#and yes by some I mean Frieza and King Cold

[dollwrites]

There’s a whole list of anime father/son duos that I would take ( not in a fight ) and some of them are hear me outs …..

[paganminiskirt]

Like Frieza and Vegeta’s relationship was absolutely abusive and exploitative from start to finish but I think people write it wrong. Well not wrong, just in a way that I personally believe removes the deeper horror in favor of an easy depiction of what a relationship like that looks like. He’s not getting strung up and whipped or locked in a cell to cry, he’s getting his chin scratched by a person who uprooted him from everything he had ever known on a whim and destroyed the culture upon which he founded his most nascent sense of identity. And that person is only keeping him alive because despite it all, he’s useful, and kind of cute, especially now that all the other Saiyans are dead. Vegeta’s a small child being made to commit atrocities for profit an amusing little novelty, still using the honorifics & regurgitating the legends of a planet that’s been obliterated. DBS is not a perfect sequel by any means but it did this part so, so well. “All hail Vegeta, prince of no one.” “I always thought you shined the brightest when you were serving as my pet.”

Sickening, yes? And the intimacy is the worst part, the realization that Frieza seems to favor him; seems to like him. Who knows, maybe Vegeta reminded him of himself at some ancient, half-forgotten stage of life. King Cold did drop him like a hot potato as soon as he was proven weaker than Trunks. Maybe that’s the whole reason he made King Vegeta give up his kid in the first place. Frieza’s relationship with his father is shallow and dependent entirely on his value as a soldier, the underlying cruelty of which they’ve both silently agreed to use superfluous affection to cover up? Fine. He’s gonna make the Saiyan king give up his own militarized child prince. He’s gonna strip away the cultural justifications for what he’s doing to his son by making him treat it like the cold, spineless profiteering that it always was. He’s gonna rub it in.

But hey, he’s not mad at the kid. It was his dad who got too big for the barrel. Vegeta is still serving his purpose, Vegeta is still being good. Why wouldn’t Frieza treat him in accordance with his “station,” even after it’s been rendered an empty title because of him. All he has to do is keep spinning the wheel on the Cold Empire, vomiting out violence into the endless vacuum of space & never getting too uppity about his dead father or dead planet or about the fact that, even when reduced to the most baseline level of childish narcissism, the state which this arrangement has emotionally stunted him into maintaining well into adulthood, he never actually wanted any of this. He didn’t want to leave Planet Vegeta! He didn’t want to grow up surrounded by strangers! He didn’t want to have no claim over anything he ever achieved! He wanted to work for himself! It wasn’t his choice!!! For all of Vegeta’s dickswinging and hierarchy and “pride,” he is so, so helpless, “like a tiny insect glowing in a jar,” as Frieza so helpfully summarized for us. Overcorrection layered on overcorrection layered on overcorrection layered on desperate, screeching fear and sadness and shame. Blow up a planet. Nuke a city. Wipe out a village. Fix It Again, Tony.

And that viciously indulgent cruelty that Vegeta used to comfort himself as he grew into a man is only emphasized by how blasé Frieza appears to be about the whole thing. He’s calm. He’s secure. He spends half the arc sitting down, just watching. He’s what Vegeta was in the first part of the Saiyan saga, and he slowly turns into what Vegeta slowly turned into in the second part of the Saiyan saga. An addled, wounded, unthinking mess, trying to put their self image back together as someone else’s superior ability causes it to crumble. Frieza was scared of the super saiyan. Under all that collected ambivalence, that whole time, he was scared.

Vegeta is Frieza’s heir. As gross as that incongruent, unwanted warmth is to witness, Frieza succeeded in establishing influence over & connection between himself and the child he orphaned. And the process of healing from that relationship involves Vegeta going back to square one and having to acquiesce to another foreign, combat oriented culture populated by vaguely hostile strangers. He gets new clothes. He gets a new place to train. He gets new tasks to perform. He gets called cute.

Like. It’s not physical torture, at least not as we usually imagine it. It’s this slow poisoning of a person’s ability to trust and connect with others, a process which is gussied up by regular assertions of fondness, so casual & consistent that you have to actively remind yourself that the guy who’s doing it sees Vegeta as a literal subhuman, and is only being good to him the way you’d be good to a valued piece of property. He tortured him to death, but he still thinks he was a good pet. Vegeta’s life was Frieza’s to end, but his feats of wanton destruction were also his to be proud of.

That’s the whole reason why Vegeta’s character development was slow, ugly and recidivist. Because it was his knowledge of how to grow, of how to exist any other way, that Frieza intentionally eroded for his own selfish, petty gain. And for a relationship between a man with a monkey tail and his pink-skinned alien overlord, the most uncomfortable part about the dynamic is that it’s realistic. Common, even.

