Dragon Blog Super #11: What If GOKU Was NEVER BORN? (Cursed Planet Arc)
a.k.a. A MasakoX Fan
Last time in Dragon Blog Super, our heroes pulled out all the stops against the forces of Cooler, who had come to Earth after killing the Yardratians and giving Broly a near-fatal beating. Cooler's fifth form and underhanded tactics would have destroyed the Earth if not for an undercover Galactic Patrol Agent named Mis (this Universe's counterpart to Hit) who took the opportunity to trap Cooler with his Time Prison technique and healed Vegeta's chest wound with a localized time-reversal.
Upon departing with Cooler in his custody, Mis warned the Z-Fighters that there would be a planetoid with high levels of dark energy passing through their solar system in around a month.
Meanwhile, Kumu was able to get Broly to the safety of a nearby cave, where the large Saiyan recovered after receiving an unusual vision (I took inspiration for this from Goku's vision on Namek, the Super-Saiyan 3 and 4 transformation sequences, and the dub line about the Super-Saiyan God speaking to Goku in the anime, just with less Goku and more clothing).
We resume after Broly has awoken. Kumu makes sure Broly is able to stand, and Broly reveals that while he was unconscious, he had a dream where he spoke to a Saiyan named Yamoshi who claimed to be the spirit of his ancestor. Yamoshi warned Broly that an ancient enemy of his would return soon, and that Broly would need to get more powerful in order to defeat it.
When they reunite with the others, Kumu shares this information with the others, and learns in turn of the evil planetoid that Mis warned them about.
"Do you think they could be connected?" Asks Tarble.
"Given our luck with ancient evil lately," Krillin says with a shudder, "It wouldn't surprise me."
Yamcha then calls Bulma, who passes the news on to the space exploration division of Capsule Corp. With the progress that she and Vomi have made on long-range energy detection, they should be able to track the planetoid's movement and get a firm deadline on its arrival.
While they waited for a response from Bulma, a red stain began to reappear on Vegeta's chest, and Zangya shouted for help. "I thought that Mis person healed him!?"
Piccolo came to the rescue with a Senzu bean, and Vegeta's wound began to scar over. "I don't think he had that kind of ability; he probably just reversed time to before Vegeta was wounded. He should be fine again in a few minutes."
Zangya was visibly relieved at this, but then remembered herself and feigned disgust that Vegeta had gone soft in the heat of battle.
(Stop it!!!)
"We should all train to prepare for the coming threat." With Vegeta out of commission for the moment, Paragus was the one to make this suggestion, to which everyone agreed.
Vegeta must have heard "the T word" (it doesn't matter which; "training" and "threat" are both enough to get a Saiyan's blood pumping) because he bolted upright, unaware that his head had been resting in Zangya's lap for some time now, and said, "I want to train with him!"
To almost no one's surprise, Vegeta was pointing an adrenaline-shaken finger in Broly's direction. He had been trying to keep his composure at the mention of Broly's Yamoshi vision (yet another name of legend from the tales he was told as a young prince) before he blacked out from his wound catching up with him, but the rush of the Senzu bean's effects and the zenkai they provided relieved Vegeta of his self-control.
Zangya, in the heat of the moment, called Vegeta an idiot and karate-chopped him on the top of his head, rendering him unconscious for the third time in a span of minutes. Her face beet-red now, she simply shouted at Broly to remove the idiot prince from her sight before she changed her mind. What she would change her mind about? She refused to elaborate.... Tsundere waifus, am I right?
True to what Mis had told the Z-Fighters, Capsule Corp. also estimated a time of arrival of one month. In that time, almost everyone took multiple turns in the Room Of Spirit and Time. As I usually do, here are the pairings that go in:
Broly and Vegeta go in first and most often (with Broly carrying an unconscious Vegeta in for the first round),
Krillin and Mai (training as a couple like he did with 18 pre-TOP in the original),
Tien and Chiaotzu (because they're practically joined at the hip),
Piccolo and Paragus (the aged strategists with Ultimate),
Yamcha and Bulla (father-daughter sparring),
Tarble and Buu (I'm smacking my forehead because I omitted Buu from the last two parts),
Zangya and Bahdo (remember what I set up at the beginning of this?), and
Kumu and Marin (brother-sister sparring).
The adults also go in as pairs for serious training, and the kids get to spar with each other, but I wanted to give some of the familial relationships, couples, and less conventional pairings time to develop. Roshi opted out because he felt he was getting too old and too far behind the others, especially after Cooler's invasion. Jaco being Jaco, he claimed "important Galactic Patrol business" (which was only partially true because he wanted to dig up dirt on Mis) and noped out of training, leaving Straps in the care of Videl.
