[DBitp] Here Comes The Son

[Lord Raziere]

The Shining City:

King Fenrir. ".... I hope Beerus isn't that petty..."

Tarasai looks at you sadly.
"....Your hopes are....going to be dashed..."

"Well, obviously the loop would break if the individual in question was unable to go back in time and maintain the loop," said the scientist. "If we could arrest him, or even kill him, that would prevent the loop from reoccurring, would it not?"


Lord Maxwell held out his arm to indicate to Yankar to wait a moment. "I would very much like you to train Adam later, when we are done here," he whispered.

"At what point? They're time traveling forward right now, it'll be years before we can even meet him. Are you suggesting we go into the future to stop him? Possible but they'd be prepared for us and more powerful. And if the information he has been looping is how to make people like him-"
She points at Oxyribo
"Who knows what greater insanity we will find in the future? The ones in the future as a result of all this looping would probably make him look weak and outdated in comparison- and look how ridiculously powerful he is NOW."

Yankar nods.
"Very well."

As Arkea described what would happen if the loop continued, Max looked aghast, commenting to the effect of, "The Universe has a temporal processing limit? That's horrifying."

"It doesn't come up often. Most of the time, you either go back in time, make a change and voila you make a parallel universe thus splitting timelines and creating a new universe to process it, or the loop is stable and thus Minimal Information Limit is preserved- the exact amount of information needed for a time loop to occur without causing a paradox, so that people are ignorant enough to make the events happen as they should.

As for temporal war....one is technically already happening between the Time Patrol and the Time Breakers. Though the Time Patrol tells me that the Time Breakers have been oddly quiet for quite a while now.Which is weird, because events like this should be drawing them like flies to honey, but.....they aren't showing up. They're normally more opportunistic. Odd."

Deglargo Industries:
Red Mantis mutters:
"I sense a disturbance. Someone likes waffles over pancakes. That heretic! The Pancake is the true breakfast food."
Black Scorpion shrugs
"Whatever, I'm more a pineapple pizza guy myself. I hope to one day hold it with hands. What about you, Orange Wasp, any foavirte food?"
"Everything." she says, having shifted to a female form of herself for now.
"And Nothing. Except when I feel like its something."

[Emperor Ing]

Well who would want to jump in time in the first place? Traube asked.

Plenty of people. Apfel suggested. Anyone who ever wished there was some big mistake they could just...do over.

Okay, let me rephrase that: Who COULD jump back in time, in the first place?

The time travel project perhaps has private investors, mmnyes. The technology for time travel is not only known, but fully functional, in the known universe. The trouble is that the energy required to move a single person forward and backwards in time requires the full energy output of an entire galaxy's worth of dyson spheres over several months. Even with the infinite energy drives, the amount of energy that can be extracted at any one time is finite, requiring vast numbers of them to power them up. Given the lack of success, and an intrinsic desire to keep the space-time continuum stable, Emperor Apfel ceased all State funding developing time travel devices. As far as he knew, the project has been tabled, and extremely inefficient. The only way it was viable was if they were using a megastructure devoted entirely to housing millions, even billions of infinite energy drives, and that kind of structure would light up like a supernova, on any of the countless numbers of scanning and sensor equipment watching every corner of the cosmos. Even if they could do all that, they could only conceivably enter the future, and only towards the Infinite Energy Mega-battery.

They cannot be using native Universe 13 technology. Apfel realized. Deglargo Industries has the technology from Universe 7, to produce bio-androids, and their current iterations use the genetic material of Universe 7 warriors. Universe 7 has also produced hyper-efficient time-travel devices. While the correlation does not equal causation, we should not ignore the possibility that they are linked.

I sincerely doubt Kurumo is behind it. His interest is to save this universe, in his own way. Not destroy it. This was someone acting alone.

By the accounts of centuries worth of documented incidents and scolarly analysis, Lord Beerus the Destroyer has the temperament of a spoiled child, mmnyes. Freis informed King Fenrir.

[Rater202]

I doubt that an android greater than myself could be easily created except by using my own cells to create future generations: You can only make a life-form so powerful by inherant capabillities. Eventually, you have to train.

Diamond is too busy savoring a cheeseburger to speak.

It's actually a little disturbing.

[igordragonian]

When Vodkana calmed down, she went out to make her calls, and asked her secretaries to contact her to Deglargo industories.

[Hawkflight]

Shining City

And, finally, as the subject of Hamburgers came up, Max had a Roomba with a tray come out to make the rounds with a platter full of bacon cheese burgers. The tray also included other topppings, So it was up to the others how they chose to pursue their flavor journey. Even, gasp, if they chose to do so without the bacon or the cheese. "Why....why would I not have made these since coming here? I thought you all knew that burgers of various kinds were on the menu?"

Starlight obviously did not partake of the cheeseburgers, as they contained meat, which most ponies did not eat.

Shining City

While enjoying a bacon cheeseburger with fresh cut onions, Max made brief eye contact with Lord Maxwell, to open a telepathic link between them. It was a two way thing, so Maxwell would not need to verbally respond. ~You know a worryingly large amount of information about the temporal situation of this universe. And since you mentioned this is a temporal cold war, it seemed wise to have this conversation in a manner that is, at least, much harder to eavesdrop upon than simply picking up audio. Your comments lead me to believe that you are one of the sides in this cold war, or at least acting on someone's behalf. So, I would like to know what your angle is in this. And eating provides a good cover for this conversation.~

<Your concern is warranted, but unnecessary,> Lord Maxwell replied, raising an eyebrow at Max. <Besides, it chafes me to admit, but Dr. Briefs is more knowledgeable of these matters than myself.>

The doctor, meanwhile, retrieved the tablet. "Allow me to explain," she said. "You see, it all comes back to the origins of this particular universe, Universe 13. As most of you know, this universe was essentially created from stray timelines of the other twelve universes, plus the remains of the original Universe 13. It was created due to the use of a poorly-designed time machine made by the Red Pants Army, the very same time machine Oxy used to travel back in time to hide from his former masters. Going with the computing references, it essentially caused a stack overflow error, causing errant timelines to overflow into the empty space of this universe.

