#I actually have a finished version of this one but here's a preview for now

[icewindandboringhorror]

recent things and such~

[sysig]

Guess who :3c (Patreon)

[chrysanthemumgames]

Chapter Ten and the Epilogue are out!

Hey everyone!

This announcement is basically just what it says on the tin. You can now play the last part of the game. Here's the link if you don't have it handy.

I don't think there are any particular content warnings for this one other than Zeus existing, but my brain is kind of scrambled eggs right now, so if I've forgotten something, please let me know.

I feel like I should have some thoughts here about actually being finished with the game, but either because of the brain-eggs thing or because I still have a lot of editing to do, it's hard to think of myself as done.

Just a few things I've been getting questions about clarified in one place:

FoA's first draft will remain where it is, as it is, complete and free, until I submit the edited version for publication. I estimate this will be about three months, (so until March 1, 2024), but can't say that for sure.

The second draft will bring about substantive changes both from a game design standpoint (various systems) and a character standpoint (some pacing things are going to change, particularly with the romances that probably should be a little bit faster paced than they are. A smidge.)

I may or may not be doing a closed beta test for the second draft. That's not me being coy, that's me genuinely not knowing if I will.

There will be one sequel. I will begin working on it immediately after FoA is submitted for publication.

If you want to follow the editing process, I will probably be summarizing my progress monthly here, but I will be going into much more detail and previewing the edits on my Patreon. No pressure ever; that's just an option if you'd like to see more or support me as I go.

Thank you, everyone, for your support, critiques, and suggestions. They've already made FoA a much better game than it would have been without you, and I'm looking forward to getting the chance to take more of them on board as I move through this next part of things.

I hope you enjoy.

[babybearnation]

driving home for christmas

⎇oscar piastri x gn!reader - you're spending christmas alone... or are you? (oneshot) ⎇author's note: my first ever oneshot and ofc, it's a gift fic hehe. MERRY CHRISTMAS @koalapastries I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!!!!! (also sorry, i know you're australian but i know nothing about australian xmas so uhhh reader lives in england) ⎇content warnings: crying, implied depression, light angst with a happy ending ⎇word count: 1.1k

Y/n sighs, nudging the fridge door shut with their hip, a few things rattling inside. Christmas steadily ticks closer and closer and they were not looking forward to when the day would actually arrive. For the first time ever, they'd be spending Christmas alone, and they weren't looking forward to it.

Y/n sighs once more before focusing on making their hot chocolate, craving that much needed chocolatey warmth. Maybe it would make them feel better. Probably not, but it was worth a shot, right?

A bleep from their phone pulls their attention away and they look down at the device, placing the milk to one side to pick it up. What greets them is a text from their boyfriend, Oscar, who'd gone home to celebrate Christmas with his family. The message preview is just a simple [image attached]. Y/n smiles softly and unlocks the phone, a frown quickly forming on their face instead mere seconds later.

It's a cute photo - Oscar's got a silly little Santa hat on and there are all manner of tinsel and light decorations behind him - but Y/n feels bitter and jealous. Why couldn't they be there, celebrating with Oscar and his family?

Y/n sends back a few simple hearts before locking the device and turning back to finish making their drink with a heavy sign. They cradle the hot cup in their palms and stare around at their undecorated apartment with tired eyes.

"This holiday season is gonna suck."

"Hey baby." Y/n says, smiling as Oscar's handsome face fills their phone screen. His camera is more pixelated than normal and he appears to be in a car, the occasionally jerk to his body being captured by the camera.

"Hey, sorry. Meant to call you at home but something came up and now I have to go somewhere. Still wanted to call though." Oscar's voice crackles through the speakers, and Y/n smiles softly. It's a bit rough, but it's better than Oscar not calling at all.

"Where you off to?" Y/n asks, tucking their legs under themself as they stare at Oscar's form, albeit a much poorer quality version. Oscar hums distractedly before registering what Y/n had said, a soft blush coating his cheeks. Y/n's eyebrows furrow in confusion. What could possibly have him so distracted?

"Just a last minute visit to a family friend, that's all. Travelling across half of Australia for it." Oscar says and Y/n hums, frowning softly as they avoid looking at the screen. "You okay?" Y/n sighs at that. Why did everyone have to ask them that question all the fucking time?

"Just... first Christmas all alone, remember? Not even a pet to keep me company." Y/n scoffs, tears building in their eyes. They sigh and lift their head up, blinking away tears. "Sorry..."

"Baby, please, don't be sorry. I'm not gonna claim to know how you're feeling but I'm always gonna be here for you. I'll spend as much of my Christmas with you as I can, I promise you that." Oscar says, the endearing sweetness that made Y/n fall for him evident in his voice. When Y/n looks back down at their phone after blinking away the handful of tears that had graced their eyes, they're greeted by a softly smiling Oscar. Seconds later, he turns his phone, his mum appearing on the screen instead.

"Hello sweetie. Keep your chin up, okay? Next year, you can spend it with us if you're still alone." Nicole says, beaming at Y/n. Y/n smiles and chuckles softly, wiping away the new batch of tears that had sprung up out of nowhere. God, why did this make them so emotional?

"Thank you, Mama Piastri. That means a lot." Y/n smiles softly. Nicole smiles and wishes them a Merry Christmas before the camera is filled with Oscar's far too handsome face again. He looks apologetic and Y/n knows he's about to say goodbye. It hurts, but Y/n can't prevent it.

"I gotta go now, okay? I'll talk to you as soon as I can." Oscar says, a genuine sadness staining his expression. Y/n smiles and says their goodbyes, the call ending seconds later. Their phone drops to their lap as tears flood down their face.

Y/n winces as the brightness of their phone screen hits their face and fills their vision. December 25th, 7:18am. Still nothing from Oscar. It had been over an entire day of no Oscar and Y/n was starting to worry they'd scared him off with their crying a few days ago.

With a groan, Y/n rolls out of bed, padding over to the window. They tug open the curtains, taking in the frost-covered grass at the front of their house. A unfamiliar car is parked outside and Y/n grumbles to themself about neighbours not having the courtesy to ask to use the parking space before doing so.

The more they observe the random newcomer car, the more they notice. The driver is still inside, and unlike the other, more familiar cars that dot the street, this one seems relatively unblemished by the ice and frost outside. Y/n furrows their eyebrows before sighing and turning from the window.

"What am I doing?" Y/n murmurs. They cross to their dresser and pull out some clothes when an insistent knocking sounds at the door. They huff and drop their clothes onto their bed before traipsing out of their room.

Seriously, who the fuck was knocking at damn near 7:30am on fucking Christmas Day? Y/n was alone, sure, but no one else they knew was alone and all of their neighbours kept to themselves on Christmas Day. So who the fuck was it?

Y/n tears the door open as they reach it before freezing, eyes wide in shock at who stands before them. "Oscar?"

"Surprise." Oscar says. Y/n doesn't let him speak further after that, diving into his arms. His bags clatter and thud against the floor as he drops them, lacing his arms around Y/n's torso. "You didn't think I'd let you spend Christmas all alone, did you?" He whispers into their hair.

Y/n pulls away and cups his face, tears threatening to drip from their lash line. Oscar reaches up and wipes away the dampness, a soft smile on his face. Y/n tugs him into a kiss, not caring who could see. Oscar responds eagerly, fingers dipping below the hem of their shirt, brushing along Y/n's soft skin.

"I love you. I love you so much. I love you, Oscar." Y/n says. It's the first time they've said it, yet they know they mean it with each and every fiber of their being. Oscar smiles and kisses them again, tugging them even closer.

"I love you too, baby. Merry Christmas."

© all rights to babybearnation 2024.

[artificial-transmutations]

Out Now: Dam Breakers

Hello everyone! I'm extremely excited (and, quite frankly, more than a bit nervous) to announce that I finished my fantasy romance novel Dam Breakers!

For the very TLDR-version: It is available here! Be sure to read the disclaimer below, though.

First of all, thank you! Everyone who reads my stories or likes them shows me that there is at least some interest in my mediocre writing. And even though the novel is not exactly like my stories here (more to that later), it gives me hope that you and other people might like it.

Now, for the actual novel!

Dam Breakers is the tale of Jared, a rather normal modern day college student, and Aleron, an apprentice mage living in a secluded tower with his teacher. One fateful day, they meet and are drawn into a maelstrom of magic, change and love - and dark secrets threatening to destroy everything they loved.

With over 120000 words, this is not only my longest story yet, but also my most carefully crafted one. I will attach an image of my Obsidian graph for the story at the end of the post.

Disclaimer:

As I have mentioned, it is a bit different from the stories I usually post here. First and foremost, it's a lot tamer. This novel isn't meant as a porn piece, but as an intriguing fantasy and romance tale. While there is love, desire and sex, of course, it's way more sparse and less explicit than, for example Closer Than Flesh.

It also features transformation themes, and the concept of change is one of the main focus points of the book, but, again, don't expect 500 pages full of transforming bodies because of it :)

And, finally, for a multitude of reasons, it does not contain AI generated images. I wouldn't be able to generate any that do the story justice, anyway.

Now that you know what not to expect, here are some things you MAY expect:

Transformation. Both in the sense of bodily changes but intriguing character development as well.

Gay Love. This is a story about two men from different worlds falling in love with each other, and their stony road to being together.

Magic. It's a fantasy story, and a truly enchanting one at that, with a fresh concept of magic and change.

Story. Last, but certainly not least, it's a good and interesting read, at least according to my opinion. Since I might be a bit biased here, let me tell you that my beta readers agree.

If you still want to read it (and I hope you do!), then you can grab your copy here:

If you are not in the US, you can just replace the .com with, for example, .co.uk to go to your local Amazon marketplace

I have not forgotten, of course, that I promised a special condition for you folks at Tumblr. Since Amazon makes it a bit difficult to actually implement that, I plan to offer a time limited discount or giveaway in a few weeks. I'll announce the exact time here on my blog beforehand.

If you really want to support me, it would mean a lot to me if you could leave a review on Amazon. That influences the algorithm a lot and helps the book get visibility, which is incredibly important . So, please, if you like the book, leave a review.

Teaser / Preview (mild spoilers)

And here is a short look into the book, from chapter 4. It contains some mild spoilers, but nothing too important. I also added an AI image, which is not in the book (see above).

[...]

Even though the weather was unstable, Jared enjoyed the journey through the vibrant spring land. It was a closeness to nature he had never experienced. Even back home with his parents, in rural Texas, the land had seemed different. Back there, the wilderness had been tamed decades if not centuries ago. There was no wonder, no adventure. Here, there were hills and forests, rivers and bogs, and who knew what else. It was as if Jared was seeing the world for the first time. Not to mention the smell. Jared could not remember a time when he had smelled the spring air like this.

In addition to the landscape, Jared's traveling companion also played a big part. Aleron was an intelligent and witty conversationalist, and Jared learned a lot about his new friend. They spoke of everything under the sun, and Jared told stories of his home, of modern inventions and the differences between this world and his. Even though Aleron was fascinated by his tales, he was also clearly skeptical about some of them, especially when it came to the more complex topics. That was only fair, though, as Jared himself had a hard time believing the fantastic stories of this world, even after having experienced some with his own eyes. Dragons, for example. It didn't matter how often Aleron recited what little information he had about those magnificent beasts, something in Jared resisted fully believing in them. He hoped that he would be able to see one of them for real - although Aleron repeatedly stressed how dangerous they were - in order to be able to fully believe in them.

While Aleron's world was certainly magical, it wasn't all like in the Lord of the Rings. There were, for example, no other humanoid races, as Jared learned. No elves, dwarves or orcs, at least to Aleron's knowledge, which, to be fair, mainly included the Kingdom of Myrthien. Although the Whispering Woods were not technically a part of Myrthien, and were generally considered wilderness, it was clear that they were no part of another nation either. The closest neighboring country to the Whispering Woods would either be the Golden Isles beyond the coast south of Eldoria or the Verdant Lands to the west. According to Aleron, the Verdant Lands couldn't really be considered a nation, too. It was more of a loose confederation of tribal communities, living in the characteristic dense forests of that region.

As Helena had promised, Luminara wasn't difficult to find. The capital of Myrthien was well known and if there was a sign post somewhere, it was sure to point to Luminara.

There was no shortage of smaller and bigger settlements, and about every third or fourth night they were able to sleep in beds. During the other nights, they made camp a bit off the road in order not to attract too much attention. It was one of those nights, about two weeks after they had left Eldoria, that Jared woke up in the middle of the night. Aleron, who was sleeping next to him, was moving in his sleep and occasionally made a sound, which had caused Flicker to gain a bit of distance to the sleeping man.

It was clear to Jared that his friend was dreaming, and he briefly considered waking him up from his nightmare. However, judging by the sounds, Jared began to suspect that Aleron was not having a nightmare but quite the opposite, although the dream seemed to be just as intense.

Quietly, he left the tent, careful not to wake the sleeping mage. Outside, he was greeted by the stars and a clear sky with an almost full moon. The campfire was almost dead, just a few embers and ashes were left. It was a quiet, peaceful night, and Jared decided to go to the nearby lake to drink. Aleron had never once shown a single sign of sexuality before, except for demonstrating a certain uneasiness around nudity and related topics. He never had commented on any woman - or man - in a suggestive way, so Jared had been half- convinced that this whole topic didn't have any relevance to the mage at all.

Of course, for his own reasons, Jared had avoided the subject as well, so, perhaps Aleron thought the same about him. Jared didn't mind that. As magical as this world was, he had yet to encounter a single sign of same-sex attraction. Perhaps this wasn't a thing here, biologically, or perhaps it was socially frowned upon, like in his world's medieval ages - or rural Texas, present day. In any case, there was absolutely no reason to bring that topic up, so he didn't. Not bringing up his sexuality was a sport he was very experienced in for 9 years straight now, after all.

As Jared neared the lake, he was feeling weird and tingly all over. It was not entirely unpleasant, but it stirred a vague memory in Jared. He had felt this feeling once before, but he couldn't quite recall when.

When he bent down to scoop some water into his hand, he stopped before his fingers touched the surface of the lake. The moon was bright, and Jared could see his reflection in the mirror-smooth water quite well. The only problem was that it was not him who was looking back at him.

Of course, there was a strong resemblance, but the details weren't right. His face looked somewhat stronger, his jawline a bit squarer. His hair a bit lighter and styled like the day he first stepped out of the mirror. On his chin, there was a short well-groomed beard even though he had shaved just last morning. It wasn't just his face, though. As he looked down on himself, he looked fitter than he should, as if he was visiting a gym regularly. In fact, the definition of muscle on his torso increased further, just as he was watching. Suddenly, the wonder was replaced by fear. He had felt that way before, and now he remembered when. It had been during his first visit to Aleron's world, when his body was 'destabilizing' as Aleron had put it. Given, the feeling had been stronger then, but it was definitely the same. And now, his body was changing again, and he was weeks of travel from the magic mirror.

Half-panicking, he sprinted back to the tent, not caring about being quiet anymore. Perhaps Aleron knew what to do! He ducked into the entrance and called out to the mage.

"Aleron, wake up!"

Almost immediately, the apprentice jolted awake. "Jared? What is wrong?"

"I... don't know, it's me. Look at me!"

After a few words of encouragement, Flicker began burning brighter, allowing them to see in the tent as well. Aleron looked at the half-naked Jared critically for a few moments before asking: "Okay... what am I looking for?"

"Can't you see? I'm..." However, as Jared looked down on himself, everything was fine again. He was looking at his plain old self, just as he should look like. The tingling feeling was gone, too.

"Oh." Jared felt incredibly stupid all of a sudden. "I... must have been imagining things."

[...]

If you liked the teaser, be sure to give the whole thing a read :)

Let me close with another whole-hearted Thank You for your continued interest!

Stay awesome!

And here, as promised, a peek at the creative complexity of the story:

[lijoue]

Tutorial: How to Make a CAS Background With Functional Mirror

Overview

This is something that has been highly requested so I hope this tutorial will be helpful for the sims 4 cc community!

This tutorial will have 2 parts for creating 2 different types of CAS "room" backgrounds. Part 1 (The Easy Way) uses a template I created for you to use your own 2D images/screenshots with a simple rectangular mirror. Part 2 (The 3D Room) will result in a better quality background, but it’s not a beginner friendly project so I don’t recommend trying it if you’ve never made any cc before. I will not cover the basics of cc making here, only what’s relevant to making a CAS bg using my template specifically. The Sims 4 Studio forum has a ton of great tutorials for everything else.

In my own research & experimentation, I noticed that (as far as I can tell) EVERY other CAS room with a functional mirror seems to be derived originally from LittleDica's CAS room [link] I want to acknowledge credit to LittleDica for their CAS background which I studied as a reference. But to be clear this tutorial and my templates are NOT derived from another creators' work; I created mine from scratch and it took a lot of time and effort. My version is much more simple and more compatible with Sims 4 Studio because there are no extra mesh groups or diffuse maps. I also made a great effort to make the reflection in the mirror more realistic for the size of the room. I hope you will be able to use this resource to create your own beautiful CAS backgrounds! ♥

Also in case you missed it, you can download my CAS background used in the preview [here] (it is slightly different from the template package.)

Requirements:

Sims 4 studio

Image editor (Ideally photoshop)

my templates (attached below)

—————

Part 01: The Easy Way

The easiest way to create a CAS background with mirror is to use my attached templates.

The PSD template is the best option, but for those of you that don’t have Photoshop, there is a PNG version as well.

You will need 2 images; one for the main background, and one that will be reflected in the mirror. The large top area is the main background, and the smaller rectangle at the bottom is what will be reflected in the mirror behind your sim.

In the image editor, paste your images and resize them to fit into the outlined areas.

For framing your screenshots, it’s important to understand that the mirror is actually just floating in space in front of a flat background. That means you’ll have to fake the perspective a bit and that may require some trial and error to get right. I recommend taking multiple screenshots at a variety of angles so you have options to work with. Use the model sim as a guide to help you with placing your background image. (Don’t forget to hide the model sim and UV layout when you’re done!)

Save as .PNG or .DDS and import it into the template package in Sims 4 Studio.

That’s it! My goal was to make it super easy for you. Remember to only use one CAS background in your mods folder at a time since it's an override. Also note that it is not compatible with 'cas blob remover' since the instance for the dropshadow is now used as the mirror.

TOU — PLEASE READ:

I give permission to the Sims community to use my template files and modify them as needed to create your own CAS backgrounds. This took months of work, researching and experimenting, so please respect the effort I put into creating this resource by agreeing to these simple terms:

Don’t re-upload my files. Don’t claim my work as your own. If you use my templates for your cc, please share credit with my username (Lijoue) and link to my Patreon page. If you make any money from cc created with my templates, please consider making a donation via my Patreon. It is greatly appreciated.

download template files here

Part 02: The 3D Room

to be continued…

This part will take more time to finish because there’s a lot more steps involved in creating a 3D CAS room. In the meantime, the template should be enough of a starting point for those of you that already know how to make cc objects, since I already handled the hardest parts. Just understand that the mirror reflection is not automatically calculated, meaning that if you move the mirror in the mesh, you will need to change the Mirror Plane Normal and Mirror Plane Offset in S4Studio Warehouse to match the new angle or position. Otherwise it may look unrealistic or worse, it could reflect the eerie wasteland world that the CAS room is set in. (pictured below)

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

ohhhh well this is going to be humiliating 😭

first of all. bold of this meme to think i have one single cohesive WIP folder rather than store random progress files in 7 different subfolders in various locations on my computer, and a handful just on my phone. HOWEVER. lets see how many i can track down tonight. second of all as i have stated before i am a CHRONIC writer-not-a-sharer so uhhhhh some of these are true WIPs i intend to finish Someday, some are truly abandoned, some were just character explorations i never even intended to share/post in the first place really. i truly do this for Me and everyone else is an afterthought for the most part, though once i start posting something I am pretty committed to Getting It Done Eventually now.

third of all i am leaving out any fic where i have the entirety shared somewhere. i don't move those to a new 'finished' folder or anything, they just live in the same place i originally saved them forever alongside the WIPs. I am ALSO leaving out the secondary documents any longer work has, which is usually "[original file name] Notes" because I like to use a split-screen approach with an outline/cut sections/random notes on the right and the working document on the left. Where the writing/notes are in just one same document, it's in the list as named.

Fanfiction:

Ascension

AndersJustice

BadThingsHappen

Coffee date

DeathOfClanLavellan

Fade regret prison

Fallout from the Fade

Fallout from the Fade (Doc2)

futility1

Gifts

Grannyquizition

Hawke hurt/comfort

hawke/lavellan convo

Headstones

lucanis

Lucanis character touchstones

Lucanis Lighthouse

Lucanis/Rook boat scenes

Lucanis/Rook lighthouse romance scene

marked up for the crows

MemoryViewing

MythalSolasBurial

NOTES Blackbirds poem

NOTES random/assorted

prompt starts

RyderXReyes

SAM&Ryder

solas poem series

SolasmancyPoem [note: this is not the same one i mention below/actually shared, its a diff concept i didn't use]

SPITE ROOK X LUCANIS INTERUPTION

sten

TrevXCullen

TruthSpellRewrite

[untitled phone note with a big mix of stuff in it]

Vivienne_preWEWH

aaaaaaand then there's the original writing. i am cutting off anything I did before 2017 because god i don't want to think about it

4

AVeryShortPoem

dragonpoem

Fynding

FEMS microbio flash fiction

i could be a wolf for you

love songs to the desert

methylation

NaNoWriMo2017

NaNoWriMo2018

outsiders

ORACLE

pandiculation

PoemsWorkbook

questionnaire

Two weeks to launch

VAULT

honestly i'm sure there's like 30 more original WIPs but it's 2:30am and i can't keep digging so i'm leaving it at the contents of the 3 folders i found first

and then i am putting this down here not as part of the game, but just because i opened the specific folder (and 2 other subfolders within it) and started laughing at the Mess. although it's "finished"/posted so not technically a WIP, this is all my version control documents for Like Teeth Against His Heart which was part of a collaborative zine. so instead of winging it I had my bff beta for me so kept re-saving new copies... I actually have NO IDEA which of these is the REAL final one anymore to be honest. in case any artists out there wondered if the final_FINAL_real.jpg thing also happens to writing: yes.

