Very true, that's a nasty temperature to be at. Reminded me of Cave of the Crystals, which gets up to 58 C and is really humid. People can't be in there for more than ~10 minutes without protection. (It's super cool though, I watched a doc on it a while ago. Giant crystals!!) I'm gonna make some mental allowances for aliens/alien-human hybrids who also have magic energy powers to explain away how they can survive it.
Yeah, but it's like... 'need to drink lots of water, don't exert yourself too much, and stay in the shade for god's sake.' unfriendly, not 'boil off your skin in ten seconds' unfriendly.
Ch 378 i want soothing piano covers of DB intro/ending themes (Super Vegeta) please please please don't let vegeta refer to himself that way Vegeta punches Cell in the face and knocks him on his back, which seems like it would be pretty uncomfortable, considering the tail/tentacle/energy-stealing appendage sticking out of the middle of it. Cell gets back on his feet, but has the first indication that I think we've seen of being hurt: a bloody lip. He tries for a hit on Vegeta's face, but Vegeta grabs his arm and throws him. much less improbable than when goku tossed giant!piccolo in a similar fashion. man remember when giant!piccolo was a thing? i sure do Vegeta kicks Cell hard enough that he flies off the plateau they're fighting on and breaks a spur of rock on his way. Krillin figures out that this huge ki he's sensing is Vegeta, and decides to go check it out. You know, because that's a super safe and sensible thing to do when you're on a mission to disable some cyborg babe in order to stop a nasty green bug-monster from becoming an unstoppable universal menace. (I mean, Eighteen is actually there, but he doesn't know that, he's just like "wow big ki vegeta wanna check that shit out".) these kind of shots are always a little disconcerting Cell presumes that Vegeta really wants to fight. Yuuuuup! Oh boy, does he ever. Cell smiles and starts yelling in an "I'm powering up!" kind of way. Gohan is also yelling in that kind of way, but fails to power up. Goku tells him it's not a matter of making your ki bigger, it's about getting angry! (Did Vegeta's self-loathing count as anger...?) Gohan can't just stand there and get angry, so Goku suggests imagining someone's trying to kill him. First he suggests Cell, but Gohan's never seen Cell and has some trouble with the mental visualization, so Goku suggests Frieza instead. getting there! hair defying gravity is a good first sign! Which is what Goku says, although not the bit about the hair, when Gohan gets disheartened and says he can't do it. Given that not much time has passed in realtime, I don't think they've been in there very long. If one year = one day, then... two hours is a month? Can I do math? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, they've still got lots of time for Gohan to get the hang of it and then surpass it. Cell has an aura now, which seems to maybe resemble the super saiyan one, but it's hard to say if it's meant to be the same or not and there's no hair or eye tells for him. Both Vegeta and Trunks seem to think that even with his powering up, there's no way for him to win. Vegeta lets him punch him in the face. I think Vegeta's done this before to show off how tanky he is (or rather, how non-DPS-y his opponent is against him). It's his turn to have a bloody lip, but that's alright, because now he knows that Cell's no match for him. Cell says "WTF, man, you're not the Vegeta I know," and Vegeta says oh goddamnit vegeta Ch 379 (Cell's Last Chance) just some real dumb shit. like, the dumbest Krillin sees that Cell's not quite so buggy anymore and concludes that he's already reached his perfect form, and that his disabling remote is useless. Well, don't go deciding that just yet, Krillin! Cell, pissed and desperate, wonders just how Vegeta managed to get stronger than him and has a hard time accepting that fact. He tries to get Vegeta with his tail, and receives a severe beating for his troubles. ("Super" Vegeta seems to be fond of kicks.) i want old vegeta back :( Krillin notices Trunks and wonders where Goku and Gohan are (... did you not know the plan, or the HTC's hard two-person limit?)