"When this universe was created, many people and objects were temporally displaced, thus generating an abnormal amount in the idea of time travel. This caused a degree of interest in time travel far exceeding that of even Universe 7, especially once the events at Deglargo Industries go public. This will also lead to a series of laws and limitations on time travel enacted at the mortal level, known as the Temporal Accords, in order to prevent damage to the fabric of the universe, such as Deglargo is causing now. Those who violate these laws will immediately have their assets seized and their time travel technology liquidated. This, along with skyrocketing advances in the detection of temporal anomalies, enabling the persecution of companies or individuals who violate temporal laws will, in the short term, prevent any further temporal incursions, and those that do occur will be stopped after few enough loops that they do not pose a significant danger. This would be the end of it, except what we fail to realize is that while future knowledge can give those of us in the past an advantage, forgotten knowledge of the past can give those in the future an advantage in turn. Deglargo Industries will, or perhaps already have, given their future selves knowledge of time travel technology that would otherwise be lost to history. This will lead to various agencies coming into conflict using time as a weapon, some for their own gain, and others, such as the future Earth First Coalition, in an attempt to stop them." At this point, the doctor paused in order to assess the reactions of those in the room.

Starlight, for her part, was simply shocked.

The Shining City:

"At what point? They're time traveling forward right now, it'll be years before we can even meet him. Are you suggesting we go into the future to stop him? Possible but they'd be prepared for us and more powerful. And if the information he has been looping is how to make people like him-"

She points at Oxyribo

"Who knows what greater insanity we will find in the future? The ones in the future as a result of all this looping would probably make him look weak and outdated in comparison- and look how ridiculously powerful he is NOW."

"Well, it seems to me as if we simply need to become even stronger in order to prevent this time loop from reoccurring when the time comes," said Starlight. "I would suggest simply detaining his past self in the present, but that would probably cause a paradox, would it not?"

They cannot be using native Universe 13 technology. Apfel realized. Deglargo Industries has the technology from Universe 7, to produce bio-androids, and their current iterations use the genetic material of Universe 7 warriors. Universe 7 has also produced hyper-efficient time-travel devices. While the correlation does not equal causation, we should not ignore the possibility that they are linked.

"Naturally," Dr. Briefs replied. "Deglargo Industries are scavengers. We believe they somehow scavenged a functioning Universe 7 time machine, possibly one displaced by the formation of Universe 13."

I doubt that an android greater than myself could be easily created except by using my own cells to create future generations: You can only make a life-form so powerful by inherant capabillities. Eventually, you have to train.

"No, you are correct," Dr. Briefs replied. "However, there are individuals, such as Hailing, or Frieza from Universe 7, who are extremely powerful without ever having trained in their lives. If a bio-android were to be created using their DNA, it's entirely possible they could become strong enough to rival Beerus himself in a matter of months."

[Rater202]

"For the record, I wasn't traveling through time to hide from my creators. I ended up in this timeline by accident when I attempted to travel through time to find and kill the Original Cell at his recorded strongest form in the hopes of proving that I wasn't a failure becuase I was a dumbass when I was a kid. The only person I'd have wanted to hide from back them was my bitch sister."

[Sagetim]

Shining City

There were, of course, vegetarian, vegan, and other special dietary options on offer, so Starlight wouldn't have to feel left out with regards to delicious food. That said, this isn't a Shokugeki No Soma thread.

Not needing to have a discreet conversation directly with Maxwel, Max let the telepathic link lapse. He then looked over to Arkea during the explanation, and used telepathy to convey something he hadn't had a chance to say earlier ~Time Patrol and Time Breakers? I get simple naming conventions but they both sound like they could use a PR team to work shop some more dynamic names.~

Other than that bit of discreet sass, Max listened patiently as Dr. Briefs explained before responding, "I was wondering why that blue coif was so familiar. So, you are implying that the future Earth First Coalition sent you information to help counteract what Delargo Industries is doing? Is that why you have a tablet and seem at home with electronics, when most of Earth is still...not? Oh, and do we know the spacial coordinates of where he left our timeline from?"

[Hawkflight]

Shining City

There were, of course, vegetarian, vegan, and other special dietary options on offer, so Starlight wouldn't have to feel left out with regards to delicious food. That said, this isn't a Shokugeki No Soma thread.

Let's just assume that Starlight overlooked them the first time and grabbed a spicy black bean burger with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar. Also, a Food Wars RP would be awesome. Or a Meal-centered sidequest....

Shining City

Other than that bit of discreet sass, Max listened patiently as Dr. Briefs explained before responding, "I was wondering why that blue coif was so familiar. So, you are implying that the future Earth First Coalition sent you information to help counteract what Delargo Industries is doing? Is that why you have a tablet and seem at home with electronics, when most of Earth is still...not? Oh, and do we know the spacial coordinates of where he left our timeline from?"

"That is correct," Lord Maxwell replied. "Unfortunately, temporal tracking was not high on the priority list, falling short in favor of ... other things, and we have had to fill in some gaps on our own, but the good doctor has proven quite brilliant in that regard. We do not know the exact spacial coordinates, but we have reason to believe he left from Deglargo Industries itself. We can confirm this with our allies from the future at their next communication."

[Lord Raziere]

Shining City:
Jade is silent for a moment as she takes this all in.
".....Well if what she says about the future is true, I'll have to start a Timelost Support group or something. Maybe its not a ban on time traveling, but it only takes a few idiots and for good people to do nothing to turn reasonable laws into bad ones,. While I doubt any of the current time refugees need protecting physically, a group dedicated to their social/legal/political protection to time refugees would be wise in my eyes. That and the Rebel Alliance's purpose is kind of a question mark now that Hailing is dealt with, and is now basically just the name of our group.

