Following his inauguration as heir to the Supreme Kai of Time, Trunks found himself eager to catch up with Raditz properly. The two hadn't spent quality time together in far too long, and the ceremony's conclusion provided the perfect opportunity. Trunks led Raditz to the Scroll Library deep within the Time Nest—a quiet, elegant space where they could speak freely without interruption.
The library was a sanctuary of temporal knowledge. Ancient shelves stretched toward impossibly high ceilings, their contents documenting every branching possibility across all of space-time. Soft light filtered through crystalline windows, casting geometric patterns across the stone floors. On normal days, the chamber remained empty and peaceful—precisely what they needed for unhurried conversation.
They settled into comfortable positions near one of the long reading tables, and their discussion wandered through countless topics. Trunks recounted some of his more unusual missions—bizarre temporal anomalies that had required creative solutions, encounters with alternate versions of familiar people, paradoxes that had needed delicate untangling.
"Sounds like your work keeps you pretty busy," Raditz observed with an amused smile. "Though from what you're describing, it doesn't seem like you've met many opponents you couldn't handle?"
Trunks shook his head, his expression growing more serious. "The scary thing isn't the enemies—it's space-time itself. During my last major mission, I had to investigate a timeline that formed accidentally due to unauthorized scientific experiments. The entire continuum was unstable, filled with violent temporal currents that tried to tear me apart. I almost got sucked into some unknown void dimension. Barely managed to collapse that branch in time before it metastasized into something worse."
"Space-time manipulation is always dangerous," Raditz agreed thoughtfully. "When you consider how many branches exist, how many possibilities spiral out from every decision... it's terrifying, really. The potential for catastrophic mistakes is infinite."
"Exactly. And speaking of branches..." Trunks gestured helplessly toward several towering stacks of scroll cases piled near the entrance. "I've got dozens of new scrolls that still need sorting. Fragments of aborted timelines requiring cleanup, complete alternate histories that need proper archiving, potential paradoxes that demand review... On top of all the active patrol missions, the administrative work never ends."
Raditz hadn't realized that temporal guardianship involved quite so much paperwork. Curious, he stood and wandered over to the long table where various scrolls lay waiting for classification. His hand fell on one at random, fingers brushing across its aged surface.
"You know," he said with a nostalgic smile, "the first time I met Lady Chronoa, she essentially coerced me into modifying space-time using scrolls exactly like these. I was in way over my head back then—didn't understand half of what I was doing." He chuckled at the memory. "Hard to believe that was only a few years ago."
When he glanced back toward Trunks, his amusement died instantly.
The younger warrior's face had gone pale, his expression shifting rapidly from confusion to dawning horror. "Raditz... this timeline..." His voice came out strained, barely above a whisper.
"What's wrong?"
"This scroll shouldn't exist!" Trunks surged to his feet, crossing the distance in two strides to snatch the scroll from Raditz's hands. His eyes darted across its surface, reading information invisible to anyone lacking temporal perception. "This is a completely unknown branch—it wasn't here during our last inventory! Someone added it recently, and I have no idea when or how!"
"Are you certain it's not something Lady Chronoa archived while you were busy with other tasks?" Raditz suggested, though the growing dread in his gut told him that wasn't the answer.
"Impossible! We organize this library together, methodically. I'd know if she'd added a major timeline branch." Sweat beaded on Trunks's forehead as he continued examining the scroll, his panic escalating with each passing second. "An extra timeline means someone has been traveling through space-time without authorization. That's... that's a fundamental violation. This isn't a joke, Raditz!"
Trunks's hands began moving in complex patterns, channeling his authority as heir to peer deeper into the scroll's nature. His divine senses should have been able to trace the timeline's origin point, identify who created it, determine when the divergence occurred...
But he saw nothing. Just blank darkness, as though the information had been deliberately obscured.
"I can't perceive anything," Trunks said, and this time his voice genuinely trembled. "The timeline exists—I can feel its weight in the temporal stream—but I can't observe its contents. That's never happened before. Ever."
The implications sent ice through Raditz's veins. The Time Realm existed specifically to monitor all temporal activity across the multiverse. If Chronoa and her agents couldn't observe a timeline, it meant one of two things: either they'd made some unprecedented technical error... or someone possessed an artifact powerful enough to blind even the Supreme Kai of Time.
The former seemed unlikely. The latter was absolutely terrifying.
"Get Lady Chronoa," Raditz said quietly. "Now."
Trunks didn't argue. He reached out with his consciousness, sending an urgent mental summons. Within moments, Chronoa materialized in the library, her expression shifting from concern to alarm as Trunks explained the situation.
She examined the rogue scroll herself, her pink hair floating slightly as divine energy surrounded her. After several tense minutes, she stepped back with a troubled frown. "Trunks is correct. This timeline has been modified—or created—completely outside our monitoring systems. I can't observe its contents either."
"How is that possible?" Trunks demanded. "You're the Supreme Kai of Time! You have absolute authority over the temporal dimension!"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Chronoa admitted. "But if someone wielded an artifact of equivalent rank, they could potentially shield their activities from my perception. There are only a handful of such objects in all of existence." She ticked them off on her fingers. "The Time Rings possessed by Supreme Kais... or certain artifacts from the Demon Realm, though most of those were destroyed or sealed when we eliminated Towa and Demigra."
"So it has to be a Time Ring?" Trunks asked.
"Theoretically. But who would have access?" Chronoa's frown deepened. "Time Rings are sacred treasures guarded by Supreme Kais. They're not exactly easy to steal, and most Kais would never abuse them like this..."
