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duhragonball · 6 years

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (103/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous Chapters conveniently available here.

[8 February 233 Before Age. Planet Quadzityz.]

There was a long, complicated story behind the war currently raging on Quadzityz It told how the whole thing began over outdated laws and the government failing to collect taxes from the wealthiest members of its society. It told of several regime changes as the people revolted against the corrupt ruling class, only to find they had no idea what new system to install in its place. There were some fascinating side-stories about individuals who tried to ride out the chaos. A princess who went from hero to villain to martyr all in the span of a month. An idealistic leader who declared war on his neighbors rather than accept the need to address domestic unrest. A charismatic general who saw the conflict as a chance to build an new empire on the ashes of the Old Quadzityz. The general's husband, who turned against him when fortune tellers convinced him that he was prophesied to usher in the end of the universe. It was all very fascinating stuff. Over the next two hundred years, historians would make entire careers out of sifting through everything that happened.

Luffa didn't care about any of this. Her own personal account of the Quadzityz War was this: "I was busy dealing with other nonsense in other sectors, or I would have settled this a long time ago. Then some fool decided to bring slorgs into the fighting, and I have to kill them all before they start to breed and infest other planets. I am furious about this."

To be sure, Quadzityz was well beyond Federation space, the part of the galaxy that Luffa had staked as her home turf. Officially, her policy as Federatrix was to settle internal conflicts within its borders and to defend it from external invasions. Unofficially, Luffa pretty much did whatever she pleased, though she did try to stick to her mandate as a general rule. The Federation alliance was her idea, after all. But even from three sectors away, the presence of weaponized slorgs was a clear and present danger to the Federation, so it became her top priority as soon as she learned about it.

Making landfall on Quadzityz was no simple matter. The entire sector was involved in the war, and so Luffa had to fight all the way to the planet. Her star yacht, the Emerald Eye, lacked some of the defenses that a standard military transport would have, but Luffa had customized it over the years, and it had held up reasonably well in numerous war zones. Flying through hostile space was easy enough for her. Landing the ship, however, was a more difficult proposition, as it would be vulnerable to hostile fire from both air and ground forces. So Luffa plotted a course that would skim the atmosphere of the planet just long enough for her to travel the rest of the way on her own. The approach vector carried certain risks of its own, but it was so unorthodox that most of the other combatants were caught unawares, and neglected to attack.

Luffa stood in the cargo bay of her ship as it completed its descent into the atmosphere and began to level off. Once it started to point upwards to ascend back into space, she would make her jump.

"Any photographers around?" Luffa asked into the communicator she wore in her left ear.

"No, but we're about a hundred miles in the air right now," replied the voice on the other end. Her wife, Zatte, was on the bridge, and would mind the ship while Luffa prepared a landing site for her.

"Wouldn't put it past them to follow me here," Luffa grumbled. "There were enough of them on the last three planets in this sector. I'm starting to wonder if the correspondents start these wars just so they'll have something to report on."

"It wasn't that many," Zatte said. "And the shot of you smashing that armored transport was really cute."

Luffa winced at the word 'cute'. "It made me look like a chump," she said. "Any normal Saiyan could lift one of those things. And my eyes were closed, so it looks like I was straining myself."

"You worry too much," Zatte said. "I can promise you: nobody saw that photo and thought you were a weakling. But if it makes you feel any better, the only thing waiting for you down there are about fifty slorgs armed with cybernetic assault weapons."

"That's why I married you," Luffa said with a smirk. "You always know the right thing to say to cheer me up."

"See you soon," Zatte said.

The ship began to climb out of the atmosphere, and this was Luffa's signal to make her jump. With a deep breath and a running start, she leaped out of the cargo bay door, through the force field that maintained the pressure inside the ship, and into the thin air of the planet's thermosphere. In a single fluid motion, she contorted her body to face the Emerald Eye, and fired a beam of crimson light from her fingertips, which passed just over the dorsal hull. A moment later, an explosion could be seen in the distance, indicating that she had successfully destroyed her target, which was an enemy ship that had strayed a little too close for her liking.

Drawing her arms to her chest, she allowed herself to freefall head-first to the planet's surface, and then she transformed. Her normally black hair flashed into a gleaming golden color, while her brown eyes glowed an eerie green. Luffa applied her own immense ki energy to increase the speed of her descent, rocketing down to the planet like a missile. She slowed just enough as she reached the ground that her impact left only a small crater in the ground, though this was still more than enough to disrupt and confuse the enemies waiting for her.

Just as Zatte had promised, there were several dozen slorgs in the area, and she tore into them first, ignoring the Quadzity soldiers and their alien allies. Luffa's primary strategic objective was to remove all traces of slorgs from the sector, in order to ensure that they wouldn't breed and spread their population into Federation worlds. Her second objective was to find any Saiyans that happened to be participating in the war. She would interrogate these for any information she had concerning King Rehval, her most hated enemy. Her third objective was to put a stop to the fighting. Zatte didn't necessarily agree with the order of those priorities, but Luffa considered the matter academic, since she felt she could accomplish all three simultaneously. The sector was a mess, and the slorg problem was just a good place to get started.

Slorgs were not sapient creatures, though it was possible to train them to perform certain tasks, and certain rogue scientists had found ways to control them with cybernetic implants. These particular slorgs were of a self-sustaining product line. The initial batch contained cybernetics that would self-replicate, and when the slorgs mated, they were programmed/trained to install additional cybernetic implants into their young. In theory, any military who purchased these slorgs was supposed to have complete control over them, and they could shut them down or command them to self-destruct if needed, but Luffa knew that war wasn't as neat and tidy as munitions dealers and defense ministers liked to think. She had once fought another line of cyber-slorgs that were supposed to auto-sterilize after a certain period of time, but there was a bug in the program, and the slorgs managed to breed out of control anyway.