Videl is still a housewife in the story at this point, as she is taking care of Caltrop, but with her father being less famous, she has less fame and fortune to cushion her lifestyle, and so still pursues martial arts and practices her ki control, and has taken over the re-named Videl Castle Dojo from Hercule, hoping to improve its reputation. So rather than babysit the lazy, charismatic Straps, she keeps him in line through the rigors of martial arts training and Toriyama-esque physical comedy.
A month passes, and Piccolo is training on his own in one of the many, barren wastelands of Earth when three shadowy figures attack him. He handles them easily until they transform into bulkier states and overwhelm him.
 |
| Sichuan/Sancho, Cinnamon/Nikki, Ginger |
Not even Ultimate is enough to contend with them, and Piccolo is beaten unconscious and taken to the Lookout, where five more beings wait to greet him.
 |
| Vinegar, Mustard, Spice, Garlic, Jr., Salt |
A short, red-skinned man wearing a cross between Saiyan armor and Russian garb waves something in front of Piccolo's nose, shocking him awake (smelling Salt pun!).
"The centuries have been kind to you, Kami," says a shrill, sinister voice. "No, that isn't right; I sense Kami within you, but you are not him entirely."
"What are you doing here, Garlic, Jr.?" Piccolo asked, though the time of his and his underlings' arrival answered that question for him. Just as the original Piccolo did with Cell, this Piccolo is goading Garlic into a villain monologue to buy time. While Garlic, Jr. was expositing, Piccolo telepathically contacted the Z-Fighters for backup.
The villains here are scaled up in power compared to their original versions to pose a challenge to the Super-era heroes, and I'm combining aspects of the Dead Zone movie and the anime filler arc with the Goku Black/Future Trunks Arc of Super, so Garlic, Jr.'s origin is pretty much the same, but he was imprisoned in the Dead Zone following his rebellion against the "original" Guardian of Earth, which involved him wishing for immortality (though he omits this last, and a couple of other trump cards, from his exposition dump). And just like in the filler arc, the "evil planet" Mis warned of here (Planet Makyo, a.k.a. the Makyo Star in the dub) allowed the Dead Zone to re-open, freeing Garlic, Jr. and his seven Makyan underlings.
With the villain monologue delivered, Garlic aimed a Death Impact at Piccolo. But the Z-Fighters arrived just in time to make the save, including the Saiyans. Sensing that there is more to Garlic than his small size suggests, Tarble, Vegeta, Broly, Paragus, and even Zangya and Buu, team up against him, while Kumu, Krillin, and Mai (who has learned to use Kaio-ken and developed her own signature ki attack, the Sniper Cannon--it's charged like a combination of the Kamehameha and the finishing shot Granolah used against Gas in the manga--from her RoS&T sessions with Krillin) engage with the buffed-out, blade-weilding trio of Nikki, Ginger, and Sancho. Of course, this features the obligatory swordfight sequence with Kumu, a family Kaio-ken activation, and the villainous trio being reduced to hot garnish and party favors. Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and a Senzu-recovered Piccolo square off against Mustard, Vinegar, Salt, and Spice, respectively, doing the Ultimate/Kaio-ken stacker that Kumu used in the previous part to finish off the Spice Boys. Yamcha was a competent fighter here, unlike his original portrayal, combining his hand-to-hand skills, Spirit Ball attack, and the Power Pole to overwhelm his opponent, and the Chiaotzu vs. Salt fight was brief but pretty entertaining from a strategy, badassery, and comedic perspective.
With all of his minions defeated, Garlic, Jr., who had been holding his own against the Saiyans thanks to his immortality and superior ki control and magic power, now chose to activate his own empowered state.
In their RoS&T training, Tarble had learned to tap into Super-Saiyan 3, using his Tarjita fusion from the Majin/Vomemba Saga as a base, and so improved the well of potential that his Ultimate form could access. Paragus, who had already grown accustomed to a Super-Saiyan 3-based Ultimate form, chose to work on the stamina drawback, achieving something akin to Grade 4, such that he could remain in Super-Saiyan 3 naturally. Vegeta and Broly's training mostly consisted of Yardratian meditation and image training, with some physical sparring for practical testing purposes. As such (and using his experience of mental conditioning for Oozaru back in the day), Vegeta was better able to think rationally while in his Primal form. The big surprise--one of many to come in this part--that only Vegeta was privy to was the change in Broly. Not only had he learned to calm his mind in his Super-Saiyan form, he was now also able to keep his power from "overflowing" and bulking up his body (similar to how Kami was able to Gigantify without pain after his Yardratian training, but with the opposite application), thus improving his mobility while transformed. Zangya's form remained unchanged, but during her times in the Room, she learned to attune her body to the energy of her Heran jewelry, strengthening her base form and letting her access her Full Power state without relying on her accessories. And of course, we also get Crossfit Buu like in the anime before he decided to sleep through the potential Destruction of all Reality. With Base 3 Ultimate Tarble and Paragus, Primal Vegeta, Controlled Super-Saiyan Broly, Full Power Zangya, and Skinny Buu to contend with, Garlic, Jr. can do nothing but tank hits and heal with his immortality.