[bliss-wily]

More hcs from my silly little head - seems to be the direction this is going in and I’m going to run with it. Using this as my space to let me thoughts run wild as I deal with lovely headaches~

This time? Frieza and maybe his family! Read below to find out~

Note: In my mind Cooler and Kuriza are canon. I know they aren’t but this is my version so meh.

•Smooth yet scaly skin.

•Don’t talk to him until he’s had his grape juice.

•And yes, grape juice.

•No wine for the space lizard - his father wants all the wine for himself.

•King Cold is a wine mom. And maybe a soccer mom, Freezy Pop is his little boy.

•”MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS”

•”JUST WAIT UNTIL MY FATHER HEARS ABOUT THIS”

•Also, definitely still calls King Cold ‘daddy’.

•A daddy’s boy.

•Frieza had Kuriza simply to have an heir.

•Ends up loving the little brat but won’t admit it.

•Zarbon is designated babysitter.

•King Cold definitely had Zarb babysitting his two boys as well.

•And yes, every elite is older than Frieza~

•My proof? Broly! I took plenty of screenshots of one part of that movie because…Frieza Force! Can’t find the rest of my screenshots but just some cans several of the elites are present.

(Also for some reason Jeice’s arm is not covered in his spandex? Oh well, think it’s an error as he is covered in other parts of his cameo. Also Zarb has white shoes instead of brown. Ah excuse my rambling!)

•Anywayyy…Berryblue was basically the nanny for the two boys (Frieza and Cooler).

•Also, Freezy Pop is very insecure of his height - hence why his aides are shorter than him.

•Zarbon and Dodoria are his right hand men, they are allowed to be taller.

•Despite being expendable, I think Zarbon was Frieza’s closest confidant.

•And by god - no one insults his two right hand men. Sorbet got an earful for comparing Tagoma to them after all, only he gets to speak bad about them!

•If you’re good to him, he will be good to you. Unless you become a threat and stand in his way of course! Can’t have that!

•Heavily relies on Zarbon and Berryblue respectively. I think Zarbon is tasked with anything and everything, whether that’s changing the emperor’s bed or helping him with his sense of style.

•The two are friendly BUT IT IS VERY CONDITIONAL.

•Keeps Zarbon close as I feel the two would agree on certain things: skincare, presentation, aesthetics…plus both nepo babies in my opinion. They’d have plenty to talk about.

•Dodoria can be Karen, it’s like space Mean Girls.

•Future Warrior from Xenoverse can be Cady.

Now I’m getting off track…I’m sorry these are always rambly, I’m very unprofessional.

•Frieza still acts like a child and the universe to him is his toy box.

•His favourite toys are closest to him though.

•Blinded by his obsession to beat Goku.

•And due to this blindness I think Cooler has the potential to be stronger.

•Cooler I imagine is the more mature and less sadistic of the two.

•Cooler is more well rounded; better to his men, and despite the fact he would and could kill Frieza - anyone else touches his little brother? Oh there’s hell to pay! Only he’s allowed.

•Highly unbothered that Frieza is the favourite - if anything, to Cooler, that just means more freedom to an extent.

•Actually takes his role seriously.

•Salza is his Zarbon in this scenario - he doesn’t need a Berryblue though as Cooler is mature enough to lack a babysitter.

•I think Cooler would be a good uncle to Kuriza, I don’t think he would hold a grudge towards the little one.

•Speaking of Kuriza…this boy I imagine to be a ray of sunshine!

•Just to totally go against Frieza’s personality - Kuriza loves sports, art, games, playing with toys, etc.

•Just a sweet kid but has combat prowess.

•And his cuteness means the members of the Force let the little Lord get his way.

•Zarbon especially, he wouldn’t let anything happen to that boy.

•Nor would Ginyu, I think he would be the honorary sixth member.

•Although I think Zarbon, Frieza, and Bonyu would discourage the posing aspect.

•Kuriza will be the only ‘sane’ member of the family.

•Loves his daddy, uncle and gramps - and his other uncles and aunties in the form of the elite force members.

•Well mannered and behaved.

•I will assume much like the Namekians, Frieza’s race/Icejins/Frost Demons reproduce asexually. Sure Cold and his two sons are highly attractive but I doubt they have the time.

•Now for Cold! Wine mom as I said. Loves wine, loves retirement.

•Calls Cooler by his name, Frieza gets all the nicknames from ‘Princess’, ‘Freezy Pop’, ‘Prince’, ‘Free’, ‘Freezy Baby’, etc. super embarrassing dad vibes.

•At all royal/political/whatever events the PTO are involved in just know this man is coming with all the most embarrassing pictures of his two boys. Frieza especially.

•A very proud daddy, doubt he ever let Frieza out of his sight when the tyrant was young.

