Dragon Blog Super #12: What If GOKU Was NEVER BORN? (Full Recap & Preview)
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
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| Teen Kumu, AI Art WonderAI |
Back to the conversation between Kami and Piccolo, Piccolo tells him that to beat the Androids, he will need the help of two Saiyans. But it's not Vegeta and Nappa (they showed they can't be brought on-side during the invasion). It's Tarble and Broly!
Piccolo also tells Kami that he should think about retirement. Kami and Guru are getting up there in years, and those new Dragon Balls are more trouble than they're worth. He should let them go inert, and train a few young Namekians to succeed him.
With his time up, Piccolo returns to the Future. Kami immediately heads to Namek to talk to Guru, Dende, and Cargo about what he learned. He also heads to Vampa to pick up Broly (also getting Paragus in the bargain, for better or worse), and then to the unnamed planet where Tarble and Gure are living, and convinces the couple to come with him to Earth, though Tarble is unsure how helpful he will be as a non-combatant Saiyan with less than three years of training.
This is where Kami reveals the Room of Spirit and Time, a chamber on the Lookout that allows one to complete a year of training in twenty-four hours (though he will need to first make some modifications to remove the two-day limit and one-person limit, and to minimize the psychological effects of the Room). While he is repairing it, he takes some time to himself inside, thinking more about his future son's parting words, and when the modifications are complete, he acts on an inspiration to do something he gleaned from the present-day Piccolo's memories: Kami spits out an egg, which soon hatches into an infant Piccolo.
On the outside, Jaco and the humans return from their Black Star Dragon Ball adventure with all seven in hand, and to the tune of many surprises. Vegeta had a nice, kid brother? Killer Androids? Time travel? Kami has a son? Tights and Jaco hooked up? Bulma's pregnant? Mai's pregnant...again? Whaaaaat?!?!?!?!?!?
And then there's the friendly dynamic that develops between Tarble and Broly, in stark contrast to the elder Paragus, who despises the Vegeta bloodline for what Tarble's father did to him and his son. But Tarble reminds him that King Vegeta did the same thing to him, exiling him to a worthless planet. It's all about what you do with what you're given.
Paragus grumbles at this, grudgingly seeing the logic in the younger Saiyan's words.
Kami trains Dende and Cargo, as well as Piccolo, in the ways of being a Guardian; and after some time, Dende is able to purify the Black Star Dragon Balls back to their original form. Piccolo picks up on this skill first because of his lineage, but is more interested in combat training than succeeding his father, and so frequently accompanies Tarble into the RoS&T.
Broly and Paragus enter as a pair on their turns (though Broly finds it easier to rein himself in with Tarble as his partner), as do Krillin, Kumu, and Yamcha, and Tien and Chiaotzu.
Being in mixed relationships, Tights and Gure become fast friends while Tarble trains.
Jaco, being the least interested in the rigors of sparring after all that gravity training he did in space, becomes the frantic nursemaid to Bulma, at Tights'...request.
When the three years have passed, everyone is stronger, with Tarble and Paragus having acheived Super-Saiyan Grade 4 and Broly having gained control of his Ikari state.
The human fighters are stronger, too, being able to use higher multipliers of Kaio Ken without wrecking their bodies. But the aces here (as Future Piccolo intended) will be the Saiyans.
Right on schedule, the Androids begin their attack on South City. But something is different than the average Dragon Ball fan would expect. Future Piccolo didn't have time to describe 17 and 18 to Kami, so the Z-Fighters are none the wiser to the temporal discrepancy when they split up to search the city, with Yamcha and Krillin running afoul of a mechanincally enhanced Doctor Gero, and Tien and Chiaotzu surprised to encounter Cyborg Tao. That's right; instead of the ceramic clown in Hammer pants that is Android 19, I'm finally bringing the cybernetic Mercenary Tao into this scenario! His original reappearance in Dragon Ball's third tournament went unexplained beyond "he's back as a cyborg so Tien can have closure." We still get that thematic bit here, but now his cyborg form has an explanation, and he's a lot stronger; kind of a lowballing of what Android 19 would have been. But in the original, Tien alone was able to hold off a well-fed, second-form Cell after a three-year training period, and here, he has Kaio Ken and the Spirit Bomb on top of that. Chiaotzu is also relevant in this story, and because of his smaller frame, he can handle higher Kaio Ken multipliers than Tien. So even with Cyborg Tao being on Android 19's level in this scenario (effectively replacing him), he stands no chance against Tien and Chiaotzu.
