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bitebitesnap · 2 years ago

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Time Skip (Time Patroller!Vegeta/Reader)

AN: I hate this! Very much! It's not my best and I know it, but I reallly wanted to write this silly idea with Vegeta and tbh, I think I made it more complicated than it needed to be. I'm not sure how well I managed to get his personality down and make Reader interesting so please be nice to me-

Pairings: Vegeta/Reader, Goku/Reader and Trunks/Reader suggested

“Hm. And you’re sure of this?”

“Yep. Seems like Fu’s been really active lately.” You take a sip, exhaling warmth, “The later quadrant of the 3rd dynasty has been in a wreck. The Namekians tried their best to remove the problems caused by suddenly having to deal with a wartorn Saiyan instead of the usual overgrown frog monster.”

Vegeta hummed, eyes closed in thought. The cup in his hand steamed softly, light blue glass tapping under a finger. His eyes were closed in silent bliss as he brought the warm drink to his lips, “You’d think he’d get over this ridiculous stretch for power. Surely after all his stunts he’s regained enough of himself to be content after the mockery we made of him.”

You shrugged, “Well maybe he just wants to kick your asses sooner.” His bitter grunt went ignored, “Speaking of,” The red cup was set down onto its plate, “Is Goku going to come back anytime soon? I’ve been wondering about that for the past hour now.” He could feel the weight of those curious eyes falling upon him in a familiar leer. The urge to scoff was pushed down-did you think so low of the idiot already?

Vegeta sighed through his nose, “The idiot is out on another solo mission. Some bullshit involving Earth this time, Fu seems to have thoroughly pissed him off by removing some important events and resetting triggers again.” A light twitch to his brow belayed his suppressed irritation, but the glass in hand barely rippled. It would be unlike him to let a perfectly good drink go to waste.

The brow raise at his statement was palpable, “Really? What kind of events?” The table rocked just so when you stood. Clearly the buffoon screwed something up in the base again–probably from fucking you too hard on it, again. Which he would have to repair. Again.

He was quickly tiring of cleaning the moron's mess.

Instead, he focused on his drink, delightfully warm in his grasp. A special blend, made from a hybrid of earl grey and some similar variant from planet Vegeta he had swiped the seeds of during his last visit. Though unfortunately it was very bitter on it’s own, something even the prince admitted was not very pleasant. But adding a few of the more passive leaves from Earth seemed to be enough to drop the acidity, making a near spicy tingle to an otherwise placid delight.

“The one involving that woman he met as a cub.”

All movement paused on your end of the table, halfway between grabbing your dishes. His senses ticked on the curl to your energy that belated the little sneer you'd make whenever you heard something unsavory. The dishware clinked softly as he set the empty cup down, the little saucer being pushed aside.

“...Chi-Chi?” Your voice was soft, he noted. Quieter than your normal bite, “...What did he do to her?” Though you tried–for which he would commend–there was still a wavering note to your voice. A sign of what to come if he spoke the wrong words; sadly, it was all he had for tonight.

“..She was killed. Found dead by the boy version of himself before he could ever know her.” His arms, sleeveless in his blue one piece undersuit, crossed over his firm chest with a finger tapping at his bicep, “It appears he had found her too late and the reptoid chasing her caught up. No doubt because of that twisted imp Fu’s meddling.”

Finally he let his eyes open. A glance towards the woman worthy of being his mate told him all he needed to know.

You were not his former wife. His wife would have been calculating strategies the moment the words left his lips. Her blue eyes would shine with the deep intelligence he’d fallen for, the respect he bore proudly on his breast shining through his own as she dug deep into her mind at possible retribution for such actions and ways to rectify everything back to normal.

It was hours like these where he was consistently reminded of the differences. His old mate was fire incarnate, bursting into a roaring blaze at the sound of any insolence. She would immediately launch into tirades of the bastard’s tyranny and how she’d give him a piece of her mind-something that commonly led to more romps in the bedroom than he could count.

Yet, while you bore the same intense fire and will Bulma had, your reactions differed vastly.

Tonight you were silent. Your eyes, so unlike his old mate’s, stared at the cold stone with a hard glare as if you intended to break it. If given the power he wouldn't be surprised if you did. Though he could see through the farce you had laid--behind the presented anger on your face the vapidness he’d only seen on planets he conquered centuries ago stalwartly remained. A gaze warriors make when presented with an unwinnable scenario yet refusing to surrender.

He knew you wouldn't admit it, but you were about to cry. He commended you for trying but the salt twisting in your scent gave her away.

A brow of his own raised, “Woman-”

“It’s fine.” You cut him off, grabbing his cup and heading to the kitchen, “I know he gets emotional about it. I’ll keep some leftovers in the fridge for his stupid ass when he gets home.” The bite in your words was twice as venomous than a stake to the heart. Fury barely suppressed stoked the flames of your ki and he curled his lip at it stabbing into his own.

Of course you’d gone from upset to angry, like all the times before whenever one of them acted like an idiot. If you were a Saiyan he’d be more than aroused by your rage–and he had been many times–but the reason behind your ire was a bucket of ice water to any fire in his loins.

The topic of their former wives was delicate. You’d accepted it was their past, part of them to the core-it wasn’t like you were going to reject their offerings after all this time. But he knew the topic itself was still difficult to cover. You’d been told how long they’d been married and mated. The loss had been devastating- one of the many reasons you’d been their choice next was related to the intense pain both elder Saiyans had felt. To know that one of your mates was reliving the grief had to be an immense weight on your shoulders. Coupled with the insecurity you were undoubtedly revisiting, he knew you were in turmoil.

Though he could not help the twist in his gut at having to address the issue once more. A bitter coldness dripped into his ribs, the resentment palpable but contained. You were, at your own core, still human. The frailty you fought hard to hide would still find ways to break through regardless of the power shared between you and them. He turned the irritation inward at his own ridiculous response–he could not expect you to be as complacent as a normal Saiyan.

Though it didn't stop it from being annoying.

Silently he stood up. The chair was scooted back against the table, cup abandoned for now as he entered the kitchen, arms crossed firmly over his chest. Those angry eyes that could rake gooseflesh over his skin were focused intently on the dishes clattering within the sink. The rag squelched soapy suds across the glassware in your irate scrubbing, as if you could scratch out the feelings within. You were completely involved in the task, which left you wide open.

You yelped when your feet were swept out from beneath you, “Vegeta what-!?”

“Quiet, woman.” Firm, muscled arms braced underneath your back and knees as you were hoisted up against his broad chest. The awkward dangle of your long legs and shoulder nearly being shoved into his cheek went ignored as always as he turned away from the sink.

He could feel your confused glare burning into his cheek while he trudged out of the kitchen. Your legs dangled over his arm, back in an awkward angle from his hold. The bemusement seeping from your gaze raised his hackles when he had to scrunch your body together just to squeeze out of the doorframe in the dining room to the living room and it took tremendous effort not to glare in your direction. Instead he dropped onto the couch, cradling his mate in his lap.

Even at this angle you were still so much larger. An eyebrow twitched when his shoulder propped up your bicep, your knees squished up on the other side of his chest in a familiar crushed carry. And yet he could feel you were so very small right now as he held your in his grasp. He could hear how your heart thrummed like a bird in a cage, held back by the irritated glare you leveled at him

“Vegeta what are you doing.” It wasn’t a question. You stated what you wanted, a fact he found incredibly attractive even with your current state. He knew you were upset, both at his actions and the situation you’d found yourself in, but he;d be damned if he didn’t remedy the clear mistake in your logic.

"I know you're overthinking again." You fell silent, no doubt staring at him in mute shock, "You're second guessing Kakarot's bond to you. You're thinking about how he doesn't respond with the same anger whenever you are in danger, and maybe you've even got the insane idea that he would return to the woman of his past." A soft swallow bobbed in your throat. The sound drew him to glance at you, tracing the downward path of your soft skin from the corner of his eyes. Tense as a drum, a frustrated frown on your lips.

"Well I'm going to tell you to get over yourself. The fact you have such little faith in his bond to you is unacceptable, even if he is an idiot. He spent decades on his own grieving the loss of his first mate. It was damn near pathetic how inconsolable the bastard was, always lamenting what he lost and giving me a headache even when he understood I was going through the same." His eyes closed as he glanced away. Remembering the burning pain never ending in his ribs, the encroaching darkness that remained at the edge of his consciousness. It was maddening how close he'd come to reverting to his old ways just to bury his feelings deep until he was nothing but a ball of rage again.

Yet he held firm, glaring holes into the far wall, "And then he found you. And he refused to shut up about it. He prattled on about your face, your voice, not even your name was spared as he made a fool out of himself. He could barely focus during training and got plenty of what he deserved when he allowed his thoughts to drift to you." The prince scoffed, "Even Trunks could see the obsession festering in that idiot long before he could admit it to himself. It was as humiliating to watch as it was to hear."

Finally he set his narrowed gaze to yours, "If you honestly believe he would leave you to return to his old life, after all the blood and pain we've gone through to make you ours, then you're sorely mistaken. And I do not want my mate to be so weak as to have waning faith in her mates."

You were staring at him. The irritation was still present in your eyes but had lost much of it;s intensity. A cute flush began to decorate your cheeks, but it was ruined by the all too familiar struggle of you trying not to laugh. Indignant by your amusement he glared harder, to which you snorted outright.

"You're terrible at making people feel better, aren't you." Your snickering made him huff and look away annoyed, "Don’t be like that, it was cute.” A low growl, “Alright, handsome. You're very handsome when you try." His obstinance weakened when you drew him back with your fingertips on his jaw, kissing his cheek. Had he been a weaker man he would have blushed harder, "Although I didn’t expect you to defend Goku of all people. Are you starting to go soft on him now?"

A snort had him rolling his eyes, "Of course not. I don’t play favorites, especially with Kakarot. It’s just insulting that you think so little of his attachment to you as if he would return to his old life like a cowering dog. And I will not stand to have our Saiyan ways defiled by your ignorance." Now he was letting her go in favor of crossing his arms, refusing to look at her.

It was your turn to roll your eyes, "Fine, I'm sorry alright. You're right, I was overthinking." You waved at his glare while sliding off his lap to the cushion next to him. Your hands busied themselves by straightening the rolled up sleeves of your sweater back down over your wrists while he clicked his tongue at you.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him. It was his bond you insulted, not mine." With a nod to the closed door he settled into the couch more comfortably. You glanced at him when his arm found it;s way over your shoulders and hauled you into his side, "But I doubt he will be back anytime soon, so get comfortable."

You sighed, “Fine, I’ll just find something to do until then.” With a brief peck to his jaw you made to get up but instead, found you couldn't. A few tugs on his grip proved it sturdy and your wide eyes found his, "Wait, are you going to hold me until he gets back?" Another, harder pull did not change his hold, the beginnings of a smirk tugging the edge of his lips. You faced him with a glare, "Vegeta, I can’t sit here all night."

He raised an elegant brow, unphased, "And why is that? Tell me, is it because you neglected to finish the cleaning you set out to do this morning and have been reduced to doing it late at night." When you failed to answer, indignant rage immediate on your face, he smirked, "Of course you did, lazy woman. You just sat around like a princess waiting to be serviced didn't you? Expecting me or Kakarot to help you through them, I assume?"

Your pout was at full force, "Kind of, yeah. But let me guess, his royal shortness wasn't going to, was he."

His brow twitched but his smug grin remained, "Not even being my mate will spare you from your own incompetence." A devious chuckle answered your miserable groan.

"I know Goku will." The bite punctuated you turning away with your nose in the air. A desperate attempt to gain ground in the argument.

"You could ask Kakarot to rearrange the planets and he would do it for you." He dismissed the thought with a wave of his free hand, reclining back into the couch. Checkmate.

You leveled an unimpressed raise of your brow at him, "You say that like you wouldn't." Unexpected play, but he could retaliate still.

Just as uninterested his gaze lazily flowed towards your lips and back, "As an action to prove my loyalty to you, I would go to any limit. Even bringing the head of that Fu bastard to your feet if you desired." Ground reclaimed, checkmate.

You cringed, "Gross, no. That's Hell to get out of the carpet." Of course you weren;t the same level of tactician as he, but you were much wiser in knowing when to forfeit before the combat became too much.

He shared a soft chuckle with you in place of verbal sparring, exhilarating as it was. The tension had ebbed out of the air, a peaceful silence falling into the room. He could turn on the TV, since the remote was sitting on the coffee table mere feet away, but he was comfortable as he was. His mate was leaning into his side, pacified once more and his son and Kakarot were nowhere to be seen for the next few hours. He had you all to himself for the foreseeable future, but all he wanted was to remain as he was with you in his grasp.

A soft kiss to his cheek made him grunt, "Thank you, though. For trying to make me feel better." You grinned at him from above, your head nestled down into his shoulder.

He stubbornly ignored the warmth on his cheeks as he let the traces of a smile grace his face. Instead he pressed you even closer in an attempt to drown out the thundering beat of his heart in his ears.

