#my dad watched dbz with me when i was a baby and now i have super saiyan disease

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Trunks vs Goten - Who is the more compelling character?

So anyone who reads my DBZ posts knows that Future Trunks is my fav DBZ character hands down. Gohan is 2nd place. Besides Gohan and Future Trunks, I do not acknowledge the other hybrids...until now.

Kid Trunks and Goten were done dirty in Z. I was watching their tournament fight recently and my heart ached at all the missed potential with these two. I know Kid Trunks at least has his future counterpart to get some street cred from but let's ignore Future Trunks for now. Which kid had the best story beats? Let me find out!

Hybrid Potential

Trunks is stronger than Goten but only marginally. So I believe Goten has more latent potential than Trunks. Despite being younger and only getting training from Chi Chi and then like a month of advanced training from Gohan, Goten is able to compete with Trunks who had better training facilities and a more dedicated training partner (although it's debatable how involved Vegeta was in Trunks' training after more reflection).

Relationship with Fathers

Trunks wins this hands down. We first got a taste of Vegeta's development in the Android saga with Future Trunks. But then we have the hug scene with Vegeta and Trunks in the buu saga. Vegeta has never held his son and it's tragic that he does so when he is about to sacrifice himself to atone for his sins. We see Trunks wanting to impress his dad and Trunks even has a moment where he declares he wants to be a better fighter than his dad so he can succeed where Vegeta failed in defeating Buu. We see funny moments at the end of Z and GT where Vegeta acts like a regular dad, threatening Trunks' allowance and chiding him for slacking. Goten's moments with Goku are lacking to say the least. The scenes they have are not really all that deep in the grand scheme of things. How does Goten feel about his dad being gone for most of his life? How does Goku feel about missing his son's life? The relationship between Goku and Goten is sadly very generic and hollow. All the amazing father moments were given to Gohan. Even when Goku leaves with Uub, Goten, along with Chi Chi, is completely shafted. Instead, the emotional moment is given to Pan. Poor Goten.

Sibling Relationship

Do I even need to explain?? Goten hands down! I love Gohan and Goten's relationship. I love how Goten sees his brother as a role model and you can feel how much they adore each other. Gohan is Goten's main masculine figure so Goten probably saw Gohan as a dad-like figure growing up too. Goten is also such as sweet baby brother. As for Trunks, I can't say the same. First, the age gap between him and Bulla is huge. He was already a grown teenager when she was just a toddler. Plus, she is a girl who shows no interest in fighting. I can't see these siblings being too close. She probably grew up functionally as an only child. I wonder if Trunks ever felt jealous of how good of a father Vegeta was to her? That is something I loved reading about in fanfictions in the past. We just don't see much interaction with Trunks and Bulla but that is expected given the circumstances and Bulla being a useless character anyway with little screentime.

Personality

This is hard. I personally find Kid Trunks more interesting as a kid character. Goten's personality is less entertaining. Trunks has the dominant personality so at times Goten just feels like his sidekick. However, Goten has an edge when things become serious. I blame a lot of Gotenks' attitude on Trunks. Trunks also presented himself as a bad influence on Goten. After Buu killed Chi Chi, Goten became serious. As soon as that boy entered the time chamber, he got down to business while Trunks was goofing off. Goten was taking the threat seriously until Trunks' attitude rubbed off on him. Sigh, poor Goten. I want to call it a tie...but I will give my vote to Trunks.

Relationship with Mothers

I will say that it is totally unfair how Chi Chi was demonized for wanting to protect Gohan but the same is not done when it is Goten and Trunks' turn to save the world. All of a sudden, the kids are poor babiesssss wahh :(

Anyway...I love how both moms changed after their sons were born. Before Trunks, Bulma was super immature and flighty. She became really admirable, and less annoying, after she became a mom. It was so cute the way she was always holding Trunks! As for Chi Chi, Goku's death really mellowed her out. Goten must have been a blessing for her, especially given his uncanny resemblance to Goku. I think Trunks helped with Bulma's development more while Goten had a greater symbolism of his dad living on. Goten would likely be a bit closer to his mom given she was his sole parent. Ugh, this is really hard to choose...but I will go with Goten. A lot of emphasis was placed on Trunks' relationship with his dad while for Goten, it was his mom. I think a lot of Bulma's development is centered around her relationship with Vegeta. For Chi Chi, she is highlighted more as a mom than a wife in my opinion. Which is understandable given Goku's high absenteeism rate.

Conclusion

To my pleasant surprise, I find myself favouring Goten over Trunks. I am shocked because I never cared much for Goten. However, I do think that Goten had so much potential to be a compelling character. So many topics could have been explored such as his relationship with his dad and his potential. Also, maybe Goten could have been the son who loved fighting and was the one to take up the mantle instead of Gohan??? The seeds were there to make this storyline happen. We could have ended Z with Goku training Goten alongside Uub. Ahh, the missed potential. As for Kid Trunks, I just can't care too much about him because he will always be overshadowed by Future Trunks. He can't compete.

This is my unexpected opinion! I am open to hearing other views.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Broly movie semi-liveblog because of reasons

I only ever watched the original Broly movie once or twice cus of the suuuper long fight scene ending (and I think it came out, or we borrowed it from Blockbuster, around the time I was losing interest in DBZ)…which is great cus watching it now after the reboot movie has me going in almost totally fresh

Krillin’s puppy song (and how he just pauses then keeps singing after the ship lands X’D so you just hear him wailing in the background during Paragus’ big speech)

Paragus: I’m starting a new planet and I want you to be king Vegeta: :/ Paragus: Uhh…there’s also this big strong bad guy and only YOU can stop him! Vegeta: :/ Trunks: Dad, don’t go with him Vegeta: DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! *goes out of spite*

Vegeta gets to the planet, gets his ear talked off by Paragus, sees Paragus’ whole army, doesn’t react to anything, but takes one look at the big buff shirtless dude covered in jewelry and decides “I want to be alone with that guy for a while” (Trunks: “DAD NO” Vegeta: “DON’T KINKSHAME ME”)

Son “cat trying to convince you it didn’t just eat five minutes ago” Goku

“Golly, who could the Legendary Super Saiyan be?” *shows a whole flashback of Broly being the Legendary Super Saiyan and names the movie “Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan”*

Still gets me that the fan-favorite His Power Is Maximum villain’s weakness is that he flips out at the sight of the guy who cried in the crib next to him when they were babies

I’d still fight Master Roshi if I could risk getting within ten feet of him but thanks man for deflating the tension every time it gets serious here. And more importantly, giving my boy Oolong an actual reason to be here (designated driver). Which kinky freak on staff came up with that sequence of the two of them in bed together though?? XD

Realizing I haven’t seen the old DBZ movies since before my dad got his giant TV, and watching this thing in HD on a huge screen with surround sound blasting the doofy 2000s grunge rock songs shoehorned into the soundtrack just feels so wrong X’D

With Paragus’ whole thing being about trapping Vegeta on this planet so a comet can smush him, how much funnier would it have been if Goku had just shown up and immediately IT’d everyone back to Earth

This version of Broly is SO annoying, OMFG. Hulked-out glowing guy cackling about how he was gonna kill a child, “What do you expect from a true freak?! Wahaha~” Like 100% one of those guys who saw The Dark Knight and went “the Joker’s so dark and edgy, I wanna be just like him” Shut up already

Actually Broly’s fixation on hurting Gohan to upset Goku plus the Trunks-Vegeta dynamic could’ve made for an interesting subplot about father-son relationships, but nope I guess. Gohan and Trunks aren’t even in the reboot movie where they really dig into Paragus’ abuse of Broly (just a brief scene of Goten and Trunks calling Bulma for two seconds to tell her plot stuff)

Piccolo dragging Vegeta to the battle by his hair

I also actually love sad scared Vegeta because it makes him so much more interesting. Goku’s an excitable child whose relationship with martial arts is basically like a good work ethic, so he hears about someone stronger than him and gets all excited cus he wants to test his strength by fighting them. Vegeta’s an arrogant jerk generally used to getting his own way, so he hears about someone stronger than him and his first instinct is to go “pff, no way,” then when it’s clear the person IS much stronger he just shuts down. Probably a remnant of being terrorized and probably physically beaten by Frieza or his minions as a kid, cus you KNOW he wasn’t gonna just start taking orders from some guy who isn’t even his king dad

The classic DBZ squeaky foot noise when Broly walks...bless

“I’m the prince of all Saiyans, even you, Broly” “Then please try your best to make me kneel before you” Get a ROOM

“Did he really think I would die just because this planet is about to explode?”

*gives you my power, but in a tsundere way*

I’d been wanting to watch the first bunch of movies for a while since they use clips from em in the Ocean dub opening, but wound up with the 2nd movie set cus I found a good deal and the Broly reboot made me curious to revisit the original…now I’m torn between going on to Return Of Cooler & Super Android 13 my dumb funny beloveds, or going back to the 1st movie set and working my way up to truly Earn them XD

[roughentumble]

bleach was like "im gonna make the music go *dun nu-nu-nuh duh-nuh-nuh nuhnuh nuhnuh-- NAH NAHHH* while the MC carves his way through seasoned veterans who are like thousands of years old, and also he's a teenager who's had powers for a month" and i was like oh boy! hope this doesnt awaken any love for poorly written schlock in me

[sometipsygnostalgic]

When'd you get into Adventure Time the first time, and how'd it happen? Been thinking of giving it a watch (especially after all the good stuff that's been said of Obsidian and, admittedly, all the stuff I've seen you post and reblog), and it got me curious

This is like my favourite story, and it is the only good one I remember from being a teenager (life from back then has been super foggy since I moved out of my mum's but it is all good now):

When I was 15 I made a new friend who wanted to write a comic about Teen Titans with me as the artist, TT being my second-favourite childhood show after DBZ.

I started bingewatching Teen Titans because I now had a computer and was able to do so. I learnt about the voice actors.

Starfire was played by Hynden Walch. I learnt that Hynden's latest role was Princess Bubblegum on Adventure Time. I checked it out on wikipedia. It seemed kind of cartoony for me.

One thing that caught my eye is when the wikipedia page said PB "may have had a past relationship" with Marceline, the vampire girl with the really pretty hair. I was confused by this, and rationalised it to myself as they must have had a history as friends or enemies. It didn't say what kind of relationship and I thought there was no chance of it meaning "romantic".

For the time being, I didn't look into AT further.

A couple months pass. After several months of tension, I get a text while in school telling me that my dad was breaking up with his fiance, and I would need to move back into my mother's place immediately. This was smack bang when I was about to start my GCSE exams - the timing couldn't be worse. My mother's house is a shit hive and I went between having a tiny box room to myself or sharing a messy bedroom with my sister and mother. There were no standards for hygeine and there wasn't a stable supply of food.

I decide to finish my binge watch of Teen Titans. I spend all day doing this every day. I rewatched it once I was done. It was what I did to cope.

At the same time, my Teen Titans comic friend confides in me. She tells me she thinks she might be a lesbian, and she is scared her parents will reject her. I sympathise deeply. At the time, I was waist deep in the closet to the point I couldnt accept certain things about myself either, but having a friend come out to me made me reconsider LGBT matters.

I looked on deviantart and saw some art for "RaeStar". I thought it was wrong to ship them (I shipped RobStar hardcore) but, well, the art was so cute. Their interactions were healthy and sweet. It was nice. This became my low key first gay ship.

Then, I start bingeing RebelTaxi's Teen Titans video reviews.

Once I am dry on Teen Titans content, I see RebelTaxi did a review on Fionna and Cake, and on Ryan North's Issue #2 of the Adventure Time comic.

The first video, Fionna and Cake, was appealing to me. The show had an amazing art style, and a decent sense of humor. I loved that they did something for the fans, making a genderbent fanfic episode based on popular fan characters. It was unprecedented and very post modern.

....But it was the SECOND video that made me take a very sudden interest in the show.

RebelTaxi was referring to a scene with PB and Marcy in the bottom of the Lich's bag. There is a joke where Marcy turns into a tentacle monster. RebelTaxi always makes hentai jokes when tentacle monsters are involved, but he interpreted this scene as referencing the characters' "lesbian undertones".

...Wait, WHAT? Hynden Walch's character and the pretty vampire have Lesbian Undertones?!?! Haven't I heard this somewhere before?!?!

A quick google search of "Adventure Time Lesbian Undertones" later, I discover the Mathematical! Controversy - how an episode with some incredible songwriting seemed to imply they had been girlfriends in the past who have residual feelings for each other. A podcast had been made by the producers fangirling about this possibility, but it was taken down, and the director fired. Nobody had outright said the subtext was not there, but they said they didn't want the podcast to sound like word of god. There had been a lot of upset in the gay community over this. Oh, by the way, there's a gay community of cartoon fans who really ship PB/Marcy.

With a combination of everything, from how my friend had just come out to me and was struggling with homophobia, to how I was a Hynden Walch fan, to how the show had already impressed me with what little I'd seen, I became IMMEDIATELY invested in finding out as much as possible about these potential LGBT characters and their relationship.

So I checked out a ton of Adventure Time videos on youtube. I checked the vids that had Marceline's backstory in, vids with funny moments from PB and all the other characters, I checked Deviantart for fanart where I made my first engagements with the fandom's gay community, I checked the Wiki talk pages to get ALL of the discourse. It changed who I was basically overnight.

I decided Adventure Time was a fun show with clever writing, and absolutely worth my attention. During the break for exams, I binge watched it all day, and then I would cram for my GCSEs between midnight and 3am on the day of the exam. I was addicted!

When I caught up, Goliad aired. This was the first ep to come out with me being in the fandom.

At the time, even though Hynden had drawn me to the show, Marceline was the character I was most invested in. She had the amazing backstory and music and character design. PB was fun, but there was relatively nothing to her character.

Oh boy, that ALL CHANGED with Goliad! People were intensely debating what the episode was saying about her. Is she a good person, a bad person? Why was she so troubled in the episode's opening, and why was Goliad corrupted?

Discourse only escalated with Princess Cookie. The top post on the wikia was "Is Princess Bubblegum evil?"

Thinking about her character was so interesting for me. These two episodes made me realise PB was a character with her own internal battles, who was struggling with the responsibility to do what was right for her people vs what is the Right Thing, with her own psychological wellbeing caught in the middle. My interpretation of Goliad was that PB was a naturally neutral person who had decided to be good, whereas Goliad had been corrupted by Jake's anger, and this contrasted with Finn who was a pure good person. The Princess Cookie episode reinforced my ideas, because she was doing something that was neither objectively good or bad but was a result of her own morality, and it went against Jake's morality. The idea of the "good guys" having such different values was so engaging, and they managed to come around at the end, with baby-snaps being submitted to rehabilitation.

Princess Cookie was also the first episode where PB was shown to be an adult while a currently adult character was a child. Either candy people age quickly, or - more likely - Pb is keeping her age a mystery. After thinking about this, I opened up a page on the wiki forums saying "Is Princess Bubblegum Old?"

This is what sealed my position in the fandom. I became a well known regular of the community after that, on Wikia and then Tumblr. It was my first fandom. So many good memories of theories, debates, analysis and fanart, the satisfaction of my theories being confirmed in season 5 onwards.

The most important thing to me, about engaging with the AT community, was how those initial interactions around the LGBT content were the groundwork for me being comfortable coming out of the closet. If it wasn’t for that, if it wasn’t for speaking specifically to Thisfreemind and Illeity about how gay relationships are perfectly fine and healthy for kids to see, and no less clean than straight relationships, I might be a person with far more conservative views today, and I might have fallen out with several of my closeted friends over internalized homophobia.  

I would have also probably failed high school. My grades improved drastically over the next year, because my online community life had made me happier.  It was comfort and stability during a difficult couple of years. 

[tenshindon]

Can I send another for the meme? If so, how 'bout Son Goku? :D

Give Me A Character and I Will Answer:

Why I like them:

It’s FUCKING Goku baby !!!!!

No but seriously I love Goku for a lot of reasons! First off he’s based off of one of my favorite mythos growing up, and he’s just such a fun and lovable dude! I love how while he maintains a childlike personality, he’s not afraid to address how serious the situation is and act accordingly. I also love how he loved his grandpa so much he named his first son after him <3 His love for adventure is real inspiring and I love his affect on people throughout the course of Dragon Ball- just how people wanted to improve because they wanted to make Goku proud or meet his standard.

Why I don’t:

Super’s massacred my boy don’t look at me. Other than that, I’m pretty fine with everything else! He’s a lovely dude! I’d love to hang with him :)

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

His fight against Grandpa Gohan oh my God do not look at me ACTUALLY this time. Every time I remember that episode I just get emotional because it’s genuinely so sweet and heartwarming to watch Goku not only refer to Gohan’s scent as a “happy smell” but see him actually tear up and get emotional- it was such a great reminder, as Yamcha pointed out, that while Goku was incredibly powerful, he was still just a kid.

Favorite season/movie:

I have a strong love for the Saiyan saga in DBZ so that’s probably my favorite for him! It was super lovely to see him be a dad, be willing to sacrifice himself to save the world, train on King Kai’s planet and traverse Snake Way, and seeing him beat down Vegeta with what he learned (and unfortunately learn the truth about Grandpa Gohan’s passing) was super cool! I rewatch the Saiyan saga so much honestly it’s my favorite part of Z.

Favorite line:

"That guy... kinda smells nice... I don’t know how to say it exactly, but... It’s a happy smell...” -Goku to Krillin before having to fight a masked Grandpa Gohan

Goku says A Lot of things in Dragon Ball but when I tell you that Goku reuniting with Gohan made me Feel it REALLY made me feel I love it so much and Goku describing Gohan’s scent as “happy” gets me every time.

Favorite outfit:

I know we all love the 59 jacket (and I do too) but I thought his winter gear during the Red Ribbon saga was super cute!!

OTP:

Him and Chi-Chi man!!! He might not have gotten the whole marriage thing at first but he doesn’t regret a single day being married to her!!

Brotp:

Piccolo and Goku’s relationship is so funny to me because it starts out with Goku killing Piccolo’s dad and Piccolo wanting revenge and now it’s devolved into Piccolo just slowly being sucked into the Son family. Plus I just love them bein’ like brothers, especially during the Super episode where Goku has to babysit Pan!

