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sablelab · 5 years

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Covert Operations - Chapter 58

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: Claire has not yet been given the go ahead for her transfer to the OCTB. When she relays new Intel garnered from a taped phone call about a Jonathon Randall then Fergus has to dig deep to find any connection to the Rising Dragons. What he finds confirms there has been a cover up.

THANK YOU all for reading my story and I hope you will enjoy this next scenario when Claire is transferred to the OCTB.

Previous chapters can be found at https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

CHAPTER 58

Staring absently into space and tapping his pen idly on his desk Superintendent Xiao Zheng was lost in thought. His mind was going over things and decisions he needed to make, the most pressing being ... what to do with Claire Beauchamp. She’d been back here three weeks doing mundane tasks that any junior officer could have done, but given the circumstances of her undercover assignment, he thought it only right that she should have some light duties at police headquarters. Mei and Angus had certainly made the most of her return. His young constable and detective had taken her under their wing and hadn’t let her out of their sight since the Chief Commissioner had informed him that Claire’s sabbatical leave had been extended. This was great news but although he knew that she was an invaluable asset to the Water Police, he knew that she was better suited to the OCTB, Hong Kong's Organized Crime and Triad Bureau. Given Claire’s past experience and her expertise, he was in a quandary whether to have her transferred or wait until he was told her services were required there. Either way he knew her days were numbered at police headquarters and he would have to let her go sooner or later. He still hadn’t heard from John So about the request he put to him also about Jonathon Randall. Perhaps he was having some difficulty in finding out information about him. Johnny could find a needle in a haystack ... so, either Jonathon Randall was as clean as a whistle ... or dirty as yesterday’s washing and there was a cover-up of some description. Either way, he wondered if he should place another call to him and see what had happened. Deciding against that move, he decided to err on the side of caution and be patient. If John had found out something, he would contact him soon enough, then they could compare notes and see if what he had suspected was in fact true. The telephone ringing on Zheng’s desk brought him out of his trance like thinking and he automatically reached for the handset placing it to his ear. Claire’s dulcet tones echoed in his ears. “Senior Superintendent ... There is a John So on the line. Are you in?” Will wonders ever cease ... the man must have ESP, Zheng thought. “Yes ... put him through.” “Yes sir.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Since her return to police headquarters Claire had undertaken general secretarial police work for Superintendent Zheng. There had been no directives from Section One as yet, but she’d been told that they would proceed when the time was right. Until then she had been discreetly keeping her ear to the ground. From what she could gather after having thoroughly searched Zheng’s office, all Intel the Water Police had on the Rising Dragons had been transferred to the Hong Kong Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. As a precaution she’d also bugged his telephone and was now monitoring a call he had just received from a John So at OCTB who had wanted to speak to him about a private matter. As she sat at her desk, Claire listened in to their conversation. “Hey Xiao!” “What’s up, Johnny?” “Listen that print you sent for me to check ...” “Yeah ... I remember ... What did you find?” “Sorry man. He’s clean ... we don’t have any information on a Jonathon Randall.” “Big surprise.” “That’s not all. We don’t have any Intel on him ... zip ... nada ... nothing!” “What? ... That’s strange.” “Just what I thought ...” “I could have sworn he was a member of the Rising Dragons.” “Me too.”

“I had him placed on surveillance for some time as a suspect in the celebrity kidnapping of Laoghaire MacKimmie. At the time he was acting very suspicious. But it came to naught.”

“Had an alibi?” “Yeah ... watertight. So how come there is no paperwork on him at the Bureau?” “The guy must have connections ... Or there’s no substantial evidence to link him to anyone.” “Yeah ... He was the prime suspect in my books but now she’s his on and off again girlfriend.” “Hey ... Didn’t I just see a picture of him with her in East West magazine?” “She’s been photographed with Randall several times. That’s why I had him on my list, but she says he had nothing to do with her attempted kidnapping ... on the contrary she was full of praise for him.” “You don’t say! ... Wasn’t she involved with Simon Yam before dating Jonathon Randall? “She was. The rumour mill was abuzz with speculation that there was rivalry between the two men and the gossip magazines had a field day with a love triangle between the three. When Randall stole her away from him, Yam was furious at being duped. Apparently soon after that there was an assault on Laoghaire MacKimmie in a Hong Kong nightclub.” “Hmmm! I remember now!” “Not long following that, Yam was mysteriously found dead. Jonathon Randall became a suspect in the murder. He was implicated but not charged with Yam’s death.” “That case was going to be transferred to the OCTB because of alleged triad involvement but when nothing was ever proven Randall walked ... right?” “Right! My police hackles are rising Johnny ... I smell a rat.” “Me too ... I’ll make some more discreet inquiries and see what I can come up with.” “Thanks.” Carefully replacing the receiver when Superintendent Zheng had finished his call Claire knew that although Madame Cheung had given Section One names of Rising Dragons triad members ... the name she’d just heard was not one of them. As soon as possible she would contact Fergus with this new Intel.

Meanwhile back at Section One …

Fergus Claudel looked over to Murtagh’s respective area to see if he was busy. Looking across the Common area he could see him at his work table fiddling, as usual, on some new gadget or other. Seeing that he was not that busy, Fergus left his area and strolled over to see his buddy in Munitions. As he approached his station, he looked around to see who was nearby before joining him at his worktable. When his friend saw Fergus approach Murtagh greeted him with a craggy smile. “Hey amigo! What’s up?”” “Nothing. Just thought I’d pay you a visit. Things are a bit quiet around here.” “Yeah ... I miss Claire too. Have you heard from her?” “No. Nothing for three weeks.” ‘Well no news is good news ... You set up her profile ... we have to wait until things get into place.” “Yeah ... I suppose you’re right.” “Hey when am I ever wrong?” “Not often. So, what’s Jamie doing?” “Waiting.” Fergus looked at Murtagh with a worried expression on his face. “I wish she would check in soon ... Operations is getting a little toey too.” “Be patient.” “When is it going to happen?” “Soon ... It won’t be long now. We’re going to get all the bad guys and we’ll all live happily ever after.” “Are you sure?” “Sure I’m sure ... Now get outta here before Operations finds you napping on the job.” Looking back at the Comm. area Fergus noticed the austere presence of his leader surveying an empty Systems from the Perch and he became a little edgy.

“I’ve got to get off Murtagh. I'll talk to you later.”

“Yeah. Okay.” But before the words were out of his mouth, Fergus had turned and fled scurrying away at a faster than fast pace so as not to incur the anger of his superior. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ After he’d returned to his station Fergus cast a wary glance up at the Perch and swore he could see Operations’ brow knit in thought. He felt the cold steely look of his leader and the hairs on the back of his neck rose up. If this profile failed, he would suffer the consequences and be put in abeyance ... not a very sobering thought. Perhaps a few prayers were warranted, he thought as a mantra echoed in his head pleading for something to happen and ... soon.

