Ken crossed the last bit of distance between them and gave Bulma the brief kiss she had asked for.
Before she could say anything, his body dissolved into a brilliant streak of starlight and disappeared into the space-time rift overhead.
Bulma opened her eyes to an empty sky.
The tears came immediately, though there was no bitterness behind them. She had always known that Ken belonged to another timeline, one she could never reach on her own. Meeting him at all had been impossible until today, and that single kiss was already more than she had ever expected to have.
What more could she possibly ask for?
"Bulma?"
Emily came out from the courtyard and stopped when she saw her. The face was unmistakable, but the eighteen-year-old standing there looked nothing like the woman Emily had been speaking to before everything changed.
"Wait… that really is you. What happened?"
"Ken restored my youth." Bulma touched her cheek, and remembering the goodbye immediately brought the color back to her face. "I'm eighteen again."
"Ken? The god Trunks told us about?"
Bulma nodded, then asked the question that had been bothering her since the timeline was restored.
"Emily, do you remember Goku Black killing us?"
"Of course I do." Emily quickly understood what Bulma was getting at. "So Ken came to our timeline and brought everything back?"
"The time machine and Trunks are both gone, so Trunks must have reached Ken's timeline and brought help."
Emily looked around at the restored city with new appreciation.
"That's incredible. He didn't just save us. He restored the whole world." Her excitement shifted into envy as she looked at Bulma again. "Next time I get the chance, I'm asking Shenron to make me eighteen too."
Bulma barely heard her. Her attention had drifted back toward the patch of sky where Ken had disappeared.
Emily soon noticed the lingering blush.
"Why are you still so red?"
"I asked him to kiss me before he left."
Emily stared at her.
"And he did?"
Bulma's small, happy nod answered the question.
"You're ridiculous." Emily sighed. "Trunks already told us Ken never existed in this timeline. You got one kiss from a man who lives in another reality. Are you planning to spend the rest of your life alone because of that?"
"For that one moment?" Bulma smiled through the tears still clinging to her lashes. "I think I can be satisfied."
Emily could only wonder why her friend insisted on making things so difficult for herself.
A sharp crack split the sky before she could say more.
The space-time rift reopened.
Ken leaned his head through the opening.
Bulma's heart nearly stopped.
"Bulma, want to come back to my timeline with me?"
For several seconds, she could only look at him.
Ken smiled.
"You already know most of the people there. The only unusual part is that you'll have to live with another version of yourself."
"I'll go!"
There was no hesitation once the words finally came.
"Then come here."
Ken beckoned, and Angel power lifted Bulma gently from the ground toward the rift.
She glanced back at Emily before leaving.
"You can have Capsule Corporation!"
Emily laughed and waved after her.
"Go! And be happy!"
Ken caught Bulma around the waist as she reached him and carried her into the space-time tunnel. The rift sealed behind them, leaving Emily beneath an ordinary blue sky once more.
Ken brought Future Bulma directly to Capsule Corporation in the main timeline.
Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Kale, Future Trunks, and Mai were still there, along with Bulma herself.
The two Bulmas came face-to-face.
Main-timeline Bulma had been prepared for plenty of strange things since meeting Ken. Apparently, seeing an eighteen-year-old version of herself from another timeline was where her brain finally decided to stop cooperating.
Ken took one hand from each of them and placed them together.
"From now on, you two can be sisters."
"Ken…" Bulma looked between him and her alternate self, unable to decide which part of the situation she wanted explained first.
Future Bulma managed an awkward smile.
"Take care of me… younger me."
That did not help.
Future Trunks approached more cautiously, and recognition quickly turned his surprise into happiness.
"You're the Bulma from my timeline! Ken restored your youth too?"
"It's good to see you again, Trunks."
Something else immediately occurred to him.
"But our timeline was about to be destroyed."
Goku remembered the same thing.
"Yeah! That guy who looked kind of like Beerus was going to erase the whole timeline. Who was he?"