SolasPoem

SolasPoemdraft2

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned_pages

SolasPoemdraft2_alignedEdits

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned notes complete

SolasPoemdraft2_alignedEdits2

SolasPoem_Final

Jade_Solasmancy_Final

Jade_Solasmancy_Final+Previews

Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes

PROPOSED_EDITS_Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes

Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes_condensed

PROPOSED_EDITS_Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes_condensed

jesus christ. anyway. can you tell i'm unmedicated for adhd. well! onward and tagging a random assortment of folks because i can NOT tag 50+ entire people:

@m-m-m-myysurana @anonymous-inquisitor @thebookworm0001 @pikapeppa @sageadvice @bdafic @fourthage

but consider this an open invitation to anyone to share this & tag me in you result, bc i wanna see what people are up to and need more writing friends <3

and thank you for the initial tag @baejax-the-great!!

[tspud-whiteboard]

[Full Previews, Final Files and Extras can be found on GoogleDrive!] !!! THE DEADLINE HAS ARRIVED !!! (End of June it was) I am currently working on putting together the final files, but as this might take a while, YOU CAN STILL KEEP SENDING ME YOUR FELLAS! Once I’ve prepared the actual, finished, fullsize versions, this pinned post will unpin itself and I’ll put a different one here, with the final previews, the download links and some information what the future may hold... maybe I’ll do a Season Two if the interest is there. But we’ll have to see about that. For now, [SUBMIT MORE] like the wind while you still can! Hello, hello! Welcome to The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe Whiteboard Collaboration (a just-for-fun fan project)! I’m assuming that you found your way here because you’re well aware what The Stanley Parable is, and that you are curious to know what a Whiteboard Collaboration might be about!

Let me cut straight to the case then. It all started in 2023 - the 27th of April, to be precise - which just so happened to be the One Year Anniversary for the release of The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe on Steam and consoles, along with the historically very important and internationally renowned - or at the very least grudgingly accepted - 4/27: STANLEY DAY!

To celebrate the occasion, and only one day too late on the 28th, an idea came forth to put together a Whiteboard, containing all those Stanleys by all the fan artists out there (all credited, of course!), a worthy tribute to the Man of the Hour! And as you can see... we’ve already got quite a few collected!

But why stop there? Since plenty of people also came up with their own Narrator designs, and there’s a good few Timekeeper-Settings-432s and Curators, and plenty of other characters (defining the term loosely here), we might as well give them all their own little space to look absolutely dashing next to each other! Imagine, all those different designs, united in one glorious collection!

My point being... I’d love to see yours in there as well.

So... how can you join in?

The gist can be found up there in the first image, but let me also put it into text form down here, with some extra information:

[Submit] your Stanley, Narrator, 432 or Curator mugshot (or all of them at the same time!). You have [some other canon TSP favorite]? Go ahead, submit ‘em, too! We’ll find a spot. The format of the picture needs to be 300px (width) x 400px (height) to fit with the others. I can resize and cut them into shape if needed, but it’ll be easier on all of us if I don’t have to do that. All pictures will have a small white frame added by me afterwards, to give them that authentic printout flair.

Should the [Submit] button not work for you (I triple-checked and it works for me, but then who knows what this thing does while I’m not looking), sending your artworks through PM or tell me where you posted them is fine as well!

AUs and all art styles are fine! Please only submit one picture per character (if you have more than one design, maybe pick your favorite, or elegantly squeeze them into one picture. If you absolutely cannot decide, sending two pictures per character is okay, but I’d like to cap it there to give everyone equal amounts of space.

Must be Safe For Work!

This is also very important: Tell me how to credit you! Your name will go under your artwork, I do have to put something there. I’ll likely default to your username if I have nothing else to go by, but it’s best if you directly tell me, right there in your submission.

I will publish your submission(s) on here as soon as I’ve added it to the queue, so you’ll know it went through okay, and so you can show it around to others if you wish! (I can’t do that with PMs, of course.)

THE DEADLINE: Please try to submit your artworks before the End of June! Yes, 2023. This month. In this year. There’s a chance I’ll change this if a sudden influx of new entries rolls in, but as of now it looks like it’s a good time to start wrapping this up. I want my life back and all. ...But prove me wrong, why don’tcha? Why not tell your favorite TSP artists that they NEED TO BE ON THIS THING? NEED TO! WE CRAVE THEM, PRECIOUS. ...Sorry, got carried away there.

I give updates regularily. Previews of the latest Whiteboard statuses, questions that need answering, sometimes I might just add some nonsense rambles, all inclusive, for free.

The FINAL files, whenever they’re ready, will be 8000x4000px in size each and are mostly a much bigger version of the previews, with maybe a few small changes for the aesthetics.That’s quite massive. Humongous. It’s really impressive to browse all those artworks next to each other at that size. Here’s the [Google Drive] link, for all to download from and share around. So far, you can always find the latest Previews and a bunch of random Extras there, along with the first fullsize Stanley board as a test. Please do make suggestions if there’s better options, or if you can’t drive the Google.

I also post on Twitter and the Crows Crows Crows Discord server (fanart channel). If either of those are more comfortable options for you, or if you know someone on there who might also be interested in joining this collaboration, maybe poke me so I can give you directions. Or you might be able to find it yourself, I’m not actively hiding them away. Not even passively.

I think that’s all for now! If you have questions, suggestions, reservations, my Asks should be open. Looking forward to hopefully a lot more additions to the Whiteboards, there’s quite a few of you guys I’d loooove to see on there!

[velvet-cupcake-games]

Made Marion Development Update, Feb 2024

Hello everyone, and happy belated Valentine's Day! Will took a moment of his time to make everyone a very special Valentine.

Darn it, Will.

The Writing Desk

I am moving into Will Chapter 2!  These first couple months of Will route development have been challenged by some unavoidable IRL issues, but those are all cleared up now and I am devoting the rest of February and March fully to writing Will's route.

Chapter 1, as predicted, will be around 20,000 words. I still have one more Chapter 1 scene to finish, but it's a big action scene, and those tend to take me forever as I figure out all the logistics. I decided that rather than delaying the rest of the adventure, I'll slowly add to that action scene while writing Chapter 2.

Will Preview Video:

In case you missed it, we created a preview stream featuring the beginning of Will's route for the Steam Storyteller's Festival in early February.  Here it is!

Art Roundup

Some backers have been curious as to the completion status of our art, so here's the roundup:

Sprites and CGs (Arrapso)

All main character sprites are complete, save for a ??? variant sprite that will only be seen in the DLC.

We have 3.5 major NPC sprites yet to be completed: Hugh, leader of the Grey Wolves (backer sprite); Issa, Lord Geoffrey's cousin in from Nibiru (backer sprite); Kafeel, leader of Nottingham's Sunjati Merchant association and Will's friend; and the final version of Thomas, a character who is only seen in Alanna's route. I will need Kafeel for Will's EA release and am hoping to have Hugh and Issa for it as well, although they are more important on the Nottingham side.

After those are complete, Arrapso's main job will be CGs. I have ordered 4/5 Will CGs and am still deciding on the design for the final one. We also still need to design the backer wallpapers (which will be available in PC and phone formats).

Backgrounds & Creature Sprites (Sandra)

Backgrounds are almost entirely finished. I have one more major background to commission and then it'll just be the occasional variation as needed or maaaaybe one or two more major backgrounds later on to add more variation to the Nottingham Town exteriors.

All major creature sprites are complete.  I may commission one of Geoff's beloved hunting hounds during his route, but haven't decided yet. Meissa's bird friend will likely be a cut-in like our messenger doves.

Lore Intro and Cut-Ins (Lawrichai)

Lawri has been having some IRL challenges but should be back with us soon. Her main jobs right now are sexy silhouettes and the lore intro animation. We may be transforming the lore intro graphics into a full .webm animation instead of using Ren'py's built in Animation and Transition Language, as this might actually be easier for Lawri, as well as looking a lot smoother and making me pound my head against my desk less. It's a win/win/win! We'll have more on this next time.

Otherwise, Lawri's work is ongoing depending on budget and how much she is able to complete from route to route (I can always add in more cut-ins, but for now we're focusing on more critical ones as we have time after the sexy sils are complete per route).

So that's where we are with art right now!  We're in pretty good shape overall, there just might need to be some more intense art production while I complete the second half of Will's script.

See you next month!

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #29 | 03.27.23

Hi everyone!

April is almost here, which terrifies me since the year is going by so fast. Before I get into game updates, I wanted to share a bit of a (somewhat) personal one.

This month, progress on Alaris was overall a bit slow---or at least, slower than usual. I noticed this month I was struggling a lot with working on basically anything, whether it was for school, work, Alaris, or just taking care of myself. And I realized basically a year late that I was feeling extremely burnt out.

For those who have been following Alaris for a long time, you may know that early 2022, I was struggling with a lot of personal circumstances. I had taken a week off back then to "take time for myself," but in actuality, I had continued working on Alaris and other things because sometimes when I have too much time on my hands, it's worse for my mental health. This was a recurring theme for basically all of 2022. Even during the holiday breaks (e.g., summer, November, December, etc.), I continued working on Alaris, partly because I love the project, partly because it helps me cope with irl things.

This past month, I think the break that I've desperately needed since the start of 2022 made itself Very Apparent and made progress slow on my end. I'm very sorry if the update this month is disappointing because of that! I tried to take a break this past week and am feeling a bit better now, so hopefully, things start to get back on track this upcoming month <3 With that, I'll get into actual updates!

Writing

I'm not going to lie to you all; writing was Slow this month LOL. Basically, the entire writing team got taken out by some sickness or another. I would say for 2-3 weeks of the month, there was no progress on editing or writing at all since everyone was sick at the same time <\3 We are starting to pick things back up, but please send your best wishes to the writing team since they were Going Through It this month!! Also, if you got sick this month and got whatever has been going around globally, I hope you are feeling better as well <333

I did update a good amount of the demo script---just rewriting things since my writing style has changed a little. Small things, but hopefully enjoyable changes nonetheless!

Art

As always, we have continued to make progress on BG art. This month, Vui finished the River BG and the Forest BG, both of which appear in Chapter 2 of the demo. We actually only have one more BG to finish, which is the Flower Field, and all the BGs for the demo will be complete (ahh!!!). It's been about 5 (?) months in the making to revamp all the BGs for the demo, but we are finally reaching the finish line, and everything is slowly getting ready for a revamped demo release ^^

preview of the forest BG

I also have a preview of the GUI for you all! There will be some small changes, like colors, before the final version. But a little crumb to feed you all since I didn't make much progress this month

I also mentioned in the last devlog how I might update the personality icons for Alaris, which were completed this month by the same item artist who did the affection point icons!

The overall vision for this was little potions to build on the "magical" setting of Alaris. I think they're much easier to differentiate and so cute <3

My focus was more on demo art assets for this month, so I finished up the individual CGs for each of the LI's introductions.

soft and fluffy updated Etza CG

I also started updating the sprites a bit---mostly small touches so the art looks a bit more cohesive since my style has changed a bit since the demo first came out. Aisa and Kuna'a are receiving outfit changes so that their clothing stands out from Central gang and looks more cohesive with the aesthetic that will be used for Fae.

Additional Notes

Something else I got to work on this month was finally reviewing the demo voiced lines in full. I hope you all are EXCITED to listen to them in the updated demo! A lot of the lines had me giggling (heehee!). I can't wait to see everything together once it's coded into the game ^^

I also opened applications for playtesters. They close at the end of this month, aka in a couple of days. So if you are interested, please don't forget to submit an application! Thank you already to everyone who has submitted something. The response was more than I expected, so as always, I appreciate the support you all provide wah <3

Market Research

Lastly, I actually got to do some "market research" this month (yay!). I finished up Piofiore finally.

the man, the legend: gilbert redford

Touchstarved also came out. I unfortunately haven't been able to play the demo yet since I was traveling when it was released, but I already know I'll love it and I drew Kuras even though I haven't even played the game yet LMAO

gender envy

Anyways, I think that's enough from me, so that is all for this month's update! Stay safe, and see you all next month <3

[egipci]

#8 fantasies? & maybe also #28 spanking, hoping that’s the one you mentioned earlier

hello pal <333

"Fantasies" (lol -- not the final title (hopefully), all rejoice) came, I think, from a discussion on the good old j/d server (rip) about dean allowing himself to *want* his dad through these attenuated fantasies that get more and more vivid and more sexual (and sexually violent) over time. I don't have much of it written, because as I was writing I found it sounding like this story I really love, which is not ideal. Here's a little preview of what I got going on:

One time Dean will fuck up so bad Dad will have to do something about it. Like, they'll be doing an easy salt and burn and Dean will be on grave-digging duty and he'll get real tired so he'll slump a little, propped up on the shovel, just to take a breather, and the ghost will sense that he's close to the bones, that he's almost there, so it'll try to find him, because it remembers its grave site, and it'll do its floating-ghosty-thing and find him there slacking off, and because he's slacking off it'll get the drop on him. It will get its ghosty hands around Dean's neck and it will feel just like a flesh-and-blood hand, real, and it'll feel so strong, like crushing his windpipe, and maybe even lifting him clean off the ground, and everything will get dark. But then he'll open his eyes and Dad will be leaning over him, eyes all wild, shotgun still in one hand, and he'll slap Dean real hard, hard enough to cut the inside of his cheek, and he'll say something like "wake the fuck up and get in the car" and Dean will listen. He'll sit in the car and watch as Dad finishes up the grave and sets the bones on fire, and all the while Dean will have his palm held up to his cheek, feeling where Dad laid hands on him.

etc. etc. beside the unintentionally plagiarized voice there are more serious ethical issues I'm concerned about with this story -- namely the balance between Dean's genuine fucked-up desire for his dad and straight-up victim blaming.

Re: the spanking fic --

There are actually a couple of versions of this (apparently), one from 2022 I just found now is from John's pov:

He’d hung down his suit jacket on the back of a chair, pulled his tie loose. He’d taken off his shoes, and his belt, rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands. And when he’d walked into his room— that thick, heady sex-smell, and Dean, on his bed. Dean, in his jacket. Dean’s face buried in his pillow. Dean on his knees, his thighs stretched so far apart he was almost flat on the mattress, one hand around his dick, one hand reaching back—not jacking off, not holding, rubbing his fingers side-wise at his dick where it was crushed flat against the bed. Wet there too. From the lube, and because the kid was leaking steady, sticky spurts. That jacket was big enough it went past the curve of his ass. The sleeves so long they were bunched up above the elbows.  Not the first time John had watched him. In the shower, when they were alone, Dean’s skin red under the hot water, face turned-up to the shower jet, and John brushing his teeth or shaving or just — watching — Dean’s outline through the steam, jerking his dick, two fingers tucked inside.  Not the first time he’d asked the kid, either.

The more recent version I was working on is this:

Dad says, sweetheart, sweetheart, you crying? all slurred, a grin tucked into it, the shape of his teeth against Dean’s cheek, and Dean is crying now, he is, but Dad doesn’t wait. Another sharp crack on Dean’s ass and Dean’s back arches, his nipples pushing into Dad’s rough-cotton shirt, scratch on his sore nipple. Dad’s fingers wrap around his jaw, tilt his face, he sucks on Dean’s tongue and his left hand’s pinching mean at the meat of Dean’s thigh, pinching until Dean pulls away and jolts up and makes this wounded sound, high in his throat and louder than he’d meant, his face crushed into the back of the canvas couch, and there’s another two-three smacks, quick and bright, but dulling, now, into a constant throbbing heat. It’s a bad angle. Terrible angle for it. But he wanted to be kissed, tonight. Got drunk enough to push Dad back into the couch. He pushed Dad back, got on his knees, buried Dad’s dick in his throat, not even trying to get him off, just to make him feel good, to feel the shape of it in his own mouth. He leans down to find Dad’s mouth again. Spreads his knees wider so that strain in his thighs builds, the ache in his knees. Dad kisses him, good and deep and long. He’s got Dean’s face in his hands, keeping him how he wants and for a moment there’s nothing else but Dad’s mouth, taking up all of Dean’s air, flooding his chest.  Dad says sweetheart, again, enough to make Dean’s head swim, feels at Dean’s shoulderblades, down his sides, and Dean sighs, body going taut despite himself. Bracing. His hands twist in Dad’s sleeves, his palms wet. He’s hot all over and sweating like crazy. His pits, his back. His panties are soaked. Bunched up, Dean’s dick and his balls all the way out of them, vague itch of them digging into the hinge of his thigh. Sweat there too, mostly, and his constant leaking dick between the couch and polyester slacks, but everything second to Dad’s hands, looped through the waistband, under the lace. They’d be all torn up if Dean hadn’t asked. Soon as Dad saw them he pulled Dean close and when he got his hands on them Dean said please please don’t, and Dad’s fingers uncurled, just holding at first. Now he’s rubbing where Dean will bruise, soothing, maybe, or maybe making sure it will stick. Same open palms on Dean’s skin and the hurt shared between them.

The same ethical concerns remain of course, which is why I don't finish anything anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[shadowgast-recs-weekly]

Reccing Blog Tools

I figured now would be a good time to share what we use to make posting recs each week less of a pain in the hopes that people will copy what we do here.

THE SHORT VERSION: Google form -> Google Sheet -> Mail Merge to a markdown format -> copy and paste to tumblr.

The long version is long mostly because the google suite doesn't have native mail merge, so I wrote my own. Plus some small formatting/fiddly bits.

There's four documents involved:

1) A google form. Here's a copy of what I use. But honestly, this part feels pretty intuitive.

2) A google sheet with all the responses. Here's a clean, commented copy of what we use. I'm storing all of themes and a script to execute the mail merge. This is the one that's got all the bells and whistles in it.

3) A google doc with whatever formatting you want to use. Here's a copy of what I'm using. If you're doing mail merge a different way, you might not need this one.

4) A second google doc that's going to hold the output from the mail merge. It's a blank google doc. Just open up a new one and save it something you'll remember in the future. (used for mail merge, might not be needed if you do it a different way).

Okay, what's this about mail merge?

So the mail merge is used to help save a lot of time with formatting - by taking the responses in the spreadsheet and plopping the information as specified in the formatting document above (3).

I'm usually a word user, so I didn't realize that mail merge isn't really a thing in google docs. There's extensions that you can do to use mail merge, but a lot of them seemed to be assuming one would be using mail merge to send email, so I thought it'd be faster for me to just write my own version. It's in the spreadsheet, under the tab that says 'script'. Feel free to use an extension! It'll work just as well.

Note: You'll have to copy the script into the google sheet (under extensions). The first time you try to run it, google will send you a warning that this is an unverified script - go under advanced options and then read the fine print at the bottom. If it makes you feel any better, here's a youtube video that explains the entire script from start to finish.

So what are the actual steps?

Put this week's theme in both Question 1 of the google form and Themes!F2 in the google sheet.

Send out the form, let people do recs

Go over to the formatting tab on the google sheet. Make any changes needed.

Run the mail merge script.

Open a tumblr post, click on the gear on the top right and make sure the text editor is in markdown.

Paste what's in the second google doc (doc #4 above) into tumblr.

Preview, add graphics, tags, post

Choose the next theme from Themes!C3 and we're back to #1

So go forth! Make your own! Improve on this, and make it work for your own communities!

Special thanks to the reccers on AiFL who submit recs every week, and @professor-rye who does the graphics, as what they do on a weekly basis probably takes more time than running this every week.

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, Rendog 07/09/24

Not too many recaps this week, it's a busy week! I was gone all weekend for my 20th anniversary (yes, I have been married longer than quite a few of you have been alive), and now I have family coming to visit, but here's this Ren stream I started before I left and just finished up. In this stream, Ren gathers material for his autosmelter!

00:00 Ren opens the stream in video-with-music mode, running the countdown clock and bopping around the server to do various pre-stream chores. The title for today’s stream is “Gathering Stuff For A New Project” and Chat is happy to speculate as they filter in.

5:40 Ren turns down the music and greets the chat, welcoming them to the Tuesday stream. It’s been a week since he streamed because the Skulk Crane sucked the life out of him while he was building with it. He vastly underestimated the amount of copper required to make 500 copper trapdoors! He starts the day by checking to see if the shop actually made any money. He would be surprised. There have been no sales. Ren remembers that this is actually the worst permit in the world to have because nobody in the entire world (except Cubfan) ever does anything with skulk! It looks cool on its own but does not go nicely with any other block in the game. The skulk enthusiasts in Chat are hurt by this slander. Ren wishes he’d gotten at least one sale. Gem is doing a magic theme, maybe she will buy some in the future. Terrible sales aside, he’s very happy with the build, which is really very pretty and impressive.

