For the first time in a long time, Trunks felt happy with his decisions.

He flew back and forth through the flames, plucking ponies that had been trapped within the building out of danger and flying them down below to the safety of the streets. His senses told him where ponies were trapped or wounded and he was able to get to them quickly thanks to his speed. Those he couldn't save he would silently mourn for, but he didn't let anything stop him. That was until he looked out the window and saw a pony with a yellow and white mane similar to a lightning bolt get blasted out of the sky.

"What?" he asked himself before running to the window of the floor he was on, reaching it just in time to watch the pony crash into the city below. He couldn't sense any life coming from the pony that had fallen, but he did sense a dark ki above him. He looked up to see a pony with black wings and three pairs of horns unleashing dark magic down upon everyone and thing within his sight. Trunks narrowed his eyes and prepared to fly up to take the pony down...only to watch as the pony faded out of existence.

"What?" he found himself asking again as he started to look around, noticing that the world was staring to fade out of existence, just like all of the other timelines he had been to. 'This can't be happening! This is the original timeline! What is supposed to replace it if it vanishes?! There has to be more going on! More that I'm not-'

Then Trunks glanced down and saw a figure that made his blood boil. Clockwork was floating numerous floors below him, his body glowing with a green aura that seemed to be causing everything around him to fade. Without another thought Trunks rocketed down, flying through a cloud of smoke and rammed his fist into the side of Clockwork's face. The blow caught the metal man completely by surprise and he was sent rocketing off far past the border of the city. Trunks sped after him, catching him in the air just as he recovered from the blow and came to a halt.

"What have you done?!" Trunks roared at him, throwing another right at the metal man's head. Clockwork held out a hand and caught Trunks fist in a field of green light. Trunks had just enough time to widen his eyes before he was hurled into the ground with such speed that he hadn't known what had happened until he tasted dirt in his mouth. He spat out the earth and picked himself up quickly, turning to see Clockwork descending down over a lake near where Trunks had landed.

"I have not done anything! I am trying to undo that which is being done! I am trying to save my timeline!" Clockwork roared back at Trunks.

"Well you're doing a piss poor job of it!" Trunks roared at Clockwork, motioning to all around them as the area was slowly being eaten away by the whiteness. "Just give it up!"

"NEVER! I will save my son! I will undo whatever it is that caused the end of my timeline!" Clockwork roared, before summoning a cane that turned into a glowing blade. "Even if I have to go through you to do it."

Trunks narrowed his eyes before he reached down and grabbed a piece of wood similar to that of a swords hilt. He channeled his ki into it and a moment a blade of blue light was formed in his hand. "Clockwork, trust me. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can't bring back the ones you love. All you can do is keep moving forward and try to protect those who depend on you."

"That sounds like something one who doesn't control time would say," Clockwork snarled.

"Fine. Have it your way."

Blades clashed in the air a moment later, before striking at one another with such fury and strength that most of the trees in the nearby area were sliced to splinters by the force of the battle. With a roar Trunks cleaved his blade clean through the cane sword that Clockwork was using. Clockwork dropped his sliced blade and grabbed hold of the ki blade Trunks held, advancing time at such a rate that the blade's ki vanished in moments.

Trunks let go of the stick before the time effects could reach him and slammed his knee into the face of Clockwork, snapping the metal man's head back and rocketing him backwards. But then Clockwork caught himself in the air and slowly rewound right back to where Trunks had kneed him, all of the damage gone from his face. Then, with a speed that Trunks had never seen him use before, he unleashed a flurry of punches all aimed at pressure points upon Trunks. Trunks blocked as best he could, but the speed seemed to increase as much as Clockwork wanted.

Knowing that he was being backed in to a corner, Trunks let out a howl and erupted into his Super Saiyan form, using the transformation to push back Clockwork. The transformation slowed the time traveler for only a moment, and in the next moment he was on Trunks again. But with his power up flooding through him, Trunks was able to better track the punches that were being thrown at him, blocking and even managing to strike Clockwork a couple of times.

Trunks lashed out with his leg and caught Clockwork in the face, spinning his head a full one eighty around his neck. A combo of two punches to the gut followed up by a flurry of strikes to the body made up the next stage of Trunks offense, ripping off metal and snapping machinery with every blow. Trunks channeled his ki into his next attack and thrust his hand into the chest of his metal foe.