•Also, raising Kuriza most of the time. I don’t think he wants to see his grandson getting hurt.

•Rarely sober, always at least a little tipsy.

•Very refined, expensive taste, probably had Zarbie as his favourite minion as well.

•His private residence is family photos, definitely had to bribe Frieza into behaving.

•Also…loaded but in an old money sense.

•Could be stronger than his two boys, but who’s got time for that? Or need? Nah…wine, luxuries; and his boys. That’s what matters most.

•Wine snob - whole family are. Well apart from Frieza and Kuriza - expensive grape juice!

•Sees Cooler as an adult, sees Frieza as his precious little baby.

It’s like nearly 3am here; these are all over the place and I should probably sleep, but that’s my contribution for this early morning~

[dbfandom]

Alright, characters and emojis.

As you know, the Japanese fandom really likes to use symbols to talk about characters, it's a way to code the language without showing up in search functions. These are usually used for shipping, but not always.

Some characters are more obvious than others, but for those who may seem a little far reached, I will write a small explanation.

Some are established fanon-accepted, but they're not really strongly claimed, so some artists will use the same emoji for different characters. (And as always if you like what I’m trying to do, consider buying me a drink or a doujin with ko-fi) (twitter version btw)

So here's my list for Dragon Ball (🐉) :p

Saiyans and half-saiyans:

Goku: 🥕 (Kakarot -> carrot) or 5️⃣9️⃣

Vegeta: 🥗

Broly: 🥦

Raditz: 🦔 (the hedgehog hair lol)

Turles: 🥬(Tullece -> lettuce) or 🍎 (because of the fruit obviously)

King Vegeta: 👑 or 🔱 (they aren’t super common)

Bardock and his squad: no established emoji that I've noticed, but 🍅 should be for Toma (Tora in English). 🌿 should be for Fasha (Selipa in Japanese, which are the syllables for parsley (pa-se-ri). I’ve seen someone use 🦀 or 🩸 (the headband) for Bardock.

Gine: 🧅 I’ve seen this one once!

Cumber: 🥒

Caulifla: I haven’t seen an established one that, but 🔥 works for her hair.

Kale: 🥬

Cabba: 🥬 yes Cabba (cabbage) and Kale (.. kale lol) share the same emoji. Context!

Gohan: 🍚 ("fried rice" as lunch; the term rice is used as a way to talk about the entire meal, even if it does not contain rice); for Future Gohan, you'll find it with the kanji 未 mi, from mirai (future). 5️⃣8️⃣ sometimes too. Add in 🐺 for the beast version!

Goten: 🍤(TENpura) sometimes 5️⃣🔟. Tenpura (tempura) is a type of fried food, and it's used for Goten because (go)ten(pura) (he's nicknamed "ten" by Trunks).

Trunks: 🐯(tora(nkusu); Tora means tiger); for Future Trunks, you'll find it with the kanji 未 mi, from mirai (future).

Bra: 👙 usually. Sometimes 👸

Pan: 🍞 (bread, obviously)

Earthlings:

Chichi: 🥛🍼(her name means milk; both are used)

Ox King: 🐂 (only seen it once, but that’s because I don’t see many drawings of him lol)

Bulma: 🩲(bloomers) but she sometimes gets 💙

Yamcha: 🐺 (wolf techniques)

Krillin: 🌰 (kuririn -> chestnut). Marron sometimes gets the same emoji

Videl: 😈 (Videl -> Devil)

Mr Satan: 🥇or 🏆. He’s the world champion!

Tenshinhan: 👁️

Chaozu: 👲(not super common but I did see it twice)

Launch: 🔫 but I’ve also seen 🎭

Roshi: 🐢

Farmer with a power level of 5: 🌽

Uub: I did see 🌴 used ONE TIME..

Maron: 🩱 I’ve seen it once.

Androids/Artificial humans:

Android 16: 1️⃣6️⃣ or 🤖

Android 17: 1️⃣7️⃣ or 🤖

Android 18: 1️⃣8️⃣ or 🤖

Cell: 🦗 grasshopper or cicada due to his first form. 🆑 and 🧬 have also been used.

Android 21: 🧁

Gammas: 1️⃣ / 2️⃣ or 🍓 (ichigo which is also number 1) and occasionally Γ or γ sometimes (not emojis but still lol)

Aliens:

Piccolo: 🅿️ or 🍏 (he gives apples to Gohan early on). ピ is also super common (it’s the first katakana of his name), but it’s not an emoji. 🍊 for orange piccolo obviously.

Nail: 🐌

Dende: 🫑 or 🌱 (seen it once..)

Frieza: ❄️ I’ve seen this one a couple of times. 🧊 and 🥶 are sometimes used too, for him, King Cold or Cooler.