9:50 Ren checks the diorite shop (no sales) and beacons (some sales) and thanks subs and donos. Today’s plan is a new project! He showed Chat a preview last week, but he’s going to build an autosmelting facility! His current facility is terrible and he has to smelt _so much_, so it’s time for a newer, bigger, better smelter. He warns Chat that among other things, the new build needs over 900 quartz blocks, so he’s got his work cut out for him.

13:40 A chatter has been subscribed for 11 months. Ren loves the number 11, it’s his favorite sub month number and also his birthday! He reminds Chat that his birthday is 10/11 and he will be seven years old. That is so old! Chat is impressed. ((It is not clear whether this is just a random bit or whether Ren is counting his age in dog years, which would make him 49 on his upcoming birthday.)) Chat encourages Ren to go to Impulse’s quartz shop and save himself a lot of grinding. Ren says that being an adult is 70% boring and 30% awesome, with the 70% subsidizing the 30.

16:00 Ren begins laying out his workspace. He has done the whole thing in creative already and sent it off to get a schematic made. He hopes to be able to show it off soon! Ren remembers he wants to give Cherrifire and Foxxology the Artist Badge, but he doesn’t know how to do it. Chat helps him out. He does it successfully, he and Chat are very proud. He gives one to Sanistratus as well, then realizes he has no VIPs. How has he been streaming so long with no VIPs? He is the worst streamer ever. He tries to make his Hermit friends VIPs, but none of them are watching right now and can’t be targeted. He tells Chat to remind him, then begins collecting quartz in his Gigaplex villager complex.

21:30 Ren is not sure if he wants to show Chat the finished creative mode version of the autosmelter before it’s really built. He sort of wants to in order to get Chat’s help with naming the building. He thanks more subs and donos and talks with a chatter about their new PC. He greets his mods and welcomes in the new chatters still filtering in. He wants to get as much as possible from the villagers, but he also has a ton of quartz tucked around in random chests that he hasn’t sorted well. Ren spent all his diamonds on copper for the Skulk shop, so he does not really have much to buy Quartz with. He needs 15 stacks of quartz, but he has 16 stonemasons to meet the need.

27:30 Quartz collection is going surprisingly well for the moment, and Ren realizes he may need more to do in this stream. He thinks about completing the tunnel to his farmer trading hall, a project he partially completed and then ran out of juice on. A chatter points out that Ren should be selling conduits, Ren remembers he’s supposed to be selling conduits but wonders if anyone will buy. Chat points out that Impulse wanted a conduit last week but had to make one because no one was selling.

29:30 Ren finishes his quartz collecting and waffles about showing off the autosmelter. Chat wants to see it and Ren lets himself be persuaded. He opens his creative world and quickly faces the sky to preserve the surprise, then turns on shaders for maximum effect. He slowly and theatrically pans downward onto… nothing, because he is facing in the wrong direction. He quickly looks back up and spins around, then pans down onto the beauty and majesty of the new autosmelter. Chat stops laughing long enough to admire the new autosmelter. Ren explains that he didn’t want to just make a big square smelter, his design has an interesting shape and lots of moving parts that make it look cool and satisfying. It’s not a huge smelter, 32 furnaces, and needs to be manually loaded for that Gigacorp feel. He shows chat how the autosmelter works, then notices something is not working in the model smelter and fixes it. The most interesting part of the system is that the furnaces feed into a system of droppers that spit the items out and down through an observation window before being collected into chests.

37:40 Ren smelts a bunch of cobblestone to show Chat how the autosmelter will work. Chat very much likes the way the items rain down and fall into the collection hoppers. He does some troubleshooting on locked hoppers and takes suggestions for names from Chat. “Hyper Ore Thermonator” is a strong contender.

42:50 Ren heads back to the server to hunt for the next ingredient, four stacks of light blue concrete. Ren has three stacks already. He greets other Hermits online (Grian, Zedaph, Skizz) and goes shopping for concrete at False’s shop. In chat, Zedaph remarks that Xisuma’s cam account is hot. Skizz agrees that it is likely the best looking one. Ren explores the shop while thanking subs and donos, he finds that there is no light blue concrete available. He buys white powder and decides to dye it. Chat hears background noise on the stream, Ren says his neighbor is mowing the lawn. He dyes the powder and goes to make the concrete in a pond, then takes a break to fly back to his storage room and fetch a cauldron just to point out how much better it would be if throwing concrete powder in a cauldron would make concrete.

48:00 Chat suggests Giga-HEAT as a potential name, the Hyper-Efficient Alloy Thermonator. Ren likes it very much Ren decides it will be the GigaHEAT-1 or maybe the GigaHEAT Facility. He decides that to keep the lore orderly, he should review all his existing names and see if there’s a way to keep some kind of pattern going. He has the GigaCorp Hangar Bay, the GigaCorp Terra-M1, then the GigaPlex, then the GigaTruck. The naming conventions are a mess! He considers the GigaCorp H.E.A.T Station. (Hyper-Efficient Alloy Thermination) Chat likes the Thermonation Station.

52:00 Ren returns to the storage area and decides that corporate rebranding over time is the cause of the naming differences between builds. He collects white concrete and looks around for the wood to make acacia trapdoors. He doesn’t know why False complains about his storage system, he only had to look in two buildings to find his trapdoors! He gets trapdoors and sandstone slabs, then powered rails. He needs more gold and heads for the gold farm, where there is one single block of gold available. Nothing is spawning in the farm at all. Ren is confused until he remembers that Xisuma is online. When Xisuma is online, nothing works! He flies up to the AFK platform anyway, whereupon piglins begin to spawn. Ren apologizes for his aspersions on Xisuma’s good name. He takes the opportunity for a short ad and bio break.

1:00:20 Ren returns from his break and checks in on the amount of gold that has accumulated. He got 11 blocks of gold in 3 minutes, not bad at all! He doesn’t need tons of gold, so that should do. Ren heads home and thanks subs and donos. He talks with Chat about who does and does not get served ads during ad breaks. Advertising on Twitch is not actually very lucrative. YouTube either, really. He finishes the powered rails and goes onto quartz slab. He might charge at the door for use of the autosmelter, but give free use passes to a few select Hermits. He moves on to quartz stairs, then briefly quails at the 107 hoppers. He convinces himself that it’s not really thaaaat many hoppers, compared to what other people do. He can always lagbust it later.

1:07:40 Off to the Gigaplex for black terracotta. A chatter tells Ren to give himself a compliment. Ren stutters for a moment, then says he’s a pretty good cook. Chat offers many other ideas for compliments. They know many good things about Ren! Chat also wants to talk about baked watermelon again, but Ren hates that. Baked watermelon disturbs him in his soul. Grape soup, too. Smooth quartz is next, but that’s the acutal reason he wants an autosmelter in the first place! He hates smelting quartz. A chatter drops subs, Ren thanks subs and donos. He welcomes the new Gigacorp employees, telling them of the many benefits of working for Gigacorp with only the small caveat of being plugged into a Giga-building for the rest of one’s life. The description of how this happens is nothing Chat wants to hear. Chat does want Gigacorp merch though, so Ren takes Chat down a Google rabbit hole of possible merch designs.

1:18:00 A chatter makes a big donation with a Do-Not-Read message, which accidentally triggers the text-to-speech. Ren dives in and catches it before it gets to far and warns chat that Rosie does not understand DNR and will read any dono above ten pounds. He talks with Chat about trainers and retro shirts in Gigacorp colors. Chat is into it. Ren is Googling without a net, Safe Search turned off, but so far so good. He really likes the 80s style knit polo shirt. Chat thinks it looks like a dad shirt. Ren says of course it does, dads are from the 80s these days. Ren doesn’t have the selling power to do a whole line of merch, but he’s pretty sure he can do one or two things successfully. Chat agrees with merch, but think Dads may also be from the 90s these days.

1:26:00 More materials gathering! Ren has most of the next few things he needs, though he has to smelt even more quartz. He does more farmer trades and buys more quartz. Chat is coming up with more merch ideas for Ren. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp tin lunchbox. Chat is into it. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp calculator. Chat doesn’t think calculators are still a thing. Ren thinks about a Gigacorp Casio Watch. It would be difficult, but would be a cool piece of merch. Economies of scale might not be in his favor. A chatter sends a dono with a gently sarcastic message about how often Ren talks about merch without making merch. Ren admits that is true, but he can’t afford to take a loss on merch. He has to be really careful.

1:36:00 Ren smelts his stairs and thanks subs and donos. Speaking of merch, he has a new exclusive preview for something coming soonish! He can’t show too much and he can’t talk about it, but he can show a little, little bit. He shows Chat an image of what appears to be the top 25% of a plush Rendog, which is mostly a Ministry hat with diamond band, some curly hair, and the top of pointed ears. He tells Chat he will not be answering questions, this is all they get. He is nearly done with gathering supplies, good progress is being made! Ren is better about this than he used to be, getting stuff together first makes it so much easier to build than finding something every time you need it. He is down to items he only needs one stack of, so the gathering is going quite fast now.

1:46:00 Ren reorganizes the shulkers and then goes for the last bit of stuff, including the 32 actual furnaces the autosmelter requires. He realizes he may not have enough redstone, and does a time check with the chat. Some chatters are just waking up (10am Pacific) while some chatters are up very late. He realizes he doesn’t have enough lightning rods, but he cannot possibly give even more money for copper to Xisuma! Xisuma already has all his diamonds! Pearl shows up in Chat and Ren tells her to stay put so he can VIP her. He does so successfully and is satisfied, but does not know if VIP actually does anything. Chat explains that it makes Pearl a Very Important Person. (One clever chatter suggests Pearl is a Vertically Inverted Person) and that it’s basically just a free sub but it also allows her to talk in emote-only chat like mods do. Ren thinks that’s an abuse of power waiting to happen and laughs about it. If Chat bothers him he can make them emote only and only Hermits and mods can talk, perfect! He also thinks about who else he needs to make VIPs, and whether some of the OG chatters should be VIPs. That will be for a future stream.

1:55:00 Back to the item collecting! Except Ren wants to show Pearl the crane he spent all his copper on, and Iskall shows up in chat and needs VIPped! Pearl somehow runs afoul of the automod in Chat and gets timed out, then logs onto the server to tell Ren about it. Ren admits that his Twitchbot is very grumpy and decides to just mod Pearl so she’s immune to the bot. He VIPs Iskall, Jono and Cub. Iskall lets him get some copper from his chests. Ren realizes that nobody can be a VIP and a mod, and that Mod Pearl is no longer VIP Pearl. He does not like this. Chat points out that Mods are Very Important by default. Ren decides to keep Pearl a mod so the automod has no power over her. He realizes he also needs to remod Iskall and Jono. Now it all makes sense! He knows why he has no VIPs, because he makes all these people mods instead!

2:04:00 Back again to item collecting! Ren is deeply, deeply pained at the idea of using waxed copper trap doors for anything. He goes back to the creative world in the hopes that maybe there aren’t actually copper trapdoors in the design, but it turns out they are there and they look cool, so Ren cannot bring himself to exclude them. He shows new arrivals the autosmelter, which is broken again, and fixes it. The torches he placed earlier to unlock the hoppers has broken the loader. He hastily backs out of the creative world and decides he will fix that later. He gathers more items while still complaining about the lack of sense in the mod/VIP dichotomy on Twitch.

2:11:00 Ren needs a bunch of redstone blocks that he definitely doesn’t have. He thanks subs and donos and reminds Chat that he has no diamonds to purchase redstone and redstone components. He collects up all the rest of the things he needs, which are generally in his chests. He notices chat talking about court cases and demands to know if he is being taken to court for anything. He should not be taken to court, he insists, because he always follows all of the rules of the server. In fact, he used to be the king of the server! They can’t take him to court! Chat is not sure, but they are somewhat concerned that Doc might be trying to divorce Ren. Ren thoughtfully considers the possibility of divorcing Doc and suing for half his diamonds. The trial was extremely stressful, after all, and Ren has not been the same person since. The press was also extremely critical of his lawyer’s performance! Chat hates the idea of this divorce and thinks Ren should sue Skizz for emotional distress instead.

2:16:00 Ren gets so caught up in court talk that he breaks one of his soul campfires. He replaces it and threatens to sue Chat for their intimations that his lawyer was wooden. He needs hay bales and goes to sneak some from Beef’s fields. Chat points out that Doc doesn’t have as many diamonds this season because he’s only taking payment in sand. Ren doesn’t really want sand. But Ren’s farms are going great, producing so many pumpkins and melons! Ren does replant the wheat fields, claiming this is one of the great unwritten rules, along with not farting in the bank. Chat may have been breaking that latter rule. Ren is appalled to hear that some chatters also break wind in the cinema. Chat is fascinated to hear that Ren goes into the bathroom to fart. Ren doesn’t want to talk about it and changes the subject to the weather. It’s windy.

2:24:00 Ren grows some acacia trees to get the fence gates he needs, still castigating Chat for their farting habits. Ren has some surprisingly complicated rituals for farting in public. Chat is pleased to be appalling. Ren tries to make a detector rail by memory and gets almost there. He has everything except the redstone blocks that he needs for the GigaH.E.A.T Station. He’s going to build it on top of the chicken coop, which is no longer needed.

2:30:00 Ren drops into the Giga-Truck, has a seat in the driver’s chair and goes to F5 mode to address the Chat. He thanks subs and donos one more time and says it’s time to call it a day. He wants to get an episode out very soon, but the smelter build may take longer than he thought. He thanks Chat, raids into SoupForEloise and ends his stream.

[myfairkatiecat]

😂 , 😭, and ❓ for the ask game since you said you have a lot. I hope you’re having a lovely evening!

I do have a lot of WIPs! Hey you know how I often say “I should make a fic about that?” That translates to “BRB going to go start a fic about that.” So like. Some of these WIPs will NEVER be finished 😭 or maybe one day they all will! Who knows?

😂 a funny or crack WIP snippet

Okay, I’ve talked a LOT about how I’m making this AU, but have never put any snippets online, so here we go!! (I gave y’all a long one since it’s taking me forever and then another forever to write it.)

—

“Now that the nightmare is over,” Kate began.

“You are not going to sing,” Constance interrupted. Kate was silent. “That was meant to be a joke. An attempt at humor. But I now see that you were actually going to sing. DON’T.”

“Was it really a nightmare?” Nathaniel winced. “It was, you know, occasionally fun.”

“It was!” Nicholas said affirmingly. “Sometimes.”

“It was not,” Constance deadpanned.

Kate cleared her throat loudly. “As I was saying, now that the nightmare is over, Reynie and I have prepared one last special performance. I have expanded my piano repertoire from Chopsticks to A Few More Chords simply for this occasion!”

“But there’s no piano in here,” Sticky pointed out.

Constance’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you didn’t save one of the Buttons.”

“Those buttons are some of my finest inventions!” Nathaniel insisted.

“The way you told it to me, it was your associate’s invention,” Nicholas reminded him.

“Well, yes, Dr. Garrison made it, but it was my idea.”

“I’m not in the least surprised,” Nicholas said with a sigh.

Kate pulled out a small black-and-white button, threw it to the ground, and the illusion took over, the room appearing to now be a stage with familiar spotlights shining down. The button itself had expanded, and while it couldn’t quite replicate an acoustic piano, it was impressive that it made an instrument at all. “Piano was one of the hardest ones, but I insisted she figure it out,” Nathaniel informed everyone as Kate sat down at the piano.

Reynie made his way to the middle of the dance floor and, much to Constance’s annoyance, began to sing.

—

The song is I See Stars from Mean Girls, but y’all don’t get a preview of my rewritten version of that song quite yet! You’ll just have to wait for it to come out…….

😭 angst or sad WIP snippet

Oh boy oh boy do I have these.

So this particular snippet is actually from a different fandom (*gasp* Katie writing for her old fandoms???) so enjoy! (It’s also from a one-shot, so I kept the snippet short!)

—

Merlin bit down on his fingers as soon as the words flew out of his mouth. It had worked against the truth potion before, but he was too late this time.

“Merlin,” Arthur said slowly, “what exactly do you mean by treason?”

“You’re the king, I figured you would know at least that much,” Merlin evaded, even with the truth potion prompting him to spill every last treasonous action he’d committed.

“Merlin.” Arthur’s voice was even, but his eyes were hard. “What. Did. You. Do.”

“I was born,” he muttered bitterly. “But I guess I’ve done a lot of things besides that anyway.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“Do I ever?”

“Merlin!”

“I’m a sorcerer!” The truth burst forth, and Merlin cursed the potion, still in his system. “Is that what you wanted to hear? No, of course it wasn’t. You wanted to hear that I was being over dramatic and that I did nothing against the law. Well, I was born with magic! There’s the big treasonous secret!”

—

Hehe angst.

And finally, ❓ any WIP snippet you want!

I actually got the idea from reading SOS 😉 you know exactly what scene I’m talking about

—

“She’s… she’s nice,” Nathaniel said somewhat hesitantly. “And I mean it. She doesn’t seem like it, but once you learn her language…”

“She has the same emotions as everyone else,” Nicholas finished. “She just expresses them differently.”

Nathaniel nodded and was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Like me.”

Nicholas looked surprised. “Yeah. Like you.”

“You weren’t expecting me to say that out loud.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Nathaniel said, “It’s why you adopted her. I understand… I did the same with SQ.”

—

Thank you for the ask! This was fun!

[zombeebunnie]

Game development Trembling Essence update:

Hello guys and welcome new followers! I have another update to share! I also would like to make it be known that since it's officially spooky month, updates about the game might be shorter and/or a bit scattered around so I can't guarantee they'll be weekly. :]

Anywho, I wanted to give myself a break from the other route I was working on last week to focus on some other things within the game starting off with a fairly large change to a ending/path!

Back in April/May, It was originally planned to be a ending you could get depending on how you interacted with Noah but, it was too similar to something I had already written. I then got an idea and turned it into a very long and extended situation you could get in Day 3 that would lead alllll the way into Day 5(+?).

I put a pause on it and went back to writing everything else because I didn't want to get too far ahead. When I came back to it I realized it had a good amount of spoilers that got thrown way too early at (Y/N)the player just on Day 3 and it ruined the flow I was trying to go for. I didn't get rid of it and instead, moved it somewhere else and placed it later into the game.

The path now leads back to an ending I settled on that I think really nails the whole survival thing and what would actually happen! I don't have any CG's to show for it right now but hopefully in the next update post it'll be done! :,]

Speaking of endings, another one also got adjusted! You could get it if you picked a specific choice and had a certain amount of closeness with Noah. When I was testing things, I found a unique variable you could get that would still let you continue into Day 4 when you technically weren't suppose to and I couldn't write anything to make it fit without messing up the flow of the other variables that were already in place. Now you'll automatically get this ending depending on how you go about playing! Here's a preview of it!

Lastly, I got to working on a different route I had already finished up and added a few more choices for you to make.

The beginning of it was fairly empty and I wanted to give it more life since there was more reading than actual decisions. Nothing was too outdated or anything but some parts really needed better transparency so I went and fixed up certain sections.

For example, some of Noah's and/or (Y/N)the player's reactions to certain situations didn't make enough sense to me so hopefully that shouldn't be a issue anymore! It also really helped me get a better idea of how I wanted a event to play out easier for me. :]

I let my play tester see the revised version and I explained what all was changed/fixed after they went through certain parts.

One thing they mentioned that really stuck out to me was a specific part that they suggested to be done 'in the dark' and that there should be some CG's shown for when you make certain decisions instead of just seeing the window CG. I went and made some adjustments and overall, I think it adds a lot more to the stealth and suspense I was trying to go for! :]

With that being said I think that just about covers everything! Thank you guys very much for all your support and interest in what I'm working on, I wholeheartedly appreciate the encouragement! Also happy spooky month! :,]

[megamattzx]

Preview: Dragon Ball New Frontier: Shroud of Memories

Dragon Ball New Frontier: Shroud of Memories.

Chapter 1: Lullaby

Approximately a year before Goku returned to life for the second time, in another timeline different from the one we know, a Saiyan child struggling to sleep from a terrifying nightmare woke up screaming, which caused Goku’s wife Chi-Chi to wake up. Running towards the child’s room, she quickly ran and gently hugged him to assure him he was safe. She saw he was shaking and terrified as she softly spoke to him. “Shhhh,” she told the child, continuing to comfort the boy. “It’s okay, Goku. You’re just having a nightmare, Kiddo. You’re safe. I’m here, your brothers are okay. We're safe. You're safe…. No one can hurt you…”

The child, Son Kakarot Goku Jr, who was adopted after his unconventional birth through the Dragon Balls and named after his late adopted father, was crying. He tried to explain what he saw in his dream, though Chi-Chi didn't want to hear it. She wanted her son to know he was safe. "Mama, that dream was horrible! I was older, and you and a man that looked like me were taken in front of me! So were Gohan and Goten! And a few shadowy figures and… and…."