At one point, he shouts and erupts in a ball of energy that pushes everyone away. "It's time I even the odds; come forth, Evil Saiyan!"
Garlic, Jr. uses this reprieve to open a small portal, out of which steps a bulky, dark-haired Saiyan with an oppressive, dark aura that stirs something ancient yet familiar within Broly.
Yes, because I'm following my Super-era convention of combining arcs of that series with old movie villains, this Dead Zone/Garlic, Jr. Saga/Goku Black Arc has its immortal deity candidate villain, but it needed a dark mirror Saiyan character and a Black Water Mist parallel, I decided to borrow from Super Dragon Ball Heroes and bring in the Evil Saiyan, Cumber!
Zangya, Piccolo, Buu, and the Saiyans try to attack Cumber physically, but Paragus, Vegeta, and Tarble are infected and driven mad by Cumber's Evil ki, and turn against Zangya, Piccolo, and Broly. Based on what lore we get in the Super Dragon Ball Heroes promotional anime, Zangya and Buu aren't affected because she aren't Saiyans--though in the game itself, any character can access an Evil form, including the Galaxy Soldiers. But why isn't Broly affected?
To answer that, you'd have to go back to an interview with Toriyama about the lore behind the "Super-Saiyan God" (just called Saiyan God in this story because I like making people happy with logic slightly more than I like using logic to piss people off), where he dropped tidbits about Yamoshi defeating a group of Evil Saiyans by performing the ritual we see in the Battle Of Gods media and gaining the red-haired form. And because Broly is alleged--via community head canon and a few fan manga--to be a direct descendant of Yamoshi, I've decided to draw inspiration from My Hero Academia (specifically the legacy nature of the One For All Quirk), and say that because of Broly's lineage connection to Yamoshi, he is genetically immune to the Evil Saiyan aura.
So only Broly, Zangya, Piccolo, Buu, and the human fighters are left to battle an immortal Garlic, Jr., Cumber, and the three Evil-infected Saiyans. Buu has his own regenerative powers to fall back on, but it takes Piccolo and the humans pushing their multipliers and power-ups to their limits just to keep even with their opponents, and they are severely limited by not wanting to use lethal force against their friends. Yes, the Dragon Balls will be available to reverse any collateral damage, but it's best to not be over-reliant so they don't make reckless mistakes in battle.
Broly is able to pick up the slack in this battle because of his ability to gain strength and muscle memory as he fights. He is stronger than any of their individual transformations in just his Controlled Super-Saiyan state, but eventually grows to where he can hold off all five of them by himself. The tide turns, however, when Zangya volunteers to draw Vegeta away from the battleground, and does the "beat me up until you feel bad about it while I express my true feelings" trope you see in a lot of magical girl series where one of the heroes gets brainwashed. The two of them share their first, genuinely sweet moment (that they're both aware of and doesn't end with Zangya giving him a concussion), and they rejoin the others in combat, with Vegeta now keeping his distance and using stun blasts to incapacitate Tarble and Paragus.
Yet again outnumbered, Garlic, Jr. reveals his next trump card: he had a set of Potara earrings!
He passes one of the earrings to Cumber, who puts it on his opposite ear, and their two hulking bodies are flung together.
(Stop it!!!)
The resulting flash of light fades, revealing an even more massive form with dark, bluish-green skin, pointy ears, long, spiky, black hair, and an Evil Saiyan aura, which I'm calling Curlic.
As with Fused Zamasu in the original, Curlic here unleashes a variety of inexplicable but deadly attacks while monologuing about how he's perfect and majestic and powerful and "I will never die!" and he's going to use the expanded power of his fusion to blanket the Earth in Evil ki so he can turn everyone into demons and rule the Universe, blah, blah, blah. And just as he says, he shrouds the planet's surface in Evil ki, resulting in a familiar sight to those who remember the filler arc from the anime: everyone not currently on the Lookout being turned into vampire-like demons and running rampant across the globe.
Our heroes can sense the widespread change in ki polarity, but none is affected by this more than Broly. That feeling from when Cumber was revealed, that genetic memory that stirred within him, had been fully awakened. His very DNA sparked and burned with a fiery intensity, and in his mind's eye, he saw his entire ancestry, going all the way back to the man he had met in his dreams: Yamoshi. He could feel those generations of power speaking to him. History would not get a chance to repeat itself again. Earth, Vampa, Yardrat, Namek; none of them would suffer the same fate that Planet Sadala had so long ago. The fire raged through Broly, though the feeling that came with it was not rage as he knew it, but something pure that transcended his understanding. The flaming aura erupted from him, sculpting him into something that looked like his base form, but with softer features and red hair. Like his ancestor, Broly had become a Saiyan God.