Head Canon:

Goku dedicates at least one day of the year to visit his old house to pay respects to Grandpa Gohan. While he’s there sure he eats but he also just reflects on the memories he got to have with Gohan before his passing- and he makes sure to update Gohan on all that’s happened in his life! Even if it just means he talks to himself for a few hours before heading home.

Unpopular opinion:

Goku’s a great dad, a great husband, and a great friend you guys are just mean- but I’m starting to see that become a general opinion so that’s very good!

A wish:

Please let Goku like. Retain knowledge from past fights (i.e. learn that some people just Cannot be redeemed) and let him be able to be serious and NOT just be battle obsessed; yes, Goku fighting is a major part of his personality- and I love that about him! But I also want him to acknowledge that some situations can’t be encountered with fighting or need a more serious approach to them. He can still be a goof though, I love goofy Goku so much.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen:

I doubt it’d ever happen but if Goku and Chi-Chi separate I’m Going To Scream So Loud

5 words to best describe them:

Goofy monkey man loves fighting

My nickname for them:

Fifty-Nine!

[askbluestevenuniverse]

Thoughts on the new episodes?

OHHHHH BOY- I was wondering if anyone would ask me what my take on the new episodes would be....Okay for once I’ll put my self out there and do an episode thought thing- just remember this is my take- you don’t have to agree but be lovely to one another everyone has a way of thinking...no one person is wrong.... 

That being said spoilers- and lets take this one at a time so lets talk about:

MR. Universe:

I’m not gonna lie- the last few episodes were intense and poor Steven isn’t sure what to do now that his job is done...I’d like to state I am...peeved that some people are giving shit to the crystal gems on dropping the ball with Steven....Truth is that in the beginning they didn’t WANT a 10 year old boy to join in adventures- they even stated without powers he shouldn’t be going- and from childhood- Yes Greg did have him in a van- until he hit a certain age when his HOUSE was made... 

Now I’m not belittling what happened to Steven every- honestly I felt bad watching that scene with him realizing everything happening in the show- the moments I enjoyed- helped traumatized someone- hell when I saw that build up I was like from day one I was watching the deconstruction of a human-half ling and enjoying it......damn...I’m a monster Rebecca- AND I HAVE TO SAY THAT’S AMAZING story telling- Even throw away episodes helped explain many many things and it showed every little bit built Steven to to this point.

That being said...I didn’t like the crap the gems got, and recently Greg...Now- He’s not an amazing father- but he’s a good dad who stated he didn’t know what he was doing as most people do when they have kids.....And I don’t like how unfairly alot of people are talking shit about him.

Now not all his actions were good- I can make a list of bad choices he made in the show- a good size list but he was only doing what he thought was right for steven his upbringing- I understand that-  by the looks and sounds of it were very controlling and very strict.

In this episode....there was no winners- It shows two styles of parenting that were wayyy off center Greg giving Steven far too much freedom and His parents suffocating him. 

Was Greg the perfect dad? No...

But he’s a good father a good guy who loved his son and was only trying to do what he felt was the right thing....

Now for the other bigger episode:

Fragments

So let me get this out of the way

NHHHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHH

Thank you

We take off from Mr. Universe to just Steven needing to get away and going into the arms of the WORSE type of help- instead of actually sitting down and talking- the way our bean USE to handle his conflicts hes taken to running and beefing out in the woods with the worlds most angriest hermit Chester the Cheetos cheetah.Then ending in a DBZ fight that had me screaming when I saw what he had done...it was an accident but baby you don’t do that! and the ending just broke my heart....

REBECCCCAAAA WHY REBECCAAAAAAA

I just hope this resolves into something good....

[rockysavannah]

Videl vs. Pan! A Bored Burp-Off!

Description:

WARNING THIS STORY CONTAINS: Female Burping.

If you’re not into any of the above things, please do not read!

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This could be considered a distant sequel to 'Bulma vs Chi-Chi! A Baby Shower Burping Contest!'.

Pan and Videl are sitting at home one day, bored out of their minds. After a couple of accidental eructations from the pair, they decide to have a burping contest, with a wager set in place to make it more interesting. Will Videl achieve victory, or will her daughter dominate? There’s only one way to find out.

I hope you like it. Any constructive criticism in the comments section is welcome.

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Originally uploaded back on March 7th, 2017 on Writing.com.

This story was co-written with Jokermask18/JWAPPEL in my interactive.

Since Writing.com basically requires people to need a paid membership in order to do anything on their website, it’s practically impossible for many people to write and read there. Therefore, I’ve decided to post some of the chapters from my interactives onto my other accounts as full-fledged stories so that they can reach a wider audience.

============

The Art of the Thumbnail is a blend of two images. (Since no one had drawn this concept...).

Videl by Seiya-Dbz-Fan.

Pan by Krizart-DA.

Text by me and Jokermask18/JWAPPEL.

============

Son Videl, Son Pan, and Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super © Funimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha and Akira Toriyama

(A/N: This is a collaboration with Jokermask18 A.K.A. JWAPPEL.)

Content Advisory! This story contains:

Female Hyper Belching

Taunting

Series: Dragon Ball

Characters: Son Videl, Son Pan

Synopsis: Videl and Pan try to alleviate their boredom by having some gassy fun.

If you’re not into any of the above things, please do not read!

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It was a quiet Saturday afternoon for the family of Son Gohan. The man of the house was out on business, leaving his wonderful wife and daughter to fend off the onslaught of boredom by themselves. The duo engaged in a multitude of recreational activities—watching television shows and movies, playing video and board games, even training—but nothing could keep their interests for more than a few minutes at best. Both were currently lounging around in the living room, Pan lied half-asleep on the couch and Videl was playing with a paddleball. Videl checked the clock and her eyes widened at the time.

“Oh no, it’s almost dinner time!” she exclaimed, loudly enough to capture the attention of her daughter, “I better get cooking!”

“…Huh?” Pan muttered groggily, until the weight of those words truly hit her, “Wait, dinner?! That sounds great! I’m starving!”

The eleven-year-old girl’s sudden burst of energy got a small chuckle out of her mother, “Well, you’ll have to ‘starve’ for a little longer, because it’ll take awhile to make enough food to satisfy your appetite.”

Pan’s lips curled downward, “Can I at least get a soda to hold me over.”

With an approving nod from her mother, Pan moved faster than a normal human could track, seemingly vanishing into thin air for a split second, before returning to the same spot, only with a root beer in hand. While Videl was getting up from her chair and heading for the kitchen, Pan began chugging the contents of her can. The carbonated beverage cascaded down her esophagus before landing in the pits of her stomach, mixing with the boiling green acids that were already dwelling there, and forming large bubbles of gas from the chemical reaction. Pan put her right hand on her belly when she heard a low rumbling deep inside. She felt pockets of air shift around within her tummy, before some of it was dislodged and evicted up a valve at the top of the stomach. Pan barely had time to register what happened before a juicy belch blasted past her lips, catching her by surprise. Videl stopped in the kitchen and turned to look at her daughter, who just sported a look of content on her face.

“That felt good,” Pan commented with a giggle.

“Pan, you should show better manners than that,” Videl reprimanded with a stereotypical parental finger pointing.

Pan scoffed internally, wishing that her mom would loosen up once in a while, like what her dad said she was like as a teenager. Alas, Videl’s acceptance of her role as a housewife had meant that she sacrificed much of her cooler (in Pan’s opinion), tomboyish personality, so it was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Videl was about to get the ingredients and kitchen ware needed to make a meal fit for a demi- and quarter-Saiyan, but was stricken with a sudden pang of thirst. Wanting to quickly quench it before getting to work, she fished through the fridge and picked out a can of Jetap, before popping it open and spraying some of the alcoholic liquid on her cheeks. Pan snickered at this, while Videl took a large swig of her drink, draining the can in a matter of seconds. Once the intoxicated fluid splashed into her gut, a similar reaction that happened in Pan’s abdominal area occurred here too. As soon as Videl removed the can from her mouth, a beery burp rippled out of it, having the length, volume, and smell to be comparable to her daughter. When the three-second-long eructation ended, Videl’s cheeks lit up in a scarlet flash.

“Ooohhh my goodness! Excuse me!” she apologized with her left hand clasped over her mouth.

There was a period of silence in the house before the juvenile giggling of the youngest Son member promptly shattered it. “Nice one, Mom! I didn’t think… that you had… it in you!” her compliments were intersped by fits of laughter.

Videl’s level of embarrassment continued to grow, “T-that was just an accident, sweetie. I didn’t mean to.”

Pan rolled her eyes and gave her an unconvinced smirk, “Not buying it, Mom. Dad told me how much of a tomboy you were back in the day and I bet that you miss that time.”

Videl widened her light blue irises, baffled at how her adolescent daughter managed to back her into a corner like this. Then, she started to think about Pan’s words; about how her ‘tough girl’ days were when she was at her coolest. But that was just a persona, right? An act that she didn’t need to keep up when she met her high school sweetheart. Without that, she felt comfortable sporting a more feminine appearance, like her wedding gown when she married Gohan, or the red dress and black leggings when she attended Bulma’s ‘39th’ birthday party. On the other hand, her feistier attitude did earn her some respect from her former classmates at Orange Star High School, and she still found some amusement when she thought back to the times that she beat various members of the student body in burping contests. Perhaps it would not hurt to relive some of that glory one more time.

“Maybe… you have a point,” Videl admitted.

Pan’s grin grew wider, “Great, because I’ve got an idea for curing our boredom: a burping contest!”

If possible, the Son matriarch’s eyes grew wider still, “Really? Well, what are the stakes?”

Pan tapped a finger on her chin in thought, “If I win, you order as much food as I want, when I want, for the next three months; If you win, I’ll do all of yours and dad’s chores on top of my own for the same time.”

Videl pondered Pan’s proposition. The risk was great, but so was the reward. After a few moments, she reached her decision, “Game on, young lady,” Videl answered with a smirk that matched her daughter’s, finally regaining her uncouth appreciation for the immature art of burping.

“Cool!” Pan’s eyes shone in anticipation, thinking that this would make for a gross, but fun, bonding experience.

Videl pulled out at least eight more cans of soda from the fridge and divided them between herself and Pan. After all, one needed the right ammunition for this kind of thing. Pan reached for her first one and chugged the whole thing in less than a minute! With a smirk, she then thumped her chest and let out a nasty sounding burp that sounded like it came from a hardened trucker. Videl was actually a little proud of her for that. That is, until she remembered she was looking at her competitor. The daughter of Mister Satan figured her turn was up and attempted to copy her daughter's opening move. Unfortunately, she ended up choking on most of the soda and launched into a coughing fit.

“You're losing Mommy,” Pan taunted in a sing-song voice before belching again. This one was ever bigger than the last, being five seconds long!

Videl's eyes narrowed as her competitive fire was beginning to reignite, “I'm not finished yet!” She began chugging her second soda, this time nearly matching her daughter's former pace. Pan was on her second soda as well, though sipping it in a leisurely fashion. It was clear she wasn't worried and this made Videl all the more angry.

Thumping her chest, the daughter of Mr. Satan unleashed her first real belch in the contest. It was decent, though only half as big as Pan's first attempt. Videl scowled, knowing she'd once been able to do much better. Pan responded with another huge belch that won her the bout and began opening her third can. Videl did the same and managed to start off with a belch that surpassed her daughter's previous attempt! The good feeling that came with that was quickly destroyed when Pan unleashed a belch that blew her mother's hair back! Once again, the daughter of Mister Satan felt oddly proud even as she began opening her fourth can. This truly was a bonding experience.

The contest continued on in this way. Videl had actually started to regain some of her old skill but it didn't seem to help. Pan dominated each bout and only grew cockier over time. “Get ready to order Mama, cause I am hungry!” The daughter of Mister Satan only scowled more deeply at this taunt. She refused to let her daughter win. It wasn't just about what losing would cost her either. Now, it was about pride.

But honestly, Videl was getting flustered. She had to admit that her kid was good. Scratch that, Pan was very, very good. As they went through what was now the seventh can for both of them, mother and daughter soon realized that it was almost over. There were only two cans left and one of them would belong to the victor. It was clear from her grin that Pan believed she knew which one it would be. “Ready to give up?”

But Videl refused. If there was anything left over from the Videl of old, it was that. She wondered, not for the first time, just what had happened to that girl? The tomboy who had dominated boy and girl alike in belching contests since she was seven! She even remembered winning a few farting contests in her time. Looking at Pan, she realized that she missed those times. She wanted them back. It was time for her to start thinking like the old Videl again, but how?

After the duo each finished their seventh can, Pan effortlessly belted out another first class burp. Though it was comparatively less powerful than her previous ones, it compensated with an odor that made the matriarch of the Son household go green in the gills. While Videl, with watery eyes, was coughing and trying to fan away the foul fumes, Pan was looking bored. Sure, she was certain that she would be able to pig out on as much food as she wanted to when this was over, which definitely appealed to her Saiyan nature, but there was another thing that her alien instincts craved: a good fight. Her father had gone on about how unladylike and badass her mother was as a youth, so Pan expected at least something resembling a challenge, just to make her victory feel more earned.

However, right now Videl was not proving those stories true at all. In fact, her burps were barely able to get much reaction out of Pan aside from condescending amusement. Either the stories were lies or Videl had simply lost her edge. In any case, Pan found it disappointing, not simply because of the aforementioned lack of challenge, but because she had a lot of respect for mommy dearest. All of the tomboyish tales about Videl, not just of how she shattered gender stereotypes by utterly decimating sexist boys in belching contests, but also of her beating up bullies and leaping into danger to stop criminals. It helped influence Pan into shaping her personality to mimic the mother that she idolized, both as a tomboy and as a hero.

Meanwhile, Videl’s mind raced to find a way to gain an edge over her daughter. Maybe she could use the Dragon Balls to wish for her old personality back. No, that would seem like a waste to use something so powerful to win such a juvenile event. Besides, what would Gohan say about it when he returned home? Nevertheless, if she cannot do that, then how will the daughter of Mister Satan triumph over the gaseous greatness of Pan? Suddenly, she thought back to what her husband said when he taught her how to fly all those years ago.

He said that you have to focus your energy from your stomach, she recalled in her head. Then, she also flashed back to when she heard Gohan say that his mentor, Piccolo, could fire ki blasts from his mouth, Wait a minute. That’s it! Videl breathed deeply and concentrated hard, gulping down air to fuel her belch. She soon felt a spark of ki in her belly and smiled, Alright, she thought, silently thanking Gohan and Piccolo for not teaching Pan telepathy, I’m on the right track, but I should try to limit how much ki I use. Otherwise, Pan will know what I’m up to and just copy me, then, I’ll be screwed.

And so, the metaphysical energy continued to manifest in her stomach, acting like fire boiling water to produce steam as it stirred up more gas than any normal human ever could. When she felt enough build up, Videl proudly forced out the gas using her ki creating a shockwave that blew away Pan’s orange bandana. When it finished, Videl sighed in relief and giggled at the befuddled face of her daughter.

“Wh-what was that?!” Pan exclaimed.

“Well, Honey, I guess I was just a little rusty,” Videl replied, lips curled up into a smirk.

Pan narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She may be somewhat naïve, but she was not stupid. The daughter of Son Gohan found it weird that her mom could just pull out a totally awesome eructation at the eleventh hour after a series of mediocre burps. In addition, Pan could have sworn that she felt a minuscule ember of ki coming from her mother, specifically in her tummy.

Maybe… The quasi-Saiyan pondered for a moment, before dismissing the idea entirely, There’s no way. That’s just ridiculous. She probably just got lucky, that’s all.

Putting the notion aside, Pan opted to pop open her eighth can of soda and began chugging it. Videl soon joined her and in a matter of seconds, both had completely drained their aluminum canisters of their sugary liquid contents. Pan patted her packed paunch playfully, feeling it press up against and peek out under her shirt. It was an expected result given that eight cans worth of delicious carbonated goodness filled that gut of hers, not including the can that she had taken a swig of before the contest officially began. Videl rubbed her own bulging belly, starting to wonder how this competition would affect her figure afterward. However, she pushed that thought out for the moment, instead focusing on the here and now.

“Well, do you want to start the final bout, little lady?” Videl inquired with a smirk.

“Sure, but you’ll regret it, trust me,” Pan replied, matching her mom’s smirk.

Pan proceeded to gobble down as much precious oxygen as possible, making her abdominal area inflate even more so. She held her breath, and after a while, she was starting to become blue in the face, which made Videl frown in worry. The mother was about to ask if her daughter was all right when Pan decided to unleash her outright abominable eructation right in her face. It was by far her greatest/grossest one in the whole competition. Pan’s oral expulsion of air lasted an astounding ten seconds, actually shattering some of the windows, which Pan had a feeling would come out of her allowance even if she won. However, the smell was again in a category of its own, as the guttural belch blast carried a sickly green cloud of gas out of Pan’s mouth. Said gas cloud was composed of an amalgamation of every food and drink that the Pan had devoured over the past week, which to a full blooded human would have been a month’s worth of nourishment.

“How was that, Mom?” Pan giggled smugly after finishing.

“Ohhh…” Videl moaned, wholly discombobulated, “That was so nasty! I think that I’m going to hurl!” she slapped both hands over her mouth to keep herself from doing so.

Pan giggled even louder, savoring her mother’s disgusted demeanor. Eventually, Videl regained her bearings and threw a piercing glare at her daughter, at which Pan only snickered, “I take it that you didn’t like my magnum opus.”

That straw broke the camel’s back, Screw it, Videl thought, I don’t know if it’s the lingering nausea or seething anger, but I’m going to put this brat in her place, no matter what! That’ll knock her arrogance ass down a peg.

Then, she got into a battle stance, her legs spreading out two feet apart and bending at a 90° angle, and closed her eyes. The quarter-Sayian cocked her left eyebrow, confused. “Uh, mom, what are you doing?”

However, Videl closed her eyes, tuned her  daughter out, and took deep breaths. Pan frowned at the silence, but widened her eyes as she felt something weird happen in her mother. Once again, the daughter of Mister Satan manifested her ki in her stomach, though now it was much larger, to the point that Pan could clearly sense it.