#vegeta x reader #goku x reader #trunks x reader #the bite writes #dragon ball #this took me over a week to write the basics #then nearly a whole month to finish :)#I am in pain

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louve-garoue · 2 years ago

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Before I start, @erased-zamasu I saw that you like Saiyan ChiChi and Human Goku Au so maybe you would enjoy ? If you're only interested in the GoChi parts then we're getting to it :D ! You should read the part 1 of this though. For the rest just know that Vegeta is a rich boy searching the DB to get away from is dad in the summer break. He managed to recruit ChiChi into coming with him to help her search for Master Roshi and in return, once Mt Frypan is no longer on fire he can have the Dragon Ball here. He also recruited Nappa, who seems strong and can actually break rocks with his hands but wouldn't last 2 minutes in a fight because he's fragile actually, to be intimidating for him through the power of money. And Raditz just forced himself ounto this ragtag group because he plan to steal the Dragon Ball.

Aaand here is part 8. Enjoy :D !

So I kinda want this part to have horror movie vibe. Like protagonist are taken down 1 by 1 while they are split off you know ? Except it isn't probably going to possible :'). Except with Raditz maybe :').

So anyway Vegeta and Nappa find Goku carrying a giant fish on the road like Bulma did. This of course start an argument between them. And between Vegeta negative stats at communication/diplomacy, and Nappa who's default reaction was to try to intimidate what he thought was just a weird kid (nevermind the giant fish he was literally carrying, Nappa did not have a good perception roll), well Goku completely misunderstood the situation and our 2 idiots intention.

For a little background, I know that Grandpa Gohan took Goku with him to a trip into town once, and it did not go well with the villager (reread the part 1 if your confused by that). Which convinced Grandpa to isolate Goku nearly completely until he gets older. What I'm not sure though, is if Goku was old enough to remember the trip when it happened. But in any case, our monkey boy already has somewhat a negative biais because of it. Because even if he does not remember it happening, and Grandpa certainly did not told him, he still see that Grandpa really doesn't want him to go into a town. And by the way his Grandpa acts, the "why" is related to the people outside their mountain, even if he tried his best to hide it.

So yeah, seeing stranger already made him suspicious, but stranger than ride a very strange metal beast ? And that spoke to him with disdain and tried to intimidate him ? Ooh those guys are bad guys for sure !

So he knocks them out, quick and fast, and tell himself "yeah I stopped bad guys, Grandpa gonna be so proud :D". And then he hears the commotion of ChiChi and Raditz prior and he's like "There are more >:(". Grandpa isn't here, gone shopping for some supplies in a nearby village, so Goku the one who will have to step up. And so his hunt begin here >:D.

He know the forest well and he know how to travel efficiently so he finds Raditz before ChiChi does. And that's kind of where I wanted to place the horror vibe part, with Goku careful to not be seen by Raditz and taking him out by surprise (again) as nothing but his shadow is seen. But if we already saw Goku from his interaction with Vegeta and Nappa then what's the point ? Beside it isn't also a very "dragon ball" scenario, or something in character for Goku to do.

So instead Goku confront Raditz (who didn't have any injury from the fall thanks to being a gag manga character) face to face. And no, Raditz doesn't really connects any dots right for reasons I'll explain later. So the confrontation is mostly normal. Raditz is surprised to see someone here. And though he doesn't understand a thing of what Goku is saying (not because of accent or anything, he's just lacking context), he see that the kid is hostile and wants to fight. He has no trouble fighting with a 12 year old so he does. It didn't turn well for him. RIP Raditz.

Nonetheless this is the first indication that Goku is strong. Because while we hadn't see Raditz actually fight before this point. We know he's actually a fighter, unlike Nappa and Vegeta. And he do get to show off some technics before getting knocked out too. But also let's not kid ourself, Raditz was not that strong. He's weaker that Yamcha was at the beginning of the manga and he doesn't have a distinct style like Yamcha has. Still by normal human standard, he's no pushover.

So Goku now has a total of 3 people knocked out + 1 fish to tie up and carry back to his house. Not gonna be fun. Meanwhile ChiChi finally found where Raditz landed but no Raditz in sight ! (The Pterodactyl still there though). She does find traces of a fight and someone being taken away. She does to follow them but those traces stop midway ! (Goku remembered to erase them halfway). So she has no choice but to explore the surroundings until she finds something.

By the times she find Vegeta's car (with Goku's fish), Goku had already tied up all his "prisoners" on a tree near his house. He was coming back for his fish where he also saw ChiChi examining the scene to try to find out what happened. And he got angry because not only was she probably one of the bad guys, but she also seems to want to steal his fish :(. So of course a fight ensued.

And Goku won. Okay okay let me explain my reasoning here. I know by all means ChiChi should win. They're both the same age, probably both got trained by 2 legends as soon as it was possible and ChiChi as a biological advantage of being of a superpowered warrior race. BUT, I have no doubt that Gohan was the better martial artist between himself and Ox-king. And it said that he knew every type of martial arts in the world, which he absolutely taught Goku (as much as he could up until that point anyway, Goku is still very much in training after all). Plus I think they would have been more rigorous in their training : considering it a way to develop themself spiritually and so important to devot themself to it. While ChiChi and Ox-king did it because they liked it and as a form of Father-Daughter bonding.

I also think Gyumao/Ox-king way of training ChiChi was close to Master Roshi : aka nearly entirely based on strengthening yourself first and developing a martial art style second. So ChiChi only has the basics in that regards.

What I'm saying is that in terms of brute strength ChiChi is definitely stronger. If this was arm-wrestling she would have won effortlessly. But this is a fight, a martial art spar. And Goku was taught how to handle opponent stronger than him. So the match is long, and hard, and leave him dead on his feet, but yes he did win it.

ChiChi is incredibly impressed. That boy is so cool ! And strong ! And ! And ! What he is saying right now doesn't really matter because ChiChi express her thoughts out loud after that. She is very excited (and definitely has a crush). Which confuse Goku. And thanks to that they managed to explain what's going on to each other.

Goku casually apologise for knocking and kidnapping her friends and invite her (and them) to dinner with him to make it up. ChiChi says to not worry about it, it's not a big deal :D, and can't wait to go eat (and to taste Goku's cooking). Those pure-hearted innocent children, neither of them realize that normal people do not consider "knocking out and kidnapping" as "not a big deal" lol, bless their soul.

They're gonna find out quickly though, especially Goku. Because when they got into his home, they find Grandpa Gohan, back from his trip with now three awake guest which he wasn't happy to find tied to a tree (yes they woke up before he come back).

Will Goku survive his Grandpa scolding ! Of course ! How ? Wait to find out :D. See you next time :DD

Hello would you like a rant about one of those :

_An AU I have where Goku is an earthling and ChiChi a saiyan (Og DB version and/or DBZ version)

_An AU where Vegeta was sent to Earth instead of Goku, but Goku is still very much the Main Character (beside I hyperfocus a lot on the Son Family so the Au is mainly on how, against all odds, this family still managed to find each other)

_About a song that I think would fit GoChi pretty well :D (the song in question being "Je te Donne" by Jean-Jacques Goldman but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't know it since most of it is in french and it is pretty old :(, I'll do a translation if you do want to hear about it :) )

_About how Goku was a smart kid, it's not his fault confused "stupid" and "was taught very little basic knowledge" :((

_About how, while I like the first telefilm on Bardock and prefer the personality they gave him, I largely prefer DB Minus as the story on how Goku got sent to Earth and my frustration with the telefilm being mostly used as the reference (though I can downplay that last part if you want). As a bonus I can also expand on how and why I also prefer the manga version of DB Minus over what they did in the DB Super Broly movie

I just discovered your blog and I love it :DDD. I am also very glad to found another person who like Og Dragon Ball more than Dbz :DD. You're amazing and I hope you're having a good day/night :]

Yes but I’m bad at making choices so any one you want lol

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parkersgeorg · 2 years ago

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Forgive me if this should have been a dm, but may I request that essay about Gohan and Vegeta’s relationship?

Ohohoho well SINCE YOU'RE ASKING.

Consider Vegeta. He has always prided himself on being, even as a child, stronger than all adult Saiyans, and that without training under anyone. He was a prodigy! He was unrivalled! And then he meets Gohan who 1) is probably even younger than Vegeta was when he was declared the best 2) never had any training whatsoever either AND wasn't even born and raised in a warrior culture. When do they first meet? Oh, that would be when Gohan absolutely trounces Vegeta's ass at the tender age of four years old (or five years old according to some Western translations, or three years old according to Toriyama's original concept), eliciting in Vegeta the same response Gohan gets from just about anyone: disbelief. For all that Vegeta has become the archetype of the shonen rival who always comes second, we tend to forget that he did beat Goku the first time they met -- and he beat him by a lot. He was torturing him to death when Gohan and Krillin and Yajirobé intervened, and without them Goku would be fucking dead (again).

Vegeta has thus been rattled not just by Goku but also by Gohan, who displayed enormous amounts of raw power at a ridiculously young age. And for all of Vegeta's posturing and pride, he noticed. After he allies himself with Krillin and Gohan on Namek, he shouts at Frieza that they're worthy allies because they're constantly becoming stronger, "especially the young one [who has] powers he can't even dream of". Gohan looks noticeably struck by this comment -- in the middle of the chaos of Namek where everyone is five times his height and a million times his power, Vegeta's acknowledgment would in a weird way probably mean a lot to him, especially since The Prince Of All Saiyans wouldn't say that kind of thing lightly. Gohan remains terrified of Vegeta's immense power and ruthless violence; but he takes Vegeta's profession of alliance seriously and doesn't hesitate to dive into danger to drag Vegeta out of the way, a move which completely baffles and infuriates Vegeta -- it was probably the first time anyone ever saved his life in combat. Of course he shouts at Gohan for what he can only perceive as a humiliation. And yet later, against Frieza, Vegeta does exactly the same thing for him, for no clear reason other that he considers Gohan an ally worth preserving.

So from the beginning, despite Vegeta's pride on one hand and Gohan's fear on the other, there's a warriorlike respect between them, and they're changing each other. Vegeta loathes Goku and dreads Frieza, and despises just about anyone else he fights... but not Gohan. That doesn't mean he's nice to him; when Gohan adorably tries to thank him for his help post-Namek arc, Vegeta batting his hand away is basically the continuation of his confused anger at Gohan trying to save his life. He cannot see that extended hand as anything other than an insult to his strength. But with that move, Gohan is literally the only fighter who tries to... befriend Vegeta. All the other Z-fighters keep well away and Goku sort of lost interest the moment he heard of someone stronger. But Gohan takes the time to thank him and acknowledge that Vegeta went out of his (admittedly very narrow) way to help them. I like to think that his wounded surprise when Vegeta rejects him would quietly shock Vegeta in turn -- shit, that kid really was trying to make friends. So his mental Gohan file would boil down to 1) Incredibly strong and worthy ally 2) Too sweet for his own good.

During the Cell arc, Vegeta's posturing endangers everyone. Once again, Gohan's amazing untapped strength comes out in full force, and once again he risks his life to save Vegeta's. But instead of blowing up at him this time, Vegeta apologizes (which shocks everyone who hears it). Is it the only time we see Vegeta apologize onscreen? I think it is. And he calls himself dead weight! Calls himself a burden on Gohan! Even in the deepest depths of his self-hatred, he would have never said something like that to Goku. No one but Gohan could have ever elicited that from him; no one but Gohan was both strong enough to actually protect Vegeta, and sweet enough that not even Vegeta could resent him for it.

So the little seed of respect planted during the Namek arc has been quietly growing during the Cell arc, and we see hints of it during the Buu arc too -- when Gohan is presumed dead, Vegeta is straight-up distressed, basically saying that Gohan didn't deserve it, getting hit by the guilt of what he's done. Gohan was the only Z-fighter to acknowledge Vegeta's humanity, and in return Gohan is the only Z-fighter whose humanity Vegeta acknowledges.

And then Buu is defeated, Vegeta concludes his character arc, and has his last interaction with Gohan in DBZ: they meet before the final tournament and Vegeta coldly tells Gohan he clearly hasn't been training. And Gohan seems intimidated and embarrassed. It's clear that for all of Vegeta's repeated fuck-ups, Gohan has never stopped respecting him: in his mind, Vegeta is still that pillar of strength that almost annihilated them all that first time on Earth, and saved their asses multiple times on Namek when Goku was nowhere to be found. The fact that Gohan is so vulnerable to Vegeta's judgment harks back to that moment on Namek when Vegeta casually acknowledged how awesome Gohan's power could become. Gohan remembers that -- and now, having abandoned his training, he clearly feels that he's disappointed Vegeta.That he didn't live up to his hopes. And Vegeta, in turn, clearly tells him he expected better -- that he did have hopes of Gohan, and that Gohan is fully capable of (and therefore responsible for) upholding Saiyan pride.

