DECEMBER COMM KARN VS DUMPLIN

-Saiyan Conqueror Quest Patron Epilogue XX-

-AGE 867, TIME NEST-

“You'll know when the time's right.” you say, offering the ring box to Trunks. Who takes it with a nod, turning and striding straight through the Time Nest's door. Once his power disappears you raise a hand to the gate, activating the sealing magic to prevent any of the pesky Time Patrollers from coming in and overhearing you. “About time. Knew that would motivate him.”

“I must say, your Whis impersonation is scary.” Chronoa replies, you smirking at the praise for your acting job. “But what about Mechikabura? That pocket dimension he's got is a problem. He can stall us indefinitely.”

“Don't worry, I've seen to that as well.” you reply, giving her an evil grin as you open your left hand. Revealing a spiraling void, looking almost like a black hole drawing in light. “I've been slowly but steadily decreasing the time dilation in his little reality. The longer he stays in there, the faster time moves until it matches our reality one-to-one. In a few more days he won't have a choice but to gather his forces and wish for his youth.”

“And once he does we'll be ready for the attack, setting everything back on the proper course.” she says, nodding and smiling. “Then it's just a matter of collecting Karn after the battle, once he's seen Mechikabura's betrayal and prepare for the final fight.”

“Yeah, his betrayal.” you reply, feeling just a hint of guilt knowing what's going to happen. If Karn knew what you were about to do, he'd never forgive you. But that's why he won't, this time he'll survive the universal reset and the two of you can leave everything else behind, leaving all this time nonsense to Chronoa and having your best friend all to yourself. You just have to push a bit harder, a little more and you'll have your Karn back.

You are Dumplin. Demon God born from the Dragonballs in another reality long-ago erased, you've witnessed countless realities be born, run their course and be erased, just to do it all over again. However, in the previous reality you'd become an, admittedly reluctantly at first, friend to the Saiyan warrior Karn. His honesty and power had earned your respect, despite being on different sides of the conflict initially. Then, after Mechikabura betrayed him and left him for dead in Towa's realm all alone, surrounded by his dead family you'd arrived, taking him to Conton City. Where you and he began over a decade of training together, the Saiyan becoming your friend through that time. Which is why you'd felt so betrayed by Chronoa initially, erasing your Karn like that. But, luckily he'd survived, at least a small part of him. Which found its way to a new Karn, reviving your friend from the void.

“Just got the confirmation, he's going for it.” Chronoa says, one eye closed as she observes Hyoka using her magics. “Perfect.”

“Well then, I reckon I should start getting into place as well.” you reply, turning back to the door and undoing the seal. Then you walk through, both this gate and the outer one, returning to Conton City. You take a deep breath before taking to the air, looking over the city for a final time. Knowing what's to come you can't help but feel a vague hint of loss. Despite how many times you've seen this city fall, it still ever so slightly saddens you. You're not quite an unfeeling monster like Chronoa, despite how small and insignificant these people are, their imminent deaths are a tragedy. But if that's what it takes for you to get your best friend back, you'll do this and more with a smile on your face.

“Hey, it's Daddy!” someone calls from below, you looking down to see your daughter talking with someone you don't quite recognize. So, you take a slight detour, dropping out of the air and landing by the three of them. Your daughter is holding onto Cooler's arm while looking at this being, his energy feeling somehow familiar. Magic hangs heavy around the man, his flowing beard making him look sagely while his face has partially turned to a skull, making him look menacing as well. “Well well, long time no see.”

“Afternoon.” you say, not recognizing the man speaking. He seems familiar, but you can't quite place him. “Sorry, I don't quite recognize you.”

“It's quite alright. It's been quite awhile, after all.” he says, holding his right hand out to you. But as he does, your every instinct suddenly screams out that this being is dangerous. You look him over again, his ragged-seeming robes belying his power. You reach up towards him, taking his hand in your own. And as you do, you feet the man's true power appear: Death. Suddenly you recognize this old man as none other than Karn's firstborn son, Chilli!

“Chilli.” you say, recognizing him. “It's been awhile.”

“That it has. Seems the day's finally upon us.” he answers as Trunks and Hyoka, accompanied by Maple and several other newer Time Patrollers fly off towards the Time Nest. But him saying this worries you, he couldn't know what today will bring. Does he? “Well, I hope you all have fun with the wedding.”

“Wedding? Wait, whose wedding?” Puddin asks, turning to you with eyes wide open. But you don't take your eyes off the Son of Karn, who looks knowingly down at you. Then you feel a tingle of Death down your arm, the boy using some kind of magic on you. You go to react, only for him to immediately let go, leaving his subtle touch of his magic on you that you can't identify.

