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Narrator: Welcome to the tales of the unknown, the tales of the strange, the tales of the absurd and silly. A realm where normality crosses over into the abnormal, a world where the rules of normalcy don’t apply. Today, a time traveler steps into this realm, having crossed the line and landed in a vastly different world from the one he left behind. How he navigates this world of silliness, this dystopian reality so unlike his own, remains to be seen. Now, my friends, let us begin our story.
The Capsule Corps time machine landed in a field in the middle of a major city. The city was completely and utterly orderly as people moved around quietly. The world was neat and organized. As the traveler exited the machine, he converted it back into a capsule and glanced around. He expected to see people with strange headsets, the headsets moving around their heads like accessories. As they walked, these headsets emitted green lights. He looked at them, confused, unsure of what was happening. In the distance, he observed people walking in perfect order, all at the same pace, as if everything was meticulously coordinated.
Trunks wasn’t sure what was going on. This wasn’t his past, nor his time. He found himself in a very strange and different place. There seemed to be not a single bit of destruction in the village; things seemed incredibly peaceful. However, as he watched people, he felt creeped out. He wasn’t sure what was happening. Seeing people move in sync completely without saying a word to each other, moving along in complete and total silence, made it completely creepy for him. He wasn’t sure what to think of it all.
Trunks walked up as the lavender haired young man walked up towards a person and stood there, walking with the group as they were walking down the street in two file lines, as people moved into buildings and walked without saying anything. He could really tell things were off, that people were moving without saying or acting, like they were automatons that were controlled by something.
Was it all connected to the headset? He looked at the person in front of him, studying the headset, and blinked in confusion as he observed the people around him. Curiosity drove him to scan the crowd until he spotted a young lady—a blonde dressed in a business suit. She was of average height with green eyes, appearing very well organized. He felt compelled to figure out what would happen if he interacted with her.
Approaching cautiously, he tapped her on the shoulder. Looking into her eyes, he tried to communicate, "Hey, miss, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Despite his firm tap, she continued walking, completely ignoring him. There was no reaction to his words or his touch on her shoulder.
Trunks looked around, realizing nothing was changing. He concluded that he needed to take this woman somewhere to figure out what was happening. He firmly grasped her waist with his strong arms, lifting her up as he flew off. Initially, people seemed confused by her sudden disappearance, but they quickly filled in the gap and continued on as if nothing had occurred.
Flying into some woods, Trunks deployed a capsule house. Holding the blonde woman, he removed the headphones from her head and held them away from her. She looked around in shock, her face displaying a mix of surprise, uncertainty, and confusion. Unable to articulate her thoughts, she gestured and made hand motions towards Trunks.
"What? Who are you? What are you doing? Where is the voice? What is happening? Where are my orders?" the woman said, panicking as she looked at him, unsure of what to do or why this guy had taken off the headset from her. Her words of comfort were gone, and she didn’t know what to do without the orders that the headset gave her, which provided her with some purpose.
"Um, ma’am, um, what do you mean?" Trunks said, looking at her, noticing her confusion. "Words, confusion, what are you even talking about?" he asked as he looked at her. He asked as the woman reached for the headset, clutching it like a lifeline that she had to have to live.
Seeing this, Trunks destroyed the headset, worried that if he gave it to her, she would just revert to her previous state. As he blew it up with a ki blast, the woman screamed out in shock, unsure how to handle this change as she looked at the remains. "What? What do I do without my orders? What do I do?" she said, still panicking as she looked at the remains. "Why did you do that, mister? Why did you destroy the headset? Now I can't fit in anymore."
"Listen," Trunks began, his voice firm yet compassionate, "You don't need that headset to fit in or find purpose. You're more than just orders and commands. You have the ability to think for yourself, to make your own choices."
The woman stared at Trunks, her eyes filled with a great deal of confusion, she wasn’t sure, she was so used to the voice telling her what to do, and going along with whatever the voice had told her to do. It controlled her life and without that control, she wasn’t sure how to act on her own at all.
"But... but what do I do now?" she asked, her voice trembling with uncertainty, and fear.
“I think you need to figure out who you are, and not what you are told you are,” Trunks said as he looked at the blonde, “Like make your own choices, your own mistakes, and adjust for things you learn,” Trunks said, still surprised by all of this. He looked at her, “I am Trunks, what is your name?”
“I am…I am…Raimu,” she said looking up at Trunks surprised as she blinked looking at him with a bit of hope in her eyes as she looked towards Trunks Naturally for guidance now that her old system of guidance was gone from her life.
“Well, Raimu, then I think it's best that you figure this out, that you understand the world is a big place and there are a lot of choices around you,” Trunks reasoned, noting the fear still lingering in her eyes.
“Yes, but choices are scary and dangerous. What if... what if I make the wrong one? Without the voice to tell me what to do, I might screw up, mess up, and do the wrong thing,” Raimu retorted, her voice filled with anxiety as she looked at the lavender-haired half-Saiyan.
“You might, that's part of life. But you also won’t get any sense of accomplishment without your own choice or ownership in your path that way either,” he commented, noticing movement. Trunks felt something off in his gut as he looked around. He grabbed Raimu and moved out of the capsule house, turning it back into a capsule.
Emerging with Raimu looking confused in his arms and blushing as well, he scanned the area to find a number of robots wearing the symbol of the Red Ribbon Army, but with some other symbol behind them. Trunks knew this was not good. They all appeared identical, strong, and powerful. They moved towards him with the same eerie look, devoid of emotions or thoughts, with only the headsets on their heads.
“000456, reporting to base. We found the two without headsets. Lord Zamasu, we will detain and give them new headsets,” one of the men said, the message seeming to transmit through all the copies as their eyes blinked simultaneously. “It's okay. You will be back in the collective soon. It's our job as mortals to listen to our god, our superior, and only do what he wishes. Please give up peacefully,” the one speaking announced.
Trunks was not a fan of this orderly world. He did not want to be here, sensing more fear from Raimu now as she held tightly to him. Pressing down, he flew off before they could get a hold of him, swiftly and far away, landing in a field and tossing out the time machine.
“Raimu, come with me. It's the only way,” he said firmly as he carried her, not ultimately giving the girl much of a choice in the matter.
The blonde looked at him, confused, and nodded as she sat on his lap, unsure of what was going on at all. She could see the panic on his face as she sat there, wondering what was happening. Everything was so strange, and she had no clue what to do. Yet, this uncertain future, while scary, seemed interesting and different, and maybe different wasn’t so bad.
Trunks hit the buttons, and the machine disappeared from sight, leaving nothing behind in this orderly world, not a single trace.
“000456, targets have disappeared. Targets could fly and, from sensors, affected the time-space continuum as well,” the robotic figure reported back to base.
At the base, a green-skinned Kai looked and smiled. So there was a time traveler. Good. Now, perhaps he could find a time ring and spread his perfect order to other worlds, fixing the mortals who were so savage by giving them perfect order. “000456, return to normal duty. I, the guide to life, shall take care of this. Fear not, good work.”
Narrator: Now closes our tale for now. What will happen? What are the details of the headset? What can Trunks do, and what trouble will follow him? I do not know. For now, I will let you think that up on your own, for this story is but a small one in the many tales of the multiverse.