This is when we leave canon and depart for the mad fevered realms of my brain. The Namek Chief and Old Kai both saw deep untapped potential in Gohan but could only attempt to bring it up to the surface through magic. Gohan is basically, repeatedly confirmed as the strongest DBZ character ever... if he could only manage to actually unlock that strength. But it's locked up tight.

I wonder if anyone could HELP WITH THAT.

Being drafted in a terrible war at an absurdly young age? Vegeta knows how that feels. Being hindered in your ability to get stronger because of psychological issues stemming from trauma and self-doubt? Vegeta also knows how that feels. Feeling like you can never unlock your abilities when you need them? Vegeta also knows how that feels! He can even relate to being disgusted with fighting -- he swore to renounce fighting after Goku's second death and essentially kept his word right up until Goku came back. Most importantly, Vegeta would be uniquely suited to recognize how both Piccolo and Goku's training approaches fucked up Gohan. Piccolo didn't reassure him enough, turning the fight into this terrifying non-negotiable obligation. Goku reassured him too much, basically taking the fight aspect entirely out of Gohan's training -- to the point that Gohan experienced the actual fighting as a betrayal when the time came to face Cell, and terrified himself when his Saiyan ferocity came out unbidden and uncontrollable.

As the only person alive to remember Saiyan culture, Vegeta could see that what Gohan's been missing is the sheer joy Saiyans are supposed to experience when fighting. And post-Buu arc, Vegeta has grown enough to acknowledge he can care for other people. He would allow himself to actually use everything he knows to further someone else's development. His skills as a prodigy, his understanding of Saiyan nature, his own exploration of trauma, his respect for Gohan and his faith in that famed potential -- all that could come out to play big time. He could help Gohan; he would help Gohan. And thus finally return the friendship Gohan dared to extend to him all those years ago. And when I think of how Gohan would react to that, I CRY.

#dbz #rant #gohan #vegeta #the fic i'll write one day #maybe #my only regret re: the feudal samurai dbz fic #was that i couldnt insert gohan #for timeline reasons #but i'm thinking about vegeta and gohan's relationship #i'm THINKING about it.#as you can see #thanks for asking!!

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taibu · 2 years ago

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mmmmkay so ya'll remember this from DBS? Right?

Yeah, it's a screenshot of our boy Piccolo singing karaoke so badly that literally everyone else except his son eternal wing man right hand man student Gohan is reeling over it. Very funny and very much in character blah blah blah BUT!!! You know what I think?

This is all a ruse. This one moment here? Piccolo is faking the whole thing! He's actually a great singer!

Now we know that this isn't the only time Piccolo has canonically sang in BDS, as he has somewhat admitted to singing to Pan in this episode:

youtube

Now you may be saying; "but Taibu you dumb fox, kids don't care if you sing good or bad" and you're absolutely right.

HOWEVER! I have some sort of proof for my theory. And that proof is, believe it or not, Krillin!

In the 1994 Broly-movie (which I know isn't canon and all but I have a habit of combining non-, semi- and fully canon things together in the franchises I like so sue me I suppose lol) Krillin sings to the other fighters, and while the English version made a joke about how bad he was, in the original Japanese version; people actually marvel at how WELL he is singing, hell even Vegeta is jealous!

Now, Krillin's OG VA is Mayumi Tanaka who is also known for voicing Luffy in One Piece. The connection between the two characters had actually been hinted a few times in DBS with Krillin's phone playing the One Piece opening theme.

Either way, we know for a fact that Krillin, at least in the OG Japanese dub, is a good singer. But what does this have to do with Piccolo?

Well, Piccolo's OG VA is ALSO known for voicing a One Piece Character!

Toshio Furukawa has voiced Piccolo from pretty much day one (with the only exception being when Pics was just a baby, where he was voiced by Hiromi Tsuru, who also voiced Bulma until her passing in 2017). Furukawa also voices the character Ace in One Piece.

Many OP-characters have one or more character-themes performed by their VA's, and Ace is not an exception to this, having two songs dedicated to him, and being performed by Furukawa: Save my Heart and Living Fire. Furukawa gives both characters pretty similar voices, so it is a safe assumption that Piccolo's and Ace's singing voices are also similar. And if you listen to these songs, you can hear that they are really freaking well sung!

But why would Piccolo pretend that he can't sing well? Because THAT is the most in-character thing for him to do, innit?

If people knew how good his voice was, they would ask him to sing more often in Bulma's many parties, right? Hell, they must have pestered for HOURS to get Piccolo there even once! And once he did, he probably foresaw a lot more pestering in his future, so to stop it immediately, he faked one bad performance, just to stop people from ever letting him on the stage again, for the sake of their ears. The only one who thought it was great was Gohan, most likely because of his endless respect for his teacher, or perhaps he has heard Piccolo sing to himself in the wastelands and knows he can actually sing well.

So TL:DR-version: Piccolo actually has a REALLY nice singing-voice, he only faked to be bad to spare himself from ever having to stand up on a stage again. He preserves his singing to Pan and potentially other babies he has to look after in the future, and no-one else. Gohan knows he is good, due to him walking in on Piccolo singing a lullaby to Pan a couple of times, but keeps his friend's secret because it is clearly very important to him.

And that is the long-winded way of me telling that I whole-heartedly head-canon that Piccolo is a good singer. Thank you for coming to my Ted-talk.

#piccolo #headcanons #dbz #dbs #shut up tai #tai's dumb headcanons #you can take this headcanon from my cold dead hands

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yeowangies · 2 years ago

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quirky ways the saiyans show their love?

I don't think I'm gonna be very original with this but I'll give it a shot lmao

Goku probably picks random flowers he finds and brings them for you. I know that's very 'human' like, but I don't think he does it because he knows it's romantic, he just does it because flowers are pretty and they remind him of you. Another things he does (which is so canon we all know it) is biting, it doesn't even have to be sexual, he just likes to bite you 😂 anywhere and everywhere!

Vegeta is. well Vegeta. I do think he probably listens to whatever you can complaint about, or if you're upset with someone, and he's gonna be like 'do you want me to kill them'. Or he won't even ask, he just goes out and you just know he's out for blood. Whether or not you stop him is up to you lmao.

On the other hand, I don't think Raditz is as feral as Vegeta, but he kinda is. He probably like, breaks into places to get you that necklace you saw one time, or that dress you mentioned you liked lmao. I also think he would be into beating up anyone who has given you a hard time, maybe not to the point of killing them, but I mean. If you're into that lmao.

I can't think of anything That quirky for Bardock, if anything I think he's the most conservative, he probably just thinks sex is a good way to show affection (which it is). But other than that, I do think he probably just pays attentions if you say you like certain things, and he will bring them to you when he goes on missions, or if he happens to see them somewhere (he totally did not just 'happen' to see them, he had actively been looking for that gem stone you like).

Now for Broly, I have a cute one lmao I do think he likes to smell you at all times, and even smell your clothes. I don't know how quirky that is, but it's adorable, like maybe you've been gone for like, four hours, so he is going to go into your room and smell the sheets and your clothes and stuff lmao

#anonymous #replies #this was so cute actually lmao #headcanons

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evilkitten3 · 2 years ago

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sometimes i wonder what krillin must have felt when vegeta got to namek (prior to their team-up ofc). like it was goku's request that vegeta not get shish kabob'd, but it was krillin's choice to adhere to that; he frankly would've been completely justified in stabbing away no matter what reason goku had.

but he didn't, and now they have to deal with him again. the guy they definitely aren't able to beat now that they've swapped out goku for bulma (sorry bulma, but. y'know).

sure, vegeta wasn't the strongest person on namek by a longshot at that point, but he was the one krillin had already run into. just one more threat they had to face that completely outclassed them, but unlike everyone else on namek, this one was there specifically bc krillin hadn't killed him when he'd had the chance. and he had no reason to think vegeta would be even a little forgiving over the "sparing your life bc my bestie has a fightcrush on you" thing (or anything else. not a super forgiving guy in general)

and now here he is, with a five-year-old alien hybrid and a non-combatant engineer. he's the only adult fighter in their little trio and i think that would've been when it really hit him that there wasn't anyone he could go to for help. no roshi, no goku... and if they fucked up, no dragon balls.

that's a lot for the poor guy to be dealing with on top of a good chunk of his friends having been murdered right in front of him. iirc, krillin was the first of the main characters to die in dragon ball, and he was still dead when chiaotzu and roshi died, so goku dying at the start of dbz would've been the first time he actually saw one of his close friends die. then said friend's son is kidnapped (by the little brother of krillin's own murderer, no less) and he can't do anything about it bc everybody's gotta go train for the even stronger aliens that were on the way, and then almost everybody dies, they lose the dragon balls, and goku just barely gets there in time to stop nappa from turning gohan into a son pancake.

krillin gets a brief hope spot in which goku hands nappa his ass on a silver platter, but then it turns out nappa's boss (who's just been sitting there laughing his ass off as all of krillin's friends are dying) is an even bigger asshole than nappa, kills him without even trying, and just when he's trying to get goku's kid to safety, they realize "oh shit yeah i don't think goku is actually quite strong enough to win this", so they have to go back. he has to fight the guy whose minion he could barely deal with.

and after everything, he agrees to spare vegeta's life. just because goku asked him to. and it immediately comes back to bite him in the ass. can you imagine if the ginyu force hadn't shown up? i can't imagine vegeta would've teamed up with gohan and krillin (TEAM THREE STAR!) without an immediate threat he knew he wouldn't be able to handle, so it's very possible he would've killed them right away (i doubt he could've taken nail at that point, but he probably could've killed at least one of the earthlings before nail either stopped him or he ran off).

krillin went through so much shit in early dbz, and that was all before he got exploded. i don't think he gets nearly enough credit for keeping it together for as long as he did.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #krillin #kulilin #kuririn #krillin is a complete badass ok

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dballzposting · 3 years ago

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What if you were Trunks and you were like 17 and you were staying up too late to do your homework and you're at a kitchen table because if you go to your room you're afraid that you'll just start playing video games again & Yamucha is visiting right now and hes staying in a guest bedroom somewhere & you dont really care & last time he spent a few days here you caught him in the morning (11 am) once standing around in his underwear going through the cupboards like "You guys got any cornflakes?" & then when he found the cornflakes he had sat down and ate three bowls in a row & so to not be impolite you had sat down too and let him tell you stories & the spoon just looked so tiny in his giant hairy man hands & he was defintiely bigger than your dad though not as muscular & it just sort of felt like he was towering over the bowl though by temperament he is a swell guy & afterwards you had looked at your own hands and wondered if they'll ever get that big and masculine and hairy. And you're prepared for this to happen again but since youre staying up late you'll probably sleep late so maybe you'll avoid him in the morning.

And it's pretty late and you're mother is off to bed soon but she sits with you for a moment to make sure that you're doing homework and then sighs and mutters "I guess this'll be a late night for Vegeta." Becasue it was common for Vegeta to disappear for odd hours without telling anyone where he was going. And to your mother who cant sense ki, he could be a planet away, even if hes just in a far room of capsule corp.

And it really is common for Vegeta to go somewhere random and stare at the ocean or whagever, but it was also common for him to just be offscreen but Around, so to help your mother out, you take a jab at sensing his ki. And this time, he really is just in the building.

"You might see him yet tonight," you say. "He's just in the next wing over."

Your mother takes start, and she asks, "what, dont tell me hes socializing with Yamucha."

You check again, and oh yeah, that must be the guest bedroom where Yamucha is staying, and yep, they're both over there.

"Oh," you say, realizing how odd that is. "I'm surprised myself."

"Well this I have to see."

Your mother leaves and you return to your homework, disinterested and unbothered.

A while later, you think you hear someone yelling, but it's too far away for you to be sure.

A bit after that, rapid footsteps approach, and you turn to see none other than Yamucha speeding past the doorway. Then he stops and backtracks and reappears and waves at you.

"Hey buddy!" He says, and hes shirtless, and is wearing yellow pants, and his hair is tied back messily, and he looks very much like hes been slapped the shit out of, and he is carrying the top half of his yellow suit in one elbow, and his traveling briefcase in the other hand. "Nice seeing you today, but I gotta jet. Stay in school! And, maybe try to put a good word in for me with your mom. You know, stress that I've been a good friend for years, and that I really am sorry, and maybe dont tell her where I am if she tries to hunt me down? Okay, bye!" and then hes gone.

You go to bed that night like normal, and the next day your father is absent from the breakfast table, and you ask your mother why that is, and she says that she sent him to eat alone outside, and you ask her what he did, and she says "Why dont YOU ask HIM what he DID," which usually means that Bulma and Vegeta have differing opinions on what "he did," and she thinks that his version is stupid.

To spare yourself the long ire-filled rant that your mother's answer would be, you go outside and ask your father what he did.

"I had gay sex with Yamucha," he says.

#dballz posting #YamgetaYaoi

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duhragonball · 2 years ago

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Dragon Ball Super 023

tfw you’re in Dragon Ball Super Episode 23.

