Goku Black has arrived in the present via a strange portal. He notes to himself that Trunks travelled through time to this point, then greets Goku and notes the presence of Vegeta and even the God of Destruction Beerus. Meanwhile, Beerus and Whis’ attention is drawn to the strange ring Black wears on his right hand. Trunks demands to know how Black got here, and Black explains that he followed the path Trunks took through time and space. Black mockingly asks if Trunks called for him, and if Trunks wants to die by his hands. Vegeta warns Trunks against fighting Black, saying he’s no match, but before Vegeta himself can challenge Black, Goku flies up to fight him (noting that the early bird gets the worm). He’s heard all about how strong Black is and wants to see for himself!
Black likewise says this is an “honor”: he’d wanted to trying fighting Goku in “this body”. Goku wonders what he means by that, but Black says he doesn’t need to know. On the sidelines, Kuririn wonders who Black is, and Bulma explains that he’s her murderer! This naturally leaves Kuririn even more confused than before. Goku, still in his base form, trades blows with Black for a little while before finally becoming a Super Saiyan (though we see sparks, the characters only refer to this as “Super Saiyan” and not SS2). Black is thrilled to see such power, and Goku can tell that Black is like him: they both get excited to fight against strong opponents. At this point, Black’s ki rises, and he tells Goku to show him more of his power.
The fight continues, and on the sidelines Kuririn says that Black’s power keeps on rising. Trunks wonders why Goku isn’t using the same power as he did earlier in their sparring match (onscreen we get a quick flashback to SS3 Goku blocking Trunks’ sword). Vegeta explains that Goku has a bad habit of not fighting seriously at the start. Likewise, in the battle itself Goku and Black both note how neither of them is using their full power. Elsewhere, Beerus and Whis say Black isn’t half bad, though oddly his ki doesn’t quite feel the same as Goku’s.
At this point, Goku decides he needs to fight hard enough to force Black to use his full power. The fight recommences and Black takes a beating, but oddly he still seems happy about this, declaring that this pain will make him even stronger. Goku meanwhile thinks that Black is kind of gross. Kuririn notes that Black’s power has risen yet again, and as Goku and Black go at it some more, Trunks’ time machine is knocked over from the impact. Black notices the device and hears Trunks refer to it as a time machine, realizing that this is how Trunks travelled through time.
Black blows up the time machine, but shortly thereafter gets pulled back through the portal he came from. The portal closes, and Black is gone, but the time machine is in flames. Whis explains that Black most likely didn’t vanish on his own. Rather, Black was able to come to this era when the power of his “Time Ring” (the strange ring on his right hand) reacted to the distortions in time created by Trunks’ time machine’s passage through time and space. However, these distortions try and return to their original state, similar to the way a wound heals, and so as a result Black’s Time Ring forcibly pulled him back to the era he came from. In other words, Whis says, he basically just ran out of time.
Indeed, we see that Black has now returned to Trunks’ future world. Lying on the ground in some degree of fatigue and pain, Black says that Super Saiyan Goku’s fighting style has been “engraved” into his body, which will make his strength even more perfect. Though Black thinks he won’t be able to return to that era (ie the present) again, Trunks likewise is stuck there now that his time machine is no more, meaning that in the future world none remain to oppose him.
Back in the present, Trunks is having the same thoughts: now that he’s stuck here, there’s nobody in the future world to stop Black from wiping out the remaining Earthlings. When asked how Black’s power when fighting Goku compares with when Trunks fought Black on prior occasions, Trunks says that Black was “a little stronger” than before. A little, not a lot…probably. In that case, Vegeta thinks they’ve got nothing to worry about, since Goku wasn’t using anywhere near his full power (Vegeta also notes in passing that he hasn’t shown his full power yet either). Trunks wonders why Goku and Vegeta are both so much more powerful than before, but they say it’s a long story. Still, Black’s ki was also constantly rising as he fought Goku, so who knows what his limits are?
The Pilaf Gang steps in to extinguish the time machine’s flames (hoping that they can get food in return). With the flames out, the time machine is now nothing but a burnt-out husk. Bulma laments that even with her future self’s notes, she can’t rebuild the machine from scratch all on her own. Suddenly though, she has an idea and rushes off inside to find something. For his part, Beerus seems pleased that with the time machine gone humans now can no longer mess around with time, but Whis thinks they’ve got another problem to worry about now: Black’s “Time Ring” is something which only Kaioshins are permitted to use. However, Black is quite certainly not a Kaioshin. In that case, what exactly is he? It’s still unclear. Regardless, Time Rings can only take you to the future, and then back to the present, since even among the gods it is strictly forbidden to travel into the past.
Trunks asks Beerus and Whis to give him one of these Time Rings, but since Beerus is a God of Destruction (rather than a Kaioshin), he doesn’t have them. Trunks is still worried about what will happen to future Earth if he doesn’t get back there, but Beerus stresses once again that people shouldn’t mess around with time; both Trunks and Black are troublesome in that regard. Whis thinks that Black most likely can’t travel through time at will, and so probably won’t be back. Which means that if they want to defeat Black, they’ll have to go to the future. Kuririn asks if Whis can use his own time-manipulating powers to take them there, but Whis explains that his powers only allow him to rewind time a maximum of three minutes, and don’t extend to traveling into the future.
Trunks is despondent, since everyone in the future was depending on him. However, Vegeta tells him not to give up; there’s definitely a way to solve this! Beerus says that humans are always so quick to say “don’t give up”, but frankly sometimes there’s nothing that can be done; giving up is important too! Bulma finally returns, having found what she was looking for: a capsule which she throws out to reveal…the battered old time machine Cell arrived in! They’ve got another time machine after all!
Next Episode Preview: Hey, this is Goku! What's wrong, Trunks? Huh?! In the future you fought alongside the adult version of that kid?! And there's a whole bunch of other people opposing Black?! Then we'd better hurry up and go take Black down! Next time on Dragon Ball Super: "Feelings that Transcend Time: Trunks and Mai". Don't miss it!
