In the middle of silence and thought, someone knocks on the door. Leaving a loud thudding sound behind. "Just when things get interesting….sorry dude-" Jason says,
his bare feet padded softly across the worn floorboards, each step measured, echoing faintly in the quiet room. He reaches the front door, checking through the peephole, cracking a smile before opening the door.
It's the Kira of this universe, who looks younger, perhaps 2 years younger..and due to Jason's reaction to Kira's arrival, they seem close. "Is that…Kira?" Aoi asks cautiously, seeing how different Kira looks.
"Yep, I'm surprised you know her..she's my childhood friend-" Jason chuckles, wrapping an arm around Kira's shoulder.
There's a silence for a split second, but feels like a whole hour, before Kira scoffs. "Yeah, do..I know you from somewhere?" Kira walks up to Aoi to extend her arm towards him. "You are..?" Kira says awkwardly.
Aoi is tired of meeting the same person over and over, and it shows on his face. "I'm..Aoi..Aoi Takamura-"
Jason slips himself next to Aoi, "I haven't told her about the timelines and stuff, not even who Chrono-Savior is-" Jason says, his whispers sounded like incoherent mumbles to Kira, who glances at them with a raised eyebrow.
"Something I should know about..or.." Kira eyes wander, before eventually staring at Aoi's Chrono-Watch. "Cool watch— Is it like a family heirloom or something…?..looks valuable, mind if I see?"
"Absolutely not." Aoi's tone is firm and defensive, but Jason cuts it, moving through the new tension.
"Maybe we push past the tension, after all you two JUST met!" I says, dropping his arm onto Aoi's shoulder. Whispering words into Aoi's ear, leaving Kira out of the conversation.
Jason ends up whispering Chrono-Savior's address, along with what to do when he gets there: "Make your watch stronger." were the last words he left Aoi with before offering to escort him out.
Just as Aoi was at the door, Kira placed her hand on his shoulder. "Let me come with, you guys can't leave me out on the conversation for too long after all-"
With Jason clearly mouthing and gesturing to Aoi to tell Kira no, Aoi accepts Kira's offer to go, while Jason facepalms himself and walks the other way to sit on the couch.
Aoi and Kira make it around a couple feet outside Jason's apartment before Kira starts bombarding Aoi with questions. "Now that you agreed to take me somewhere, you gotta tell me WHERE we're going!" Kira said lightheartedly, cracking a slight smile. The same couldn't be said for Aoi, he was determined to a goal that no version of Kira can ever see.
"Once we get this all over with, you don't say a word to anyone." Aoi keeps walking with his hands in his pockets, observing the futuristic cyberpunk society that this timeline has taken, the fashion stores, the futuristic skyscrapers, the way some people were straight up cyborgs.
"What's wrong with you anyway?? As soon as I walked in, you just…act like you don't want me here-" Kira's words held a lot of concern for someone she just "met", looking at Aoi's face as they walked together, the silence between them was evident.
From Aoi's perspective, things couldn't be more stressful, but Chrono-Savior's situation is worse.
The Savior looked outside the window of the hospital room, still unable to use his Chrono-Arm is stressed and worried for the future of his timeline, now that he's out of commission.
He slams his fist on the nearby table while also clutching his stomach under his hospital gown with his other hand. "I need to be out there..If The Tyrant finds out I'm completely out of commission, he'll destroy this timeline completely without anyone stopping him, or even worse, he'll just take over this timeline." Just then, a nurse walked by the room, disturbed and concerned, walks into the room.
"Sir, shouldn't you be in bed? I don't mind you standing up and walking around but it would be advised to just rest for now-" The nurse says as she pats the bed next to her as Chrono-Savior walks slowly back to bed, she smiles. "After all, you're-"
Artificial Timeline: 00000
The Tyrant gets up from his chair, looking back at one of the TRA generals as he informs him about the survival of Chrono-Savior "Chrono-Savior? He's still alive..?….Should've known, now I'll have to cancel plans." He grunts, but then a smirk slowly crept back up on his face, but there was no warmth in it—only malice.
Kira overheard the conversation while walking by, she knows that she'll most likely be the one to blame, she could've easily killed him the moment she stabbed him…"why didn't she do more?" She thought to herself as she continued walking.
Kira passed through the halls with a unreadable facial expression, when she reached her room. She had a decision, to let The Tyrant find her and deliver a punishment, or finish the job. She formed her fractured weapon, the sword crystallized into her hand as Kira forms a portal to a specific timeline with her sword alone, having no need to use the special TRA-Watch. She jumped inside the portal and appeared on top of a skyscraper. "The Paradox City." Kira thought to herself as she looks down at the other buildings and the city's citizens.