Then, a short while later, it was as if all his prayers had been answered, for the very person he had been talking about contacted him. “Fergus? ... Fergus, it's me, Claire.” “Claire? You got something? “Maybe ... I want you to do a search on a man named Jonathon Randall.” “Why?” “He’s been implicated in suspicious crimes but the police haven’t been able to pin anything on him.” “He works for the Rising Dragons?” “Possibly.” “I’ll get on it straight away and get back to you.” “Okay.” Fergus started coding in search parameters. With nothing to go on but a name ... so his search would take a little longer than usual. He briefly looked over to see that Murtagh had observed his conversation. A small smile appeared on his face. At long last the hunt was on in earnest. This is what he did best, but it wasn't finding the answer that was important to him ... it was the search itself. Once he found something on Jonathon Randall ... and he knew he would ... Section would be up and jumping again as their destruction of the Rising Dragons continued. His fingers fled over the keyboards as Fergus began his task. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Section One’s technical whizz was methodical in his search for any Intel on this Jonathon Randall that Claire had submitted. Fergus knew that this may be the lead that Section was looking for to set his profile in play. However, with everything he tried, he came up empty handed except for his entrepreneurial legitimate business ventures and some information on his family. There was nothing that linked him to the Rising Dragons which left Fergus mentally scrambling for a way to retrieve data from another source. The guy was clean ... there seemed to be no negative Intel on him at all except for an alleged involvement with a singer from a Hong Kong Nightclub from the gossip magazines.

Eventually Fergus tried rerouting a bit stream and piggybacking onto some deep layered databases. He sat back and waited tapping his fingers on his desk in frustration. All of a sudden, some information slowly began to appear; but he had to run a deep channel matrix as Intel was sketchy at first. Soon, the deeper he delved the more Intel appeared and once Fergus ran a back-channel list on this Jonathon Randall even more layers were revealed. Despite the information being hidden well he discovered that the guy was a piece of work and although Jonathon Randall had covered his tracks well ... it was not well enough it would seem. Fergus sat back in his chair with a broad smirk on his face. Reaching for his communication device to the Perch he contacted Operations. “Sir?” Almost immediately Operations voice echoed back, “What is it Claudel?” “Claire asked me to investigate a man called Jonathon Randall.” “That name is not familiar.” “No, that is why she requested the search.” “And?” “I have found out something interesting.” “What?” “I think you and Madeline need to see this ... and Jamie too.” “Very well ... thirty minutes.” “Yes sir.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Fergus stood in the Perch with the leaders of Section One clasping the disc in his hand with the Intel he had found on the man that Claire had asked him to do a search on. Madeline and Operations had also called James Fraser to the Perch to hear the Intel, for his part in Claire’s Hong Kong scenario could soon be imminent. They never heard Jamie’s quiet approach and only knew he had arrived when he spoke. “Ye wanted to see me?” “Yes ... Come in Jamie.” “Fergus has some interesting new Intel on the Rising Dragons that may affect Claire’s profile.” Madeline stated closely observing their Level 5 operative. Looking from one to the other, Jamie’s blank stare remained constant as he waited for whatever it was that Fergus had found out. The young Tech sat at the computer and placed the disc in the drive while the others gathered around. He pulled up a profile of an English man with Chinese ancestry ... Jonathon Randall and proceeded to brief the three people on his findings.

“Jonathon Randall is a Hong Kong playboy ... He dabbles in the Hong Kong movie business, is a night club and karaoke bar owner and a member of the Rising Dragons triad.”

“How do you know this?” “He’s just opened a new nightclub not far from where Claire is living called “The Triangle.” “What has this got to do with the Rising Dragons?” Madeline voiced a little perplexed but still interested to where Fergus was going with this new intel. “All triad groups are based on sworn brotherhood and built on kinship. The name “triad” was coined by the British authorities in Hong Kong, and refers to the triangular shape of the Chinese character for “secret society”. The character's shape symbolizes unity among Heaven, Earth, and man … an indication of the semi-religious nature of this society.” “What are you trying to say Claudel?” Operations asked irritably, thinking Fergus was wasting his time. “Jonathon Randall’s nightclub symbol is the triangular shape used by the triad.” Operations’ attention now piqued inquired, “Any affiliations?” “Too many to mention but ... he's also known to have frequented Madame Cheung on numerous occasions.” “I see.” Looking intently at their Level 5 operative, Madeline asked, “Jamie? ... Were you aware of this?” “No.” “And Claire?” “No.” “What else did you find out Fergus?”

“Despite some setbacks, Sun Yee Lok has obviously recruited new blood and still has a widespread hierarchical organisation set up in Hong Kong society.”

“So this Jonathon Randall is a relatively new member of the Rising Dragons?” Jamie stated rhetorically. “Yes. He has risen quickly because southern China and Hong Kong represent great sources of revenue that were ripe for triad activity in the entertainment field. He managed to suggest expansion. He backed up his convictions with family cash and now it has snowballed.” Worried, Operations saw the potential of repercussions if this was not curtailed stating, “If the Rising Dragons expand any more into Hong Kong society then their affiliations elsewhere in the world will also increase if this venture is too successful.” “We don’t want to become paranoid about the likelihood of increased triad expansion Dougal but if they are diversifying into the entertainment business this may escalate and spread rapidly.” “It seems to have done that already Madeline! If this economic aspect continues, then these people will continue to make money from legitimate business ventures and will become untouchable. We can’t allow that after having come so far already.” “The Rising Dragons have become increasingly more sophisticated, and are moving into people orientated business ventures such as these nightclubs. Jonathon Randall already has a chain of them across southern China and Hong Kong.” Fergus added for clarification. “Why didn’t we know of this earlier?” “This Intel only surfaced when he was investigated as a suspect in the attempted kidnapping of a wealthy actress in Hong Kong ... a Laoghaire MacKimmie. There are suspicious circumstances surrounding him concerning the murder of a Simon Yam who was a member of a rival triad group ... the Black Panthers too who was her ex-boyfriend.” ‘Why?” “Jonathon Randall was a suspect in the murder, but no evidence was found to implicate him.” “And?” Operations asked eager for more information about this man. “Although police headquarters has information on him, it appears his name has been suppressed from all records at the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau in regards to this investigation. The Rising Dragons or someone connected to them has managed to eradicate all Intel on him from their police files.” “Interesting.” “Exactly.” “Is he accessible?" Madeline questioned, her mind already running scenarios through her head for his impending capture.

“More so than the other triad members were,” Fergus stated in answer to her query.

“Are there any constraints?” Was Jamie’s inquiry as he too was thinking ahead to how this could impact on Claire’s new mission profile. “Some.” “What kind of constraints?”

“He's young and smart ... Jonathon Randall has risen very quickly within the triad and was the brains behind the set up of these nightclubs. Sun Yee Lok rewarded his initiative. He is now known as the Ceremony Master or Heung Shu in Chinese within the triad.”

"Family?” Fergus turned back to his screen and accessed more of Jonathon Randall’s personal data. “Actually ... he’s from a very prominent wealthy biracial family in Hong Kong. Father and mother deceased, one brother Alexander.”

“Does the brother have any connections to the triad?”

“No ... he is an innocent and quite sickly.” “ Well then. We will need to get on top of this ASAP.” Operations remarked not wanting to let this opportunity slip through their fingers. Madeline too was weighing up this intel. “So, there must be someone at the OCTB with connections to the Rising Dragons. This only confirms our other data.” “Yes, this Jonathon Randall seems to have protection from someone there.” “We’ll need to find out who it is.” “That’s where Claire will come into play,” Section’s strategist added with a slight smile on her face and a glance towards James Fraser. Operations rubbed his chin. “Hmmm? ... Two birds with one stone.”

“Jamie? What do you think?”

“Jonathon Randall may be difficult to locate. The Rising Dragons have taken few risks over the past weeks given what has happened recently to their senior members.”