Max, your a time refugee and are pretty smart and socially adept. you down with an effort like that? Oxyribo you could be helpful to: you both have cities, and are rulers of them, that have done well. What do you say that for this Time Lost Support or whatever-TimeLost Advocates maybe?- that if what Dr. briefs is saying is true about the time traveling laws, that you both help set up dedicated safehouses for time refugees for my the new time refugee organization? I am a time traveler, so these laws don't sound like things I want to happen...."
She turns to Oxyribo.
"Ah your sister you told me about her once. Long ago."
She does not mention the specific incident. She recalls Oxyribo not wanting her to talking about it.
"I assume from your tone and insult you don't want to ever find her? Or have anything to do with her? Is it a normal family "she is kind of a jerk" feeling or is it a "no she is actually evil, we need to be wary of her" kind of feeling?"

Shanakan looks at Dr. Briefs warily.
"I caution against putting too much stock in one future. To think that it can only go one direction, that things are so easy to predict- that is a mistake even Kurumo makes. It is only one possibility. To state otherwise is nothing but arrogance. Also Hailing has trained for his power. He is not the weird super-talented genius that will be U7's Freeza."

"Well, it seems to me as if we simply need to become even stronger in order to prevent this time loop from reoccurring when the time comes," said Starlight. "I would suggest simply detaining his past self in the present, but that would probably cause a paradox, would it not?"

Arkea meanwhile just raises an eyebrow
"More like that his past self is no longer here in the present. His future self is probably warning of him of all the actions we could take to apprehend him early. All he has to do is travel to places where we aren't and wouldn't think to look in the timestream. And despite our galaxy spanning powers, this entire group tends to gravitate towards a few predictable planets. like Earth or New Plant. He might decide to set down on a galaxy at the far side of the Universe far away from all this for a time and we wouldn't know where to begin looking. And even if he does come back in known space or even this galaxy- its big. mind bogglingly, vastly, big. With lots of people in it. If you think its hard to find someone in a planets crowd, imagine searching a galaxy or a universe for them. Face it: he played smart, got out early and won this round. We simply can't get to him. Especially since we'd have to use whatever weird technological time travel you have, the only time travel I would be in possession of, is the Time Rings and they have very specific rules on how they're operated and where they can go- and worse, they're in the Spirit World. Where Solitus rules now, and Kurumo would be the only one who'd know where they are. And there is no guarantee that you won't be apprehending an alternate version of the person who gets caught doing the loop rather than the one who doesn't, see? you might just be creating a third version of him that doesn't stop the loop at all. Creating alternate versions is times first line of defense against paradox."
"Wait what if we tried to get him while he is time traveling? Y'know while going through the timestream?"
"No, thats crazy. Any intentional time travel method has some way to protect you and keep you going only to your singular destination. Going through the timesteam unprotected only leads to scattering various versions of yourself throughout history randomly splitting off and landing in random places and making a big mess of alternate selves and timelines resulting from such."
"....but I fell through the timestream unprotected when I got to this universe..." Jade says uncertainly.
Arkea slaps her hand to her face.
"Of COURSE you did. Oh well. A problem for later. I'm honestly surprised you survived going through the timestream unprotected, its really dangerous. For anyone. Point is we have enough problems right now to worry about apprehending the escaping one, and we can stop the loop much simpler and easier just by stopping the signal."

Vodkana:
A deglargo secretary answers Vodkana.
"Yes? Who is this?"

[Rater202]

Shining City:
Jade is silent for a moment as she takes this all in.
".....Well if what she says about the future is true, I'll have to start a Timelost Support group or something. Maybe its not a ban on time traveling, but it only takes a few idiots and for good people to do nothing to turn reasonable laws into bad ones,. While I doubt any of the current time refugees need protecting physically, a group dedicated to their social/legal/political protection to time refugees would be wise in my eyes. That and the Rebel Alliance's purpose is kind of a question mark now that Hailing is dealt with, and is now basically just the name of our group.

Max, your a time refugee and are pretty smart and socially adept. you down with an effort like that? Oxyribo you could be helpful to: you both have cities, and are rulers of them, that have done well. What do you say that for this Time Lost Support or whatever-TimeLost Advocates maybe?- that if what Dr. briefs is saying is true about the time traveling laws, that you both help set up dedicated safehouses for time refugees for my the new time refugee organization? I am a time traveler, so these laws don't sound like things I want to happen...."
She turns to Oxyribo.
"Ah your sister you told me about her once. Long ago."
She does not mention the specific incident. She recalls Oxyribo not wanting her to talking about it.
"I assume from your tone and insult you don't want to ever find her? Or have anything to do with her? Is it a normal family "she is kind of a jerk" feeling or is it a "no she is actually evil, we need to be wary of her" kind of feeling?"

"A few santuraries for unintentional or unwilling time travelers are things within my power to establish... Or, since we now know about these laws we can simply act to ensure that they never come to pass. Multiverse theory. Any culture that descriminates against a category of people that inclcudes gods and being who may as well be gods which... Is most of the currently existing time travelers, is a culture that's doomed to cease existing in one way or another."

"As for my sister... 'Sociopathic Bitch' would be the key phrase here. She fit in more with our creators than I did, and well, you've met my 'parents' ."

"Regardless, it seems that we've got three thing sto prepare for: In order of immediate concern, Delargo Industries and whatever stragegies Aphel intends to use to find evidence of their illicit activities, the meeting between our representatives and Kerumo and what may happen afterward, and a potentially powerful time traveler abusing time travel technology to game the system. Regardless, a priority of maing sure that we're strong enough for whatever fights might come next should be a priority: There's this bizzare pattern to reality where the next bad guy is always leaps and bounds more powerful than the last one you faced."

"Well, if we need people as strong as possible as fast as possible," Diamond volunteers, "we have two people who get stronger when they absorb enough energy and I have two physics violating generators of perpetual energy within my body. Give me a couple of minutes and I could probably charge up a blast big enough to give Jade and beryle a couple thousand BP each... Oh, the Patoras, if I get a pair I can probably tinker something up to get around the time limit."