As she smashed her fist into the face of one, shattering its six-inch teeth like a pane of glass, another slorg grabbed her from behind with its tentacles. Slorgs usually tried to perform a "death-shake" on their prey, lifting a creature up over its head and shaking it violently to break the animal's neck. The technique was probably millions of years old, but whoever had designed the cybernetics added a new twist: the plasma cannons mounted on the slorg's back would automatically train on the victim once the slorg raised them above its head. All of this was only a minor inconvenience for Luffa, however. Using her ki as a shield, she deflected the cannon fire into another slorg, and flipped herself around to drag her "captor" by its own tentacles, and slamming it into a third slorg. Even as she completed this maneuver, a fourth one came up from behind and grabbed her arms.

Now the Quadzity soldiers were getting involved. Taking up positions around her, they fired into the horde of slorgs, confident that the cybernetics would prevent the creatures from turning on their masters. Luffa found their tactics laughable. Just because the slorgs wouldn't go wild over friendly fire didn't mean that she couldn't use them as cover. The smart choice would have been to use the slorgs as a diversion and regroup to a more favorable position. That, or to call in air support. Truthfully, Luffa wasn't entirely sure what the best move would be for her opponents. Surrender, perhaps.

Bored with the slorgs, she cried out and increased her ki, generating an explosive wave that fried most of their circuits and drove them away from her. This was mostly to separate the live slorgs from the ones she had already killed. Before they could recover, she rushed each of them at breathtaking speed and fired a focused ki blast through their vital organs. Satisfied that there were no more for her to kill, she turned her attention to the conventional forces that now surrounded her. Thirty seconds after that, she used the lull in fighting to focus her senses on any ki signatures in the skies. Any manned airships would be detectable by their pilots, and she used this to aim her ki blasts. Drone weapons were still an issue, so she contacted Zatte on her earpiece to find out what the Emerald Eye's sensors could pick up. Zatte liked to flirt on the line, but her tactical reports were otherwise very clear and concise.

Luffa repeated this process for several more minutes, until at last she had pacified enough land and airspace to safely escort the Emerald Eye to the ground. There were risks in leaving the ship unattended, but Zatte had work to do on the surface, and Luffa was confident that she could secure alternate transportation if the star-yacht ended up being destroyed.

"Enjoying yourself?" Zatte asked when she stepped off the ramp leading from the entrance.

Luffa wiped the slorg blood from her arms before answering. "Yeah, this isn't half-bad. You need a lift to the command center?"

Zatte scanned the terrain with her one good eye. She drew her pistol, and Luffa turned to see if there was a target, then realized Zatte was only making use of the telescopic sight mounted on the barrel.

"Nah, I can make it," she said. Tapping her earpiece, she added: "I'll give a shout if anything goes wrong."

An explosion suddenly rocked the ground beneath them. Zatte took that as her cue to get moving. "You probably want to check that out. Have fun, okay?"

As Zatte ran, her body faded from sight. Her ability to manipulate energy allowed her to become virtually undetectable except by sound or smell. Luffa smiled as she watched her vanish, then she took off for her next target.

*******

"This is ridiculous," Lesseri said as she and Endive ran through the bombed out streets of Inoy, one of Quadzityz larger cities.

"You had no objections to the plan before we landed," Endive replied.

"Oh, I had objections," Lesseri said, "I just didn't bring them up because I didn't have any better ideas. This is probably our best bet, but it's still ridiculous."

With Luffa on the planet, it was only a matter of time before the war would come to an abrupt end. All three sides of the conflict had turned their attention on the Super Saiyan, and yet she had still managed to carve out a demilitarized zone on the planet's largest island. The only thing slowing Luffa down now was the need to defend her newly acquired territory, though she still found time to make raids deep behind enemy lines. At least the warring factions were keeping Luffa busy... for now.

All of that would change, however, if Luffa were to sense Saiyan power levels on the planet. That would happen almost instantly, unless the Saiyans suppressed their ki. The moment they used their powers for any feats of strength or speed, Luffa would notice it and come after them. There was a slim chance that she would be distracted by whatever she was doing, but Lesseri and Endive both knew that Luffa was obsessed with interrogating Saiyans in her search for King Rehval. Whatever Luffa was doing, it was almost certain that she was keeping an eye out for Saiyans, just in case any of them happened to show up.

The safest bet was to wait for Luffa to finish her business on Quadzityz and leave, but this carried risks of its own. Lesseri and Endive were counting on the war to act as a smokescreen. Once the planet was pacified, it would be difficult for them to move around on the planet without attracting attention, and even if Luffa left the planet, she would only be a subspace radio message away. Lesseri's group would have a head start if Luffa came after them, but they didn't like the idea of attracting Luffa's attention at this stage of their quest.

Endive's plan was dangerous, but it was the only logical course available to them: They would make their way to Quadzityz, and carry out their mission without using their ki at all. This meant that if they ran into serious trouble, that they wouldn't be able to defend themselves, but Endive reasoned that they could ease that burden by scavenging arms and armor from dead soldiers. She had hoped to secure a vehicle as well, but so far all the transports they had encountered were damaged beyond repair.

"Slorg up ahead," Lesseri said as she checked her binoculars.

"Can we go around it?" Endive asked.

Lesseri pulled out her handheld sensor device and pulled up an interactive map of the section of the city they were in. "Too many blues that way," she said as she pointed in a westerly direction. Then she gestured at the green markings on her own helmet and Endive's body armor. "It'd be tough to bluff our way past them with all this enemy gear we're wearing, and if we have to fight, I'd rather take my chances on the slorg. At least he won't call for help."

"What about that way?" Endive suggested. She pointed to a road leading northeast.

"Greens had a command post that way," Lesseri said. She tapped her finger on the part of the map she was referring to. "But the Blues knocked it out yesterday. Lot of rough terrain to cover, and then we'd have to climb in and out of a pretty big crater."

Endive smiled. "We could always wait here," she said. "Sooner or later, Luffa will fly in and kill the slorg for us."

"And she'll just fly off as soon as she's done, right?" Lesseri grumbled. "You don't know how she thinks. She'll try to get as much done here as she can before moving on. If she spots us, she'll think we're more enemy soldiers to round up. Once she's close enough to take our guns, she won't need to sense our ki. She'll know we're Saiyans from the smell of our body odor."

"True," Endive said.

"Well, I say we fight it," Lesseri said. "You with me?"