"The Space-Time God of Destruction," Ken explained. "His role is to destroy timelines that no longer need to exist."
Goku's eyes widened.
"Then Trunks's timeline is gone?"
Both Trunks and Mai visibly tensed at the possibility, but Ken immediately put the fear to rest.
"No. I used Time Reversal to restore it to before Zamasu ever arrived."
Relief hit Trunks so hard that he bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Ken!"
Mai bowed beside him, just as grateful.
Goku broke into a grin.
"That's great, Trunks! You've got your world back!"
Vegeta said nothing sentimental. He simply stepped forward and rested a hand on his son's shoulder, the slight smile at the corner of his mouth saying enough.
Trunks struggled to hold back his tears.
"Dad…"
Goku's attention wandered to another problem he had almost forgotten.
"Hey, Ken. Does Trunks's timeline have its own Zenny?"
"It does."
That immediately gave Goku an idea.
"What if I bring that Zenny here? Our Zenny would finally have someone exactly like him to play with."
Vegeta's face darkened.
"Kakarot, stop creating problems."
Ken saw no particular reason to interfere.
"Do whatever you want."
"Great! Then it's decided."
Goku reached for the Time Ring, only to remember that Trunks and Mai were still standing nearby.
"You two are going home too, right?"
"Of course!" Trunks could barely contain his excitement now that there was a home waiting for them again.
He and Mai bowed to Ken once more.
"Thank you for everything."
"Go enjoy your lives."
Before leaving, Trunks looked toward Vegeta one last time. His father answered with a quiet nod, and that was enough.
Goku activated the Time Ring and brought Trunks and Mai home.
Future Trunks's timeline had changed beyond recognition.
Cities stood where ruins had been. The dead had returned, civilization continued as though Zamasu's slaughter had never happened, and among those restored to the world was someone Trunks had never expected to see again.
Goku.
"Goku!" The sight filled Trunks with another rush of emotion. "Ken even brought our Goku back!"
Future Goku laughed.
"So that explains why I suddenly woke up alive again." He looked toward his counterpart from the main timeline and immediately sensed the enormous gap between them. "You're me from the past, right? You're ridiculously strong."
"I'm doing okay."
Main-timeline Goku had not come to compare power levels, though. He pulled out the round Zeno Button he had received and pressed it.
Future Zeno-sama appeared in the air almost instantly.
Unfortunately, the summoning left him with nothing beneath his feet.
He dropped face-first onto the ground.
After picking himself up, Future Zeno-sama looked around in confusion.
"Who called me?"
"Hi!" Goku approached as casually as ever. "I'm Son Goku from another timeline."
He quickly explained why he had summoned him.
"I know somewhere fun. Want to come with me?"
Future Zeno-sama needed no convincing.
"Yeah!"
Goku held out his hand, and the Omni-King placed his tiny hand in it.
"Then let's go."
Goku waved toward Trunks, Mai, and his alternate self.
"See you!"
Future Goku waved back.
"Take care, past me!"
With the Time Ring, Goku carried Future Zeno-sama out of the restored timeline.
"Ken, I'm back!" Goku announced upon returning. "This is the Zenny from Trunks's timeline. I'm taking him to meet our Zenny now."
He disappeared again almost immediately.
A moment later, Goku and Future Zeno-sama arrived outside the Palace.
The Grand Priest appeared to greet them, and even he needed a moment after seeing a second Omni-King standing beside Goku.
There were apparently some situations no amount of divine experience prepared a person for.
"Come with me."
He escorted them into the palace.
"Hi, Goku!"
The main-timeline Zeno-sama approached from deeper inside the palace while riding on Shin's back.
The two Zenos met for the first time.
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
They studied each other with immediate interest.
"Have you ever ridden a horse?" Zeno-sama asked.
Future Zeno-sama shook his head.
"It's really fun! We have another one over there."
