Ch 23 mraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa -.- (The Potara's True Worth) Gotta remember I can't trust Kintsugi's draft system. Time to go back to doing this in Gdocs or something. A plus? Using Imgur makes it a lot easier to copy, so I guess that there’s a positive in here somewhere. Hoooookay, let’s get this show on the road -- Chapter 23, v. 2. The first one was scintillating and witty and extremely funny, but it’s gone now, so everyone just has to settle for whatever terrible stuff happens this time. (The real question -- do I try to replicate the parts that I can remember, or just approach it as though I had never had a Version 1? The latter is probably the better approach, but I still want to hit some of the same notes I hit before.) Okay this the weirdest possible construction of that sentence. “Hey we’ve both done something like that before!” as though the thing in question wasn’t done together??? Like if they’d been fusing willy-nilly with just any old person who came along, I could accept it, but when the only on-screen fusion we’ve seen for either of them (and almost the only one I can imagine Vegeta agreeing to/being coerced into), it’s really weird to talk about it that way. Goku stop being weird (also Gdocs accepts both “Vegeta” and “Goku” as words, which Word does not, so +1 to Gdocs for this.) / coughs / once again, i’ll be deviating from the official translation because i hate “vegerot” with a burning intensity. I think the only thing to do is to stick with what i used before, which i believe is “Vegito”, even though that kinda doesn’t fit with the anglicization of “Vegeta”. Should i switch to “Vegeto”? … it’s visually unappealing tho :/ and fandom seems to have accepted “Vegito” as the way to go so that’s what I’m doing Trunks, Mai, and (for some unfathomable reason) Gowas have no idea what’s going on. Luckily, Shin is right there to explain Potara fusion to them, in a very succinct two panels. Thanks Shin! I forgot for a hot minute that this Trunks hasn’t experienced fusion, that’s a different version from a divergent timeline. In his timeline there wasn’t even a Goten around to fuse with! Imagine. But anyway. The Zamas-G!Black (who until I hear an official name for is definitely going to be abbreviated ZGB) fusion seems to be feeling this new power/strength and tests it out on Vegeta and Goku and ends up just kinda… punching the super saiyan god right out of them, so quickly that no one could even perceive it. (I am a sucker for that kinda thing, so, uh. I don’t know how to feel about this.) While they struggle to their feet, ZGB decides that the results of this “test drive” were extremely satisfactory and laughs about it. A lot. oh vegeta. Vegeta, who I guess has more energy/get-up-and-go than Goku at the moment, thanks to not having gone SSGSS, recovers enough to go god again and attacks, which is his wont, because he will just keep throwing himself at enemies/problems/situations even if common sense suggests that maybe he should not. And yeah, probably in this case he should not have, because all that happens is that ZGB just sidesteps him and hits him like 8 times, once again sending him back to baseform. Goku somehow finds the capacity to go blue again (I’m learning, blue has kind of the “bubbly” aura) and makes his own attack. He fares better than Vegeta, but ZGB deflects his every attack and finally just kinda flips Goku away, over his shoulder. oh looks like someone’s gonna do something sneaky (sidenote: could we stop throwing trunks under the bus for like two minutes?) Goku (who could have been a rogue had his race not been saiyan) does a sneaky kamehameha which rips right through ZGB’s chest. Now, 1000 to 1, this is going to do absolutely nothing in the long run, and he’s just going to recover from it thanks to Zamas’ immortality perk. Speaking of, how does that work? When Goku and Vegeta did the Potara fusion, Vegeta was dead, but I don’t think Vegito had that particular modifier. Also, Vegeta went straight back to being dead after they defused, so… Basically I want to know how things like that work when fusion happens. Is the ZGB fusion immortal because Zamas is? What about something like lactose intolerance? If one partner is and one isn’t lactose intolerant, which overrides the other, or is it like a gradient and the fusion is just like… slightly bothered by eating mac’n’cheese? These are the questions the people are asking, Toriyama/(whoever’s actually writing this). These are the answers we want. Anyway, let’s turn the page and