.

"No!  What are you thinking?!" Luffa hissed.  

They were more than subordinates to her.   She considered the Time Patrollers to be good friends, but Trunks was especially dear to her, and Luffa had become almost as close in the short time they had worked together.   No doubt they were worried about her making such offers to the God of Destruction.   For she knew her own cooking was brilliant, and if Beerus got a taste for her trademark cuisine, he might demand that she return to his planet with him, and cook for him full-time.   Luffa and Trunks couldn't bear to see that happen, but for the good of the Time Nest, Chronoa was prepared to make the hard choices.  

But Beerus would not be tempted.  "Delicious...?" he began to ask, then shook his head.   "No, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass on that.   It's the principle of the thing, you know?"

Trunks and Luffa were both greatly relieved to hear this, and at last Trunks cleared his throat to speak.  

"With all due respect, Lord Beerus," he said, "please allow us take care of Demigra."

"No, he tried to use me," Beerus said.   "Besides, can you even defeat Demigra?"

"Absolutely," Trunks said.  "We've been preparing for a showdown like this for weeks now, and Luffa here has been fighting his mirages in other missions.   Please, just give us a chance.   The lives of everyone I care about are on the line."

Beerus rubbed one of his large eyes with his hand as he considered it, but Chronoa doubted that Trunks' appeal would add much to her own.   If Beerus was willing to destroy the entire Time Nest dimension to avenge his honor, then Trunks' loved ones would mean even less.   Then Luffa stepped forward.

"My lord," she said, "Demigra isn't worthy of your time.  I can kill him for you, and spare you the hassle of waiting for him to show himself."

She was holding her hands out in a friendly, almost servile gesture that Chronoa found very uncharacteristic for Luffa.  

"Is that so?" Beerus asked, one of his eyes widening with interest.  

"I won't pretend to know the business of a God of Destruction," Luffa continued, "but I'm sure you'd rather be doing something else than chasing after a cowardly nuisance like Demigra.  He should pay dearly for offending your person, but you needn't dirty your hands on the likes of him.   Not when I can carry out the execution in your place."

Chronoa exchanged looks with Trunks, who simply shrugged.  They were both confused by Luffa's approach, but it seemed to be working.

"Ah, that's right," Beerus said.  "Back at Bulma's party, you told me you and your family were mercenaries.   I suppose this is the part of your sales pitch where you casually mention your modest fee."

Luffa smiled.   "On the contrary, Lord Beerus.   It would be a great privilege to serve as the instrument of your divine wrath.  The benefit to my reputation alone would be priceless.    No, I should be presenting some sort of gift to you for even considering my proposal."

Luffa now had Beerus' undivided attention.   "A gift, you say?   What would you have in mind?"

"I gathered that you have a taste for Earthling cuisine," Luffa said.  "There's plenty of that here in Toki Toki City, just outside the Time Nest.  But Earthlings have such... puny appetites.   They don't appreciate the subtle nuances that you get from cooking in bulk quantities.   I'm talking about flavor techniques that only a Saiyan chef would know."

"I've sampled Saiyan dishes before," Beerus said.   "Decades ago, I paid a visit to King Vegeta.   The food was satisfactory, but he was sorely lacking in hospitality."

"Hah! I'm not surprised," Luffa said.   "Sharing a meal is a time-honored tradition of family and community.   What would a royalist know about any of that?  No offense, Trunks, but your grandfather's lackeys probably didn't know sugar from salt."

"Er, okay..." Trunks said.

Luffa stepped toward Beerus and pointed at her chest.   "I'm not from this era, Lord Beerus.   The Time Patrol brought me here from centuries in the past.   My entire era was forgotten a long time ago.  No one even remembers all the battles I fought, which means I'm pretty sure a lot of my cooking techniques were lost to time as well.   So when I roast a dinosaur, it's an experience you can't get anywhere else."