"Very well, it is just one slorg," Endive said, patting the sidearms she had strapped to her waist. "The Reds wouldn't have brought them into this unless these Green weapons weren't formidable. Let's try to set up a crossfire."

*******

Two hours later, Endive was beginning to think they should have waited for Luffa after all. There had been three slorgs, not just one, and there were at least twenty soldiers and mercenaries in the mix as well. This worked to their favor somewhat, as they could count on their enemies to fight each other, but it also made it that much harder for the Saiyan women to advance. Even without ki, the pair still had enough muscle to turne over a wrecked truck and use it as cover while they shot at the slorgs, but the cybernetic implants on the creatures allowed them to coordinate their attacks, which made things much more difficult.

"If we don't get out of here soon," Endive shouted over the blaster fire, "Luffa really will drop in on us!"

"I've got an idea," Lesseri said. "Cover me!"

Endive did as she asked, and laid down fire to keep the others from trying to pick off Lesseri as she leaped out from behind the truck. She jumped to a broken barricade, then to a lamp post, which she used to propel herself to a third-story window of a building along the intersection. The Greens and Blues were unsure how to proceed, since Lesseri was wearing parts of both of their uniforms. The slorgs ignored her completely, as they still had plenty of targets to shoot at. Endive waited, and for a moment, she began to wonder if Lesseri had found some way around the battle and left her behind.

Instead, there was a series of explosions from the building. Before anyone could react, a large chunk of the wall facing the battle tore away, and fell down upon the Greens. Some of them might have survived, but it would take them a long time to dig themselves out. The slorgs then turned their attention on the Blues, since they no longer recognized the buried Greens as a threat. In the time it took for their cybernetic implants to reconsider the battle, Endive managed to slip out into the open and scramble over the wreckage that now covered the Green position. She found Lesseri waiting for her on the other side.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Endive asked.

"I didn't think I had enough explosives to pull it off," Lesseri said. "Then I realized I didn't need to bring down the whole building, just a big enough piece to take out one side. Probably just as well that we thinned the herd a little first."

They continued on their way, and were pleased to find that the rest of the journey was relatively clear of obstacles. At last, they arrived at an apartment building, with a penthouse comprising the top five floors.

"Should be a simple smash and grab," Lesseri said as she shot the lock off the service entrance and kicked the door open. "Or it will be, if Guawar and Treekul can tell us where to look."

Their ultimate goal was a thing called "Jindan", a rumored technique that would greatly increase a Saiyan's strength. While searching for the truth behind the rumors, Lesseri had met Treekul, and alchemical historian who recognized the term "Jindan" from her research. They formed an alliance, which eventually expanded to include Endive, and finally Guwar, a Saiyan mathematician. Without any real leads to speak of, Treekul had directed the Saiyans to locate ancient alchemical texts, which she believed contained techniques and formulae which would have been refined to create the Jindan power of today. To pursue this line of reasoning, she relied upon a mystic ability to track scrolls and other relics by extrapolating their position, using the known locations of other artifacts. Treekul's geomantic compass had led them to Quadzityz, and as they approached the planet, she had managed to narrow down the search to a single building in the city of Inoy, but this was the limit of Treekul's precision. However, Guwar believed that his skills could help refine her calculations, and so they had remained behind while Lesseri and Endive handled the mission.

"I'm sure our resident mathematician will come through for us," Endive said. She reached into her ruck sack and withdrew a bone from the gravesite they had robbed on their last mission.

"He'd better," Lesseri said as she took out her communicator to call their ship. "Because we don't have time to search this place room by room."

To his credit, Guwar was able to improve Treekul's precision, but only enough to narrow it down to the top three floors of the penthouse. For anything better, they had to take new readings, while Endive held the bone in the building, and then again after she had jogged one hundred yards due east of it. By the time she returned, Lesseri had the coordinates.

"68th floor, probably some kind of trophy room or private art gallery," she said as they took the elevator. When it requested a security clearance to go beyond the 60th floor, they simply opened the top of the elevator car and climbed the cables the rest of the way. Eight stories up, they forced the door to their destination.

"Be careful," Endive said as they got off on the 68th floor. "This building may be abandoned, but anyone rich enough to own a private collection of ancient artifacts may have invested in a security system."

"As long as it isn't slorgs," Lesseri said, "I think I can deal with that." She led the way as they crept through the hallway. Every so often, Lesseri would stop to check their position against the coordinates they had received from Guwar. "There it is," she said, pointing at what appeared to be an ordinary wall. "Must be some sort of secret entrance, but our prize is about seven feet beyond that wall."

"Fortunately, I have just the thing to open the passage," Endive said with a chuckle. She took a pair of her plasma weapons from her belt and assembled them into a larger gun. "I will only need a moment to angle the shot so as not to hit what we came for."

"Aim away from the floor," Lesseri said. "There might be pressure sensors to detect footsteps."

"Let's hope not," Endive replied. She stepped to one side and ended up straddling a chair as she chose a suitable trajectory. "We can't fly over them without using our ki, now can we?"

"We'll figure something out," Lesseri. "Go on, take the shot."

As soon as Endive did, the entire floor filled with the obnoxious shrill of an alarm system. Realizing the damage had already been done, Endive continued firing at the same portion of the wall, until she had destroyed a large enough piece for one of them to climb through to the other side.

"See if you can find a way to shut that damn thing off!" Lesseri shouted. "I'll take a look inside!"

Endive turned and went to search the rest of the penthouse, and Lesseri crawled through the hole in the wall. Since the alarm was already triggered, she threw caution to the wind and walked casually to the exact coordinates Guwar had given her. There, she found an old copper retort on a stand. A series of sigils and runes had been engraved across almost every square inch of its surface Nearby, she saw a scroll in a transparent plastic display case. It had been unrolled enough to read part of its contents, though Lesseri could make no sense of the handwriting or jargon. That would be up to Treekul. It frustrated her to be so dependent on someone else to interpret these clues, but she hadn't come this far to stop now. She changed a setting on one of her pistols, causing it to function more like a cutting torch than as a weapon, and used it to remove the scroll from its case. Then she scooped up the retort and made her way to the secret door into the foyer, which was clearly visible from the inside of the gallery. She had hoped that Endive would have found a way to shut off the damned alarm by now, but she supposed it didn't matter now that they were ready to leave.