Tapion: 🗡️

Gods and Kais:

Zamasu:🍵 (the tea he drinks)

Goku Black: 🌹 (a rose by any other name..)

Chronoa: 🕛 or any alternative like⌛️

Shin: 😏 I’ve seen this one used twice, but nothing definitive.

Fusions:

Gotenks: 👻 has happened a couple of times; (Ry has told me 🍩 is also used)

Gogeta: 🥐 (because of the jacket)

Vegito: 🍬 (because he's the strongest candy in the world in the Buu Saga).

Merged Zamasu: 🌀or ❇️

Kefla: 💥 (seen it a few times but not definite either)

Others:

Buu: 🍫

Janemba: 👺 (not super common)

Beerus: 🍺

Whis: 🥃 (😇 has also been used it seems)

Champa: 🍾 or 🥂

Special thanks to Whirly for nudging me to compile further and to Popo and the twitter folks for using those emojis religiously haha

[lady-eris]

Chilled anon here. Yes, he appears in the anime in Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock. I think the English dub may be on Youtube.

Chilled Annon, You are a GOD SENT. I LOVE YOU. That episode was amazing oh my god. I won’t lie, I was expecting a mini Frieza look a like, who was exactly like him! I love how he’d looked! And the differences that you can clearly notice! I think the most I love about his design is the smooth, rounded, Curved lines and the warm colours! Compared to his descendants, who all have harsh lines, and cold colours! (Except potentially Kuriza?) which makes him stand out so much more! I love him!

Headcanon time

-family man. I know some people will disagree with me here on this one, but he is a family man. He cares about two important things, family and power. (Though it isn’t known which he cares more about)

-prefers sweets and sour candy/sweets, to any other food.

-his type is taller then him (which isn’t hard to do) so for all my fellow Chill lovers, this is easy to do😂

-Sadistic (i feel like this is something that is probably something, that most of the member's of the family are. certainly King Cold and Frieza, and potentially Cooler? i haven't seen enough of Kuriza to know with him)

-I feel like he'd be physically cold? That if you touch him, he'd be cold to the touch. Great for hot summers, awful for winter.

-He's a dick in relationships. for someone that doesn't have one, he can be quite an asshole. Sure he doesn't mean to be. He's just mean. He doesn't realise that he's hurt your feelings, till he does something really bad. i feel like once he's realised, he'd apologise, and try and show he does mean it. unlike other certain members of the cold family, he'd defiantly be more willing/able to say sorry.

-notices details, if theres a certain shade of gold/silver you like, congrats pretty much most of the stuff he gives you will be that coulour.

let's say you like the colours rose gold, and maroon, then you'll get a gift where the base colour is maroon and the details are rose gold.

[teenandbeyond]

I found you through frieza family hcs you made a while ago, may i ask something for them? Some angst because im evil

Essentially them with their s/o nearly dying in their arms due to injury? Oh how i love my favourites suffering ohoho

Frieza Family x Reader Angst HC's

I'm evil, too. Sure!

Want more from me? Masterlist 2

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

🧊Hold On🧊 (DBZ or Dragonball Z)

Warning(s): Mentions of blood and violence

They can't live without you...

✨✨✨✨✨

Frieza

Frozen at first

Trying to process what in the world happened

Then he snaps out of it when you cough up some blood.

He’s rushing over to you, feeling a little helpless as he tries to stop the bleeding.

“Frieza, calm down…”

“Calm down?! You’re—You’re…”

“I’ll be okay…”

He nods to reassure himself, “Yes, yes, you’ll be fine, I just need…”

“I’m tired.”

“Hey, no! If you close your eyes, I’ll kill you!”

    “Lookin… forward to it,” you chuckle.

    “[Name], hey!”

    Your eyes flutter closed, and you fall limp in his hold.

   “No…[Name]?...[Name], you better not be ignoring me…”

     The enemy watches from the other side, “Well, your little pet shouldn’t have meddled in our affairs.”

Carefully sets you down, shaking in rage

And full-on rampages on them.

He made it back to the ship with you after, practically screaming for a healer.

Paces back and forth for the next week, and can’t sleep.

More than a few things are broken, like his heart.

Until you save it.

“Frieza…are you crying? I’ve never seen you cry before. What’s wrong?”

He falls into a crouch in relief, “[Name]’s alive.”

“Of course, I’m alive.”

He zooms over to you caressing your face, running his hands down your arms and shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking.”

He’d had hallucinations before, he wanted to know you were real.

“Hey, I’m okay. Still got stitches, but I’m—”

“Why the hell did you walk all the way to my chambers then?! The infirmary isn’t anywhere close to here!”

“Because I wanted to see you as soon as I woke up,” you hold his shaking hand.

“Please, I beg of you, with everything I have…Never jump in my battles again.”

Cooler

In an instant, you’re in his arms as you collapse into the dirt a distance away.