Aoi covered his head with his jacket's hood as it began to rain, with increased pace, he walks towards his destination, how does he know where to go..? This is because the address is the exact same as his home back in his original timeline, and even with this different city, the pathways are the same as he moves quickly with Kira following closely behind him.
"We're not far. Keep going-" Aoi said with a stern expression, moving through the sidewalk as rain pours down from above, most people carrying and using an umbrella.
In an unknown location in the Paradox City where advanced scientists studied the functions of Chrono-Savior's Chrono-Watch infused arm, and just then, the watch started making loud noises, trying to alert its absent host.
"TRA DETECTED." A robotic voice came from the cybernetic arm. Now, scientists didn't know what to do or what the warning meant, they merely thought it was another normal system function.
Without Chrono-Savior's knowledge, he was unaware of the threat that is out for his head. He chose the option to rest for the best recovery, his thought lingered on the safety of the city he lives in.
Meanwhile
Aoi and Kira had reached the destination, the same old house, in a neighborhood of advanced house, it stuck out. Aoi looked at the door anxiously as his shaking hand goes to knock on it, no one came on the first knock, nor the second, but the third..a older lady opened the door.
"Hello..? How could I help y-" the lady stopped mid-sentence as she took a look at the man who stood in front of her. "Aoi?! Aoi! I thought you were in the hospital!" She hugged the man, not knowing of the timelines that were between them.
Before Aoi can even hug her mother back, another figure approaches the door, his eyes widening as tears quickly poured from his eyes. "H….Hiro-"
"Hiro Takamura." The elderly man finished, looking at Aoi with a gentle smile.
Kira stayed silent, realizing the weight of the situation, and just awkwardly stood behind Aoi, while Akira welcomed her inside.
When Aoi came face to face with his father, the tears couldn't stop as he hugs Hiro tightly. "I..I..missed you.." were the only words he can say, he was nearly speechless.
Hiro hugged him back. "You must be from another timeline, yes?" The man said casually, the way he said it, down to the very words that came out his mouth, struck confusion into Aoi's expression instantly.
"How'd you know..?" Aoi muttered, which Hiro looked at him with another smile, Akira went to go talk to Kira, but she definitely overheard the words that came from Hiro, the same could be said for Kira..
"I was the one who gave you the darn thing…!" Hiro chuckled, leading Aoi down to the infamous basement where they spent time together, "And even then, I know my son. You're much younger than my son in this timeline..how old are you?-"
The basement was nearly the exact same as the basement in Aoi's original timeline, the only thing different were the Chrono-Watch blueprints, and the blueprints for another project. Which looked like the Chrono-Watch infused arm. "19. I'm 19 years old.." Aoi responds quickly but quietly with a slight smirk.
"I've came to know that my survival after those hospital days are extremely rare, I'm guessing your actual father is dead, yes?" Hiro says as he approaches the workbench.
"Yea….well there's a reason I came here, I need to-" Aoi didn't finsih his sentence before getting cut off by Hiro.
"Lay down the watch, boy." Hiro grunts as he places his shriveled hand onto the table. The table building up dust and lint that he wipes off the table, grabbing the required tools from the drawers. "Let's get to work."
While Aoi and Hiro constructed a new upgrade for Aoi's Chrono-Watch, Kira was in the shadows, observing the people of Paradox City from rooftops, when Aoi and the Kira from this timeline were making their way towards Aoi's house, Kira saw them, and stalked them on their way. Stalked them as they entered the house, waiting for the time to break in.
Aoi and his father, but not his father — adjusted a cracked pair of welding goggles. There was an ease in his movements, a familiarity with the watch's delicate internals that Aoi had never seen in anyone else. "It's held together longer than I expected," the older man murmured, voice low but steady, his calloused fingers brushing over the faceplate. "But if we're going to push it beyond it's limit… it'll need more than just repairs."
Aoi handed him a set of micro-tools, the cool metal glinting faintly in the lamplight. The older man's fingers wrapped around them with the confidence of someone who had done this a thousand times before. With a gentle click, he unlocked the back of the watch, revealing a labyrinth of miniature gears, pulsing circuitry, and tiny blue crystal shards that shimmered faintly as though holding the memory of a hundred timelines.
"Every jump you've made," his father said, leaning closer, "has left an echo in here." He pointed to a faintly glowing thread of light weaving between the gears. "Too many echoes, and this thing collapses. We can't just fix it… we have to make it better."
Meanwhile, Kira and Ms.Takamura talked upstairs, Kira almost couldn't handle her dismissive tone of voice, like she's full of late nights and tears, but at the same time, she also talks to Kira with enthusiasm.