Yamcha and Krillin fare worse against Gero, as they are weaker than Tien in this story, and Gero (unlike Cyborg Tao) can absorb energy from them on contact. They fight him for awhile, but are worn down by Gero's Infinity Engine and energy absorption, and Gero eyebeam's Yamcha through the chest to distract Krillin, so he can escape and release more Androids. Unlike the massive chest wound he received in the original, Yamcha is able to survive the eyebeam wounds thanks to Krillin giving him a Senzu bean (I neglected this little detail earliet, but Korin did introduce these two to Senzu beans during their Sacred Water training).
As Cell is still an embryo here, there's no need for Gero to release 17 and 18 yet, so when he gets back to his lab, he instead activates three others....
Back on the Lookout, the Saiyans, Namekians, and Jaco, Gure, Bulma, Kumu, and Tights are surprised by the sudden appearance of Future Piccolo, who storms up to Kami, wanting to know why he didn't send the Saiyans down to Earth to destroy 17 and 18. Confused by these identifiers, Kami scans the area around South City and says the four human fighters were able to handle Gero and Tao. This is when Future Piccolo reveals that something is wrong; these Androids are different to the ones who destroyed his world. The ones he knows about look like teenagers, and they're too strong to be taken out by mere human fighters.
At Gero's lab, three unusual figures step out of their numbered pods: a short, purple Android dressed in garish, barbershop quartet attire; a muscular, quiet one dressed like a Roman gladiator, and a tall, blonde one in Red Ribbon khakis and a trucker hat.
Androids 13, 14, and 15 (especially 13) look upon their creator with disdain. He locked them away for being defective models, and now here he was, cowering and desperate for their help? Not mighty kind, is it, folks?
Gero saw this animosity in their faces and fumbled for the detonator in his pocket, trying to threaten them with permanent deactivation, but 13 was too fast, crushing the old man's shoulder with one hand and chopping his head clean off with the other (you might say he gave Gero a thirty-dollar haircut...). With that, they exited the lab and began scanning for Krillin and Yamcha's energy. By the time they found their targets, Tien and Chiaotzu had joined them, earlier sensing Yamcha's ki begin to fail. The three new Androids attacked immediately, and unlike with Gero and Tao, not even the humans' continued number advantage was a match for them.
Though the Androids did not have ki themselves, Kami sensed the danger his...friends?...were in. Huh...in all the time he had known these people, Kami had never thought of putting a label on their dynamic. He was far stronger than most of them (not counting the three Saiyans he recruited), and he had watched over them as Earth's Guardian since they were born, but while they weren't equals by any definition, Kami felt no air of superiority over them. After the Black Star incident, it didn't feel right to consider himself a Guardian, either. But he at least cared about them, felt concern for them, and trusted in them to do right where he could not be. Maybe that was friendship? Something else to think about later....
Anyway, before he could even react, Piccolo had already gathered Tarble, Paragus, and Broly together and used his own Instant Transmission to take them to the fight.
South City was in a shambles, but even so, it didn't feel right to take on the Androids here (especially with Broly in the equation). Looks like it's off to a frozen wasteland!
Once they are in the new location, the trios pair off as follows: Tarble (in Super-Saiyan) vs. Android 15, Broly (in Ikari) vs. Android 14, and Paragus (in Super-Saiyan) vs. Android 13.
The matchups are pretty even at first, but Broly takes the first victory thanks to his ability to grow stronger as he fights, wiping out 14 with an Omega Blast.
Originally, Dragon Ball's Saiyan characters (without rival chemistry) would respect each other's desire for a challenging, one-on-one fight. But with Broly being momentum incarnate and not having an opponent right now, he would probably head for the nearest conflict. By this point, Tarble would be on the back foot against Android 15 until Broly shows up and takes him out as well. Paragus would last a bit longer on his own against Android 13, using his combat experience and tactical prowess to prolong the fight.
But when the numeric odds seem stacked against him (Broly and a Senzu'd-up Tarble coming to Paragus' aid), Android 13 activates his failsafe, absorbing the processors and bombs from 14 and 15 into himself and becoming the red-haired, blue-skinned behemoth that is Super Android 13.