Before he could continue, Chi-Chi began to softly sing a tune. A soft song that she had sung to her by her father, the Ox King, when she was a child. And Goku Jr was seen, calming down and slowly drifting to sleep. Her voice was comforting, and whenever she sang this small song, every time, he felt safe. It was no surprise that she continued to sing this to him during his childhood. This was her lullaby. And she, in turn, made it his lullaby. The Saiyan's mother ensured her voice was soft enough to where only he could hear her. His breathing slowed down and became more relaxed as he slowly drifted to sleep as she sang. Though he always listened to the whole thing and slept peacefully afterward.

“🎶Fear no more, what you’re fighting for, Will bring you peace forevermore, Only you know the passage to, The haven in your heart, Courage will keep you safe, Flowing throughout your veins, Please remember all your strengths, Time will tell what our future holds, Cling too tight, the world might fall, This moment now conquers fear and doubt, Please stay strong, don’t go, Raindrops will paint the clouds, Calling all the fairies down, With their colors, they’ll bring dawn.🎶”

Once she finished the song, she checked on her beautiful little boy. Peacefully asleep in her arms. Smiling, she kissed his forehead and gently placed his head on his bed pillow. The Princess of Fire Mountain took a moment to whisper to him softly. “Goodnight, My Little Saiyan Prince of Mount Paozu and Fire Mountain…..” She told her dreaming son. “May you have the sweetest of dreams.”

Many years later……

It has been 55 years since multiple versions of the Dragon team were gathered by the Supreme Kai of Time and all their companions and friends they met along the way. The day that the Time Patrol was founded. For that 55 years, the current Supreme Kai of Time Chronoa and now her predecessor who had been redeemed, Aeos, had kept these Time Patrollers Young physically, so that they could continue doing the work that they do. This became evident with Goku Jr, who, despite physically being in his early to mid-20s, was actually well over 70 and approaching 80. Though he wasn't complaining because he knew everyone he knew vowed to protect all of reality for as long as they had to, which was a most likely eternity.

Although admittedly, things never stayed boring for long in the Time Patrol. Currently, in a reality where Goku did not go by his Earth name and only went by his Saiyan name, Kakarot, Goku Jr was seen using a glider across a very high point. He never truly needed the gliders due to his ability to fly, aside from the fact that he had times when it was necessary to preserve his energy on certain occasions as well as operating stealth missions. Currently, he was dealing with neither. There was something about gliding that gave him this feeling of freedom. He had to thank his brother, Goten, from the Xeno timeline for the idea. Gliding from high places in certain realities and specific locations in them felt liberating to a degree. Plus if he needed to be discreet when patrolling a reality, this was also an excellent method to do so. 'It's like killing two birds with one stone,' Goku Jr thought. Feeling the breeze reminded him of the sensation and freedom he was currently feeling. Though he remembered he was not on vacation. Instead, he was on a small patrol.

Looking around while using his glider to glide through the sky safely, he couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful scenery he was currently looking at—the vast landscape of nature and its beautiful green lushness of land. The grass and trees perfectly lined together. The beautiful mountains, carefully crafted by the artist that was nature. He wished his parents were here to enjoy the beauty he was currently seeing. Goku Jr stopped counting the number of times he and his mother, Chi-Chi, spent hours upon hours talking about the different natural sites they visited together or the number of times he and his father, the original Son Goku, reminisced of the times when they went on adventures and saw so many beautiful worlds forming right in front of their eyes.

He missed them. He missed all his family, in fact. He missed all the times he pranked Goten on a regular basis. The times where He and Xeno Goten watched several movies together. The several instances where he studied with Gohan to find a clue or a puzzle or solve a riddle together. He missed the times he trained with his father, as well as his Xeno and GT counterparts respectively. He missed hanging out with his little niece Pan. All the times he heard his sister-in-law Videl talking about her dojo, or perhaps when he rolled his eyes at GT Goten talking about Velese a lot.

He should reconnect with them all. Work had been hectic as of late, mainly since the Outbound Flight Project but that was going to be pretty straightforward. The chaos was starting to die down again which was a good thing because it gave time patrollers time to rest properly. And the outbound flight mission he was on was one of the most hectic missions he was a part of. And he made a lot of difficult decisions during that duration. It had been 10 years since that fateful day. He could still remember vivid details of everything that happened. Even to this day, there were still nights when he didn't get any sleep due to nightmares. Still, he was glad that the whole fight was all over. Things would be more peaceful without Zamasu around before he showed up again.

It had been 10 years since Zamasu showed up and caused trouble across the entire Omniverse, but Goku Jr didn't want to take any chances with him. He knew damn well that Zamasu could return it any moment. His best guess was that Zamasu was biding his time. But right now, there was not much he could do regarding that man. For right now the small Patrol was what mattered. Still feeling the breeze as he glided through the sky, he drew closer to the ground and still got a good glimpse at Fire Mountain. The beauty of that place always caught his eye no matter which reality he was in. However, he did personally always enjoy Mount Paozu a lot more though. However, that could be a childhood bias kicking in as Mount Paozu was his original home for a large portion of his life. He remembered all the times he spent with his family there—both the good and the bad.

He closed his eyes as he began to remember one memory in particular. It was on Mount Paozu. Everyone gathered to celebrate a birthday around August. The then-18-year-old Goku Jr was sitting on the grass near Mount Paozu. It looked like he was deep in thought, as he looked at the atmosphere around him. Everything was peaceful. The spring wind blew his hair around as well as some leaves of Grass, the river flowing near the Son Family residence, as he sat there contemplating something.

He oversaw his parents, Goku and Chi-Chi talking; the smiles on their faces implied it was something good. Even so, he just sat there and observed them. He also looks to observe his brothers Gohan and Goten along with his sister-in-law Videl, his niece, Pan, his godfather Piccolo, his grandfather, the Ox King, and the father of his sister-in-law Hercule, also enjoying their time.

Goku Jr also noticed his most recently adopted brother, Uub was also sitting down with Goku Jr's friend Puck. He then gave a faint smile as he observed them, but there was one person missing from that whole group. The very person that was supposed to be there. It was Goten's 18th birthday today. But it wasn't just Goten's. It was the second person that was missing who was also a birthday boy that Chi-Chi wanted there. Goku noticed he wasn't around and excused himself from everyone else before using instant transmission.

The moment he got the energy of the person he was looking for, he was gone. This caught the younger Goku off guard he quickly got up and tried to look for him. Only for the older Goku to appear right behind him before speaking.

"You know everyone else is missing you down there, right bud?" Goku merely said a small smile on his face causing Goku Jr to be surprised as he quickly turned to face his father, his tail tensed up a little bit.

The boy let out a sigh of relief when he realized it was Goku."I didn't want to intrude on Goten's special day..." Goku Jr then said, before he then began to look away.

The older Saiyan then noticed this as he made the remark. "It's not just Goten's special day, you know." He mentioned trying to get his son to understand. Goku Jr then looked at his father, somewhat confused but Goku wasn't too surprised. The young Saiyan boy's insecurities and naivety were always his most significant flaws. "Kiddo, I understand you're trying to be considerate to your brother, but you're forgetting one crucial detail."

The Saiyan father then continued. "You may have been created from the Dragon Balls and maybe a clone of me. But you forget that you were a baby when you were born. When Gohan found you, your mom had already given birth to Goten. Hasn't she taken you in ever since?"

The younger Saiyan didn't know what to say. Yes, he was right about that, but why did he bring that up? "Yes, but what does that have to do with today? Goten's birthday?"

Goku then placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Because all of that happened today, 18 years ago."

This shocked Goku Jr that Goku knew this, but then again he remembered that Gohan and Chi-Chi explained what happened, after Goku came back to life. "Right... So Mom made preparations for me too, but I didn't get it…"

Laughing and rolling his eyes, Goku then placed his hand on Jr's shoulder again as he then got the fingers of his other hand on his own forehead getting ready to use instant transmission. He wasn't going to let Jr be miserable on this day.

"Huh!?" The startled younger Goku jumped a bit from this as he then turned to his father. "Dad!? What are yo-!?"

Goku didn't let him finish as he grinned while saying the following. "Not letting you be sad today, Son!" Goku said. His smile was still there as he said that.

This causes the boy's eyes to widen as Goku uses instant transmission to get back to the family. They were surprised but happy to see that Goku Jr was back.

Gohan then walked over to the first adopted son of the Son Family. "Hey, bud," Gohan said, patting Goku Jr on the back.

"Hey..." Goku Jr said as he was trying to process everything as Goten then was seen as rather tense. But what Goku Jr thought was wrong wasn't actually the case as Goten then began to approach him with something.

"Hey, Goku." The younger hybrid said nervously.

Goku Jr noticed Goten was holding something as his eyes began to widen at it as he looked at Goten before trying to deny it. "Come on, bro you don't have to give me anything! It's your day, after all!"

Goten only shook his head. "Wrong, Goku. It's OUR day…"

Goku Jr couldn't help but notice everyone looking at him as the young pureblood began to fight back tears. He had forgotten all along that his father was right. It wasn't just Goten's birthday. It was also his birthday. He forgot that today was the day he was born as well. Goten had already received all of his gifts earlier, but Goku Jr had left before they could even give him his gifts. They knew he couldn't be far, however. Chi-Chi then placed the gift she had for Goku Jr as well on the table, followed by Gohan and Videl.

The Ox King and Hercule also placed gifts down too. Last but not least was Goku. All of the presents were still wrapped as Goten wanted his gift to be opened first by Junior which was fair considering that Goku Jr did ask for Goten to open his first. Goku Jr began to unwrap it, until he was able to open the box as his eyes then began to widen and he stared at what was inside. It was a picture. Specifically the photo of the two of them at the beach taken by Chi-Chi a few years back when they were both still kids.

Aside from Goku Jr.'s tail, they were completely identical. They still had Goku's hair when it was taken. Even though Jr kept the hair due to being a pure blood. Tears started to fall from Goku Jr's eyes. "Goten...." He said in a nearly broken voice.

Goten only smiled when he saw Goku Junior's reaction. He could tell that he was happy with Goten's gift. Despite their rivalry, the prank wars, and their animosity at times, the two still loved each other. They were still Brothers. That was clear. The last thing Goten said is what caused the other 'twin' to break down, not out of sorrow but out of happiness. Causing the rest of the family to hug him as well. "Happy Birthday Son Kakarot Goku Jr…"

Back to the present, Goku Jr was seen tearing up as he let out a faint smile as he remembered that happy moment in his life. Landing on the ground, that memory reminded him what day it was, so he definitely needs to see his family now. It was his 80th birthday. However, he looked a lot younger than his actual age due to Chronoa keeping him physically in his twenties. Time Patrol really did have its perks as well as its cons. Well, the Omniverse did need protecting, so he didn't really complain much.

Taking a deep breath, Goku Jr then slowly turned on his communicator as he then began to reach out to the Supreme Kai of Time. "Everything's currently normal in this timeline, boss," he told her truthfully. He was clearly making an official report from this and the sooner the better in his eyes as he wanted to be able to enjoy his birthday for a little bit longer. "No distortions or unwanted visitors from another reality currently. Coast seems to be clear."

"Well done, Kaka," Chronoa acknowledged. Her voice sounded a bit cheerful as she said it. "Report back to the Time Nest, and we can call it a day. Also, before I forget ...."

"What is it?" Goku Jr asked only for Chronoa to answer quickly.

"Happy Birthday."

Goku Jr couldn't help but smile from that while he took a deep breath, his mind feeling a little bit at ease as he took one last look at the beautiful scenery. It was also peaceful; he could daydream all of his pleasant memories here if he really wanted to. Remember all the good times. "Thank you, Chronoa…." He told her, and he could feel her smile from behind the communicator.

Once the communication began to end, Goku Jr started packing his things and preparing himself to go back home. The spring breeze felt like a Haven of safety while he did so, and he couldn't help but reminisce about the past as he remembered all the good times. The times when he and Goten looked completely identical if it wasn't for his tail. The times he spent with Gohan and future Gohan. The times his mother caught him studying on the couch or perhaps even when his father trained him and taught him very important lessons that he took to heart. He missed those days. He missed his youth. He missed the simpler times. He missed the times when he didn't have to worry about the world, let alone the entire Omniverse. To be frank, he'd do anything to just for another moment have that back. But on the same token, he knew he couldn't get it back. But that's actually what made those memories even more special.

He was looking at the sunset, idolizing its beauty with the clouds lining up in different colors from the sunlight. The Saiyan was seen smiling as he remembered all the times he spent with Pan as they watched the sunset together. He missed his niece. He loved that girl as if she was his own daughter. She was actually one of the reasons why he dreamed of being a father in the first place. She was innocent and pure at the time when they spent time together. He missed that innocence. But now everything was all in the past now. All he can do now is appreciate what he had. And besides, it wasn't like there wasn't anything that he enjoyed now. He felt free at times, even when he was working. Small patrols like this, even if they were very easy and straightforward for him, gave that sense of freedom—that sense of Liberty. Gliding through the sky as he admired the scenery around him, even though he could fly, felt liberating. And it was because he was doing it purely because he could, not because he had to.

Once all that was said and done, he took one last good look at the sunset before leaving that timeline with a smile. Flying through the vortexes that the time portals always brought, Goku Jr felt himself traveling back to Conton City. Home of the Time Patrol, and the center point of the Omniverse. Every time he went on an adventure or was just coming home, he always noticed himself humming to an all too familiar tune. The tune that always made him feel safe in his darkest of times and always gave him hope. The song guaranteed his smile as he did so.

Flying back to the time nest, the Saiyan admired the beauty of the night sky of Conton City, which was multiple versions of every location that they've been combined into one area. Beautifully lit-up city at night, filled with life and Hope. He observed carefully as communities question acting like communities and actually helping their fellow men. The breeze of the night, long at his hair and touching his skin, made him feel more at peace as of late as he couldn't help but wonder if something else would have. Upon reaching his destination, Goku Jr landed at the bottom of the steps and slowly started walking up them to get to the Time Nest.

Taking a deep breath as he walked up the steps, the Saiyan continued his walk up the mountain's long steps to the time nest, and once he got to the entrance, took a step forward inside. It was always an excellent way to clear the mind when walking up the steps to mentally prepare himself for either a mission briefing or even a report back. Because he knew damn well there was no way to know when something could happen until it actually happens. Walking inside, he then started to walk straight towards the building itself inside the time nest. This was the central part of it. Though he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the scenery outside the building. Trees lined up as if nature had a perfect balance with man-made civilization, the reality-distorting atmosphere of the area seemingly having some form of natural order to it as well that he couldn't get his grasp on how he found it beautiful. It was like an artist carefully unleashed chaos upon their work of art. To make the crafted work seem chaotic it is orderly at the same time. And the scenery was constantly changing too. It was a nice change of pace, though.

Walking inside, he saw Chronoa and Aeos waiting for him. Their pointy ears and currently short exterior seemed rather pleased that he came back, let alone so early. "You two look surprised," the Saiyan said in a joking manner causing the two supreme kinds of time to laugh a bit.

"We thought you'd be enjoying the scenery for a little bit longer," Chronoa fired back in a teasing manner, causing Goku Jr to roll his eyes. "At least you didn't experience any complications, and that's all that matters."

At that moment, there was an alarm across the entire time nest as the televisions of Conton City could be heard being turned on randomly, and a voice in the audio could be heard once it was all picked up. What the hell is going on? It wasn't supposed to be an announcement at the moment. Just then, the voice became unfamiliar to everyone as it began to speak. Goku Jr quickly deduced that the one responsible was wearing a mask and even using something to hide the true voice, like a voice changer, for example.

"People of Conton City," The voice could be heard as a mysterious masked figure was seen finally emerging from the holograms and television screens. "I have come to bring concerning news for the time patrollers….. You see, while a certain Time Patroller was currently on a Small Patrol, earlier today, I managed to take the liberty of….. let's just say, sending a forceful invitation to his family, and I do mean the various versions he interacts with on a regular basis ...."

Goku Jr was confused at first, but the more he spoke the more the Saiyan Time Patroller began to realize that the mysterious perpetrator was referring to him. The perpetrator didn't even wait for Goku Jr's reaction as he spoke again. "That is right Son Kakarot Goku Jr." The figure said as he turned the camera to show his versions of Goku, Chichi, Gohan, Goten, Pan, Videl, Hercule, Uub, the Ox King, all of their GT counterparts, and Xeno counterparts, as well as the other two versions of Bardock and Gine that he was familiar with. He even had different versions of Piccolo and Future Gohan. "I have kidnapped the versions of your family you're close to. And moreover, I have Unleashed raiders, Titans, and legendary beasts, across five timelines."

Goku Jr took a moment to figure out what was happening. He hadn't felt this amount of anger towards anyone in a long time. A little over 70 years ago, to be exact. His eyes were closed, and he began to remember that day. All too vividly when he wrongfully lashed out at his father. Only for him to remember two other memories that made him understand his father even more.

It was a dark rainy day. Lightning and thunder could be heard across the background as Chi-Chi could be seen desperately trying to search for Goku. Through the storm, she could hear the crashing and burning all around the area she was in, and she went to investigate. As she wanted to wear the source, she gasped in horror as one of her worst fears came to light. Son Goku, her beloved husband, is seen getting the crap beaten out of him by another Saiyan who looks nearly identical to him except for the fact that he looks younger and has a tail. In her opinion, the younger Saiyan seems to be acting entirely out of character as her heart begins to sink. She was quickly able to tell that Goku was indeed holding back, but not because he was trying to be reckless. He was being desperate. Desperate to reach out to the younger Saiyan, she knew fully why. It broke Goku's heart just as much as it broke hers for him to fight this boy like this.

'How could this happen?' Chi-Chi thought to herself as her heart sank and tears started flowing through her eyes, watching her husband deal with this Saiyan that she knew all too well. Much longer than her husband. But she could also tell that it hurt him just as much as it hurt her for him actually to fight this young Saiyan.

The 17-year-old Saiyan didn't budge, however. Lunging at Goku out of pure anger, he transformed into a wrathful state, punching Goku right in the gut, causing the older saying to cough up blood. He went as far as kicking Goku in the face before Goku could recover as he flew towards a rock before catching himself. Struggling to catch his breath, Goku was seen with a pained expression as the younger saying looked at him with pure rage and resentment for some reason. "Kaka…." He said, trying to reason with the boy.

"Save it!" The younger Saiyan yelled. Clearly, having no intention of hearing him. "All these years, you always favored Gohan and Goten over me!" Those words sounded like venom when he said that. It was like Goku had a knife plunged into his heart by the boy.

"JUNIOR!" Goku tried to explain to the younger Saiyan. "You know that's not true!" It was at this point Goku was pleading with the younger Saiyan. Begging even. Trying to get through to the boy. This was very personal indeed.

"Then how come you were harder on me!?" The younger Goku then declared. "How come you and Mom let Gohan and Goten have it easy compared to me!?" The younger Saiyan's blood was boiling at this point. Before Goku could say anything else, the younger saying then leaps towards Goku and then kicks him square in his stomach. The power he put into the kick was enough to catch Goku back as he was still trying to reach out to the boy.

Goku couldn't help but feel his heart being smashed into a million pieces from this ordeal. How could he have let this happen? How could he have failed this miserably? How could this boy have so much resentment toward him? He couldn't give up on the boy. 7 years he missed Goten and this boy, 7 years he could never take back. And he was a lot harder on Goku Jr because he was trying to prepare him for the hardships that would come in his life simply for being his biological clone. But he didn't see him as a clone. It was what he thought was the only way he could protect. "Kiddo… Please…. I don't want to hurt you…."

"It's too late for that…." The younger Saiyan responded with. And before Goku could react again, the team fired a massive energy blast toward him. Goku had no choice but to form an energy shield to block the attack as he quickly tried desperately to stay on the defensive as he then couldn't help but wonder what caused him to feel this way.

Was Goku too harsh on him? If so, how could he not have noticed? What's the fact that he was trying to ensure he didn't endanger himself? What did the boy expect him to do if that was the case? How could he allow this boy, his son, to get himself killed? He would never forgive himself if he did that. He already felt immense guilt for the amount of suffering his other sons went through and the suffering that Goku Jr was going through. But he wasn't going to give up. He refused to fail him. He had to get through to him. He just had to. He wasn't going to abandon him. Clone or not adopted or not, he was still his son. He never wanted to play favorites. And he would take as much damage as he had to to get through to this boy.

"If you truly feel that way," Goku said, a hurt but determined tone could be heard in his voice. Chi-Chi watches this unbeknownst to both of them. "Then do your worst…" still holding back so that he didn't harm Goku Jr, he then entered a fighting stance with his son doing the same. The rain poured upon them as the two transformed into their most potent forms.

Chi-Chi had no choice but to watch as the two charged at each other, with Goku remaining on the defensive and only countering Goku Junior's attacks, as the boy was still lashing out in anger. The bitterness was evident in his eyes as he continued desperately to lay a punch as the two began to remember some of the moments they had together with much more clarity.

One memory, in particular, was 4 years ago. Goku Junior was doing a training exercise with Goku. Goku was making the training extremely difficult by placing weights on Goku Jr while also making all of his clothing weighted clothing. Increasing the consequences every time ensured that it would never become easy for the boy. As the boy tried desperately to continue to push forward, the more complicated it became, and he struggled more. The young boy then started to doubt himself to the point where he beat himself up, believing himself to be worthless. It hurt Goku to see him like this. It was never his intent, and he then tried to talk, but the boy would refuse to listen. Goku was losing his patience with Goku Jr as he couldn't bear to look at his son beating himself up over something difficult intentionally because of Goku. He then began to speak. "Kaka, you have to keep trying! You won't succeed until you push yourself!"