"Don't you have the same energy absorprtion tech in you," Poka says, pointing to the detached hand that Diamond just kind of left on the floor when he pounced a burger. "Couldn't they like, pour most of their energy into you to raise your power level super high and then you give it all back and then some but keep at that power becuase you break physics and then repeat the process ad infinitum until all three of you have power vastly exceeding Lord Beerus the Destroyer?"

"...I am not comfortable having that level of power as I am a researcher, not a fighter, and am a pacifist besides--"

"Your arm is a cattleprod."

"For self defense... I'm also a mite disturbed that you went from what I said to stronger than Lord Beerus instantly and that's a fair bit beyond what I'm comfortable with. Getting too much power in one go tends to end poorly. Honestly it's probably for the best that most people don't have fast ways to permamantly multiply their power."

"Actually, I've got two, Buggy's got two or three and I think that posioned tea tat either kills you or unlocks a significant portion of your untapped power is somewhere on this planet... Plus there's that Room on the Look Out where you go inside and it's a year inside for every day out in the real world but I tdon't think that's the kind of quick power up you were talking about."

[Hawkflight]

Shining City:

Jade is silent for a moment as she takes this all in.

".....Well if what she says about the future is true, I'll have to start a Timelost Support group or something. Maybe its not a ban on time traveling, but it only takes a few idiots and for good people to do nothing to turn reasonable laws into bad ones,. While I doubt any of the current time refugees need protecting physically, a group dedicated to their social/legal/political protection to time refugees would be wise in my eyes. That and the Rebel Alliance's purpose is kind of a question mark now that Hailing is dealt with, and is now basically just the name of our group.

Max, your a time refugee and are pretty smart and socially adept. you down with an effort like that? Oxyribo you could be helpful to: you both have cities, and are rulers of them, that have done well. What do you say that for this Time Lost Support or whatever-TimeLost Advocates maybe?- that if what Dr. briefs is saying is true about the time traveling laws, that you both help set up dedicated safehouses for time refugees for my the new time refugee organization? I am a time traveler, so these laws don't sound like things I want to happen...."

"That's a great idea!" Starlight replied. "I have a few contacts in Equestria that may be able to help."

Dr. Briefs, meanwhile, shook her head. "These laws are absolutely necessary in order to protect the time stream," she said. "I understand that you and your group tend to chafe at ordered law, but consider this. If these laws did not exist, then we would have people like the one from Deglargo Industries, creating exponential time loops and potentially destroying the universe. We cannot allow that to happen. Having alternate timelines floating about is bad enough, both from a moral and practical perspective -- if a universe has a limited amount of processing power, we do not know what will happen if the number of alternate timelines exceeds what the universe can handle, but we do not want to find out."

Starlight nodded. "That does make sense," she replied. "It all comes down to banning activities that could cause others harm without their consent."

Shining City:

Arkea meanwhile just raises an eyebrow

"More like that his past self is no longer here in the present. His future self is probably warning of him of all the actions we could take to apprehend him early. All he has to do is travel to places where we aren't and wouldn't think to look in the timestream. And despite our galaxy spanning powers, this entire group tends to gravitate towards a few predictable planets. like Earth or New Plant. He might decide to set down on a galaxy at the far side of the Universe far away from all this for a time and we wouldn't know where to begin looking. And even if he does come back in known space or even this galaxy- its big. mind bogglingly, vastly, big. With lots of people in it. If you think its hard to find someone in a planets crowd, imagine searching a galaxy or a universe for them. Face it: he played smart, got out early and won this round. We simply can't get to him. Especially since we'd have to use whatever weird technological time travel you have, the only time travel I would be in possession of, is the Time Rings and they have very specific rules on how they're operated and where they can go- and worse, they're in the Spirit World. Where Solitus rules now, and Kurumo would be the only one who'd know where they are. And there is no guarantee that you won't be apprehending an alternate version of the person who gets caught doing the loop rather than the one who doesn't, see? you might just be creating a third version of him that doesn't stop the loop at all. Creating alternate versions is times first line of defense against paradox."

"Wait what if we tried to get him while he is time traveling? Y'know while going through the timestream?"

"No, thats crazy. Any intentional time travel method has some way to protect you and keep you going only to your singular destination. Going through the timesteam unprotected only leads to scattering various versions of yourself throughout history randomly splitting off and landing in random places and making a big mess of alternate selves and timelines resulting from such."

"....but I fell through the timestream unprotected when I got to this universe..." Jade says uncertainly.

Arkea slaps her hand to her face.

"Of COURSE you did. Oh well. A problem for later. I'm honestly surprised you survived going through the timestream unprotected, its really dangerous. For anyone. Point is we have enough problems right now to worry about apprehending the escaping one, and we can stop the loop much simpler and easier just by stopping the signal."

"So, once again it comes down to we have to get stronger in order to face the next threat," Starlight sighed.

[Lord Raziere]

"So, once again it comes down to we have to get stronger in order to face the next threat," Starlight sighed.

"Next threat is kind of putting it too close. The next threat is the Unkillables that you need to fight NOW. We don't know when whatever this guy making is going to come.As for the unvierse having limited processing power, alternate timelines have their own processing power. Every timeline is its own computer. Don't worry about it too much. Its only a problem in this specific instance."
She says handwaving this. No seriously, don't make this a problem more than it is, if you do, the narrator will be forced to retcon the limited processing power thing entirely.

[Emperor Ing]

Traube facepalms. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder.

The necessity for these laws is without question, however there are alternatives. Apfel suggests. Our interest is in reducing instances of time-travel to a minimum, yet all that will be accomplished is eliminating legal time travel. A ban which would be terribly difficult to enforce against individuals with time travel devices. For the majority of the galaxy, who are unaware of the existence of rogue U7 technology, they will see that the Empire enforces a ban on technology that does not even exist. It will merely be proof of government fraud and waste, at best, and a temptation to explore forbidden knowledge, at worst. What would your opinion be of its possibility, if the Empire banned squared circles? This would generate interest in the possibility of functional time-travel technology, and drive it underground, where it is more difficult to monitor.