Super 13 lacks the consciousness of his normal form, and so lashes out violently at the nearest target: Paragus.
With that, all of the mental safeguards that Broly had built up to control himself over the past three years of training crumbled away. He screamed with a fury that could be heard and felt for miles around, even rattling the Lookout itself, and was engulfed in a column of greenish-yellow aura that stretched tens of thousands of feet into the sky. When the pillar dissipated, Broly was still surrounded by the greenish-yellow aura, but his height and muscle mass had increased dramatically, and his hair had changed color, too; Broly had become a Super-Saiyan.
It's too early in this story for Broly to be at the cosmic deity levels that he is in the Dragon Ball Super movies, but he's still Broly. Let's say for Androids Saga sake that his green-haired Super-Saiyan form is slightly stronger than teenage Gohan was in Super-Saiyan 2 against Cell in the original. Plus, he doesn't have the fatigue or injury that Gohan had at the time. So if it was unclear whether Androids could feel fear, Super-Saiyan Broly is your answer. Also, yes. If Broly could kill Super 13 with a look, the Android would be dead now. Not that he would be alive much longer anyway. Super 13 can only try to run and parry a few blows from "the devil" (that was promotional hyperbole used to get the first Broly film over in the 90s) at first, but Broly's genetic quirk quickly overwhelms the Android, and the fight ends with Broly mindlessly hammering him into spare hardware and scrap metal, only stopping when he makes contact with the three explosive devices, causing them to all detonate in his face simultaneously and knock him unconscious.
Deep in a sub-basement of Gero's lab, a large computer monitor blinks to life, on which is depicted a pixellated image of Gero's face. Standing at the console is a red-haired woman in a lab coat and red-and-blue checkered clothing. She turns to face a massive gestation tank, where an embryo the size of a large cashew can be seen, floating in a greenish liquid.
"In time, my love," says Vomi. "Revenge will come in time...."
This will all play out later. But for now, Earth enters a time of relative peace.
Unnerved by his lack of control over Super-Saiyan, Broly has elected to travel to Yardrat for meditative training.
Much like Piccolo, Jr. in the original, Present Piccolo in this story has matured nearly to the physique of a teenager. He has many of Kami's memories, as well, so he can do just about everything Kami can do: Instant Transmission, the Shinkankosappo, gigantification, farsight, and (as mentioned in the last part) he knows how to make Dragon Balls. But as a result of hanging out with the Saiyans, he spends his days figuring out how to use his Guardian abilities in combat, rather than just being a proxy for his father. He's even been to Namek a few times and sparred with Nail. Piccolo enjoys these trips, and unlike Kami's first time on Namek, Nail seems to appreciate Piccolo's visits, as well. It's like they just get each other.
Besides, with Dende taking the Guardian role on Earth and Cargo succeeding Guru upon his passing, Piccolo doesn't need to be a Guardian anyway. He still shares his knowledge on a conciliary basis, but is otherwise content to be a fighter. The only thing that really weighs heavily on his mind is a flash of Kami's memory from when his future self arrived: he wanted to know how to get that Orange form (he isn't going to get it right away, though; there's still a long road ahead for him).
In this time of peace, there has also been new life.
Bulma has given birth to a girl named Bulla, who is scarily good with ki for a baby.
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| Marin, AI Art WonderAI |
Around this time, Mai gives birth to her second child: A girl named Marin (not to be confused with his and 18's daughter from the original, Marron, or Krillin's Bulma-alike filler girlfriend, Maron; this is a combination of Mai's name and the end of Krillin's Japanese name).
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| Bahdo, AI Art WonderAI |
The following year, Tights gave birth to a cute, little alien boy named Straps (yes, it's a play on jockstrap, because his father is Jaco), followed soon after by Gure's daughter, Bahdo (I Googled "grey vegetable," and the first thing that came up was the grey Hubbard squash, so Gure and Tarble's daughter is named Bahdo).
Now, back to the story....