find out exactly what happens. called it Not only does the immortality perk apply to the fusion, he also apparently just straight up has telekinetic/force/psychic abilities, because he stretches out both hands and lifts both Goku and Vegeta by their necks, which has gotta be like the worst way to be suspended above the ground. I guess he’s not really choking them though, because they manage to snipe at each other a bit about not sealing Zamas/not finishing off G!Black. C’mon guys it’s really not the time for that, but then I guess what else are you gonna do when you’re being telekinetically strangled from 30 feet? And then ZGB does a heroically dumb thing. Instead of just, y’know, force-choking them out and killing them by depriving them of oxygen (WHICH ADMITTEDLY WE JUST DON’T KNOW IF SAIYANS NEED OR NOT, BUT THEY’RE SIMILAR ENOUGH TO HUMANS TO INTERBREED SO I’M JUST GONNA GO WITH YEAH, OXYGEN IS IMPORTANT) he instead chooses to detonate some gigantic ki blast at them. It doesn’t even TAKE OUT THE BYSTANDERS. LIKE. Okay, calm down, Saro. It’s very possible that he doesn’t even care about killing them at this point because he believes he’s too powerful/omnipotent/swole to have to worry about anyone mortal. Pft, these chumps? Who cares, explode something at them and call it a day. He’s overjoyed at this point, shouting about overwhelming power this, everything he’s ever wanted that. He taunts Shin and Gowas, calling them “feeble gods” and telling them that their era is over. The world is his now. Vegeta asks Goku about senzu beans and Goku tells him there’s only one left, at which Vegeta tsks. ZGB outlines his goals (namely, killing everything that thinks, from mortals to gods) and makes some fireworks. oh how nice WAIT NOT NICE Goku intercepts a couple charges that are heading towards Trunks and the rest, saving them at the very least from getting sprayed with flying debris. Seems like Trunks could have just done that, but this does conveniently give Shin a chance to hurriedly fumble his earrings off and pass them off to Goku. Awww yiss it’s earring saiyan time! Maybe. I’m still shocked that those things don’t just fall off within about a minute of putting them on. They’re just clip-ons, right? I have never worn a clip-on that actually wanted to stay on, and these things are pretty big. Oh well, magic earrings, I guess they stay on better. Shin tells Goku with great confidence that they can’t lose if they fuse into Vegito, but Goku seems unconvinced. Vegeta lands nearby, avoiding another one of the firework-ki-charges, and Goku asks him, “Hey, wanna fuse?” To which, of course, Vegeta’s answer is “FUCK no, I ain’t ever doing that again.” So Goku just tries to hand those earrings right back to Shin. AHUH YOU’VE BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK WITH THEM SHIN YOU SHOULD KNOW! YOU SHOULD KNOW!! But I’m there with you too, buddy. Even now. But then Vegeta takes off to go fight ZGB, and Goku gets distracted and goes haring off after him, yelling that it’s his turn now. The earrings get put in his shirt pocket instead. very good series of images Vegeta retreats to observe from a distance, while Gowas incredulously asks Shin if they’re really going to just fight ZGB on their own. To which Shin replies, with some resignation, yes. ZGB lets Goku attack him briefly before he demonstrates some of that good ol’ kaioushin power: he summons up a bunch of what presumably are cubes made of the hardest material in the universe, presumably much like the one that Shin brought into being for Gohan to break a sword on. He throws them at Goku, who dodges most of them but gets hit with one and I guess it must be much more sturdy than your typical stone on Earth, because it seems to cause some damage instead of just shattering. Ah. ZGB calls them “klangite” and mocks Goku for not even being able to manage against some inanimate objects. (Considering he was hit right in the chest, those earrings must be dust by now. RIP Shin’s earrings, does he have to buy a new pair now?) Feelings are grim on the sidelines. Trunks thinks it may be hopeless, but Gowas has suddenly gained a bunch of knowledge about how Potara work (or else I misread the first couple of panels, which TBH is probably the more likely explanation). If Goku/Vegeta/anyone else I guess can last for an hour, all hope might not be lost. I love a good “:o” expression Vegeta’s like “What the hell, I thought it was permanent?” but Gowas explains that that’s only for kaioushin, and neither of the two parts of the fusion, presumably, had