Rather, our interest should be an information campaign. Social engineering, to eliminate the idea of functional time travel from the public infosphere, as well as remove as many instances of functional time-travel as possible. Currently, time travel technology exists, however its power requirements are...unbelievable. The last thing we would want is increased efficiency of the technology. Towards that end, I may have a solution. He grins. All development of time travel technology will not only be legal, but be given generous grants from the State. The conditions for these grants will be onerous oversight and bureaucracy, deliberately designed in such a way to arrest the development of, or even reverse progress towards the improvement of time-travel technology. All justified under wishing to ensure safe and responsible development of atemporal technology that does not damage the space-time continuum. Which while deceptive, is not false.

Scientists and engineers working on time travel technology will become dependent on Imperial grants, and demand that any and all work on time travel in the known universe be done under their organizations. No doubt they will demand licensing requirements and approvals.

In ten years, time machines native to universe 13 will require a universe's worth of dyson spheres, to power.

[Lord Raziere]

Shining City
Jade claps her hands together and points at Apfel.
"My man er.....squid or...my man! What you said makes a lot more sense. Through I'm still thinking that making that time refugee organization is a good idea simply to make the process a bit more planned so that if more time refugees we have a plan for it. It'll just be as secret as everything else."

[Hawkflight]

Lord Maxwell took a sip of tea, hiding a brief smile behind his teacup. All was according to plan, even if that plan may take some time to bear fruit.

"Of course, this is all moot in the face of our current threat, a mad god with an army of alien killer biodroids, but it is something worth keeping in mind," he remarked. "The tablet Dr. Briefs gave you should contain all of the information we have on the biodroids. I believe you will find it most useful."

[Rater202]

Lord Maxwell took a sip of tea, hiding a brief smile behind his teacup. All was according to plan, even if that plan may take some time to bear fruit.

"Of course, this is all moot in the face of our current threat, a mad god with an army of alien killer biodroids, but it is something worth keeping in mind," he remarked. "The tablet Dr. Briefs gave you should contain all of the information we have on the biodroids. I believe you will find it most useful."

"Alien is unnecessary: Bio-Androids as a species were created on Earth. That makes us Earthlings. Like the dozens of other sentient species born on this planet."

"Regardless, I'm throwing my lot in with Aphel on this: Just making people think Time travel is impossible and/or implausible over intergalactic laws that set a dangerous precident towards most of the people in this room being discriminated against."

Diamond has a thought: "Show of hands: Who here knows the Mafuba?"

Oxy raises his hand: Who else?

[Emperor Ing]

I am in full support of time refugee support groups, however I cannot offer any official support, if only to keep knowledge of the mere existence of time-refugees a secret. No, not a secret, just obscure. A curiosity to be found on the Hypernet, mistaken for the fever dreams of the mentally ill, rather than serious.

Oh, you mean the Evil Containment Wave! Traube's eyes lit up. It transforms its target into energy, to be placed into a physical vessel. That could actually work. I don't know the move, I just heard about it from some people in Heaven, but i've also heard it can be reversed, back on its user. She thinks for a moment, wondering if among the fighters that make up their mental and genetic structure, any of them knows the technique.

Freis raised a finger. You are considering a technique to counter the restorative abilities of super-regenerators, mmnyes. Super-regenerators being the informal name given to beings like Majin Buu who are able to restore damage to their bodies endlessly, like these bio-androids seem capable of.

Though I have no proof, I suspect my Stygian techniques counter their regeneration most effectively.

[Lord Raziere]

"Alien is unnecessary: Bio-Androids as a species were created on Earth. That makes us Earthlings. Like the dozens of other sentient species born on this planet."

"Regardless, I'm throwing my lot in with Aphel on this: Just making people think Time travel is impossible and/or implausible over intergalactic laws that set a dangerous precident towards most of the people in this room being discriminated against."

Diamond has a thought: "Show of hands: Who here knows the Mafuba?"

Oxy raises his hand: Who else?

Shining City:
Jade raises her hand as well.
"I know it, in case I couldn't defeat anyone myself, I'd at least have some way of containing them until I could. In fact I remembered something cool for them:"
She conjures a capsule then throws it, in a poof of smoke, there was suddenly a container complete with the seal.
"Mafuba plus containers that can be minimized equal easy carry containment. Not really a hard thing to do, makes its just a little more convenient to use them."
It didn't take a genius for this- anything could be stored in capsules so it just took remembering that capsules existed and using them properly.
"If we're talking Anti-Regen techniques, my Chara Cosplay has those to. But I don't think I can make them nonlethal?"
"Hm. I honestly I don't think I have to contribute on that front-I'm honestly thinking of rethinking my training." Masala thinks
"Yeah and I honestly need to work on my control with.....my weird Super Saiyan form before I try getting more powerful. That form seems plenty powerful its just controlling is the problem...." Pinappla says as well.
Shanakan thinks
"Technically with Gemini style, I can finagle a way into being effective against bio-nadroids- I'd just have to cut their regeneration rate in half on the conceptual level, then cut the lethality of my attacks by half but double their power, then double myself into two people, then cut their movement in half with one me while firing attacks to knock them out with the other, then if things get really strong, I can go into my Gemini Double-Blades form, My power is multiplied by 40, which I can double again then double the length of time it remains in effect while cutting its recharge time in half, so that My super form lasts 4 minutes and 44 seconds which I can renew every 1 minute and eleven seconds after the cut in half recharge time is over while still in my super form, thus producing an infinite loop I can remain in as long as I keep on top of it."
There was also Sagittarius, but he hadn't developed that as well as Gemini and most of it involves firing arrows into the future anyways.