As Lesseri stepped out into the foyer, she was suddenly grabbed from behind by some sort of mechanical arm. As she tried to shove it aside, it was joined by another arm, and then another. She twisted her body away from her assailant, and saw that it was a robot.

"Submit!" it cried over the blare of the alarm. Its design somewhat resembled a humanoid, but its torso was long and thin, with ten long, spindly arms attached to either side. The speaker on its head was located roughly where a person's mouth would be, and instead of eyes, it had two pairs of blinking lights. It had four legs, each about two feet in length, which now carried the machine forward as it continued its attack on Lesseri.

"Submit! Submit!" it repeated. Lesseri dropped the stolen items and reached for her sidearm, but just as she was about to fire on the robot, something else came from behind her and grabbed her arm, spoiling her aim. The plasma bolt went over the robot's head and destroyed a chunk of the ceiling.

Instinctively, Lesseri raised her free arm to try to hit her second opponent in the face with her elbow, but then she noticed the first one was still coming towards her, so she went limp instead, dropping to the floor. She was pleasantly surprised to see the robot pounce forward and strike its comrade, a second robot of the same model. It stilll hadn't released its hold on her arm, but neither robot could exploit that advantage, as they both struggled to untangle their other limbs from each other.

Lesseri wondered where the things had come from, and how they had managed to get so close to her without her noticing, and then she happened to look down and saw a third robot emerging from the floor. There was no opening; the machine seemed to rise up from the carpet like a swimmer coming up for air in a pool of water.

"Submit!" it cried as it grabbed hold of her left boot.

Lesseri remembered her sidearm and pointed it at the robot's face. She fired, destroying its entire upper body, but it's grip on her ankle didn't loosen at all. In fact, its other nine arms still seemed to be reaching for her, though more aimlessly than before. She changed the weapon's settings to fire a narrow beam, hoping that this would be enough to cut herself loose without hurting herself in the process, but before she could try, another metallic arm grabbed her. She looked around and found the first two robots had managed to get their act together.

"This is getting complicated..." she said under her breath.

Lesseri managed to roll clear of the other robot arms, though she was unable to free herself from the ones on her arm and leg. It would have been easy to rip them apart with her ki, but doing this would bring Luffa on them, and the situation hadn't gotten that desperate yet. Her muscular frame still had enough power to drag the robots along the floor, and for a moment she considered trying to escape this way. She even briefly thought about scooping up the copper retort and the scroll she had dropped, until she saw a fourth robot emerging from one of the walls. The mission could wait.

She moved as quickly as she could, and made it out of the foyer and around the corner to the hallway that led to the elevator. It was there she found Endive, who had run into a group of robots herself. They had already gotten the better of her, and had wrapped enough of their arms around her to immobilize her completely.

"They're coming out of the walls!" Endive shouted when she spotted Lesseri. The warning came too late, and if Endive had anything more useful to say, the robots stopped her before she got the chance. One of them unfolded its head into a long strip of metal, and wrapped this around her head, covering her mouth completely.

Lesseri moved closer, as she had no other idea on what to do. She would probably need Endive's help to get out of this mess, and even if she didn't, Endive was between Lesseri and the elevator. Endive's muffled screams were barely audible over the alarm and all of the robots chirping "Submit!" over and over. Lesseri wasn't sure if Endive was being hurt in some way, or if she was simply upset about being captured.

Then Lesseri felt two more robots grabbing her from behind, and she realized that Endive had been trying to warn her. Now that the reinforcements had arrived, the robots clinging to her boot and arm managed to right themselves and work together. Their forty limbs quickly linked together and wrapped themselves around Lesseri like a spider wrapping up its prey, and once they were finished, one of them unfolded its head to gag her, just like Endive.

Somehow, the robots were still able to move, despite being clustered together around their prisoners. Each group lifted the Saiyans into an upright position, and carried them back into the foyer. Lesseri found all of this humiliating, but decided that it would be rash to break free, since the robots hadn't actually hurt them yet. Eventually, someone would release them, if only to put them into some confinement cell, and she and Endive could figure out their next move from there.

"Capture complete!" one of the robots announced to no one. The alarm fell silent, and Lesseri was grateful for that small concession.

"Perimeter secure!" the robot continued. "Preparing prisoners for disposal!"

Lesseri wasn't sure what that meant until she noticed Endive convulsing from within her restraints. She noticed a faint scent of ozone, and once she listened for it, Lesseri thought she could hear a slight buzz coming from Endive's position.

The robots were administering electrical shocks to her.

Lesseri wasn't sure why they had started with Endive, or what the ultimate purpose of this was. Was this meant to kill intruders, or was it part of an elaborate interrogation? Or were they simply being tortured to satisfy the penthouse owner's warped sense of justice? And how far could they let this go before they had no choice but to use their ki to escape?

"Physiological responses measured!" one of the robots said. "Preparing proper dosage!"

Lesseri looked on as one of the other robots holding Endive unfolded its head to reveal yet another arm, with a hypodermic needle attached to the end. From what it had said, she could only guess that the shock treatment was some kind of check to see how Endive's body would fare against whatever was in the needle. Was it poison? A sedative? Drugs to ensure her compliance? Lesseri was finding it more and more difficult to justify holding back. To hell with worrying about Luffa. At least the Super Saiyan was a known quantity. At least, if Lesseri used her ki, they would survive, and there was at least a chance they could run back to the ship and take off before Luffa caught up to them. Surely Endive understood that just as well as Lesseri did.

Then why hadn't Endive summoned her power to break free? Did she not realize the danger she was in? As the needle moved closer and closer to Endive's throat, she simply stared straight ahead, her eyebrows knitted into a tight frown. Did Endive had a plan, or was she just waiting until the last possible moment to make a move?

And then, just when Lesseri couldn't stand the suspense any longer, just when she was about to use her own ki to get them out of this mess, she felt it. It was a Saiyan ki, but not Endive's, or Lesseri's, and certainly not Guwar's, or even Luffa's.