"You're certainly a confident one, aren't you?" Beerus said.   "I must admit, I'm intrigued by your offer, but the question remains as to whether you have the ability to defeat Demigra.   I can't have you acting in my name if you lack the skill to uphold my reputation."

"Lord Beerus, considering everything they've said," Whis suggested, "why not try testing them?"

"A test?   That might be good."   Beerus put his hand over his face and rubbed his jaw as he considered the idea.  "Let's see how well the two of you do against Whis and myself."

"You mean you'd spar with me?" Luffa asked.  "I'm... that's..."

"Er, yes!" Trunks said.   "Thank you very much!"

"Sure," Luffa stammered.   "Yeah, what he said.   Thank you."

"Lord Beerus," Whis asked, "you mean that I have to fight too?"

"This was your idea, Whis," Beerus said.  

"Oh, fine..." Whis sighed.  

"Now then," Beerus said.   "We may as well get started..."

"Hey hey hey!" Chronoa snapped.   "You can't do that here!"

"Oh, what's wrong now?" Beerus groaned.  

Chronoa stamped her feet on the stone pavement of the Time Nest.   "Weren't you listening to what I said before?   If you fight here, you risk destroying the Time Nest! It'd be no different than if you fought Demigra yourself!   Go... I don't know, just go somewhere else!"

"All right, fine," Beerus said.   "You're so selfish... but we'll find some other venue for this test."

"I think I can arrange a suitable location for us, Lord Beerus," Trunks offered.   "We can use the Parallel Quest system to travel to an isolated segment of time..."

"Very good, I'll that up to you, Trunks," Beerus said.   "And while you arrange that, I might as well hang around for a bit.   It's been a while since I visited the Time Nest, and Luffa can fix me that snack she offered..."  

*******

And that seemed to be that.  Beerus was satisfied, at least for the moment, and he had provided a path forward for defeating Demigra without sacrificing the entire Time Nest in the process.  After the others left the Nest to attend to their business in the city, Chronoa tried to relax by tending to the Divine Tokitoki Bird.   She set out fresh food, changed his water, and checked his ears for chroniton mites.    

She wanted to tend to the Scroll of Eternity, and repair the changes caused by Demigra's last incursion, but that couldn't happen until Beerus returned to his own time.  And so, there was nothing to do but wait.  Normally, Chronoa was an adept at the fine art of patience.  But with the God of Destruction at her doorstep, it was difficult to trust Luffa and Trunks to handle things on their own.  

And so, it didn't take long for Chronoa to take her leave of the Time Nest to check on them.   As a god herself, she could sense divine ki and locate Beerus, but this turned out to be unnecessary.  The commotion around the Toki Toki City cafeteria was the first sign of his presence.  

Chronoa found a relatively calm Namekian bystander.    His name was Bebbux, and he was in charge of the city waterworks.    "What's going on?" Chronoa asked.

"Supreme Kai of Time!" he gasped when he saw her.   "Thank goodness you're here.  I must report that the God of Destruction, Beerus, has come to Toki Toki City!"

"Yes, I know," Chronoa said.  "Luffa was supposed to show him around.  Is something wrong?"

"Y-you're allowing Lord Beerus to visit the city?" Bebbux said with great surprise.  

"Well, I don't exactly have much choice," Chronoa said.  "It'll be okay, I think."

"I just... it's just that... This is your domain, and as a goddess yourself..."

"Sorry," Chronoa said.  "The Kaioshin, like me, oversee creation.   The Hakaishin are destroyers.  Beerus and I are peers, but that doesn't give me power over him.   He's authorized to destroy anything he chooses.   All I can do is make sure he doesn't have any reason to destroy us."

"Oh..."  The look on Bebbux's face was that of a man who was about to request a leave of absence.  

"Did they go in the cafeteria?" Chronoa asked.  

"Well, yes," Bebbux said.   "I was there to inspect the water lines. I like to do that around this time of day, after the lunch crowd has thinned out.  But then those three just walked in and she commandeered the kitchen."

"Luffa?" Chronoa asked.  