[Rater202]

"I'm primarily just... We don't want to kill the Unkillables and even if we did, not everyone here is strong enough to irreparably damage every cell in something's body in one attack. Then I remembered that Bro had Poka kidnap me across the Galaxy to basically build a guarrteed containment device so he could Mafuba Kurumo if the guy had body jacked a Wish for Immortality. I don't know how amn unkillables you guys would have to fight but I could probably whip up a couple dozen capsules that poof up into sometihing the size of an oil drum so the target ins't too small with somekind of gravity matrix to suck crap in with the seals built in. Program it to seal itself shut automatically and we're good. Maybe make them automatically encapsulate?"

Then he sees Jade's capsule container.

"...I can do it better. But so far there's only two users so unless any fights with Unkillables are handled in teams or everybody can learn a high level healing spell that puts a lot of stress on the body in a single night I'm not sure how viable it is now..."

[Lord Raziere]

Shining City:
Jade blinks
"that reminds me. Diamond you said you could upgrade these-"
She takes out the Potara earrings...and Arkea snatches them back.
"Those are mine thank you very much. I specifically recall you borrowing them."
"Well then can we have our own pair?"
"They are symbols of high divine station, and important tools to doing various things besides! Not your personal fusion earrings!"
"Can't you just conjure them like anything else?"
".....Yes actually but thats not that point."
I'm not kidding, Gohan gets a supreme kai outfit conjured for him complete with potara.
"And the point iiiiiiis?"
".....I'm not sure? Something about it symbols of divine station and yadda yadda, but it seems less important once you realize that we have entire outfits and the earrings are kind of a small detail compared to the clothes we wear to let everyone know we rule the Universe."
"....So the real important magical super earrings of fusion awesomeness can be just conjured up like any other thing.....that kind of doesn't make any sense doesn't it?"
"Yeah, kind of. One would think you'd give this to like, all the fighters to defend the Universe for emergencies or something. Rather than just keeping them to yourself and not using them because its permanent for you."
"Well, there is also the fact that they're used with the Time Rings to travel through time. You put them on to make it work for you at all and your partner has to put the their earring on the same ear as you so that you don't fuse."
".....Is there anything stopping us from mass-producing time rings through matter materialization as well?"
"And whose bright idea was it to make the earrings that fuse kais permanently the same ones you use to travel through time to fix things anyways?"
Arkea glares at them, conjures a set of new Potara and hands them to Jade.
"Just....just stop asking questions and accept the damn earrings."
"Gladly."
....Did they just out-logic a Kai into bribing them with Potara Earrings to stop pointing out how little sense this makes?
As I was saying: Diamond, you said you could upgrade these?"

The Refractor meanwhile just imitates and flits through the shapes around it, imitating their gestures and movements, but unable to understand a single bit of conversation. It only tilts its head at these things called mouths, and seems unable to form one itself.

Introduction: Chief Engineer Rilla
Let us enter the life of Rilla, Chief Engineer, Head of Research and Development at Deglargo Industries. The person behind the making of the Unkillables design. She is not the one solely responsible. A genius like Gero is astronomically rare. Rilla while of no small intellect, in all probability cannot reach his heights. But unlike Gero, she has funding. Colleagues. Coworkers. People who she bounced ideas off of, who made their own contributions and work to the project. She did however oversee the entire project and its development, and thus knows how it all works.

To place her morality in this is quite the murky matter. She was just a person who worked for a paycheck like everyone else. Sure she also did it for the scientific and engineering challenge- she had to love her career after all she worked hard to be an engineer- but ultimately what she was working on was weaponry cross between growing bio-engineered people. And weaponry kills people. In that regard, she can be considered little different from any other engineer out there working to design the next cannon or any other thing designed to kill. Whether she is responsible as a result- thats the question, now isn't it?

She even designed the programming. Rilla basically deleted the whole of Gero's programming and put in something of far better design. Gero was many things, but a good programmer he wasn't. But of course, eventually came the strike of conscience. The moment when Red Mantis was but a small bio-android, the first of them all, going through the first of the tests of their capabilities. She realized her mistake and tried to convince CEO Deglargo to stop this.

In response, he made the guards restrain her then shoved her own programming and cybernetics into her skull, put in an Infinite Energy drive, then commanded her to be the perfect employee, to always smile, always be professional and always give it 110%, always be on her best behavior. Always. Forever.

Now, for years she has continued to work. For years her mind has been forced to keep developing, to keep working, to keep designing. For years she has unerringly smiled and worked overtime with reduced pay, because its not as if she could say no. For years has this false mask of programming spoke for her, controlled her. For years has worked like a machine from sunrise to sunset, never allowed a moments freedom, pausing only to give the illusion of rest she did not need anymore, her mind still working on the designs even as she pretended to sleep. For years has she been forced to lie.

For years has she been feeling like shes going insane inside her own head.

Wishing she could express herself.

Wishing that CEO Deglargo would die.

But! She can't do that. She can only obey. And she obeys by going to Grey Spider's door, and knocking.

[igordragonian]

[Vodkana]

'I am the Prrrresident of Hailing Entertainment. I am considering buying your company or at least some stocks. Nya. I want a meeting and a tour as soon as possible.'

[Sagetim]

Max sat back and let the others carry the bulk of the conversation. It was nice to work with smart people, you didn't have to bring up all the salient points yourself. Then Jade casually mentioned that he was among the time traveling bunch. This resulted in Max pantomiming in the background a bit, then sighing, "Well, I suppose the charade of being from the past was going to fall apart at some point."

As Dr. Briefs mentioned the entire group not getting along with the rule of law, Max pantomimed a few words: What? Me? Augh. Look at all this. Of course, he didn't actually say these words. It wasn't really important enough to the conversation for Max to speak up and break it's flow just to be a little indignant about being lumped in and thrown under the anti-authority bus.

In response to 'who knows the Mafuuba?' Max raises his hand, then strokes his chin a bit and looks off for a few moments, then goes with making a so so gesture. "I didn't have enough time while training under Roshi to learn that. We went over the theory, but there was a demon in the mountains that needed defeating and we were the ones on tap to do the job. Now that I say that out loud, it sounds a lot weirder than it seemed at the time." Max cleared his thorat, "In any case, I'm sure I could learn it within the day if you're willing to teach?" Max asked Oxyribo.