She had no idea whose power she was sensing, or what it might mean...

NEXT: The Apostate

#dragon ball #fanfiction #super saiyan #luffa #lssjluffafic #zatte #lesseri #endive #quadzityz

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makerof150papermasks · 6 years

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The Three Governments of Spyro the Dragon

Today, I have something really interesting that I feel would be worth talking about. Now I remember recently reading a post titled “’Kirby Super Star’ is a Marxist critique of the Soviet Union,” which delves into the titular 1996 SNES video game so deeply and somehow matches it up with certain pieces of USSR history (Reddit). After viewing this, I began to think, “I know a few other games that I could analyze like this guy did with Kirby.” Yes, I was motivated so much by this blog that I had a hunch to work on my own research chat.

Now the games I am about to talk about are the first three games in the Spyro the Dragon series first released for the PlayStation from 1998 to 2000, titled Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of The Dragon (Additionally, all three titles recently received a remake collectively titled “Spyro Reignited Trilogy,” which makes this document relevant as of 2019). With a little research, I was able to pair those games with a government that best defined them in a nutshell. Of course, not all real-life elements of these governments may actually match up with how any of the fictional societies depicted operate, but I’ve tried my hardest to make sure the details match up strongly enough that they can be talked about.

*If you haven’t played the games yet and don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t bother reading!

Spyro the Dragon: Confederation (Left)

I want to start this discussion by saying something unique about this first third of the review: unlike the latter two titles, Spyro the Dragon seems to promote the idea of its featured form of government rather than point out the significant flaws and ensure the audience doesn’t sympathize with the concept at hand. First off, I want to give you folks a good look at how the populace of the Dragon Worlds goes about their lives and organizes themselves socially speaking. For those of you don’t already know enough about the game’s context, there are five socially-unique sectors that each owe something important to the well-being of the larger society. The Artisans represent the working class, the Peace Keepers are equivalent to a military system, the Magic Crafters are most likely representative of the business owners and upper class (As noted by the sheer presence of overly-elegant architecture in their specific area), the Beast Makers represent those who work in health, medical, biological, and other science-related fields, while the Dream Weavers can be considered a spiritually-grounded group of dragons who are experts in the field of meditation. Then there’s the extra sixth sector known as Gnasty’s World (Residence of main antagonist Gnasty Gnorc, who holds no true political power under any circumstance; therefore, I will leave him out of the equation), which I’ll just shoehorn into the sanitation sector, even though it would still easily be associated with the working class (Artisans).

With the exception of Gnasty’s World, these groups all serve an equally vital role in establishing the economic stability and societal foundation of the Dragon Worlds, in the form of a confederation. Now if you folks are wondering what that’s supposed to mean, here’s the definition; “an organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.” For a historical example, the United States operated in this manner under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, which was ratified in 1781 and formed a society whose power lay mostly in the hands of the member states. Up until 1789, these states could establish laws without having to worry about a federal government trampling over those laws since the existing equivalent had far less political power than the one present (Reference.com).

Revisiting my view from the previous paragraph, it can be noted that each of the first five sectors can be viewed as separate, autonomous states that, in spite of their different approaches to solving daily situations, hold a common view of some sort that unites them into a larger entity. While it’s not known in canon if the sectors that dragons live in have ever come into conflict with each other at any point, I will bring up some backstory later on that may be worth identifying.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage: Empire (Middle)

Now looking at the titular villain and his path to wretchedness, picture him as this small, colonial society. From what we’re aware of based on the context provided in-game, Ripto and his cronies have no idea that Avalar (The main setting of this sophomore title) even exists at first. Now keep in mind that since Ripto despises dragons, he’s picky about where he wants to expand his influence. But anyway, once he finds himself in this dragon-free dimension, it becomes the perfect opportunity for Ripto to slowly nibble away at the land until there is no more for him to take over, aka, colonize. Of course, once Spyro shows up, the horned, red midget becomes rather peeved, prompting him and his goons to actually begin setting up the framework for his proposed kingdom.

Throughout the events of the game, Ripto not only uses his magic to spread his negative influence across the dimension (AKA: Cause various beasts and baddies to run amok and result in calamity), but we are also shown the blue banners of Avalar being rolled back in favor of emblems donning the antagonist’s mug, THRICE. According to my searches, an empire is defined as, “an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, formerly especially an emperor or empress.” In this case, Ripto can easily be seen as emperor because at his highest position, he holds control over not just his two reptilian brutes (Who serve as a metaphor for his “kingdom” at its most basic), but also numerous realms scattered throughout Avalar, each serving as their own formerly independent municipalities until he enters the picture.

Now here’s another point: even with Spyro around, Ripto still feels the need to settle in Avalar because there are no dragons around other than Spyro himself currently present to scare him away, which thereby gives him access to a shipload of land and resources. When it came to real-life empires, they were strategic regarding which areas to conquer. For example, the Roman Empire wouldn’t go east into modern-day Germany because the cost of conquest in that area was far above the monetary worth earned from the extractable resources available in that region (The Daily Reckoning).

Moving on, the western half eventually collapsed primarily due to internal conflicts over power that left them exposed to outsiders (The eastern half, dubbed “The Byzantine Empire,” managed to survive until 1453, when it fell to Turkish invaders as a result of their victory in the Byzantine-Ottoman wars). In-game, the biggest reason Ripto is defeated is because he overlooks the possibility of Spyro collecting Avalar’s sacred talismans and orbs, which collectively allow the young dragon to pass through the barriers that separate both parties.

Spyro: Year of The Dragon: Totalitarian State (Right)

Jumping ship to the final third of the original Spyro trilogy, we now examine the Forgotten Realms and its central government in the form of the despotic, blue crocodilian-esque Sorceress. Now the previous two games sugarcoated their subject matter immensely (Though the second game still views the concept of an empire as a detrimental idea), but this time the game doesn’t make things look as rosy. First and foremost, The Sorceress displays a position of superiority around anyone in her vicinity, and in an overly aggressive manner most of the time. Already, we’re seeing her being established as a straw tyrant; alas, there is still so much more to discuss regarding the Forgotten Realms operating as a political body that blatantly abides by the guidelines of totalitarianism. Now where do we begin on this topic?