Without a strict academic upbringing, and his martial arts and weapons training, Kumu has gotten a job as a police officer (like father, like son). Thus, he is present for the bank standoff when Videl shows up, and accidentally reveals his true strength to her like Gohan did in the original. There's no Saiyaman weirdness, no Cell Games trauma, no Golden Warrior or anything like that because there was no Ginyu force influence and he's not a Saiyan, but Kumu plays off his abilities by saying he's part of a special program, testing powered police gear that boosts his strength and lets him fly. She buys it at first, but she decides to follow him one day, and sees him flying...out of uniform. The blackmail and romance dynamics occur like in the original, ending with Kumu teaching Videl how to use ki to fly and enhance her strength. Also, he has to fight in the tournament that's coming up.
Five years after Marin and the other kids are born, it's time for the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai. Much like the original, there is a Junior division and an Adult division now, with the Junior competitors including Bulla, Straps, Bahdo, and Marin, all of whom make the Final Four without breaking a sweat. Marin easily defeats Straps because she's more skilled and Straps (much like his father) doesn't take the fight seriously. Bahdo defeats Bulla thanks to the Saiyan factor, but Bulla still puts up a good fight thanks to her uncanny ki control. This is also the case for the final between Bahdo and Marin as well, but it's a much more spectacular fight, with moments that ring of original Dragon Ball fights like Goku vs. Tien 22 and Goku vs. Krillin 23. The "prize" happens much like the original, with Bahdo getting a bonus match against the reigning, two-time champ, Hercule (Videl's father), and comedically owning him with a single punch.
The Adult division competitors are Tarble, Kumu, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Videl, Shin, Kibito, Spopovich, Yamu, and Hercule.
The backstage drama between Piccolo, Shin, and Kibito happen the same, as do the squash match between Videl and Spopovich, with Kumu giving the brute a stunning punch to the gut and flying Videl to safety.
Once at the hospital, Kumu stays with Videl to make sure she is in stable condition. When Hercule shows up to check on Videl, the two men butt heads, and Kumu sneaks her a Senzu bean like Gohan did in the original, the results of which confound Hercule and the doctors, giving Kumu a chance to slip away.
The Tournament continues with Kibito vs. Tarble, where the Kai attendant goads Tarble into Super-Saiyan so he can flush out Yamu and follow the two Majin-ized goons to their destination. The tournament is a wash now; the spectators are traumatized by the events of the last two matchups, and...did all of the competitors just leave? By flying?
Yes, and it's a long flight full of exposition about an ancient space wizard named Babidi and how he brainwashes people into gathering fighting energy for him so he can revive his living instrument of destruction, Majin Buu.
Well, Hercule is still on the tournament grounds, and he hosted and financed the event, so the Champ stays the Champ?
As in the original, Spopovich and Yamu spend their final moments learning what body horror is, and Babidi puts the Z-Fighters through a boss gauntlet that serves to both keep them from hindering his plans, and forces them to fight so he can gather their energy for Buu.
On the surface, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Kumu, and Kibito try to stall Dabura the Demon King, whose spit turns Krillin, Yamcha, and Kibito to stone. Piccolo gets struck on the arm, but rips it off before the petrification can spread any further, and grows a new one. Then, we get a cool battle of attrition in Piccolo and Kumu vs. Dabura, with Piccolo setting up the Light Zone Grenade (Hellzone Grenade, but with good guy branding) field while Kumu uses his Destructo Sword technique in combination with Kaio Ken to engage the Demon King in a high-speed sword fight. It looks awesome, and continues until Babidi calls Dabura away, saying that he has something more important for the demon to prepare for the other fighters. Unfortunately, Yamcha and Kibito are shattered by Dabura in the exchange.
Meanwhile, Tarble, Tien, and Shin make their way into Babidi's subterranean spaceship.
On the first level, Tien is the one to fight Pui Pui (it was Vegeta in the original), with Babidi transporting them to Zoon, Pui Pui's homeworld, which has gravity ten times stronger than on Earth. But not only did Tien undergo the most effective training on King Kai's planet (which has that same gravity multiplier), he trained under even higher gravity during the Black Star quest. So Pui Pui is nothing to Tien.
Level Two sees Tarble going up against Yakon. I use the word, "sees," quite loosely here, as their fight is transported to Yakon's lightless homeworld, the Dark Star. Which makes little sense because Yakon feeds on light, but the author of one of the best battle shonen manga in history can't think of everything.... Just like Goku did in the original, Tarble cranks up Super-Saiyan, feeding his ki to Yakon until the beast explodes.