Goku Jr couldn't believe his father. Why was he hard on him all the time? He's always been harder on him over Gohan and Goten, but he doesn't realize it's because he was a pure-blooded Saiyan, so Goku had to be hard on him. He didn't need to be with Gohan and Goten. Goku Jr didn't see it that way. "Dad! This is nearly impossible!" The boy said as he tried to make a case. "Most of the people we fight Aren't nearly half as good as Uncle Vegeta, or you, or Gohan, or even Uncle Piccolo!"

"That's the point!" Goku said. Goku Jr looked away, but the father then continued. "Look, Goku; I know it's hard...." Goku Jr budged when Goku continued. "But I want this to be difficult for you..." This caught his son off guard. How could he think of that? But he began to understand as Goku continued. "This training is about life and death, kiddo. And as your father, it's my responsibility to protect you. But there will always come a time when I won't be there to do that. The same applies to your mom, Gohan, and Goten. The best way that I can protect you is by teaching you how to protect yourself." This shocked the boy. He didn't know what to think. "And if you can always keep up with me, your brothers, Vegeta, and the others, you'll always be ready for anything."

Goku then sighed. He was making it clear that he was now explaining his actions as of late."I know I've been harder on you than I am with your brothers. But the only reason why I am is that you're a pure-blooded Saiyan. If I'm not hard on you, you won’t be able to handle the hardships that come from being one. I want you to be able to take it." Goku only continued. "Your mom wouldn't be able to teach you in the way that I'm teaching you now. This is how you need to learn. Your mom won't be able to be this hard on you, Kaka. You're not like your brothers. That's why I have been disciplining you." Goku Jr then began to understand his father more. Goku only continued, though. "I have to make sure you're prepared for when your mom and I aren't there to help you. When we won't be there to help take care of you. To protect you." The older Saiyan gently placed his hand on the younger Saiyan's head and rubbed it as a father would towards any of his sons. "Besides, you may not notice, but you're improving. You're getting better at this. Keep pushing yourself, and you'll go far...." It was Goku's last words that caught the younger Saiyan off guard. "I'm proud of you, bud."

Goku Jr stood there in both shock and disbelief. He wasn't expecting his father to say that but seeing the genuine smile he always saw, he knew his father was telling the truth.

Back in the present, Goku Jr could be seen taking a pause for a second when he remembered that moment. Was he misunderstanding his father? Was his anger clouding his judgment? No, it couldn't be. Clearly, there was more to this. All he wanted was his father's respect. All he wanted was for his father to accept him for who he was and not who he wanted him to be. It's all Goku Jr ever wanted. That's all he could have asked for. And in his mind, Goku didn't give him that. Lashing out again, he then charged at Goku and tried to attack him repeatedly. Goku was only blocking, countering, and dodging his attacks as he did so, and the more Goku did this, the angrier and more frustrated Goku Jr became. He was charging a massive Kamehameha wave. The boy is clearly over-exerting himself as he does so, much to both Goku and Chi-Chi's dismay.

"Kaka! Please!" Goku continued to plead. The desperation in his voice as he tried to reach out to his son could be heard. "You have to stop! You'll kill yourself if you keep over-exerting yourself like this. Whatever you're going through, let me help you through it!"

"And let you view me as a disappointment!?" The younger Saiyan responded. "No! I'll continue doing whatever it takes to ensure I'm not viewed as such!"

"What do you hope to get from this!?" Goku shouted the confusion in his voice as he desperately tried not to hold back tears.

"YOUR GODDAMN RESPECT!" And as soon as the boys shouted that, he fired the massive energy wave towards Goku, forcing Goku to catch it and try desperately to push it upwards so that it didn't cause any more damage. It was a struggle, but he could do so, and much to Chi-Chi's dismay, only Goku Jr to punch him in the face. This time Goku didn't get back up when he fell. He just lay there looking his son in the eyes. He could see the anger still there. "I just want to be accepted as your son!" Clearly, he was holding back tears as if something was causing him to believe that Goku didn't see him as such. "I just want you to see me how your mom sees me, Dad! As your son! Just like how you see Gohan and Goten! I don't want you to believe you only have two sons…."

Goku was shattered by this, and so was Chi-Chi. How could he view this about himself? How could he believe that Goku didn't see Goku Jr like this? He did all the discipline when he came back to life with this boy, he raised this boy, even trained him. He made sure he studied as Chi-Chi requested him to. He made sure that he went through all of this. Why would he believe that he wasn't seen as Goku's son?

"Son Kakarot Goku Jr!" Chi-Chi said, causing both the sayings to be caught off guard and shocked as they turned to see her there with tears in her eyes. Her heart had been broken by her son feeling this way, and she could tell Goku was also heartbroken by this as he started to get up. "Your father may have been harder on you than he was on your brothers, but that's because he felt that he needed to be. Not because he favored Gohan and Goten more than he favored you. He loves you just as much as he loves your brothers. You are not an outcast as you believe yourself to be. You are already part of this family, and you always have been."

Goku Jr then turned to face his father, and he saw the same tears lying down his face as Goku then said it. "I did most of the discipline with you because I needed to make sure you could deal with the hardships that came with life as a Saiyan kiddo! I never wanted you to be jealous of your brothers. I have three sons. And you're one of them. What made you think that I felt differently?" Goku Jr was quickly able to tell the concern in Goku's voice when he asked that last question as he showed that he genuinely cared about how Goku Jr felt at the moment. That feeling of being worthless to Goku was a feeling that Goku had seen him have repeatedly throughout his childhood. Something that he saw that he still needed to help overcome. Something that he would have to help him gain was that sense of self-worth. "Was it the tournament?"

It took a little bit to answer Goku's question as Goku Jr was processing everything happening. Everything you were hearing and being reminded of was all finally coming back to him as he began to remember one of Goku's heart-to-heart with him a couple of years back. It was an apology if he remembered correctly. He closed his eyes and dug deeper into that memory to try to remember it vividly.

It was in the middle of the day. Saturday, to be exact. Goku was having Goku Jr take a break from training to enjoy being a kid. He could be seen looking off to the mountain tops of the forest, but the two of them were in as he reflected on his life choices. Everything he had done in the past. Every accomplishment and mistake he made. Everything he could have done differently. Especially with Gohan, Goten, and Goku Jr., he missed a lot of time, and he did regret it. Though he would never openly admit it. There were many things that Goku regretted, many things he felt he would never be able to make up for.

Goku Jr was seen reading a book she gave him simply because she felt he would like it due to his love for adventure. The Hobbit, to be exact. She was right. He loved reading the book. It was one of the few things he would enjoy doing besides fighting and training. He read a few chapters before he saw his father still staring out into the world as if his head was in another place. This caused quite a bit of concern for the boy as he couldn't begin to imagine what was going on in his father's mind. He then began to approach his father as he then began to ask.

"Dad? Goku jr said, raising an eyebrow. “You've been staring off into space for a little bit now. Is something bugging you?"

"I'm just reflecting, kiddo. On Life choices, to be exact."Goku quickly answered. The tone in his voice shows that he had been deep in thought for a while now. The boy was obviously confused. He didn't expect his father to say that, but he could tell it was bugging him. He didn't know what to think.

"What do you mean by that, Dad?" Goku Jr asked his adoptive father, confused. He never saw his father like this. He never seemed this bothered before by anything. Goku could see the confusion in his son's expression. He may be a pure-blooded Saiyan like him, but Goku then remembered that he and Chi-Chi raised him as if he was their son. As Goten's twin brother, even if he wasn't a twin. He then took a deep breath.

"Kiddo, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Some of them because I was an idiot at that moment, other times when I thought I was making the right decision only to find out that it was a mistake after I made that decision." The father answered his son honestly. There was clear regret at that moment. Goku's voice implied this in his tone. He wished he was there for his sons more, but he wasn't. He was venting at this point in a way that was clearly an apology to Goku Jr and maybe even Gohan and Goten. Something had to have caused him to think seriously about this, but Goku Jr couldn't exactly understand what it was. However, his father only continued.

"If I could go back in time and rethink that decision and choose differently, I certainly would. But I can't...." Goku continued as he tried to hold back some tears to stay strong for his son. "

What are you saying, Dad?" Goku Jr asked, even more confused.

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Goku then said. "I've been a pretty lousy father at times. No other way for me to put it. I've messed up a lot, and there's no excuse. I've been selfish to some extent too. I should have been there for you more. Same with your brothers. Your mom even."

"But you're here now." The boy tried to explain. He did understand how Goku being around now wasn't good enough, but Goku knew that his son still had some naivety at his young age. He still had a lot of growing up to do. Goku envied his son's naivety.

"It doesn't make up for the times that I wasn't, kiddo," Goku explained as he thought about this. "I made a lot of mistakes. Made reckless choices." Goku only continued as he was admitting his flaws."I'm always going to love fighting, and I'm always going to save the world, but even so. You guys deserve better. I may not be the most patient, understanding, or loving father, but damn it, kiddo... I do care."

Goku Jr was shocked by his father's words. Goku only continued. "I only have one wife and three sons... At least right now, when it comes to children... But to be honest... I wouldn't have it any other way....." Goku only smiled as he finished that last part, then hugged the younger Saiyan, who couldn't hold back light tears. Goku Jr was touched by that moment when his father reflected on his choices. There's something about those words that got to him. He would carry on that moment for the rest of his life. One he will never forget with his father.

Snapping back to reality after remembering it, tears of regret started to fall down his face as he began to place his hands on his head and realized what he was doing. He was lashing out at the world and taking his anger out on his father, the man who didn't deserve it. He never felt more ashamed of himself for letting his insecurities get the better of him. His jealousy. How could he let this happen? How the hell could he have blamed his father for all of this? Chi-Chi couldn't help but hug her son to try to comfort him; while Goku placed an arm on his back to do the same.

"It's okay, bud." He said to reassure his son. "Let's head back home, and you can vent to us. You need to let all of this pain out."

Back to the actual present once more, Goku Jr opened his eyes, a small tear of pain and regret seen on his face, though the perpetrator wouldn't be able to notice. Goku Jr then wiped tears from his eyes and slowly began to make the next move knowing that he felt the man would demand something. "What the hell do you want for their release?" The Saiyan then asked. He could try to make a negotiation and convince the person to come up with an agreement. "I'm sure we can negotiate an agreement for something you would want in exchange for their safe return…."

The masked figure only laughed as they then continued. The more he did so, however, the more it became clear that they were putting the Time Patrol in a position where they could negotiate. "You think I want money, power, or technology? If I did, I would not have gone through so much effort with this elaborate plan; I haven't even mentioned the last crucial detail. The fact that I planted bombs in 16 different realities that once detonated would instantly destroy them." The three people in the Time Nest eyes widened as they realized how mad this terrorist was. And here, he hadn't even demanded anything yet. "Oh no, I don't want any of what you might have to offer. Oh no Son Kakarot Goku Jr. All I want is you….."

Goku Jr's eyes were wide even more as he couldn't begin to fathom what this person could have wanted from him. But now it became clearer to him that this wasn't a simple terrorist across the Omniverse trying to cause chaos for the sake of Chaos. This was a personal vendetta. So you don't know what he did. "W-what!?"

"It's simple, Saiyan," the figure responded as if he heard the shock and Goku Jr's voice. Their tone and posture ensured they were leaving no room for debate or negotiation. "You and you alone will go to these five timelines where I have five raiders and fifteen Titans, and twenty five legendary "monsters", I have carefully placed in each of those five timelines, wreaking havoc and terror, you will defeat every one of them, and you will face them without the assistance of the Time Patrol, after that, you shall face me in combat. Each timeline and each warrior that I have unleashed on the world of each one carries clues to my location. You will use them to find me."

The figure then quickly held a detonator as they slowly began to position themselves to where they could press a button within the detonator. "Because if you don't, I have 16 bombs dedicated to a respective timeline that I will detonate, completely eradicating them. And to prove that I'm not bluffing," they said before pressing one of the buttons, causing a massive rumble in the Time Nest Chronoa and Aeos looked at the scrolls and then began to look back at Goku Jr in horror. "That was timeline 2374b - 1907. I suggest you follow my demand unless you want the blood of 15 more realities on your hands, boy….."

The figure then placed the detonator back down onto a dish that he had it served him on. And before he ended the communication, he then spoke again. "Clock is ticking…. Your destiny is calling you….."

And with that, the communication was gone. Goku Jr was now horrified as he could tell from his superiors' faces that the person responsible for kidnapping his parents did destroy that reality and that they were holding his family hostage. That was enough to know he was not bluffing about anything he just said. This was not someone that he could negotiate with. He had to go after them. He had to stop them. He knew deep down that this was a trap. But what choice did he have?

"I'm going after them…." Goku Jr gravely said, knowing that they would try to object, but given their situation, he knew they would eventually back down.

"Are you crazy!?" Aeos tried to convince Goku Junior not to do what he was planning on doing. "Whoever this is, they are doing this to get to you! If you do this, you're giving exactly what they want. They know this personally drives you because they made it personal by kidnapping your entire family."

"And that same bastard just blew up an entire timeline to prove a point!" Goku Jr countered by reminding them of the bombs. "We know there's 15 more. You need to find where they are. The rest of the Time Patrol needs to focus on that."

"But Goku…." Chronoa tried to point out to him though she was a bit hesitant to do so. Despite this, she pointed this crucial fact out. "...You know that this is a trap……."

"I know it's a trap!" Goku Jr told her bluntly. "But what choice do I have?" He then took a deep breath and began to process everything that was happening before he finally finished his thought. "Besides, that bastard has my family. And I intend on getting them back."

At that moment, the Supreme Kais of Time could no longer argue with him. Signs of defeat from both of them; they knew damn well that they were walking into dangerous territory.

"If you're going to face whoever this is on your own," Aeos started with hesitancy in her voice. "Then to go visit the homes of the family members first and grab all of their gear. You're going to need all the equipment and tools you can carry. And I suggest you get whatever gear you have at your place."

Goku Jr nodded in agreement. He knew deep down that he was going into enemy lines. And he was going in alone. He was walking into a trap, so he shouldn't be stupid. He had to get all the weapons and equipment he could carry. There's a difference between courage and stupidity, after all. And just at that moment, he then began walking away. Once he exited the time nest, he quickly flew to his apartment to grab the first set of weapons and equipment that he would need because he was going into a fight and might as well be adequately equipped for one.

Entering his apartment, he slowly went to a safe he had been holding from ever using unless there was an emergency. Well, now was a good time to be considered an emergency. Placed his hand on the handprint security thing and then allowed the safe to scan his eyes; the safe slowly opened; upon completing the process and lo and behold, inside with three fully customized pistols. Pistols could fire rounds that more normal firearms were utterly incapable of. He was going in for the fight of his life on his own; he could be equipped with stuff that would allow him to preserve his energy and deal as much damage as possible with all of them. They're also other equipment, such as the various traps he had seen survivors use. And even decoys, Senzu beans, healing items, smoke bombs, and airstrike requests, the Saiyan pod could be called upon, among many others. Those will come in handy as well. Placing them into a capsule, Goku Jr closed the safe and quickly started heading out onto the rooftop.

He felt the wind blowing at his hair and onto his skin as he cried out for an Old, reliable friend that wasn't even alive, or at least from how most people would have seen it. "Flying Nimbus!" He called out, and he saw the all-too-familiar yellow cloud flying toward he could imagine himself smiling at the all-too-familiar cloud, and for once, he was glad it was around. Once it reached where he was, he quickly climbed on top of it and started heading towards the Son Gohan residence. There was one particular piece of equipment that he was going to need from Gohan. And besides, since Gohan was recently abducted, Goku Jr assumed that poor Gohan would have no problems letting his soon-to-be rescuer borrow his weapon, in order to do so.

Upon arriving at Gohan's house, Goku Jr quickly reached out to his pocket with a spare key given by his older brother to unlock the door. This allowed him to walk closely toward the armory of Gohan's house. Gohan only really used the armory as a display of some kind to help him remember the old days. Goku Jr wasn't too concerned about that. He was only here for one thing and one thing at the moment. Reaching the armory and entering, the saying began to walk towards the very thing he was looking for, which was on Central display at the other end of the room. Gohan's old trusty sword during his training with Piccolo. Goku Jr was originally not going to take it, but considering that he was probably going to need all the gear he could get, he reconsidered it; taking a deep breath, Gohan's younger brother was seen taking the sword as well as a scabbard for it, to begin getting everything ready to go and putting them in a concealed bag that was capable of carrying a massive amount of weight.

Two places down, one to go. Two if you count one of the houses there as a separate house entirely, but they were so close together that it was more of a home when they were together. Goku Jr then slowly walked out of the house and, after locking the door behind him, climbed back onto the nimbus and flew off to Mount Paozu.

It only took him a couple of minutes to get there. But he quickly started to walk towards the house to open the door soon. His best guess was that Goku and Chichi were taken when they were at home if the door was unlocked. In this case, it made his job a lot easier. And granola nails, without a doubt, put those homes under surveillance for now. Walking into the house, you couldn't help but bask in the memories he had spent there. All the time, he was studying for school or training with his father. All the pictures in the house of him and his family. Specifically, Goku and Chi-Chi were in a photo with the whole family. And in the dead center in front were then 11-year-old Goku Jr and Goten. The two would have looked completely identical had it not been for Goku Jr's tail and the different choice of clothing. Goten wore Chinese-style outfits similar to Gohan, while Goku Jr wore a blue martial arts gi that his father passed down.

He then turned around and saw another photo of him and Goten when they were 17. Goku Jr had already had his growth spurt, and Goten's hair had already started to change. He couldn't help but remember some of those memories. Closing his eyes, Goku Jr took a deep breath as he remembered this day.

Goku waited for his father to show up at the World Martial Arts Tournament stadium. It had been a while since the two had spoken. Traveling across the Multiverse and all. He waited patiently as a young man all too familiar with the boy. walked up to him, thinking that he was THE Son Goku.

"Wait, Dad, I thought you were with Mom at the moment doing some shopping for Goku's return home from his adventure." The boy said. This caused Goku to cock an eyebrow. He immediately recognized the younger man, but then he remembered that he had his growth spurt while he was off-world, so Goku was about to surprise this young man, which would be a pleasant surprise.

"Dad? Wow, guess that growth spurt made it hard to tell me apart." The Saiyan casually said. He then began to show his tail which was still around, causing Goten to widen his eyes. Making him realize that this wasn't his father. But he recognized who it was.

"Goku!? I barely recognized you, bro!" Goten said with a smile on his face.

"Not surprised. I was away when I had my growth spurt. It's almost scary how much I look like a younger version of Dad."

"Well, to be fair, you are biologically a clone of him." Goten lightly remarked. This only caused the two of them to laugh as the two brothers clearly were bonding again after not seeing each other for a while now.

"How are Mom and Dad, by the way? How's Gohan, Vidal, and Pan?" Goku asked his brother with a smile on his face.

"They're doing okay," Goten answered honestly. "They all missed you, though. You have gone for a while, and I'm sure there's a lot that they want to talk to you about."

The pure-blooded brother couldn't help but smile from that as he then turned to Goten. "Oh, I bet!" Goku then told his brother as he couldn't contain the excitement in his voice or in his expression. "And I have a lot of stories I want to tell them about my adventures away from home. I'm waiting for Mom and Dad right now. They'll be here in a few minutes."

Several hours later, after a massive family reunion that ended quite pleasantly, Goten and Trunks were waiting by the door to the living room of the Son Family residence, looking at the kitchen while Goten gave a mischievous grin.

"Goten? Are you sure that pranking your brother is a good idea?" Trunks were seen showing some bit of concern.

"It's fine!" Goten casually said. "What's the worst Goku Jr gonna do? Prank me back!?"

Goku Jr was walking around when he headed towards the fridge, only to be hit by a fine to the face. "Very funny, Goten," he said in an unamused tone. "Got my just desserts, haha. You just wasted a perfectly good pie, I hope you know that, Goten!" He continued as he tried to find paper towels, only to find they were not where they were supposed to be. "Really? Hiding the paper towels? How mature, bro...." The Saiyan said sarcastically as he tried to find the other paper towels to wipe his face. As he did this, however, another pie was launched in his face, and he fell on his butt. Goten could be heard laughing in the background. That was the last straw for Goku Jr, but they no longer let this stand. He made the declaration of war. "Ohohohoho... It's on!"

Thus another family tradition between two brothers began with the typical son-brother style Saiyan Prank War....... Some things never change......

Snapping back from memory lane, Goku Jr then continued to look at the photo a little more. A bit, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of pain and even a hint of regret. "I wish this never happened to Goten," Goku Jr said to himself softly. "And to make matters worse, you were also kidnapped. The truth is I could use your help right now, Brother. I would never have succeeded in defeating Zamasu ten years ago if it wasn't for you."