My first point of conversation in this segment is that unlike Gnasty Gnorc or Ripto in the previous two games (Now although the latter does become “ruler” near the end of his respective game, he doesn’t spend nearly enough time to be officially considered a grand-high patriarch by any of the residents of Avalar), The Sorceress is a formally-recognized monarch, is referred to as such by the inhabitants of the Forgotten Realms, and to make matters much worse, has been ruling this same exact dimension, in the same throne for AT LEAST 1000 YEARS. Not only that, but at one point, the dragons currently living dwelling in the Dragon Realms once lived in the Forgotten Realms. But when they left, they took their magic with them and as the centuries passed, magic began to drain and caused their fancy-schmancy portals to stop working. We’re convinced to think that the reason The Sorceress has become so wary of Spyro’s presence is because he will disrupt her plans to gather the eggs they had stolen from the dragons; she is supposedly gathering them in order allow this upcoming generation of winged reptiles to bring magic back to the dimension she rules over.

I will bring up that part about the dragons and the eggs again, but there is an important detail that points further to establishing The Sorceress as an antagonist known for taking full advantage of her position over everyone around her and therefore preventing anyone from reasoning with her other than Spyro and a slew of animal friends she had recently imprisoned. A little more than a quarter way into the game, Spyro finds himself in a realm known as Enchanted Towers; it is here that he discovers that a slew of lavender-skinned counterculture humanoids had been tasked with erecting a statue built in their highness’ likeness.

There’s just so much to talk about regarding what the statue situation represents, but first let me define what this government is. Totalitarianism is described as being, “a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.” The aforementioned statue in Enchanted Towers is probably one of the biggest pieces of evidence pointing to the Forgotten Realms operating under that kind of system. To start, the Sorceress displays unrivaled power in the world she inhabits and no one dare beg to differ with her on that matter. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that the citizens of Enchanted Towers mention that they certainly did not enjoy creating this tremendous work of art (Though they agree that it looks prettier than the actual character herself, further driving the sense of rebellion in), but they completely understand that going against what The Sorceress is telling them to do is like flirting with death.

You, the reader, have to realize that this is a form of government where there isn’t a legislative or judicial system to limit executive power. Heck, that’s not even getting into the fact that the denizens of the Forgotten Realms have neither a right to free speech nor the freedom to vote in elections, as far I’m aware. It’s certainly no fun living in a society where one person holds all the social and political power and you’re not that one person, nothing delightful about that (And there’s nothing anyone can do to change the fact unless someone successfully uses force to overthrow the one in power so they wouldn’t be able to enforce their laws any longer).

Before getting to the climax of this essay, it’s that time I bring up a real example. Although I’d be talking about a dictatorship along the lines of Nazi Germany, I’ve decided to take a more interesting example from further back in history. The Qin Dynasty, an empire to which China borrows its name from, relied on an authoritarian set of regulations that would become hugely influential to every Chinese-based dynasty that followed. Although it only lasted from 221 to 207 BC, there’s still some valuable information to extract from this chapter of human history. It also makes sense for me to select this example because the game’s title, Year of The Dragon, references a specific birth year on the Chinese Zodiac (Speaking of which, the year the game itself originally released just happened to land on a dragon year, which only happens once every twelve years).

Now allow me to continue with the example. Under the commissioning of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the very first leader of a unified China, came a standardized system of writing and a strictly-guided formula for measuring the width, weight, and length of highways. Huang also oversaw construction of what would become the first section of The Great Wall of China and eventually went on to abolish the feudal system that flourished during the Zhou Dynasty decades earlier (In which landowners owed allegiance to the emperor as a result of kinship rather than fulfilling legal obligations). In addition, he commissioned the burning of almost all of the books currently available in that region at the time, only sparing those that provided information on topics like medicine and issued gigantic tax levies in an effort to pay for his military and construction expenses. This matrix of catastrophes led to a rebellion following Qin Shi Huang’s death in 210 BC, which went on to ultimately knock the Qin Dynasty out of power and make room for the Han Dynasty roughly 3-4 years later (Britannica).

Now what I’ll be explaining next is going to be extremely horrifying in hindsight, so grab your popcorn and hold your breath. While exploring Evening Lake, the third home world of the game, Spyro’s close friend Hunter winds up in a subterranean trap set up by The Sorceress that was meant for Spyro himself to prevent him from collecting any more of the dragon eggs that she desperately wanted to remain untouched. He is then approached by her servant, a magician-in-training named Bianca (To whom he has a developed a liking for over the course of the synopsis), who comes to tell the caged cheetah that the reason the dragons left so many years ago was because it had to do with their wonderful wings. As they began to realize that the obese blue saurian autocrat wanted to clip them off to give her immortality, they had no choice but to find solace in another reality. Linking this information to Spyro 1, we can now go back to viewing the example of confederation as the United States during the era of the Articles of Confederation, trying to recuperate from their religious tension with the monarchy of England and emigrating from there before ultimately deciding to settle in North America and establish a self-governed nation over the course of several decades. In the Spyro continuity, the dragons succeeded in building an autonomous series of societies in the then-vacant Dragon Realms following their disastrous affair with The Sorceress, where they then proceeded to push aside Gnasty Gnorc to the wastelands at some point later in time so they would have enough room to properly establish their footing in this uncharted land.

But sadly, that is not the end of the suspense; when Bianca returns to her master’s throne room, she discovers a dreadful truth she hadn’t been aware of until now. Ever since her henchmen brought the yet-to-hatch eggs back from the Dragon Worlds, The Sorceress hoarded them not because she wanted them to return their magic to the Forgotten Realms once they did hatch, but because she wanted to KILL THEM FOR THEIR WINGS LIKE SHE ATTEMPTED TO DO WITH THE ADULT DRAGONS BEFORE THEY LEFT. What she’s basically telling us is that she plans on committing an act of GENOCIDE ON AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF NEWBORNS in a similar manner to how Hitler promoted the large-scale massacre on an enormous number of Jews during the Holocaust.