Huh? Why is there so much ki in her stomach? Unless… Pan thought, until her eyes widened in realization, It’s true! She did do it before and she’s doing it now!

As Pan was trying to process the current situation, Videl pressurized the gas in her stomach by charging up ki in order to increase the power of her burp. Meanwhile, a glow formed in her stomach, the heat of her ki causing her to sweat profusely. After a while, she felt a huge burst of energy finish building up pressure in her belly. This feeling made her smile in anticipation.

“Oh, boy, here it comes,” Videl exclaimed excitedly.

“Here what comes?” her offspring questioned.

Videl ignored Pan and used her energy to channel the gas out of her belly. The glow intensified as it, the ki and the gas traveled up her body before entering her mouth, causing her cheeks to bulge outward and filling Videl’s mouth with a light bright enough to make her puffed out cheeks translucent. Then, she raised her head slightly away from Pan to avoid possibly hurting her and became the first person in history to burp out a blast of energy.

“*buuuUUUrrrrrrRRUUUuuuuuuuUUUCH!*”

Suddenly, her mouth snapped open and she belched out a large yellow ki beam, which rocketed past Videl's lips and barely missed the top of Pan’s head on its trajectory through one of the broken windows. The burp itself echoed throughout the house, shattering the remaining windows, and knocking down several books, expensive plates, and other belongings. The duo looked to see the blast vaporize some nearby trees, both of them gawking at the trail of burnt grass and destroyed foliage.

“Whoa, even I didn't expect that,” Videl admitted with a blush.

Pan turned back to her mom, “That… was… awesome! Let’s keep going! I want to do that too!”

Videl paused for a moment, but then chuckled at the absurdity of the situation, “Ok, but the loser gets punished for six months in lieu of three.”

“Deal!” Pan shouted, her eyes shining with enthusiasm.

Both remembered their unfinished cans of soda and grabbed them for the true final bout. They were going to need it!

Once the beverages had been consumed, the empty aluminum husk that previously held them were discarded and Pan began the final bout by pausing to focus her ki then:

“*BRRRRrrrRRRRRUUUUUuuuuUOOOOOOOoo-oooooOOOOOOOrrrp!!*”

A big energy blast shot from her mouth, twice the width of her mother's effort, though it only did a little more damage to the house by burning a few extra holes in the walls.

Videl applauded politely, then sucked in and: 

“*beeeeeeEEEEEELLLLllllLLRRRRRrrroooOOOOOaaAAAAARRRRrrrrrRRRRP!!!*”

She not only managed to outdo her daughter, but shot out a stream of ki balls from her mouth in rapid succession. Pan was forced to jump on top of her chair in dodge in a rather comedic fashion. Videl laughed out loud at this when she was finished and an evil gleam suddenly entered her eye. Turning her gaze towards the ceiling, she forced out a small burp that resulted in a single ball of ki knocking some debris onto Pan's head, the quarter-Saiyan scowling in response.

“Okay Mama, you've had it!

*BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP AAAAATTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!*”

Videl's eyes widened as her daughter unleashed a huge belch that contained a variation of one of Vegeta's most powerful moves. It packed enough force to blow her through the wall of her home and leave her smoking on the already slightly scorched lawn. Pan laughed at the sight and began jumping up and down in an absurd little victory dance.

“Yes! I win! HAHAHAHA, I am the best!” This bratty sing-song voice awoke something in Videl and she slowly pulled herself to her feet, her eyes ablaze with fury. Pan watched with a mix of confusion and concern as her mother assumed a basic power-up stance and began speaking in grunts, as though she were on the verge of transforming into some new kind of super form. In fact, it wouldn't have surprised Pan at all if that were the case.

Little did the young girl know that during all this, her mother was reliving her past, watching various images of her rough and tumble self flash and the victories she'd achieved flash before her eyes. Everything from belching contests to looking best in a bikini passed her by. They were soon replaced by new images of Pan besting her younger self in all these same events. Other scenes were also included such as a rice eating contest and a farting contest. Every last one filled the Videl of the present with even more rage.

“No! I… Will… Not… lose… to a… little… girl! Even if she is my own daughter!” Pan watched in amazement as her mother's slightly higher than average power level suddenly skyrocketed, her aura blazing to life around her. Videl then bellowed, “Ka… Me… Ha… Me… 

*HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!!!!!*”

The mightiest belch under the heavens, contained within the signature technique of both the Kame House and the overall Son Family, shot from Videl's mouth. It zeroed in on a horrified Pan and created a great explosion that destroyed the entire house! Pan lay amidst the rubble, somehow only dazed, “You win, Mommy.”

“Oh yeah!” Videl cried out in a rather good impression of her father, “I win! I'm number—oh crap!” The daughter of Mister Satan looked upon what was left of her home and decided to let Pan off the hook: she would need all the help she could get in order to collect the Dragon Balls and restore everything before Gohan got back!

[marisacox123]

Vegebul: Weekend Alone

Part 3/3

*I do not own DBZ characters. I do own this fanfic. Please do not copy.*

The next morning Vegeta walked into Bulla’s room and about had a heart attack.

Bulla was gone.

“TRUNKS!” Vegeta yelled running to the kitchen.

Trunks looked up at his father confused. Goten was there too.

But no Bulla.

“What’s wrong?” Trunks asked.

“Where’s your sister?!”

“Huh?! I thought you had her! She wasn’t in her crib when I got up!”

“Shit! You boys look outside. I’ll look in here.”

“But how could she have gotten out of her crib?!”

Vegeta didn’t answer him and started to tear through the house. Where could she have gone? Bulma was going to kill him.

He searched every room, while the boys searched the outdoors. The theatre room, Trunk’s room, guest bedroom, Bulma’s parents room, the master bedroom, the old room he used before he and Bulma got together, Bulma’s lab, and finally the nursery, again.

Nothing.

“BUUUUULLAAA!” Vegeta yelled falling to his knees.

Goten and Trunks cautiously approached Vegeta. “We couldn’t find her either,” Trunks said sadly.

What was he going to do? Where could she be? Did she leave the property? How? Every possible, horrible scenario played through Vegeta’s head, and finally something Bulma said to him last night popped into his head.

“I usually set Bulla on top of the cabinet in my lab when I’m working. I know it’s not safe, but she loves it up there.”

Vegeta had already checked Bulma’s lab, but he’d be damned if he didn’t check again. He stood up and ran to Bulma’s lab, with the boys right behind him. He slammed the door open so hard it broke, and he heard laughter.

“Dad, look!” Trunks said pointing to the top of the cabinet. Sure enough, Bulla was sitting there, giggling.

“Whoah, how’d she get up there?” Goten asked.

“Bulla!” Vegeta said relieved. He went to retrieve her, but before he made it over there, she crawled off the cabinet.

“No!” Vegeta yelled panicked. He dove to catch her, but didn’t have to. She caught herself mid air.

She was flying.

“Cool!” The boys yelled.

Vegeta stood up and watched his daughter fly around, amazed. She landed in his arms, still giggling. He hugged her tight to his chest. “Never do that again.”

————

Now that Bulla could fly, watching her became a lot more difficult. For the most part, she would come back down when Vegeta called her. But, she couldn’t completely control it yet, so sometimes she’d end up just floating about randomly.

When Monday finally came around, Vegeta was exhausted. It was late afternoon when Bulma finally got home, she found Vegeta asleep on the couch. With Bulla sleeping on his chest, and Trunks sleeping at his feet.

Bulma smiled and leaned down to kiss her husbands forehead. “I’m proud of you,” She whispered.

Trunks stirred and sat up yawning. “Mom? Mom!” He jumped up and hugged her.

“Hi, honey!”

Vegeta and Bulla woke up from the commotion. Vegeta sat up and held out Bulla. “Hey, watch what our daughter can do now,” He said letting go of her.

Bulma panicked and went to catch her daughter, but Bulla floated out of her Dad’s hands, and to her Mom.

“Wow, Bulla,” Bulma said grabbing her baby out of the air. “You can fly! I bet you gave your Daddy a lot of trouble with that!”

“Ha! That’s an understatement.”

Bulma laughed and handed Bulla to Trunks. “I gotta unpack.”

Bulma headed to her room, and a few minutes later, Vegeta came in. Bulma was busy putting her things away at her vanity. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Hello, dear,” Bulma said. “What’s up?”

“Don’t ever leave me again.”

Bulma smiled. “Was it that bad?”

“Awful.”

She turned to face him and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. “Thank you for watching the kids. It really does mean a lot.”

Vegeta scoffed. “Sure it does.”

Bulma pulled back slightly. “It does! When we first had Trunks, you wanted nothing to do with him!”

Vegeta looked away, ashamed. “Yeah, and?”

“And now, you took care of your children all by yourself for a weekend,” Bulma placed a hand on his face and turned it back towards her. “And you did a wonderful job.”

“Of course I did. I’m me.”

Bulma rolled her eyes and kissed him. “Whatever. I’m just happy you’re so dedicated to us now.”

Vegeta’s hands slipped lower onto her waist. “Hey, how long do you think Trunks will watch Bulla for?”

“I don’t know, why?” Bulma asked, her hands had found their way under his shirt, feeling his rock hard abs.

“Because I think it’s about time for a shower.”

Bulma grinned and kissed his cheek. “After you, Prince of All Saiyans.”

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch Episode 26 “Time to Pick some Names”

mysterylover123

We return to normal school stuff with a fun little episode, packed with some ominous foreshadowing.

Seeing Izuku getting hounded like this just makes me wonder what kinda attention the other kids get. Especially Bakugo.

This draft picks do make me wanna call bullshit a little though. Like, I get why Deku isn’t up there. But why is Kaminari, who got taken out in seconds, in 5th, and Ashido, who made it into the second round and has a very popular and easily demonstrative quirk and look, not up there at all?!

This episode is really shippy, you guys. Todomomo here. Look at how she looks at him. She likes him. Convince me otherwise.

Iidaraka making an appearance too! Aw, lookit her shaking him!

Why is Midnight the chooser of names, BTW? She appears to have bad taste in names, despite her own decent Hero name, so what gives her the right?

Baby Aizawa and Present Mic! Seriously, Mic should’ve been the one presiding over Hero Names! He gave Aizawa a great one and has one of his own! Seriously, it could’ve been perfect!

Aww someone’s nervous!  (edit: this screencap didn’t quite grab the right moment. Basically, Bakugou looks endearingly nervous in this shot.)

So my thoughts on the names:

Aoyama needs to change his. cantstoptwinkling is too long and unwieldy to be a Hero Name and it sounds ridiculous (he says it in English so I know it isn’t just some weird translation).

This was perfect. Screw you Midnight. Alien Queen should’ve been Ashido’s name.

This one’s nice. People do call her Froppy sometimes. I like too how this beat is played: The first two names make everyone nervous, and Tsu puts them at ease. That seems to be her role in Class 1-A: to help people deal with crisis situations and stress.

Red Riot is another winner. Being derived from another famous name is not a problem; it’s a comic book tradition. Though this does bring up that pesky Imitation theme once more. Kiri wants to be just like Crimson, and that concept gets explored in more depth in the Internship Arc. It makes me wonder if Kiri should switch names to symbolize throwing off that role, or if he should stick with it to symbolize the good Crimson brings to him.

Izuku himself notices the similarities between Kiri’s name and his own fixation with All Might for me so I don’t have to explain it.

Now we are met with the CUTEST FUCKING IMAGE EVER COMMITTED TO SCREEN OR PAPER. DEKU YOU ARE TOO PRECIOUS.

Now some snarky Kamijirou content! Someone’s a little bitter about Kaminari getting more draft picks than her, aren’t you? Actually, I feel like there are some similarities between Kamijirou and BKDK - both pairs argue a lot, yet seem to share an odd connection. The diff may be that while Jiro is more like Midoriya in terms of power and personality (she even takes obsessive notes like he does), she’s the one who antagonizes Kaminari. He’s more Kacchan-like, perhaps why he’s friends with the guy, more born-powerful and cocky, but he’s the one who gets messed with. I dunno, interesting connection. 

Probably the coolest sounding of the names that are just ‘my quirk’. Jiro can stick with this one.

Kinda generic but hey, it’s better than Jamming-yay.

Also kinda generic, maybe something that sounds cooler in Japanese, I’m guessing?

Not half bad, but it doesn’t really sound like a hero name.

This one’s a bit generic, but darn it all if it doesn’t sound like a name you’d find in superhero comics.

Ditto.

Triple ditto. Actually a name in Superhero comics. 

This one’s terrible. Mina deserved better.

Hmm...Momo...this isn’t terrible, per se, but I still think Yaoyorozu could have a cooler one.

LOL. Also sad: by rejecting his surname and choosing only his given name, Shoto makes a statement. An “I don’t want to be like my dad” statement.

Good I guess? I do kinda know about this one from reading Naruto. It’s a thing in Japanese that I will probably not get well as a dumb American.

Though to be a smart American for a second: Anima...it sounds like he’s talking about that Joseph Campbell theme on anima/animus, male/female, hero with a thousand faces (Just kidding, it’s short for Animal.)

HAHAHAHA OH KACCHAN YOU ECCENTRIC SHITHEAD. Actually, this one is a pretty clever play on his surname in the original Japanese, “Bakusatsuo”. Someone really likes playing on kanji meaning (Deku), doesn’t he? King Explosion Murder is too long and unwieldy, but I think just “King Explosion” or some similar pun could’ve actually worked fine. Just take out the murder part, dumbass.

My favorite one. Meaning: Her surname, her desire to support her parents. Instantly conveys who she is, what kind of hero she wants to be. Perfect.

OMG IIDA FEELS. This plays into his arc in the next story arc, actually. Iida feels he can’t take the name Ingenium until he has done with Tensei couldn’t: kill Stain. And that is why he’s so fixated on revenge. 

And finally DEKU. Which is, yeah, what we call him...it does sound a little odd as a superhero name, though. This is an Izuocha moment I actually, like, BTW. Just nice wholesome friendship. No weird obsessions or comparisons with serial killers. 

Speaking of Uraraka. The Gunhead Agency! You gotta love that Wonder Duo and how they influence people, huh? One fight with Bakugou and she’s all signed up to go be a DBZ fighter. Also, I can see why Kacchako fans are into that. One of Ochaco’s biggest character shifts, and he inspires it. I can dig.

The #1 hero everybody! Hori does try to give a plausible excuse for why All Might forgot to mention Gran among the People Who Know list...then doesn’t bother with it at all when Nighteye comes up. Ah well. I honestly kinda just want the List of People who Know to keep expanding to comedic levels. “Oh and this is my old exgirlfriend who also knows! And this villain! And this random guy! And maybe your mom!”

Speaking of moms, I’m sure Aizawa officially transforms into Class 1-A’s when he tells Ashido not to slur her words. 

The shipper in me wants to gush about how Izuku and Ochaco went to worry about Iida (Iidaraka!) but more sincerely, I want to quickly comment about how well BNHA handles the Power of Friendship. This trope can be so irritating when done poorly, but the friendship in Hero Aca is actually, in my opinion, really realistic. And the power of it is mainly showcased by how friends can simply support and be there for each other, rather than Friendship is the Allmighty Power of the Universe all Will Bow Down Before it. (And also it’s a thing villains can have! And a thing that can fall apart and be unpleasant!)

ANGRY IIDA!

So yeah I really enjoy this episode. It’s not especially deep or heartbreaking (ASIDE FROM TENSEI!!!!) but it’s an enjoyable watch. I’ve actually watched this one a lot because it’s light and fun and something of a one-off. I wouldn’t claim it’s the Best of HeroAca or anything, but It’s an enjoyable ride. Of course, can’t say I’m not more excited to get to next episode. As a big Deku fan(girl), I can tell you my reactions to that one will be something.

BKDK CORNER

Guess who gets paralleled with Izuku’s love interest once again? Seriously, there are a lot of odd, ongoing parallels between Bakugou and Uraraka with their relationships to Izuku, and I’m not sure why if not for subtext. (I want Bakugo’s Ultimate Hero Name to be a play on his first name too. So both members of Wonder Duo have First Name Puns). The OT3 is strong in this one.

My Deku sense is tingling.

BEST GIRL OF THE EPISODE: Iida Mom! (she only appeared last ep but sh)

RANKER: Class 1-A’s Hero Names

21. Pinky

20. Cantstoptwinkling

19. Creati

18. Tenya

17. Shoto

16. Cellophane

15. Deku

14. Bakusatsuo

13. Tentacole

12. Anima

11. Sugarman

10. Chargebolt

9. Invisible Girl

8. Tailman

7. Alien Queen

6. Earphone Jack

5. Tsukoyomi

4. Froppy

3. Red Riot

2. Ingenium 

1. Uravity! (Congratulations Ochaco, you were the MPV of this ep)

[sarahw-world]

Okay, first of all, I seriously doubt that Vegeta would have EVER seen someone like Frieza as some sort of a father figure. I mean, surely he must have picked up some negative traits from him, since he was by his side from such a young age, and Frieza was the only “role model” he had, but honestly, it’s pretty clear when we see Vegeta, Raditz and Nappa interacting in front of Frieza, and then talking behind his back, how much Vegeta despised Frieza, and he just couldn’t wait to get strong enough to get rid of him.

Now, about King Vegeta, I hadn’t heard this theory you’re talking about, about Vegeta being a good dad because he knew his father, but I strongly disagree as well.

Firstly, like you mentioned, Vegeta was given away at a really early age, so I don’t think he had much time to truly bond with his father, let alone to actually learn about how a good dad should behave.

And I should also add that, on a personal level, my opinion on King Vegeta has worsened a lot lately, basically due to what we learned from the new manga, and also from seeing him in the new movie.

My main memory of the King was that little flashback from DBZ, where he was explaining to kid Vegeta about how things worked in his culture, about sending away the babies with the lowest power level, etc., so I’d always thought that he would have cared enough for his son to at least spend time with him, preparing him and teaching him for his future role as a King. I’d also even overlooked the fact that he gave away his son to Frieza, because basically, the guy had no real choice, since no one was strong enough to fight Frieza anyway.