“Then Claire will have to flush him out.” Dougal Mackenzie stated with authority. This pleased Madeline no end that finally the mission profile could be activated. “That shouldn't be too difficult. This is the opportunity we have been waiting for, for Claire’s transfer to the OCTB.” The conversation was mainly between Operations and Madeline, and Fergus and Jamie just observed their superiors voice their thoughts out loud.

“In fact, she could flush out the mole at the same time.”

“I agree.” Jamie's expression remained blank, but his body language alerted Operations of a possible problem. “Is that a problem?” Operations asked moving closer to Jamie. “She has a job to do. I would hate to feel that she's regressing.” “She's not. I’ll work up another profile.” “Good. We’ll run this on an accelerated clock, so have it done ASAP. Then you’ll leave for Hong Kong this afternoon.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

#Jamieandclairefanfic #James Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamieandclaireau #outlander fanfic #covert operations

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catbowserauthor · 5 years

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When Everything Else Falls Away--A DBZ AU Story

Another AU related to the Buu Saga. When Goku can't feel his son's ki after the first encounter with Buu, his heart breaks.

So, I had so much fun doing an AU of Gohan greeting his father at the WMAT that I just had to do a few more AUs from the Buu saga. So, here we go. An AU of when Goku awakes after his fight with Vegeta and realizes he can’t feel his son’s ki anymore. DBZ copyrighted to Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation; no infringement intended.

***

Waking up from being knocked out always hurt, Goku had learned over the years. It didn’t matter if you were alive or dead, Super Saiyan or normal state. Being hit so hard that you blacked out always had repercussions. As reality slowly wavered back into being, Goku blinked his eyes open on an empty field.

Not surprising. Vegeta was never one to hang around for long. He did his damage and then left. Ruffling his brow into a scoff at the sleazy move Vegeta had pulled—the empty senzu bag to his side was proof of that---Goku stood, dusting himself off as best he could.

There would be time to deal with Vegeta later, though it might have to be given over to one of the others given his time limit, but as he scanned the landscape, his senses immediately picked up on one specific ki.

“I can still sense Buu…”

Maybe that shouldn’t have surprised him. It really didn’t, if he was going to be completely honest. It was one of those situations where if he’d not felt the ki, it would have been more of an anomaly. Buu’s power was really something else altogether. If he’d been able to stay on Earth, maybe he would have been excited but no…not with that kind of power.

“I can’t sense Vegeta.”

Goku closed his eyes, focused. He knew all too well that Vegeta could suppress his power if he were so inclined but no one could entirely erase their power. He could feel it if the Saiyan Prince was nearby. So, he relaxed, cleared his mind, focused.

Nothing.

Had Vegeta tried to take Buu out? It didn’t seem possible but Goku wasn’t a fool. Vegeta may have let Babidi manipulate him because he was so caught up in his own pride but there was good in that stubborn Saiyan. If he thought there was no other way, then he wouldn’t have hesitated.

More than that though, Goku felt his skin go clammy at what else he didn’t feel.

“…I can’t feel Gohan either.”

No. No, no, no, no, no. That was impossible. Utterly impossible. His son was just fine. Worn out maybe, winded and probably more than a little agitated at all this chaos sucking up his father’s day on earth but he was fine.

Goku closed his eyes again and reached out with his ki.

He’s fine.

Spread as far as you can, he coached himself. Who knows where Gohan went. He’s a smart kid. If Vegeta couldn’t take out Buu then he would have regrouped, gathered the others, tried to create a plan of some sort.

Yes, yes, that was his smart Gohan.

Nothing.

“No.” Goku spoke it aloud this time and despite his body all but screaming at him, muscles insisting on rest, he pulled more power from the depth of his bones. It wasn’t much but it was enough to slip his hair back into gold and his eyes to turquoise. He could feel it flickering; the state wasn’t stable right now, not with as battered as he was.

He reached out with his Super Saiyan ki, urging it beyond the abilities he had in his normal state. Searching ,seeking, digging under other kis, pushing others away, seeking until it pushed beyond the edges of the planet itself.

All to come back empty.

Weakness took him and not in a way he was used to. This wasn’t the weariness from the end of a battle, though he certainly had that in spades. This wasn’t the sluggishness of lack of food or little sleep. It wasn’t even the sickly nausea that came from losing too much blood. He’d felt all those and he knew what they felt like.

This was deeper.

He had a body but he didn’t really have a heartbeat or lungs or anything like that. Not while he was dead. The halo deemed all that stuff unnecessary.

Yet, now, realizing his son’s ki was gone -- by all that mattered that could only mean one thing—the pain that suddenly rippled through him came from the soul itself. He felt his nonexistent lungs grow cold and stiff. They refused to pull in air and he sank back to his knees, trying to find purchase in the air. Trying to fill his body with breath that he didn’t even NEED but it was beyond his reach and he was suffocating.

His absent heart felt like fire, pounding in his chest. His ribs that were no longer there shuddered under the pressure and it was like a fist being pushed through flesh and squeezing around his center most point until it popped and bled. Over and over, no reprieve.

“My Gohan…”

He didn’t recognize his own voice. It was his but not his. Robbed of its usual timbre and shaking with unshed tears. His hands trembled, dug new canals in the loose dirt and rocks underneath him. It burned when it came out of his throat.

Everything burnt.

His Gohan.

His son…his first son…the boy he had taken from ChiChi with trembling arms after he came into the world. He had not believed it at first and still sometimes had a hard time comprehending that he had helped create such a thing.

The infant he used to pace with while ChiChi tried to get some sleep and found out that stroking his tail was a fairly effective sleep aid. The boy would yawn with that toothless grin and curl that tail around Goku’s wrist. Sometimes, Goku would let him chew and gum on his finger.

The little boy that used to crawl into bed with him and wedge himself between husband and wife, claiming the monsters of his dreams would never come into his parents’ room. He would nuzzle against Goku’s neck and his hair would always tickle and even though he was far too old for it, Goku would occasionally give the toddler his old pacifier. ChiChi would give him a scoff in the morning and make a remark about how it would make his teeth crooked but she’d always smile and leave him be aside from her verbal threats.

The battered child that had still managed to smile at him, as broken as their battle against Vegeta had made them. The way he’d refused to leave Goku’s side and said over and over ‘are you going to be okay, Daddy? We’ll fix you up, Daddy, we will!’

The boy that had sobbed and cried into his pillow when he thought Goku couldn’t hear, pleading for Piccolo, for Tien, for Yamcha, for Tien to forgive him. The same boy finally calmed when Goku said the hell with his restraints and pulled him onto his chest and yes, yes, Gohan was still allowed to suck his thumb!

The child that had stood taller than his five years should have allowed against a monster that made grown warriors tremble. Goku had smelled the fear on him but all Gohan had said was that they had to stop Freeza and he wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing. Even when Goku raised his voice at him to leave—the first time the Saiyan ever remembered having to do so—it took him two more times before the boy finally went. He never remembered being so frustrated at someone being brave as he was that day.

The boy that had grinned and clung to him so tightly when he finally made his way home from Yardrat. Amid all the talk with Trunks, it was a stark reminder of how long he had been gone—since when could his son reach his waist? Surely he had only been a little past his knee when they last parted ways. Yet that night, Gohan with cheeks aflame had asked if he was too big for Goku to hold in their chair like they used to those days before Raditz came. Maybe he was too old or too big but Goku didn’t care and held him there long after the boy fell asleep.

The boy that would bring him in a tray laden with burnt toast and jelly that was more whole berry than jam but sheepishly ask if it was okay. Goku had an iron clad stomach and he would gladly swallow piece after piece of toast that nearly chipped his teeth if it would make that child smile---which he did, bright as a star.