been officially made kaioushin. (So I guess it’s an external appointment, rather than… an internal, inborn thing?) Which, once and for all, puts the mystery of Vegito defusing to bed. It had been an hour, they aren’t kaioushin, so pop! No more fusion. Apparently Shin thought all this time that it was something having to do with Boo, and wasn’t aware of the limitations either. Now who’s the expert, huh, Shin? Then there’s a nice bit with Trunks and Vegeta. Trunks wants to help them fight and outlast the fusion’s time limit, for his mom’s sake, and Vegeta is moved both by Future!Bulma’s apparently having missed him a lot (think there’s a little bit of retconning going on here lol) and Trunk’s determination. Fambly…. Having had a nice moment with his favorite son and learned some new and important information, Vegeta makes a decision. Goku has just been kicked straight into a broken, domed building, has no power left, and only has the one senzu. He’s contemplating just eating it now when Vegeta appears behind him, demanding “it”, which Goku takes to mean the senzu. Rather indignantly he refuses, saying that they have to decide who’s going to eat it first. THEN SAY THAT DIPSHIT ZGB, outside, gets tired of waiting and decides to throw a charge into the building, when a flash suddenly illuminates it from within and Oh yeah! It’s funny how good Vegeta is at going “I’m never going to do [X] again and then definitely doing [X] again. Sometimes within like… five minutes. drama lord oh hey cell i mean zgb He grows a new arm with much less fuss than the Namekian way of doing so (no slime!), which is nice. ZGB is pissed and demands an explanation for “that form”, which so far has been kept from the audience’s view. But it’s still just Vegito, I mean, what more can you say? It’s not really much of a reveal now, at this point, tens of years after it happened in DBZ. I will say I don’t think Vegeta’s aesthetic and Goku’s mesh very well. It’s just kind of hard to find a middle ground between “skintight with minimal armor” and “bright fucking orange gi”. (Sidenote: it’s pretty fun to see a fusion again! There isn’t quite the same excitement though, because A) it’s not an unknown thing anymore, and B) there isn’t the tension of fusion being a permanent, nuclear option.) Vegito drops some knowledge on ZGB, re: the fusion only lasting an hour and mere mortals being capable of fusion. (More than capable -- some can just naturally do it themselves, no earrings required!) ZGB is floored for a moment, but then recovers a bit. 1 hour is enough to take care of Vegito, except Vegito whips out the single senzu, eats it, and gets SUPERCHARGED! Hello world, meet the SSGSS version of Vegito! Which is a lot like the normal one, but blue. And he’s going to take care of the little immortality issue by just pummeling ZGB relentlessly so that the regeneration doesn’t matter. (At least, that’s how I interpret it.) First he knocks ZGB deep into the ground, then throws a ki bomb in after him.This is all very showy and Gowas is impressed. Obviously this isn’t enough to kill ZGB, whose hands pop out of the ground at Vegito’s feet and grab his ankles. this is a very funny image He tries to yank Vegito off his feet but DUDE DUDE and c’mon. You can’t do puns at me like that manga i can’t take it Vegito knocks ZGB around a little and then punts him high into the air. ZGB pops out a new pair of hands and another klangite cube to throw at Vegito. Back on the ground, Vegito OOOOOOOH IS THIS A COMBO MOVE???? ZGB hurls the first cube at Vegito and then creates a whole fleet of them. Vegito dodges the first one, still preparing the Final Kamehameha (?), and there’s a tense moment where the cubes are hanging ominously in the air and Vegito is working up to the final “ha”. just gonna tease me, huh, shin? Just gonna put that out there like bait? making me image a fun showdown between vegito and beerus? ZGB throws the cubes as Vegito is just about to fire off the cool (!) combo (!!) move (!!!), and it’s all about to be over -- Well shit Goku and Vegeta have a second of mutual “???” to not be inhabiting the same presence, but there are still the cubes to deal with. We’re not shown if they managed to dodge and that’s the fucking end of the chapter. Manga? Heeeyyyyy manga???? You really gonna do this to me? You just gonna end like that? I have to go to Costco before it closes! I can’t read more right now! I can’t believe you’d just do me like that. Also I was promised one (1) hour of Vegito content, I’m expecting you to make this up to me later.