But now, seeing Vegeta saying in the manga that he basically had no one training him, and no real mentor of any kind, and now witnessing the small interaction of the King with little baby bean Vegeta in the movie, I must say that the King gave me the creeps:

This moment reminded me of something I wrote in my “Yellow Roses” fic, and I actually explored this idea long before I watched the movie, and I talked about the possibility of Vegeta feeling like an “instrument” ever since he was born, a “tool” for his race to finally be able to destroy Frieza.

And now, seeing the way the King looked at him, I DO get this really strong feeling that he saw his son as this “golden child” who’d avenge his race, but I don’t know how much love we truly see in this guy. And let’s not forget that Saiyans were a warrior race, and they probably had a different concept of love anyway.

I don’t think Trunks was a planned baby, and I believe that Vegeta didn’t actually start to bond with his son until he spent a year training together with Mirai Trunks, and it becomes clear to us that he deeply cares about him when he loses his mind, back when Cell attacked his baby boy.

So yeah, I think that Vegeta did care about Trunks from an early stage, but he wasn’t probably as affectionate as he is these days, but I doubt that he was this really cold guy either, since we see him training with Trunks, and spending time with him. And the love and admiration that his son had towards him was more than evident, so Vegeta must have been a pretty decent guy during that seven-year period.

I think the Vegeta that we see in Super is someone who became a good father because he did the work, he made a lot of mistakes along the way, and he finally understood that his family WAS way more important to him than he ever imagined.

He may not be the most lovey-dovey guy, at least in public, but he shows that he cares through his actions, like sacrificing his training in order to be by his wife’s side when she’s pregnant, etc., so it’s clear that Vegeta is willing to work hard to make it up to Bulma for his past mistakes, and many of us now consider him a good dad because he earned it.

Anyway, sorry about the long post, but this topic is truly interesting to me, so I thought I’d give my own personal opinion on the subject...

[zeravmeta]

Ok so, my thoughts on the VR ending and VR overall as the 6th entry.

Also because most of my thoughts aren't...complimentary im editing the names so they dont appear in the general tag. This also got LONG so readmore.

The Good:

- A//i's character still managed to be the one thing that saves VR as a show for me. Even with all the weird...contradictory plot issues, A//i still manages to be a compelling character who brings up the question of the right to live. I actually do like how he made it so itd be an ultimatum that he loses in either way, even if the ending kinda ruins the weight behind the action (which I will get to in a bit).

The meh:

-the ending was left somewhat open to interpretation which for a show as...empty as this was works out but honestly it was so vague as to A//is fate is that it may as well not exist.

The Bad:

-The main conflict behind the entire show is...simulations. No joke. Every conflict in the show can be traced back to someone doing a simulation and deciding to lose it. Even if they gave the (rather stupid) explanation that AI experience simulations like actual life (which btw the first villain wasnt an AI so this reason doesnt work), the fact that Yu//sa//ku took a bullet for one of A//is robot bodies that he literally has millions of is...just stupid and there solely for the "uwu drama".

-They actually killed A//i off but wait hes actually alive, so like the final duel literally had no purpose aside from...drama??? The episode is called Compromise and yet A//i had to lose just to keep Yu//sa///kus win streak and theres no compromise whatsoever. Yu//sa//ku litetally destroys the CompromA.I.se card so its just, no comrpomise in any way.

-This....wasn't a happy ending??? I have no idea why both the show and the fanbase frame this as a happy ending bc think about it in context: A//i pretty much loses everything, so does Yu//sa//ku who just isolated himself from everyone else for 3 months in order to comb the network for whatever remnants of A//i exist.

- So many of the supporting characters are just...there. Like, there is no side/supporting character who actually has a character arc in this show. Lets go through the list: Ao//i is pretty much the same character as when she started and goes through 2 unnecessary costume changes for a character growth that isnt there because she has literally ONE victory against an opponent that was stated multiple times to be weak and faulty and have her lose and tortured multiple times for no reason whatsoever, G//o had this weird deterioration that may have lead to something but ultimately didn't, Ak//ira is pretty much the same, J//in has ALL HIS TRAUMA ERASED SO THERES THAT, literally the only side characters who have some sembalnce of an arc are Sho//ichi (the best one anyways) from his "betrayal" in S2, and E//ma with her reconciliation with her brother. Outside of that, nothing. Yu//sa//ku, Re//volv//er and Ho//mu//ra are pretty much the only characters with an arc and even then they're not too solid? Which brings me to-

- Yu//sa//ku has been so wildly ooc since the end of S1. Ive seen so many say that his enphasis on bonds and friendship are character growth but actually looking at the sequence of events he suddenly just like. changes completely around his first duel with Ea//rth. Plus, the message of "revenge is good" was always so weird? Like, he got his revenge so all his trauma is ok now and never brought up or explored again aside from within the first 20 episodes. Theres nothing about it after that and its never built upon. The whole point of a revenge arc is to show that its BAD and yet he starts preaching that revenge is wrong AFTER he successfully gets revenge??? And even then its not exactly a revenge as it is more lashing out since it was Ko//ga//mi who was behind it all. Yu//sa/ku was definitely at his strongest characterization in S1 where we see how badly the Lo//st Incid//ent hurt him but S1 had its own share of problems that led into S2 and so many random plot threads that never went anywhere (such as the Anot//her Incid//ents, the Cy//berse deck being irl despite that A//i didnt have a physical body before then, The Bl//ue Mai//den meetup that was repeated by Nao//ki like 10 times in S2 which seemed to be leading up to something but never did, and the fact that theres 4 recap episodes in S1 already spelled some early problems). So much of the supporting cast function to just say "he turned this whole situation around...with ONE card..." i kid you not watch back every Yu//sa//ku duel I GUARANTEE you'll see someone saying hes a great duelist and serve only that purpose. ALSO THE END OF THE SHOW IS JUST MORE DRAMA?? They make him suffer for no reason other than that they can??? What purpose does his suffering at the end serve aside from just "uwu...poor baby..."???

-Re//volv//er is not a good rival. At all. He's so incredibly bland because much like Yu//sa//ku he was at his strongest characterization in S1 where he actually had some solid motivation in continuing his fathers work and being unable to accept that his dad was evil, yet most of that just flies out the window with all the collateral he's willing to inflict with the K//O//H?? All his character amounts too post S1 is "yeah i told you robots are evil and YOU didnt believe me". The most we got of him growing out of this mindset was calling A//i by his name exactly one time and nothing ever again. Also the fact that in the end we see him and his crew working for S//O//L despite the fact that they were gonna turn themselves in for their crimes just. leaves a rotten taste in my mouth. hes not a good rival at all. All he proves to me is that a good design can get anyone to like a character.

- Ho//mu//ra is...there. I literally cant say anything about him because he absolutely has the strongest motivations of the three but then the show jumps through hoops to push him to the back of the other two. He also has a bunch of early victories I do feel are undeserved (ESPECIALLY the A//oi duel that one pissed me off so much). Also the fact that the show just made him Yu//sa//kus friend immediately whereas it took Sho//ichi several months to get Yu//sa//ku to warm up to him just had me :/.

-The speed duels were a cool concept but they just became these huge cheat fests? Seriously Play//Maker uses StAccess literally every speed duel to pull out a new monster from whatever plot holes the writers need to patch up. I am not kidding. You can go back to every single speed duel Yu//sa//ku was in and youll see this. Skills just werent a good mechanic because when a protag pulls a new card its supposed to be representative of some growth/characterization but he stays the same pretty much throughout the entire show up until S2 where he wildly just switches personality. Plus the fact that Que//en could literally use a skill whenever just shows that it was cheating???

- The villains were overall lackluster. Boh//man was the best because Re//volv//er is just flat whereas A//i struck me more as an anti hero. And again: simulations are the enemy. Light//ning ran one and decided to go ham. Kog//ami ran one and decided to go ham. A//i ran one and decided to go ham. The conflicts are all the same and it just makes things happen rather than following a consistent plot thread? I will say that Boh//mans characterization of a hive mind to become perfect does strike my tastes but thats more my personal preference in villains rather than any merit he has.

- This is a bit of a personal pet peeve but I've seen some of the praise to this show about being the "darkest Y//G//O to date so therefore its good" and im just...no? Edge does not make a good show and just because they lightly focused on the tragedy in Yu//sa//kus life (and it IS lightly because its barely touched upon after mid S1) most of the stuff that happens in this show is pretty tame in comparison? The most that happened here was an attempted global hack of everyones minds from S2 and destroying the internet in S1, with a few references to the torture that happened during the Lo//st incid//ent. To compare: the previous series had this huge interdimensional war that, even if they could reverse the carding of people (which makes Den//nis' attempted suicide even more tragic), ended with an entire dimensions full of brainwashed soldier children, a dimension with huge class inequality that was still being heavily worked upon since there were canonically slaves, and a dimension that was savaged by a genocide and total global destruction. Hell, the series before that had a huge war where the arc actually did focus on the tragedys the characters faced and held consequence (even if they pulled a dbz revive everyone at the end). And as far back into the very first series there were even more graphic depictions of war and death? Idk i feel like people are overplaying the edge here just to find a way to complement this show.

Overall:

I'm...genuinely dissappointed. VR really had so many strong starting points but it all just fell apart at execution. Really the only reason I even bothered to watch it as kong as I did was because Im a longtime fan of the series and wanted to give it a chance rather than jump on whatever love/hate train the show has. Its been rated poorly on the JP side and most of the approval is a vocal minority. Just to be clear: this isnt me bashing the show, my opinions are mine and you can agree or disagree to any capacity, and even if a show isnt well written you can still find a reason to enjoy it despite the flaws.

But if Im being perfectly honest? I do not like this show. It's rushed, choppy, has no consistent or clear plot threads, most of the genuinely interesting characters are wasted for the protagonist to look better and he never really does because he ALSO has an interesting idea behind him but it never goes anywhere. It started strong but ended so poorly. Id be angry but im more dissappointed because Ive watched this show from day 1 and wanted to see the good things it has rather than focus on the negatibes but. yeah. This show really had potential and yet it just fell flat.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 201

Last episode, Gohan started attending high school in Satan City, but Satan City is riddled with crime, and Gohan’s afraid if he beats up too many criminals with his super powers, it’ll make his social life awkward.   I really don’t understand why he’s so worried.    Everyone thinks Mr. Satan has super powers, and he seems to do all right.  

Anyway, he goes to Capsule Corp. to consult Bulma on the problem, and she mulls it over while smoking a cigarette.    This is one of those little details that you don’t really think about much, but it’s something that you just don’t see in modern anime.    I’m pretty sure Bulma’s only smoking here as a callback to her father, Dr. Brief, who often smoked and had a similar hairstyle back in the day.    I mean, he still does, it’s not like he died or anything.   My point is that you never see Bulma smoking in the 2010′s, even though those episodes and movies are set only a few years after this one. 

I’m pretty sure that’s because Japanese television adopted stricter rules between 1993 and 2010.  Did this scene make it into Dragon Ball Kai?   I bet it didn’t.   The only recent example of a smoking anime character is Jotaro Kujo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and they obscured it with shadow every time he lit up.   Then again, Lisa Lisa smoked in full view, so maybe it’s just because Jotaro was a minor?    Nonetheless, I feel like smoking has been heavily de-emphasized in media throughout my lifetime.   It used to be commonplace, and now it seems like creators will avoid smoking altogether.    I don’t know if it’s because they just don’t want to use it, or if there’s external pressure to avoid it.    It’s a good thing, either way.     I remember watching an “I Love Lucy” episode once where the four main characters all just sort of stopped talking so they could light up and get their cigarettes started, like that was a perfectly acceptable use of airtime.  

Bulma’s solution is to make Gohan a disguise that he can change into at the push of a button.    Gohan is amazed that such a thing is even possible, but she says she can knock it out in two hours.  

While she works on that, Gohan goes to hang out with Trunks.   Not the one from the future, but the baby we last saw in Episode 193.

Trunks just started training with Vegeta, who feels he’s old enough to learn from him.  So naturally he puts in an appearance and chastises Gohan for losing his edge in peacetime.   

This episode was a big deal to me when I first watched it in 2001.   By then, I was invested enough in DBZ that I couldn’t wait for Cartoon Network to air the post-Cell Games stuff, so I started buying the tapes.   I think this episode would have been on the third one I got, and it serves as our first look at the cast seven years after the Cell Games.   Until now, all we’ve seen are Chi-Chi, Gohan, and Mr. Satan.   

Also, I was genuinely fascinated to see what Vegeta would say or do in a scene like this.    He and Gohan never interacted much in the first place, and he was a huge dick during most of that time, and the last time we saw Vegeta, he seemed to be at a crossroads.    He declared that he’d never fight again, but what would he do instead?  In this episode, we finally get a semblance of an answer.    He’s been living here, with Bulma, training the whole time, and now he’s planning to train Trunks.    As far as Gohan is concerned, he seems to regard him with a certain degree of respect, warning him that he can’t afford to get flabby.   

Later, Bulma finishes Gohan’s super-suit, which includes gloves and boots from Vegeta’s wardrobe. 

Gohan’s thrilled with it, but Trunks isn’t.   Earlier, he asked if Bulma could make him a costume, but now he’s taking it back.   

On his way home, Gohan passes through Satan City again and decides to give the outfit a test run when he spots a reckless driver.     Look, if I had a muscle-car that was bright yellow and the number 69 on it, I’d drive like a madman too.    This is why I’m not cut out to be a judge.   

The guys ask Gohan who he is, since his ridiculous outfit doesn’t tell them anything, and he pauses to consider what his superhero name should be.   At last he settles on “The Great Saiyaman,” and he does this elaborate pose to emphasize it.    

Hearing this, the two men laugh hysterically, until Gohan gets upset and stomps the roadhard enough to break the pavement.    They quickly apologize and promise to drive safely.  Score one for justice.    

Gohan returns home and Chi-Chi hates his outfit.    Is it really that much different from what anyone else in this show has worn so far?   I mean, Chi-Chi used to wear a cape and a helmet herself.    Does she just think Gohan’s suit doesn’t show enough bare skin?

But Goten loves the Great Saiyaman outfit, so that’s something.    Wait, who?

As Gohan flies to school the next day, the narrator fills us in.    Basically Goku got Chi-Chi pregnant right before he went off to fight Cell, so nine months later she gave birth to this kid and named him Goten.    Of course, if you’re only watching the anime, you would have already seen the boy by now, because he’s all over the new opening credits.  

With his new costume, Gohan can just fly to school under his own power, land on the roof, and  change back to his normal outfit with the touch of a button on his watch.   He says this will save him from having to use Kinto’un to make his commute, but why was he ever using it in the first place?  It’s not like he could let people see that either, right?   Or did Gohan think Kinto’un wouldn’t be that big a deal?

In class, a couple of students are already talking about the new superhero, although they get his name wrong.   I guess “Tireman” does sound a lot like “Saiyaman” if you pronounce it “SIGH-a-man”, like they do in Japanese.    I don’t know why the dub changed it from “SIGH-an” to “SAY-an,” but whatever.   

Anyway, Gohan angrily corrects them on the proper name, and then he has to make up some story to explain how he would know this.    The story here is that Gohan’s so wrapped up in playing a superhero that he keeps forgetting why he wanted the secret identity in the first place.    What does he care if people get the name wrong?     As long as they’re not calling him “Son Gohan”, it works.  

Later, Videl gets a call on her wristwatch, because everyone has a magic watch, apparently.     There’s a hostage situation on a tour bus, so she has to excuse herself from class to go deal with it.   

Gohan doesn’t understand, so Sharpner explains that Videl assists the authorities in crises like these.    She’s basically following in the footsteps of her father, Mr. Satan, and Sharpner assures Gohan that she’s about as strong as her dad is, so she’s more than capable of handling these situations.  

But Gohan doesn’t buy that, because the last time he saw Mr. Satan, he got beat by Cell in one hit.   Okay, yeah, but Perfect Cell is a long way from a gang of busjackers, you know.   I’m not sure Gohan fully appreciates that distinction, though the irony still shines through.   It seemed harmless at the time to allow Mr. Satan to take credit for defeating Cell.   Gohan clearly never waned the accolade.   He’s worried about people finding out he foiled that bank robbery in the last episode.  But Mr. Satan’s faux heroism has now inspired Videl to try to become an actual hero, and she might not be as lucky as her father.   

So Gohan excuses himself to go to the restroom and decides to back up Videl as Great Saiyaman........ except he doesn’t know where the bus terminal is.   

Meanwhile, at the bus terminal... HAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?    Why is he covering his entire face with his bandit mask?    How does he see what he’s doing?    What’s with the chicken hat?   This is insane, and it’s great.  

The bus they’ve taken over is full of old people, who seem unconcerned about being used as hostages.    I think the deal here is that these guys just got done robbing a bank, then fled to this bus when the cops came after them, and now they’re hoping to use the bus to escape.   

I feel like this is some sort of anime trope, with senior citizen tourists being completely unworried about what’s going on around them.    I’m mostly thinking of that episode of Hellsing Ultmate where Alucard and Father Anderson were about to throw down in a museum until Seras led a tour group between them to defuse the situation.    

Anyway, this lackadaisical attitude irritates the crooks, but they still pose for a photo when asked.   

Then Videl arrives in the air vehicle she uses for these situations.  

So basically, Videl doesn’t have super powers OR a costume, and she just flies into a situation and starts whooping ass whenever she gets a call on her watch.  What exactly is she doing that the cops couldn’t have done?    I mean, at least they had guns.   

So Videl jumps on the bus and crashes through the wndow and starts opening up a can of whoop-ass on these guys.    She’s basically Batman without the suit, which is pretty awesome.   

Then one of the old people takes a photo of her, and she blushes.    Awwww. 

Unfortunately, Videl was so busy kicking butt that she failed to notice no one was driving the bus as it rolled off a cliff.     But Gohan’s here in time to catch it, and everything’s okay.   

And I guess this puts Videl’s character into perspective.    A lot of critics point out that she never really got any development as a fighter.   When she appears in video games, they usually have Gohan or Great Saiyaman show up to help her as part of her finishing move.   I think a lot of fans, especially female ones, wanted to see Videl train until she got strong enough to hang with the Z-Fighters, and it just never happened.  