"Well, Lord Beerus is one thing, but you can do something about her at least, can't you?" Bebbux asked.  "I told her I had a job to do, and she threatened to break my arm if I didn't get out of her way!"  

Chronoa looked again at the Time Patrollers milling about outside.   They were rattled by the presence of Beerus, or Luffa, or both.  None of them seemed very happy about being denied their mealtime, even if it was for their own good.  

"I'll talk to her," Chronoa said.   On her way to the entrance, she met the cafeteria manager, the head chef, and an irate diner, and had very similar conversations with each of them.  At last, she made it inside the now-empty building, and found Beerus and Whis seated at a small table in the kitchen.  

"I thought Luffa was with you," she said as Beerus glanced in her direction.  

"She excused herself to gather supplies," Whis said.   "But I'm sure she'll return shortly."

"She had better," Beerus said.  He held up one of his fingers and examined the point of the claw on the end.  "I'm not fond of all this waiting."

"Yet you were willing to wait for Demigra to show up so you could destroy him personally," Whis reminded him.

"That's different," Beerus said.   "For one thing-- ah, there she is now."

Luffa stormed into the kitchen pushing a cart full of potatoes and crates of other foods.   She wheeled it towards the griddle, then returned to the table with a small box under the crook of her arm.  

"Sorry, that took longer than I expected," she said.   "But I think you'll appreciate it, Lord Beerus.   I found you an appetizer."

She opened the box and withdrew a pair of small cans to Beerus and Whis.   Beerus held up his serving and started at it with great interest.   "This image printed on the label," he said.   "Could this be--?"

"Pudding, my lord," Luffa said.   "I thought about making some myself, but I've never tried that before, so I didn't want ruin your first experience with it.  All you have to do is pry that handle back, then use it to peel off the lid.  Here, I'll show you..."

Chronoa was about to interrupt, but decided against it.  Coming between Beerus and his pudding had proven to be a grave mistake.   As a student of history, the Supreme Kai of Time was not prone to repeat it.

"What a delightful container," Whis said.   He had already opened his and was spooning a sample into his mouth.   "It reminds me of the beryllium-shelled bivalves on Nellis II."

"The ring came off my pudding can," Beerus said with great disappointment.   "What a frustrating design.   Now my pudding is trapped forever."

"Not quite," Luffa said, handing him a butterknife from a nearby tray.   "You can still work the lid off with this.   It takes a little doing, but--"

"Ah, I see," Beerus said.   "You're right, Whis, this is like those little clams.   The struggle of opening them up makes eating them that much more satisfying..."

There was a moment of blissful peace as Beerus finally sampled pudding for the first time, and Chronoa approached Luffa while she began preparing the main course.    

"Don't worry, I've got this under control," Luffa said before Chronoa could speak.    

"I just wanted to see if I could help," Chronoa said.  

"No, I'm the one helping you, remember?" Luffa said.   "You brought me here from the past because Trunks wasn't enough, right?"

"Well, yes," Chronoa said, "but it was Shenron who actually chose--"

"Fine, whatever," Luffa said.  "My point is he made the right call.  Trunks can't handle all this on his own.  And you say Lord Beerus can't fight Demigra without destroying the Time Nest.  So I guess that might hold true for Yamoshi as well, since he was a god once."

She began slicing potatoes on  a cutting board, and picking up speed.

"You forgot to peel those," Chronoa said, but Luffa made a derisive snort.  

"No I didn't.  Like I said before," Luffa told her, "my style has been lost to time.  You can cook however you want, Chronoa, but Lord Beerus can have that experience whenever he wants."

"But he's very particular about his meals..." Chronoa tried to argue, but Luffa was hearing none of it.  She simply set her jaw and increased her ki.   Her yellow hair glowed brighter and there was a flash of her golden aura, which she quickly stifled when it began to disturb some of the items on the countertops.  

"Luffa, you've been in Super Saiyan form ever since you came back from the mission," Chronoa said.   "You told us before that you sometimes have trouble shutting it off.   If you're upset..."