The boy that grinned and jumped for joy when they managed to snag a free day to go fishing. He’d run ahead of Goku, proclaiming he’d gotten “so good” at fishing and to just watch how many fish he could capture. Goku, despite being much faster than his son, would always let him win, always let him find the ‘biggest’ fish.

Hours…hours of training preparing for the Androids. Gohan would sometimes wake up in tears because his muscles ached so badly but he just took it. He let his father tend those pains and always announced he was ready to go again and please, please could they go longer this time because he could take it, he knew he could. So many days he went home carrying a limp and exhausted boy in his arms.

The Time Chamber…easily one of the best years of his life. A whole year where it was just him and Gohan. Training yes, but also laughing, playing, talking. Goku remembered many nights where Gohan curled up next to him, asking for them to talk and eventually admitting he wanted a story from his father, lingering on his every word as it soothed away his unspoken fears.

Then there had been Cell. That battle…as much as Goku had remained calm on the outside, calling his son to fight had made his gut clench. His son could fight, Goku knew he could but still seeing it, feeling his son’s fear and pain. That was not something he ever wanted to experience again. Gohan had been so brave, so strong and choosing not to run back to him after Cell was defeated was the hardest thing Goku had ever done. When Gohan, his little voice seeming to be so much smaller had declared ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t still need you’ Goku had nearly caved right then. That was why he made his goodbye so short.

Goku didn’t know how long he sat there, just staring at the ground and memory after memory cut through his mind. Each memory, each thought of Gohan made his whole spirit ache. Gohan had grown into such a strong young man, Goku hated that he had missed it. And now, Buu, on this one day when things were supposed to be a simple time, a time to catch up with his family, on this day, Buu had taken Gohan from him.

He took him from me.

It was an odd feeling. The weakness was suddenly gone and in its place was a form of power that Goku had only gotten a glimpse of one other time.

When Krillin had died against Freeza and he slipped into Super Saiyan for the first time.

This was _like_ that but stronger.

Deeper.

More dangerous.

Was this what hate felt like? Was this what Vegeta felt like before he softened up? Was this what Vegeta was after? Why would you purposely go after this feeling? It felt like poison. Toxic, ever present poison that flooded the body, invaded the mind and made the heart feel cold.

Goku slammed his fists in to the ground, caving it out from underneath him and seemingly making the whole earth shake. It felt, just for a moment that he was Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 all at once and yet not at all. It fluctuated so rapidly that Goku had no idea WHAT his ki was doing and at the moment, he didn’t care.

He screamed.

Not like before. Not like when he powered up or was punched or any other reason. All those could be rounded up in a word of definition. Pain. Disappointment. Sadness. Anger. This scream, this cry was none of those and yet all of them.

The animals nearby scattered like ants amid a wave of water.

Goku’s throat cut and bled and hurt and burned.

It was a hideous sound. A hideous, ugly, horrible sound. One that sounded like it belonged in a horror story, not out of the mouth of a mortal. It was a roar, it was a sob, it was a curse and everything that flowed between all those.

Goku collapsed, laying against the ground, trembling, shaking. His mind seemed to finally simmer and focused and he felt Krillin and Piccolo at the Lookout. He climbed to his feet, barely able to manage it. It was hard to keep their kis in his mind, hard to focus on them when all he was doing, still, was trying to find the one ki that he needed to feel that wasn’t there.

“Gohan…I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

It took more energy than it should have to call on Krillin and Piccolo’s ki and to instant transmit. Even when he took in the Lookout, he felt…distant. Like, he was watching and experiencing everything through a mist. When Krillin rushed him, he stood and took it but it felt too…it was too much to do much beyond that. He was surprised Krillin and Piccolo had felt his ki as wear y as it was.

“Is Gohan here?” was all he said.

It was a long shot he knew. It was foolish he knew. Even as weak as injuries made ki, he had learned to detect them. He would have felt Gohan. He would have felt him instantly. He would have known. He would have known.

Krillin’s face fell and he shook his head slowly, from side to side.

Piccolo maintaining himself as he always did, was blunt. “Vegeta and Gohan are both dead. Majin Buu saw to that.”

Goku fell to his knees. He knew it and yet hearing it….his son and the word died or dead should never be in the same sentence nor anywhere near the same sentence. He should have been here, rushing to greet his father with a hug.

He should have been smiling.

He should have…

Goku didn’t even really register when Dende approached and started to tending his wounds. He recognized when the pain lessened from his bruises and cuts and gashes but it did nothing for the inner pain. The inner pain, if anything, magnified. All he could think of was Gohan. How he’d been, how he’d looked, how he’d smiled and how he had so many plans for himself. Maybe, at the very back of his mind, he thought about the Dragonballs, but right now, he was too consumed in his emotions to think much on it.

He couldn’t think much on anything. Just his Gohan.

And Majin Buu.

The Majin Buu that had taken his son away.

It was so brief that you would have missed it if you have a half-blink. Goku’s dark eyes went turquoise then aqua, then yellow, then a slight silver shade and for a moment, less than a moment, the color about his eyes went blood red.

It faded so suddenly that only Krillin saw it.

He didn’t need to think much on it though.

Goku was looking out over the Lookout, eyes fixated in the distance where Majin Buu’s ki still rose and rocketed. He said nothing but he didn’t need to say anything. Krillin knew his friend and Krillin knew the danger in that look.

You took my son from me and I’ll have your skin for it.

#dragonball #dbz #dragonballz #goku #gohan #buu saga #au #Goku loves his son #Goku loves Gohan #Goku thinks Gohan is dead #papa wolf Goku #Protective Goku #Protective Goku is scary #fanfiction #dbz fanfiction

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 2: The World’s Strongest

Movie time again. I made it a point to cover each movie in chronological order of when they aired. In this case, “World’s Strongest” (also known as “The Strongest Guy in the World”) premiered on March 10, 1990, as part of that season’s Toei Cartoon Festival. I’ve written about this before, but the short version is that Toei would produce specials and run them in movie theaters during periods when kids were off from school. I think they did three festivals a year. The point is, a viewer in 1990 could watch Bulma run around in her underwear in episode 39, check this movie out a few days later, and then come back to their TV to watch Bulma in her underwear again in episode 40. So that’s kind of what I’m trying to replicate here. It sounds kind of sad and gross when I put it that way, but it’s too late to stop now.

I mentioned this before, but in the manga, Piccolo only has four fingers on each hand, but in the anime, he’s got five, like all the humans do. Once I noticed this, I started to become more aware of times when Piccolo’s pinky finger would be presented in very subtle ways, almost like the animators were trying to be respectful of the four-fingered design. This opening shot is a really good example of this. Piccolo’s pinky finger is the closest one to the viewer, but you still have to squint to find it.

This isn’t much of a direct sequel to “Dead Zone”, or even the Saiyans Saga, which had just wrapped up before this movie premiered. Even so, there’s little nods to what has gone before. Like Movie 1, this one starts with Piccolo training in seclusion by blowing stuff up. Last movie, it was boulders, but this time it’s glaciers, and it turns out these are much harder to blow up. Piccolo even mentions that the ice here is so cold that it’s impossible to melt, and even his own awesome power can’t scratch it.