“Damn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen! They weren’t supposed to get to you…”

With care and urgency, he finds materials to try and slow the bleeding.

“[Name]. [Name] can you speak to me, my love? Can you hear me?”

“Mhm.”

“Where are we right now?”

“On a…planet..uh, Zahra?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” he swallows his tears away, “And…what happened?”

“I remember I…I left from camp…”

“Why? Didn’t I tell you not to leave?”

“I know, I know, but there was a child…he was scared. Said, lost something—needed help.”

He sighed, forehead gently taping against yours, “You and your kind heart.”

“I followed him…thought he was acting a little weird, wasn’t telling me anything…Then—Then…He…damn it, he set me up,” you chuckle.

“Who did this?” he asked behind a clenched jaw.

“The guards—King’s guards.”

“Well, that just means I’ll have to kill all of them…And then we’ll leave this wretched planet and fix you right up, alright?”

“Okay.”

He drowned the kingdom in blood and rage, while you sat safely in camp, properly protected.

He returns, panicking when you don’t react.

But luckily, he saves you.

You live and he stays sane.

King Cold

“Who knew King Cold had a weakness?”

“Let [Name] go,” he grits out.

Your expression was solid, not satisfying the traitors with any fear.

“You killed our buddy, our teammate! So, now…we’ll take something important from you. Don’t move, I’ll gut your precious [Name] right here!”

“What is it that you want?” he glared, “I’ll give you whatever you want. Just leave them out of this.”

“What do we want? You can’t buy your way out of this one. We want blood to be spilled.”

“Enough of this, die” the other traitor aggressively stabs you.

“[Name]!” Cold growls.

They pull away from you as blood pools, but tense when the King’s power level blasts out of the roof.

Now that they don’t have you as a threat…

He lets loose.

You manage to drag yourself to a wall, leaning on it best you can.

He rushes over to you when finished, “[Name]! –Nurse!”

“I don’t think I’m going to…”

“Don’t say that, you’ll be just fine,” he lifted you gently into his arms, kissing your head.

“I’m getting blood all over your floors, sorry…”

“Don’t be sorry, my dear. Focus on staying with me, please?”

“I’ll try.”

“I can’t live without you,” he did his best to ignore the blood trailing down his arm.

[zamisriza-the-resurrection]

Destroying the Red Ribbon Army: Chapter 2

King Cold took them to the war room on his ship. It was just about everything one could expect from a space war room of the ruler of a multi-galaxy empire. There was holographs everywhere, especially on the war table itself. The war table showed the section of Earth around where the ship was. No one liked that these ships can scan their surroundings up to 1,000 kilometers, as the holographic map showed. 

“The first lab we are going to destroy is about 800 kilometers away from us,” Cold started to explain, “It is rather large, so we sent scouts to scan the place so we can get a floorplan.” 

“You can do that?” Krillin asked

“Of course, we obviously do not want to go in blind,” Cold stood over the table, using his hands to zoom in so he could see the lab up close. Everyone could see the floor plan slowly being generated before their eyes!

“Wow, that’s some sick tech. How is that happening?” Yamcha asked in awe.

“My scouts are using scanners that can detect things such as walls, vents, wire, depth, and more to scan the building from a distance. This is helpful in this particular case, as most of the building seems to be underground.” Cold answered

“And how are they doing that without being detected?”

“As you can imagine the scanners are designed to undetectable by several means of long distance detection. Not to mention the scanners they are using have a range of about 20 kilometers, so the scouts shouldn’t be detected unless they are physically seen.”

“Man, that explains how Frieza and Cooler kept finding us so quickly. I bet the scouters that these guys wear do similar things.” Tien said.

King Cold didn’t reply; he was thinking, carefully formulating a plan in his head as the floorplan formed before him. He was especially making sure to look for any rooms where any prisoners or test subjects might be held. Little did the heros know that King Cold was a military genuis. Considered the best Acorsican general of the millennia, not only did he amass and conquer the empire he’s known for today, he’s actually the first one of his family to rule. Earlier in life, before marriage was ever on his mind, he overthrew what is now called the Old Acorsican rule and everyone wanted him to be the new king, so he became king. Oh yeah, and he was only 15 when he did this. 

King Cold’s men got excited. It had been a while since the king had done a campaign himself, with the latest Acorsican campaigns being done by Frieza and Cooler. The new recruits that were with him especially wanted to see the King’s famed genius in action. In fact, it was already happening, with the gears turning in his head as more and more of the lab was revealed to him. The heros were certainly in for a treat when the time comes. 

Speaking of, the heros decided to go to another room and talk amongst themselves. They chose the training room to do so.

“Did you see the look on that guy’s face? He’s thinking really hard” Yamcha said.