... and then sees the androids. Vegeta and Cell are certainly occupied, and Trunks probably is too, but they still haven't made any effort to leave! Sigh. Krillin lands and begins a stealthy approach to get within the 10 m radius to deactivate Eighteen. Don't... necessarily think it will work on Sixteen, since he and Eighteen/Seventeen seem to be of fundamentally different types, but he's not in peak condition anyway, what with missing a large chunk of head. Vegeta shows off his son to Cell ("Look at that dude over there, he's nearly as strong as me!"), then gets pissed that Cell's not strong enough to be a challenge. This gives Cell an idea. He puts on a show of being defeated and says, "Oh if only I had my final form...!!! I'd surely win...!" Which, predictably, gets Vegeta's attention. Ch 380 (The Evil Truce) Vegeta asks what he means by "perfect form", and Cell (too eagerly) explains: the computer told him that he'd be nigh-invincible if he could just absorb Seventeen and Eighteen. Vegeta's either displeased by the explanation or just in a mood to kick people, and kicks Cell. It's not quite so devastating as it probably could be, but it still sends him rolling. Krillin's almost got within 10 m of Eighteen, who hasn't noticed his presence. He makes one more sneaky dash and calls it good, but... doesn't push the button. look man. i know. she's hot. she also gave you a kiss. i get it! i'd be all aflutter too! but if you get rid of her now, you can keep cell from getting perfect and then bring her back la oh wait kami's gone. hmmm. right. the earth is rather barren on the dragon ball front at the moment. well, that's a bit of a pickle then vegeta's only interested if it's worth his time, which apparently is very, very precious. he's a busy man. got shit to do. like stand around in a wilderness for three days Cell says, "How many times do I have to tell you? I'll rip you apart if this is all you got!" Which makes Vegeta smile. probably. you must be an expert by now, seeing as you spent a whole year alone with him Krillin just can't do it and he drops the remote. Eighteen, startled by the sound, finally notices him. Cell's still having a grand old time manipulating Vegeta, who gleefully and purposefully falls for it headfirst. "Aren't you a Saiyan? This won't be satisfying at all, beating me this way! Don't you want to challenge me when I'm at full strength?" and so on and so forth. Vegeta's like "Yeah yeah, I'm a Saiyan, I do want to do that, shoo, go off and get perfected." Trunks says, "Dad, no!" and steps in. so that's what your hair looks like. i'm surprised that hairband can withstand your hair's strength tbh Vegeta tells him to get out of the way. Uh-oh, I sense some family conflict in the works. Krillin apologizes to Bulma and breaks the remote by stepping on it. Which seems like it should have pressed the button and disabled Eighteen, but whatever! Krillin tells her to run and not let Cell get her, and when she presses him on why he squandered their only chance, he can only stammer a non-answer.
(continued) I SPILLED TEA ON MYSELF BECAUSE I WASN'T EXPECTING THIS AND I LAUGHED REALLY SUDDENLY! "Do something about your damn kid!" Aaaaaand then Cell finally notices Eighteen. Good fucking going, everyone, great teamwork. You all contributed to this.
Both Vegeta and Goku have a problem when it comes to letting their opponents run away to get stronger.