So for the last few episodes, Goku and Vegeta have been training on Beerus’ planet, and then Beerus ordered Whis to send them to some other dimension where they could supposedly improve faster. But for Whis to do that, he had to send his staff to the other dimension as well. This backfires on Beerus when he starts eating all the pizza Whis brought back from Earth, and Whis can’t bring him more because he needs his staff to do it. So Whis has to bring back Goku and Vegeta to get his staff. This whole thing is just a pointless waste of time.

I think the idea was that the writers on DBS wanted to show Goku and Vegeta training to achieve their Super Saiyan Blue forms, which they revealed in the Resurrection F movie. In the movie, it was established that they reached that level off-screen, but this anime expands on the story. So you would think this would give Toei a chance to tell some story about how they reached Super Saiyan Blue. Except.... there is no story. None at all.

Part of the problem is that they probably didn’t want to show them transforming until the fight with Frieza, which is sensible enough. That’s how the movie played it, after all. But then we still have these scenes of Goku and Vegeta training with no apparent point. Beerus just tells them their time in the other dimension did them a lot of good, even if they weren’t in there for very long.

I guess it was like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, at least in the sense that they were stuck there longer than the amount of time that passed in the outside world. Anyway, they had to eat all of Beerus’ extra pizza in order to avoid starvation, so yeah.

So now that they’re back and Whis has his staff, they can finally find out about Frieza’s invasion, and Goku can try to teleport back to Earth. Only it’s too far away, so Gohan powers up as high as he can go, and this gives Goku something to lock on to. Wait, was Frieza’s power level not enough? Everyone��s been talking about how amazingly strong he is, to say nothing of Tagoma’s body, now inhabited by Captain Ginyu. You’d think there’d be plenty of strong ki powers for Goku to sense.

Anyway, Frieza tries to finish Gohan off, but then Goku appears in the nick of time and blocks the shot with his crappily-drawn arm. This episode sucks ass.

I tend to focus on the misshapen faces in this series, but there’s a lot of poorly-drawn fingers and hands. Parts of this show look like fan art drawn by a talented-but-inexperienced teenager. Like these should be the before shots next to a much better drawing in a social media post where the artist shows off their skill development over several years.

Anyway, Vegeta quickly polishes off Captain Ginyu, thus bringing an end to the decades-long running gag of that frog showing up in different scenes. I’m not sure what happened to Tagoma-in-the-frog’s-body, but it doesn’t really matter, since no one cared enough about Tagoma to care if he keeps the gag alive.

Also, I’d just like to say that this series keeps using shots like this of characters in the mid-ground, even though the artists seem to really, really suck at drawing figures on this scale. Like, what is the point of storyboarding for this sort of thing when you know your staff can’t execute it without making it look pathetic? This isn’t a new problem, either. This is Episode 23. By now, everyone at Toei should be fully aware of the limitations of this production.

Anyway, Frieza pisses and moans about his revenge and goes to his fourth form to avoid the mistakes he made during his first encounter with Goku.... Except this is exactly what he got wrong on Namek. He took forever to use his full power against Goku and the others, and kept giving them chances to put up a fight. Now, he’s doing it again, because his fourth form is no longer his strongest form. He’s holding Golden Frieza in reserve, and for no good reason.

And you know, if that’s how Frieza wants to play it, fine. But don’t tell me he’s correcting his past mistakes this way, because he’s not.

If this seems kind of brief, it’s because I skipped over countless reaction shots from other characters, and this annoying thing where the “camera” would rush from one set of characters to another. Also, Jaco did a lot of whining about wanting to run away, and none of it matters. This episode bites.

#dragon ball super #dragon ball #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #goku #gohan #vegeta #whis #beerus #frieza

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clockworkspider · 3 years ago

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hehehehegdhdhdhf

ibara

favorite thing about them: His lust for life. I think he and Eichi probably has the strongest lust for life among the cast? And I really love them for it. Especially since Ibara was given so little as a child, yet he made so much for himself and wants so much more. Bless his greedy lil heart <3

least favorite thing about them: Capitalism. Specifically, he needs to pay for helping Eichi come up with the ES insular L$ economy situation, which is clearly based on a combination of the Yumenosaki L$ system and the Shuetsu/COSPRO all-inclusive living arrangement system. Why did you guys have to go ahead and invent new forms of slavery? Why???

favorite line: This one here, from Gang... I just... He was given so little! You would think a child like this would be focused on survival, but he wants something more precious than life itself, something he's glad to be born for. It's both very heartbreaking but also very admirable to hear him say this as a young child. Cause even while having nothing, he still seeks for meaning... I have so much respect for child Ibara.

brOTP: Eden forever

OTP: While I don't specifically ship Eden polycule I do enjoy the dynamic when I see it. I really really need the IbaYuzu relationship to have some closure. Whenever I see fanarts of them in military camp I am so sad you don't understand.

nOTP: Once again as much as I love the IbaYuzu dynamic I have no desire to see them get (back) together. I think that chapter of their life has ended. I wish they can have like... a reverse Quarrel Festival kind of situation where Yuzuru can tell Ibara how proud he is of how far he's come. Then I can die satisfied.

random headcanon: So there's this part in Conquest where Ibara started listing all the rivals in media with "holmes and moriarty, godzilla and king ghidora, goku and vegeta", only to list "war of the roses" later when Hiyori didn't seem to get it... I think, back at the orphanage, he was probably mostly raised by the TV, so he knows a lot of pop-culture references. He'd also read any book he'd get his hands on. So his knowledge is pretty eclectic. After having the resources he immediately crash-coursed in business but also went back to examine pop-culture and entertainment through a business lens. If you ask for his preferences he might have to think real hard about it.

unpopular opinion: This is not an unpopular opinion but like... I think he has so much little person energy. He's just so smol and precious in my mind. While a lot of fans tend to buy into Eden's sinful and sexy image. But like... my impression of Ibara:

song i associate with them: Happy Now - Hey Ocean

favorite picture of them:

This was from his CG from SS, and the card is called COMPLETE JOY??? And the lines that went with it... HE'S SO HAPPY! The part where he's saying to Yuzuru about how much he's grown... it's so... I'm so proud of him and he deserves to be proud of himself for making it. It's also so like him to focus on the physical aspects of growing up healthy and eating good food. Cause those are like... things anyone else takes for granted. But they're important for him to mention because they're quantifiable quality of life, you see? And it's a sign that he's free and doesn't to struggle for survival anymore. *Puts face in hands.*

#enstars #ibara saegusa #he's infinitely precious you don't understand

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fizzingwizard · 4 years ago

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I could cry y’all. Episode 37 was SO GOOD. So good!! It truly felt like a Mimi episode, and it truly felt like Digimon Adventure, in multiple ways. It’s seriously fantastic!

I feel at once super duper relieved that this show is, really and truly, capable of this time of episode, and also super duper confused why, if it could do this, it hasn’t been doing it the whole time??

Anyway, we’ve now had four or five solid episodes in a row, so I’m letting myself feel hopeful again!

This episode is called “Mimi Wars,” but I feel it might be more aptly titled “Sailor Mimi”

In the name of employee rights, I will punish you!

More below!

Okay... so as I was watching this episode, I really got the feeling that they were parodying something again. Like last we had a Mimi episode - far far away in the distant past though it was - when they very obviously parodied Castle in the Sky. That’s twice now Mimi’s been compared with a girl with twin tails, Usagi’s pigtails and Sheeta’s braids xD

Although the poses Mimi uses aren’t exact replicas of Usagi’s, though, so maybe I’m wrong. I got the Usagi vibe from her personality even more, so maybe using the poses would have been considered copyright infringement and so they had to change them a little. Or, maybe Mimi is parodying someone else who also uses dramatic hand movements and talks a lot about justice in spite of being generally clueless...

See the resemblance? XD

But what I REALLY think is going on is, they’re spoofing the genre in general, while also taking it seriously. That’s important. It’s not just a joke here. This is the girl power episode, in a way, and in my opinion, it’s a better girl power episode than the fare I got used to growing up, which went more or less like this:

Guy: *does something with good intentions but inept*

Girl: Ugh! Men don’t respect women!

Guy: I’m sorry, what did I do wrong?

Girl: I won’t tell you because feminism! C’mon girlfriends, let’s assert our confidence as women by going on a girls night out shopping spree and making a bunch of random guys stare in awe at us for no clear reason!

Girls: Yes! This is third wave feminism!

... that was more or less the formula. It was... awkward. I’d like to blame on “those episodes were written by men who think all feminists are angry feminists,” but I think if I went and checked who the scriptwriters were, there’d be some women in there for sure.

What we got in THIS episode is something I’d actually want my daughter to see. First off you’ve got Mimi, who loves pink and pretty things and comes across as a real girly girl, not to mention a bit of a ditz. And the show’s straight up, “but just because you have flaws doesn’t mean you can’t grow into a great person. Also, being girly is not incompatible with being a boss.”

Mimi doesn’t need to be a man, nor does she need to be a hard ass, nor does she need to be especially kind and sweet to soften her orders. All she has to do, according to this episode, is care about her craft, care about quality, and care about worker conditions.

I mean... a show where the girl boss wasn’t a Russian spy in a former life?? A show where the girl boss isn’t a Stepford wife who got where she is by marrying rich and funding her perfume company that way? She’s... she’s Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. She gets to be flawed and girly and fun-loving and bossy and ditzy all at the same time. She loves diamonds - but diamonds are no longer a “girl’s best friend.” Rather, Mimi herself is the diamond in the rough!

This actually makes her a really good set with Sora. Sora continues to be both a tomboy and very sisterly. Mimi’s very girly but very bossy. Between the two of them, they can conquer the world. Of course, I don’t know that the show would take it any farther than they already have, but I’m just happy to see this development for Mimi at all. We had it to a degree in 99 Adventure, and Kizuna took it a bit further by making her an entrepreneur. Reboot Mimi is a remix of that for the 21st century.

*deeeeeeeeeep breath*

so... back to our regularly scheduled programming!

As awesome as Mimi is, she’s not the only one who’s great in this episode. The others get to let their real personalities shine, at least. We needed this episode sooooo bad like 20 episodes ago... le sigh.

Anyway, we start off having mad camp, for some reason (why aren’t they just staying on Komondomon?? whatev)

Food! They’re going to get food! They’re splitting up and making a plan in order to get food!!! I still miss the “food desperation” of 99 Adventure but hey, at least they’re acknowledging that they need to eat.

Sora advises Hikari and Takeru not to go too far on their quest and Tailmon swears like a knight of the round table to protect Hikari with her life.

Taichi: Oookay... note to self: don’t piss off little sister’s hotheaded partner...

Taichi adds that they’re also counting on Patamon, who is just thrilled to go off and play with Takeru.

Tailmon: *BIG SIGH*

Lol I really love that they’re bringing back the old Patamon/Tailmon dynamic where she’s all grown up serious and he’s got the priorities of a toddler most of the time... It’s Black Widow and Hawkeye bahahahaha

We even get to see them COLLECT FOOD what did I do to deserve this they are COLLECTING FOOD IT’S NOT HAPPENING OFF SCREEN I REPEAT IT’S NOT HAPPENING OFF SCREEN

Taichi even has to warn Agumon not to eat the food becaues they’re supposed to be gathering it to share ;___; omg... we actually get on screen proof that Agumon is a glutton??

Then Taichi tries to “help” by shaking the tree and the tree falls and they -

BAHAHAHAHAHA

humor!!! Poking fun at Taichi even!! Over food!! Because he has a klutz for a partner!!! And because he himself was overzealous!! ;_; I could die of Cute.

Sora absolutely shocks me this episode too. I expected she’d just watch Taichi and Agumon drift away with their folly while sighing and shrugging her shoulders or something.

NOPE

She jumps DIRECTLY UP and into the water without a moment’s hesitation, like they’re going to die without her - I don’t even know what her plan is here, she seems to want Piyomon to evolve and pull them out, but why does that mean Sora has to be in the water too?

I think her sisterly instincts just freaked out on seeing Taichi looking wet and confused and clinging to a tree trunk so she just did the first thing she could think of which was “Get to him!!”

Piyomon then fails to evolve, reason unclear, I suppose she’s hungry... they never do eat though so I’m not sure why she can evolve later xD (probably they eat off screen)

But I mean I just love that we got this bit with Sora. I call it freaking out but she doesn’t seem freaked out - she stays calm and seems decisive and takes action - all good things. It’s just hard to understand her thought process xD But it’s all good info about Sora. (again stuff we needed more of AGES ago)

Now I had thought this was all just a funny bit that was separate to the main story, but this is how Taichi and Sora end up washed up in the rocky area Mimi is. This does mean Koushirou, Takeru, and Hikari aren’t much in the rest of the episode, sadly. Not sure why but the reboot does seem to struggle with writing episodes for the whole group.