This reminds me a lot of the filler episode near the end of Dragon Ball, where Goku went to a mountaintop that was supposed to have snow that was so cold that it could turn fire into ice. Goku went there in short-sleeves, gathered up a big snowball of the stuff, and carried it away in his bare hands, and then it melted in the sunlight. But it could turn the exhaust from a rocket into an icicle. Between this and Ghiaccio in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, I’m really starting to wonder if anyone in the anime industry knows how ice works.

Meanwhile, Oolong and Gohan are in the area, looking for the Dragon Balls. Oolong checked Bulma’s Dragon Radar earlier, and he noticed that some of the Balls were clustering together, which meant that someone else was gathering them to make a wish. According to his flashback scene, he decided to sieze this opportunity to steal the wish for himself, so he contacted Gohan and here we are.

Okay, so let’s talk about the continuity here. As I mentioned when discussing “Dead Zone”, the DBZ movies sort of do their own thing. They’re not retelling storylines from the anime, nor are they exactly side-stories that could fit in between anime episodes. In the anime, Piccolo is dead, and Gohan is en route to Namek to find a way to bring him back to life, because the Earth’s Dragon Balls don’t work. Oolong hasn’t even met Gohan yet, as far as I can tell. Honestly, I’m not sure that Gohan and Oolong ever meet in DBZ, besides this scene.

I tend to think of this movie as being set in an alternate world where Gohan and the others managed to wish Piccolo back to life without much difficulty. In the canon, Gohan, Goku, and Piccolo won’t be reunited on Earth until much later on, so this movie just doesn’t fit into that continuity. “World’s Strongest” doesn’t know that, and it’s not pretending that it could know that. It’s just telling a standalone story as best it can.

What you end up with, then, is a movie that sort of ties into the anime, but not exactly, and you run into oddities like Gohan and Oolong teaming up. Oolong says he stole the radar while Bulma wasn’t looking, and we see her and Roshi sunbathing, as if she lives with him on his island. That seems a little off to me, but she did spend a lot of screen-time with him during the Saiyans arc, so I can see where the writers took that for granted. What I don’t really understand is why Oolong decided that Gohan was the only one he could count on to help him with this caper. I think the idea is that he wanted someone strong enough to be there in case things got rough, but naive enough that he wouldn’t try to horn in on Oolong’s wish. But how’d he find Gohan, and how did he avoid Chi-Chi?

Also, there’s a weird quirk with the Dragon Radar, where their mystery guy starts out with four Dragon Balls, an then he has the fifth, sixth, and seventh almost immediately. It is possible to hide a Dragon Ball from Bulma’s tech, so I’m guessing the dude already had three balls in storage before Oolong noticed him collecting the other four. What I don’t get is why Oolong didn’t pick up on this. Oolong’s really lazy, so I’d think that if he saw someone gathering the Dragon Balls all the way up in the arctic, he’d give up immediately, because the wish would be made before he could even get there.

And that’s exactly what happens. While Oolong and Gohan are struggling to get up an ice hill, an old man summons Shenron and wishes to have Dr. Uiro “revived”. I like the way “Uiro” is spelled, but I think I’ll stick to “Wheelo”, since it’s the more phoenitc version Funimation used.

Okay, so this wish seems a bit confused. It sounds like this guy is wishing for Dr. Wheelo to be brought back to life, but we’ll later learn that he’s been alive this whole time, but trapped under a bunch of this impenetrable ice.

So he’s wishing for the ice to be melted, right? Well, that’s what Shenron ends up doing for him, but that’s not really what he asked for, is it? This is one thing I like about Shenron. He’s not a Monkey’s Paw, twisting your wishes into ironic nightmares, or Aladdin’s Genie, trying to find ways to wiggle out of his obligations. Shenron will tell you if he can’t do something, and he always seems to do what the wisher wants, even if it’s not quite spelled out in the text of the wish. Dr. Cochin wants Wheelo to be “revived” in the sense that he wants him exhumed from his icy tomb. He doesn’t want him literally resurrected, and Shenron gets that.

Anyway, Cochin is pleased with the results, and he promises that he and Wheelo are back in business and someone’s going to pay.

And here’s a shot of Wheelo’s ice fortress thing.

And here’s the title card.

From a distance, Gohan and Oolong see all of this going on.

Then a Saibaman shows up to eliminate any witnesses. Gohan runs to save Oolong...

... but the Saibaman has backup, and Piccolo jumps in to save the day.

He even kills one just like he did when the Z-Fighters fought the real Saibamen in the Saiyans Saga. I’m pretty sure Cochin’s monsters have nothing to do with Nappa’s Saibamen, but Toei didn’t seem to mind ripping off the design. Hell, they’re practically gloating about it by doing callbacks like this.

Then some bigger creatures show up, and a strange beam of light enevelops Piccolo and he disappears.

Oolong and Gohan wake up in an ice... uh... hole? I’m not sure how they got down here or why they haven’t frozen to death, but they’re basically safe. Gohan is concerned about Piccolo, but Oolong reminds him that Gohan promised not to tell anyone they were ever here.

Gohan agrees, since he doesn’t want his mom to get mad at him. You know, I really hate it when kids in stories get pressured into keeping secrets, or they know something important and no one wants to believe them. Does Oolong honestly think that no one should know about this sinister-looking fortress in the middle of the Arctic? I don’t know how old he’s supposed to be, but I’ve heard he was nine in his first appearance, which puts him around 21 here. He’s old enough to know better, is my point.

Back at Gohan’s house, his parents discuss his recent behavior. Chi-Chi’s worried about him, but Goku’s attitude is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I think this is where Goku’s parenting skills get misconstrued. Chi-Chi works herself into a lather trying to give Gohan the best possible upbringing, and most of her worries are for nothing, because Gohan is growing up just fine. Goku understands that--intuitively, if nothing else-- but his conclusion is that we don’t need to worry about it. People see that attitude an mistake it for complacency or indifference. That’s not true at all. If Gohan was truly being a bad kid, Goku would take action. But he’s not being a bad kid, so he doesn’t need to do anything more than he’s already doing.

I’ve seen this sort of thing before, where if you’re not as worried about a problem as the person next to you, the person next to you thinks you’re part of the problem.

Of course, the flip side of this is that Chi-Chi rarely ever worries about Gohan getting stronger, because she figures he’s already superhumanly strong for his age anyway. And if he ever did need to get stronger, Goku would be on top of that, so it literally is not a problem for her. The difference is that Goku never pushes back much on this. He complains privately to himself or his friends, but for the most part he backs off and lets Chi-Chi have her way. I don’t know if that’s because he figures she knows better, or if he trusts Gohan to decide for himself what he wants to do when he’s older. Again, he’s trying to be flexible for the sake of the family, and I think people misinterpret that flexibility for weakness.

While they talk, Gohan is in his room studying. We can hear his parents, but I’m not sure whether Gohan is supposed to be able to hear them or not.

Then he has this whole nutty daydream, sort of like the one from “Dead Zone”, except he’s not drunk this time.

In the daydream, he casts off his usual clothes and dons the homemade Piccolo suit he debuted in Episode 38. I always liked this moment, like he’s just so happy to put on his li’l fightin’ pants and show everybody.

Then we see him marching around the world with Piccolo. The music playing over this scene is “Piccolo-san Daisuki”, sung by Gohan’s voice actress, Masako Nozawa.

Then he suddenly flashes back to Piccolo sacrificing himself to save Gohan from Nappa. Okay, so this movie definitely acknowledges the Saiyan Saga as a thing that happened recently, although this is really the only time it comes up.

Chi-Chi wakes him up and gives him a snack. She worries about him falling asleep while studying, because she’s always worried about something.