Ch 381 i grow weary of this form of cell. either go back to square one or get perfect, i don't care, i'm just so tired of this face (Vegeta vs. Trunks?) Cell notices Eighteen, and Trunks notices Cell noticing Eighteen, and also that Eighteen and co. haven't realized they've been found out. So, naturally, Trunks does the sensible thing and screams at them that they've been found out. So at least Eighteen, Krillin, and Sixteen have some heads-up before Cell rushes towards them. Trunks, presumably also able to go beyond super saiyan (based on horrific muscle mass), follows, determined to stop him. Vegeta follows him, determined to stop him stopping Cell. What a mess. Trunks has almost caught up to Cell, when vegeta does something about his damn kid. Cell lands near the androids and Krillin. this seems too mild for the actual situation agreed. but once again, too mild for the stakes here!! Trunks tells his idiot dad that he's wrong, he shouldn't let Cell become complete, and he to consider the possibility of Cell being too strong for them to handle. Vegeta calls him a coward because he doesn't want to see the extent of perfect Cell's power. :/ patricide shouldn't be the answer (but who am i kidding, sometimes attempted patricide might be the only thing vegeta responds to) oh yeah? oh yeah? pretty confident, huh? And then Trunks attacks Vegeta. "wait what the fu--" While Vegeta's distracted by the explosion, Trunks dives towards Cell, who pulls what can only be described as a classic move at this point: a blinding taiyou-ken that incapacitates not just Trunks, but the androids and Krillin too. Cell seizes the opportunity to... seize Eighteen and suck her down. It's gross. Ch 382 (The Complete Cell) Vegeta looks on with satisfaction as Cell finishes absorbing Eighteen and starts making transformy noises. Transforming apparently involves some invincibility frames, because when Trunks attacks in an effort to forestall or prevent the transformation, he's completely rebuffed by a barrier. Cell's transformation sequence finalizes with an explosion which creates a convenient cloud of debris so he can emerge dramatically. HE'S NOT A BISCUIT!! and do you do much baking in your spare time? i bet you'd be hell on bread dough. "knead for ten minutes, my ass" and then you overknead it in like two. the great vegeta baking show. how magical. * pastry crust doesn't turn out right, vegeta vaporizes the kitchen * Piccolo's giving a running commentary on what's happening. Is he... doing a Kami thing? Can he do that? Is that even allowed? Unless he's temporarily gotten the title of Guardian of Earth, I don't know if he should be doing that. But he is! So Bulma and Tien know what's happening. Something that Piccolo can't give running commentary on is what's happening in the HTC, but we get to see! Gohan's managed to become a super saiyan. jesus christ that hair Gohan loses the form and tells his dad that it's too difficult. Goku says nah, it just takes some practice, and they take a break so Goku can give Gohan a haircut. Presumably because it's taking too much energy to make all of that hair go up. Poor Gohan, he's already been the victim of many bad hair choices and I have no confidence in Goku's tonsorial skills. Then there's a whole page dedicated to shots of Cell from various flattering angles before we get the whole-body shot. Perfection Vegeta, who really shouldn't be saying anything, is disappointed because Cell's not quite as large as he was in semi-perfect form. Cell's examining his hands. Maybe admiring his new perfection, maybe just getting used to having gone through two transformations in like.... under two hours? Honestly I have a very shaky grasp on the flow of time in this series. Krillin calls him a murderer and attacks, but Cell doesn't react at all. Ouch. Instead, he tries a few punches, and seems very happy with the results. Then he kicks Krillin, who, despite not deserving all of this shit, was kind of asking for it.
Vegeta tries to make British scones and they turn out like paving slabs, like you could legit tie them to someone's ankles and drown em "THAT'S HOW THEY'RE MEANT TO BE" threatens everyone who doesn't want to crack their jaw tryin to eat the damn things I'm probably taking away the wrong things from this thread huh