He pointed toward Gowasu, who was still serving as the second mount.
Future Zeno-sama's eyes lit up.
"I want to try!"
He climbed onto Gowasu's back while the first adjusted himself on Shin.
"Watch me first. I'll show you."
He tightened the reins.
Shin prepared himself.
"Go!"
A slap on the rear sent Shin racing across the palace.
Future Zeno-sama immediately copied everything he had seen. He pulled Gowasu's reins tight, slapped him on the rear, and shouted the same command.
"Go!"
Gowasu bolted forward.
Future Zeno-sama had never ridden anything in his life.
He promptly fell off and landed face-first.
Gowasu nearly died of fear before Goku hurried over to help the Omni-King back up.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
Future Zeno-sama dusted himself off, climbed back into the saddle, and this time squeezed Gowasu firmly with both legs.
"Go!"
Gowasu had learned from the first attempt. Instead of accelerating all at once, he started slowly and built up speed until his rider was comfortable.
Future Zeno-sama quickly discovered why his counterpart liked the game so much.
Before long, both Omni-Kings were racing around the palace and having the time of their lives.
Goku stayed until they had played for a while, then prepared to head home.
"Come play again soon," Zeno-sama said, taking Goku's hand. "Are you sure you don't want to try riding?"
"I don't think it's really my thing."
Even Goku felt awkward about climbing onto the back of a Supreme Kai.
"Okay. Come back whenever you want."
Goku remembered one last thing before leaving.
"Zenny, what about the Tournament of Power? When are you going to hold it?"
"After we're done playing."
With that, Zeno-sama took Future Zeno-sama off for another race.
Goku had apparently been defeated by horseback riding.
He said goodbye to the Grand Priest and returned to Universe 6's Earth.
The Zamasu crisis was finally over.
Future Trunks's timeline had returned to peace, and the Grand Priest had been so impressed by Ken's handling of the incident that he summoned Merus for another round of instruction, using Ken as the standard he expected him to work toward.
Ken finally had a chance to settle down as well.
The Grand Priestess and little demoness continued their endless feud inside him, but he had long since learned to ignore most of it.
More importantly, the encounter with the Space-Time God of Destruction had given him a new goal.
Ken resumed serious training.
He had rested long enough, and level 80 no longer felt remotely sufficient when level 100 represented the threshold he now wanted to reach.
Life gradually returned to its usual rhythm.
The two Bulmas got along surprisingly well at first. Given enough time, however, their similarities became a source of irritation rather than harmony, and petty arguments started breaking out with increasing frequency.
Ken found the entire thing ridiculous.
Of all the people in existence, they had somehow managed to get annoyed with themselves.
Vegeta also threw himself back into training.
The battles against Goku Black and Fused Zamasu had made one thing painfully clear: he still had too much ground to cover. The gap between him and Kakarot remained larger than he wanted to admit, and Vegeta had no intention of accepting that forever.
Broly remained away from home, continuing his journey through the universes with Ai and Majin Buu tagging along as the world's least subtle third wheel.
Goku, meanwhile, had temporarily returned to the less glamorous responsibilities of everyday life.
One afternoon, he bought a load of vegetables at the market, packed them into a new truck Bulma had given him, and headed home through the mountains.
The truck used magnetic levitation technology rarely seen in the region, which drew plenty of attention from people along the road. Goku paid none of it much mind until he spotted another vehicle stranded in a ditch.
A large man beside it waved him down.
Goku stopped and leaned out of the cab.
"Something wrong with your car?"
"Yeah. Could you give me a lift to the nearest station?"
"Sure."
Goku climbed out to help.
Down in the ditch beside the road, two armed men had been waiting for exactly that.
Their eyes stayed fixed on the expensive maglev truck.
"You see that thing? Nobody around here has a truck like that."
"Our lucky day. He even got out on his own."
The two men climbed from their hiding place with guns already raised and aimed them at Goku.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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