"I'm fine," Luffa said.  She was now chopping vegetables with blinding speed.   When she needed to use a different knife, she would briefly hold it up and stare at it until the blade began to flash with the same aura that surrounded her body.   "I just need the form for this work.  My senses are much sharper this way."  

Suddenly, Luffa swept her left hand over the griddle.  Chronoa gasped, but there was no sign of any injury to Luffa's fingers.  She held them close to her face and inhaled sharply, then made a satisfied snarl and continued her work.  

"Back home... in the past, I mean... I used to use an infrared thermometer," Luffa explained.   "But not everyone uses the same temperature units, or even the same characters for numerals.  So I learned to go by feel and smell of the cooking oil."

"Why?" Chronoa asked.  "You already know the temperature."  She pointed to the dials that controlled the griddle's heating elements.  

"'Medium' is not a temperature," Luffa insisted.   "All that does is tell you how much power is getting sent to the filaments under the surface.  It doesn't take into account the thickness or composition of the griddle, or the temperature of the surrounding environment.  Now let's see..."

She had put all of her cuttings in a large bowl, which she now emptied into an even larger pot of boiling water.   Then she turned her attention to a hunk of ground sausage.  

"Wait, what about your timer?" Chronoa asked urgently.

"For what?" Luffa asked.  

"Uh, hello?  The potatoes?  Your stew is going to turn out all wrong if you don't know how long you kept them in there for!"

"I'm not making a stew, I'm parboiling them," Luffa explained.  "And I'll check them with a fork to see if they're soft enough.   It's under control, Chronoa."

"Parboiling?" Chronoa asked.   She had never heard of this.  Were Luffa's techniques as rare and obscure as she claimed?

"Is there a problem over there, ladies?" Beerus called from the table.   There was a series of pans and utensils hanging from an overhead rack that hid the griddle from the table, and so he could barely see what was going on.  

"Everything's fine, Lord Beerus!" Luffa called back.   "Oh, I should ask.   Do you have any allergies or dietary issues I should know about?"

"No, nothing like that," Beerus replied.  "I must say, it smells very enticing so far."

"Damn straight it does," Luffa said with a confident smirk.  

Minutes later, she laid the potatoes on the griddle, nearly covering the entire surface.   Then she covered the potatoes with shredded cheese, peppers, diced tomatoes, and various seasonings.  Chronoa grew ever more concerned.  

"You're not moving the food enough!" she pleaded to Luffa.   "It'll get all burnt on the bottom!"

"This isn't stir fry," Luffa said.   "I'm trying to make it crispy.  Hrmm..."

"Wh-what's wrong?" Chronoa asked.  

"Nothing.   I'd kill for some bluespice right about now," Luffa muttered.  "Earth has an impressive range of flavors, but I could really go wild if I had a few other ingredients...  Well, no point in worrying about it."

"This is about Keda, isn't it?" Chronoa said.  

Luffa paused and stared at her.   "What did you say?" she asked.    

"You're upset about your friend," Chronoa said.   "You said she somehow ended up on Namek, and we couldn't find any sign of her, and then she turned up on Earth.    It's only natural that you'd be frustrated about that."

"How do you know about her turning up on Earth?" Luffa asked.  "I never told... did Big League Chew report it to you?  I guess he'd have to tell you, wouldn't he?"

The truth was more complicated than that, and so Chronoa didn't bother to correct her assumption.  "The Time Patrollers trust me, Luffa.  We all know this has been difficult for you.   Maybe it's been tougher than we realize, because you've handled it so well."

"It's not that I don't trust you," Luffa said.  "I just didn't know what to say.  Keda vanished back in my era.  We thought she was dead.   Then I find her living out most of her life on Earth in this era.   At first, I wanted you to fix it somehow, but..."

"Yes...?"

"But the more I learn about this business, it seems like you would have already found out about it if it was a problem.   But you had no idea.  Just like you didn't know anything about me when I got yanked out of the past.   This was all supposed to happen, so there's nothing you can do about it."