But, I mean, this is her second appearance, and the debut of the idea of Videl as a crimefighting heroine, and she’s already gotten in over her head.    She’s not nearly as goofy as Mr. Satan, but she’s more like him than the audience might care to admit.    As impressive as she was on that bus, she nearly got herself killed.

Gohan introduces himself as the Great Saiyaman and she’s as put off by his costume and poses as everyone else so far.    Then Gohan addresses her by name and flies off.   

Videl’s all like “How does he know my name?”    But doesn’t everyone in town know Videl?    The people on the bus recognized her.   The crooks recognized her, which was why they opened fire as soon as she landed on the bus.   Why wouldn’t a new superhero know her?  

So Gohan’s pretty pleased with himself, and the narrator assures us that Gohan’s secret won’t be exposed, right?     Right?    You’re shaking your head, why is that?

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Thoughts during and about DBZ: World’s Strongest because if I didn’t write them down my brain would explode

I always had it in my head that Dead Zone & World’s Strongest were some of the most “original” DBZ movies (since most of them are obvious retellings of specific arcs with slightly different villains) but like, watching them now it’s like, oh,

Dead Zone is the Piccolo Sagas (the son of Kami’s old rival comes back for revenge and is ultimately sealed away in a vessel at the bottom of the sea) with aspects of Pilaf (Garlic Jr’s design and English voice) and Raditz (villain kidnaps Gohan and Piccolo just happens to come to the rescue for his own reasons)

& World’s Strongest does have a lot of original elements, but it’s also clearly based on the Muscle Tower part of the Red Ribbon arc (building full of traps and mechanical and bioengineered villains in the middle of the snow, that one guy was just an uglier version of The Jiggler) plus some not-even-disguised Saibamen and a Pilaf arc callback to Oolong trying to steal someone’s wish…though I do wonder if this movie was an inspiration for the much-later Android/Cell Saga

Also, too lazy to take screencaps but both Sleeping Princess In Devil’s Castle & Dead Zone had sequences that STRONGLY reminded me of the Ralph Bakshi movie Wizards, and apparently both were directed by the same guy (Daisuke Nishio). I’d be curious to know if he was a Wizards fan or if both Wizards and the DB/Z movies were influenced by a different third thing

Since all the movies overtly contradict the canon timeline in different ways, making it unclear which canon events happened or not during the movie AUs, I love the vibe here that Goku and Chi-chi have just been raising Gohan quietly at home while Piccolo’s just some scary dude out in the woods that Gohan is obsessed with XD Like, Gohan daydreaming about ditching his studies to go see Piccolo, the way Chi-chi scolds him for spending time with Piccolo, and Goku clearly being a present father figure (VS canon Piccolo being Gohan’s substitute dad for 1-2 years), has big “that kid is a bad influence >:/ you shouldn’t play with him” energy. Love that Gohan’s first reaction on seeing him too is to run up for a hug :’) and to throw a tantrum when he sees Piccolo and his dad fighting each other

(Sidenote, as a kid watching DBZ there were basically just a couple throwaway lines about Piccolo being an enemy before he starts fighting with them against the main series bad guys, and I’d never read his DB story arcs, so I was always confused by these movies having side characters being scared of Piccolo or Piccolo trying to attack Goku. Like “What??? I thought you guys were friends?????”)

Also love that Oolong saw on the radar that someone was collecting the Dragon Balls and his first instinct wasn’t “oh crap, a bad guy must be doing bad things, I’d better tell my superhero friends,” it was “I’m gonna take a literal child with me to try and steal these things because he’s the only person I know who can punch good but can also be bullied into letting me have the wish” X’D Why is he so scared of “throw the baby at the mountain” Piccolo, they have so much in common, they’re both terrible babysitters. Also WHY is he again thinking about wishing for 1 single pair of ladies’ underwear, dude, there’s a magical place called a department store where you can just BUY one. I mean, thank god on every female character’s behalf that he’s too stupid to think of something more sinister, but dude, seriously XD (Listen, I love him and he’s generally OK around women after the Pilaf Saga, but he def doesn’t view women as people except sometimes when they’re women he knows, and he would def be tempted to make a gross or at least non-feminist wish if he ever thought of one)

Also it’s not like it’s a particularly original outfit—it’s just his Saiyan Saga outfit with sleeves, and THAT is just his end-of-the-Pilaf-Saga outfit with recolored pants—but amusing that the flashback to Oolong stealing the radar shows him in his Buu Saga outfit years before the Buu Saga

Also I LOVE the location designs in these movies maybe specifically cus they’re so not-Toriyama-like. Watching the original and reboot Broly movies back-to-back was so jarring, Toriyama’s Vegeta palace designs felt more “right” but the spooky vibes of the dimly lit twisty palace with big stained glass windows really got me

[theinsanecrayonbox]

KP finally finishes Gifted s2

gave up on this back when FOX was stupid and Marvel had me jaded (still does but meh). so here’s the final 3 episodes and my incoherent babble about them i guess, after not watcing the show or nearly a year and only having my previous babble session as a refresher about what’s going on

Episode 14:

 for once the “previously on dbz” segment is needed since,. yeah been almost a year since i’ve watched this...whoops

heeeey opening flashback! i forgot the format of this show...-.- oh hey not-Graydon...you know his comment about “freaks to teleport me through traffic” would’ve been funnier if he was Graydon, since Kurt is technically his sibling...as is Clarice... just saying.

oh right, Lauren was dosed with serum. well, at least it’s working right, really screwing her up. but again, Mom is the only rational and logical one.

how are sewers large enough for a tent metropolis? but oh hey, she knows about past Morlocks hm??? maybe cause some Mauraders action...hm??? or something they previously established with the Brotherhood or not-Bishop explained that i can’t remember, whatever. i’m just happy to see Blink. and the Morlocks have a network to places...like Pittsburgh? i thought they just live din NYC...ok in this story it’s just DC because that’s where we’re set ok, but still...

wait not-Graydon is making Sentinel Guy do the Mauraders plotline?? ooo...

is the Hellfire building CGI? that..looked badly shaded...and Lorna’s hair still looks stupid...though Andy’s hair does too...why do the bad guys have bad fashion sense?

i hadn’t forgotten how Mary Sue the Struckers were though...uhg...but hey don’t sweat it Mom, if Moira McTaggert’ taught us anything, you’re never the only non-mutant in the pro-mutant side; turns out you’l end up being one all along eventually.

oh good back to Blink. please don’t flirt with not-Bishop though. just...go fight Purifiers, since that was backstory for you, ok, that’s way better than flirting. wait Gabby? uh...when’d Blink get blue in her hair?

wait Cop Man, were they dead when you found them, or did you...overall though, i am really liking the atmosphere of the Purifer’s tunnel raid. the mood and tension are great, and the cinematography is doing a good job at keeping it. it’s a shame the editor feels the need to cut back to sunny Hellfire tower to break the atmosphere...but hey

oh don’t get cocky Morlock guys...and grenade, yup cocky. but again, the lighting and mood of everything in the tunnels is really good. the power effects not so much...but tv budget. and i had actually forgotten not-Bishop had a lazer eye O.o

dang Mom you are still best OC here

nooooo you shot Blink!!! baby girl nooooooo. idc about Sentinel Guy’s burst of conscious at “wait there are mutant children?” you shot best girl Blink. boo on you

Episode 15:

flashback time yay -.- but Blink! won’t make me forget you shot her since the recap ended on that...but hey tell me more about her past please, i really want to know why she doesn’t think she’s best girl. just saying “i was with the brotherhood and i didn’t like it” doesn’t cut it...and John no, you’re not allowed to give out redemption to everyone unless they are convenient to your aesthetic or philosophical interpretation, that’s why Krakoa preaches

John you don’t have time to fight not-Bishop out of grief ok. you were a ranger, you should realize that.

wait, so Reeva’s the one to blame for the council of stupid on Krakoa? that...actually makes sense, since she’s done tones of hypocritical last minute rule changing plans. weird.

really, my joke about Sentinel Guy’s heel turn was right? he honesty never realized that there were mutant children? i...wow

hey Lorna’s tiara. it makes her hair slightly less stupid looking. makes her outfit a tad stupid though...she should have more of that green popping somewhere, like her knives or a wrist band, or something.

really John just stayed there punching a wall and no cops found him? bad writing.

oooo is Dad gonna fry Cop Man?? sorry, disintegrate, i forgot what he did. and holy crap he did-sweet!

there are a lot of dutch angles in this episode...

oh Lauren don’t turn on your Mom, c’mon! why is no one thinking realistically?

hehe Cuckoos and fashion joke...although why did they get a pop of color elsewhere...or were the boots white just to point out the dirt

“do you think we can mind control our way to a mutant homeland” hm...should i just put in a cut off now for shots at Krakoa?

Mom you’re the only one with a brain! don’t sacrifice yourself because “i has no powers”

gasp! Sentinel Guy *SEES* a mutant child, now he knows for reals they exist. i’m sorry but this heel turn for him is stupid. i get the “i never saw them as *people* and now i do” but the way it’s framed is, as i’ve said “wait there are mutant CHILDREN?? O.o” and that is just bad writing

i swear, if Lorna trying to save Andy gets her killed, i will hate the Wonder Twins even more forever. but at least i agree with his “well her plan sounds stupid” when he learns the truth. they could’ve colored Lorna’s zippers the metallic green, that would’ve tied her costume together...sorry distracted

Lauren’s shield looks like bubble wrap...and she’s super pouty wth?

ok the Dad-Andy monster talk was really good...ruined by Lauren’s stupid face inserts sure, but the talk was really good.

hey back to not-Graydon and Sentinel Man. ah yes, i knew killing Cop Man would just switch Sentinel Man back in the end, that is also why his little epiphany was so annoying, because ultimately it was pointless.

aw man sappy music when the OC Family gets back together...yeah ok, but still i’ll groan a bit because uhg. but ooo Lorna comes back to Marcos too ok now it’s less groany (but still overly cheesey and neon annoying). do kinda like John on the roof...too bad the over the top music drones it out a bit.

Episode 16:

the finale! i don’t...know what to expect going into this, other than Blink pops in at the end and might be Exiles Blink?

hey the last time shows the reunion scene would’ve worked well without the over the top music. huh

oh the flashback is the 7/15 event. heh Hawks News, instead of Fox, heh. but otherwise...meh, mandatory flashback

so their plan is, use the Uber Mary Sue Wonder Twins to destroy a skyscraper. i...sure, what else can we expect from the Strucker Show (maybe Dad will sacrifice himself and do it all on his own, that’d be a neat-yet obvious-twist)

you can tell John’s depressed cause his hair isn’t floofy anymore ^^;;;

again, Mom’s the only one with thinking ahead skills.

oh, we’re getting spliced in flashbacks...yeah Dad’s gonna die.

Cuckoos! srry, still one of the best parts of any episode. and our dear Esme is starting to turn...

oh John’s going Warpath on us with his face paint (yes he’s Thunderbird, i know). the John vs Sentinel Guy thing might be a bit much, but this is an awesome fight for John...even if he is being a fool and self sacrificial.

at least it was a commercial break that broke the energy of the fight scene, and not just a scene change. also, more flashback, i’m even more convinced Dad is gonna die.

did they dye Andy’s hair so he and Lauren would look more twinny? that’s stupid...and a point i probably already made...

hm...since Bishop is from the future, are they implying that Erg is his ancestor? (though that fails to track with the timeline of DoFP IF this is the same continuity of course)

ooooooo John said it, he is Thunderbird...and i think his face paint changed between shots because that white line wasn’t there by the dumpster scene...whoops

oh don’t tell me the power of friendship is going to save the day. oh good, no, just the standby of “kill the evil cuckoos”

well the Wonder Twins are down for the count, so even more thinking Dad’s gonna die to blow up the Hellfire building...wait...you can’t control your powers when Reeva sonic screams? well Dad has no control-PERFECT!

wow there are a lot of power fights here. no wonder the affects in other episodes sucked, they spent the budget on the finale lol

hey Dad has the same plan i did. again, the writing telegraphed that was the ending...but still, i give Dad credit, he has grown as a character. the flashback doesn’t help though it just spells it out “this is best OC love him he is best ever” which...yeah, this show does that with the Struckers, we’ve covered that a millions times by now

i wonder if Dad touched himself would be disintegrate? also, shouldn’t his kids be safe, since same strain of X-gene are supposed to be immune...or does that only apply to certain power types?

not to play it down, but yup, dad exploded. if it wasn’t so thrown at you that that was how it’d end from, the start, then this moment might’ve had more impact...also the moment itself was kinda “you knew this was coming, there it’s done”

hey Esme’s on their team now, neat! i thought she’d be independent.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Blink’s back! but she had a collar on her coat that was reminiscent of her AoA costume, and she opened a portal to a place with burning fire...kinda like the DoFP setting/AoA, and she never addressed anyone by name, just a general “come with me”....so yeah, that was totally Exiles Blink, and not the Blink of this story. that’s really kinda awesome.

too bad we won’t be following up on that since there’s no plans for season 3. but...it was an ok way to end i guess. it closed off the story for our main people, and we all know that it’ll never end with a “and they all lived happily ever after in peace and harmony” because it’s Xmen. it opens the door for other stories to happen in the same setting...and leaves the big hole about Blink at the end, but yeah...

but now it’ll never be followed up probably because disney/marvel thinks the Xmen are the Inhumans now *shrugs* whatever, i finally finished The Gifted, i can check that off my To-Watch List

[elisajdb]

Life With You: XVI

AN: I know with the Super Broly movie things were retconned. I am writing this story based on how Goku’s origins were written in the manga and anime of DBZ.

Part Sixteen:

 Aftermath

  Goku felt refreshed when he entered the kitchen after his shower. It was almost dinner time and he spent most of his day training. It was something he hadn’t done in a while. While ChiChi finished dinner, Goku went to his son who occupied himself with toys in his playpen. Upon seeing his father looming over him, Gohan dropped his toys and raised his arms. Goku retrieved the child and pulled him out of the playpen.

 Goku carried his son and sat in a chair at the table. He bounced the child on his lap.

 “How was your training today?” ChiChi asked.

 “Good.”

 “Have you come up with new techniques?” ChiChi pulled dishes from the cabinet. Goku licked his lips. Dinner was ready.

 “Nah.” He tickled Gohan causing the baby to squeal.

 ChiChi placed a set of plates on the table. “Goku…..” her worried tone caused Goku to stop focusing on their son and look at her. “Do you think it was a good idea letting Piccolo go?”

 Piccolo? He hadn’t thought about him since the day of the tournament. “Ah, sure. He’s not as evil as his Dad and if there’s a rematch, I can defeat him.”

 ChiChi sighed. That wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. “I really think you should’ve killed him.”

 “If I killed him, then Kami would’ve died and the dragon balls wouldn’t exist anymore.”

 ChiChi moved from the stove, counter and table placing several hot and cold dishes on the table. “Kami offered to make you God of Earth. Maybe if you accepted his offer, you would’ve been keeper of the dragon balls. You could’ve killed Piccolo and Kami….well he was ready to make that sacrifice for all of us at the tournament.”

 Goku shook his head. “That would mean us living at Kami’s Temple. Trust me, ChiChi. It’s a boring place to live.”

 ChiChi placed two glasses, a pitcher of iced water and a tumbler on the table. “I wouldn’t have mind as long as Gohan’s safe.”

 Gohan reached for his tumbler. He put it to his lips and happily drunk the liquid inside as his parents conversed. “Gohan’s safe, ChiChi.”

 “Goku, what if Piccolo finds us? What if he hurts you by coming after Gohan or me?” She stood at the table fixing the first of Gohan’s plates. “I know you made friends out of rivals like Tien but you can’t think that will happen with you and Piccolo.”

 “Why not?” Goku asked. “He’s not as evil as his Dad. I can feel it and he’ll be a good sparring partner for me.”

 ChiChi shook her head. She didn’t understand her husband sometimes. She took Gohan from Goku’s arms and placed him in his high chair. “Goku, I understand showing mercy with an opponent but you can’t always do that and you can’t always make your opponents your friends. Sometimes you have to put them down. One of these days you will regret not finishing them off.

 Who knew ChiChi’s words would come back to haunt him?

 How did a simple reunion turn into this? A few hours catching up with friends turned into a nightmare. In a short span of a couple hours, Goku discovered he was an alien, he had a brother, had his son kidnapped by his brother, teamed up with his rival to kill his brother and now laid mortally wounded.  

 Funny, he told Yajirobe once he was immortal. He was definitely mortal.

 ‘I can’t move. I’m completely paralyzed. Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon severed my spine.’

 Goku’s eyes closed. His lids felt as if they weighed a ton. Gohan. He was so weak he couldn’t even feel Gohan’s Ki.

 ‘Gohan,’ Goku mentally called out to his son. ‘Gohan, are you okay?’

 Raditz hit him very hard. He was gonna kill his son if he didn’t tap in his reserves and hold Raditz until Piccolo could charge up his new attack that was fatal for both of them. Gohan. He needed to know if Gohan was okay. Goku tried to will his body to move but couldn’t. Nothing could move; not his arms; not even his legs.  

 ‘I can hardly breathe. I think half my lungs are gone.’

 Goku gazed at the clear skies above him. His eyes were getting blurry but his mind was still sharp. ‘I have three dragon balls. It will probably take Bulma and Krillin a week to find the rest.’

 “Heh.” Goku would laugh at his irony if he had the strength to chuckle. ‘I wanted a fight but not like this. Two stronger beings than Raditz? It’s exciting but will a year training be enough? I guess I could go in the Room of Spirit of Time. Maybe I’ll bring Krillin or Yamcha with me…..’

 A loud whoosh in the sky over him interrupted his thoughts. Two? No, it was one ship. He thought it was one. His sight was going.

 “Goku!” It was Krillin. His best friend dropped by his side and picked up his hand. He could see two Krillins but he couldn’t feel Krillin holding his hand.

