"This ring has such a strange aura," Master Roshi observed, adjusting his sunglasses as he examined the band on Karnel's finger. "It feels..
"This ring has such a strange aura," Master Roshi observed, adjusting his sunglasses as he examined the band on Karnel's finger. "It feels... ancient. Very ancient."
Karnel laughed cheerfully, tossing the ring up and catching it a few times before gripping it firmly. With the three temporal powers drained from within, the ring had lost all its time-traveling capabilities, it was now nothing more than an ornate piece of jewelry.
"This ring is far from ordinary, it's an artifact that only gods should possess," Karnel explained with a mischievous grin. "But since it's useless to me now, here." He flicked the ring toward Trunks, who caught it reflexively. "When you're a few years older, use this to propose to that girl Mai. Consider it my gift to young love!"
Trunks stared at the ring in amazement, his cheeks reddening slightly. "Karnel, I... we're not..."
"Sure, sure," Karnel chuckled, waving off the teenager's protests.
After chatting with Bulma, Son Gohan, and the others for a while longer, Karnel finally said his farewells. He teleported to a remote desert in the eastern region of Earth, far from any populated areas.
With a puff of smoke, the time machine materialized before him.
"First time piloting one of these things myself," Karnel muttered, running his hand along the sleek surface. "I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous."
He lifted the glass dome and settled into the pilot's seat, familiarizing himself with the various controls and instruments. As the machine hummed to life, white lights began flashing across the display panel.
"Let's see... adjust the temporal coordinates..." Karnel paused, noticing an extra entry in the navigation log. "What's this? Coordinates? These look like they're pointing to my original Earth's timeline."
A smile spread across his face as he realized the implications. "Even better. I can just follow these preset coordinates instead of manually calculating the temporal shift."
He pressed the large activation button, and the space around the time machine began to ripple with silver waves. The distortions grew more intense, flashing with increasing frequency as the temporal field built up power.
Suddenly, Karnel felt something unexpected. "What's happening to the power of time?"
The temporal energy within his God's Heart began moving rapidly, forming intricate silver patterns before suddenly crystallizing into a fixed configuration.
"A recording?" Karnel's consciousness merged with the time power that bore his soul's imprint, and understanding flooded his mind. "This is a temporal coordinate record!"
The revelation struck him, the time ring had never been the true source of temporal travel. It was merely a vessel. The real power had always come from the temporal forces contained within, and now those forces were teaching him their secrets.
The brilliant silver light reached its crescendo before vanishing in an instant. The time machine, with its lone passenger, disappeared from the future world and hurtled toward a past timeline.
On a peaceful grassland in the original timeline's Earth, silver light flashed as a strange, elegantly-designed machine materialized with a soft thump.
"I'm back!" Karnel couldn't contain his excitement as he leaped from the time machine, breathing deeply of the familiar air. The scent of home filled his lungs, clean, untainted by the devastation he'd left behind.
Standing atop a nearby hill, Karnel spread his arms wide and let out a triumphant howl. "I've lived in the present, traveled to the past, dreamed of ancient times, and leaped into the future to change the world! What an incredible journey!"
After releasing his pent-up emotions, Karnel exhaled slowly and felt his entire body relax. But as he expanded his senses to survey his home timeline, his eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Well, well. Seems like some interesting developments happened while I was away." His enhanced perception detected something unexpected, Goku's energy signature was coming from Planet Yardrat, not Namek where he'd expected. "I distinctly remember Kakarot saying he was going to Namek with Piccolo, but now he's on Yardrat? And Namek... it's completely gone. Wiped off the star maps entirely."
On Earth itself, everything seemed normal. He could sense Krillin, Piccolo, and the others scattered across the planet, all very much alive and well.
"Time to head home first," Karnel murmured, his thoughts turning to Bulma. "I haven't seen her in so long. How am I even going to explain where I've been?"
When Karnel arrived at the sprawling Capsule Corp villa in West City, he found it empty. Bulma was in her laboratory, no doubt still working tirelessly on her time-space shuttle project.
Karnel sank into the plush sofa, sensing Bulma's familiar energy signature from the lab nearby. He couldn't help but sigh with a mixture of contentment and guilt.
With the power of time now at his disposal and having discovered a potential training ground for mastering spatial abilities, the time-space shuttle had lost much of its significance for him. Once he fully mastered the laws of space and time, what destination would remain beyond his reach?
"But she's so passionate about her research," he mused. "I can't discourage her enthusiasm just because I've found an alternative method."
After resting briefly, Karnel felt restless. He closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into his God's Heart, where the four powers of time swirled in contained harmony.
Carefully, he began using his original time power to polish and refine the three wild forces, hoping to eventually merge them into a unified whole that would grant him even greater divine abilities.
Meanwhile, in her laboratory, Bulma had been working for hours on complex calculations and prototype designs. But her concentration kept breaking as thoughts of Karnel invaded her mind. He'd been gone for nearly a year without a word.
"Brother has vanished again," she complained to herself as she walked to the back garden for some fresh air. "He promised he'd take me with him wherever he went, but then he just disappeared. What a complete jerk."
Her face flushed red with a mixture of anger and worry. She stamped her foot in frustration, her lavender hair swaying as she shook her head, then hurried back toward the house with quick, determined steps.
Back in the living room, Karnel opened his eyes with a slight frown. "No noticeable progress in such a short time. I thought this would be easier."
The process of refining and merging temporal powers was proving more complex than anticipated. He rubbed his temples, feeling mentally drained from the effort.
His enhanced hearing picked up familiar footsteps approaching the house. "Ah, looks like our little scientist is finally coming home."
A warm smile spread across his face, revealing white teeth as he prepared to surprise her.
As soon as Bulma stepped through the front door, hands wrapped around her eyes from behind. Startled and panicked, her hand instinctively went for the compact energy blaster she always kept strapped to her thigh.
'This girl actually carries weapons now?' A bead of cold sweat formed on Karnel's forehead. "Hey, hey! It's just me playing a little joke on you. Put the gun down, okay?"
The familiar voice and scent immediately registered. Bulma relaxed her grip on the weapon, turned around, and stared at the man who'd disappeared for so long. Without warning, she clenched her fists and began pounding them against his chest.
"You absolute idiot! Where have you been?!"