Ch 383 guess i got my wish (re: cell, not re: soothing piano covers) (A Reversal) Cell's pretty now! Sort of. Well, he has a nose, anyway. Trunks hurries over to Krillin and helps him out with a senzu. A good guy. Vegeta's more concerned with Cell and gets a perfect opportunity for a two-for-one insult that's mean to both Krillin and Cell. Cell apologizes for being a disappointment (don't think he's serious about that) and asks Vegeta if he'd mind helping him warm up. That's no problem, except it's gonna be a short warm-up, because Vegeta plans on finishing him off in short order. Krillin returns to the land of the living and conscious, and the first thing he's concerned about is Vegeta. not just that: why? what has vegeta ever done to be even slightly endearing? i guess besides maybe something on namek? or maybe it's just practicality: vegeta is one of the main lines of defense at this point, although.... maybe vegeta's not gonna be much use Cell is suppressing the true extent of his ki, according to Krillin.... just like Trunks is. Gasp! Just what has Trunks been hiding? According to Krillin, the fact that he's actually surpassed his angry dad and done something he couldn't. Well, if I were Trunks, I'd probably be compelled to hide that too. Especially if I were desperately trying not to alienate my volatile, prideful dad. Vegeta has gone past super saiyan, Trunks says, but there's more beyond that. Who decided that this needed so many different levels??? But he couldn't reveal that to Dad, because it would have hurt his ever-present, overshadowing, all-important pride. Shoulda just done it, Trunks. Bring him down a peg, maybe, or maybe just make him hate you. Did you get closer at all in the HTC? I mean, it seems like you would have had to, by default, because you were each other's only company. But I suppose I can see Vegeta stubbornly resisting any attempts at bonding out of... sheer spite. Vegeta's holding his own against this new Cell form. But. ooooh and if there's anything that's gonna upset vegeta over here, it's not being taken seriously. or being ignored. or being looked at the wrong way. or the thought of goku existing. or Vegeta tells Cell to get serious and attack him like he means it. Cell says "alright", but doesn't actually attack Vegeta; just moves very quickly behind him. Vegeta kicks the side of his head, but Cell doesn't move at all. Just laughs. Vegeta retreats slightly, seemingly unnerved by this turn of events. i know but you really shouldn't sadly that's true Ch 384 (The Final Flash) hey man back off. stop trampling all over my fucking shtick He doesn't give Vegeta much of a chance to laugh because he kicks him real hard. Krillin tells Trunks that this might be a good time to step in, because otherwise Vegeta's gonna get killed, but Trunks is waiting for him to be knocked out so he can save his dad's life without said dad flipping the fuck out. Vegeta has something in mind, though. oooh, double palms! gonna be something big and nasty, i bet He does a bit of his own provoking of Cell, trying to get him to take whatever this attack is going to be head-on without dodging. Cell isn't worried, and slightly braces himself for it. Krillin yells at Trunks that they need to get the hell out of there, but Trunks is worried about the Earth not being able to handle Vegeta's attack. imagine naming it that and then it not finishing off your opponent Cell goes "oh shit" and Vegeta's attack is big enough to be seen from space. how the hell. Trunks and Krillin managed to survive because apparently Vegeta did some spell sculpting to not kill them/destroy the planet. The dust clears, and Cell's still alive... but missing his right arm and a good portion of chest on that side as well. It's pretty nasty. There seems to be some weird amorphous guts in there. Spoiler: minor gore
Ch 385 i have "Cha-la Head Cha-la" stuck in my head now thanks youtube (Trunks Steps In) Perfect Cell's got some hips going on, wow. Not quite sure who he inherited those from but daaaaaaaaaamn, dude. I could almost forgive your weird headgear. Anyway, putting that aside, Cell's having kind of a bad time right now. no fucking shit, you just got half your upper body blown off by a crazy fucking finishing move from "Super Vegeta" over there, some of your weird guts are hanging out probably, it's gonna hurt Vegeta does laugh now. ... uh oh i'm getting a real bad feeling about this all of a sudden. it's been too long since i've had to say some equivalent of "don't count your chicks before they hatch" Cell goes on yelling about perfection and completion and invincibility while Vegeta just laughs more and louder. This is all much too convenient. oh you goddamn fucks and your love for the dramatic on the plus side, this is possibly hands-down the best vegeta reaction to date Because of course Cell has Piccolo's DNA too, and if there's one thing that Piccolo's proved himself to be a master of, it's regrowing arms. Cell's lost a bit more than just an arm, but he also seems to be just kind of... more powerful than anyone around at the moment. Plus, he's already gone through two body-altering metamorphoses without too much issue, soooooo... .... this is a weirdly cute cell face? i don't quite know how to feel about it and i always love a good startled/surprised/horrified/incredulous vegeta face aaaand yep new upper torso/right