Like last week, I’m somewhat miffed that, in the end, the main group finds the stragglers instead of the other way around. It’s even worse this time because at least last episode Koushirou told them where he was and they had a reason to go there. This time they have no idea Mimi’s gonna be there and it’s all a big coincidence. On the other hand... I do think Mimi was born under a lucky star, so that explains it. :P

Taichi and Sora suddenly find them selves trapped Gulliver’s Travels style and they’re both immediately like, “Hmm... something about this situation seems very familiar...”

Taichi and Sora: Oh that’s RIGHT we totally forgot that the pink cowgirl we hand out with is also TOTALLY BATSHIT

D’awww. Our future overlord is just so adorable, I don’t even mind when she flogs us in the street

TBH, up till now they’ve woefully underestimated just how batshit she is. And it’s wonderful.

So Mimi has happened upon some poor, disenfranchised Digimon who are being forced to work for an evil boss who collects the beautiful gems that grow in this area. Like in 99 Adventure, Mimi will have none of this sort of crap. Her reasons, though, have evolved with the times:

omg... she voted for Bernie Sanders!

This is how Harry and Ron reacted when Hermione said she was starting a house-elf welfare organization called SPEW.

Though I joke - like I said before, even though Taichi and Sora are rather mind-boggled by Mimi’s mood swings and fits of passion, and there’s definitely humor there, Mimi herself is not a joke here. We are shown strongly that, however in the clouds her head might be, her heart is not only in the place, it’s also already internalized the fact that people don’t always get treated well in the real world and it’s up to those with power to ensure that are protected.

I mean. At this point, I’m going, “Sorry but ISN’T MIMI THE REAL LEADER IN THIS SHOW?!?!”

Of course she does have another, less lofty motivation... she really likes pretty stones.

Buhahahaha.

Mimi’s names are as creative as they are incredible, just like her. Taichi and Sora have trouble keying in with Mimi due to how changeable she is, but they never talk badly about her or reject her. They never try to wrest leadership from her either! Taichi might think Mimi’s names for the stones are over the top, but sort of sidesteps it and just goes along with her plan.

Reason #14567876867867 why I love Yagami Taichi: when someone else is the leader, he can be a follower. And he’ll be the BEST follower. Keep reading to see why.

The story of how Mimi befriended the enslaved rock Digimon here is pretty much how Goku became besties with Vegeta.

Men communicate their hearts through their fists! Or swords, depending on the anime. ANOTHER AWESOME SUBVERSIVE MOMENT FOR MIMI - she’s now even got cliche shonen hero tropes assigned to her!

Taichi and Sora, like I said, don’t try to change Mimi’s mind - they’re actually touched by her strong feelings about workers’ rights and her desire to help her new friends -

Taichi: Wait... what?

Sora: Well, she’s still a ten year old girl.

The rock Digimon show their allegiance to Princess CEO Mimi. They don’t even mind having their names and identities stripped away and being reduced to numbers on an Excel spreadsheet...

Taichi: I hate Excel.

Sora: I do too, but I’m more impressed that she remembers the numbers she gave us back in episode 6.

Taichi: Impressed? More like filled with a sense of impending doom

Only Taichi seems to understand Mimi’s unique power bahahaha.

But back to what I said earlier, about Mimi being the real leader: I don’t know if the show’s gonna keep doing anything with this at all, but I really like that they didn’t NOT do this in order to ensure Taichi’s the only leader. (I mean, Yamato’s so far not made much of a bid for leadership so he’s been pretty uncontested thus far. He also hasn’t had to do all that much leading given how often the group is separated... but I digress)

I love the idea that Taichi can step back and let someone else take the reins when they’re best suited. Which Mimi is, due to her easy ability to make friends and gain trust. Mimi had this ability in 99 as well and it was used in the final battle to muster the troops, so to speak. It ought to have been a bigger deal but wasn’t since she missed most of the final battle :/ But I loved that “social, able to make friends” wasn’t some stupid “Girls talk too much” trait, it was actually something that was useful. This is a great place to take that with the reboot.

At the same time, while Mimi and Taichi both have similar leadership traits, there are places they diverge that potentially make them leaders for different situations. Taichi’s pretty cool and strategic even in emergencies. He was more of a hothead in 99, but Mimi’s always been quick to anger. (And quick to cool down.) As we’ll see in this episode, that’s sort of where Taichi’s true ability lies: he’s serious, determined, strategic, and reliable as well as brave. But this is Mimi’s episode, and Taichi isn’t going to get to be the hero anymore than he (almost) was last week with Koushirou. Because more than one character can have positive leadership traits! Hallelujah.

Quick nip over to Komondomon and the others - Koushirou’s group is going to try to find them, but Komondomon falls asleep. Oh noes. I wish someone (Koushirou) would ask, out loud, “Gee, what are these strange symbols that appear when we communicate via digivice? Do they mean something? How were they assigned?” I really thought we’d get a hint what with all the conveniently colorful gemstones this episode, but still nope.

My girl looking like a BAMF!

Mimi explains her plan to her servants employees. She is surprisingly artistic!

Sora plays the role of bait to create a diversion while Greymon digs a tunnel to get to where the gems are stored. Mimi congratulates herself on a job well done.

Taichi: A job well done? Who d’you think has been doing the work here?

Greymon: That would be me.

Taichi: Right, right I was going to say you >.>;

So we do see bits of Mimi’s self-centered side as well - she’s not perfect, but who is? Taichi just lives with it. Mwehehehe.

... will be fired! LMAO

No. 72 is Taichi, btw. Mimi gave up calling people by their names for Lent.

Taichi: Lent’s not for over a month.

Mimi: It’s never too early for religious sacrifice.

Taichi: And you’re not Catholic.

Mimi: I celebrate Mardi Gras.

Taichi: yOU JUST LIKE THE COSTUMES AND KING CAKE

He’s miffed and he.... just lives with it. Again. xD

It’s hilarious. And adorable. I love both that 1) Mimi is an awesome boss while being, in fact, rather bossy, and that 2) in spite of being a boss type himself, Taichi not only listens to Mimi, but he totally indulges her like he’s her older brother or something x’D He wouldn’t be out of line for saying “I have a name you know!” On the other hand, I guess he knows her well enough to understand that she doesn’t mean anything by it, and... there’s no stopping her when she gets like this :P

Feel the wrath of Tachikawa Mimi!!!

So Mimi’s plan has worked so far, and she’s got everyone listening to her despite her questionable business practices, and then she... suddenly rushes off in another direction.

Taichi: That’s it, I am through being her personal assistant if she’s just going to change the plan on a whim!

Taichi: ... I don’t want to see her get hurt or be sad though...

Greymon understands Taichi’s heart ;___; and enables him to go after Mimi. I don’t really get why it’s wise to split up given that Taichi can’t fight big rock Digimon without his partner... x’D So I’m going to chalk this up to, Greymon understands that Taichi is, at his core, the team Dad. He’s got to be allowed to worry and check up on the kids, even when it’s not so advisable. Awwwwwwwww.

Indeed, Taichi doesn’t get to be the hero this ep, but small moments like this give us waaaay more character development than always being the hero!

Fortunately Mimi does have her own partner and she’s not afraid of the enemy’s rock hard abs. :P

They make it into the storage center for all the gems. IT’S SO COLORFUL. Ten year old men is squeeing just like Mimi.

Come on!! She’s holding yellow/orange topaz and purple amethyst! It could be the material for Taichi or Takeru’s and Koushirou’s crests! (I always liked fire opal for Taichi though xD)

Taichi’s been promomted!! To chief pack animal x’D Just because it’s a cool name doesn’t mean that’s what the job is, Meems.

Taichi’s just like, “I think I’m too young for that position.” Bahahaha.

He’s going to be carrying her books to school before long.

Then something big and hard hits Taichi in the head!! He freaking starts to cry, it hurts so bad!!

Taichi: Owww! Omg I think I got a concussion from that! Help someone call an ambulance!

He was hit in the head by a diamond, which Mimi loves. So she goes off on a monologue about how much she likes diamonds. She never asks him if he’s okay x’D

Taichi: Don’t worry about me, I’m fine, not that you asked or anything.

Mimi: Please, everyone knows your head is already harder than diamonds.

Taichi: ...

The pile of gems looks like Fruity Pebbles. Mmmmm

It turns out the mastermind of this whole operation is Gogmamon, who is the bastard child of Gogmagog I assume :P He eats the gemstones as well as Gotsumon for power. He then produces the diamonds?? I didn’t quite understand if he was spitting out the diamonds because he didn’t like them, or he was creating them inside him when eating and then spitting them out like... diamond turds...

...

they’re diamond turds aren’t they >__>

Mimi is not interested in big business bulldozing the mom and pop shops and small upstarts. And she hates sweatshops! She is pro-Fair Trade all the way! And she will yell it in your face!

Taichi: It’s the yelling part that I’m having trouble with.

Mimi: A good speech from the boss is what keeps up employee morale!

Taichi: Yeah, that’s less true when the boss is about to be gobbled up herself...

Golemon and Togemon try to fight Gogmamon and this results in Golemon falling to pieces.

Taichi: Are you okay?

Golemon: My HEAD was knocked off, but sure I’m doing JUST FINE -____- little brat

Taichi stands protectively in front of Golemon’s head. Lol. He’s thinking of strategies... perhaps regretting rushing after Mimi and leaving his own partner behind...

Mimi joins him and Gogmamon finds her a formidable opponent in the war of words. Gogmamon argues that all the rocks, all the Digimon, everything here belongs to him and him alone! And Mimi brilliantly counters with:

“Fuck that! They belong to ME!”

x’D He just like... under his breath... “she admits that’s how she thinks of us...” hahahaha... I laughed out loud...

It might not be 3D but this is an excellent evolution sequence xD I haven’t said so yet but the animation in this episode was good! Good for the show anyway. It was smoother than usual despite some mechanical-like mouth movements and more than that, it had character and expression!

okay important question everyone: Taichi = Kermit, Mimi = Miss Piggy... discuss??

So Gogmamon has a pretty cool-sounding attack, “Curse Reflection.” I have often complained that the villains we fight and get new evolutions with aren’t that scary, but Gogmamon not only seemed pretty formidable (if not the smart, I mean he does have rocks for a brain), he also had a good story build up. My one disappointment in this episode is that the ending is so fast and Gogmamon so easily dealt with. This would have been a good time to introduce Rosemon (like how last week would have been an appropriate time for HerculesKabuterimon). But in both cases, we’re definitely supposed to take away at least that these guys are almost there... Anyway yeah, I would have liked a tiny bit more meant to the resolution but.

So here’s ANOTHER cool thing! Taichi notices that Gogmamon rejects the diamonds, and realizes they’re the key to defeating him. But he doesn’t just tell that to Mimi. He asks her “Did you see that?” And guess what - she did!

So even though the show couldn’t resist telling us that yes, Taichi would have been able to handle this situation - it doesn’t even let him give Mimi a hint towards victory. She figures it out for herself! The most we can say he does is point out the diamond, but she understands the implication and is able to use it against Gogmamon through her own intellect.

TAICHI DOESN’T MANSPLAIN Y’ALL. HE’S NOT A MANSPLAINER. HALLELUJAH AND PAST THE PEAS!!

Mimi is very influenced by her hardworking, CEO grandpa, Tachikawa Genichiro, who’s taught her things about business and things about values, and it really reads as if she’s the one who will inherit the family business - like she’s the family investment. You know, the role that traditionally only falls to sons. That’s changed with the world, and apparently Tachikawa Genichiro-jiisan is totally on board with his granddaughter being more than just a pretty heiress!

... btw what are they making...

“You’re fired!” Mimi yells as Lillymon takes Gogmamon down x’D kill me I love it

Like last time (and it sure was a long time ago that we saw it ;_;), the aftereffects of Lillymon’s powers is plants start growing everywhere. This is such a cool effect, I don’t get why it’s not used more. Right now I feel like Mimi/Palmon are the best set in the show.

(I did think it was funny when Mimi gives the diamond to Lillymon to use against Gogmamon and Lillymon acts like Mimi’s making this huge sacrifice since she loves diamonds so much. But 1) it wasn’t the only one, and 2) they were spat out by Gogmamo! that’s gross! that’s got to cut into the value! hahah)

The others finally catch up and the day is saved. Golemon is an employee for life now. Awww.

AWWWWWW.

I gushed about all this before so I won’t repeat myself, but yeah, I’m so happy with this episode.

Lol Sora and Taichi have accepted their places in Mimi’s world, in the end. They might have numbers instead of names and their boss might change her mind about things every five seconds, but other than that it’s a pretty nice gig overall.

Again the art, so sweet. This reminded me of Miyako yelling to Mimi about how she wants to be like her when she grows up in 02 so I capped it.

And I absolutely love this little play on words since it’s in English! Wow!

SO CUTE. How did a Mimi episode kick every other episode out of the water? Scratch that, we always knew Mimi was fantastic. A shojo hero for the 21st century.