Now, to rattle off some other cool moments:
Buu shapeshifts into the shape of Tarble (nod to the Potafu Arc) and they do the Fusion Dance, turning into Tarbuu and teaming up with Saiyan God Broly against Curlic, which is absurd and cool and thematic.
Being only half-immortal now, and having his focus split between Broly and Tarbuu, Curlic begins to deform and mutate on one side, melting into what looks like a half-Garlic, Jr./half-Bio-Broly abomination. Tarbuu begins to charge a Candied Galick Beam (ironic or appropriate?), planning to defeat Curlic by eating him. But just like with Vegito Blue's anti-climactic finisher in the anime, he defuses before the attack can hit, and it fizzles out.
The Corrupted Curlic begins rampaging, mindlessly batting Vegeta through several nearby walls. This enrages Zangya, who then transforms into her True Full Power form (in the Bojack Unbound movie, she does not have a form like Gokua, Bido, and Bojack; instead, her hair shortens and she gains a bit of muscle mass with no change in hair or skin color), which looks similar to Berserker Kale, but with the greenish-yellow skin and reddish hair of a Full Power Heran. True Full Power Zangya relentlessly attacks the deformed villain, doing noticeable damage to him, but not slowing him down much because Curlic's immortal half is still putting in work.Not even Broly, with his new Saiyan God form and inherent real-time zenkai boosts, can leave a lasting scratch on Curlic.
But not all scars are physical. While his body may be fighting its degeneration, Curlic's mind fractures more and more with each passing instant, until he decides that Universal domination can go screw itself, and so can the Earth. Raising his arms, he shouts from the Heavens to the even higher Heavens, shaking the Lookout to its core. A massive hole, similar to the portal that Cumber emerged from, appears in the sky and begins sucking in everything.
"If I can't have the Universe under our command," Curlic rumbles in a dissonant voice, his fractured mind changing pronouns at random, "we'll take you all to the Dead Zone with me!"
That's right; the Dead Zone. This gets Piccolo thinking, and he sends a telepathic broadcast to the Z-Fighters. Aim for the planet!
Everyone responds in the affirmative, and we get several more cool moments to finish off the Cursed Planet Arc.
First, Broly. He's had extensive Spirit Control training on Yardrat, and through his visions of Yamoshi, he knows the basics of the Saiyan God ritual, so: "Father! Tarble! Vegeta! Join hands with Broly!"
Broly allows his God ki to overflow, but instead of releasing his energy like he had learned to do, he channels it into Paragus, Tarble, and Vegeta (essentially using Spirit Control to perform the God ritual in reverse), and standing at the front of the group of Z-Fighters, there are now four Saiyan Gods.
Kumu, Krillin, and Yamcha fire combined Kamehamehas, Tien and Chiaotzu fire Dodonpa Rays, Piccolo fires a Shinsenko, Mai launches a multi-form Sniper Cannon, Buu shoots an energy beam from his mouth, Zangya shoots her Spark Laser, Tarble and Vegeta perform a brotherly Galick Gun, and Broly and Paragus throw father-son Omega Blasts, all aimed at Planet Makyo, vaporizing it on contact.
Curlic screams, "No! Noo! NoOoOoOo!!!!" as he is sucked back into the Dead Zone, never to return.
Moving on....
With Curlic and Planet Makyo gone, the Evil aura quickly dissipates, returning the Earth's population to normal. When the Dragon Balls become active again, the team use them to finish restoring the planet's infrastructure and revive the Yardratians killed by Cooler and his army. I would say that the world enters another time of relative peace, but that is not entirely true. There are still threats on Earth, among the stars, and beyond, who are plotting their next moves.
Also, the Makyo incident did not go unnoticed.
In the farthest reaches of space, on a certain planet with strange trees and an inverted pyramid, a gaunt-looking cat-man with purple fur stirs in his decades-long slumber, stirs again sometime later, then again with greater disquiet, and finally...Beerus, the God of Destruction, awakens.
Thus ends the Cursed Planet Arc.
I hope you liked the directions I took with this part. Remember to like and comment down below, and share the Blogger love any way you can! The ship is strong and I forgot where I was going with this call to action because Red Bull and midnight, but it's February, so Zangeta forever!
Stay Tuned for a new edition of New Piece Offerings, wherein I'll share some details and images from my week-long hiatus (not featured in Saturday's Time Drops release) before resuming my regular content. As it takes time to plot and compose, and I am on a tightening academic deadline, I will be putting Dragon Blog Super on hold for a few weeks to work on my various class papers.
Goodnight, and
TickAnimBusterX Fan,
Out!
I am so weird....
I DON'T KNOW WHAT CHRISTMAS IS, BUT VALENTINE'S IS HERE!
Comments
Post a Comment