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

The ki blast detonated in the chest of Clockwork and blasted him apart into fragments, which rained down into the lake. But Trunks had only just began to enjoy his victory before he noticed that the water wasn't rippling at all. Then the water seemed to move backwards as the pieces rose out of the lake and reassembled themselves, just as if he was watching a video go backwards. Within moments Clockwork was standing before him once more, not a scratch on him.

"Well that's annoying," Trunks snarled.

"You see that it is futile to try to defeat me. My mastery over time makes me all but immortal," Clockwork replied in a cold tone. But there was a slight edge to his voice, one that Trunks, who had been in plenty of fights, picked up on instantly. An edge that hadn't been there until after he had used his time rewind powers to such a degree.

"You can't keep that up, can you?" Trunks asked, a smile crossing his face. "Every time you rewind time to come back from a death like that, it takes a bit out of you. Seems you're not as immortal as you thought."

"More than enough to deal with you," Clockwork promised, his hands being bathed in green light. "You can't keep me in the grave."

"Not at first, but eventually you're going to run out of power. All that means is I've got to keep killing you over and over," Trunks smirked. Then he let out a bellow of rage that shook the planet and he transformed into his Rage form, glowing with blue and golden energy. "And if this is truly the final timeline, then I've got only a little time to do it. Let's go."

Clockwork and Trunks lunged towards each other, Clockwork placing his palm on Trunks chest before Trunks obliterated Clockwork's body with a single blow. As Clockwork fell to pieces once more, Trunks felt a burning pain blare across his chest. He looked down to see that his flesh slowly decayed away in the place where Clockwork had touched him, until there was a handprint of his muscles beneath his skin.

He gritted his teeth to fight through the pain as he watched Clockwork reform, the being back to being as good as new. Trunks moved with a speed that time itself could barely keep up with, unleashing a flurry of world shaking attacks upon Clockworks body. By Trunks count he had destroyed Clockwork three times before one of his punches was caught by the hand of Clockwork. Trunks pulled his fist back as quickly as he could, but it was a moment too late. Clockworks green energy enveloped his hand and Trunks roared in pain as the skin in his left hand decayed away, leaving only the muscle and bone.

"Do not think because you have me outclassed in power that I cannot kill you. You are flesh and blood, meaning that you decay," Clockwork told him as he reached out for Trunks face. Trunks kicked the oncoming hand away before slamming his other leg into the side of Clockwork's body, slicing the metal man clean in two. He then lashed out with his good hand and disintegrated the metal man with an explosion of ki.

Trunks had been hoping for a moment to catch his breath before Clockwork came back, but this time Clockwork was back instantly, slashing out with time blades extended from his hands. Trunks hadn't been expecting the sudden return and the next thing he knew his body blazed with pain as the blades ripped his flesh and muscle apart. With a roar Trunks slammed his foot into Clockwork's chest and rocketed him backwards, creating a bit of space between the two of them.

'Mai...I will not fail here! I will prove that I can be the hero that prevails!' Trunks roared within his mind as he brought all of his power to the surface, preparing to unleash it all to save the world or die trying. Clockwork summoned two blades, one shorter, one longer, along with twelve roman numerals that floated in a circle behind him. With everything now on the line, the two warriors charged each other.

In the span of a moment, hundreds of blows were traded with one another, the blades of Clockwork ripping apart Trunks body while the fists of Trunks shredded the armor until the was nearly nothing left. The planet shattered, the sky tore in two and even the time stream shook under the fury of the two warriors that traded blows. Then, with both of their bodies failing them and knowing that they could not afford to lose, the two warriors lunged at each other and traded two massive blows that caught the other in the face.

Trunks and Clockwork both fell backwards after the impact, Trunks golden and blue aura fading away just as the green magic that had surrounded Clockwork vanished as well. The two crashed down on the side of the lake, Clockwork's body barely being held together and Trunks bleeding from thousands of slashes across his body. He glanced over at Clockwork just as Clockwork looked at him, both of them coming to the same realization.

'This is it,' Trunks realized, as he both he and Clockwork rose to their feet one last time. 'This will decide the winner!'

Trunks channeled all of the ki he had left into his right hand, before let out a roar as he charged forward. Clockwork did the same, his own right hand being bathed in a green light as he lashed out towards Trunks. The two met at the edge of the lake and both lashed out with their final attacks at the same time.

"END OF TIME!"

"FINAL SHINE AT-"

And then a blast of magic punched a hole through Trunks chest.