Well I said a ton and this is really long now so I’m gonna assume you all get my thoughts on this episode. 9.5/10, really awesome, totally unexpected but perfectly suted to Mimi. I’m so so happy this show seems to have figured things out and remebered that it’s supposed to be freaking Digimon Adventure, it seemed like it forgot for a while there. I just hope we haven’t wasted too much time on those more lackluster episodes, I want so many more stories like this one.

Next week looks like another winner:

OK, that concept is hilarious x’D I’m so sorry. But also, leave it to Yamato and Gabumon to get the tragedy episode.

The mood maker will be this guy! I’m totally psyched for Yamato and Jou. Taichi’s been important in the past two episodes even though they were centered on Koushirou and Mimi, so I wonder if/when he’ll be involved this time? Or maybe it really will be just Yamato and Jou - my dream combo?? I can’t wait either way.

DID NOT CHECK FOR TYPOS! See y’all next week.

#fizz watches digimon 2020 #digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot #digimon #digi spoilers #this took forever because i loved it so much #so many caps so many comments hahahahaha

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gokubrain · 4 years ago

Note

I'VE COME TO ~ASK~

-Do you think Goku and Vegeta would have any pets? I feel like Geets is a cat person, and Goku a dog person. But who knows!

-Do Vegeta like cuddles

-How often do they fight over food

-How many times have they destroyed their house fighting over food

-Also imagine if they got their tails back Vegeta would totally train Goku to control his Big Monkey form and they'd have Big Monkey Fights during the full moon and aaa Monkey™

-They,, kis

-Also omg how do you think everyone would react when they first kiss in front of them all omg

Okay I am going on too long I'm just obsessed with Gay Anime Dudes I die now goodbye

~The all new, fan of your blog but socially awkward, Plague Doctor Anon [|87

HELLO !! hehe

yes i headcanon them having a cat that goku finds in the woods one day and brings home, vegeta’s like “ew an animal?? in our house??? kakarot get rid of it” but goku is eventually able to soften vegeta to the point where he begrudgingly agrees to tolerate having a cat in the house. but i think vegeta ends up growing attached to the cat and loves her in his own weird vegeta-branded way, he calls her horrible names and pets her rly roughly and “argues” with her all the time but she sleeps curled up at his legs every night and theyre basically inseparable 😭 for some reason i’m very obsessed w this concept i think abt it a lot HAHA

yes of course vegeta likes cuddles, i think vegeta’s a very touch-centric person and sometimes he gets randomly overstimulated and needs space but usually i think he’s near goku a Lot and always at least has a hand on him lol

AND OKAY FMJCNC I KNOW IM TOSSING A LOT OF HEADCANONS INTO THE AIR HERE BUT,, i like to think that vegeta is always quietly worried about if goku is hungry or not LOL like i think whenever they’re apart vegeta will just randomly be like “i wonder if kakarot has eaten today” or just kinda stays concerned abt it LOL, I MEAN he would obviously never ever express that out loud to anyone ever and if goku even suggested that this was the case vegeta would go into full denial lmao but thats not to say if goku oversteps a boundary and tries to like. steal vegeta’s food or smth, vegeta will probably go off on him HAHA, in the end vegeta is still competitive and takes everything goku does as a challenge so as long as he’s sure goku’s fed enough then he won’t think twice about arguing over who gets the last dumpling or smth 😭

full moon monkey fights 😭 i love that because i feel rly strongly about vegeta sharing saiyan culture with goku and goku complying with it bc it seems to make vegeta happy 😭 like not only would those fights be rly intense bc theyre both so powerful in that form (which goku would love ofc) but i also feel like it’d be rly good for bonding and feeling closer to their saiyan roots lol

they do kiss its true i get kin memories abt it all the time

AND AHAHDHF OKAY IM OBSESSED WITH THIS CONCEPT OF LIKE. the entire gang having to get used to kakavege, ESPECIALLY like trunks and goten bc they get rly grossed out seeing their dads in love like that LMFAO theyre like “eww old people? in LOVE??? thats so gross and fucked up” LMAO, but anyway i digressMFMFM i think just in general though it takes a lot of time for a lot of the team to kinda,,, get used to seeing vegeta and goku together like this bc it probably seems so crazy to them LOL I’M SURE NONE OF THEM EVER IMAGINED GOKU AND VEGETA WOULD END UP TOGETHER 😭 so i feel like the first time anyone sees them kiss its just kinda awkward but they all eventually get used to it 😭 i don’t think any of them care what goku does as long as he’s happy in the end hehe

thanks for letting me ramble about them 😭💖

#i know most of that was incoherent #kakavege #answered

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abri-chan · 5 years ago

Note

I was reading your unpopular opinions post and saw your buccellati is an incompetent capo without integrity point which is an interesting take! Would you mind explaining your thoughts to me?

I have hinted this in previous posts but time to compile them in a long one. However, do keep in mind integrity as a capo is different from that as a person. Sometimes they overlap: Polpo was corrupted as a person (a personification of greed) and that greed leaked into his integrity as a capo. As we see his own zone is in shambles during the opening of VA and probably what inspired Giorno to decide Passione needs a better leader. For Bruno, he is actually a kind person, but he doesn’t make the best leader.

So by *integrity* I will use the meaning of “being whole and undivided”, or said in a better way “how much do your decisions or ideals conflict?” So a person would have low integrity if his decisions really go in conflict with his stated ideals. Integrity is befuddled with morality plenty of times, but I want to make the case that it is separate: integrity only measures how much the actions of a system conflict with its core values. Morality comes into play when these conflicts have real consequences on people’s lives.

I’ll also compare Bruno with Risotto, because I see Risotto as a better leader and I want to illustrate by contrast. LONG POST AHEAD

So to start, why is Bruno inefficient? I think his inefficiency as a capo comes from his inherent kindness. It’s a bit like that part in Black panther, where the now dead king says: You are a good man, and it’s hard for a good man to be king. As a capo you have to prioritize your own team; because that’s why they are willing to sacrifice for you in the first place. So sometimes to be efficient you have to take decisions that to you as a *person* may be morally appalling but they’re needed for the greater good of the team. If you think about it murder doesn’t sound okay... but you can justify why Bucci Gang had to commit plenty of murders with regards to their team goal of getting up in the ranks. Or that it is just work assigned by the boss, and so on.

When it comes to Bruno we see him unwilling to harm citizens. Yeah I know he used this guy’s body in his fight with Giorno, but could be the Vegeta effect: at first the author makes us see this guy as bad bc he’s a villain and his personality suddenly changes a lot after he’s baptized as a good guy. I feel mangakas do change small details about characters as time goes on; overall their personality is constant but there are slip ups. Also Bruno may consider those that take drugs to not be worthy citizens... But overall Bruno is okay with torturing a 15 year old boy bc this boy is linked to the mafia by killing Luca, but he’s not okay with sacrificing a 15 year old girl bc she didn’t choose to be thrown into the mess the boss made. That’s a kind decision, and Bruno really acted like a father to Trish; but that’s a dumb and inefficient decision with regards to his team. As Fugo said, they had done plenty of vile things before, so what’s special about abandoning another girl? You can’t endanger the whole team that has served you and put their life on the line, and then just quit and tell them go do whatever, follow me or not, I don’t care.

In my opinion, one thing people don’t talk about leadership, is that when shit hits the fan the leader is someone that is willing to shoulder the responsibility. A team-member can be relieved from the stress of making a hard decision if they say: my capo made me do it. You can’t be blamed if you are a mindless machine that follows orders. And that’s what keeps you sane in morally grey situations where the answer is not obvious. The leader on the other hand, in return for all the power and the willingness of each team member to be his pawn, has to shoulder the burden of the hard decision as well as its moral blame. He has to live with the fact of being the hand that pulled the trigger, and be the ONE to take the decision that no one else wants to take (bc it’s a mentally taxing thing to do).

So you can’t have a capo like Bruno who cannot take hard decisions, but instead unloads that burden on their team: think for yourselves. Definitely makes sense for the team to be self-sufficient on their own, but the capo sets the team goals, so if you area capo, in a hierarchy, you can’t have every member doing their own thing bc it will lead to chaos. You can’t unburden the decision of “following the capo or not” onto Narancia, bc he didn’t sign up for it. He signed up to be a follower and Bruno just changed the terms and conditions (more on this in a moment). Deciding to betray the boss was a capo-level decision, getting on that boat was a capo-level decision, and Bruno the capo just throws that decision burden away and onto his teammates; you pilot your own plane now I don’t care I never trained you and it was out of the blue. (Don’t come with the argument of maybe they all wanted to be capos one day. Sure, but you don’t train fledgling capos on a life and death situation of betraying the boss! It should be a gradual process, not throwing in the towel so your members have to pick up your slack. Bruno highhandedly dissolved the Bucci Gang as a team with no warning and on the worst situation possible for all his members-- when shit hit the fan his answer was to prioritize this stranger girl instead of his own team.)

Inefficiency is linked with lack of integrity bc if your actions conflict with your core values you won’t get much done. A good capo (different from a good person) would have set some capo core values, as well as core goals for his team, and would disclose those to his team members. There’s a contract between the capo and the team member, with terms and conditions; the member follows and sacrifices for capo’s vision because of tangible benefits that come from rising up the ladder. Sure, in many cases people follow for reasons that are not in the “contract”: we have Narancia following bc he respected Bruno, Abbacchio has a one-sided crush, etc. But the reason they were all elated when Bruno became capo is that all members knew they would have power and other benefits coming from them raising in the ranks of Passione. They trust the capo to stay true to the disclosed values and goals, because TRUST is of the essence.

Now what does Bruno do? He has a different contract with the newcomer Giorno, which he doesn’t disclose to the other team members. It’s not smart to play favorites, especially if you have nothing to justify this preference with regards to what the other team members know. We slowly see signs of distrusts or at the very least anxiety appearing in Bucci Gang; Abbacchio and Fugo question why Bruno trusts Giorno so much. It eventually culminates with Fugo breaking away, because Bruno has no integrity as a capo.

In the boat scene, Bruno prioritized his personal trauma and feelings: Trish reminds him of himself and his complicated relationship with his father. But your personal feelings should not come above your capo core values. (There are core personal values and core capo values, and you cannot mix them up as you please). Other members also have had shitty lives and personal feelings, but they don’t deviate from the team values bc they trust their capo won’t either. Why should Bruno’s feelings be special? Fugo rightfully asks why Bruno suddenly changed their contract, for a girl they don’t even know. And Fugo is right; Bruno betrayed his trust, along with the team’s trust: he didn’t uphold the contract and didn’t disclose his real intentions and core values to them. Not only that, but Fugo is made out to be a coward for not getting into that boat, but how could he follow a capo that no longer has integrity? Fugo did the logical thing: his capo who he trusted broke his trust for a stranger, changed the contract, and no one even knows what the new contract is. What are the new core values for the team? What are the new goals? Bruno can’t even lead well anymore, and slowly everyone starts seeing Giorno as more of a leader (Narancia in the fight with Squalo and Tiziano). Because Giorno’s core values and actions align: he has integrity. Why would someone smart like Fugo follow a now chaotic leader like Bruno, who doesn’t even care how much the team has sacrificed for them and breaks their trust as if it were the right thing to do.

Compare that to a team like La Squadra, and it’s sad we don’t see more of their interactions. But from what we see, it’s telling that no one defected, unlike in Bruno’s Gang. And I doubt it’s bc these men were more friends or buddies than Bruno’s Gang. I’m willing to bet they have their own subgroups, and some severely dislike one another. But they stick together bc Risotto’s integrity has a leader has trickled down to his own team: they trust that Risotto will make the hard decisions when the time comes. And they trust he won’t betray the trust and sacrifice they have put into this.

Unlike Bruno who has favorites, it seems Risotto treats his men equally, since he divides the pay among them. It also seems the team clearly knows their core values and goals, otherwise they wouldn’t be so secure in following their leader. You can’t just follow blindly, if the leader doesn’t prove himself that his actions do align with the values he has disclosed to you.

As an example of Risotto putting his team’s values over his own personal feelings: Sorbet and Gelato’s death. We know he’s Sicilian and stereo-typically so at times. In the backstory, the murderer of his cousin is punished by law, but Risotto still kills him... bc blood is a family issue. You have to take honor in your own hands and inflict punishment. Mafia is a bit like family too, so the boss killing two of Risotto’s men has caused harm and humiliation to the entire team. No one will persuade me that Risotto’s initial reaction wasn’t to bust down Diavolo’s door (once he found him) and make him pay for the blood he spilled from his “squadra tree”. But he kept those feelings down, he swallowed the humiliation, bc seeking personal revenge on Sorbet and Gelato would be the foolish thing to do. It’s what Risotto the man would do, but now what Risotto the capo should do. He made the decision to bear the humiliation himself, as the capo who didn’t avenge his fallen men, and it took courage to say: “forget about those two, as if they never existed”. He swallowed both his Sicilian and capo pride in that statement. And he probably stays up at night thinking on how he would want Diavolo to pay through his nose.