That was true. If it wasn't for Goten, Vegeta Jr, and Trunks assisting him, he might as well call himself a goner. Zamasu, or Goku Black as he was better known as, would have probably killed him or, worse, tortured him as he did before the final battle. But this time, here he was being forced to go rescue his brothers from three different timelines as well as his parents, his niece, his sister-in-law, his brother's father-in-law, his adopted maternal grandfather, his paternal grandparents, and his surrogate uncle and godfather from various timelines as well. What made it worse was that he had to do it alone.

Sighing, he then reluctantly turned away from the photo as he headed towards his parents' room. He took a small minute to look around before opening the closet and noticing what he was looking for. He reached out and grabbed it. Taking the box, he breathed before staring at his reflection. It was terrifying how much he looked completely identical to his father. If it weren't for the fact that he still had his tail, he would have looked completely identical to his father. The second Earth Saiyan then sided and stared at the photo of his father, Goku on the vanity stand of his mother. She loved that photo. But there was something else that he didn't notice until now. It wasn't just that photo anymore. He took a deeper look, and his heart arched a bit. Not at what he was looking at but at the circumstances that he was currently in. It was a picture taken on his 21st birthday with him and Goten drinking.

He remembered a lot of times when he spoke with his mother. And he couldn't help but remember when he spoke to his mother 56 years ago. After the first mission of the first two versions of the Dragon Team, who joined the Time Patrol and became its first members, it was a quiet day at Capsule Corp after their timeline was merged with Conton City's world. This also included the different versions of the various timelines connected to it. The day before, there was a very dangerous mission that left a lot of people shaken when it ended. Demigra was threatening every plane of existence of the entire Omniverse. Demigra was defeated at the end of the day, but it wasn't an easy victory.

Bulma wanted to throw a huge celebration with all the different versions of everyone they joined forces with, and there was a huge party as a result. Everyone was seemingly happy. That was when one particular younger pureblooded Saiyan, that looked nearly identical to Goku, except that he had a tail, started to walk out of the building and lean towards the end of the balcony. He originally thought no one would notice or care, but he was wrong.

A woman noticed. She was wearing more of a teal-colored Chinese dress this time around and had her hair in a bun with her bangs showing. She was wearing an outfit better suited for fighting earlier, but she didn't feel the need to wear it now. When she noticed this young man walking out suddenly too, this caused her to raise some eyebrows but not out of suspicion but concern. Concern for the boy's well-being in her eyes. This was Chi-Chi, Goku's beloved wife, and Gohan and Goten's loving mother. And apparently, she was close to this young Saiyan as well. How so? Well, she made it very obvious when she approached him as he stood over the balcony looking at the sunset. Something was bothering him, as she noticed.

She was overbearing at times, but at least she overcame it. There were also instances where she was justified or, at the very least, understandable. As she approached him, she then remarked. "You know it's rather lonely out here, Karrot." She remarked in a teasing manner as the younger Saiyan then responded to her.

"Mom... You know I don't like that nickname. I never did.."

Chi-Chi only rolled her eyes as she walked over to stand beside him. This saying was someone who meant so much to her. This was her little boy. But he was all grown up now. It broke her heart to see a little Saiyan warrior like this, especially with what she had seen him go through with his depression. She could easily say something was bothering him. She wasn't angry with her approach but rather direct, making it clear that she wasn't going to leave him alone until he opened up. She always had to take a similar approach to her husband. "All right, kiddo, I'll bite. What's wrong?" She said in a tone that showed her willingness to listen to him. Part of her knew that the young man struggled to find the words to describe it.

"It's just... This whole Time Patrol stuff, it's not something I'm used to. It's all new to me."

"This is new to all of us kiddo. Your father is still getting used to saving things beyond Earth, let alone a whole Multiverse, or, nowadays, the entire Omniverse." Chi-Chi pointed that out, knowing her adopted son would open up more. She always made it to where he opened up.

Despite adopting him due to the circumstances that led to his birth, which is why he was a pure-blooded saiyan, to begin with, she always saw him as her son, nothing more, nothing less. Bringing up Goku was obviously the best course of action whenever she needed this boy to vent. Goku Jr then looked at her in surprise, but she only continued. "I was heartbroken that he wasn't brought back, but Gohan brought you home. My heart couldn't let you be abandoned with nowhere to go. No home to come to. I spent years raising this little Saiyan Boy. Something I never thought I would ever expect to do. But I raised a pure-blooded Saiyan, nonetheless. I named you after your father because I knew deep down that you were like him. Not just from looks, either. You were so innocent...."

This caused the Saiyan to be surprised. She noticed this and only continued.

"And when your father returned seven years later, he accepted you with open arms. Alongside your brother Goten. We both ended up seeing you grow up. Going from this little boy to a little man." Goku Jr only listened to her. It was clear that she was being genuine with the way that she was speaking to him.

"And that little man ended up being so ready to take on the world no matter how cruel it can be. To see this big world for what it was." She only continued. "And that big world had been cruel to him. That big world made that little man, my little boy, sometimes feel powerless. I've seen him at his worst. So has his father. And I've seen him multiple times the way you are now... Afraid of the unknown."

It was at that moment Goku Jr realized that she was describing him. He remembered all the times Goku trained him. Even the times Chi-Chi had as well. Remembering all the times she saw him pushing himself too hard, even times where he had injured himself. All the times he had pushed himself so hard, he ended up with bloody knuckles from his injuries. Chi-Chi then only continued.

"But I also saw that little man take back his life. Took the world head on and, even when the odds were against him, faced it with a smile." The Younger individual then began remembering all the times he had fought impossible odds. All the times he nearly died. Majin Buu, Frieza, Zamasu, Moro. That's just a few names then he could think of as well. Chi-Chi then continued. "Now this little man is doubting himself again because now he's coming to terms with the fact that he is in a much bigger world than he realized."

Goku Jr was shocked by everything she just said because it was true. She was always that wise. He couldn't hide anything. "That's exactly what it is. How are you always this wise?" She could only chuckle as she then said.

"Goku, I am your mother. I named you after your father to clarify that you are my son. That you were your Father's son." She only smiled as she continued she had to get through to him somehow, and yet there was something about her son that always made her feel like she did right. "You are one of the kindest and most courageous people I've ever met. And I'm proud to call you my son." She smiled more as she finished her last bit. "And like your father, you're also fearless, and it's not because you don't have fears; it's because you're willing to face your fears head-on even if the odds are against you. The world is scary, but as long as you still have the courage to face it, you'll be fine."

Goku Jr then gave a faint but genuine smile; he could see why his father loved her. He couldn't help but simply respond with the following. "Thank you, Mom... For everything...."

Returning to the current moment, Goku Jr escaped from his memory again and took another deep sigh. He then started to open the box revealing a key to something. Luckily he knew what it was and where to find it. But before leaving the house, he took a deep breath and looked at the pictures again. "Mom…. Dad…" he said. He was fighting back the tears. He was afraid. Afraid of losing his family. The only family you ever knew and ever will know. "Gohan… Goten… Videl…. Pan…. Everyone…. Wait for me….. I'm going to bring you all back home. I promise!" He said when he made that last declaration. He then began to walk out of his parent's bedroom. Slowly leaving towards the door, he will take another look back at the house, letting all the memories kick in while he exits, but not without locking the door behind him.

As soon as he left the house, he walked towards another building nearby, the wind blowing at him. He felt the breeze touch his skin. He couldn't help but feel the fear slowly turn into resolve as he quickened to steps. Before he knew it, he slammed the door open, but not enough to break it. Carefully walking towards something that Goku pretty much kept tied away, the first adopted son of Goku took a deep sigh, before he started to take a large chest out from Goku's hiding place. Looking at the key for a minute, the Saiyan inserted it into the lock and turned it. Once the chest was unlocked, he opened it and found exactly what he sought. His father's bo staff. The power pole. As well as the Bansho fan, there are some other things like different forms of clothing and furs. That is definitely what he was looking for. And before anyone knew it, he took everything he had already acquired from the other places and started to equip himself with everything he had just gathered. Right there in his father's adopted grandfather's house.

He started with the clothes. Strapping pieces of armor on his shoulders, knees, elbows, and wrists added more layers to the gauntlets that he now wore. He's additional armor platings on his boots, reinforcing them. Next, he holstered all three of his pistols in the holsters that he had also strapped on to his clothes, then strapped the scabbards of the swords before slowly putting the swords in the scabbards to avoid hurting himself in the process. He then carefully placed the Bansho fan on the bottom part of his back before putting the Bo staff on his back. And now that everything was equipped, at least everything he knew about which, he assumed that he was going to get more equipment over time as well on this journey purely because he was going to need it, he then slowly began to head out. He received an unknown text revealing the location of the timelines that he needed to go to. Whoever tried to get him to take the bait was serious about this.

Calling for the nimbus again, he knew damn well where to go now—flying towards a good area to start heading towards his next destination through the Time Patrol wormholes. As he continued, his fears purged from his mind and were replaced with his resolve. The next thing he knew, he was no longer in Conton City. Traveling through those things with the nimbus was something he never imagined himself doing, but here he was, armed to the teeth and flying his family's nimbus, off to fight who knows what danger he was about to face. Ironically to save 20 timelines and his family.

The more he thought about it, the more he remembered what his mother had said. All those years ago. How he was so much like his father, and the more he thought about it, the more he remembered it and realized that she was right. So willing to go into danger no matter how cruel the world could be. He was still willing to take on the world. And not only that, he was now willing to face whatever dangers and fears he would be forced to face alone.

Upon arriving at the first reality, a timeline where Goku went by Kakarot, similar to the one he was previously in, Goku couldn't help but notice something was different in this reality somehow. At least different from the reality he was in. Perhaps he should check on the history of that place once he landed on the ground. Soaring through the sky more, he felt his courage overcoming his fears and his resolve giving the strength to push on his new quest. The quest to save his entire family. His determination sparked by his memories of his family and he also had a gut feeling that those same memories were somehow going to help him through this quest.

No, Son Kakarot Goku Jr wasn’t going to allow this bastard to win. As long as he still has a fight left in him, he will find a way to defeat him. Whoever this was, they just started a damn war with the saiyan. He took a moment to pull out something out of his pocket, he pulled it out and revealed something that was all too familiar to him. It was a red bandana. The head band, one of the versions of Bardock, had given to him as a gift. He took a moment to think back on it before opening his eyes and slowly putting it on his forehead and tying the back to keep it in place. Now fully ready for battle, he flew the nimbus to his first destination.

Meanwhile, in an undesignated location, Goku Jr was being observed for the footage as a couple of folks could be seen observing as the two then spoke. “It seems The saiyan has taken the bait,” the one closest to the door said. “The Time Patrol will most likely be looking for the bombs and wouldn’t be able to help him.”

The masked figure then spoke, and now that the mask was removed, the voice of a male could be heard from where he was sitting. “Excellent,” the man in the chair said. "The son of Goku and Chi-Chi rushed into danger just as we convinced him to. And to make it worse for him, he's going to have to face us and all of our forces might do whatever it takes to keep him from finding us, alone. Granted, he would have to destroy them anyway, in order to acquire the clues to our exact location. Although you do have to admire his courage."

"But sir," the other man tried to protest. "He's armed to the teeth. Has all the various weapons that his family has used and more."

"And did you really expect him to go after us with nothing but his brute strength and powers?" The leader mentioned. "There's a difference between courage and stupidity, Mr Haruto. The fact that Goku Jr took the time and effort to get the equipment that he felt he would need on his journey as well as a means to provide him support should he need to preserve his energy and power, should not be credited against him. In fact, he should be praised for his resourcefulness. And I'm also certain that he's going to grab more gear throughout the journey too. As well as potentially look for leads that could get him to where he needs to be. Either way. He's following the bait. And he will get stronger, no doubt. I'm simply curious how strong he will be when he reaches us."

Haruto took a bit of a moment to pause and process everything he just heard. None of this didn't even seem to make sense until he remembered that he was speaking to another Saiyan. "You actually want to face him yourself….."

"Correct," the man said as he then slowly began to get up. "Though I don't want to make it too easy. Oh no. I want him to go through all of hell and back just to get to me. The only two reasons why we drugged his family rather than attacked them head on was because if we were to fight any version of Goku or Gohan, we would have certainly lost. Baking this whole plan obsolete and pointless. Another reason why we put restraining braces that prevent all of them from using their abilities as long as they wear them. And they can't take them off without the proper codes."

"But sir," Haruto began to point out. "You haven't mentioned the Bounty Hunters, inquisitors, WarChiefs and Captains."

"All on purpose," the Saiyan responded with. "We don't want to make things too easy for him, now do we?"

"No sir," Haruto answered. "But don't you think he will be dealing with more than enough of this Army? He could potentially use each battle and his training to surpass you through his zenkai boosts."

"A risk we must be willing to take," Haruto's master responded. A smile was seen on the man's face as he then continued to walk towards Haruto. Revealing spiky but messy hair but he wore a different type of armor. He wore Saiyan armor as well but it was heavily modified, and he had military grade earth pants underneath the armor too that was baggy. His grin was that of a devilish smile. Seeing Haruto look at him nervously also allowed him to know that he could easily keep the human in line. "It will only be a matter of time," he said. A hint of confidence could be heard in his tone. "Let's see just how strong this Saiyan can become."

A few hours passed as Chi-Chi was seen leaning towards Goku while he held her in her arms. The two seemed rather calm, all things considered. Their counterparts as well as the different versions of their sons, Goten and Gohan, their daughter in law Videl, and their granddaughter, Pan were surprisingly calm as well. Though this shouldn't be a surprise considering how long they've been in the Time Patrol at this point. So they couldn't help but feel worried. Goku Jr was out there, most likely risking his life to save them. Though it was always easy to put faith in him whatever he was needed, Goku couldn't help but worry for the boy he raised and trained. And Chi-Chi had the same worries too. Always more concerned for his safety than theirs.

Still, it's not like they were in a position to do anything about it now. Taking a deep breath, Goku softly whispered to his wife as he tried to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. "He'll find a way to succeed," he told her. His voice calmed as he did so. "He's as strong as I am, as smart as you are, and he's as stubborn and patient as both of us combined."

Chi-Chi gave a faint smile from that remark. "Just like his brothers." She told him back. She held him tighter as her smile faded. "Still…. That's our boy, risking his life for us."

Goku understood that she was still worried for Goku Jr's well being. He couldn't blame her. He was worried too. That was THEIR son out there. Sure he wasn't biologically their son, due to him being a clone of Goku but they raised him. Raised him as if he was their own flesh and he loved them both. The boy cherished them. "I know," he told her. "But right now, all we can do right now is trust him. Have faith in him."

Chi-Chi nodded in agreement, albeit reluctantly. She understood that Goku Jr was able to hold his own but she hated the idea of her children running into certain danger. Especially if family is involved. "I know, but Goku….. Kaka is walking into a trap…" she told him softly. And technically, she wasn't wrong and Goku knew this.

"I think he already knows that….." Goku told her. He knew his son too well. Always running straight into danger. Just like him. All too much like him, if he was going to be honest. Chi-Chi could tell her husband was trying to not only be calm, but also put faith in his son. And was their ability to use their ki not available to them right now, due to these damn bracelets, he has to. They all did. He was worried about his son, just like the rest of the family was, but deep down, he also knew that he was worried about them too.

Thinking about that reminded him of the time Goku Jr was 21. They just finished planning everything for the farm so they decided to get some training in for a little bit. Goku Jr had tried various tricks to try to catch his father off guard, only for it to backfire on the younger saiyan. Hours upon hours passed of no talking, just sparing before the two just got tired, I even ended up panting and laughing together.

"I still can't believe that after all these years, I still can't compete with my old man," Goku Jr jokingly said. His laugh was still lighthearted as ever. But then he'd notice Goku absolutely staring at him. "Dad?"

Goku looked at Goku Jr and he couldn't help but not shake off the feeling that he was staring down at a younger version of himself. Memories overwhelmed him as Goku jr tried to wave his hands towards him.

"Dad!" Goku Jr said, trying to reach out to his father. Goku couldn't help but snap back to reality as he saw his son showing a small hint of concern as he then began to ask.

"Dad, are you okay? You spaced out for a good minute there!"

Goku only smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay kiddo. Just noticing just how much you look like me."

Goku couldn't help but snap back to reality as he saw his son showing a small hint of concern as he then began to ask.

Goku Jr cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked and Goku could easily hear both the confusion and the concern in his son's voice.

"I'm fine." Goku reassured him. "You just remind me of myself when I was your age. That's all...."

Looking back at it now in the present, Goku could tell that his son was very much like him indeed. "The truth is Junior inherited our heart dear," he softly told Chi-Chi. "He cares about us. We're his family. We raised him. He grew up with his brothers in his life. He would rush in to save us. Because he thinks we would do the same." He took a deep breath before finishing. "Because he KNOWS we would do the same for him."

Chi-Chi reluctantly nodded. She knew he was right but that was still her son. Their son, in fact. She didn't care that he was adopted, or the fact he was a pure-blooded Saiyan. That was still her little boy. She raised him from the very beginning and it's something that only became easier when Goku came home. She loved him as if he was her own flesh and blood. Even with his more wild nature. Strong appetite and the ability to tap into her husband's abilities up until his death against cell, mainly due to the wish that resulted in his birth, allowing him to do so. She was lucky Gohan and Goku were both there to help raise him.

"I know he'll succeed Goku," she told her husband. A pained smile formed on her face for a little bit before he faded. "But if he's anything like either you or any of our other boys, he will suffer before that happens…" Tears could be seen falling down her face when she came to that realization. He was no longer the naive innocent little boy she sang lullabies too, however she also understood that throughout all the suffering that he went through, Goku Jr slowly and surely went from being that naive little boy to that wise man charging into danger. But knowing this fact actually made her genuinely smile. "But…" she said softly as she placed a hand on her chest, thinking more about it. "He'll become a much wiser man because of it. His suffering will only make him stronger… after all, we're the source of his resolve…"

Goku held his wife tighter, gently kissing her forehead as he whispered softly to her. "That's right," he told her. "We made him the man he is now, and with how much he's grown, I can't be even prouder. But none of this would have been possible if it wasn't for you, the first 7 years of his life."

That last remark caught Chi-Chi off guard but she couldn't help but smile from it. Sure Goku did most of the discipline when it came to raising Goku Jr, because he felt that he had to, but for him to acknowledge the 7 years that he wasn't there, due to being dead. And was such gratitude, well it meant the world to her. She always knew he meant it of course, through him always telling Jr to go easy on her and to cut her some slack. Or the times he took the helm with discipline in Goku Jr's case, to make it easier for her. Or even times he gave their adopted son advice. All those heart to heart moments they had. It all helped Goku be an even better father than he already was. It also helped Goku Jr become the courageous man he was now.

“We just have to have faith in him,” She finally said, resting her head on his chest. “I know he’ll find a way. After all, he’s a lot like you.” she felt her husband's smile for her remark as he gently wrapped his arms around her.

As all of that Goten was looking at the ceiling as he thought about who their abductor was. Whoever they were, clearly had a personal vendetta against Goku Jr. He could tell that much. Staring blankly at the ceiling above him, he couldn't help but wish they could do something aside from waiting for his "twin" brother to come to their rescue. But what could their abductor want from Goku Jr? What did Goku Jr do to pissed that bastard off, this badly? The thoughts continue to swirl in his mind as he tries to decipher what could possibly be the reason. Well, he guessed he was about to find out with everyone else as they all then heard footsteps approaching them.

"Kinda took a cowardly approach, knocking each and every one of us out the way you did," Goten told the people approaching, as if he was calling them out.

"Hard to be honorable when you know you're going to lose in a straight up fight, which would ruin the whole point of a plan," the person responded. "I understand none of you would necessarily agree with that, but I could care less about fighting any of you."

"Of course not!" Chi-Chi said sardonically. "What the hell do you want from my son!?" A hint of her protective Instinct was kicking in, despite her current situation.

The man being questioned couldn't help but be intrigued by the family he abducted. He could see why a strong Saiyan like Kakarot would want to be with a woman like Chi-Chi. Even if she was a human. Her fiery passion and conviction, her stubborn personality. And her feisty attitude.

"Son Goku Jr?" The Saiyan outside of the cell asked. Already knowing the answer. "It's quite simple really. I just find it interesting that there's a Saiyan Clone that has his own personality." he said. "And to think he was a clone of your husband….."

Goku felt a hint of anger build up inside him before Chi-Chi placed her hand on his chest, letting him know that their captor was trying to get under their skin.

"There's a lot of things you underestimate about him," Chi-Chi declared. Her confidence unshaken as she got up and walked up to the bars. "My third son is stronger than you know. He isn't going to allow you to win. He's stubborn, determined, persistent, patient and most importantly, a fighter who refuses to give up, just like his father …. And his brothers….." She didn't even let him speak. She continued to taunt him, despite her situation. She clearly put her faith in her son. "Your mistake was making Kaka go on this quest. Because now he's going to get stronger. Stronger than you can possibly imagine. He's one of the strongest, bravest, and fiercest people I know. Only my Goku here has shown the level of tenacity that my son shares." She then grinned. Not out of malicious intent, but out of pride and confidence. "You're mistake is underestimating MY son! You are right about one thing only. Son Kakarot Goku Jr is going to come to you! He will come, and when he does, he will defeat you! Underestimating him WILL be your undoing!"

The captor paused. He didn't know how to make what he just heard. He then tried to get under her skin. "Do you really think he will defeat me…. Mrs Son?"