“It's not your time. Not yet.” he replies, turning his gaze from you to the Time Nest gateway. “You've got plenty of years left, if you choose to spend them wisely. But if you plan to go against Father's wishes, you'd best be careful.”

“The hell does-?” you start indignantly only for him to have the AUDACITY to simply turn away, walking back towards where Mechikabura's portal into Conton City is. “HEY! I'm not done with-! You?”

But as you stretch out your arm to grab him, your hand simply grabs the cloak, it dropping limply in your hand. Like a puppet with the strings cut, or water when the bottle around it is removed, it falls limply to the ground. You didn't sense anything, not even a whisper of magic. How in the hell did he do that?

“What was that all about? And what is he talking about, a wedding?” your daughter Puddin asks, sounding as carefree as ever. Not showing the slightest bit of concern about the man whose sudden warning and disappearance made even your skin crawl. But you just shake it off, turning to her.

“You should head over to the Time Nest and ask Trunks.” you tell her with fake cheer, not letting her see how much this out-of-time boy's warning just rattled you. “He may even have a role for you, if you want to participate.”

“Oh boy!” she exclaims, lifting off and flying to the Time Nest with no hesitation. “Come on Cooler, let's go.”

“Right behind you.” he tells her, turning to you with brows furrowed. “Whoever that was, he was trouble.”

“You've got that right. Keep an eye on her for me.” you tell Cooler, who nods then flies off after him. Leaving you standing there, thinking over what he said for a moment. But then you shake your head, putting it on the back burner as you lift back up into the air, flying out over the city and dropping down over the edge, making sure no one sees you go. Last thing you need on the eve of this battle is someone poking around the secret prison beneath the mountain. You drop down a couple hundred feet, scanning the wall for the specific rock that leads to the entrance. You find it after a few moments, under a slight overhang and fly up to it, striking the wall with your fist. Your punch goes straight through the rock, temporarily dispelling the light illusion and revealing the secret entrance to her hidden prison. You reach in, grabbing the giant vault door's control wheel reminiscent of old timey bank vaults and twisting the lock open. It unlocks with a heavy clang, you pulling the door open and going inside.

Pulling the door closed behind you, it locking back with another automatic clang, you start walking down the brightly-lit metal hallway. Passing through the 'minimum security' cells, those who have been either physically or mentally broken, left unable to use their powers, much less fight or try and escape. And as you pass by them, heading deeper and deeper into the prison towards the being whose power you need, your mind goes back, back to happier days when you and Karn spent so much time together. Remembering one training session in particular, one of the ones where he first started to have fun.

“HRRRRAAAAAAA!!” Karn roars, his Berserker God aura blazing as he charges at you with a heavy right. Which you deflect with your left forearm, parrying his strike and immediately retaliating with a right jab at his nose. Stretching your arm out to close the distance, your strike lands true but doesn't slow him down in the slightest, Karn charging in and grabbing you by the head with his giant left hand. Swinging you out to his left before launching you ahead of him. Had your body not been fashioned in the style of Majin Buu, the whiplash alone would have probably killed you. But you are made of tougher stuff, flying backwards for several seconds before regaining control and stopping the backwards flight. Only to take a massive boot the face, Karn stomping you down into the mountain itself with enough force to leave a massive crater around you.

“Keh, not bad.” you smirk, grabbing his boot with both hands and launching him backwards. Karn tumbles through the air, flipping backwards over and over. Then, flaring your Demon God power you take off after him, closing the distance and driving your right fist into his guts followed up with a left haymaker to the jaw. Sending him flying out over the forest and all the way to the desert biome, crashing back-first into the furthest plateau. He looks up as you close in, then he unleashes a pair of beams from his eyes. They take you through the chest, then back out through your chest again towards him, the beams then turning and dropping down through your shoulders, then piercing through the back of your knees and into your chest once more before he ends the attack, launching off the wall and driving his right fist square into your face. “Gwuoah!”

This time his punch sends you flying over Conton City, flying all the way out over the desert, over Conton City's central plaza and crashing down at the replica Roshi's house, landing in the sand as several people shout in surprise. You push yourself back up, watching as Karn approaches and kick off the ground, launching yourself back at him. The two of you crash together, right fists slamming into each other's and unleashing a powerful shock wave over the Time Nest's portal.

“HRRRAAAAA!” he roars, twisting into a right turning kick, blocking it with your left forearm then jabbing at his face with your right, Karn blocking it with his left as well. “Tch! GRRRAAAAAAA!”