With not a pinch of sympathy for anyone but herself by this point, the malevolent indigo monarch has become nothing short of a filthy caricature for the horrors of tyranny and dictatorship. By the way, she didn’t have to kill the newborns at all for that to happen, she just felt the need to do so JUST BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T WANT TO SEE THEM SQUIRMING AROUND IN HER QUARTERS. Prompting a drastic change of heart, Bianca decides to cease working for her master, opting to rescue Hunter from the trap her former supervisor had set up in Evening Lake. Fed up with the treason her lackey recently committed, The Sorceress decides to create an absurdly powerful, bat-winged monster intended to annihilate practically everyone in her opposition (Simply put, that means almost the entire population of the world she governs, plus Spyro and some of the friends he bought along).

Even though Spyro manages to eradicate The Sorceress for good, (Much to the satisfaction of the Forgotten Realms inhabitants) the atrocious myriad of actions she takes during that one game position her as an antagonist who is regarded as a dark villain for a normally light-hearted sugar bowl series like Spyro, thereby leaving an indelible mark on the narrative of that franchise’s continuity. Serving as a harsh critique for the concept of autocracy and its consequences on the people, Spyro: Year of The Dragon uses a surprisingly pathos-inducing series of events that favors a call to action for executive reform, appealing to the wants and needs of the governed rather than the desires and aspirations of the government itself.

Sources:

Kirby Super Star: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/39dbqi/kirby_super_star_is_a_marxist_critique_of_the/

Confederacy: https://www.reference.com/government-politics/examples-confederate-government-230a5f967d7f24fa

Empire: https://dailyreckoning.com/how-empires-really-work/

Totalitarian State: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qin-dynasty

https://www.reference.com/history/feudalism-ancient-china-8ddd0bf737a29fc5

#spyro reignited trilogy #spyro the dragon #playstation games #i need to post more often #my very first critique #enjoy ur day

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survivorindia · 7 years

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Stop fucking flirting with me, I don’t think you’re that cute- Julia (Episode 7)

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Well, I'm glad we won again because, surprise surprise, I've been sorta inactive! Woops.... And, I honestly can't wait for merge so I can be with Dom again!

Ok I'm making a newbie alliance and gonna throw next couple comps to make returnees in minority. Going into merge at 12 or 11 have newbie majority 7-5 We want an exciting season right? Up to F7 -> All Newbies Take all villains to f4 Take me out F4 Simples Probably take Lexi (Rubens girl)out at f8 Which is why Alex or Julia is going this round Jordan will get blindsided bc idol. Sarah's fucking fake and can't keep her fucking mouth shut Julia's mouth we already discussed where that's at.

So Dom told me he found the idol again but jokes on him, Sarah told me a day ago so oops I'm on to you Dom, sneaky sneaky. We won the challenge, it was basically me who did everything so i feel pretty good about it. Ashley is worried about the other tribe throwing comps to take out the returnees which is scary, idk if its true or not but its worrying. I feel like were swapping tonight and I am praying that Jaiden goes home tonight, like praying. Anyways thats it

Okay what the FUCK is happening. Idk if there is a split or if I'm being lied to. I'm pushing for Dom to go because he told me he has an idol and like, I think he's going to come for me later. I don't know what else to say. If I get voted out, then I'm at peace with myself. Robin has been manipulating this vote very well and I respect her immensely for doing so, but shit will go down tonight if I'm not careful. I'm trying to be careful. God.

So I'm pretty positive that the Returnees apparently have an alliance now. Everybody has been pretty blunt about that. Which is frustrating because I hate when people play the game like that. "Oh yeah, we've played before so lets work together duh duh duh" Like grow up! That's not how the game should be played. Whatever the case is, I'm making sure tonight's vote is for who I think is most willing to be apart of that group. So I'm stuck between Alex and Julia. I want to trust Alex, I really do. However I can't help think that he's with that group. And if he is, he's MUCH bigger of a threat than Julia. So it's a tough choice, but I think I know what needs to be done....

I've recieved votes at every tribal I've attended smh. I'd love to know to it was that actually voted me. In my mind I believe it's Sarah, but we won't know until the end! I honestly hope that I can make it to merge, or at least a swap, and still have allies. It's not easy being one of the only new kids left.

These are the sketchiest people I've ever had the pleasure of playing with istg

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It was clear Whitney was going home. The way that I see this game (which isn't very heroic of me lol), any paranoia where I know what caused the paranoia is good paranoia. Hopefully this vote makes people question who is really with who, disrupt the tribe hierarchy, and finally bring Liam closer to me b/c he can't trust anyone else... even tho I voted him. http://vocaroo.com/i/s0I9KmtgnLdi

I never made a confessional regarding the Johnny boot. So here's that one. My initial plan was to get Ruben to split the vote 3-3-2; 3 on Johnny, 3 on Jaiden, 2 on whoever those two vote. Then I'd get me/Jaiden/Johnny/Julia to vote for Dom and get him out with his idol. Then Ruben told Jaiden they weren't splitting the vote, so we tried to do a double split. Ruben was thinking I would be voting for Jaiden, and Johnny would be voting say Ruben, so they'd send a vote my way to get it to tie three ways and get me out 5-1-1-1 if the idol gets played. Then Johnny/I go back to vote out Dom so it's 4-3-1. Obviously none of that worked and Johnny got out because Jaiden decided to play both sides. I would have respected him if he just straight out voted Johnny or drew rocks with us. But he did worse by telling Dom to play his idol while still voting him out. So now Jaiden fucked up his chances with both groups by playing both sides horribly.