 “Go..han,” Goku weakly called out. He needed to know. How was his son? With little strength he had, his head turned briefly to see Master Roshi and Piccolo standing on the other side. His head rolled back to Krillin. “Go….han.”

 “Gohan’s all right.” Goku heard Bulma. “Just knocked out.”

 Relief washed over him. Good. His son was all right. He could go now. “I’m….glad. You won’t….get yelled at… by ChiChi.”

 A smile and a joke would be his send off. He needed to smile. His friends would be worried otherwise if he wasn’t smiling. He was glad ChiChi decided to stay home. He couldn’t have her see him like this. His fight with Piccolo traumatized her. If she saw him like this…… There was another reason, too. Raditz would’ve held her and Gohan as hostage.

 ‘A week, ChiChi. I’ll be home in a week.’

 His eyes cleared to where he saw one Krillin looking down on him. His eyes weld with tears. Krillin. His best friend. He was the only one to know what he was going through. “Krill….in….dying sucks….don’t it?”

 “Don’t talk like that!” Krillin tried to encourage him to hold on but Goku knew it was pointless. He felt his life leaving his body. “We’ll bring you back!”

 ‘A week, ChiChi. I’ll be home in a week.’

 “Heh,” he managed a weak chuckle as his heavy lids closed shut. “Thanks.”

 From his post, Kami observed Goku take his final breath. Using his gifts as Guardian of Earth, Kami pulled Goku’s body from the field he died on and transported it to his temple. Mr. Popo quietly watch Goku’s deceased body materialize on the white marble floor.

 “He really is dead.” Mr. Popo saw the battle happening below but the results of it were still stunning.  

 “Yes. I’ll take Goku to meet King Yemma. I’ll request he train under King Kai.”

 Mr. Popo heard of the Lord of Worlds from Kami. He knew how powerful King Kai was rumored to be. “It’s really that dire for Earth for Goku to train under him?”

 Kami nodded. “Yes.” Instead of leaving with Goku, Kami watched the exchange between Piccolo and Goku’s friends. “What’s this?”

 Mr. Popo joined Kami on the ledge. He noticed Piccolo pull Gohan from Master Roshi and held the child under his arm. “Piccolo is taking Goku’s son to train?”

 Kami couldn’t believe what he was seeing either. “The young boy does have a lot of power in him. He could be an asset.”

 True but the child was still young. Mr. Popo looked at Goku’s dead body. “Will you be telling him this when he’s on the other side? I’m sure he thinks Gohan will be returned to his mother.”

 Kami shook his head. “No. Goku doesn’t fear Piccolo and even though they joined forces to stop Raditz, I doubt he will be approving of his son in Piccolo’s care for a year. It might hinder his concentration with King Kai. I can’t risk that.” From his view, he saw Piccolo fly off with Gohan. It was time for him to take Goku to meet King Yemma. “I’ll be back,” Kami told Mr. Popo as he and Goku vanished before him.

 When Goku closed his eyes, he was in enormous pain. When he opened them, he felt as strong and energetic as he did when he woke up this morning. Instead of his sleeping wife beside him, Goku saw Kami peering at him.

 “Kami?”

 Goku sat up and looked around. The hole in his chest was gone. In fact, he was wearing a new fighting gi.  The skies around him were lilac and not blue. He wasn’t sitting on green grass but a green, smooth road surrounded by yellow puffy clouds.

 Was this Heaven?

 “Get up, Goku,” Kami ordered. “We need to get in line.” The Guardian of Earth pointed to a road where white, bouncy puff of smokes stood in line talking.

 Goku got up and followed Kami in line. “What are those?” Goku pointed to the puffy, talkative smokes in front of him.

 “Those are spirits of people who died. They won’t be keeping their body like you.”

 “So, I did die.” Goku looked around. “Where am I?”

 “This is the Underworld. Everyone who dies comes here for judgment before King Yemma. He decides who should go to Heaven or Hell. I will make a request to King Yemma that you be trained by King Kai. He’s the Lord of Worlds and lives in this realm. He will prepare you for the two Saiyans that will come to Earth in a year.”

 “Wait…” Goku tried to understand this. “Are you saying I will be here for a year? I thought I would be wished back in a week.”

 “No, Goku. You have to be here for a year. You need this training with King Kai. Any training you planned to do on Earth wouldn’t be enough.”

 ‘I won’t see ChiChi or Gohan for a year.’ Goku wanted to argue but knew Kami wouldn’t suggest this if there was another way. ‘I don’t have a choice. I have to get stronger to beat these Saiyans that’s coming. Still. A year.’

 As they waited, Goku thought of what led him here. Goku always thought of himself as invincible. When he fought in the preliminary rounds at the World Martial Arts Tournament, he always defeated opponents with one or two strikes. He never thought he could be defeated and if he were, never thought anyone would take him out in one strike.

 It happened by his own brother. Brother. He had a brother.

 His past was always a blank. Goku never thought too long on it. Why worry about things he didn’t know anything about? He never cared he was found in the woods by Grandpa Gohan. He never gave any thoughts to his past until he had all those tests done on him during ChiChi’s pregnancy. There were also times when caring for Gohan, he questioned what happened to his parents.

 ‘I wonder how Gohan’s holding up. He’s probably with ChiChi now. ChiChi’s probably on the phone telling her Dad what happened.’

 “Something on your mind, Goku?”

 Goku rubbed the back of his neck as he moved up in line. “No. Well, yeah. The longest I’ve been away from my family is three days.” He forced a smile and joked. “Guess I won’t be eating ChiChi’s yummy meals for a while.” He noticed Kami’s stoic stare. Kami wasn’t like his friends. He didn’t need to keep up appearances for him. Goku sobered showing a solemn side he usually kept to himself or ChiChi. “I wish I could talk to them. Especially ChiChi.”

 “Your friends will know how to break the news to her about you and…” Kami paused catching himself. Goku didn’t need to know about Gohan being with Piccolo. “They’ll know what to say.”

 Goku smiled, trying to remain upbeat. “Yeah. You’re right. I may not be there but at least ChiChi’ll have Gohan.”

 It was the fourth time the phone rang. Master Roshi, Bulma and Krillin glanced at each other as the phone’s rings trilled across the room. After the fifth ring, it stopped and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

 Master Roshi rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “One of us need to pick up the phone when it rings.”

Bulma noticed Master Roshi eyeing her. “It’s your house.”

 Master Roshi looked at Krillin. “You’re living here rent free. You should do it.”

 “I do my part cleaning up around here,” Krillin argued. “Like Bulma said, it’s your house. The phone call is for you. Not me.”

 Master Roshi sighed. “Hmm. Maybe we should’ve told ChiChi what happened to Goku and Gohan before we came back here. We still have to get the dragon balls at Goku’s house. ChiChi has to be wondering why her husband and son haven’t come home yet.”

 Bulma turned her attention back to the device Raditz wore over his eye. “Well, I’m too young and pretty to die.” She carefully tapped her mini screwdriver against the scouter, careful to not damage any wires and circuits. “Besides, I’m busy studying this.”

 Krillin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “We could’ve went to Goku’s house afterwards.”  Master Roshi brought it up when they were in the airship on their way back but Krillin didn’t like Master Roshi wanted him to do it. Krillin felt it was best someone else told ChiChi.

 Feeling eyes on her, Bulma pulled away Raditz’s scanner. This time Krillin stared at her. “If anyone should go, it’s you, Krillin. You’re Goku’s best friend.”

 “You’re his oldest friend,” Krillin shot back. “ChiChi’ll take the news better from you than me.”

 Bulma sputtered. “What could I say to her? Besides, she controls Goku. She wouldn’t let Goku teach their kid how to fight. If she has that type of power over Goku, can you imagine her reaction if I tell her Goku’s dead and Piccolo took Gohan while we did nothing? I’ll say it again. I’m too young and pretty to die!”

 Master Roshi rubbed his left temple. He was getting a migraine. They’ve argued back and forth about this since they left the spot where Goku died. “Well, she has to know. She’s gonna know something’s not right when they don’t come home. The longer we put this off the harder it will be.”

 “Then you tell her.” Bulma was getting tired of this. They made their decision on their way here but when they entered the house Master Roshi would start up again on who should talk to ChiChi.

 “What?” Master Roshi waved his hands frantically. “I don’t wanna die!”

 Bulma rolled her eyes and went back to work.

 Krillin dropped in his seat thinking over this day. He chuckled. “Before Raditz showed up, I thought the most shocking thing was learning Goku’s a Dad. I never thought it was possible. I never thought he could do that. He never showed interest in women and when he agreed to marry ChiChi, we know he didn’t know what he was doing. He left us for a cute girl, had a kid with her and never told us about it.”

 “Yeah,” Master Roshi agreed. “He died before I could get details on what he does with ChiChi. Five years. Geez. If I never had this reunion we wouldn’t have known. At least Gyu-Mao told me when he married and had ChiChi. Gohan told me about finding Goku. Why hadn’t Goku told us about Gohan before now?”

 Bulma leaned back in her chair lost in her own musing. “He never noticed me.” The irony she thought. “That ChiChi must be a miracle worker to get Goku interested in girls. Then again, he is an alien. Maybe a certain switch needed to be flipped.” Speaking of that, Bulma suddenly sat up. With everything calm for the moment, Bulma saw this as the perfect time to interrogate Master Roshi on the secrets he kept from them. “And how long were you gonna keep this secret about Goku from us?! You knew he was an alien and you didn’t tell us!”

 Bulma’s outburst wasn’t surprising but Master Roshi had thought Bulma and Krillin would be more accepting of the news. After all that happened today, his secret was a moot point now. “I never thought it would ever come out.”

 “His grandpa sent you a letter! You could’ve told us after the first tournament when Goku turned into a giant gorilla and nearly killed us!!”

 “She’s got a point,” Krillin agreed with Bulma. “I asked Goku about it and he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about.”

 “Goku obviously didn’t, but you did, Master Roshi! What kind of teacher are you to not tell his student this?”

 Master Roshi maintained his cool though he wasn’t fond of getting double teamed by Krillin and Bulma. “What good comes from telling him? He obviously had no memory of it. If he knew then, he would know he’s the monster who killed his grandpa. Think of what that would’ve done to him!” Feeling prideful he silenced Bulma by reminding her, “Besides, it was you who told me Goku’s had that type of transformation before. You didn’t tell Goku the same reason I couldn’t tell him.”

 Recalling how Goku transformed into a giant gorilla, Krillin remembered Gohan’s tail. “Maybe we should’ve told Goku about the full moon. His kid has a tail now. If he looks at the moon, he could kill someone like Goku did.”

 That was true. Bulma rationalized the situation. “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about that since Gohan’s with Piccolo.”

 Master Roshi entered his kitchen. He pulled out a six pack of beer from the refrigerator. “Which brings us back to square one. We need to tell Goku’s wife.”

 Bulma rolled her eyes. Here they go again. She went back to her seat and busied herself with Raditz’s scouter. “I’m not doing it.”

 “Me neither.” Krillin crossed his arms over his chest. His decision was final.

 Master Roshi opened a can of beer. He gazed at the night sky out his kitchen window. “Well, it is late. No sense going over there now. ChiChi’s probably asleep.”

 It was late. Goku told them his family always went to bed early. ChiChi had to be asleep now. Why disturb her sleep by telling her Goku is dead and Piccolo has Gohan Krillin mused. He kept repeating this to himself but after minutes of silence, Krillin said, “You know we’re screwed if she comes to us.”

 Bulma answered with a firm. “Yep.”

 “If you told Yamcha about the reunion, he could’ve talked to ChiChi. He did look out for her at the tournament when Goku fought Piccolo. Maybe Goku wouldn’t have died today. He could’ve helped fight Raditz.”

 Bulma slammed her screwdriver down. “You’re blaming me for what happened?! Yamcha always gets knocked out in the first round! He would’ve helped as much as you did!”

 Master Roshi headed upstairs drowning out the back and forth argument between Bulma and Krillin. They were all wrong. They were all at fault. He knew deep down they should’ve talked to Goku’s wife immediately after it happened. Prolonging it was making it worse for he knew at some point they will all have to face ChiChi and it will not be pretty.  

 Gohan’s tears had stopped but he was still scared and alone. He was on top of a piece of large rock with no idea how he got here or how he will get down. He remembered running and crying from a dinosaur who wanted to eat him. He blacked out for a moment and the next thing he knew he was on this rock.

 ‘I wanna go home,’ Gohan sniffed. ‘I want my Daddy. I want my Mommy.’ This was turning into the worst day ever. Daddy was so happy about this day. He talked so much about the friends he would meet and shared stories of some of their adventures. Gohan now wished they didn’t go. He wished they stayed home or Mommy came with them.

 “Mommy,” Gohan whimpered. Mommy wasn’t as strong as Daddy but Mommy was strong. She could’ve helped Daddy when that mean man hurt Daddy and took him away. She wouldn’t let the green man leave him out here.

 His stomach growled suddenly. It was dinner time. ‘I bet Mommy’s cooking something really yummy.’

 “Mommy,” Gohan whimpered again. Daddy was dead and he didn’t know when he will come back to life. Did Mommy know about Daddy being dead? Did Mommy know about him being forced to live out here on his own for six months? No. Mommy wouldn’t allow that. Mommy would have him home.

 “She’ll find me,” Gohan told himself. “She always finds me.”

 “All pack, Goku.” Mommy handed Daddy a packed cooler of food. “Be sure to take breaks and drink enough water. It’s gonna be hot today.”

 “I know. I know.” Daddy gave Mommy a kiss goodbye. Cooler in one hand, Daddy patted Gohan’s head with the other. “I’ll see you tonight, Gohan.”

 “Bye, Daddy.” Gohan watched his father leave the house. Gohan left his seat at the table and went to the sofa where he saw Daddy from the window walking away from home and disappearing in the forest. Daddy was gone all day when he went training. Gohan wanted to go with him but Mommy said he had to stay inside and read.

 “Gohan,” Mommy called him. “You haven’t finished your reading lessons.”

 Gohan climbed off the sofa and went back to the table. “Can I go with Daddy next time?”

 “No,” ChiChi gently told him. “Let Daddy focus on getting his muscles stronger while you focus on strengthening your mind. You’re almost finished with this book. If you finish it, you can play for the rest of the day.”

 Gohan smiled. This was easy. He only had a few pages left. Once he finish this book, he’ll look for Daddy and play with him. Mommy was true to her word. When Gohan finished his book, she told him he could play. She told him to stay in the front yard where she could see him. Gohan did that, chasing butterflies and small friendly animals that were always in the yard. When Mommy left the kitchen to go in the back of the house, Gohan followed the path his Daddy entered the forest on.

 Gohan entered this forest before with his parents but being alone he didn’t know which path to take. He took a guess, taking several turns before realizing he was lost. These trees weren’t familiar to him. The sounds weren’t either. Gohan thought to retrace his steps but he didn’t know which direction to go.

 Gohan sniffed as tears formed. He was lost. What if he never got home? What if he never saw Mommy or Daddy again?

 “Mommy! Daddy!” Gohan called out. No answer. After a moment, he tried again. “Mommy! Daddy!”

 This time Gohan heard a sound from the bushes. He smiled assuming his parents had come. A wild boar emerged. Fearful, Gohan stepped back. He didn’t like the look this creature was giving him. The boar snorted as it took steps to Gohan. Gohan cautiously stepped back before fear overtook him and he ran allowing the boar to chase him.

 “Mommy! Daddy! Help me!” He ran wildly around the forests. The boar was fast on Gohan’s heels. “Mommy! Daddy!” Gohan jumped and grabbed a tree branch. The boar jumped missing Gohan by several inches. It was deterred but it wasn’t gonna stop. “Mommy! Daddy!” Gohan screamed. “Help!!”

 “Gohan!”

 “Mommy!” Gohan’s face shined with joy. Mommy was coming! He turned his head and saw Mommy running in the forest. The wild boar left Gohan and turned his attention on Mommy. Gohan watched the boar charged to Mommy. Mommy jumped out of the way. She pulled out Daddy’s red pole and slapped it against the boar’s neck. The wild boar crumpled to the ground unmoving.

 Mommy left the wild boar and approached Gohan. She held her arms open. Gohan let go of the branch and fell into his mother’s safe arms. “Mommy!” Gohan hugged his mother tightly while crying, “I was so scared! I thought the monster would kill me!”

 “Shh! It’s all right.” Mommy rocked him gently. “You’re safe, but it wasn’t a monster. Look.” Gohan looked down at the dead animal. “You read enough books to know what this is. What is it?”

 Gohan chewed his lower lip carefully. He did see this in the picture books Mommy gave him. “A boar?”

 Mommy smiled pleased. Reading all those books were paying off. “That’s right. You know not to wander this far off. Why did you?”

 Gohan sniffed. He knew he was in trouble from Mommy’s sharp tone. “I wanted to be with Daddy and I got lost.”

 Mommy sighed. “Daddy’s not here. This is territory for the wilder animals. Gohan, you know better.”

 “I’m sorry.”

 Mommy hugged Gohan and rubbed his back gently. “I know. I can’t be mad at you. I want to be with Daddy all the time, too.” Gohan smiled happy Mommy forgave him and wouldn’t be punishing him. “Gohan, how did you get up there?”

 Gohan looked up at the branch he was holding onto before Mommy rescued him. He didn’t realize it was so high. How did he get up there? Gohan shrugged. “I don’t know.”

 Mommy stared at the branch on the tree for a long moment. He couldn’t read Mommy’s expression. She didn’t look happy but she didn’t look mad either. Mommy placed Gohan back on the ground. “Let’s go home.”

 Mommy picked up the wild boar. “We’ll tell Daddy we got dinner for tomorrow night.”

 Gohan giggled. We. More like Mommy. “Thank you, Mommy. I’m sorry for getting lost. I was so scared.”

 Mommy smiled at Gohan. “Try not to do it again, Gohan, but know if you ever get lost, Mommy or Daddy will always find you.”

 Gohan held fast to that promise as he finally succumbed to sleep.

 7:00 PM

 Dinner was hot and waiting for Goku and Gohan. ChiChi looked out the window for the fifth time. Goku knew to be back by dark so why wasn’t he and Gohan back? It wasn’t like him to be late for dinner and he knew to not keep Gohan out so late.