"What's your relationship with my son? Obviously not the one from this timeline, the one you came in the house with, how's he doing?" Akira spoke like someone who's had this exact conversation before as she pours Kira some tea, the sound of liquid being poured fills the room.
"It's not like that, I just met him. Honestly he seems serious..determined even, I don't know why..and honestly I don't even wanna know why-" Kira sighs, sliding the nearest chair back before taking a seat, taking a look at the old walls of the house, the family photos mounted on the walls, pictures of Aoi when he was a child, his birth, and a picture of him in his superhero suit, it was obvious that Chrono-Savior was actually just Aoi Takamura.
"Question…if Chrono-Savior is Aoi, and there's two Aoi's..why are their paths so different?" Kira's question sounds through the old room, Akira seeming to be thinking of a understandable answer.
"Maybe because the constant loss of a loved one. This universe is one of the ONLY universes that my husband is alive in and honestly…I'm so happy that I can still have my husband-" Akira says with genuine happiness in her voice, her smile seeming to bright up the old and quiet room as she proceeds to drink her cup of tea. Suddenly, the he doorbell rings, the sound being heard across the entire house. "I don't remember having guests, maybe it's Jason.." Akira says with a slight smile, walking from the dinner table to the front door, opening it with little to no concern on who's there.
The door swings open with a creak, to reveal a figure in a black military uniform, a sword held tight in her grip, with a cold, unreadable gaze. It's Kira.
Artificial Timeline: 00000.
Prime Aoi, also known as "The Tyrant" was gathering the TRA agents for a "special mission" , that required every TRA agent available. With the agents standing before him, there's a slight problem. Kira Yuunagi is nowhere to be found. Just as he was going to interrogate her for leaving Chrono-Savior alive.
Prime Aoi turns around to the crowd of TRA agents bowing before him. "We'll hunt the woman down. That's our new mission until further notice, I can't allow someone with the TRA's technology go rogue." He scowls, and the group of agents scatter. Leaving one more agent who still before The Tyrant.
"Sir. What if the Fractured Sword you lended her gets turned against you? With that level of power stripped away from you. You'll surely die if the girl can access its full power." The Agents says, fully standing up.
"You're underestimating me. Do you not know what kind of power this gauntlet can unleash? Speaking of my Chrono-Watch, I need it fixed by the engineers. Make it quick." The Tyrant says before taking off the gauntlet with a strong pull, tossing the prized item to the agent.
While more than 50% of the TRA is tracking Kira Yuunagi down. Kira stands before Akira Takamura. "Where's Chrono-Savior? Where's Aoi Takamura. Both of them. I know there's two of them currently in this timeline. If more than one Aoi Takamura stays in a timeline for too long, the timeline cracks." Kira's grip on her sword tightens, a silent threat to attack.
Akira nearly falls to her knees, she takes a look at her surroundings, the paintings, the drawers, the vases. She grabs a vase and instantly slams it down on Kira's head. The moment the vase was about to smash onto Kira's head. A nano-tech helmet appears on her head in a instant, most likely the TRA's advanced technology. While the vase shatters on impact, it does no damage to Kira.
In the basement, Hiro and Akira work hard to repair any damage to the Chrono-Watch and give it some massive upgrades.
"Just a few more minutes son." Hiro grunts as
Aoi's heartbeat quickened. He leaned in as his father began swapping out crystal fragments, each piece catching the light with a faint, almost living glow. A soldering iron hissed as it met the metal, the sharp scent of burning circuitry rising in the air. Sparks danced for a heartbeat before fading into the shadows.
The older man's hands never shook, even when he fitted a new, larger time-core into the heart of the device. "This will let you stabilize a jump mid-transit, that way you don't pass out whenever you want to jump through timelines." he explained. "But… it'll drain you. Not the watch. You."
Aoi said nothing, his eyes locked on the Chrono-Watch as his father tightened the last screws and carefully sealed the backplate. He could hear the faint hum now — deeper, stronger — like the sound of a storm building just beyond the horizon. "Now, you should also be able to see those "Fractured" versions of yourself more clearly." Hiro smiles, turning around and making his way up the stairs to wash his hands, just as he was going to grab the doorknob, someone busted down the door. Causing Hiro to stumble back and fall down the stairs, knocking him out the older man instantly. Aoi catches him on the last step, looking up to see none other than Kira Yuunagi from the TRA, looking down at Aoi and Hiro.
"What are you doing here?!" Aoi yells, resting his father down on a chair, now it's a matter of speed. If he looks away for even a moment, he knows Kira will rush down the stairs in a flash and swiftly injure him.
"Just keep your mouth shut and let me cut you down." Kira travels down the stairs slowly, dragging her sword along the wall with a cold and guarded expression stuck on her face.