Ch 24 apparently I decided the soundtrack for this particular chapter is nothing but covers of “Kiss From A Rose” so if things get weird, I’m blaming Seal (Son Goku’s Evolution) Being completely honest, it’s a weird choice! I get it! But sometimes you just wanna regress to being like 15 and only having about 5 CDs, one of which is a Best Of Seal album. This is absolutely going to make spotify have a fit next time it tries to suggest music for me though. Also I only just now realized that I’ve been mishearing lyrics for almost 15 years now, thanks to people who aren’t Seal (or Japanese, I had a really great Japanese cover by… Angela Aki, I think?). Let’s just move on. Even Gowas can’t explain what happened. Maybe because they’re only mortal and just too powerful? Gowas hypothesizes that there’s some inherent limit for mortals doing fusion. (If they’d fused while godform, what would have happened then? The mortal/immortal and nondeity/deity lines in DB are super messy already and don’t necessarily line up with each other….) Relating to above point: it’s weird to think of them as purely mortal/ungodly ZGB tries out a new power and makes a portal with one end next to him and the other next to Goku’s head. You can guess where this is going, and indeed, he sticks his arm through and punches Goku in the side of the head. tf is this portal nonsense (also vegeta’s face. … cute. love a confused geets) Vegeta gets a kick instead, and it’s a pretty ridiculous site to see ZGB with his leg just stuck through a weird hole in the world. The diameter of the portal isn’t that big, either, which makes it hard to imagine getting the needed momentum and force behind a kick. I’m not sure about the motivation behind using it in the first place, except maybe that he doesn’t even want to waste the effort it would take to move closer to them. Things ain’t looking too great, and Trunks prepares to make a move of his own after hearing that ZGB should defuse in roughly 20 minutes, but Shin stops him (“If you go now, your death would be meaningless!”. Poor Trunks. Just every time he tries to do anything, it’s “Stop” or “You’ll just die” or “Who’s as weak as Trunks?” or whatever). Trunks has an understandable moment of ennui while ZGB continues to punch Vegeta and Goku using Portal tricks. Shin announces that he regrets becoming a kaioushin, which I guess just lends credence to the whole “kaioushins are made, not born” thing, although I swear that directly conflicts with stuff from Z. Ehhhhhhh oh well, let’s just accept the (possible) retcon. Is that just healing? You can just say healing. (or maybe not, could be that it has broader implications beyond just healing/curing physical ills so “restoration” makes more sense) Gowas reminds him that he wouldn’t even be able to be here if he weren’t a kaioushin (time ring restrictions), so, it’s kind of a wash either way. Either he could do the restoration thing or he could be here helping out in other ways, but both couldn’t be the case. (As an aside, the apparent limitations of gods of creation (if we take them as the polar opposites to Beerus and co, gods of destruction) are just hard to fathom. There does seem to be some sort of noninterference mandate or mindset, at least as demonstrated by Gowas… Shin seems awfully willing to just jump in wherever, so maybe he’s just very over-eager. Or maybe he’s just young and inexperienced, relatively.) Trunks pauses and asks Shin to repeat himself, and Shin explains that people who serve kaioushin can heal people (example: Kibito, who I think demonstrated that several times in Z, and also Zamas, who’s just recently used it liberally). But why the heck would Trunks be asking about it? when According to Trunks, when he was fighting Dabra. I have a vague memory of something about this being mentioned earlier on, but it has been 2000 years and I can’t be expected to remember things. Oh yeah, this timeline’s Shin got killed during all of that, I think, which is also why there’s no Beerus over here. Shin asks if he underwent “that ritual”. !!!! SO IT WASN’T /JUST/ OLD MAN KAIOUSHIN NONSENSE? i mean obviously it wasn’t because it made gohan just super strong but it had some significance beyond just old man dancing vortex. wait does this also mean that gohan has restoration powers? was he adopted as a servant of a kaioushin (albeit a shitty one)? does shin just have to do the dancing vortex to give whoever healing powers? because come on then, let’s diversify our party a little bit, let’s dual-class as monks /and/ priests If