Back at Kame House, Oolong is being punished for breaking the Dragon Radar by being forced to cook dinner. That seems like a weird punishment, since he’s not a very good cook. Also, this once again implies that Bulma lives here all the time, and she can’t get dinner anywhere else. So if Oolong’s already been caught screwing around with the Dragon Radar, why doesn’t he just come clean about what he saw up north?

Outside, a bunch of those Saibamen-knockoffs show up looking for Master Roshi. They tell him that he’s been summoned by Dr. Wheelo, and Roshi’s never heard of him, so he says no. When they won’t take “no” for an answer, he clobbers them all with ease. So they’re not even as strong as real Saibamen.

Then Dr. Cochin reveals himself... well, it’s a pretty small island. He would have had to have been standing there the whole time, but Roshi still acts surprised when he starts talking. Cochin asks Roshi to come with him, and Roshi refuses again...

...Until he sees that the bootleg-Saibamen have captured Bulma, so he really has no choice.

This leaves Oolong all alone, and since he recognizes the off-model Saibamen, he knows where they took Roshi and Bulma. So he finally heads over to Goku’s place to fess up. At first, Goku isn’t worried, since Roshi is “the god of martial arts” an he “even won the Tenkaichi Tournament.” So does this mean Goku finally figured out that Jackie Chun was Master Roshi in disguise? I mean, this movie isn’t canon, so it may not matter, but I’m kind of interested if this is a gaffe or a deliberate thing.

Anyway, Oolong explains where he thinks they’ve gone, and how he knows, and that’s enough to get Goku out of the bath.

I guess Chi-Chi’s only mad at Gohan for fraternizing with Piccolo, which is weird because Gohan wasn’t even trying to find him. He just showed up. Goku doesn’t have much to say about this, because he’s more concerned with rescuing Bulma and Roshi. I’m not sure why Oolong’s story escalates the crisis. The only new information revealed here is that Roshi’s captor used the Dragon Balls recently, but maybe that’s enough.

So Goku’s off to save the day. Gohan wants to go with him, but Chi-Chi ain’t having it. This seems a little strict, but we’ve already seen Gohan wander off to the arctic, so I can understand why Chi-Chi has to be so hard on him.

I mean look at this. Goku just left, and Gohan’s already trying to sneak off. What a little rascal this guy is.

Okay, so this is where the movie starts to get pretty bad. I remember Team Four Star’s KaiserNeko just gushing about how good Movie 2 is, and I remember thinking: “Wow, Movie 2? Really?” I just don’t like it very much, and scenes like this are a big part of the reason why. Bulma and Roshi are trapped in the villains’ lair. It’s this huge, dark grey dome, and inside there’s... absolutely nothing? If the lights are off, why are the characters so well-lit? Did the background artists just call in sick that day?

Here’s Dr. Cochin speaking to Roshi from a giant monitor. It’s a little bit better as backgrounds go, but not much. Everything in this fortress is grey on black on more grey, with maybe some dark blue for highlights. Oh, and guess what Roshi and Bulma are wearing today.

Then Cochin releases three creatures to fight Roshi. Kishime is a green guy who looks more like a henchman from the previous movie. Misokatsun kind of looks like a fatter, yellow Dodoria, and he has a flexible body like Buyon from the Muscle Tower arc. Ebifrya looks like he’d be more at home in Turles’ gang in Movie 3, so I guess that makes him look halfway innovative.

The idea here is to test Roshi’s power by having him fight all three of these guys at once.

And they kick his ass. Roshi started out okay, but once they triple-teamed him, it was all over. This concerns Cochin and Wheelo, since they had been under the impression that Master Roshi was the strongest man in the world. Bulma scoffs at this idea, since Roshi hasn’t been the world’s strongest in a long time.

Bulma finally recognizes Cochin and Wheelo’s names, but she read that both of them were killed fifty years ago, during a “sudden weather shift”, which buried their lab in ice and snow.

Also, this area is called the “Tsurumai-tsuburi Mountains”, but Imma keep it real with you, chief, ain’t nobody got time to spell that. Short version is: They two of them did get buried with their lab, but they didn’t die. Cochin then presents Dr. Wheelo...

And he’s a brain in a life support system.

Now, this is one of my other big gripes with this movie. Wheelo’s nothing more than a friggin’ brain. He’s literally part of the background art. The only animation in scenes like this is the bubbles coming up from the fluid in his jar.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal, except this franchise relies a lot on expressive, charismatic villains with big, over the top reaction shots. Think about all the times we’ve seen King Piccolo or Commander Red or Vegeta flipping out or glaring at someone or smirking when things go their way. Dr. Wheelo can’t do any of that. I mean, that’s the point of Dr. Wheelo. His plan is to transplant his brain into Master Roshi’s body, so of course he has to be a brain in a jar that can’t do anything. But his limitations are exposed very quickly. Basically, it’s up to Dr. Cochin to carry the load and express his emotions for him, except Cochin usually has the same goofy look on his face at all times.

Also, a huge chunk of movie is spent explaining Cochin and Wheelo’s backstory, and yet there’s still a bunch of plot holes that never get addressed. How did Wheelo’s brain get transferred to the jar? Cochin did it, which means Cochin was trapped in the lab with him after it was buried in ice. Okay, but when the movie starts, Cochin was seen outside of the lab, making his wish to Shenron. So if he could escape, why couldn’t he figure out a way to take Wheelo with him?

To be sure, it looks like Wheelo’s life support system is embedded in a wall, so maybe there’s ice locking up whatever mechanism would allow Cochin to remove him. Fair enough, except Cochin wished for the ice to be melted, so Wheelo should be as free as a bird. Except Cochin didn’t wish for the ice to be melted. He wanted Wheelo “revived”. He could have simply wished for Wheelo to be given a new body, one stronger than anyone else on the planet. There may be a limit to what Shenron could create for Wheelo, but it’d still be a super strong body, and one limber enough to escape the lab through the same passage Dr. Cochin must have used.

Also, Dr. Wheelo’s brain looks positively enormous. Was he a normal human? I guess he could have been one of those pig-men like Oolong. We really don’t know. Even so, if his big idea is to put his brain in someone else’s body, it sure doesn’t look like it would fit.

I’m not alone on this. When Team Four Star did their Abridged parody of this movie, they played off Cochin as the main villain, with Wheelo as an unwilling participant of his mad schemes. In the end, Goku and the others used Shenron to give him a new body, and the punchline was that he looked utterly ridiculous.

Moving on, Cochin tells Bulma about a woodland near South City that was suddenly turned into a barren desert three days ago.

Turns out that Cochin and Wheelo were the ones who did that. I’m not sure if this was before or after they got their lab thawed out, but it seems to me that if they have a weapon capable of this sort of thing, they could have found some other means to free themselves from the ice. If they even needed freeing, since Cochin could apparently come and go as he pleased.

Wheelo apparently wants to take over the world and remake it in his own image, which is apparently hot pink deserts. I guess if the whole planet looked like this, it would sort of resemble a giant brain, so maybe it makes sense.

Then Wheelo detects a powerful ki. So Wheelo knows how to sense ki? Or does he have a scouter built into his tank? Kind of convenient either way.

Of course, it’s Goku, and Bulma had just explained to them that he’s the strongest person in the world nowadays. So this works out for everyone involved. Goku will either rescue Bulma and Roshi, or he can give up his body to Dr. Wheelo.