arm w/ appropriately gross sfx. it's so much easier to either ignore them or deal with them when they're in japanese. why do regrown appendages/body parts have to be so wet when they pop out? Cell works out the kinks in his new arm and approaches Vegeta, who snaps out of his shock at Final Flash having failed to be final (although it certainly lived up to the flash hype) and starts throwing rapid-fire blasts at Cell. I guess in the hope that maybe enough of them will make up the difference where the huge, potentially-planet-destroying attack failed? Cell pops out of the debris cloud generated by Vegeta's attacks and pops him in the face. i have a hard time resisting beat up vegeta faces too. i'm sorry for being the way i am Cell punts Vegeta into the sky and then moves behind him and hits him in the small of the back with a super brutal elbow drop, knocking him into both the ground and baseform. Hard to tell if he's dead or not before Cell says that he's going to put him out of his misery, so I guess he's still alive at this point. Which is good, because uhhhhhh no dragon balls. don't you mean super^2 saiyan? Trunks is already on that shit. There's a lot of growling and flexing and truly distressing muscle twitching and Trunks' hair gets incredibly ridiculous. The hairtie totally loses its battle with his hair this time. Nothing could hold that hair back. i think krillin's expression perfectly sums up my feelings about this particular transformation
I'd like to interject that, by this point, many of the plot twists in this arc are because one of Akira Toriyama's friends kept phoning him to complain Spoiler: Paraphrased, naturally Behold, the androids 19 and 20! Why are your villains a geezer and a clown? Behold, the REAL androids 17 and 18! And now the great evil are teenage brats. BeHOLD, Cell! I already killed a cicaida man in Chrono Trigger. BEHOLD, Cell's Transformation! Awful! BEHOLD PERFECT CELL HE'S LITERALLY PERFECT SO YOU CAN'T COMPLAIN. This one's great, good job. Good luck drawing all those spots though, the animators are going to kick your ass for this. (I assume at this point that Akira Toriyama flips him off over the phone but I don't know if that's a Thing in Japan)
Ch 386 ...oh my god toriyama and toriyama's friend (trufax about those spots though, it was almost my first thought upon seeing cell in the anime: "fuck those spots, who the hell thought that was a good idea??" and they just persist through every form!) (Trunks Surpasses His Father!!) I really hate super^2 saiyan. Trunks looks... horrifying. I know I throw around terms like "terrible", "horrible", "disturbing", and the like all the time, but this one... This one really takes the cake, as it were. Normal beyond super saiyan is already bad enough, what with the visually displeasing increase in muscle, and this one is just that plus some. I will take baseform and normal super saiyan any day of the week. Trunks gives the final senzu to Krillin and asks him to grab Vegeta, take him someplace safe(r), and treat him with it. What about Trunks? What will he do? He doesn't need one. please by all means He lands, and says he's going to kill him. Cell calls that a bold statement and they stand face-to-face and toe-to-toe for a moment before getting into it. Trunks evades a kick, tries his own punch (which is also dodged), then gets hit in the ribs and side-kicked away. But don't worry too much, it's at least partially a plan to get Cell away from Vegeta so Krillin can grab him and get him away to safety! one (1) vegeta acquired (also, careful where you put your hand) Krillin flies off with Vegeta slung over his shoulder like a particularly large and angry sack of potatoes. Trunks relaxes, because now he doesn't have to worry about getting his dad hurt more with the fallout of fighting Cell. Cell's seen right through his ploy, and Trunks probably didn't actually have to go through the trouble of getting hurt to lead Cell away from Vegeta, because Cell's not interested in Vegeta anymore: he wants to test out his newfound perfection on Trunks, who's crazy powerful at the moment. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Time for some fightin'. Ch 387 (The Balance of Power) Trunks powers up... even more. In that way that makes dramatic air shoot away from you and makes you look cool. This is his True Power. Cell compliments him and says it's even more than his own. ... Wow, he seems awfully unconcerned for someone who's just admitted that he's outmatched. dbverse version of "size isn't everything" Trunks throws himself into battle with a will, and Cell braces himself for the impact. Up at Kami's place, Piccolo's doing the running commentary thing... but not giving the names of who he's talking about, which gets confusing quickly. Especially since 98% of the people are men. I can commiserate, I