“Yeah, it actually makes me kind of nervous. Imagine if Frieza or Cooler used that technology and their brains instead of just fighting us. What Frieza did to me on Namek was bad enough; I don’t want to know what they’re capable of when they actually think.” Krillin almost shuddered at the thought of one of the brothers actually waging war on Earth.

“Well at least we have Goku. I like to think that all that stops mattering when you’re fighting a Super Saiyan.” Tien reassured 

“Yes, but we also have to consider that we might not have Goku forever.” Piccolo pointed out, “He is a magnet for these kind of guys, from the Saiyans to Frieza on Namek to this upcoming Andriod invasion there will come a point where he will have to leave us. We have to continue training and getting stronger so we can show Goku that we can defend ourselves and what is important to us.”

Chaiotzu’s face said that he did not like the thought of that at all. 

“Guys come on, we’re not going to get anywhere with that mindset. Yes, we will all continue training but I’m not giving up on my friend Goku either.” Yamcha said confidently

“That is not what I meant but if that motivates them to train then fine” Piccolo thought to himself.

“Yamcha’s right, we gotta have faith, and hey, this whole war campaign with Frieza’s dad might not be so bad after all. Though I do wonder what he’ll have us do.” Krillin sat criss crossed on the floor

Tien, Yamcha and Chaiotzu did the same. Everyone knew they would have to rest up and not push themselves too hard before whatever mission King Cold was planning. It occurred to them that no one was actually experienced in actual war tactics, so it really will have to be them following orders at least until the plan goes awry, if it goes awry, that is.

[angrylilcyclops-talks]

I love your art 😻

Do you have any frieza family headcannons? (Frieza cooler king cold)

I'm kinda curious since your blog looks cool so I decided to ask

I am so so sorry for not responding back in JULY!

Yes I do have headcanons for the Cold family.

First and foremost, Cold is not a good dad. He messed up with Cooler and he's trying to make up for it with Frieza, which backfires cause he's a spoiled brat who gets what he wants no matter what. Even though Cold molded Frieza into that hot mess that doesn't mean he doesn't discipline him, which is pointless honestly.

Frieza is again, a spoiled brat. He's cold, calculative, and knows how to get his way especially from his father. He is also the prime example of "Daddys little Princess" like jesus christ dude. Now even though his father spoils him and he can get whatever he wants from him he is quite capable on his own, he works hard to get what he wants and he will get it, most of the time... looking at you Namek.

Cooler is the black sheep even though he hasn't done anything wrong, he just exists and he's neglected by his father and picked on by his little brother who he oh so wants to kill. He works so damn hard, like he will stay up and work his ass off until one of his men, Salza more than likely, comes in and tells him to chill and get some sleep. He doesn't want to admit it but he does want his dads praise and approve.

These are just headcanons for the series itself, this doesn't include my AU headcanons but they're pretty close if not the same.

[uhhhhhhhhhsblogyea]

♤| dragon ball shapeshifter au

storyline rundown

part two

tw: profanity !! a bit of gore and such

the story begins on kakarot's farm! he lives with his parents, bardock and gine, and his brother raditz.

kakarot takes his produce to the market to sell, talking to krillin who is a police officer watching over in case of robbery or stolen goods, with his wife 18 and his daughter marron.

he hangs out there and sells all his produce, making a whopping amount of money to give back to his mother to go towards their farm. so thats what he does.

later that night, raditz barged in through the door, huffing loudly and covered in purple blood. it had a reddish tint. gine and bardock jump to their feet, bardock still in his training gi and gine in her white shirt and some sweatpants. "raditz!? what happened?" bardock exclaimed, gine following up with "why are you covered in... purple blood!?" this caused kakarot to come out of his room in a rush, "h-h-holy s-shit! i didnt kill anyone i swear mom, mom, dad please, i wouldn't do that!" raditz panicked. "s-something tried to attack me! i didnt know what to do so i attacked back!!" he tries to wipe the blood off, it being on his face.

whatever happened, scared raditz enough to make him shake in fear and what seems to be regret despite it being to protect himself.

kakarot however, still was unsure what happened. his father said he would explain in the morning, the situation was too dire for kakarot to get involved - especially with the police.

in town, vegeta covered his bloodied chest, panting as he hid deep in an alleyway. "goddammit," he huffs, slicking his hair back to keep the human bangs out of his face. hes got a huge gash across his chest, thanks to that damned raditz he happened to work with. luckily, he was morphed into some other alien lifeform and not his original shift state. he slowly morphed into a bird, a finch, and flew off to him apartment. he always kept his window cracked just in case this were to happen. just his luck, we wont be able to eat and to heal he needs that energy for food or else hell be out asleep for awhile.

he decides calling off work, so thats what he does. what he doesnt expect is a man with a thick ass fucking tail and slicked back purple hair and red eyes to be reading a book, lounging like a king on his bed. "f... frieza!?" vegeta says, startled.