Chronoa nodded her head.   "That's right," she said.   "I want to investigate this more carefully, of course, though that will have to wait until things have settled down with Demigra.  But if you already understand that I can't change the past, then why...?"

Luffa began flipping the layer of food on the griddle, revealing the potatoes that had once been on the bottom.   The golden brown color, illuminated by the yellow glow of Luffa's hair, reminded Chronoa of a gardener tilling soil.  

"I told you," Luffa said.  "I wasn't sure what to say.   At first I wanted to demand that you send Keda back to her own time, to her friends.   But when I saw her living on Earth as an old woman... at least we think that was her...  Well, I wasn't so sure I should say anything.  Maybe she liked it better the way things turned out."

There was only the sound of vegetables sizzling on the griddle for a time, and then Luffa finally added: "I guess I was worried that you might decide you had to fix it after all, and send Keda back, even if she didn't want to go.   I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, either.   So that's why I didn't bring it up to you before.  Sorry if that's against the rules around here."

"It's all right," Chronoa said.  "It's like we say in Toki Toki City.   'There's time.'  You weren't ready to talk to me about this, and that's okay.  But if you're not upset about Keda, then...?"

"I keep telling you," Luffa said, "I'm all right.   I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about fighting the God of Destruction later, but that didn't stop Kakarot from giving it a try.  If he can take his lumps, then so can I."

"That was different," Chronoa said.   "Goku was a god then."

"Not the first time, he wasn't," Luffa said. "And Vegeta wasn't a god either.   Besides, even when Kakarot had the god form, it wore off in the middle of the fight."  She began to dig out spaces in the layer of hash she had been cooking, and while she worked the spatula with one hand, she pointed at herself with the other.  

"Those two bastards, Kakarot and Vegeta," Luffa said, "they fought Lord Beerus with this form, and they made their ancestors proud.   Well, this ancestor, at least.  I can't just bow out of this, not after seeing what they could do."

"But if you don't impress Lord Beerus," Chronoa warned, "he won't let you fight Demigra!"

"Then I'll just have to impress him, won't I?" Luffa said with an anxious grin.   "Why do you think I offered to cook for him?  I was hoping to put a little polish on this arrangement."  

"Then... then you really are all right," Chronoa said.  "You just seemed so agitated..."

Luffa snorted.   "If we're being honest, I probably haven't been 'all right' since I was nineteen years old.   But I'll manage."

Chronoa pointed at the griddle.  "Then what are you doing right now?"

"I'm making a space for the eggs," Luffa said.  

Chronoa was confused until Luffa began to crack eggs on the edge of the counter, and she dumped the yolks into the spaces she had dug out in the hash.   She continued this process until each hole was filled with white and yellow protein.

"No!" Chronoa gasped.  "You can't just cook those on top of something else!"

Luffa simply smirked at her.  "It'll be fine, just wait."

"But if Lord Beerus is displeased--!"

"Trust me," Luffa said.  "You said the Time Patrollers trust you, right?  Doesn't that go both ways?"  

If Luffa were fighting, it would be an easy matter to stand back and defer to her judgment.   But Chronoa had been cooking meals for millions of years, and all of her experience now screamed out to her that Luffa was making one terrible blunder after another.  The potatoes would be too soft, and the cheese wouldn't burn right, and the eggs wouldn't be rubbery at all.  And Luffa had never once turned the dials on the griddle to their highest setting.   How could she hope to achieve the greatest flavor intensity without using the maximum power available?   And she had only sprinkled a tiny amount of salt into the meal!   But if Chronoa tried to interfere now, there was the chance that this would upset Beerus just as badly as a low-quality meal.  

Luffa glanced away from her work and gave Chronoa a reassuring look.  "Relax," she said.  "I'm your legend too."

"What?"

Chronoa didn't understand what that meant, although she found it comforting nonetheless.   She forced herself to stay calm, and watched as Luffa completed the work and began shoveling the hash off the griddle and into several dishes.    Two of these, she carried to the table, and Chronoa followed her with a carafe of fruit juice.  