"Did you do anything to Akira?! Did you lay a finger on my mother?! Or what about the other Kira?!" Aoi looks up at the approaching Kira, who stays silent. Each step Kira makes down the staircase, Aoi's face scrunches up. His newly upgraded Chrono-Watch lays on the workbench.
The second Aoi reaches for his Chrono-Watch, Kira dashes towards him, quickly grabbing Aoi's neck and pinning him onto the workbench. The watch is only inch away, and so is Kira's fractured sword. Aoi's fingertips are only a inch away from the watch.
"I'm here to finish the job, Aoi." Kira whispers, her grip on Aoi's neck tightening the more Aoi tries to escape, she hesitates. Her sword still in her other hand, she could easily kill him, but she hesitated. That one moment when she hesitated, opened a window for an attack.
Aoi grabs her neck, practically choking her before kicking her back, making sure to grab the Chrono-Watch, when he attaches it to his wrist, he could already feel the changes his father made.
Kira recovers in a matter of seconds, raising her fractured sword and swinging it in a reverse arc aimed for a horizontal slash across Aoi's upper-body. Aoi manages to dodge a fatal blow, but not without a cut on his shoulder. Aoi tries to assess the cut but Kira's already moving, making sure to use her body weight to press Aoi into a nearby bookshelf.
"You don't know what you're doing, AT ALL." Aoi mutters, making sure to get input across. "You look like you feel bad, but you STILL do it, make sure to solve conflict with YOURSELF before you try to settle it with me." Aoi breaks free for a split second, but that's all he needs, he ducks and strikes Kira with a splitting uppercut to the jaw before running to the right, taking his unconscious father and making a run for it upstairs.
Aoi witnesses what Kira has done to her other variant and his mother. Akira, one the floor, unconscious, she's not bleeding. The other Kira variant on the other hand, is right next to his other, bleeding from the head. Aoi looks at the bodies with horror, but he has little time to think as he hears someone sprinting up the steps. Aoi makes a sprint for the door, but once Kira makes it up the stance, she blitzes towards Aoi with her sword raised in a diagonal arc.
Aoi reached the door, opened it and shutting it behind him just as Kira reached him. The blade slashing through the door instead of him. Carrying his father through the streets of Paradox City with Kira hot on his trail. This interaction instantly got the local police involved, and seeing as Kira causally sliced through the officers with ease, the more this case continued, the more attention it brought. This ended up getting in on live news.
While Jason was causally sipping on a soda, the sizzling flavor hitting his tongue like a tidal wave, his feet kicked up on a small glass table. The news caught him by surprise, the sight of a TRA agent chasing his mentor from another timeline, urged him to take action, quickly finishing his drink before rushing to his bedroom, where his closet contained a black and blue bodysuit with small black armor plates, paired with a blue, futuristic katana placed to the right side of the closet.
"Master should've told me that this variant brings trouble everywhere he goes..!…Well, I guess this'll be my first mission, alone." Jason said to no one but himself, mentally preparing himself to do something where he always needed help from someone else.
Meanwhile, Kira chased Aoi through the city with dangerous pace, like her blade can practically slice or pierce through him if she just attacked now. Like she had something to prove, she chased Aoi until she can grab him with all of her strength.
"You can't run forever Aoi, you're weak. After all, you're only just a regular human." Kira yelled to Aoi from what felt like she was dangerously close to him. Some people tried to intervene when they saw Aoi carrying a old man with him. But they only brought Aoi a few seconds.
"You think you could just chase some random boy and old man?! Who do you think you are?!" One man scream before pouncing on Kira, "only one more kill" Kira thought to herself before piercing her blade through the man's chest, killing him almost instantly. Another man attempted to put Kira in a chokehold, again Kira thought to herself "only one more kill" before elbowing the man in his stomach before throwing the grown man over her shoulder, slamming him onto the hard concrete.
Aoi was nearly out of Kira's sight thanks to the brave men who intervened. But that also meant to him that he was practically the cause for someone else's death. Racing through the city, he looks back, and sees Kira's throw her blade straight towards him, the blade piercing through the air like a bullet. The blade, if reaches Aoi, will stab straight through him. But that's when someone stands before sword and strikes it out of Aoi's direction.
Black and blue bodysuit, thin, small black armor platings, and a blue cyberpunk katana. No doubt about it, it was Jason.
"Sup! I thought I arrived too late, but I had the same timing as those action movies! You've seen those before, right?" Jason smiles under his black and blue helmet. The fractured sword, though on the ground at one point, vanishes and reappears in Kira's hand.
"Random." Kira said out loud, talking to herself more than anyone right now, before preparing for battle with a offensive stance.