"ah hello my creation! lovely seeing you here, dont you think?" he throws the book off to the side, getting up and striding over to the bloodied vegeta. "aw looks like you got a paper cut." he jabs a finger into vegetas cut across his chest. vegeta groans in pain, a tentacle whipping around to hit frieza away into a safer distance, but the icejin blocks smoothly with his muscled tail.

from here:

wow!! you found out vegeta is a "creation" of friezas, but what exactly does that mean?

raditz gets taken in for questioning. he gets blamed for a murder that happened on the otherside of town, the law system being dumb sentenced him to 25 years in prision for a murder he didnt do

kakarot is confused, bardock telling him there arent any alien threats and it was a misunderstanding on the jury and judge's parts bc raditz was getting mugged and a murder far away happened at roughly the same time, and they were desperate to throw someone into jail.

this is a lie, to some extent. kakarot believes it, living happily thinking there are no threats

vegeta attacked raditz, needing food. shapeshifters need to eat hearts and lungs of animals as food

raditz is the one who cut him across the chest (thatd why he has a scar on his chest in the ref sheet)

kakarot has to bring crops and milk into a market farther into town sometime in the next week, it being an event ran by capsule corp, a company that produces a lot of housing and vehicles and being in business for 40 years being the anniversary that day.

vegeta is a mechanical manager, wearing fancy clothing that day since its technically a high spot in the ranks for capsule corp.

vegeta likes milk, surprisingly. it helps a lot when recovering damage, especially his species. this is when he meets kakarot

kakarot is running his stand with the crates of crops and glass jars of milk set out on display with their price, krillin with him

vegeta is annoyed he has to speak up to get the seller's attention so he grunts with an "ahem"

kakarot jumps, apologizing and asking what he wants to buy. vegeta gets his milk and some vegetables for someone he knows

"hey, whats with the fancy suit?"

"you dont know who i am?"

"no. should i?"

"i-? im vegeta! im manager of the mechanics in capsule corp!"

"oh. is the job hard?"

they conversate, as kakarot sells his produce happily listening as he was able to get the short man with a temper to talk about his job.

vegeta himself was caught off guard by this action but happily talks

this ends in kakarot running behing the stand's curtain and grabbing his business card so vegeta can have a discount on milk next time he decides to buy

vegeta takes the card walking off

the card has kakarots name and number on the back, a message saying "text me personally if you want extra, i dont mind taking some. you seem cool!"

vegeta is a bit ticked, but pockets the card

over time, vegeta and kakarot talk over text a bit, kakarot delivering him milk like an old time milk delivery boy

turns out he actually used to be one as a kid

turns out hes been into marial arts as well, a long time interest of vegetas

they bond over this, kakarot find himself growing a crush on vegeta

one time kakarot stops buy with a delivery unannounced, not knowing he typed the text but didnt send it. he knocks on vegetas apartment door, but no answer.

he checks to see if its unlocked, and it is so he lets himself in, just wanting to put the delivery on the counter and head out.

he doesnt expect to turn around and see a vegeta with a towel wrapped around his waist, tentacles coming out of his back, green eyes, and sharp ears, teeth, and claws. "K-KAKAROT!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he yells, surprised. he doesn't have bangs either

"why do you have tentacles?? why do you look different? why do you have that scar?"

vegeta is caught off guard, not sure if he should push kakarot out or tell him the truth. one way or another he knows the truth will spread, so he carefully debates his options

he tells kakarot the truth, hes a shapeshifter and hes insanely dangerous

kakarot is surprised dangerous aliens exist

he tells vegeta this, and deep down vegeta is mad kakarot is sheltered

little do they know as they conversate and bond, growing closer to each other kakarot finds out vegeta made a vow not to ever get in a relationship no matter how much he envied them, especially a human relationship, a certain someone is watching them and listening in, theyre keeping tabs on vegetas and kakarots feelings

trust issues amirite?

later that night, kakarot says his goodbye heading home, heart pounding. wow!!!! vegeta is... great. very great. kinda cute too, i mean what!?? no!!

kakarot rants to himself aloud in his room, window open to keep himself cool, about vegeta as he debates his feelings. he doesnt care if this seems out of character in his friends terms, all they see from him anyway is a dense fightcrazed guy with a dysfunctional relationship with an ex and his son. he realized vegeta doesnt see him like that, but, what DOES vegeta see him as?

he calls it a night

he wakes up to a "thwap, thwap, thwap" against his wooden floor

he sits up, looking around and seeing a short figure sitting at his desk.

"whos there?"