 “Well, it’s been five years since Goku’s seen his friends. He probably lost track of time,” ChiChi told herself. ChiChi sat at the table and fixed her plate. “No reason I should starve or let dinner get cold. They’ll probably on their way back.” ChiChi placed a spoonful of rice on her plate. “Goku better be. Gohan has bed in an hour.”

 9:00 PM

 The table was clean and the refrigerator was stuffed with dinner. Goku was over three hours late. “Unbelievable!” ChiChi growled as she tossed a broken dish in the trash. “No phone call. Nothing. I told Goku to be back by dark and he’s three hours late! He knows Gohan needs sleep and he has school in the morning. I know Goku probably missed being with his friends but this is ridiculous!”

 10:00 PM

 ChiChi hung up the phone. That was the fifth time she called and the fifth time no one answered. What was going on over there? Were they having that much fun they were losing track of time? “I should’ve went. I thought I could trust Goku to be responsible.” ChiChi stepped out of her home. Her eyes were on the sky. The moon was full tonight. Maybe she will see them returning on Nimbus. “Goku’s keeping Gohan up past his bedtime. He’s gonna be cranky when he comes home.”

 Midnight

 Something was wrong. There had to be. Goku wouldn’t keep Gohan out this late. He can be forgetful at times but he would’ve called right? ChiChi sat in the family truck. She contemplated going to Master Roshi’s house herself but Master Roshi lived on an island and the family trunk was a land vehicle. It wasn’t an air car like her Dad’s. She could call Nimbus herself but what if Goku was on it now with Gohan on their way home? There was something else troubling, too. The moon was gone. Two hours ago when she stood out here looking for Goku and Gohan to return on Nimbus, she saw the full moon. Now it was gone.

 “No, ChiChi,” she told herself. “Nothing’s wrong. Goku can take care of himself. Goku’s the strongest man on Earth. Nothing could stop him and he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to Gohan. Goku wouldn’t.” ChiChi leaned on the steering wheel and softly sob. “He wouldn’t.”

 3:00 AM

 ChiChi sat alone on the sofa. Her eyes were red with tears. Her mind was tired from lack of sleep but she was too wired to go to sleep. “Goku and Gohan are asleep. Goku had so much fun at Master Roshi’s, he decided he and Gohan will sleep there and return home in the morning. That Goku,” ChiChi cursed. “He’s so thoughtless sometimes. He has me waiting and worrying all night for him and Gohan to return when they are sleeping at Master Roshi’s place. Nothing’s wrong,” ChiChi repeated. “Everything is fine. Goku is being thoughtless. That’s all.” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “You’re gonna look back and laugh at this, ChiChi. You’re gonna be so angry with Goku. You’re not gonna allow him to take Gohan anywhere without you again.”

 ChiChi rocked herself back and forth repeating this, assuring herself nothing was wrong until moments later she sobbed. “Why didn’t I go with them?”

 “You sure you don’t wanna come?”

 Goku and Gohan had finished lunch and were on their way to Master Roshi’s for the reunion. Goku held Gohan in his arms and stood by Nimbus, trying one more time to urge ChiChi to come with them.

 “No,” ChiChi declined again. “I have things to get done. Besides, they’re your friends. You should spend time with them without me. You haven’t seen them in five years.”

 “Okay.”

 “Just be home by dark,” ChiChi reminded him. “Gohan has preschool tomorrow.”

 Goku nodded. “I know.” To Gohan, he said, “Say goodbye to Mommy, Gohan.”

 Gohan waved. “Bye, Mommy.”

 ChiChi kissed Gohan’s cheek. “Bye, Gohan. I’ll see you tonight.” She gave Goku a quick kiss on the lips. “See you later. Have fun.”

 Goku jumped on Nimbus. Goku and Gohan waved at ChiChi as Nimbus flew off.

 4:45 AM

 “ChiChi?” Gyu-Mao sleepily replied to the phone. ChiChi heard some shuffling as she imagined her father was checking the clock. “It’s almost five in the morning. What’s wrong?”

 “I….” She felt her body shaking. “Goku and Gohan went to Master Roshi’s yesterday for a reunion with his friends. I….I wonder did he stop off at your place last night? Maybe he left Gohan with you and returned to his friends. Or…. or maybe Goku got tired on the way home and slept at the castle?” ChiChi’s heart pounded in her chest as her father responded with ‘No.’. “I see. They haven’t come home and I thought Goku’s being irresponsible. You know how he forget to tell me things sometimes. But he has Gohan with him,” her voice wavered as fresh tears fell. ChiChi gathered herself. “I just wanna make sure Goku stopped at your place. Gohan has school and he never missed a day and……”

 “Did you call Master Roshi’s place?”

 “I did but no one answered.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “But you know how Goku forgets time when he’s having fun.” Stop worrying ChiChi told herself. Goku is fine. He’s asleep at Master Roshi’s with Gohan. He’s just being forgetful and didn’t call. “He’s made me so mad, Dad! I’ve been up all night worrying and he’s having so much fun with his friends, he didn’t have the decency to call and say he’s staying at Master Roshi’s place!”

 “Did… did you get any sleep?” Gyu-Mao asked.

 “How can I sleep when my four year old son hasn’t come home?!” ChiChi screamed. She calmed herself down. “I need to borrow your air car, Dad. Please come.”

 “I’m on my way, ChiChi.”

 Gyu-Mao remained upbeat to assure ChiChi but he was troubled with what she told him. Goku could be forgetful and he may not always do what ChiChi wanted but when it came to Gohan he did listen. If ChiChi wanted Gohan home by dark, Goku would bring Gohan home by dark. It could be possible Goku stayed at Master Roshi’s all night with Gohan but he would’ve called ChiChi. He wouldn’t let her wait and worry all night for them.

 Gyu-Mao gripped his car as ChiChi sped to Master Roshi’s making sharp turns and flips. He talked positive to ChiChi but inside, he worried at what they would find at Master Roshi’s.

 Be angry, ChiChi told herself. Be angry. Goku needed to see her angry. That way he will know he’s wrong. She wouldn’t let him know she was crying and worried all night. Not in front of the others. For the wife of Son Goku, world’s strongest man, she had to be strong.

 ChiChi saw Master Roshi’s home in the distance. The closer she got to the beach, the closer three figures on it became clearer. Master Roshi, Krillin and Bulma. Where were Goku and Gohan? It was early but they would be up by now. ChiChi’s heart beat wildly as she lowered the air car onto the beach. She’ll soon have answers.

 Gyu-Mao bowed before Master Roshi greeting his former teacher while ChiChi looked around suspiciously. Be strong, she told herself.  Thanks to Goku she could feel Ki. It wasn’t as good as Goku but she could feel it enough to feel her husband and son’s presence. She knew Goku and Gohan weren’t on the island.

 Did we miss them? Are they on their way home?

 “So, where’s my son, hmm? Where’d Goku take him now?”

 Master Roshi chuckled nervously. “Well….um…. actually,” there was that nervous chuckle again. “Goku and Gohan aren’t here.”

 “Did they leave?” ChiChi asked. “Are they on the way home?”

 “Nooooo,” Master Roshi drawled. “You see, not long after Goku and Gohan arrived another person dropped by.”

 “Piccolo?” ChiChi guessed worriedly. She knew it. She knew Piccolo would show up at one point.

 “He did,” Master Roshi said, “but not until later. Goku’s brother showed up.”

 “Brother?” ChiChi questioned. “What do you mean brother? Goku doesn’t have a brother. He doesn’t have any family except me, Gohan and my father.”

 Krillin frowned feeling offended. “He’s family to us.”

 “Krillin,” Master Roshi warned him to keep calm though he felt Krillin’s frustration as he saw Goku as family, too. “It was a shock to all of us especially Goku. He never met Raditz before. He told Goku he’s his older brother from Planet Vegeta.” Master Roshi could see the shock on ChiChi and Gyu-Mao’s faces as they slowly piece together what was said. “Yes. Goku’s an alien.”

 ChiChi felt the ground open up under her. Alien? Her husband was an alien? “That’s not possible. Goku’s not an alien.”

 Master Roshi expected ChiChi to be in shock but he was bothered how unnerved Gyu-Mao appeared since he knew this was a possibility like he did. “I can confirm it’s true because Gohan wrote me a letter when he found Goku. He told me of the ship Goku was found in; how he was a bad baby until one day he fell in a ravine and hit his head. Goku was in a coma for days and when he awakened he was a good kid.” Master Roshi noticed ChiChi’s eyes changed from shock to realization. She knew something. “You’re married to Goku. You noticed something, didn’t you?”

 ChiChi clutched a hand over her chest. “I noticed a scar on Goku’s head one morning. Goku didn’t remember what happen except Gohan saying something about Goku hitting his head.”

 “Raditz, Goku’s brother explained Goku comes from a race called Saiyans from the Planet Vegeta. Saiyans are warriors. They kill the inhabitants on planets and sell the planets to other races that needs space. Older warriors go to planets with strong races. Babies are sent to weaker planets to kill. Goku was sent to Earth as a baby.

 Kill? Her Goku? Would he have killed her? What about their son?

 “Goku was sent to Earth as a baby to kill all life but that bump on his head changed that. His brother came here wanting Goku’s help to destroy life on another planet. Goku refused so Raditz took Gohan and held him hostage. He gave Goku twenty-four hours to kill a hundred people or Gohan would die.”

 “NO!” ChiChi gasped. “Goku wouldn’t let this Raditz guy take Gohan! He would’ve killed him before he touched a hair on Gohan’s head!”

 “He beat Goku with one kick,” Master Roshi informed ChiChi. He pointed to the spot where Goku fell. “Goku was lying on the beach in pain.”

 “He defeated Goku with one kick?” It was unbelievable to Gyu-Mao his son-in-law was defeated with one attack.

 “Yeah,” Krillin added on. “I couldn’t believe it myself.”

 ChiChi stared at the spot where Goku had fallen. She imagined the pain Goku had to have been in. She imagined the cries of her poor baby crying for Daddy to help him. How angry and frustrated Goku must’ve been to not help Gohan. She was lost imagining what her husband and son were going through when Krillin’s voice brought her back to the present, and when he did, her anger rose. “So, while my husband was lying on the beach in pain, helpless to rescue his son, were you two spectators? Did you help?”

 Why was ChiChi getting angry at him? Krillin wondered. He tried to fight Raditz and was knocked down with his tail. Going up against Raditz again was pointless. “His strength was intimidating, ChiChi. If you felt it, you wouldn’t move either.”

 “The hell I wouldn’t! If my husband was lying in pain, I’m coming to help him and I’m fighting the monster who would dare hurt my husband. I would have to be in the same condition as Goku before I let anyone take my son!”

 Gyu-Mao placing a soothing hand on ChiChi’s shoulders. While he agreed with his daughter that his former master and this other fighter could’ve done more to save his grandson, he knew yelling at them would get them nowhere into learning where his son-in-law and grandson were. “Is that what’s Goku doing now?” Gyu-Mao asked. “Is Goku killing people to get Gohan back?”

 “No,” Master Roshi wasn’t surprised Gyu-Mao would assumed Goku would kill to get his son back. “Piccolo arrived. Raditz encountered him first. Piccolo offered to join forces with Goku to defeat Raditz.”

 ChiChi was immediately suspicious. “Why would that demon help Goku?”

 “Piccolo saw Raditz as a threat to him ruling the world so he partnered with Goku as a truce. They left together to fight Raditz and rescue Gohan.”

 ChiChi didn’t like this. If all this happened yesterday, why didn’t Goku and Gohan return home? Did this mean they failed and Goku and Gohan were dead?

 “We followed after Goku. When we found them, the battle was over.” Master Roshi knew ChiChi will flip out hearing this. “Goku and Piccolo killed Raditz but Goku was badly hurt. Before Raditz died, he told them two stronger Saiyans were watching the battle and since he heard about the dragon balls from Piccolo, they will be here in a year to collect the dragon balls and kill us all.” Master Roshi slowly read ChiChi and Gyu-Mao’s faces as they processed this. He knew what the next question would be so he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he rushed out, “So, that we’re ready for them, Piccolo took Gohan. He will train Gohan to face these Saiyans in a year. It’s nice he’s on our side now, right?”

 “What?!” ChiChi and Gyu-Mao screamed. “Gohan was taken by Piccolo??!!”

 ChiChi suddenly felt lightheaded. ‘My baby. My baby is with that demon.’

 There was one question that could only followed up such shocking news. ChiChi’s mind couldn’t get the words out of her mouth so Gyu-Mao asked, “What was Goku doing during all this?!”

 “Dying….” Master Roshi nervously chuckled, “Mostly.”

 Something snapped in ChiChi. She felt an unsurmountable weight fall on her as the news of the morning came crashing down. Goku was an alien. Gohan was kidnapped by his uncle. Gohan was kidnapped by Piccolo. Goku was dead. Her husband was dead. Yesterday, she had a family. Today her family was gone. Her legs weakened and her body gave out under her as her world turned black.

 “ChiChi!” Gyu-Mao screamed at his fallen daughter.

 “Oh, boy,” Master Roshi grimaced. “We better get her inside.”

 Gyu-Mao picked up ChiChi and carried her inside Master Roshi’s home. He laid ChiChi on the sofa while Bulma wet a towel and placed it on ChiChi’s head. While everyone waited for ChiChi to wake up, Gyu-Mao paced as he let everything sink in. His son-in-law was dead. His grandson was kidnapped by Piccolo, son of King Piccolo who unleased hell on Earth eight years ago. Gyu-Mao knew Goku was an alien but the reveal of Goku’s past was too much. Now he understood why Goku reacted the way he did when he and ChiChi were babies.

 Still, Gyu-Mao had questions.  

 “I don’t understand, Master.”

“It’s a lot to take in.” Master Roshi popped opened a can of beer. He and Krillin had been drinking a lot since yesterday to numb the shock of everything that happened. “Have a beer.”

 Gyu-Mao shook his head dismissing the drink. “No. I don’t understand you. Why didn’t you tell ChiChi this yesterday? Why did you let her come to you after she was up all night worrying about her family?” Gyu-Mao saw the phone. “ChiChi said she called but no one answered. Were you avoiding her calls?”

 Krillin and Bulma stepped away from Master Roshi. Bulma remembered seeing Gyu-Mao’s anger years ago. She didn’t want to be near him if he blew his top. Krillin stepped away knowing someone that big getting angry wasn’t good.

 Master Roshi maintained his cool. His former student was bigger than him but Master Roshi was confident he could put him down if he needed to. “Judging how ChiChi reacted and Goku’s behavior yesterday, it’s clear neither knew the truth about Goku. Your hands aren’t clean in this either, Gyu-Mao. You knew the truth about Goku and didn’t tell them either. You got the same letter from Gohan.”

 “Wait,” Bulma looked from Master Roshi to Gyu-Mao, “you knew Goku was an alien, too?”

 Gyu-Mao ignored the young woman’s question. His attention was on his teacher. He was angered his teacher twisted the truth. “That’s different, Master. We both speculated about Goku being an alien. We didn’t believe it then but since that time, you had definitive proof.”

 “And why do you think that?”

 “You’ve been around Goku longer than me and if Goku’s from this Saiyan race of warriors then when Goku trained under you, you must’ve seen something that wasn’t normal.”

 Goku transforming at the tournament was the proof Goku was an alien. It was something they haven’t informed ChiChi and Gyu-Mao of and based on their reaction to the news so far, Master Roshi thought it was best they keep this from them. “In these five years with Goku, Gyu-Mao, you didn’t find any definitive proof yourself? I excuse ChiChi since she never had reason to speculate Goku’s an alien but you, Gyu-Mao….. can you honestly tell me nothing happened in these five years that told you Goku’s an alien?”

 Krillin and Bulma watched the taut exchange between master and student. “This is tense,” Krillin said.

 “Yeah,” Bulma agreed, “I can’t recall Master Roshi being this angry.”

 Gyu-Mao exhaled as some of his anger evaporated. His former teacher was always a sharp one. He was right, too. So was Dr. Barkley. “I figured it out while ChiChi was pregnant. Things were different,” Gyu-Mao defended himself. “They were still young in their marriage. They were still figuring things out. I admit I made a mistake and should’ve told them but I didn’t know what you know; what you still refuse to tell me. I never would’ve allowed my daughter to worry all night about her husband and son when I knew her husband was dead and her son kidnapped! I never would’ve done what you three did. How could you three be so disrespectful to Goku by not telling his wife what happened yesterday?!”

 “Oh, boy,” Krillin grumbled. “He’s never gonna let that go.”

 “We could’ve avoided this if you went,” Bulma reminded him. Before Krillin could respond, Bulma noticed ChiChi moving. “She’s waking up.”

 “Goku….” ChiChi moaned. “Gohan…..”

 When ChiChi opened her eyes, she saw four pair of eyes peering over her. She removed the wet towel from her forehead and sat up.

 “ChiChi,” Gyu-Mao addressed his daughter. “How are you?”

 Hearing her father’s voice brought her back to reality. She was in Master Roshi’s home which meant she didn’t dream hearing Goku’s dead and Gohan was taken by Piccolo. This nightmare was real.

 “I don’t understand.” ChiChi buried her face in her hands. “How can Goku be dead? How can Goku be an alien? I’m his wife. I would know this.”

 No one had words to comfort ChiChi.

 “Goku was dying but how could he be okay with Piccolo taking our son for a year?”

 Krillin cringed. Goku didn’t know. Goku was dead when Piccolo took Gohan but with Master Roshi saying Goku’s was dying instead of dead, he understood why ChiChi made that assumption. He saw neither Master Roshi nor Bulma were going to correct her. He decided against it, too. Given how ChiChi reacted to him and Master Roshi over not helping, Krillin didn’t want another tongue lashing from ChiChi.

 ChiChi’s hands dropped from her face. Krillin gulped seeing her ire trained on him. Was she psychic? Did she know she was being deceived on what Goku knew? “How could you let him?”

 “It wasn’t me!” Krillin blabbed.

 “Let Goku what?” Master Roshi intervened before Krillin threw him under the bus.