"For your consideration, my lord," Luffa said respectfully as she set the plates before her guests.  

Chronoa chewed her lower lip as she watched Beerus and Whis take the first bites of their meal.   They chewed, swallowed, and then...

"Oh, that is good," Beerus exclaimed.   It was more enthusiasm than Chronoa was used to hearing in his voice.   Usually he was so cool and aloof, even when he was enraged.    

"Oh my," Whis added after making a happy squeal.  Once he had regained his composure,  he pointed at his plate and asked.   "Tell me what are these little green pieces?"

Luffa leaned in to see what he was pointing to with his fork.   "Ah, those are an Earth vegetable called 'chives'.  They go very well with the tubers."

"Oh, I quite agree!" Whis said.  

For several more minutes, Chronoa simply stood by and watched them eat while Luffa beamed with pride.  

"I guess you worked up an appetite fighting Kakarot, huh, Lord Beerus?" Luffa asked.  

The God of Destruction was too busy gobbling the rest of his meal to answer right away, but he did make a noise that Luffa interpreted as a 'yes.'

"I made plenty if anyone wants seconds," Luffa said.  "I don't know much about gods, but I had a feeling anyone who fights like the way you do could pack it away like a Saiyan."  

"I must admit," Beerus finally replied, "you've certainly lived up to your claims, Luffa.   King Vegeta had nothing on his board quite as tasty as this.  Hmm, and filling, too."

As they continued to exchange pleasantries, Luffa glanced back at Chronoa and made a 'thumbs up' gesture.  There was still the test that she and Trunks would have to pass, but at least they had made it this far without any trouble.  Chronoa couldn't help but consider what Luffa had said before.  

 'I'm your legend, too.'

Was that how Luffa saw herself?  Chronoa had heard Trunks and other Saiyans refer to the Super Saiyan form as "legendary", but the word had meant little to a Kai like her.   The Super Saiyan seemed very commonplace in the Time Patrol, and the word "legend" seemed to be little more than emphasis.    But Luffa seemed to feel a personal attachment to the word.   For Luffa, it was a point of honor, a sacred thing that she shared with no one, except maybe her ancestors, and perhaps Son Goku and Vegeta.  

But Chronoa had never given much thought to how Luffa defined that role.  It wasn't just a lofty title.  For all her talk of being a simple mercenary, Luffa sought to be an inspiration.  She wanted Trunks to fight harder, and she wanted Goku to live up to his place as her successor, and today she wanted Beerus to know exactly what sort of exceptional being had pleased his taste buds.  

And she had also inspired Chronoa to be at ease.  Chronoa was used to being cheerful and relaxed, but the Demigra crisis had made that feeling seem like a distant memory.  

Chronoa thought of Bubbex and the other Patrollers outside the cafeteria.  They weren't the only ones who had complaints about Luffa.   Many of her critics saw her as an overhyped has-been.   But perhaps there was more to a legend than the reputation.  In the end, she supposed, Luffa was just someone who tried harder.  That persistence could be abrasive at times, but she was definitely the sort of person one wanted on their side.

Maybe that was what Shenron had seen in Luffa when he chose her to be Trunks' partner.   Up to now, Chronoa had accepted it as a matter of hope.  Now, she finally felt like she understood the Eternal Dragon's reasoning.

And maybe that meant Luffa was ready, after all.

Just like the note had said.  

But ready or not, Luffa would have to go through Beerus first...

 NEXT: Beerus' Test.

#dragon ball #fanfiction #lssjluffafic #super saiyan #luffa #beerus #trunks #chronoa #whis #bebbux #okay so the header image was cropped from a picture of a skillet #but imagine one of those griddles like in a restaurant #the size of a tabletop #and it's just covered with that all over #that's the imagery i'm going for #also just like a big thing of orange juice #donald duck orange juice i guess but not in some dinky little glass