Trunks managed to make it through the Shin dancing vortex, well, congrats, that means he’s got the ability to do the restoration thing! Which also explains why people who seemed dead seemed less dead later on, after Trunks interacted with them. (Mai in an earlier chapter, and Gowas just last chapter; I neglected to mention it, I believe, because of course I do some compression when I summarize 45 pages of manga and I’m not always great at knowing what’s gonna be relevant later or not, but right before Gowas got un-dead Trunks was holding his hand. Whoops, sorry!) Trunks, invigorated by this revelation, wants to rush right in and get to healing, but Shin stops him, and just in time. gotta love that hair tho. bulma has those extremely dominant hair genes apparently The explosion expels Vegeta, and Trunks is able to zip over and grab his dad, which is nice and convenient. Vegeta’s not in such great shape and we almost have a return to the Best Vegeta Aesthetic, which is of course how he looked after getting beat all to hell during his first time on Earth, but of course nothing can ever truly compare to that high. Also it looks like one of his arms may have gotten fucked up, so we continue the usual trend. Anyway. Trunks is all ready to get Dad patched up, but once again Shin steps in to stop Trunks from doing something. There’s been a reason every time, but still. Shin warns him that he can only heal one of the two, either his slightly-less-angery dad or Goku, but not both, because they’re just too stinkin’ powerful. Darn saiyans. Fambly… moment…. ;.; Of course Trunks chooses Vegeta to heal, because dad, but now it’s Vegeta’s turn to stop Trunks from doing something. That particular hat’s getting just so much use this chapter. (ಥ﹏ಥ) when ur terrible fave goes thru character development Vegeta’s not, like, happy about admitting this, but I guess he learned some stuff while fused. (Brings up questions about consciousness while during fusion, but let’s put those aside.) Despite being semi-fucked up, Vegeta stands up, declares that everyone’s going to get through this alive and whole and well, and then dives back into the fight. Most likely thinking about making an opportunity for Trunks, but like, you could spend ten seconds saying so, Vegeta. I mean, you spent the time making a very tiny uplifting speech! Meanwhile, ZGB has stopped using the portals and moved to a more hands-on, up close and personal approach, and is now manually (rather than psychically) holding Goku up by the neck. He’s doing a very typical villain-y thing and demanding that Goku beg, grovel, kneel, etc., etc. C’mon, man. Goku says (paraphrased) “Heck no,” and ZGB strikes him with a flat palm, sending him flying, then does some more portal nonsense, ending up with something you’d definitely see in a vidya game where a character can make teleporting apertures and has supers. can he do this in fighterz or w/e that game is called? Finally Vegeta makes his appearance, snagging Goku by the back of his undershirt, stopping him from flying through yet another portal. He tells Goku to go to Trunks, and when Goku’s like “What??” Vegeta just tells him to follow the damn directions and pitches him in Trunks’ general direction. (I am reminded of when he kicked Goku straight into Piccolo’s outstretched hand, shortly after returning to Earth after the first androids were encountered. Except this time…) (well, i guess he is just gonna get healed anyway, so i guess if vegeta gets to have a little bit of fun in the bargain, that’s his prerogative) Goku’s rather indignant that Vegeta just threw him straight into the ground, and Vegeta still seems rather unhappy about this being the way things go, but there’s not much time for him to stand around (in midair) silently contemplating/being pissed off/having a pessimistic moment. ZGB of course was witness to Vegeta suddenly showing up and tossing Goku out of the battlezone, and whatever he thinks the reason might be, he’s probably pretty okay with exchanging one for the other. His hands emerge from a portal just behind Vegeta, and grab him around the throat. He tries the same stuff on Vegeta, and gets a pretty similar answer, although Vegeta goes for that good ol’ standby that hasn’t come up for a while and declares himself the Prince of All Saiyans (drink) and that he’ll never give up his pride (double drink, wow, this is like… Classic Real Sugar Vegeta)! And then does something that looks an awful lot like self-destruction, although Shin assures us that he’s not. Whatever it was, it was enough