In fact, La Squadra didn't’ defect again until Trish appears and they have a real chance at taking down the boss. And even then, Formaggio brings up the financial benefits of being the new leaders of Passione: it’s not just about the humiliation of having Sorbet and Gelato killed, but there are clear financial benefits to them following Risotto this time, and that’s worth sacrificing for. And Risotto doesn’t just up and change his terms and conditions as he pleases, so that makes their men feel secure. You can be angry all you want at Prosciutto killing an entire train, but if you’re need a team partner, would you want Bruno who will change his mind bc one guy on the train reminds him of his dad, or Prosciutto who to protect his own team is willing to kill an entire train? I think a lot of courage in Bucci Gang comes from the inherent virtues in his team members: Narancia is loyal by nature. In La Squadra, since even someone like Melone has “team virtues” it probably comes from the way the leader inspires them all and the kind of environment he has created. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the team that guarantees no one will abandon my ass in a mission, bc the capo has high integrity.

On a tangential note, I do believe Bruno is kinder than Risotto; I feel Risotto is more just than he is kind. But maybe for a leader it is more important to be just then, because too much kindness will get you into contradicting the core values you set up for your team.

#anime manga rambles #Bruno Buccellati #Bruno Bucciarati #Risotto Nero #jojo #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure

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darklymelanatedstories · 4 years ago

Text

You will be mine (ft Piccolo&ChiChi)

Part 1

Everything went downhill when he left. When he died at the hands of a monster, who the police still could not find, and left Gohan and I alone, along with another baby already on the way. Having one more mouth to feed while working at my horrid job just to make ends meet and make sure my baby boy doesn't go to bed hungry.

Goku wasn't the most involved parent but he kept us living a comfortable life. He kept us safe and happy but now he's gone and we couldn't even give him a proper send off because the detectives still haven't found the body of my supposedly deceased husband.

"There was blood all over the scene. The DNA match, it's your husband. But there's footsteps leading away from the scene but they stop at a dead end."

How could his corpse just get up. Was he still alive?

"An anonymous witness said that they saw his body there before we arrived. The footprints match with the sneakers he wore."

It doesn't make sense. He couldn't have just walked away and vanished of the face of the earth.

"It's no doubt that this is a suicide. There isn't any evidence of another human being that was at the scene of the crime."

They say it was suicide but I know my Goku. He was too happy to have taken his own life. He had so much to live for. He had his life, his friends. He had us...he had me.

No. Someone must've done it. For some reason Goku's good nature got him more enemies than friends. Someone must've done it.

"Alright, ma'am. Since you keep pushing for this, who you do think would want your husband dead?"

A lot of people. The people that couldn't get rid of Goku just as he couldn't get rid them.

"Frieza? You better have some pretty tight evidence and a lot of guts to be accusing one of the most powerful people on Earth for murdering your husband."

"Cell? Cell has been locked in holding for years. He couldn't have done this and the androids have done their time. Your husband even fought for their freedom, remember?"

"Chi Chi, you honestly think the husband of Bulma Briefs could have done this? If it were Vegeta we'd have known by now. I know this is a hard time but you should stop wasting our time and going around accusing people. You have a child to look after. You don't wanna have anyone suing or pressing charges."

Could even be one of his closest friends. These guys weren't always angels when they met Goku. But maybe they were right. Maybe I let Goku's death get to me. I can't worry about that now. I have a child to look after and soon I'll have two.

Speaking of which...

"Hey mom we're back." Placing the sparkling clean plate, from my absentminded cleaning, back into the sink, I placed a smile on my face before turning to my little boy who was already running to me to trap in one of his powerful bear hugs.

"Sorry we're late. We got held up a bit.",he said.

"It was my fault." The sound of the deep baritone voice echoed in the kitchen as he stepped in with one hand stuffed in his jean pocket and the other one clutching something tightly in his palm.

"We thought we'd get you something nice." He looked at Gohan, giving him a smirk. "Right, Gohan?"

"Yeah!!" My little boy started jumping up and down excitedly then grabbed my hand impatiently to drag me to the outside.

"Ok calm down! What is it you wanted me to–"

My eyes widened. In front of me was a big red capsule Corp brand car with a large white bow on the hood. Probably a newer model since I haven't seen much of them driven around.

"What a beautiful car." I was about to ask why piccolo suddenly got himself a new car when he came up next to me swaying the keys on his finger.

"And it's all yours."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Mine?"

"Yep. I figured it'd help that you don't have to take the bus to work everyday plus it'd save you alot of time on your errands."

I was stuck between feeling happy and grateful for the thought and amazing gift, and feeling insulted to be thought of as a charity case. I don't know how many times I've told him that I was fine. I wasn't a damsel in distress that needed saving. I could do this one my own but–he's so sweet.

Ever since Goku "died" Piccolo has been nothing but helpful despite me practically chasing him away whenever he offered his services or money. Goku wasn't a very wealthy man and he didn't have life insurance so when he died he left us high and dry, but Piccolo would always be there...for some reason.

Always coming around whenever he had the chance to spend time with Gohan or just to keep me company and be my shoulder to cry on whenever I missed Goku.

Maybe it has something to do with him being very close to Gohan but I can't complain. Out of all the people I know, Piccolo proved to be the one I can trust.

"So, do you want to try it out?",he asked. I was so busy with my own thoughts I didn't even realize that he had opened the door for me.

"Uh," Gohan suddenly had a nervous look on his face. "Are you sure about this, Mr Piccolo? Mom is a already a force to be reckoned with, now imagine what her with road rage would be like."

Piccolo's eyes widened looking as if he paled at the thought. "On second thought, it's getting dark. Maybe we should try it out another–"

"Nope, too late!",I shouted, jumping into the driver's seat and clutching the steering wheel just in case the boys would try pulling me out.

Piccolo got into the driver's seat and we noticed the little scamp trying to creep away.

Piccolo honked the horn, startling him and freezing him on the spot. "Gohan, get in here!"

"But I've got homework–"

"Oh no, it was your idea to go car shopping. If I die, you're dying with me."

I rolled my eyes as I turned the key. "Jeez, you don't drive for a few years and now people are afraid you might kill them."

Hearing a laugh from my passenger I turned to find his obsidian eyes staring back at me. His eyes were filled with something, something I can't put my finger on.

I noticed his lip twitch a bit before he turned away from me and put his seatbelt on. "Let the kid stay home and I'll judge your terrible driving myself."

"It's passengers like you that make me wanna crash the car.",I teased earning a growl and slightly terrified look on his face. I rolled down my window and told Gohan to stay safe and that I'd be back soon.

Piccolo scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest, covering the Namek logo on his white T-shirt. "He'll be fine, it's me I'm more worried about."

•••

"So how was that?",I asked with a smug look on my face as I parked the car outside his home. Hey, he had to get home somehow.

He grunted. "I'm surprised I made it in one piece."

"Listen, if you're too chicken then don't ride with me next time."

"Very funny.",he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Raising my head up with a smile I replied with, "I know, I'm hilarious."

He gave me a scowl to which I just laughed at because I couldn't take him seriously no matter how intimidating he might seem.

"Thank you.",I said once I regained composure. "For everything. I really appreciate you helping our family out."

He flashed me a rare smile. "Well it wasn't easy, what with you threatening to end my life with your murderous frying pan and all."

I nudged him in the arm. "Leave my frying pan out of this."

I took his hand in mine, feeling how he stiffened lightly at my touch. He looked at me and I gave him a warm smile. "Goku was right about you and I see why Gohan loves you too. I'm lucky to have a friend like you, Piccolo."

He sighed, it sounded...sad. Maybe it was because the mention of Goku.

"Yeah, friends.",he muttered. "That's what they're for, right?"

I squeezed his hand gently and I felt him do the same. There seemed to be a lingering before he let go and got out of the car.

I said my goodbyes and drove off for home. I'm about to have another baby in 8 months. I have to find my husband's killer, with or without the stupid police. At least I know that I'll have Piccolo by my side to help me.

_________________________________________

Intoxicated, he stepped into the dark room where the only light source was coming from the open door from which he came him and the windows where the curtains weren't shut. Finishing his glass of whiskey in one chug, he manoeuvred his way to his bed, the torturous words still replaying in his mind.

When he neared his bed, he noticed the box on his dresser. The box he forgot to put back in his hiding place. The box he didn't want to put back. He loved looking at it. The box brought back that loving memory.

The box that contained the ring.

The ring of the man he had murdered.

A devilish smirk shaped his lips as he opened it, the moonlight shining on the gold ring.

He held it up to his face as a chuckle left his lips which immediately turned into a deranged cackle.

Phase one was complete.

"You will be mine."

#piccolo #chi chi #piccolo x Chi Chi #goku #Gochi #gohan #chiccolo

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real-jaune-isms · 4 years ago

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RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 10 Review/Remix

WHAT the ever loving FUCK was that just now RT?? You give us several great answers and scenes we really wanted to see, and then rip all that joy away in the last 3 minutes!!! I want to sue for emotional damages, but I really can’t be mad cuz it’s very masterful writing on their part. After years of shows doing redemption arcs we finally have it... the bastardization arc~

We open, perhaps to the disappointment of some, on Ironwood staring out the windows of his office at the battlefield and city in turmoil below. He’s being given a situation update on the destruction of the cellblock two episodes back, and he takes the news a little differently than might have been expected (read: worse). Jacques apparently stayed right where he was and let himself be put back into custody, while Qrow avoided much harm by being a bird and ending up in a spot where the rubble wasn’t landing directly on him. Robyn was only slightly lucky, she was under some large debris but doesn’t seem terribly hurt and is actually conscious when Atlas soldiers uncover her and say she’ll be moved to a new cell elsewhere. Qrow isn’t about to be put back in a cage though, and flies right at the soldier who finds him. Behind a conveniently placed piece of wall he turns back and, as I was somewhat praised for phrasing it in a discord chat, he tackled that man as a man. We can assume he knocks out the guy about to apprehend Robyn, and the two make a getaway. Ironwood doesn’t like this news one bit, though he focuses more on recapturing the two huntsmen he had arrested on paranoid treason charges than the actual war criminal he lost an arm catching whose dangerous work on the city of Mantle still hasn’t been undone. Not cool, dude. He yells at the soldiers who had come to report this, and they leave to try and find the jailbirds. He stares out the window again in contemplation and tries to calm down a little before turning on his earpiece to get an update on the status of some thing or another, probably the bomb, when something massive happens.

With a blinding flash and an array of gold and green, Oscar’s staff goes off with whatever he was charging up. It’s as bright and forceful as you’d expect a nuclear bomb to be, and it knocks Winter and the Ace Ops off their feet as they were heading towards Monstra lugging their own bomb. Weiss and Nora see it from Schnee Manor, and it seems to do a real number on the Grimm around Monstra and in the city. Rooster Teeth had to give a flashing lights warning at the start of the episode for those it would adversely affect, and I can totally understand why after the crazy display this gave us. When the light fades and the noise settles, Monstra has been snapped and is fading away to dust, and in that dust cloud we hear and barely see Neopolitan skipping away with the Lamp in hand. What a little punk... Winter gets back on her feet and is quick to ask her squad for their status, she doesn’t want to have lost anyone or suffered serious wounds from whatever the hell they just saw/felt. No one is hurt, though Elm’s ears seem to still be ringing. But Marrow is very distressed, realizing they still hadn’t heard back from Jaune and the others and they may have been killed in that blast. Nobody has anything to say that would appease him, so they stay silent. Vine tries to put a reassuring hand on Elm’s shoulder but she brushes him off. Guess after they got called out by Ren she wants to show even less emotion and sentimentality than before. Ironwood contacts them under the false assumption this was the result of their bomb, and requests they return to HQ for an update on the new problem he wants to deal with. Marrow naturally points out that the destruction wasn’t their doing, and Winter decides that will be news best delivered in person, so they load the bomb back on the airship and take off.