 “How could you let Goku allow Piccolo take Gohan? If Goku was dying, then he was delirious and irrational. Why didn’t any of you talk him out of it?”

 “You usually honor a dying man’s request,” Master Roshi joked. He immediately regretted his joke since ChiChi was ready to explode. “Goku knows what’s best. He is the child’s father.”

 ChiChi jumped to her feet startling Krillin and Bulma. “Well, I’m his mother! Gohan is Goku’s son but he’s four years old! How can you be okay with a four year old training to fight aliens stronger than his father! What kind of people are you?!”

 “It’s not like we could stop Piccolo,” Krillin defended himself.

 “What if it was your son? Would you have stood there like cowards while he took your son? Did you even try to stop Piccolo from taking Gohan? If Raditz was as strong as you say and my Goku died fighting him, then Piccolo must’ve been weakened enough for you to fight him and bring my son back to me!”

 Another point from ChiChi and it wasn’t anything Master Roshi or Krillin considered. When neither men responded, ChiChi asked, “Did you two take a senzu bean yesterday?”

 Krillin looked at Master Roshi who shrugged. What point was she gonna make now? “No.”

 “So, you didn’t put up a fight when Piccolo took my son either. You were just spectators. I know Piccolo’s stronger than you two. He’s stronger than me but my body would have to be completely broken before I let that monster take my son. You’re Goku’s friends! How could you let Piccolo take Goku’s son without a fight?” She glared at Krillin. “Goku was exhausted with his fight with Tien but that didn’t stop him from chasing your killer, Krillin.” She pointed at Master Roshi. “Goku avenged both your deaths and you let the spawn of the monster who killed you take his son!”

 Silence fell in the room once more. No one could say anything to counter ChiChi’s words. Krillin was reluctant to join the fight yesterday and now he was feeling guilt as shame crept in. Goku did avenge his death. He saved his life before by fighting Commander Blue of the Red Ribbon Army. Goku never asked his friends for anything and the one time he could try to repay Goku for all he did, he didn’t.

 ‘I’m sorry, Goku,’ Krillin mentally apologized to his dead friend. ‘I really did let you down.’

 Gyu-Mao put a hand on ChiChi’s shoulders. It was time to go. “We’ll talk to Goku when we wish him back, ChiChi. Even if it’s only you, me and Goku, we’ll get Gohan back from Piccolo.”

 “About that…..” Master Roshi almost forgot Yajirobe stopping by before Gyu-Mao and ChiChi showed up. “We can’t wish Goku back for a year.”

 “What?!” ChiChi was outraged. “Why not?! Goku has three dragon balls! It shouldn’t take a year to get the other four!”

 “Goku’s training in Other World under a Master who will prepare Goku for the aliens that’s coming in a year. We can’t bring Goku back until he completes his training. It was Goku’s decision.”

 ChiChi gripped Master Roshi’s shirt. “You’re telling me I have to be without my husband and my son for a year?!”

 Master Roshi smiled meekly. “It’ll fly by before you know it.”

 Master Roshi’s light heartedness angered her. She released the old man disgusted. “There’s nothing funny about this! It’s my husband! My son!” ChiChi felt tears rising but she pushed it down. She wouldn’t cry in front of them. She’ll get angry in front of them. “When were you gonna tell me this?”

 Master Roshi frowned confused. He looked at Krillin and Bulma who both shrugged their shoulders puzzled. “I just told you, ChiChi.”

 “No! You three knew about Goku and Gohan yesterday and you never told me! Why did you let me sit and wait all night wondering why my husband and four year old son haven’t come home?!”

 Bulma pointed at Krillin. She was not getting blamed for this. “We told Krillin to go to your house yesterday but he didn’t. I was studying the alien’s device. It will be very handy to us later.”

 Krillin stammered how Bulma threw him under the bus. “You can’t put all this on me!”

 ChiChi didn’t care for Bulma’s words. She laid blame to all three. “If I hadn’t come here, would you have told me?”

 “Of course we would’ve,” Master Roshi said before quietly adding, “eventually.”

 Eventually? That’s all she’s worth. An eventually? Master Roshi was a pervert but he was an excellent martial arts teacher who took Goku in as a student. ChiChi heard the stories of Goku’s adventures with Bulma and Krillin and while there were things they did were questionable to Goku, overall ChiChi did see them as friends to Goku but this changed everything. “You’re not the good friends I thought you were. You’re horrible people.”

 Krillin, Bulma and Master Roshi gaped at ChiChi stunned.

 Gyu-Mao put his arm around ChiChi. “Come, ChiChi. We should go.”

 With no acknowledgement to the stunned three, Gyu-Mao and ChiChi left.

 From his window, Master Roshi saw ChiChi sitting in the passenger seat as Gyu-Mao drove off. “Well, that went as badly as I expected. Sure we should’ve told her yesterday but I don’t think I’m horrible for not doing it.”

 “Well, she had a point. You two could’ve done more. You two are the fighters. Not me. I don’t know why she lumped me in with you two.” Bulma bopped Krillin on his head. “This is why you should’ve went to their house yesterday!”

 “You could’ve come with me,” Krillin argued back.

 “I was busy!”

 Master Roshi shook his head and picked up another can of beer. Goku was dead. His son was in Piccolo’s care. Lord only knew what that demon would do to Goku’s child. Kami wanted all his former students and Yajirobe at his temple for training against Saiyans that are stronger the one Piccolo and Goku barely defeated. It was gonna be a long year.

 ChiChi always considered her home as a warm place. Even when she was in the house by herself it felt warm and full of life. Now entering it, it felt cold and empty. She didn’t know how she will get through a year here without her husband and son.  

 Gyu-Mao observed his daughter. She was so wired. He knew it wouldn’t be easy but she needed to relax. “ChiChi, why don’t you go to sleep while I make you something? You’ve been up all night. You need to sleep and you need to eat.”

 ChiChi sat on the sofa and buried her face in her hands. “I can’t do any of that now, Dad.”

 Her mind was still trying to process it all. Her husband was dead and her son was taken by the demon that tried to kill her husband five years ago. How did he survive she wondered. Why was Piccolo spared and Goku wasn’t? Will he turn her sweet baby into a killer? How could Goku be okay with this? She knew Goku wanted Gohan to learn some martial arts but not like this. “Is there something I’m not being told about again?”

 Since ChiChi wasn’t gonna sleep, Gyu-Mao thought to give ChiChi something to eat. He reheated the leftovers from last night’s dinner. He placed a hot plate of food and a glass of iced water on the table. “Come on, ChiChi. You need to eat something.”

 Maybe her father was right. Her head was pounding ever since she left Master Roshi’s place. ChiChi rose and swoon before steadying herself on the arm of the sofa. Maybe she did need to eat. She was running on adrenaline all night and this morning. Now she knew what happened to her family, her body was slowly crashing down and reminding her it need to rest.

 Maybe she will get some sleep after she ate.

 “Thank you, Dad.” ChiChi sat at the table. She picked up her chopsticks and ate and ate and ate. She finished her plate in minutes. As Gyu-Mao heated a second plate for her, ChiChi finished her glass of water. “I just can’t believe them, Dad. They let me sit and wait all night for Goku and Gohan.”

 Gyu-Mao placed another hot plate before ChiChi and refilled her glass. “ChiChi, don’t think about them now,” Gyu-Mao advised. “Eat.”

 ChiChi ate but her mind was still churning. If they can keep this from her, what else were they keeping?

“I still feel like I haven’t been told everything, Dad. I still feel like something’s being kept from me.”

 Gyu-Mao knew what that was. Him. Maybe it was an unknown force but Gyu-Mao felt all eyes were on him now to tell his daughter what he knew. He saw how ChiChi reacted to Goku’s friends. He knew the same fate will befall him.

 It wouldn’t be easy but it had to be done. His daughter needed to know the truth.

 “ChiChi, Master Roshi wasn’t the only one to receive a letter from Gohan.” ChiChi gazed at him curious. “He sent me one, too.”

 “No,” ChiChi didn’t believe him. “Gohan couldn’t have sent you a letter, Dad. Goku and I went through the letters in Gohan’s home. There weren’t any letters about Goku to you or Master Roshi. None of the letters you two sent……”

 “There were letters,” Gyu-Mao cut her off. “I took them. When Goku and I were out here building your home, I sent Goku away to hunt a fish for lunch. While he was gone, I went in Gohan’s home and took the letters.”

 It was as if her father stabbed her. Him, too? “What?” her voice was barely over a whisper.

 Gyu-Mao couldn’t turn away from the hurt and betrayal he saw in ChiChi’s eyes. As painful as this will be, she needed to know. “When you were a baby, I received a letter from Gohan. He found Goku and took him in. He said Goku was irritable and he thought Goku was an alien because of his tail but I thought he was mistaken and Goku needed a companion.”

 A companion? Did he mean…..? “You’re saying Goku and I met as babies?”

 “Yes.” He knew his daughter would pick that up. “The reunion went well. You too got along. You played with his tail and Goku was happy. But when you were left alone something happened. There was a crash and I found you on the floor crying. Goku slapped you with his tail. I took you away saying Goku couldn’t be around you until he behaves. It was the last time I saw him until he came to our village.”

 ChiChi stared in silence, listening to what her father told her. She knew her father had more to say so she waited until he finished.

 “Even then, I didn’t believe Gohan’s concerns that Goku’s an alien. It wasn’t until you were pregnant I began to suspect.” ChiChi’s mouth fell open. He could see in her eyes when she realized when that moment was. “When the results came back from those tests you and Goku took, I finally believed what Gohan tried to tell me all those years ago.”

 ChiChi felt her blood boiling. That was the moment?! If there were any other time, ChiChi could forgive her father but this she could not. “You saw us, Dad. You knew about those tests. You knew Goku was poke and prodded like a lab experiment. You saw how worried we were when waiting for those results. You knew and said nothing!” ChiChi pounded an angry fist on the table. “Why, Dad? Why?!”

 His daughter’s temper. If only he didn’t pass this down to her. “ChiChi, you have to understand I didn’t say anything for your own good.”

 “My own good?!”

 “ChiChi, you and Goku were still early in your marriage. When you suspected something was wrong because of Goku’s genes, you cut him off. Imagine how you’d react if you knew Goku’s an alien. You weren’t ready to handle that news.”

 ChiChi rose from her chair so fast it fell back on the floor. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t handle! I can’t believe this! I thought with you I could….” Her body was shaking she was so angry. “You’re just like Goku’s friends keeping me, keeping us in the dark!”

 “ChiChi, it’s not like that,” Gyu-Mao tried to reason with her. “They know more than me. There are things about Goku they haven’t told us that I don’t know about but if I did know I would tell you.”

 “My Go---“ ChiChi gasped as it dawned on her. “I almost died giving birth to Gohan and you said nothing. Were you so hell bent I not know the truth you would let me die?”

 “No, ChiChi!” He had to calm her before she said or did something she would regret. “I never knew your labor would be difficult. You don’t know how close I was to telling you after Gohan was born. I just couldn’t.”

 “Why not?!” ChiChi demanded to know. “Did you think I couldn’t handle the news? What did you think I would do?!”

 He never saw ChiChi this mad before and he knew he will push her limit with what he said next. “I thought you would leave Goku.”

 Gyu-Mao expected ChiChi to scream so much his ears will bleed. He expected her to smack him with the dining table. Instead, his daughter looked as if he punch her stomach and zapped all her strength. “You thought I would leave Goku?” She wasn’t angry, just disappointed. She looked at her father as if she didn’t know him. “After all this time, you still don’t have faith in us?”

 The disappointment in ChiChi’s voice crushed his soul. Gyu-Mao never wanted to let his daughter down but felt he did with that confession. “I thought you would end your marriage to Goku prematurely. You were cold to him when you were waiting for those test results. You sought comfort from me instead of him. I didn’t want to risk you ending your marriage now that you were with a child.”

 ChiChi’s mind flashed to that dark period. She recalled her behavior and regretted it but she and Goku have come so far since then. Didn’t her father see that? “You’re right. I was upset. I was cold to Goku. I admit that but Goku and I talked that night. We worked it out.” ChiChi thought of that morning where Goku told her what happened to his grandfather. “We’ve worked through other things together. If we knew about this, we would’ve worked through this, too because that’s how much Goku means to me! It’s a shock Goku’s an alien but I wouldn’t leave him because of that. My son is half alien. Do you think I would disown him?”

 “No,” Gyu-Mao apologized. “No, you wouldn’t. I should’ve said something before now but I never thought it would come out.” He bowed his head. “I’m sorry, ChiChi. I was wrong.”

ChiChi had enough of this. She had enough of the secrets and lies. ChiChi went to the front door and opened it. “Get out.”

 Gyu-Mao approached ChiChi pleading with his daughter to not throw him out. “ChiChi, I’m sorry. I should’ve had more faith.”

 “Get out!” ChiChi yelled. “I don’t wanna look at you!”

 “ChiChi, I know you’re upset but I’m not letting you go through this alone.”

 Gyu-Mao was a large man in height and muscles but to ChiChi, daughter of the man known as Ox King, wife to Son Goku, world’s strongest man, he was a light weight as she grabbed him and threw him out of the house!

 ChiChi threw him before when he trained her but never this far! Gyu-Mao rose to see ChiChi slam the door on him. He could go to her, force his way in but he knew ChiChi would fight him. Fighting his daughter was the last thing he wanted. So, he didn’t. ChiChi was angry and unreachable now. He was that way himself when he lost his wife. He cursed himself passing that temper of his to his daughter. He’ll leave because giving ChiChi her space is what she needed now but he will return. ChiChi was his daughter. He loved her and he won’t let her go through this alone.

ChiChi entered Gohan’s bedroom. His books were neatly on his desk. The clothes she altered yesterday were neatly put away. Except one. On the knob of Gohan’s closet was the suit Gohan was set to wear at Aki’s wedding. She fixed the pants for Gohan’s tail. When he got back, she wanted Gohan to try it on in case she needed to adjust it again. She imagined Gohan looking so adorable walking down the aisle at Aki’s wedding in his suit. Now the moment won’t happen.

 Tears weld in her eyes as she closed the door to his room. ChiChi walked through the quiet house towards the bedroom she shared with Goku. Entering her bedroom, she felt Goku’s presence everywhere. She saw him in the doorway of their bathroom, saw him sleeping in their bed; saw him pacing the room to soothe their crying child. ChiChi picked up a framed photo on the chest. Goku had three-year-old Gohan on his shoulders and an arm around ChiChi. All three smiled in the picture. ChiChi clutched the photo to her chest and fell back on her bed.

 “Goku,” she sobbed.

 A year without seeing his sweet smile, a year without seeing him at the table eating her food, a year without cuddling him in bed talking and rubbing their sweaty bodies together. A year without him.

 “Gohan,” the tears flooded down her cheeks. A year without hearing the sweet voice of her son, not seeing him at the dinner table eating or doing his homework; outside playing with her and his father or him clutching her skirts and seek comfort when he was scared. A year without…

 No! She will have to go a year without her husband. She wouldn’t go a year without her son. He was still alive. He needed her and she will find him. She will bring Gohan home.

 Part Seventeen: Alone: ChiChi

  AN: There’s a disconnect in the series when Goku dies and how much he and ChiChi know and didn’t know. I don’t know if this is another example of Akira Toriyama being forgetful but Goku died thinking Gohan will go back to ChiChi but when he comes back to life, he’s aware Gohan’s on the battlefield? For my story, I’m going under the assumption Goku wasn’t told but when he returns, there’s too much going on for him to question why Gohan’s there until later. There’s also tension between ChiChi and Goku’s friends which sadly isn’t resolved until Goku dies at the Cell Games. It seems to go both ways. For my story tensions started for ChiChi with how Goku’s friends handled telling her about Goku’s death and Gohan’s kidnapping by Piccolo. For Goku’s friends it started when Goku left them after the tournament but doesn’t surface until Goku shows up with Gohan. They feel left out of Goku’s life. They were all surprised Goku had a kid and Master Roshi even commented how they never knew so I’m expanding on that. I know in the anime Krillin did see ChiChi but chickened out of telling her but I’m following the manga where no one went to ChiChi.

 Next up is a three part Alone series which will feature what Goku, ChiChi and Gohan did in their year apart. I know there were a few expecting Raditz and what Goku was feeling learning his past in this chapter but all that will be featured in Goku’s Alone chapter.

[mugiwara-lucy]

I wanna hear the story of how you got into DBZ! *Sits in your lap*

Haha okay! XD I love telling this story anyways! XD

Okay so technically I first saw it as a baby when I crawled into my living room when my dad would watch it! He was a HUGE fan of Dragon Ball Z! XD As a funny story he even turned down a shopping spree with my mom to see the Goku vs Ginyu fight back when it was on TV in the late nineties! XD

However I first became a fan of it back in 2002 back when I was in preschool when I first saw THIS episode! 

It was the MOST EPIC scene to me back in my 4 year old mind! XD I mean the music, choreography and especially the screaming XD And from then on I kept on following DBZ on TV along with the original Dragon Ball until their completion in 2003 and when GT premiered I watched it and enjoyed it just as much ^0^ (Seriously why do people hate GT so much?? I think it’s because it’s a popular bandwagon to hate on GT and people just hop on just for the fun of it.)

And also my dad and I would even catch Dragon Ball together when it was on TV! ^_^ Now some fathers and daughters have their bonding time such as playing sports or fishing together but watching DB/DBZ/DBGT was OUR father daughter bonding time together! ^_^

Now during school I had some naysayers say how “You’re a girl! You can’t watch Dragon Ball Z!” 

And this was my rebuttal to them! XD

I even got the original Legacy of Goku for my 5th birthday! And in 2004 when I was 6 I touched my FIRST EVER DBZ Game being the original Budokai and then I got DBZ Budokai 2 like a week later! XD And then later that year for Christmas I got Budokai 3 and would continue getting the Tenkaichi and later Raging Blast, Shin Budokai, Burst Limit and whatever games annually! ^_^

And when I saw “Yo Son Goku and his Friends Return!” back in 2008, I was really excited and enjoyed that special! ^_^

And with all that, that’s how I became the HARDCORE Dragon Ball fan I am today! ^_^