to get him out of ZGB’s grip, although he ends up flat on the ground. oh vegeta… this is very you but i don’t know that you’ve done much funnier or more stupidly endearing than being like unable to move, not even like… lifting your head up or anything, and demanding that someone try to kill you. i love it (even if it’s just a Ruse) If it is, ZGB falls for it hard, but it’s not killing he’s aiming for immediately; he’s much more interested in punishing Vegeta for being insolent. He lands with a foot on either side of Vegeta and proceeds to do just that, and it’s not pretty at all, so I’ll spare you. It’s a lot of just punching Vegeta in the head, so, like, that can stop at any time and I’ll be happy. There is one whole page devoted to that, which even in a chapter of roughly 45 pages, is a lot to deal with. I guess the whole observation party has been just too stunned to do anything during all this time, but they finally get down to it. Goku asks if Trunks is okay with this decision, and Trunks says yep, his dad was the one who made that decision. Jesus, I’ve only gotten through 23 pages. Hhhhh. Well. To do some real summarizing, Trunks heals Goku, it takes a whole heck of a lot out of him; meanwhile ZGB has beat Vegeta unconscious and kicked him in frustration. Goku shows up and puts himself between Vegeta and ZGB, and Shin teleports in and then out with Vegeta’s unconscious form. Trunks hurries over and heals Vegeta just enough to get him conscious, but not enough to bring him back into fighting form (might it not have been slightly kinder in some ways to leave him out of it? Well, I guess he’s dealt with worse/the same, and pain never really seems to be much of an issue. The real limitations seem to be when limbs/bodies stop working). Goku turns blue and ZGB mocks him for it, but let’s all remember this chapter’s title, which I believe some sort of… what, transformation? Change? Oh right, evolution. Goku seems to be ignoring ZGB and focusing on something… internal. He twitches slightly and the blue bubbly bits in his aura dissipate. steamy... maybe they evaporated? Goku charges ZGB. They exchange a flurry of blows, but Goku can’t land a solid hit until he chooses not to dodge one of ZGB’s portal-fists. On the sidelines, Trunks is amazed, and we get Vegeta’s hypothesis on what’s happened: that bubbly stuff in the blue aura was “leaky” power, to put it kind of grossly, and Goku managed to find a way to keep it contained, rather than overflowing and being wasted uselessly. (Guess I gotta hope for facial closeups then in the future, because that was my easy “tell” for distinguishing blue from red….) red → blue → complete blue? The fight continues, and despite the fact that Goku’s using the upgraded blue, it still isn’t exactly going in his favor. oh it’s been a while since there’s been hand-holding! ZGB comes through with the traditional response to one of those hand-holding competitions, which is, of course, a headbutt. In response, Goku kicks him real hard. I think he was a bit pissed that he didn’t get the chance to do the headbutt first. Goku flies for him again, but ZGB whips up a pretty large energy ball and sends it Goku’s way. It’s a contest of wills/strength, then, with Goku pushing against it (somehow) and ZGB forcing it forward. The energy ball pushes Goku back, which is usually not a great sign for the person being forced backwards, but instead of being overwhelmed, he kind of grabs it and tosses it back over his head. It harmlessly flies off, presumably to disintegrate in space or whatever. Trunks is ecstatic, but Vegeta has been pretty grim this whole fight. jesus christ that’s hard to read so i’ll transcribe it: “Holding the power of blue within his body could break him at any moment… The question is how long he can bear it…” The answer is, not much longer. :/ He seems to get it back under control, but that’s definitely not a good sign. also not a good sign! ZGB, true to form, has recovered from all the injuries he’d accumulated during the last bit of battle. He tells Goku not to get cocky, because overconfidence is a saiyan flaw. Which, can’t really say is untrue, but it does seem to transcend species. yup eta c'mon gdocs if you're going to be shit too what the hell am i suppose to use eta 2 images fixed eta 3 title formatting fixed... why can't text formatting copy.....