I’m confused how Wheelo can sense ki well enough to detect Goku at a distance, but he can’t tell that Goku is far-and-away more powerful than anyone else on Earth. It’s like they didn’t put a lot of thought into this script. This movie wastes a lot of time testing the powers of Roshi and Goku, whereas Raditz was able to figure a lot of this out without actually having to fight everybody.

Back at the house, Gohan has snuck off, and Chi-Chi is all worried about him becoming a delinquent.

Wait, is Gohan flying a plane? By himself?

Yes, that is exactly what he’s doing. I mean, it sort of makes sense, because he’s already been to the arctic earlier in the movie, and I know Oolong can’t fly a plane, but Gohan’s five. What kind of cram school does Chi-Chi have him in, anyway?

So Goku shows up and he’s cold. Those coats they wore in the Super Broly movie? That’s character development right there.

Wheelo sics... that big yellow monster on him, and then a bunch of giant balls with knives on them. Why does he have all this crap to begin with? Did he spend the last fifty years assembling death traps for a secret base no one could even enter?

Misokatsun gives Goku a little trouble, until Goku uses the Kaio-ken to rip through his elastic body, killing him.

There’s sparky wires inside him, which suggests that he’s a cyborg or something

Then the other two gang up on him. The green one has electric tentacles, while the big pink one has cold power.

They actually seem to beat Goku, until Gohan shows up, followed by Krillin. This feels a bit off to me, because Krillin hadn’t even been in the movie up to this point. I guess the later movies pull the same trick, just sort of dumping character in without really introducing them, but here it seems kind of odd. How did he even know what was going on?

The boys put up a good fight, but then they get overwhelmed...

So Goku resorts to the Kaio-ken to break out of the ice and save them. Why didn’t he just do that in the first place?

He clobbers the other two bio-warriors, or whatever you call ‘em, and the three heroes push further into Wheelo’s fortress. Okay, so here you can actually see some stuff in the background, and it looks like the Endor playset I had as a kid, only with big red globes and laser lights. Why did Wheelo build any of this?

Wheelo observes them on the security cameras, I guess. It’s weird because he seems really pleased when ever Goku beats his traps, but at the same time, he’s rooting for his henchmen to defeat Goku so he can take his body. He even seemed to want Goku killed for this, and I feel like he would need Goku to be captured alive in order to do the transplant.

Also, and this is an important point: Goku’s only winning here because of techniques that he knows. A strong as he is, the bulk of his power depends on ki techniques that he had to learn, like the Kaio-ken and the Kamehameha. If Wheelo puts his brain in Goku’s body, he won’t have access to those powers because he won’t know how to use them.

Goku finds Bulma, probably because she’s the only visible object in this pitch black room, but there’s force field that keeps him from saving her.

Bulma fills them all in on Dr. Wheelo, and Krillin wonders how he can still be alive like this.

So Cochin explains it again, and I don’t really think it’s that complicated. Considering everything else they’ve done in this movie, keeping Wheelo’s brain alive seems self-evident.

Also, they spend a lot of time reminding us of how megalomanical they both are. Cochin seems to worship Wheelo like a god, and he considers any action that furthers his agenda to be just and worthwhile, no matter the cost. Wheelo wants a body, but not just any body, he wants the best one he can get. This is an important aspect of their characters, sure, but I feel like the movie keeps harping on this point needlessly. Of course they’re fanatics. They’re mad scientists, after all.

Maybe that’s the trouble with this movie. Villains like Garlic Junior require more setup, because Garlic Junior is literally some creep we’ve never seen before. Wheelo, on the other hand, is a total cliche. A bad guy saving his brain in a jar has been done in a bunch of movies and comics. A villain who steals other people’s bodies is nothing new, and mad scientists who want to destroy the world are nothing new either. It’s new for the Dragon Ball franchise, though, so maybe Toei thought it needed to be explained more than it did. But I feel like Japanese audiences would have been familiar with all of this stuff too.

Then they catch Goku in what I assume was the same energy beam they used to catch Piccolo. Hey, whatever happened to Piccolo, anyway?

Oh, there he is.

Turns out Piccolo’s been mind-controlled. When Goku breaks free of the force field thing, he has to fight Piccolo. Only, that’s kind of a mismatch at this point. The Saiyans Saga definitely happened in this movie’s continuity, and Goku was much, much stronger than Piccolo by the time it ended. This is even demonstrated by how Goku overcomes the same traps that Piccolo couldn’t.

Maybe Goku’s holding back because he considers Piccolo a friend, but it seems like he ought to be able to knock him out a lot more easily than this.

Gohan tries to reason with Piccolo, but he just fires an energy blast at him, so Goku has to deflect it with his own. Cochin gloats that even the mighty King Piccolo has become another obedient servant of Dr. Wheelo’s.

That pisses Gohan off, and he starts to tap into the hidden rage power we’ve seen him use in the past.

Dr. Wheelo is... surprised? Happy? Bemused? Greaaaat villain design, guys.

Cochin doesn’t realize what Gohan’s doing, so he taunts the boy, which only makes Gohan madder. Wheelo orders him to stop, but Cochin doesn’t listen, which seems odd, considering how devoted Cochin is to the guy.

He even tells Gohan to go home and suck on his mommy’s teats. Wooooowwwwwwwwwwww.

Then he shoots a big laser out of his cane.

Then the whole room starts to crack and Wheelo’s brain... glows? What the hell is going on here?

Krillin takes away Cochin’s cane and demands that he free Bulma, but instead...

Cochin turns his arm into a gun. Well, okay...

A bunch of the lab falls apart, but this section looks like it’s in good shape. Piccolo’s mind-control crown shatters too, and I don’t know if that’s because of Gohan’s outburst, or Wheelo’s glowing, or maybe it just got damaged while he was fighting Goku. Anyway, Piccolo’s pretty confused.

Then Wheelo laughs and he seems pleased that he’ll finally have a chance to fight. Okay...

Cochin seems pretty upset about this, and as Wheelo does... something... more of the lab breaks apart, and Cochin falls down a hole.

There’s some giant column down here, and it glows bright yellow for some reason...

...and it fries Cochin when he falls too close to it.

This destroys his skin and clothes, revealing a robotic body underneath. So was he always a robot, or did he put his brain in a robot body? This movie makes no friggin’ sense. This is probably the only truly interesting thing about Dr. Cochin, and they kill him off before they can even do anything with it.

Finally Dr. Wheelo reveals that his life support tank is part of a big robot that he can move around in. So why was it embedded in the wall, then? Was he stuck? Did Gohan’s outburst damage the lab enough to release him? Did Wheelo do this himself and he just didn’t need to do it before?

Also, woof. The robot design is pretty good, except it’s color scheme is just black with dark green highlights. It never feels like we get a good look at this thing, because it’s always in shadow.

I mean, here’s a slightly better view, but ugh.

This wouldn’t be so bad, except the backgrounds are just as dark as Wheelo’s robot body, so you can barely see what he’s doing most of the time. This shot is okay, but he’s standing still.

Anyway, he says that if he has Goku’s body, he wouldn’t need this “ugly” one. So is that what this is all about? Does he just want to look handsomer? Because if he thinks Goku is stronger than the body he has right now, then picking a fight with him is a pretty stupid idea.

Piccolo swears to avenge himself, and Wheelo is... angry? Worried? Tired? This guy absolutely sucks.

Roshi, Krillin, and Goku try a triple-Kamehameha on Wheelo, but it doesn’t work. Hey, good luck figuring out what Wheelo is doing in this shot.