But her words had triggered a memory in Raditz's mind—a terrible possibility he'd hoped would never materialize.
Zamasu.
The North Kai apprentice from Universe 10. The zealot who believed mortals were a plague upon creation. In Raditz's own timeline, Zamasu's corruption had only just begun—his radical philosophy remained mostly theoretical, his actions monitored by Gowasu. But in another timeline, one where events had unfolded differently...
"Take me to your original timeline, Trunks," Raditz said abruptly, his tone brooking no argument. "The space-time you came from before joining the Time Patrol."
Both Chronoa and Trunks stared at him in confusion.
"My timeline?" Trunks echoed. "Why? What does that have to do with—"
"I need to visit your Universe 10's Supreme Kai Realm," Raditz interrupted, his expression grim. "Specifically, I need to check their Time Ring vault. And you need to return to Earth in your timeline—verify that nothing's changed, that everyone's safe."
"You think you know what's happening?" Chronoa asked sharply.
"I have a theory. A very bad theory." Raditz's fists clenched involuntarily. "If I'm right, then we're dealing with a threat that could potentially destroy entire timelines. But I need to confirm it first before we start making accusations."
Chronoa and Trunks exchanged uncertain glances. Technically, allowing Raditz to travel through time was against protocol—even for a Supreme Kai, temporal interference required special authorization. But under these circumstances, with an unknown enemy apparently manipulating the time stream itself...
"Alright," Chronoa decided. "Trunks, you'll accompany Raditz. I'll open the passage directly to your home timeline." Her expression hardened with resolve. "But if this becomes too dangerous, I'm pulling both of you back immediately. Understood?"
"Understood," they said in unison.
Chronoa raised both hands, and the library suddenly blazed with temporal energy. The Scroll Library's walls seemed to dissolve, replaced by infinite starfields that stretched in impossible directions. Light bent and fractured, creating kaleidoscopic patterns that hurt to look at directly. A massive vortex materialized in the chamber's center—a swirling gateway that connected present to future, one reality to another.
The sensation of crossing between timelines felt like being stretched across eternity and compressed to a single point simultaneously. Thousands of years seemed to pass in an instant, yet also no time at all. Reality became fluid, negotiable, before finally solidifying once more.
When existence stabilized, Raditz and Trunks stood in familiar territory—but not quite the same as the universe they'd left.
"I'm heading to Earth," Trunks said, already preparing to fly. "Where will you go?"
"The Supreme Kai Realm. Be careful, Trunks. If my suspicions are correct, this timeline might be far more dangerous than your memories suggest."
They separated, each racing toward their destination with growing urgency.
The Supreme Kai Realm appeared exactly as Raditz remembered—and yet fundamentally wrong.
Endless grasslands stretched to every horizon, dotted with ancient trees that had stood for millions of years. Wind swept across the landscape in familiar patterns, carrying scents of eternal spring. The realm's beauty remained unchanged.
But it was utterly, devastatingly empty.
Raditz couldn't sense any life force whatsoever. No Supreme Kai. No Kibito. No attendants or lesser deities that typically maintained this sacred space. The massive realm hung at the apex of Universe 7 like an abandoned monument, completely devoid of divine presence.
Above, the sky displayed its usual hazy light curtain, reflecting the brilliance of countless stars. A massive blue giant—likely the living world's sun—cast its projection across the heavens, its light somehow making the isolation feel even more pronounced.
"Something definitely happened here," Raditz muttered, already moving toward the Time Ring vault with increasing dread.
He found the storage chamber exactly where it should be—a small sanctum built into one of the ancient trees, protected by seals that had been... forcibly broken. The door hung open, swinging gently in the breeze.
Raditz's throat went dry.
He approached cautiously and opened the ornate box that housed the Time Rings. His eyes immediately locked onto the damning evidence:
A green Time Ring sat among the silver ones. The mark of an alternate timeline. The signature of temporal manipulation.
"Zamasu," Raditz breathed, his worst fears confirmed.
The zealot had already begun his crusade in this timeline. And if Trunks had been active in the Time Realm rather than protecting his home universe, that meant history had diverged even more severely than Raditz had feared.
The implications cascaded through his mind like falling dominoes:
If Zamasu was active, the Supreme Kai was almost certainly dead. Which meant Beerus was dead—Gods of Destruction couldn't exist without their Supreme Kai counterpart. Which meant this universe had no divine guardian to oppose Zamasu's genocidal philosophy.
The coward never fights Gods of Destruction directly, Raditz thought with rising fury. He eliminates the Supreme Kai first because they're weaker, which automatically kills the God of Destruction. Then he proclaims himself the most powerful deity in existence, never having to prove it in actual combat.
But that raised more questions. Did this timeline's Zamasu possess Goku's body? Had he already executed that twisted body-swap scheme? Where in his genocidal plan was he now?
And most pressingly—
"Trunks!"
The realization hit Raditz like lightning. If Zamasu was carrying out his Zero Mortals Plan, he was almost certainly on Earth right now, systematically eliminating the planet's defenders.
Trunks had just returned to Earth completely unaware of the threat.
And Trunks, powerful as he'd become, was absolutely no match for Zamasu—especially not if the corrupted Kai had stolen Goku's body and its godly potential.
Raditz exploded into motion, his aura flaring to maximum as he rocketed away from the Supreme Kai Realm toward Earth. He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, space blurring around him as he tore through the universe.
Hold on, Trunks. Please hold on. I'm coming!
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