Ch 25 so what’s piccolo up to, i wonder? I miss green dad (Will It Be Goku?! Or Zamas?!) There was definitely a title like this before, sometime in Z. I’m usually not a fan of basically any DB chapter title, because the things that Akira Toriyama/whoever has made me type with my own two hands, but I don’t mind this one as a fun kind of reminder of what came before. The fight’s still going on, and we have some indication that Goku might not be doing so hot, but for the moment, the fully-contained, energy-efficient blue form is still in effect. Goku breaks ZGB’s wrist, and in retaliation ZGB uses a ki-enforced palm strike to hurl him into a building. Things don’t look like they’re going entirely in ZGB’s favor either; his forearm bubbles up in a very nasty way. Healing not going as well as before? While he’s distracted by his arm being gross, Goku gets himself out of of the building and rushes ZGB. ZGB raises his arms and then force-slams Goku to the ground. Goku gets a hand free and shoots a beam attack along the ground, which ZGB only partially dodges. This lets Goku get free from the force-hold and they get into it in earnest for a few pages, a series of fast and intense blows that finally ends with the two combatants separated and bloodied. Even ZGB the immortal (or should I just say Zamas? The chapter title suggests that maybe I should) is sporting a good coating of scuff. ZGB hauls himself upright and, yet again, declares himself immortal. To prove this, he tears off his shirt? tears off his shirt. it’s been a while since someone lost their shirt! now that’s just patently untrue. all the blood on your face begs to differ oh so you wanted to show off the bubbling? you wanted everyone to have to experience that huh? cool cool While ZGB is busy bubbling, Goku just kind of… walks up behind him and and fucking smacks the shit out of him. Which is pretty funny, but what’s not so funny is that the blue energy seems to be leaking again. Vegeta, of course, has noticed this, but even Trunks the optimist (how did Mr. Pessimistic have such an optimistic kid?) thinks that Goku’s not looking so great. Goku himself thinks that he’s just about at the end of his rope, and so decides to just throw everything behind a single attack. if being a saiyan prince/trophy husband doesn’t work out, vegeta, you could always become a commentator or a forehead model (altho you seem to have an advancing hairline rather than a receding one…) All of this has just been too much for ZGB. He’s had enough of these goddamn mortals and this stupid bit of existence and most especially these fucking saiyans. Despite the fact that he is, at the moment, somewhat saiyan himself. Oh well. He’s so fuckin’ pissed that he powers up. His aura flares up intensely and it would be cool to have some color here. I assume it’s pink because why wouldn’t it be? But yeah. The reason it’s so intense is that (according to Vegeta, anyway), he’s pouring off energy without any thought to the consequences, and even if he’s immortal, it’ll catch up to him at some point. ZGB, in all his electrified glory, charges Goku, who’s still focusing that charged fist attack. Just in terms of like, finesse, it seems like Goku’s got the advantage here, but in terms of raw power, it definitely seems to be weighted in favor of ZGB, so we’ll see if the tactical move can overcome superior power. Maybe. They’re in striking distance of each other, but Goku vanishes (rogue rogue rogue rogue rogue, boy shoulda been a goddamn rogue, he’s got that… sneaky cunning) uhm what ehxcuse me??? excuse me???? im sorry, what? tell me immediately when, where, and how ZGB starts to dissolve into particles. yes, exactly Things are looking promising: ZGB continues to dissolve and seems unable to do anything… Until he flashes his own sly grin, makes one of his portals, and grabs Mai as a hostage. Once again, spectators should either be kept, like, several miles away, or just not be there at all. Like maybe Vegeta and such are okay, they might be able to get out of something like this, but civilians, as it were, should be kept away at all costs. i mean, this one’s pretty obvious But this makes Goku pause just long enough for ZGB to kick him in the gut, and knock the blue right out of him. Well, fuck. well i mean what was he supposed to do vegeta ZGB takes a leaf out of Cell’s book, and pops out a new arm and half a head, complete with the usual regrowth goo. Ah, it’s been a while since we saw a grossly sopping freshly regenerated limb. Lots of classic content in this chapter. ZGB has calmed down enough to put a shirt back on. “...? huh? where’d my shirt go? oh well” He’s still a bit pissed, although this time it’s because he did something underhanded and shady to win. Mai seems