But Babidi is only slightly perturbed by this, as he tells the fighters above and below that he has one more opponent for them. Remember that thing he had Dabura put the finishing touches on?
When Tarble, Tien, and Shin reach the bottom level, a door slides open at the far end of the room, and a familiar figure emerges: Vegeta.
Vegeta here isn't anywhere near as strong as he would have been in the original, but considering how Babidi's magic turned Spopovich (once the second strongest normal human on Earth) into an unstoppable mass of flying muscle and savagery, let's say this story's Majin Vegeta gets to a level of Super-Saiyan Grade 4, rather than an enhanced Super-Saiyan 2.
As the only one capable of matching that power, Tarble steps up once again. It's a great, symbolic, brother vs. brother fight, in which Vegeta spouts his old rhetoric about Tarble being weak and useless and an outcast not worthy of the Vegeta family legacy, while Tarble proves him wrong in real time by not only keeping pace with his more experienced, older brother, but getting in a few good shots here and there.
Oh, and Shin is shouting at them to stop feeding Majin Buu. But that goes as well as expected; soon enough, the walnut shell-looking ball that contains Majin Buu cracks open, and pink mist wafts from its interior. The ball appears to be empty, but an ominous ki fills the air, making Tarble and Vegeta stop their battle. Rather than dissipating, the pink mist coalesces in the sky above them, taking the shape of a childish, pudgy, genie-looking thing that starts cavorting around, laughing, and doing a strange ribbon dance with a strip of its own belly fat. The dance is soon accompanied by Buu spitting red energy balls across the landscape.
No one knows what to do. Babidi can't believe this childish fool is the weapon his father left to him. The remaining fighters try in vain to attack Buu with every physical and ki-based maneuver they know, but even when they do manage to make a dent or hole in Buu, he just laughs it off, sucks in a breath, and pop! It's like nothing ever happened. Babidi is thrilled with this development and commands Buu to finish them off, but the pink menace blows a raspberry at him. It's evident now that Buu can't be controlled, so Babidi sends Dabura in to fight him, only for Buu to immediately fire his Food Beam, transforming Dabura into a cookie and eating him. Babidi shouts more epithets his way, but Buu just floats up to the little potato wizard with a dead, menacing look in his eyes, and patty-cake's Babidi's head into a Thanksgiving side with red-eye gravy. Ouch! Eww!
Speaking of Ouch and Eww, with Dabura having been killed, Krillin de-petrifies and looks around to find Kibito and Yamcha have also de-petrified...in pieces. But Yamcha's pieces have fallen into a certain, memetic pose. So, yay for fans?
And speaking of fan service, now that there's no one to control Majin Buu (if he could have ever been controlled), Vegeta realizes the mistake he made in letting Babidi and Dabura get him out of Hell for petty revenge. He also acknowledges Tarble's growth and "pride" as a Saiyan warrior, hugging his kid brother before knocking him out with a gut-punch and facing Majin Buu on his own. Like in the original, Vegeta unleashes all of his ki in a Final Explosion, sacrificing himself to destroy Majin Buu. But also like in the original, this does nothing because Majin Buu can regenerate.
With no one left to fight him at the moment, Buu flies off to enjoy himself, terrorizing cities and turning their inhabitants into candy, cookies, donuts, and other treats to inhale en masse.
Sensing all of this, Shin hurries to wake up Tarble, and comes up with an idea: this isn't the same Majin Buu he remembered from those millions of years ago; absorbing Shin's master, the Grand Supreme Kai, changed Buu's appearance and demeanor. So maybe they can stop Buu by appealing to his childish nature?
Tarble shudders at the thought of engaging Buu in conversation. One wrong word, and he, too, could be rendered...narrow-minded...at the hands of Buu. Ugh.... Yes, Tarble had experience with this kind of thing from the time he spent with Broly, but Broly actually made sense; Buu, on the other hand, danced with his own belly fat and turned people into junk food. Not exactly normal....
Meanwhile, Piccolo has also sensed the growing threat of Majin Buu, and he, along with Kumu and Krillin, teleports to the Lookout, having his own plan in mind. But to go through with this plan invites much turmoil upon his soul.