Wheelo uses... some part of his body to hit Master Roshi. Have I mentioned what a stupid idea it was to have Roshi wear all black for this movie?

Then Dr. Wheelo does...uhhhhh... Yeah, fuck this. You’re on your own, kids.

Gohan tries some stunt that involves the Nyoibo, and he reveals that he’s had the Nyoibo stowed under his cape the whole time, but he misses.

So Goku picks it up and Piccolo saves Gohan.

Fuck this movie.

Oh, good, Piccolo shot his energy blasts at a piece of asphalt, no wait, that’s Dr. Wheelo.

Ugh...

Finally Goku stops horsing around. I forgot the exact sequence of events, but he used the Nyoibo to trip Wheelo, probably setting him up for Piccolo to bombard him, and now he’s gonna use Kaio-ken Times Three, like he did against Vegeta.

In the Big Green Dub, this sequence was hilariously dubbed with the lines “I WANT THE MAGIC STICK!” followed by “NOW I WANT TOTAL POWERRRRRR!”

This shot of Goku’s foot looks cooler than every frame of Dr. Wheelo in this rassum-frassum movie.

Goku charges heroically at... Is that Dr. Wheelo, or a section of the wall?

At some point he manages to tear off one of Wheelo’s lobster claws, but that’s about the only sign of damage I can pick out.

Then he goes for a Kamehameha to finish the bastard off.

Wheelo counters with his own blast, and for a second he seems to have the upper hand until...

... Goku uses Kaio-ken times four, which jacks up his Kamehameha to the point where it blasts Wheelo into the sky.

Krillin congratulates Goku for beating him, but Goku says it’s still not over. “Don’t you remember the Vegeta fight, Krillin? We’re taking cues from that, remember? He’ll try that fake moon thing next, and you’ll need to get Yajirobe to cut off his tail.”

Wheelo decides to just blow up the whole planet, I guess using the same super-weapon Cochin was talking about earlier. I thought he wanted to rule the world, not blow it up, but maybe he figures it’s not worth it if he can’t beat Goku.

So his big power core thing starts glowing again. Why doesn’t Goku just blow that thing up?

Instead, he starts setting up a Spirit Bomb, because that’s what he did against Vegeta.

Wheelo is... confused, I guess. How does he know what Goku’s doing from the ground?

This is one of the better shots of Wheelo, and he still looks terrible. He’s not even indoors, and Toei still insisted on the murkiest color scheme possible.

One of the artists took pity on me and snuck in this really nice sunset for me. Toei probably fired him for it. “This frame is completely unacceptable! Now the audience knows where the sun is! You’ve sucked all the mystery out of this film!”

Goku tries to first his Spirit Bomb....

But Wheelo shoots at him first. He misses by like, several hundred yards, but this is enough to make Goku hold off anyway.

So Piccolo, Gohan, and Krilln fly up to keep Wheelo busy so Goku can ready his attack. They get a few decent hits in, except Krillin for some reason.

“Oh, crap!” Krillin says, “I’m in the movie ‘The World’s Strongest!’“

Finally Goku has the Spirit Bomb ready to launch. This is kind of a big deal, because we never really got to see the technique executed as intended during the Vegeta battle, because Goku got hurt and had to hand off the power to Krillin. So this movie is notable for showing what might have been.

It deflects Wheelo’s red death laser...

And as it passes by, Gohan and the others can sene the combined energy of all the people in the world. I like that cocky dude in the cowboy hat. He has no idea that Goku borrowed a bit of his energy to beat Wheelo, but he’s still confident that it’ll help kick his ass. Also, the Black lady to the right of him may be the best rendition of a Black person in all of Dragon Ball. I wish it wasn’t so obscure.

I was thinking about how the Red Ribbon Army had an officer named Brown, and we never got to see that character, and I tried to imagine what Brown should look like. I never got very far, but I thought it’d be cool if they had another lady in the RRA, and that lady looks pretty much like what I had in mind. Haven’t settled on a rank or uniform yet. She’s a work in progress.

Anyway, the Spirit Bomb hits Wheelo and he finally dies. “Son Goku!” he shouts. Remember the face Vegeta made when Goku blew him up with the Spirit Bomb? Yeah, Wheelo can’t do that. Good riddance.

For some reason the lab explodes too? Well, at least it’s not all black and grey, so good.

Everyone’s pretty happy about this victory. You’d think they’d all be freezing right now, but no one in the anime industry knows how ice works.

Goku spots Piccolo walking away, and thanks him for his help. Piccolo just says Gohan did a good job, and Gohan’s all “He knows my name!”

The narrator threatens that a new Dr. Wheelo might show up some day, and gosh I really hope not. At least give his robot suit a flashier paintjob.

Roshi gives Wheelo some credit. He did say Roshi was the greatest in the world.

And Bulma’s like, “Yeah, the greatest lecher, amirite?”

Then they all laugh, and it’s a little disconcerting. It wasn’t that funny, guys.

Bulma’s like “No, seriously, Master Roshi belongs in jail.”

And that’s the end. Thank goodness.

I’m sorry if this was your favorite DBZ movie and I was a little too rough on it, but man, I just don’t care for this one. The plot just doesn’t make sense, the final battle shamlessly rips off stuff from the Goku/Vegeta battle, and the main villain is barely visible for most of the action. Wheelo and Cochin don’t add much to the lore of DBZ either. With Garlic Junior, you got a peek into Kami’s backstory, and Turles offered a hint into what other Saiyan survivors might have been up to after Planet Vegeta was destroyed. Wheelo’s just as mad scientist from fifty years ago who got snowed in one day. He has all thes extremely powerful weapons at his disposal, but he blows them all on a mad scheme to beat Goku, specifically because Goku is strong enough to overpower him. �� It’s one thing for the baddie to underestimate the hero, but Wheelo wants Goku to be stronger, and then he fights him anyway.

Now, to be fair, it’s got a few good things going for it. The idea of a mad scientist giving Goku this much trouble is a good one. At lot of Wheelo’s methods ended up being employed by Dr. Gero a few years later. So if nothing else, Wheelo serves as a good proof-of-concept for the Androids arc.

There’s also something to be said for the villain’s goal being to exploit Goku personally. Usually the bad guys don’t even know about Goku, or they only hate Goku and want him dead. Wheelo sees Goku as raw material for his evil plans. This didn’t get developed much, but it’s a smart idea. I kind of wish Wheelo had put his brain in someone else’s body, just to demonstrate that it was possible. Like, even if he was stuck in Bulma’s body, that’d still be a big improvement over staring at a brain in a jar. Goku could still fight a giant robot, but at least Wheelo would have a face and hands to act with.

I also dig the idea of opening the movie with the bad guy making a wish. Cochin’s wish seems kind of pointless in hindsight, but at the very least, he took the Dragon Balls off the board for the rest of the movie. This way, no one else could make a wish.

This is a pretty action-heavy movie, so if you’re willing to forgive the drawbacks I mentioned earlier, you can at least enjoy all the fights. Personally, I’d prefer one really good long fight over several smaller, less decisive ones, but diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks.

There’s a lot of really pretty visuals in this movie. They’re sort of ancilliary to the main story, and I’m not sure they’re necessarily better than those found in any of the other movies, but they’re worthy of recognition. I’ll ust post a few down here to close us out with some positivity.

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #world's strongest #goku #piccolo #gohan #chi chi #krillin #bulma #master roshi #oolong #dr wheelo #dr cochin #dbmovieliveblog

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