"I KNOW he will!" Chi-Chi countered.

The masked individual then slowly took off his mask, revealing the Saiyan in question. This shocked everyone. He looked EXACTLY like Goku and Goku Jr. Nearly identical in every way. His grin shows malus and arrogance. His voice sounded like the two as well. "I'm looking forward to it…." He said before walking away. The others remained silent until he was gone and they were the only ones present.

"That was not what I expected…." Xeno Goku said as he tried to process everything that he just witnessed.

"You said it" Xeno and GT Goten said simultaneously as they also tried to put all the pieces together.

Goten then remembered what he just thought about. The apparent personal vendetta against Goku Jr. The fact he kidnapped everyone except him. And now the fact that he looked like him. Could it be? No. It couldn't, could it?

"What are you thinking about Goten?" Gohan asked, breaking Goten's train of thought as a result.

"Huh!?" Goten responded with, showing he wasn't expecting Gohan's question. "Oh! I'm just thinking about who this person might be. I don't know if this is actually the case yet, but… I think he could be Goku's counterpart…." Everyone knew he was referring to Goku Jr. That was who he always referred to when he said Goku's name.

"What makes you think that?" GT Goku asked. The confusion seen on his face. "Most versions of Goku Jr aren't a clone or son of Goku. That's a rarity.."

"I know that…." Goten said. "Maybe he's from a rare timeline. One where that version of Dad was either cloned or had a son who looked identical. It's the only theory that makes sense as to how." It was clear he had been thinking about the possibility the entire time they were here.

"Regardless of the reasons, he kidnapped us all," GT Chi-Chi pointed out. Her voice and posture are calm and rational, like Chi-Chi's. "And with these brackets preventing us from using our abilities, we're sitting ducks. All we can do now is wait. Have faith in Kaka. We know damn well he has what it takes. Not just strength…" a faint smile formed as she continued. "But also his courage, resolve, patience and compassion. And if this person is who Goten thinks he is, then chances are he's hurting. He must be in great amounts of pain. Just like Kaka went through. So if anyone can understand enough to try to reach out, it could be him. If we can find a way to communicate with Kaka, we could maybe help him. Find out who this Saiyan really is. Let Kaka know that he's never truly alone. Then maybe, just maybe…. He can help this damaged soul."

The others took a brief pause of this. They were clearly thinking about what could be done. Goku then turned to Xeno Gohan. "Could you find a way to override the bracelets?" He asked. "Enough to avoid suspicion and with the codes needed for them? If we can disable them without attracting suspicion, maybe we could have a way to contact your brother."

Xeno Gohan nodded. “It’s tricky due to the tech and people coming in and out, but yes. It can be done.”

"Do what you have to do," Xeno Goku told him. "They can't suspect a thing."

Xeno Gohan nodded and quickly got to work. Doing absolutely everything in his power to disable the bracelets, with some override, without getting caught. Everyone else could be seen keeping their eyes out for anyone who could walk in, to give him a signal to stop.

Elsewhere……

Goku Jr was seen flying on the nimbus, navigating with a map he had to try to search for leads, while also learning more about this timeline. Goku went solely by Kakarot but to his knowledge, Kakarot didn't come to Earth. At least that's what he thought. But then, he knew he could be wrong. That's when he remembered that he was in the timeline six years ago. But he didn't interact with many people there so he could have missed some important details. Then he actually decided to use his device to learn more about the timeline. At this point, the more he knew, the better. He could potentially learn more about the timeline while also being able to navigate through it as a result. That's when something he found interesting came up.

It seems Kakarot actually crash landed on Earth. It has actually been a while since it happened. Apparently he already met Chi-Chi and things have been tense at times. Apparently there was a lot more to this timeline than he originally realized. Raditz turned out to be alive and Planet Vegeta was still intact? Clearly a curious development indeed for a timeline. Though if this was all the case then it was probably best for him to avoid all of those people as much as possible. He wasn’t sure how they would react to him. So it was best to not encounter them if possible. Now looking for potential leads on the monsters, titans and raiders, which he also labeled as breakers. Goku Jr sored through the sky on the nimbus as he looked for a nearby town where can get some information. Flying towards the nearest village, he hid his tail around his waist and had the nimbus park a few feet away from the first village before sending it off for a little while.

‘Best to travel on foot for a bit’, Goku Jr thought to himself as he then started to head to the village. He felt an overwhelming amount of people staring at him. Possibly due to him being an outsider, armed to the teeth or possibly both. Walking markets, he noticed many of the people were looking in with malicious intent but rather curiosity. This village also somehow had a familiar aura to it. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. Though he also really thought that it was more of a city than a simple village.

Wandering around the markets, he then decided to start asking around about rumors that may have recently occurred. Walking towards a merchant, the Saiyan then began to calmly ask the man for information on said rumors. "Excuse me," he said, modestly, which caught the merchant off guard. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if there was a place you know of that would talk about rumors that may have recently popped up."

"Best bet would be to head to the fire mountain inn then, young man," the merchant said in a polite manner. "You adventurous folk tend to go there. And I can tell you're looking for an adventure."

"You could say that, my good sir," Goku Jr responded back in a polite manner. Best not to disclose the real reason why he was there. "Would you mind telling me where this inn is?"

"Oh sure thing lad," the merchant said with a chuckle. "It's a few blocks from the town square, to your right, once you pass the clock in the square, you should be able to see the big sign to the place."

"Thank you so much," Goku Jr said as he gave the merchant some Zenni. This caught the merchant by surprise. "Here's some money for your trouble."

"Much appreciated lad," the merchant said, looking at the handsome amount of ten thousand Zenni. "But…. It's not necessary."

"Please, I insist," Goku Jr responded. Showing that he was genuinely giving him the money. Causing the man to accept the reward. Money wasn't an issue for Goku Jr. Him ensuring his family's safety was all that mattered at the moment. As well as saving the 20 other timelines dragged into this madness.

"Thank you," the merchant said, taking the money. "Mighty generous of ya."

"It's no trouble at all," Goku Jr told him before, following the directions the merchant gave him. The crowds were browsing the wares of the markets where the square was. Musicians were seen playing music in the square, no doubt to get money from people. walking around mord, Goku Jr could see all kinds of people in the area. Merchants, wealthy commoners, nobles, aristocrats, you name it.

The Saiyan couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness around him. There were a lot of people, too many people for his liking and far too many guards and police around it seemed. He walked cautiously to the tavern and carefully went inside, trying not to rub law enforcement the wrong way with his mere presence. Once he was in the inn, some of the weight was now off his shoulders. Music was playing all around, with a hint of a mix between western, medieval and even Celtic music.

Walking towards the counter, Goku Jr took a deep breath before sitting down as a bartender was seen walking up to him, what surprised him was the fact that it looked like the bartender was a female Saiyan from the looks of it. Possibly from Universe 6. "What can I get ya mister?" The bartender asked in a polite tone.

This also caught Goku Jr off guard, though it might be best to play along for now. "This might sound like an idiotic question, considering the name of the place," he said but continued cautiously. "But would you happen to have Fire Mountain Ale, Liquor or Brandy?"

The bartender smiled at the modesty. "Surger, we have all the Fire Mountain alcohols, ale, liquor, brandy, whiskey, red and white wine, beer, rum, bourbon, ya name it. I'm surprised you're so modest about it though."

Goku Jr cocked an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked as if he wasn't expecting it.

"Well you know our kind" the bartender responded with a smile, confirming his suspicions about her. "No matter if they are from universe six or seven, most of us Saiyans can be a bit of a beast to tame. Out of all the universe 7 Saiyan customers this bar has, you're our most modest." Goku Jr could tell he was being teased by the girl before she began introducing herself. "The name's Celia by the way. What's your name?"

Goku Jr was taken aback by this but then decided to return the gesture to be polite. "G-Goku. Son Goku."

"Odd name for a Saiyan," Celia said. "I like it though. Something tells me it really suits you."

Goku Jr chuckled a bit while he blushed a little, due to being embarrassed. "Awww shucks…. hehehehehe…."

Celia smiled, eyeing Goku Jr, she couldn’t help but feel there was something different about him. Something most Saiyans lacked from both universe six and universe seven. Something about him that makes him different. Unique for the most part. She didn’t find him attractive. At least she didn’t think she did. But something piqued her curiosity. “So what brings ya to these parts, Mr.Son?” she asked with a hint of her curiosity.

“Just looking for some adventure and glory,” Goku jr answered, though not completely truthfully. He couldn’t tell her the truth. It would only cause complications. “Ancient temples and dungeons that may need exploring, legendary monsters and titans that need slaying, and villages that need saving. That sort of thing.”

“Well now,” Celia responded with. “If you're looking for adventure, there are several rumors of “Monsters” terrorizing the folk around earth and namek. Titans residing in temples running the show and four big “WarChiefs” leading them all.”

'WarChiefs? She must mean the Raiders,' Goku Jr thought in his mind. At this point, he figured there was only one way to find out. "Where can I find them all?" He asked. "Perhaps I could deal with them for all of you."

"Well…." Celia started as she eyed the Saiyan in front of her. "The "monsters'' won't be too hard to find. They are wreaking havoc anywhere they can, so finding them will be easy. The Titans on the other hand will be more difficult. They each reside in a dungeon or temple. I don't know all of the locations, but I know at least ten of them. I'll jot them down for ya."

"Much appreciated," Goku Jr said, thanking the girl in the process. "How can I repay you?"

"Ya could take me with ya on your adventure," Celia told him with an excited tone. "My adopted brother told me that I can always come back and tell him all about it if I go on one."

"Well…." Goku Jr said as he slowly put some thought into it. On one hand it would probably be too dangerous for her, but on the other he could use the extra help. "All right, fine. You probably know a way into the dungeons anyway."

Just then a few explosions and screaming can be heard coming from the market areas near the bridge that lead into the city. Upon hearing this, out of instinct, Goku Jr rushed towards where it was coming from. Struggling passed the panicking crowds, go to Junior uses this to use his telekinesis, to slowly but surely and carefully, putting together pieces of old devices he used to use of his old equipment, to build some type of weird handle-like device, well also forming a large portion of his energy and then reforming it into two crystals of some kind of a sapphire color. Once the crystal was created the metal pieces got it around it. Little did people know his "guns'' had a similar "energy crystal". Once the strange object was created, Goku Jr then grabbed it and strapped it onto his side. As he continued to push through People to the action, he remembered a similar situation during his second year in the Time Patrol.

It was a mission where Goku and Goku Jr were sent to defeat a version of Cell, Frieza, Buu, and Vegeta, along with Nappa the Dodoria, Zarbon, Spopovich and Yamu. They were causing chaos in a timeline where Goku stayed dead after Buu. These raiders were causing chaos wherever they went and Goku and Goku Jr split up to defeat them all. Goku Jr fought Spopovich, Yamu, Nappa, Dodoria and Zarbon, while Goku fought Vegeta, Frieza, Cell and Buu.

Goku Jr was forced to face his targets in a village, all at once, which wasn't ideal for time patrollers for a variety of reasons. One they didn't want to attract unwanted attention to themselves. Two, they didn't want to worry about collateral damage, and three didn't want people to get hurt in the crossfire. Upon reaching them, the younger Goku could be seen entering a fighting stance, and mentally preparing himself for battle as the others charged at him. Quickly dodging all of their attacks, Goku Jr could easily try to launch a quick counter attack but the amount of people attacking him at once, that would probably not be a wise decision.

Continuing to evade all of his enemies in just his base form, the young Saiyan male was seen mentally preparing himself to launch a counter-attack. He just needed to find the right opening and then.... Just then he noticed Nappa was wide open, giving the young Goku Jr the opportunity he needed.

Just then, Goku Jr then raised his right hand and fired a massive ki blast at Nappa, blasting him a few feet away, before he then delivered a massive left roundhouse kick, hitting Yamu, and nearly knocking him out in the process. He then delivered a flurry of kicks from both of his legs upon Dodoria, and then a flurry of punches as well, and a few other different fighting actions in regards to martial arts, such as open palms attacks, tiger claws, and various other techniques that he had learned over the years. Is it that moment where all of his opponents started losing their patience and started targeting the people around them causing Goku Jr to look back in absolute horror. How could he have screwed up with this!? How could you allow himself to get this cocky!? Quickly transforming into a Super Saiyan, he then did everything in his power to deflect all of the blasts, and even some of the saibamen that Nappa planted. Dispatching each of them was one punch. Nappa, Yamu Spopovich Dodoria and Zarbon on the other hand would not be that easy. And before he knew it a lot of the people in the village got hurt, some even killed because of his reckless actions.

This sparked a great amount of rage in the young Saiyan. Not just the enemies he was currently facing but also at himself. How could he have been so reckless!? How could he be this fucking foolish!? Before he knew it, he then began going all out but this time going Super Saiyan 2. Though he wasn't actually going all out in all of his transformations he figured Super Saiyan 2 would be more than enough to take them down at this point. And besides he wanted to end this as soon as possible now. Quickly punching a hole right through Yamu's stomach, he went through the same hand, fired a ki blast through Spopovich before sending it back to hit Dodoria who is currently in the sky, causing a massive explosion resulting in his death.

Three down, right then and there. And before Nappa and Zarbon could do anything about it, Goku Jr then charged at Nappa and delivered a massive punch, killing him instantly. Zarbon did transform but it didn't really do much when Goku Jr punched a hole through his stomach somewhere similar to how he punched a hole through Yamu's, before firing a massive energy blast to the sky through Zarbon's stomach.

And just like that all of his enemies were done for. But he couldn't even imagine how these people viewed him due to the fact that he was cocky when he started fighting them before he quickly used instant transmission and left. Never realizing how grateful those people were for his help. If it wasn't for his actual efforts they would have actually died. Hours have passed and it is now nightfall. Goku Jr was seen, on a rock, observing Mount Paozu. Hints of sadness in his expression along with guilt, anger, resentment, and so many other negative emotions. Son Goku, who had just managed to find him after his fight, was seen sitting down next to him and quietly looking at his son.

"It wasn't your fault kiddo," Goku tried to say. "All of those people would have been dead, if it wasn't fo-"

Before Goku could even finish the clone and adopted son of Goku, quickly got up and angrily shouted. "QUIET!" He then turned to his father and could easily tell that he was trying to hold back tears. He could only lash out and vent all of his anger and frustration at himself and he was lashing out at his own father because of it. Because his father would be the only one that would be willing to listen, at the moment. "Look, don't you get it Dad!? I FUCKING SCREWED UP! I mean, for a damn moment, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could actually do SOMETHING COMPLETELY RIGHT, FOR ONCE IN MY DAMN LIFE! BUT I FUCKED IT ALL UP BECAUSE OF MY DAMN ARROGANCE!!!!!! People got hurt and died, BECAUSE OF ME!!!!!! I..... I....just ..." He then walked to a tree, placing hands on his head in frustration. "Agh!!! I just.... Just..... Just forget it..... Forget it... Maybe I shouldn't have been born..." Goku Jr could only look away leaning against the tree.

Goku couldn't help but feel hurt at the fact Goku Jr was still being this harsh on himself. The difficulty of Goku training him, the tournament of power leaving mental scars in his son's mind. The times he and Chi-Chi saw their son pushing himself too hard in his private training, to the point of even injuring himself. The times he was reckless to the point of being suicidal, all of it caused Goku pain. He stared at his son, and he could tell that he was broken, lost, confused, and hurt. A look of pain was seen on Goku's face as he then began to shake it away. Getting up, he then walked towards the younger Saiyan, before grabbing his shoulder.

"Now you listen to me, Son Kakarot Goku Jr!" Goku calmly told the young man as he forced him to look at him. "Life will never be perfect! All of us have made mistakes, and we all will continue to do so. But we are filled with the potential for greatness, if we learn to overcome our own faults. Learn from our mistakes. Even you have the makings of greatness in you. But you have to be willing to take the helm and set your own course. And stick to it, even when things get hard. Because NOTHING that's worthwhile is easy! You're just as fallible as I am. But you're also just as capable of greatness. All you have to do is push yourself. And the road WILL be difficult! You will stumble and fall. But you have to be willing to get back up. And when the time comes, you get the chance to prove yourself and show what you're made of."

Goku then smiled as he continued. "And to be frank, I hope I get the chance to be there to catch some of the light from you that day."

There was a pause of silence for a second as Goku Jr processed everything that his father told him. The bright smile his father always had always showed that despite all the pain, there was always hope. Tears fell from Goku Jr's eyes as he then began to softly cry. Goku wrapped his arms around his son. "There there. It's alright Kiddo," Goku softly told his son. "It's alright....."

Back in the present, Goku Jr then began to finally approach the group causing all the chaos, walking towards them. These were normal raiders, at first glance but the Saiyan can feel the energy around them. These were a few of the "monsters" that he had to defeat. The men in question each had a small army of ex military, raiders, bandits, outlaws, battle droids or other mechanical bots. Goku Jr calmly continued his approach, his weird device in his hand as the forces he approached faced the Saiyan. Using his full power was not an option. Too many people could be hurt. Good thing he could use his weapons but this was a great opportunity to test his new toy.

"Well, look what we have here?" One the leaders asked. "Is that a Saiyan I see?"

Goku Jr then stopped and with the press of a button on his device, a royal blue sapphire blade of pure energy ignited from what was now revealed to be a hilt. "You've terrorized these people long enough," the Saiyan said calmly as if he was giving an order. "I'm only going to give you all one chance. Walk away…."

"Oh, look at this," one of the raider leaders said as he observed Goku Jr. "This brave little fool managed to replicate a Lightsaber. Doesn't matter. We're here to take this town, and I'm not gonna be intimidated by a man with a Death Wish. Kill him."

Just then when one of the mercenaries pointed a gun at Goku Jr, the Saiyan then took out his revolver looking pistol and fired an energy bolt through the roof chest. He knew what he was thinking when creating these weapons. This was to preserve his energy but to where he could still fight. As the mercenary fell onto the ground, a few of the mechanical warriors tried opening fire, only Goku Jr to quickly deflect many bolts, while putting the blaster away and pressing the other button, igniting another blade, on the other end. Many of the mechanical warriors were the ground from each timed and calculated deflection of the energy bolts.

Entering a fighting stance, the Saiyan prepared himself to end this fight as soon as possible. And then, as he expected, many of the remaining warriors then charged at him. Goku Jr saw many of the attacks coming before he quickly used his saber staff to block and parry many of their attacks, while also dodging those he wasn't able to. Quickly countering a few as well, stabbing a few men or slashing their chests, killing them nearly instantly. Detaching the smaller part of the double bladed weapon, causing the smaller hilted saber's blade to shorten, Goku Jr then started seeing tons of attacks of opportunity and started going on the offensive. Slashing at many of the men that were trying to kill him, countering and parrying any incoming attacks, giving him the perfect opportunities to strike. Also going on offense, breaking their defenses to give him an opportunity to finish his target at that moment, whenever he could. Eventually, he closed the shorter blade and holstered it back on his belt.

"We have a real fighter here," one of the remaining outlaws said. Charging at Goku Jr before he attempted to slam his advanced ax, only for the clone and adopted son of Goku to counter again, slice off the top part of the handle off, before holding his own advanced weapon backhanded and using a back handed technique to kill the current attacker. Aside from the three leaders, only four men remained now. It was clear the Saiyan was being calculating in his fighting and not being arrogant. Confident but not arrogant. Re-entering his fighting stance, the son of Goku, mentally prepared himself for the fight to continue. What actually happened was something he didn't expect.

One of the leaders, a cloaked and masked figure with a hood, was clapping towards Goku Jr. Judging by the figure of the person, they were clearly female. "Still have it on you I see," the figure said. This actually caught the others off guard as well. "I remember the fighting improvisation of Time Patrol."

"Who are you?" Goku Jr clearly questioned.

"One of the many factors of the game my master didn't tell you about," the figure said, clearly taunting the Saiyan. Goku remained in defense mode, preparing to battle again. "He didn't want to make this too easy for you, after all. I'm one of my lord's Inquisitors. Each timeline is filled with twelve of them. Like the "Raiders", "Titans", and "Monsters", you would be required to defeat us, and a few other threats as well." The masked woman only chuckled as she continued. "Most people believe the Raiders are the WarChiefs of my master but that couldn't be further from the truth. There are eight WarChiefs you must destroy as well. And thirty Captains. And all in each timeline you must venture forth and destroy all of us. As well as those twenty-eight Bounty Hunters that he has hired to destroy you. Each Raider, Inquisitor, Titan, Monster, WarChief, Captain, and Bounty Hunter, holds both a piece of information you will require to both find a reach my Master, and also items that would be the key to allow you to do so."

It was at that moment she started walking away. "As much as I would like to see just how much potential and power my master sees in you to justify all this madness, I must really be off," she said in a taunting manner. "I have more important matters I must attend to." And before Goku Jr could even try to stop her, the inquisitor then looked at the remaining forces, and gave them the signal to attack. "Sargesh, remind our Saiyan friend why his disgustingly pathetic warrior race is supposed to be dead."

Upon hearing that order, one of the warriors then started to prepare for battle, forcing Goku Jr to do the see as he was forced to do nothing but to allow the inquisitor to leave. The other warriors doing the same, as they circled all around him. Goku Jr took a deep breath, channeling one of his focus on the enemies around him. These guys in particular are easy, but deep down, he knew that this was only the beginning, and that the battles were only going to get harder from here. If inquisitors and bounty hunters were also present and after him, they're going to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. A factor he now had to consider.