to be the immediate target of his ire, I guess because she’s right there and Goku’s not an obvious threat at the moment? He stretches out a hand towards her. He’s startled by the sound of his name as Trunks dashes in to protect Mai, but is brushed aside with just a glare from ZGB. He’s about to get rid of Earth entirely, because it’s certainly been a bit of a trial, but. Something happens first. oh wow! that’s gross! is this… is this what defusing is like?? i don’t think we’ve ever seen it before; usually we just get the aftermath, when there are two individual entities again. this gives quite a… biological twist to fusion, rather than a mystical one well i suppose that gives some context! but uh, how? Gowas’ hypothesis is that because they’re actually both Zamas (although one was not in a Zamas body…), they may have joined more… fully than a typical fusion between two individuals who aren’t each other, and therefore the splitting might not be quite so final, or automatic. i do agree that one of you is enough… more than enough at this point And then Trunks slices them in two. So all those times I was complaining about the sword? I was the one in the wrong, I should shut my damn mouth and just trust in the Trunks. dude. The two halves regain their full separate forms, and Trunks continues to be a fucking badass and stabs G!Black right through abdomen. Goku congratulates him for saving the Earth (Zamas is still there though), and Trunks turns his back on the body (a rookie mistake if there ever was one). oh fuck off! just fuck off already! man vegeta’s gonna be so fucking angry. i’m angry! trunks is a good good future boy G!Black stands up with the sword sticking out of him (should I make another Homestuck reference? No, I should not), reaches behind him, yanks the sword out, and crumbles it in one hand. What the hell is going on here? Saiyans are tanky, sure, but usually they don’t do super great with holes through them (e.g. Vegeta on Namek, Trunks during the Perfect Cell fight, probably others). G!Black’s head… gloopifies, for lack of a less gross word, then reforms as (dun dun duuun) ZGB. Everyone gasps, Goku backs away in shock and bumps into someone behind him -- the “unfused” Zamas has stood up as well, turns gloopy, then reveals… the same face. The same fused ZGB face. … … … WHOOPS! TRUNKS MAY HAVE DONE SOMETHING ACTUALLY QUITE DUMB (AND ALSO INCIDENTALLY MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL IF I HAVE TO SOMEHOW TELL THEM APART)! One of them punts Goku over to the other, who punches his upside the head and sends him sprawling against a fire hydrant. They continue to have a little game of kicking Goku around like a very large, non-spherical, and living soccer ball. All of this really, really sucks. vegeta having Feelings(™). they always seem to take him by surprise i don’t like the circumstances but on the other hand OH HELL YEAH MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE PROTECTIVE DAD VEGETA Vegeta flies into battle. vegeta no! But having gotten Goku out of the way, Vegeta turns to face the actual enemy. Trunks regains consciousness and, seeing Angery Dad at his most Angery, quickly shields Mai. oh yeah? just gonna throw that one out there without any introduction? all y’all are holding out on me. fuckers. The technique is an upgraded Final Flash with a… flashy new name and a large AOE. All that’s left of the two ZGBs are bits and pieces of body. But of course, with them, much like with Cell, that’s enough, and they’re already twitching and regenerating almost immediately after. Trunks scolds Vegeta for trying something like that in his current state, but Vegeta’s still ready to throw down, he’ll take any motherfucker on. Goku tells him it’s no use, however; they’ll just revive in this state.
The two kaioushin jump in to teleport everyone out. Look i have a ton of images to spare for this post so am i going to share this image just because i think shin is cute? You fuckin’ bet i am Shin’s like “We gotta get out of here, guys, c’mon, get with the picture and let’s go!” Goku says that they can’t leave all these Zamases lying around like this, but uhhhhh uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH my thoughts exactly Aaaaand yep! Much like a hydra, or a slime that can split itself into four when you kill it, or any other of a wide variety of regenerating monsters, at least some of the little bits that Vegeta turned the two original Zamases into have now become their own fully formed Zamases! And so there’s a horde of them. Well, shit.