As Kumu and Krillin train together in the Room of Spirit and Time, Piccolo reluctantly approaches his father.
With their differing philosophies, Piccolo and Kami never talked to each other much. It wasn't animous, like the God/Demon dynamic they had in the original; just a simple generation gap between father and son. Their awkward dynamic wasn't the only thing weighing on Piccolo, either. During his trips to Namek, he would often converse with Nail about Namekian history (when they weren't sparring), and one time, Piccolo broached the subject of fusion. His father had done it to protect the Earth once, and it had made Kami stronger. But to Nail, fusion was a taboo subject. There were so few of his people left that to allow fusion could put their race in jeopardy. Furthermore, there was no telling which personality would dominate in a fusion, or if an entirely new one would replace them both. The existential dread was almost too much to bear.
Thankfully, Kami and Piccolo didn't have to say much of anything because they could read each other's minds. All Kami said was, "Do what you think is best." Piccolo nodded and put his hand on Kami's chest. A bright light surrounded them, and when it faded, only Piccolo remained. He now had all of Kami's memories in addition to his own, as well as Kami's incredible power. Piccolo felt amazing! Great! Wonderful! Stupendous! Thesaurus! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Back on the ground, Tarble went about tracking down Majin Buu, who had grown bored with eating people and was just sitting cross-legged in the dirt in front of his odd-looking house, drawing with a stick.
Animeister's Note: I considered following in the paces of one of Masako's early What If? stories, and just having Tarble go Super-Saiyan and vaporize Buu while his guard was down. But that's not in Tarble's character, and if he did try that, he isn't strong enough to keep Buu from regenerating. If Majin Vegeta couldn't do it with all of his ki, Tarble has no chance of pulling it off.
Instead of that, a shuddering Tarble just approaches Buu, sits cross-legged across from him, and starts commenting on Buu's dirt-art, which is as terrifying and hilarious as it sounds.
Sure enough, Buu soon gets bored with this exchange, and decides he is hungry.
Though he is frightened that Buu might decide to turn him into candy becuase of the genie's short attention span, Tarble takes the risk of distracting Buu by asking if he really needs to turn people into sweets. Buu says that he likes the taste of real sweets better, but he's always hungry and there aren't enough of them in the world to satisfy him. This gives Tarble an idea, and he asks Buu to wait for him to bring food. Buu agrees, and continues with his dirt art, now drawing still lives of various foods. He is soon joined by Bee, a little dog who had been watching Buu and Tarble from a distance. With Tarble gone, Bee has gathered the courage to approach Majin Buu, and begins eyeing the stick in Buu's hand, then looking off in the distance, then back to the stick, the distance, the stick,..., until Buu gets the idea and throws the stick.
While Bee and Majin Buu are playing fetch, Tarble flies to Korin Tower to enact his plan. Originally, Senzu beans weren't written as the instant cure that they would become in Dragon Ball Z. In the Dragon Ball part of the story, a Senzu bean was more of a dietary supplement, able to keep a person full and energized for ten days. So going off of that, Tarble came up with the idea to disguise Senzu beans as gumballs, malt balls, chocolate-covered nuts, and other varieties of sweets. Sure, Buu wouldn't be satisfied with just one Senzu bean, but if he ate enough, even Buu could be satisfied for those ten days. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it was a smart one.
But back at Buu's house, the play session with Bee is cut short when Van Zant, Smitty, and an unexpected addition to their group set their sights on the playful pair.
As in the original story, Van Zant shoots Bee, and Majin Buu heals the little dog, but is so overcome with fury that steam starts coming out of his...pores?
But unlike the original, the steam doesn't form into Evil Buu; instead, it wafts through the air, like a delicious smell in an old cartoon, as it seems drawn to the third member of Van Zant's group: : Vomi, of the Red Ribbon Army.
"You did well," said Vomi, concealing her concern as she held her hands up to siphon off Buu's essence.
But the man was so engrossed in fantasies of riches, bloodshed, and false heroism that he didn't notice the woman beside him starting to change form. When he did notice, the woman named Vomi now had dark grey skin, white hair, and was wearing an outfit similar to what that pink blob was wearing. Weird.