Tightening his grip on his lightsaber, Goku Jr mentally prepared his next move. And as soon as the others began their attack, he quickly pressed a button, causing two ends up the blade to open up, igniting two other smaller energy blades formed as if it was a guard on the blade and the main blade to extend, and slashed down onto the biggest for straight from the chest down. The brute fell onto the ground, lifeless, as the second to last foe, trying to attack from behind, before Goku Jr parried the attack, and lunged the blade right into his attacker's stomach. Switch backing to the normal stanced blade after taking the blade out of the bandit, Goku Jr looked at his last enemy, entering a defensive stance, clearly waiting for his opponent to attack, and he did, with Goku Jr parrying many of his attacks and then finally slashing the man's chest, ending him. Seeing the people gathering around him, he deactivated his weapon before holstering it on his belt.

'Two primary targets down, and many more to go,' he thought to himself, checking the bodies for the leads he needed, which ended up being a holographic map, fragmented as if turned into pieces of a puzzle. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. He was gonna have to start hunting soon. But luckily, he also discovered that they also show Intel he could put to use. Whereabouts and locations and estimated destinations for the Monsters, WarChiefs and Captains. 'Good,' Goku Jr thought more. 'This is a start. If I can eliminate the and the monsters first, maybe I cannot only get the Intel I need, but also be able to put a dent into their command structure.'

There were a lot more threats standing between him and whoever abducted his family than he originally thought. He should have known not to trust the word of that person. Oh well, nothing he could really do about it now. Captains and monsters were all over the place, but constantly moving to look for chaos, so finding them wouldn't be too difficult. In fact, it would be likely that he would fight them often, and more frequently. The WarChiefs, he would have to draw out but with the captains protecting them potentially, they would be a lot more vulnerable. The "raiders" would no doubt have to wait until he had dealt with everyone else. There seemed to be, for the most part, a well established chain of command.

Once he had finished getting all of that Intel, he noticed the villagers were just starting to gather around him to check why the battle had stopped all of a sudden. Many of them were seemingly praising him quietly or gossiping how he was able to take them all down.

"Thank you stranger," one of the villagers said. Clear gratitude heard from his voice as Goku Jr then turned to him.

"It's no trouble at all," the Saiyan said. Clearly getting ready to set to leave as he then took the last of the Intel he needed. "These people have been terrorizing other places as well as this one for far too long. That's actually why I'm here. I'm here to deal with this madness." That was only some of the truth but these people didn't even know the true reason why they were here and he might as well keep them in the dark on this. The last thing Goku Jr needed was for people to get in his way. Luckily his new weapon can be shifted into different types of lightsaber. Five different ways of fighting that he could utilize with it. Though he shouldn't completely over rely on his advanced weapon. His Brother's sword was advanced enough and was made with a steel that would be more than enough to withstand the energy of his saber. And his father's power pole definitely was enhanced by Magic allowing it to withstand his sabers energy too. All three weapons would come in handy.

Not to mention the equipment that he could potentially obtain in the future as well. Considering that for the most part he may be on his own he was going to need all the resources, gear, and help that he could get at this point. Time Patrol is being forced to not get involved due to needing to find the bombs that this unknown person placed in different timelines. So their assistance was practically impossible at this point. At least until the bombs were found in disabled , which considering that it was only 15 bombs and its seemingly infinite timelines, which meant infinite realities, it was nearly impossible to be certain of that.

Goku Jr also knew there was something preventing his family from using their abilities as he knew there was no way to contact them. Not even telepathically. Knowing how resourceful his family was though they were probably trying to figure out a way to do that at the very least. Especially if they know they can't escape. Though there was also a possibility that whoever has them might also be aware of the possibility of them trying to do that from the very start. If he was able to catch his father off guard of all people, as well as his brothers, he must have done extensive research on the whole family. Goku Jr grimaced at the thought, but this was a possibility he had to consider.

Another possibility he had to consider was the possibility of his family's captor increasing the amount of people in the timeline too that he would have to face. If he was able to keep him in the dark about the Bounty Hunters, Inquisitors, WarChiefs and captains up until now, what else would they be hiding? Not mention the various monsters and potentially additional enemies that he might not even know about at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Goku Jr then continued. "I intend to rid you of all of your biggest threats at this moment. The various factions that have been terrorizing you as of late, their leaders as well as the various beasts and monsters that have been giving you trouble."

"Why don't you stay," another villager suggested. A voice sounding a bit pleading. "We could use someone like you in the village."

Goku Jr shook his head, knowing what this man was implying and he had no intention of staying permanently. "No, this is something I have to do," he said calmly as he then looked at everyone. "My responsibility is to ensure that they are never going to be a threat again. I intend to hunt them down. Which means I'll have to set out as soon as possible. If any of you have any leads, now would be the time to share them." He showed that he was adamant on this goal. His posture and tone are still calm and determined. "I'm pretty much hunting each and every one of these guys down."

"Stay a couple days then," another Town's folk mentioned. A hint of insistence in her voice. "You could rest up here so that you could prepare for this journey."

Goku Jr hated to admit it, but these people did have a valid point. Plus it wouldn't help to just rush in without any rest at all. It was probably best to be as prepared as possible. "Only a couple of days," he said with a stoic look. "Then I'll be on my way an-"

And as soon as he said that, a few other villagers started running up with a bit of an urgent manner. "Mister Mayor!" One of them called out. A bit of a panic in their voice. "One of the bandits snatched one of our daughters and is holding her for ransom! You must do something"

Goku Jr.'s morals suddenly kicked in as soon as he said that and before anyone else could say anything, he then began to address them. "I'll get her back," he said with a confident tone. He knew he was fully capable of it and would get the job done quickly but his priority would have been making sure that child was safe. The last thing that he wanted was for someone to die because of him.

"Oh thank you," the other villager said. “They are holding her in the nearby abandoned temple! It’s been full of monsters and other horrible things as of late.”

"Noted," Goku Jr said before he then began to head towards the gate of the town to head to the temple. "I'm leaving right away. The sooner I leave to get your daughter back, the better her chances of survival." Before anyone could object, Goku Jr then continued to leave, showing that he had every intention to get her back as a result. Upon leaving the city, the saiyan would then continue to push forward, towards the temple. The temple where the girl was being held. Although he wasn't planning on going after them right away, he would be killing two birds with one stone this way and possibly more if any of his original targets try to go after him. The final point being a likely synopsis as well. Little did he realize that Celia was following him from the very beginning but from a pretty good distance that he wouldn't notice.

As this was happening however, Goku Jr's true Target had been observing from the safety of his castle. To say that he wasn't impressed by Goku Jr's quick handling of the first batch of warriors would be a lie. Perhaps he underestimated him after all. It would seem he would need to increase the amount of forces in each of the five timelines. Perhaps quadruple the amount but that would leave the castle completely defenseless that would not be an option. Instead he would have to think of something. Either way he would have to lower the defenses of the castle by depriving them of some of his best warriors. Hiring more bounty hunters and assassins and even mercenaries would not be the difficult part but he can only spare so many resources to do so.

The Bandits and Raiders were also cheaper and their chaotic in predictability allowed them to be a good distraction. But even then it didn't compare to the skill level of the assassins and bounty hunters. And it would be best to have a war chief in command of the various groups in order to ensure that they obey orders whenever they actually are given them. Both of these factors were a must but this would be the final time he would be able to do this potentially so he would need to do this now and ensure that this would go into fruition. Doubling the amount of people there would probably increase the efforts of taking Goku Jr down. So another factor is that he would probably have to find some way to give Goku Jr a Fighting Chance. Perhaps by releasing someone he had captive to assist Goku Jr.

As soon as the mysterious Saiyan was truly deciding to plan out how he was going to deal with this revelation, Haruto then entered his chamber. "My Lord," Haruto said hesitantly. "We just received reports that Goku Jr made light work of several patrols to the first temple and abandoned the rating led by two of our captains as well as a couple of inquisitors."

Haruto's Master took a deep breath. Not one out of anger or frustration but rather concentration. "It seems that the Saiyan's mother was right about how we should not underestimate him. No matter. I will not allow myself to be beaten by him so easily. But I must admit that. He is exceeding my expectations already. I wasn't expecting it to be done this quickly. But that goes to show that a Saiyan should not be underestimated. It would probably be best to double the amount of forces in each timeline. Double EVERYTHING. In the meantime we can prepare to replace our defenses for the castle and get as much of the defense done as possible through cloning and manufacturing of robots and Androids. Even normal droids. The last thing we need is for him to make it through the first timeline with the same amount of ease. Also prepare to release Son Goten and send him to the timeline that Son Kakarot Goku Jr is currently in. We'd want to give him a fighting chance now, don't we?"

"But sir," Haruto hesitantly said. "Sending your best men across the different timelines but leaving the castle mostly defenseless."

"A setback I am currently aware of," the unnamed Saiyan said. "But with the recent acquisition of the other several versions of some of the best warriors across various timelines, they will very much replenish the castle's defenses for the most part. Especially its command structure. They have the experience, and skill to back it up. The rest of our numbers we can replenish by hiring mercenaries, cloning, summoning monsters, manufacturing machines, droids, robots and Androids, and perhaps even getting new enlistees. Goku Jr is not going to reach the castle in one day, I assure you."

Haruto only tried to speak again. "My Lord I implor-"

"Don't forget," his master interrupted him. "It was I who wanted to face Goku Jr, myself in combat. I knew that none of these men would keep him contained but I wasn't expecting him to be this strong or skilled. So this would give me more time to prepare myself to face him in combat."

"Very well sir," Haruto said, defeated. "And I'm sure you're aware that the prisoners are trying to sabotage the devices?"

"Why did you think I took the precautions preemptively to ensure that they weren't going to be successful?" The Superior mentioned. "At this point they would have already figured out that I was aware that they were going to try it. Though, I guess it wouldn't matter if I'm going to send Goten to assist his brother."

The two remained silent for the next 7 minutes as they then began to walk to the holding cells the Son Family were being held in. Upon the family noticing the two, it was at this point the Saiyan then began to speak. "It was only a matter of time before you would have tried to sabotage the bracelets," he said in a tone that outright confirmed that he knew about it. "Unfortunately for you, I have taken the extra liberties to make sure that you would not be able to. All you can do is wait for Son Goku Jr to try to save you."

Before anyone else could say anything, Goku then quickly got up, walked quickly to the bars in the cell, and tried to aggressively grab his captor, only for the man to back away in time. "I SWEAR, IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO MY SON, EVEN SO FAR AS TOUCH HIM, I WILL TEAR YOU APART LIMB FROM LIMB!" The Earth Saiyan yelled. His character was truly getting to him by taunting him about Goku Jr. Whatever he had planned for his son, Goku wouldn't allow it to happen if he had the power to prevent it. But he remembered he was now in a position where he couldn't even do anything. Chi-Chi placed a hand on his shoulder to try to help him calm down. She could tell that his blood was boiling at this point.

The Saiyan that was currently free only laughed. "Maybe you would be able to do that, if you didn't have that device that is designed to suppress your power on your wrist," he merely remarked. His words sounded like a complete taunt. "Face it, Mr Son. Right now, you are completely powerless. Your adopted brat is your only shot at being free." Goku's blood only began to boil hotter. His heart rate began to increase purely from anger. Something his captor quickly took notice of.

"Touch a nerve, did I, Son Goku?" The overlord taunted even more. His voice showed more confidence as he continued to do so. "Though I must admit, I do applaud you for wanting to protect your son, despite your current situation. But because your son is doing so well and far exceeding my expectations, I'm going to have to double everything. But it might piss you off even more but I do believe that I would love to give your son a Fighting Chance. Perhaps by sending someone to aid him in his quest no strings attached aside from not being able to communicate with you, like I don't know, your other second eldest?"

At this point, even Chi-Chi's blood was boiling. "So you're going to put my other children through hell as well!?" She yelled out. Her voice sounded like she was about to make a death threat. "If it wasn't for these restraints you put on us, I would have torn you apart myself!"

"It's not like you really have a choice in the matter but to allow the different versions of Son Goten to assist Son Goku Jr," the overlord said, reminding her of the situation she was currently in. "Besides I hear that they're an indestructible Force to be reckoned with when working together. I want to put that to the test. Again I'm not giving any of you a choice in the matter. The three versions of Goten will suffice after that, the rest of you will remain here."

"Just me or No deal," Goten responded, causing everyone to be shocked because they turned to him. Goten only grinned as he looked at his Family's Captor. "I assure you that'll only take the two of us to take all of your forces down." He said with all of the confidence in his voice. "You said it yourself, me and my brother are an unstoppable force when we work together if you really want to test that out. Send only me which is the version of Son Goten he works best with. After all, we did grow up together." He shrugged as he finished that statement and Chi-Chi and Goku could see the confidence that their second eldest alongside Goku Jr was giving.

The Saiyan overlord only smiled. "You must really have faith in you and your brother's ability, Son Goten," he said with a seemingly arrogant but rather intrigued smile. "I do hope that faith is not misplaced." He finished when the cage door was opened and guards escorted Goten out of the cell. But not before Goten secretly gave Pan something.

Perfect, it's probably best if it was just him and Goku Jr anyway. It was possible that he would only use the four of them as more of a means to prepare for the inevitable arrival. And besides he didn't know just how rigged this game was in this Saiyan's favor. So as long as Goten knows at least a little bit of the knowledge or is able to keep track of his tactics, perhaps he and Goku Jr would be able to beat him at his own game. He just needed to be patient and wait for the right opportunities to come to fruition. Though he also had to be aware of the fact that he would probably anticipate Goten and Goku Jt's next movements going forward. So he had to be careful not to underestimate him.

"You won't be disappointed," Goten remarked. A hint of seriousness was heard in his voice. But his confidence was left unwavered. "I'll promise you that much."

"We shall see," the other Saiyan told the hybrid before Goten was taken away from the cell with the leader following.

Chi-Chi and Goku both grimaced at the situation. They were now having to deal with the fact both Goku Jr and Goten were now gonna be charging into danger again, just to save them. Chi-Chi held onto Goku as she tried to hold back tears. While Goku wrapped his arms around her too. Trying to comfort her.

Gohan was trying to contain his anger as Videl quickly went to comfort him. Wrapping her arms around him, she then rubbed her hand on his back. "They're going to be okay," Videl reassured him. "They're a lot like you and your dad. They won't let this guy win."

Gohan then wrapped his own arms around his wife. "I know…." He said reluctantly. But they're still my little brothers……."

"I know," Videl said. Comforting her husband as much as she could. "But we're going to need to have faith in them."

Everyone just watched as Goten was taken away. A hint of worry was present in their expressions as they saw this. Only being able to watch and being completely powerless to stop this.

That is all this happened, the newly selected Raider that was a Vegeta, was assigned to bring Goten to the timeline that Goku Jr was currently in and that he would be assigned to. After the nod of acknowledgment this supposed Vegeta began to lead Goten away. It took a few hours to get them to the timeline that was their destination but once they actually reached it, the Raider then spoke to him directly.

"They're doubling the amount of people in each timeline," he said, which caught Goten off guard and he had no idea why he was being told this but then truly since his energy and noticed this was an energy reading he immediately recognized. Of course it would be an old friend. How this person was able to trick the Son Family Captor was a mystery to him but right now he didn't have time to ask how this particular "Vegeta" was able to pull it off. Still it was nice to know that an old friend was going to be helping him and Goku Jr. "Though I don't think I'll be able to trick him for much longer," The pure blood Saiyan in question continued. "It's possible I'm going to have to help you and Kaka going forward at some point. I'm going to wait for an opportunity to strike before that happens though."

"Sounds good," Goten said with a smile. "But when that happens you're going to have to tell me and Goku how you were able to pull all this off."

"In due time," the saiyan told him. "For right now, too many eyes and ears. I'm only telling you this now because we're at a location I currently have not many of the overlords forces around. So if I don't leave now it'll raise suspicions."

"Find out whatever you can about the increased defenses as well as the layabouts in this timeline and reality," Goten said. His voice showed the level of concern as well a hint of a tactical strategic level of thinking. "We don't know what we're up against at the moment and it would probably benefit us and Goku more if we know at least a large portion of what we're facing."

"My thoughts exactly," the saiyan said before he began leaving the hybrid. He also continued to give information that he had already as he left to hopefully give Goten some ideas. "They're probably also going to hire more mercenaries and bounty hunters too. Many of them would have some good gear that you could use to help you preserve your power. Their weapons could come in handy as well as their other equipment."

"Thanks for the tip, Veg," Goten finally said, causing the undercover Raider, who turned out to be Vegeta the fifth AKA Vegeta Jr, to grin. "Good luck and be careful out there."

"You too," Vegeta Jr said before heading out. No doubt heading to his current objective. And as soon as he was out of sight and out of mind, Goten then started heading out himself to search for the bounty hunters that Vegeta Jr mentioned.

This is going to be a test that would take him a little bit to do so. Goten knew that much. The first thing he did was check this reality's course of history. Currently the version of his father that went solely by Kakarot in this reality, and the others were currently off-world, including this reality's version of his mother, Chi-Chi so he didn't have to worry about dealing with anyone that they knew. Aside from anyone that may have been pulled from other realities and brought to the five that their enemy set pieces of the chessboard into, for lack of a better term. Right now the hybrid knew that him and Goku Jr would be playing right into his foe's hands at the moment. Luckily if he could plan it right though, perhaps he could turn the game of his family's captor against him. He just had to find the bounty hunters Vegeta Jr mentioned first.

Stealing their equipment would probably prove useful for him. Considering what he was up against, it was probably best for him to try to preserve as much of his energy as possible. It took him a few hours to find the bounty hunters, but Goten managed to track them down with his ki sensing techniques. They were setting camp in the forrest path leading to some temple. Possibly a Temple Goku Jr was heading to. But until Goten was able to acquire a means to listen in on the radio chatter, and as a result, keep track of their movements, it would be impossible for him to know for sure.

The bounty hunters were just sitting around. Perfect! The seeds were being planted, and Goten observed the bounty hunters carefully. Patiently waiting for his moment to strike. seeds were being planted, and Goten observed the bounty hunters carefully. They didn’t suspect an amubush. That was much clear. Goten could use this to his advantage. If he could time his attacks right, he could deal with these guys, without much trouble. But he needed to move fast for that. He needed to wait for his perfect moment to strike,and then when that happened, he needed to be fast. Then his opportunity arrived. Taking a deep breath, the second biological son of Goku and Chi-Chi swooped down and struck on off the Bounty Hunters and fired a Ki Blast towards the rest. Most of them dodging the attack as Gotne entered a fighting stance while his enemies circled around him before they charged. Goten quickly swipped on off his feet with a lower kick before, kicking him again, sending him towards a handful of the others.

One of the bounty hunters launched a metal cable, which quickly wrapped around Goten, catching the hybrid off guard for a second there. Struggling to break free, Son Goten quickly started to charge up his energy knowing that he was going to have to kick it up a notch. Electricity wrapping around him as this happened, the Saiyan hybrid quickly channeled his energy, trying to overload the Bounty Hunter's equipment, in the hopes that he could break free. As long as he was in the bond that he was in, he was an easy target. These guys were good. Really good bounty hunters. Whoever hired them wasn't playing around. And all his years in the Time Patrol, he wasn't expecting to face bounty hunters with this level of experience. Guess there’s a first for everything. Channeling his energy through the wire, he then started to overload the Bounty Hunter holding him in place's gear. And ince to see what's free of his restraint, Goten immediately charged at a few more of his enemies. Delivering a massive kick to another Bounty Hunter, before punching the third one standing and firing an energy blast at the fourth.

After an explosion killed most of the other bounty hunters, Goten looked at the remaining two foes he was fighting. Pulling guns on him. The two last enemies quickly opened fire, only for Goten to quickly catch their bullets. His speed was faster than the firing rate which was to be expected of the Time Patroller at this point. As soon as the bounty hunters burned out all of their ammo, Goten then opened his hands, revealing that he caught all their bullets, even the handgun ammo. And before his enemies could react, the hybrid quickly delivered the final kick in a final punch to both of them with the kick hitting one in the punch hitting the other, in that order.

Goten, like any of the other Son Family members, never enjoyed taking a life. Only doing so when it was absolutely necessary. And knowing that he just took the lives of all those bounty hunters really did bug him. Even though he was justified in this situation. Still it couldn't be helped. Grabbing the gear he needed, Goten took some extra gear to give to Goku Jr. Figuring he would need it. All the ammo, three adaptable rifles and pistols each, two highly advanced hammers, clearly designed for combat, and a makeshift lightsaber with an orange blade. These will come in handy. Finally, an adaptable sword similar to Gohan's new sword, the one Goku Jr currently had, and various types of grenades. These will definitely come in handy. Hopefully they'll get more gear throughout their journey. Considering what the two brothers were up against, they were going to need all the gear and the help they could get. The last thing he grabbed was a com link. Useful for him to keep track of enemy movements.

Upon putting the commlink on, he overheard the chatter about Goku Jr heading towards the temple close to Goten's location and that they were planning an ambush. Goten could use this to his advantage.