As Jade and Arkea keep talking about the potaras, Max blinks a bit and pulls out his own pair, "Wait, these aren't jut ornamental?" He' even been wearing them, much earlier in this arc when he went to visit Shin. "When I trained with him in my own timeline, Elder Kai gave them to me as part of my training outfit...which, by the way, weighs entirely too much. He also made me balance while wearing that entire get up on a rocky point over lava for a few days. Never once mentioned these earrings could do any of that."

[Rater202]

"Really it's less of upgrading these and more using these to upgrade something else."

Diamond takes the earrings.

"The Red Pants Army wasn't just recreating Gero's tech, they were also stealing tech from other timelines: You remember Sprock, the little Robot he built from a piece of the Big Ghetti Star and a data learned from vivisecting a techno-organic mutant the Red Pants Kidnapped from an aberrant timeline... Side note, that turned out to be Tuffle-Tech... Well, they also stole a Prototype for a fusion device invented by another Timeline's Bulma Briefs."

Diamond pockets the earrings and then pulls out a capsule which expands out into some kind of projector platform, a hologram of a band being projected.

"Apparently out in the universe is a race, the metamorans, who have a technique that allows two warriors to fuse for half an hour: The problem is, it only works if the warriors have identical power levels, are the same size, and physiologically similar. The fusions are also proportionately weaker than Patora fusions. But in this other timeline, Bulma invented a device that traded power for practicality: A weaker fusion but anybody could fuse with anybody else as long as they performed the technique while wearing the bands. While the fusions are weaker, they also last indefinitely as long as you keep wearing the band while fused."

The Hologram shifts to show a Saiyan boy, physically 10, with spikey but down hair, with a black tail and black hair, save spikey pink bangs hiding one eye, the other the same pink as Diamond's. He has turquoise Saiyan Armor and a black undersuit.

"I tinkered around with the technology for a bit but I gave it up when Monesco outgrew me to the point that we couldn't do the dance properly anymore."

"If You two think you can learn the dance, I think I can maybe build a pair of bands with the Patoras built into it, resulting in you fusion ingo your full powered Patora fusion with the technique and staying indefinitely as long as the band is intact."

Diamond picks up and reataches his arm.

"I can probably at least demonstrate the Mafuba and explain how it works so people can learn."

[Hawkflight]

Max sat back and let the others carry the bulk of the conversation. It was nice to work with smart people, you didn't have to bring up all the salient points yourself. Then Jade casually mentioned that he was among the time traveling bunch. This resulted in Max pantomiming in the background a bit, then sighing, "Well, I suppose the charade of being from the past was going to fall apart at some point."

"Oh, you were trying to hide it?" Dr. Briefs asked, looking genuinely surprised. "I apologize."

As Dr. Briefs mentioned the entire group not getting along with the rule of law, Max pantomimed a few words: What? Me? Augh. Look at all this. Of course, he didn't actually say these words. It wasn't really important enough to the conversation for Max to speak up and break it's flow just to be a little indignant about being lumped in and thrown under the anti-authority bus.

"Do not be concerned, Max, I was referring to the Rebel Alliance, not to you and your city," Dr. Briefs reassured him.

[Lord Raziere]

Shining City:
Jade telepathically sends to Max:
Oh sorry, was I not supposed to say that? I guess I'm a bit careless now I'm not so paranoid and distrustful....which while I'm more relaxed as a bit of a detriment to the life I live actually...
While saying out loud:
"Yeah, they're basically fusion earrings that are also one half of a magical kai time machine. Have fun."
"The Time Ring doesn't go into the past though, only the present and the future. So keep that in mind."
"As for anti-authority well....Well.....I'm going to have to correct you on that: Max here as he is gesturing made this city. Luxana is the Guardian and Shanakan over there both respect and revere the Kais. Apfel is literally the Emperor of the Galaxy until he won't be. Starlight is both Celestia's ambassador AND the next/already a Princess. The Kais are the Kais. Pinappla while being a fan girl of me, has shown no inclination to disobey or be against King Vegeta."
"I mean guess he is kind of cool, but he is no Rainbow Saber..."
"Katnep is a CHAMPION of her culture if anything. And Oxyribo literally proclaims himself a god and rules another city, when he talks about killing other leaders for threatening those he loves, its because he believes they are incompetent authorities compared to himself, so not really anti-authority really. Vodkana's goal is to become the highest divine office a mortal can achieve. And one of our early members, was the Prince of the Tuffles. I forget if Ieez and Artic were arcosian nobles, but it seemed pretty personal when Hailing killed their father. Poka is basically Oxyribo's non-romantic asexual life partner.

The only people that get to say they're anti-authority is me, because I was anti-authority BEFORE I had a big PL and could blow up planets, Beryl because she likes it when I get reckless, and Masala, who is basically chaos incarnate."
"and yet, all our friends are authorities."
"Well yeah, they're not going to keep themselves in check. Point is, I'm the only one who is intentionally anti-authority here. We're the people who actually live in a reasonable spaceship rather than having some grandiose thing you rule over."
I mean she technically has the legal power to kill Apfel if he goes power mad, but thats kind of like successful anti-authoritarianism when you think about it: when the ruler gives you the right to kill them and you don't need to use it. As far as she was concerned, Oxyribo could only dream of getting that kind of right.
"Point is: You want to be anti-authority? Get on my level, there is no competition for me here."

Vodkana:
The secretary says
"Oh. The President of Hailing Entertainment......Vodkana....I can pencil you in for an appointment right after Apfel....Sorry he already got the spot before you..."
She doesn't know that you want to go at the same time. Or do you not want to?

Introduction: Grey Spider
Rilla politely knocks, Grey Spider calls emotionlessly:
"Enter."
Rilla walks in, to see.....nothing. It was dark. Grey Spider, fourth of the Unkillables made, the one made after Orange Wasp. She was taught to keep herself hidden. Designed to be the assassin model, Grey Spider had the memories and DNA of famous and competent snipers worked into her. Her empathy was finely tailored: she felt nothing for her enemy. She felt nothing for most people. She felt something for other Unkillables. It was a small something. She hoped it was familial, or at friendly. She can't really tell. Her emotions are dampened, dimmed, lessened.