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| Created using the Dragon Ball Fusion Generator at https://japeal.com/dbfg/ |
It's not Emperor Pilaf here, though. It's Gero. He's been feeling insecure about his looks when compared to Vomi and their son (he's basically self-directing Toriyama's editor's criticisms of, "really? You want the villains of this arc to be an old man and a clown?"). Vomi is concerned that he's going back to his vengeful ways (as are all present on the ship, regarding this reunited family), but he reassures her, and especially Bulma, that he just wants to use the Dragon Balls to restore his youth.
Bulma (because we all know what she uses the Dragon Balls for in the series...) can totally relate, but as the Dragon Balls are supposed to be a Bingo prize at her Birthday party, she asks him to hold off on making the wish until the festivities are over.
So Gero puts his scheming to good use...sort of.
He's a mechanical genius, so he could easily rig the Bingo machine in his favor, but that wouldn't help his standing with the Dragon Team or his family, so instead, he starts going around the ship and asking everyone if they need help with anything.
This change in the old man is met with suspicion by almost everyone (the kids didn't know Gero's history with their parents, so they just think he's some old clown who Bulma hired for her party), but he persists in offering his assistance, hoping someone might give him their wish if he doesn't win at Super Fun-Time Bingo.
Even more interesting, though, Gero actually embraces the kids' misconception of him, and...remember when Vegeta did that goofy dance to announce Bingo? Vegeta isn't there, so Gero does it instead, and Straps, Bahdo, Bulla, and Marin think it's the funniest thing they've ever seen. Even Caltrop claps and burbles his approval of the spectacle. This greatly amuses Piccolo, as well, such that he decides to get a Bingo card, despite his usually stoic demeanor when it comes to frivolous activities.
When the first number is about to be called, however, the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of four beings: Shin and Kibito, someone who looks like a purple-skinned, one-eyed version of King Kai, and a blonde man whom Paragus recognizes from the Otherworld Tournament.
The blonde man, Olibu, exchanges pleasantries with the elder Saiyan, while West Kai grumbles at their camraderie, and that he even has to come to these North Galaxy losers for help. Shin and Kibito simply wait patiently for their chance to exposit.
Vegeta and Zangya are going to ship at some point, but for now, it's just them not trusting each other, her struggling with the Hera Clan's superiority to the Saiyans versus her terror of Vegeta's Primal strength, Vegeta coming home totally worn out (he shares a duplex with Tarble, Gure, and Bahdo in West City) like a hard-working man of the house, her poking indignant fun at his disheveled, "royal countenance," and her slowly developing big sister dynamic with Bahdo, who looks up to the strong, beautiful stranger living in her uncle's house and does the comedically blunt kid thing where she asks "Auntie" Zangya inappropriate things about her relationship with Vegeta, all but matchmaking the two of them like the meddlesome friend in a rom-com anime.
Meanwhile, despite the long-standing animosity between Capsule Corp. and Red Ribbon, Dr. Briefs and Bulma have been collaborating with Gero and Vomi on various projects (like the Kai Kai Rail from the Sacred World Arc, keeping tabs on any emerging Red Ribbon-related activity, and that book on ki that Gohan wrote in the Dragon Ball Online/Xenoverse/Super Dragon Ball Heroes continuity? It's a joint effort by Bulma and Vomi in this story, with Tights' new company, Bookstrap Publications, handling the distribution). This leaves Gevo spending a lot of time with Bulla, who bonds with him over their shared love of cars and mechanics. The age discrepancy here is too vast for any kind of romance between them (with the exception of Caltrops, the kids are about seven or eight by this time, and Gevo is most likely of legal age, considering he has an established military service record); they're just a pair of grease nerds hanging out and repairing old cars together.
The ki-control book and the slice of life stuff with Bulla and Gevo are fun little touches, but the important thing to note out of all of this is that when Gero and Vomi begin to feel comfortable with telling Bulma about Gero's lab, and the sub-lab beneath it where Vomi and the digital Gero were developing the Cell Project, the three of them travel there to investigate (and possibly deactivate Cell and digital Gero), and discover that the entire complex has been stripped bare. This will become important in a future part.
The real focus of this arc comes about with Kumu and Videl, who are taking Caltrops, Marin, and Straps camping in the woods near Mt. Paozu.
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| Sichuan/Sancho, Cinnamon/Nikki, Ginger |
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| Vinegar, Mustard, Spice, Garlic, Jr., Salt |
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