often feel like I have to walk a fine line of not using names too often and not using them... not often enough. He's so impressed about his ki, how the heck is it so big, wow he never thought he'd see the likes of it in his lifetime... "Who the fuck are you talking about?" Bulma demands. i love how bulma has so easily "adopted" big trunks as her kid. i mean, i know he's her kid, but some people would not be so receptive to their kid from the future Back in the HTC, Gohan is training in his super saiyan form, by himself. Goku is... meditating, I think? Oh, and Gohan's hair isn't too bad, actually, although he has an awful lot of bang left. Goku suddenly stands up and reveals the fruits of his meditation session: super^2 saiyan!! And then... beyond that? God I have no idea where the breakpoints are. Is he at the same level as Trunks currently is, or beyond? In any case, it's real bad and not something I want to see. Goku looks somewhat dissatisfied. Trunks is missing every blow, and Cell is very smug about that fact. Goku explains his dissatisfaction: yeah, the power boost is there, but the extreme added bulk is just too much of a speed liability. i can't imagine any possible reason why you might be explaining this now OH THANK CHRIST Well, now that there's no point to pursuing beyond super saiyan anymore, it's time to start over from the beginning and work on making super saiyan the best form it can be. They're going to stay in it all the time to try to get rid of the "restless feeling" that comes along with it. I have an idea that that was a somewhat hard-t0-translate concept. Cell derides Trunks as being too green. Raw power doesn't necessarily translate into victory, and anyone can just make themselves bigger. Cell does so to prove it. Guess he's not exoskeleton-based anymore, because he can just make his body larger at will. It's not quite so disturbing, maybe because he's already kind of weirdly segmented. Ch 388 (Cell's Idea) +100 str, -50 agi/dex Trunks realizes the error of his ways and gets so depressed that he completely powers down to baseform and tells Cell to just kill him. :( no trunks no, i get the feeling 100% of making a mistake and wanting to die, but you shouldn't give in to it, you spend the evening consumed by depression, go to bed, and wake up feeling a little better. or sometimes not. but at some point you usually wake up feeling a little better, or listen to a good song 20 times in a row, or pet a cat, or i don't know, make friends with your dad or something, and stuff doesn't look so bad Krillin notices Trunks' energy go down and forces a senzu down Vegeta to try to revive him. Cell's so disappointed with both Vegeta and Trunks. He wanted more fun. Piccolo is extremely blunt and says straight up that Trunks is gonna get killed. Bulma says "excuse me?" Cell wants to know how Vegeta and Trunks managed to get so much better in such a short period of time, and when Trunks won't spill the beans (hah), asks if they would continue to improve if they were given time. Trunks reasonably says he doesn't know, because he hasn't done it, but maybe? When Cell asks where Goku is and what he's been up to, Trunks tells him he's training to do what Trunks cannot. uh oh just straight up copying the idea then? cool. make me describe another tournament. just great. It's not identical to the previous Tenkaichi Budoukais, though, because Cell is going to be the one and only guy to beat. He'll take any challengers as they come, one after another, until he defeats all of them or one of them defeats him. It'll be in 10 days, and they should keep an eye on the news for an announcement about the location. "What the hell is even the point of a tournament?!" Trunks demands. To have fun, of course. Fun seeing people's faces contorted in fear. What a cool guy Cell is. He does a little salute and fucks off, leaving Trunks standing there, stunned, to wait for Vegeta and Krillin to come back so he can explain the new situation to them. i don't want to tell you how to live your life but i think you might want to get your teeth checked out at some point, you seem to grind them rather a lot Everyone's thinking about using the HTC: Piccolo, Trunks, and Vegeta all plan on taking a turn. Predictably, Vegeta believes that he's the only person who needs to, because he'll get strong enough to beat Cell all by himself. Even Sixteen volunteers to help out, provided he can get some repairs first. Trunks is dubious, but Krillin thinks Sixteen's probably an okay guy, if a little misguided and single-minded about killing Goku. But then again, with some reprogramming, maybe he won't be interested in that anymore and will just want to watch birds! That'd be nice.
I've been reading this thread for a while now, and I just wanted to say that it has brought me joy and a few giggles.