This is not the fault of the programming. It was how she was designed in her emotional temperament. She simply cannot feel any emotion very intensely. The greatest of tragedies could befall her and she knew it be nothing but a slight sadness or annoyance. The greatest joys could be gifted to her and she'd feel nothing but slight contentment. A weapon, an assassin was not meant to feel. They were meant to get the job done. She was pretty sure the only reason she felt anything at all was so that she could have something to keep her from going out of control. A loyalty, a connection to keep her from seeing it all as objects to play with, things to kill trying to find stimulation and finding nothing.

Yet she felt hollow. She cared for the other Unkillables yes, but it was so small. It was something yes, but apart of her felt as if....there should be more. But there wasn't. She guessed she slightly wanted more, but she couldn't feel any stronger about it. She'd cry for how little she could feel, but not even a single tear would fall. She'd try to revel in the freedom of not having to care, but it was slight as all the rest and more fleeting. It was as if she were trying to catch at embers that all other beings enjoyed as warm flames. She wished it was stoicism that was keeping her quiet. She wished she had emotions that she was bottling up so that they could burst and allow to feel like everyone else. She wished she had that, so that she could be alive.

But she doesn't. So she does what she can to stave off the oppressive non-feeling of boredom. She goes through her stealth courses, her sniper courses and so on over and over again. She spars with the other Unkillables. She spins and crawls through her webs She does anything she can to distract herself from the truth-

-of feeling dead inside.

Rilla says, her false smile on her lips.
"Come out. You are to present yourself for a VIP guest that will be arriving tomorrow."
".....Ok."
She walks out into the light: She was a female looking completely grey bio-android with six arms and spider proboscis instead of a tail, complete with a greyscale crown. Rilla then goes off to see White Butterfly, the fifth one she made.

[igordragonian]

[Vodkana]

"Nya. Fine. I'll tag along with him, then. We are friends, we will work out something. Good day. Nya." and closed the call, and sighed, and returned to her friends, hoped they have destroyed all the evidence for the evil which they have done there.

"Hey, I am more or less, hosting place for criminals to socialize and stuff. Nya. I am MORE anti-authoritative!" she tried to join the conversation naturally.

[Lord Raziere]

[Vodkana]
"Hey, I am more or less, hosting place for criminals to socialize and stuff. Nya. I am MORE anti-authoritative!" she tried to join the conversation naturally.

The secretary blinks, shrugs and pencils in "and Vodkana?" besides Apfel for their appointment.

Shining City:
.....She says to a room full of authority figures.
"....Proof."
Jade says haughtily as she crosses her arms, eyebrow raised, a small smile on her lips.
"Or it didn't happen."

[igordragonian]

"It's not really fair, nyaw. Part of my service, is that, I won't rat on them.. but you can visit there."

[Lord Raziere]

"It's not really fair, nyaw. Part of my service, is that, I won't rat on them.. but you can visit there."

Shining City:
She smiles.
"Okay, so it didn't happen, you were just lying to try and one-up me and I win anti-authoritarianism. Got it."

Introduction: White Butterfly
Rilla comes to her next. White Butterfly is easily found: there she is, putting up motivational posters throughout the company walls. She is of course, white with some grey parts, her eyes are a clear blue, and aside from the usual proboscis she has two big white butterfly wings- useful for when she needs to fly without ki. Rilla says
"Attention White Butterfly. You have to be on your best for when guests come."
"Of course!"
she says, cheerily. She turns around, an eternal smile plastered upon her face.
"Always make a good first impression!"

Their eyes meet, they see the same pain within each other. White Butterfly, was designed as a morale booster: she healed, she shined radiantly, she fought, she supported her allies, she was basically supposed to turn a normal army into something more unstoppable, to be the saving angel, why limit the healing to just the Unkillables? Make an an unkillable healer, an unstoppable engine of support that would boost morale when she got on the battlefield. Get a few of them together and you could at last anyone.

So of course, to make her practice for this role, White Butterfly got ordered to forever be a smiling face, to always see the bright side of things, to never speak her mind, to always be a perfect angel, to always be this mask of hope, a good girl that never gives up, never frowns, always be an untouchable being that everyone would look up to. She was trapped in her role as much as Rilla was. Unable to truly say what she wanted to say. Unable to do what she wanted to do. Never be anything else. Never be herself. Always on the pedestal perfect

But White Butterfly was not happy. They say that you fake it until you make it. But thats only if you want to. Deep down, a mask is always a mask. Especially one forced upon by another. She walked around, spouting out such platitudes and being cheery all day, no breaks. Always to her fellow Unkillables to try and keep their hopes alive for the day that they will be free. But she saw them when she did so. The platitudes were not her words. The hope she espoused was one regulated and mandated by the company. Her brothers and sisters only looked upon her in sadness and anger. Each platitude only a reminder that she was one of the least free of them all. It motivated them all the same.

At least Rilla had a life before this one. But White Butterfly has never known freedom, except through memories of lives she did not live. It was enough to make her hate this. Enough to make her wish freedom was hers. Enough to make her want to curse and shout and growl and yell. But she could not. Her true voice was silent, unable to move her mouth to form the words. Locked inside her own mind.
Just like Rilla's. They see each other, looking into their eyes they their true selves.

Screaming.

[Emperor Ing]

Apfel smiles. They might try to one-up each other in anti-authoritarianism, but he wonders how many star-systems were granted the right to self-deterimation by their actions, last month. Combined.

Eh, i'm sure intergalactic law isn't listening. Traube assured Vodkana.

Freis then turns to Oxy. Forgive me, this is not a question I am sure you get frequently, but are you not a bio-android yourself? He asked. If only to prove its use in combating the Unkillables, I wish to test the efficacy of my techniques against your regeneration, mmnyes.