So now I have to play damage control. I take an hour to talk with Dom to apologize for voting him out, and he seems fine? But that's what's awful about it. He shouldn't be this passive about it but he is. I don't trust him as a human being solely because of the way he talks. Well, that and a few other reasons, but I have to go into this whole shit. Gavin wants to work with me to get out Jordan Pines's group. He's had this plan worked out and it seems great. The best part about it is that Gavin and I don't seem like we'd be a pair. We're on opposing tribes, and we haven't mentioned each other's name to anyone else. That was until today. We played a mini and apparently we talked with each other a bit too much? So Dom went to tell Sarah (which effectively tells Jordan Pines and Julia) that he wants to split up me and Gavin. So I'm extremely spooked about that. It's tearing me apart because Dom told me that we were on good terms but obviously not. And I even confronted him about it, he didn't deny saying my name but he did deny wanting me out. It's just confusing. The only reason I knew about Dom's idol was because of Gavin. But Dom is blaming Pines's group. Or at least I thought he was. But apparently Dom talks with them consistently despite the fact that they tried to get him out. It's baffling to me, I really don't understand it. ~~~~~~~~ We lost the challenge today, and I was the only one to work on it. We got a shit score and that is my fault, but what else could I do? They didn't wanna work. I thought they were throwing the challenge to get rid of me (and I still do). Jaiden wants to get out Dom and I don't see it happening. But I want to talk to Ruben about Dom's relationship with Pines, Sarah, Casey, Ashley, etc. Dom knows a lot of these people despite being a new player. He's really dangerous, and it's frightening to me that despite his claims of them working against him he's still working with them.

So I believe that I will be the one going home tonight. Trying to make things easy with a Jaiden vote to calm my nerves and then send me packing. I pray that's not what happens. I've had such a fun time in this game, to go out now right before a potential swap would be devastating. I'm trying to talk with people, I really am. But at most I can try and flip a vote towards Julia, otherwise Alex's journey is a really short one this time 'round, and it's disappointing. One last confessional before tribal! Jordan Pines may give me his idol so that's exciting. I'd play it on myself obviously. If he doesn't I have to rely on Ruben and Dom and that's frightening for me. I don't trust them a whole lot and just having the idol would be so much better.

Well, I haven't really been able to sit down and record anything for a while, mostly due to midterms and laziness. But since midterms are up and done, and Regan will murder us if we don't do jack, I guess I can inform you my lovely viewer of what has been up with yours truly. Well, swap was a thing and I got on a tribe with Ashley and Gavin. Everyone seemed willing to mend fences with me after Karen Gate but still... I don't really trust them. Gavin is clearly a lot smarter then I had given him credit for and Ashley is far more resourceful. Any heroes alliance that will be formed after this I will be clearly on the bottom of. So I really do need to expand my options. Speaking of expanding my options... let's talk about my new tribe. I haven't talked at all to Liam but I know someone is targeting him and I find that hilarious. Seriously who ever did that deserves a fucking medal, that was pretty brilliant. I wish I thought of it, though I would have voted for Jordan because he would likely have the most reaction out of it. You already know how I feel about Ashley and Gavin, love them but trust them as far as I can throw them. As for the newbie villains, I get along great with Lexi G. Literally I love her sense of humor and how open she is about her terrible social skills. She is definitely someone I want to work with. Wish she wasn't dead all the time though... I've barely talked to Casey but on the One World Call she seemed pretty okay. I'm not sure if there is a future in us working together but I wouldn't be against. I'm not really sure about their strategic abilities but Lexi seems to be more proactive, as she actively tried to communicate with me during the vote. Casey seems more laid-back. But we've only really had one vote, which was more of a glorified medivac tbh, I'm not sure if any information gathered is worth any salt. No on to the returnee villains, Sarah and Jordan. I have the unique distinction as a tumblr survivor player, to be someone who unironically likes Jordan Pines.I appreciate his intelligence and think he is really funny. In most mini games I've been in with him, I was able to work with him successfully. He showed me he had an idol so I think he trusts me as well. The problem is, he is close with Gavin. They played together before and while Jordan has made me aware of this, I'm worried that he would choose him over me if he is put in a situation to chose. I will not retaliate, not now anyway, but should come up with a back up alliance assuming he does do something stupid. I've played only one game with Sarah and we were never on the same tribe, so I don't really know how she functions. I am planning to go back through old confessionals she made in other games to get a better read on her. Still, I really like talking to her and I think she likes talking to me. She's really nice and plays along with my weird scenarios about murder and black magic. IDK I just want her to be around for along time. Not sure why...

So voting Whitney out was for the best, I hadn't even spoken a word to her so I mean it didn't really mess with any of my plans either way. My tribe is still really chill. Gavin and I are still tight, idk who he is talking to besides me but I trust that I am still his #1 just as he is mine. Jordan seems to want to try and make things work between us for this game, as things didnt go too well for us in the last game we played together. We are also semi working together in Sweden and I think he is really seeing he can trust me which is good. This challenge with the gifs is kind of tough, I am usually on mobile and sending and getting gifs is usually hard, so I am going to try and help as much as I can storywise, hopefully it will be enlugh for people to not want me gone if we lose. All in all I think I am in an okay place. I am also hoping Alex makes it to merge, cuz hopefully he can also still trust Gavin and I and be willing to work with us.

Okay so this was supposed to be an easy tribal. Lexi, Ruben, Dom, and I have an alliance chat. We had the majority but Dom had to go out and tell Alex everything we said. I don't understand why he would even do that. Alex voted for you last tribal Dom! Why are you suddenly trusting him?!?!?! Dom's not stupid I know that. There's probably some plot that I'm not aware of. I've seen he's very close to the returnees so that brings up suspicions for me. Alex said there is some kind of returnee pact but that he's not part of it. At this point I don't know what to believe. I told Ruben about it and I mentioned possibly changing the target to Dom. It would only make sense to change our votes now that the plan is out and an idol can potentially be played. Ruben insists that we keep our votes locked on Alex. I talked to lexi though and she doesn't agree. I honestly only trust lexi right now. I'm so paranoid. This stress is worse than my first tribal when the vote tied. Im exhausted!!

So i did not help out with the challenge because i was not around all day yesterday. The vote went from jaiden, to alex, and now to julia so thats a big ol mess. I could probably be targeted tonight but thats my own fault for literally not talking to anyone. Robin doesnt trust dom anymore as i really dont either since alex knew everything that was said in our alliance chat. I'm only trusting him for ruben sooo. I honestly trust robin the most. so i locked my vote fr julia. lets see how it goes

#youdontgetmycrownjustcause

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