His ki then explodes out from him, his Explosive Wave blasting you backwards then dashing again, launching into another combination of heavy blows. Ending with a double overhead axe handle to your head, sending you crashing down into the ruins of the holoprojector in the central plaza. One that once showed images of that reality's wished-for Hero of Time, to showing the current number one Time Patroller. But as you start pushing yourself up he drops down, stomping down at your chest with both feet. Only for you to reach up, narrowly catching his heels in your hands. Then with a grunt heave him up off you, several of Conton City's inhabitants shouting in surprise as you send him flying.

“Hrrrup!” you exclaim, kicking off the ground amidst the shouts to close the distance between you quickly. Before he recovers, you drive your right into his jaw and snap his head back. Then, smirking as you have an idea, you wrap your right arm around his left forearm. Stopping him from flying back as you pour mass into your left forearm and fist, drawing it overhead as Karn recovers. He then swings his right forward as you swing your giant fist, punches clashing with tremendous power. The shock waves explode out from the point of contact, you hearing people screaming down below as the force of your clash washes over them. Neither of you can overpower the other, despite his Berserker God power you manage to hold your ground.

“GRRRR! HRRRAAAAAAA!!” he roars, putting his full power behind his fist. You grit your teeth and push back, until you both hear a familiar voice screeching.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!” the tiny woman shouts, you both turning to see Chronoa flying up towards you. She's clearly angry, so mad you almost expect steam to start shooting out of her ears as she glares at you both in turn. “You're breaking what's left of the city below! You can't do this here! What the hell is wrong with you both?”

“Fuck off. We're training.” Karn tells her, causing you to laugh. And not just a small chuckle either, but a full-blown belly laugh. You can feel her glare turn to you but you don't care, his response was too funny.

“Baaaaaaaahahahahaha!!” you continue laughing, clutching your sides as you roll over in the air, kicking your feet. “Ahhh! Hoooo! Hehehe, he sure got you there!”

“Tch! J-Just take it somewhere else! We're trying to FIX the city, you two tearing it down with the shock waves of your fight isn't helping!” she snarls, clearly fuming as she turns away from you both and flies back down to the ground.

“Hey, I have an idea.” you tell him, another thought coming to mind. “You're wanting to get strong enough to fight Mechikabura, right?”
“Of course. What do you have in mind?” Karn asks, immediately interested. “You have someplace where we can train better than here?

“Oh yeah. I've got just the place.” you tell him, opening a small portal to your pocket dimension in your left hand, opening your hand to show it to him. “I have my own private dimension, call it the Fuckbox. And I can control the flow of time relative to here, so while only a day passes here, we can train for a whole year there.”

“A whole year? In a day?” he asks you, his eyes lighting up for the first time. For the very first time since you'd found him in that Towa's realm, surrounded by the bodies of his fallen family and being unable to revive them. “And there are no consequences? No 'time can't handle it' bullshit?”

“None. You'll be older, these years will still count towards your total life span.” you tell him seriously. “But if you're willing to live with that, I'll take you into my realm. You can push yourself as hard as you want, in the Fuckbox you don't need to eat or sleep, you can't even die. So you can push yourself as hard as you want. What do you say?”
“What do I say? I'm in.” he says, holding his right hand out towards you and grinning. “Let's do this.”

You smile at the memory of his first smile he'd given you as you reach the depths of the prison, arriving at the pair of absolute security cells. Each one holding a being too dangerous to be released, trapped inside their own dimensions where their powers don't work. One is the former Supreme Kai of Time of this reality, Aeos, but the other is the one you're here to see. Activating the complex seal, you open the secure cell, stepping into the sealed reality tailor-made to imprison him. As you enter, the chained in place being looks up at you with barely-restrained rage.

“You.” the Mechikabura of this reality says, still looking just as he did the day you and Chronoa defeated him.

“Yeah, me. But at least for you, your suffering's over.” you tell him with a sigh, focusing on who you're doing all this for. Then you use the part of your heritage that is Majin, stretching out your body and enveloping the Demon God, absorbing him as well as his Dark Factor. You take him and his power into your own, completely consuming him. Your body then reforms back into its original shape, you taking a deep breath and sighing out. You don't like doing what you have to do next, but you'd do this and far worse if it means getting your friend back. Turning back to the entrance you start making your way back out of the prison, remembering the smile that you're doing this all for. Just a little further, just a little more and he'll be all yours.

-Saiyan Conqueror Quest Patron Epilogue XX End-