Cutting into the city, we see Watts and Cinder viewing the destruction of their mobile HQ from a distance. Nobody is returning Cinder’s calls but they know Salem will be back so Watts suggests they come up with a plan in the meantime. But Cinder is fully confident that they can still do what they originally intended, that being having her kill Penny and take the Winter Maiden powers after Watts brings the synthezoid to her. But this was a plan made under false assumptions, because apparently she misunderstood the terminology in his message and thought he could puppeteer Penny to go wherever he demands when really he just laid a new prime directive to send her straight to the Vault as we saw two episodes back. Hearing this pisses Cinder off immensely, especially the part about Penny being set to self destruct as soon as the Vault is open since that means the next recipient of the powers will be randomized again and she’ll have lost her chance to yoink them. Watts is too busy grumpily musing to himself about Penny having free will and a spirit that doesn’t want to succumb to his leet hacks to notice Cinder growing more and more enraged, until he turns around and she pulls him in close to yell at him. But Watts is having none of that, he works for Salem not her, and his plans weren’t made to give this flaming whining goth what she wants every single time. He’s just supposed to get the Vault open for Salem, and this is how he’s doing that. This is not the kind of answer Cinder wanted to hear, and she stretches her arm out to shove Watts to the edge of the roof and leave him on the verge of falling over to his demise. He doesn’t seem terribly fazed, calling her bluff and saying her mission was to bring him back and Salem won’t be a bit pleased if he dies. But you know what Salem is not? Here right now to stop Cinder from dealing with this arrogant self righteous prick once and for all. So she fully intends to drop him and then tear up Atlas on a fiery path to the Vault where she can intercept Penny and steal the Winter powers before tearing her to pieces herself and being the triumphant follower getting everything done that Salem really needed. And Watts just... laughs. Chris Sabat must have had a great time in the VO booth for this one, because he gets to have an absolute roast session the likes of which he hasn’t delivered since Majin Vegeta tore that clown Kakarot a new one. Naturally Cinder’s plan would be to brute force her way to victory and get glory for none but herself with her every whim satisfied along the way. Because that’s always her plan. And it always fails. She tried to storm Fria’s hospital room like that and got her ass handed to her by some teenagers and a dying woman before Penny took the powers before she could. She did the same damn thing 2 Volumes ago when she tried to massacre all her enemies under one roof in an alliance with a woman she thought she could outwit, but ended up blindsided by a surprise Maiden reveal and almost died while her outnumbered forces were on the verge of surrendering without her. And did anyone warn her not to do that? YES! WATTS DID!!! WATTS IS ALWAYS RIGHT, YOU FOOL!!! Well, okay, he’s really not. But he’s more clever and meticulous so he saw the flaws her arrogance left her blind to. And then Watts really tears into her by saying she isn’t smart, she isn’t worthy, and she isn’t entitled to what she wants because she’s suffered in the past. The one thing she is is a goddamn migraine. I’m a little mad Tyrian stole the show’s first cuss 4 years back cuz I really would have liked for Watts to cap this off by calling Cinder a bitch. This roasting literally lights a fire under Cinder and she seems ready to snap and kill Watts here and now, but instead she pulls him back onto the roof and stares off blankly into space before her fire fades and she walks off to sit on the ledge of a different side of the building to really think about his harsh words and shed a single tear. It’s a little unclear if she’s just feeling sorry for herself and realizing she’s more of a failure than she wanted to admit, or if she’s just overwhelmed by Watts reminding her of her childhood trauma. Maybe she’s realizing how powerless she’s truly remained all this time after fighting so hard for her own freedom and independence, and crying at the fact that she seems unable to escape that role she hates so much. Whatever the case, it’s real rough for her but I don’t feel like shedding any of my own tears for her sake. She doesn’t seem like she’s gonna change her allegiances so I don’t feel much need to cheer for her, but maybe she’ll reevaluate her strategy and become a force to be reckoned with as a villain because of this. I wouldn’t mind that. We’ll have to wait and see.

Back in the ruins of Monstra, we see Yang Ren and Jaune are all doing alright, and Oscar seems to be as well. Jaune is using his Semblance to help Oscar heal up quicker so that’s good to see too. Yang answers a call and sees Blake anxiously hoping she’ll pick up. The biggest smile comes to her face when she does, and the two halves of the group are ecstatic to hear the other is still alive and well. Neither are quite ready to tell the full tale of what they’ve been up to, but Weiss pulls up a map of the city and lays out a safe route through the subway tunnels that will take OYRJ straight to the mansion so they can actually reunite. Oscar isn’t about to leave Emerald behind though, and we see her knelt in the chaos holding out her hands as if hoping to catch some of the dust that was once her father figure. Yang is vocally against the idea of bringing Emerald with them, but Oscar advocates for her being every bit against Salem as them so the enemy of their enemy should be their friend. Emerald actually doesn’t seem to want to keep hanging around them and says they should just part ways, but Jaune isn’t about to let her walk free without facing any kind of justice for her past crimes. Ren thinks they need to be able to see past their emotional hang ups and consider the value in having her as an ally, and Yang is quick to remind them all that Emerald is part of the reason she lost her arm. Technically that is true, Adam was working with Cinder and if Yang hadn’t been framed as a brutal criminal she would have been around the rest of the team when everything popped off so maybe that first fight would have gone differently. But I do feel like it’s a bit of a stretch. Yang keeps going about why she can’t just forgive and forget when Em had been such a snake in the grass back at Beacon, but that’s not what Oscar is asking of her. He just wants her to try and give the girl a second chance to be better. He gets a little cryptic about how they’ve already gotten help from someone they haven’t had the best track record trusting, and Ren perfectly guesses he means that Oz has reemerged in his mind. This takes the blondes by surprise, and Oscar stands up for the old soul by saying he took the brunt of the beatings and told him how to impede Salem like he did just there. Turns out we’ll be finding out the secret of Ozpin’s cane today: It’s been made into a magical repository for kinetic energy stored over dozens of past lives to be made into a sort of bomb to set off when needed. I don’t know quite enough about physics to describe how exactly that would work, but it seems to make sense that it does. But the blast that took out Monstra used up the majority of what was in there so he can’t rely on it for that kind of attack again. It seems likely that was what Ozpin used against Cinder in the Beacon Vault, but didn’t use very much of it, and again what Oscar used to bust a hole in the bottom of the pit Ironwood shot him into. Oscar finishes making his case that Oz really does want to aid them, and the others seem convinced. What’s worth noting is that all eyes had been on him during this, but Emerald made no attempt to run away or even lower her hands. Guess she might really want to stick around after all... The moment is interrupted by the not so distant sound of a crying baby, and they all run further down the tunnel to find a subway station where the people of Atlas are taking shelter on Ironwood’s orders. Emerald starts to feel the weight of her action and those she used to side with, especially when she sees kids scared and hungry like she was before Cinder found her. They continue past the station on their way to the manor, and Oscar offers some encouragement to Emerald that they need her help in this war considering what she’s capable of. Considering the feats she performed under stress back in Volume 5, I’m inclined to agree.

We fade away from that scene to Ironwood’s office and the camera rises up the stairs as if being held by the Ace Ops as they and Winter come through the still broken doors to give their report to the general. He’s looking at multiple holographic screens projecting from his table: one with graphics telling him the status of all the airships mechs and soldiers, one pulling up news articles and any other info they can get on Monstra presumably for the purpose of cataloguing it in case they ever need to worry about another one, the third seems to be a map of city to monitor the damage so far, and the last is all the info they have on Cinder. He congratulates the team for their work destroying the Grimm, but Winter admits it wasn’t their bomb that did the job, they still have it intact for him. This confuses Ironwood greatly, but he sees an opportunity in this twist of fate. Penny hasn’t come to the Vault like he wanted her to be programmed to do, so he assumes Watts did a shit job of reprogramming her or just intentionally screwed them over. Yet the truth is something he can’t seem to imagine, she has free will and doesn’t want to do as she’s told. Who’s the real tool now Jimmy? He informs them that Cinder broke Watts out, and he seems to consider Qrow and Robyn escaping to be an even worse consequence. Harriet seems ready to sprint out of the room and haul them back here herself, but Ironwood stays her hand... or foot in this case. With Salem temporarily halted, now is the best time they’ve got for him to have the Winter Maiden open the Vault and use the Staff to lift Atlas higher than she can reach like he wanted so badly. So he wants Winter to bring him Yang Jaune and Ren. Winter doesn’t see the purpose of that, or she does and hates to imagine it’s truly what he intends, but either way she knows she can’t do what he’s asking. He plans to make full use of the lives they hold in their hands, and he’s going to use Jaune and the others as leverage to make Penny do what he says. He acts as if he’s actually proud of himself for realizing this is an option available to him, and I think it’s his Semblance that’s partially blinding him to the moral reasons why it should not be an option worth considering. Winter is left wilting under his unaware and proud gaze, and then Harriet pipes up to tattle on her commanding officer. Winter gave the kids a chance to try and rescue their friends from inside the whale(they don’t mention that friend was Oscar so he still doesn’t know the kid survived his attempted murder), and they weren’t seen exiting before it blew up. I want to say I’m shocked and disgusted that Harriet snitched on Winter just for the brownie points of being honest and taking Winter down a peg, but I’m really not. She’s been a loyal bootlicker since this time last Volume, and this feels like payback for that whole “I outrank you so you can’t stop me from giving them a chance” thing in chapter 7. Ironwood removes the proud and probably intended to be comforting hand he had placed on Winter’s shoulder, as if ashamed to be touching her after she let him down like this. This was his last plan for his definition of success, and now it’s ruined so he can’t do anything. In a fit of rage he smashes his table like the goddamn Hulk and the Ace Ops are left to watch and wonder just how in his right mind he actually is. As he tries to catch his breath, the general gets an urgent transmission that dozens of non-military aircraft have shown up on radar. I and probably a few dozen other people watching this hoped this was an Avengers Endgame moment of tons of allies coming to the rescue of the down and out heroes. But no, its the Schnee Dust Company ships Whitley sent out. Almost forgot about that plan, whoops. Ironwood immediately recognizes this as Weiss’ handiwork for the sake of saving Mantle, because nobody would have guessed Whitley would show some humanity and make this plan himself. Winter immediately shows attentive concern hearing her sister has done this, and Harriet gives her a look as if to say “you are such a bleeding heart for these little criminals...” Ironwood makes the very one dimensional assumption that everything Ruby and the others have been doing is simply to protect Mantle, as if they didn’t have a serious conversation with May about helping Atlas as well as Mantle 3 episodes back. With that knowledge in mind, he decides he needs to make a call.

Speaking of phones, Cinder gets a cheeky text and an accompanying selfie from Neo revealing she has the Lamp and she knows Salem will tear Cinder to pieces if she doesn’t bring it back to her. So she’s proposing a trade; Cinder gets the name to activate the Lamp, and in return she has to bring Neo to Ruby for the revenge she so deeply craves. Watts can’t see Cinder’s screen so he wonders who among their comrades has survived. Unclear if Cinder is going to tell him.

At last, we see Ruby throw open the front doors of Schnee Manor with Weiss and Blake flanking her, to see Yang and the others on the front steps. The sisters immediately embrace and Ruby sheds a tear of relief and joy that they’re all okay. Yang tells her she missed her too, and that seems to be that for the distrust and argument they had back in chapter 1. Ruby goes to greet the guys, and Yang gives Weiss a nice hug too. Then she sees Blake has taken a few steps away from the group and seems ashamed or embarrassed, unable to even look in their direction in Yang’s direction. Yang puts a hand to her cheek, her thumb softly stroking up and down as she turns Blake’s head to meet her gays gaze. Yang blushes and smiles, Bake returns the smile, and the two softly press their foreheads together. The intense sapphic energy of this deeply intimate moment was almost overwhelming, and many couldn’t help but adore it. I know I couldn’t stop myself from being a little giggly. Ren notices Nora isn’t there to greet them, and Weiss seems like she’s going to bring him up to her room and possibly even explain what happened along the way. Ruby takes this chance to go and greet Oscar with a hug, but stops short when she sees Emerald behind him. She seems real mad and is about to go on the attack, but Oscar steps between them and insists he can vouch for her, or maybe he’s saying he can explain? We don’t quite know because they get cut off by the sound of Ruby’s Scroll ringing. May is calling from the crater to say that the SDC freighters aren’t the only thing in the air right now, and she seems very panicked by what she sees. She yells for everyone to run into the mines for shelter, and an explosion is hear before the call is cut short. Before anyone has time to try and puzzle out what they just heard, a loud alarm tone goes off on all their Scrolls. It’s a fun detail that as a Faunus Blake covers her ears cuz the loud noise is especially bad for her. An emergency CCT broadcast is coming in for everyone in the kingdom, and Ruby magnifies her Scroll’s playing of it to be projected into the air for all of them to watch. The cargo ships are shown being shot down by military ships, and then the feed cuts to Ironwood standing ominously under a single light to deliver a downright villainous speech. He claims he has been trying his best to protect the technology and future of the kingdom from those who would do it harm, but I think it is VERY telling he never mentions protecting the people. Because that’s not what matters to him anymore. Not really. He says the only person stopping him from finishing his plans of making sure the currently crippled Salem can’t hurt them anymore is Penny. So he has an ultimatum for Penny and her friends, because he knows they will be listening right now. Either she turn herself over to him so he can have her do her “duty” and save as much of the Kingdom as possible and forget about trying to save Mantle, or he will nuke Mantle as punishment for her selfishness. The more he talks the more angry Ruby and the others get, and we are right there with them. He somehow thinks that if Mantle is destroyed then Penny will be free to only care about Atlas and its protection and will gladly work with him to do so. What a delusional bastard. And if anyone tries anything other than what he has said to do, he will use the bomb. 1 hour to decide how they will respond, and a hell of a lot riding on that choice.

There can be absolutely no question now, Ironwood will be the villain for the rest of the Volume and Salem will probably return at the end to ruin whatever hope putting him down will have raised in our heroes... And I’m kinda excited for how that’s gonna play out. Let’s see how team RWBY get out of this one~

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