"ah, youre awake monkey! i have valuable information for you, about your lovely vegeta." the voice is squeaky

"and, who is telling me this?" kakarots interest is piqued, not seeing the mysterious figure as a threat, as of now at least

"oh-hohoho! im dr. cold! but please, call me frieza. doctor cold is my father's name."

"and what do you have to tell me about vegeta?"

"mmm, are you sure you want to know?" he gets up, beginning to pace

"theres a catch isnt there" kakarot realizes, serious

"oh! maybe you arent so dense afterall. yes, there iss monkey. its simple, deliever some of your left over crop to my facility tomorrow, i already left the address on a paper over on that... pitiful little desk of yours." frieza pauses. "vegeta will kill you if you arent careful. hes hungry, and he wants that heart. but... i think the poor creation wants it in more than one way. kill him before he kills you."

frieza hands kakarot a box cutter

"thats the only thing that will kill him. if you dont do it i expect that delivery tomorrow by midnight. if you dont show, and theres no news of him being dead, youll be a brilliant collection to my creations, monkey!" the man laughs in joy, clasping his hands together as his red eyes pierce through kakarot

kakarot reluctantly agrees, unsure how this will play out

PART TWO WILL BE MADE SOON!!!

anyway heres the part 1 of the rundown.

[multiverse-in-archive]

((So like. I’m trying to get some sleep, but my brain keeps thinking about this shit so. I can’t-

So I’m putting all this shit under read more because I am just rambling.

Alright, so first of all, what’s bothering me is like. The Tuffle War shit. And I know it was only brought up in filler and then later on became a thing in GT, which is non canon, but like it’s pretty widely accepted.

So anyways. Apparently the war was ended at most a decade before Prince Vegeta was born at most, and then King Cold found them and annexed them into the at the time Cold Force.

And before then the Saiyans and the Tuffles were kind of coexisting somewhat, with the Tuffles either enslaving the Saiyans or the Tuffles just wanting to mind their own businesses peacefully depending on who you ask. But either way the Saiyans were mostly relegated to the wastelands on at the time Planet Plant until they are led to war by King Vegeta.

Problem I have though is that Bardock more or less says that Saiyans were conquering planets long before Cold found them. And Jaco even said that Saiyan children tend to keep their youth until adulthood [hence why Goku was so babby for so long in Dragon Ball], in which they sorta rapidly age into adults. And the reason for that is that it’s a deceptive trait they gained from evolution so that they could look unassuming and make conquering the planet easier [Think how dogs over time evolved to be cuter so humans would feed and take care of them, but more asshole like]. Implying that these bastards have been doing this for so long that they gained that as an evolutionary trait.

So how were they doing this shit if they were barely scraping by in the wastelands of Planet Plant?

Also apparently the general Saiyan culture was established as much more than scavengers for a long ass time. After all, apparently Nappa was born into a nobel family. So clearly the cast system/heierarchy was very much alive back when at least Nappa was born. Which wouldn’t make much sense pre planetary take over. Especially since that kind of shit takes time to develop

Either A the Tuffles were conquerers that used the Saiyans as muscle for gaining territory [which would go against the notion of the Tuffles being peaceful or at the very least non violent], B the Saiyan Tuffle War happened a long ass time ago [meaning that King Vegeta would not have even been alive to lead the war, though an ancestor of his potentially could], or C the Tuffles never existed [At least not in the way Toriyama envisioned them too]. Either way, it’s fucking with me.

Personally leaning more towards a bit of a fusion between B and C, because the Saiyans did come from Planet Sadala before they had to flee to what is now known as Planet Vegeta. And something had to have been there before them. Who knows, maybe it was the first of their conquest.

And also while we’re at it, since Saiyans were conquerers long before Cold came in and brought them into the army, wouldn’t that mean that there were likely potential Saiyan colonies all over the place? As tends to happen with this type of shit? Granted, Cold probably gathered them up and sent them back to Planet Vegeta, but you really think stubborn fuckers would have gone quietly?

Though granted, could be why the Saiyan populations wasn’t very big even before Frieza decided “Yes, let’s genocide”. Not just because Saiyans are more interested in fighting than fucking, but also because Cold decided to kill off those that refused to leave the colonies to go back to Planet Vegeta?

And god, you got to imagine the potential culture shock for some of those that did go back depending on how long the colonies have been established before Cold decided to fuck it all up.

Either way, though, who’s to say some colonies or individuals didn’t slip through the cracks? Who’s to say that there weren’t Saiyan hybrids, because again, interracial breeding was pretty common with this shit.

So who’s to say there aren’t more Saiyans out in the universe. And I’m not just talking about those that didn’t go back to Planet Vegeta when the call was made.

Also, you think that “prince of all”/”king of all” Saiyans title came from the hypothetical multiple colonies? Because like. Would it really be necisarry in a universe where there’s rulers of entire planets otherwise?

Guys. Guys I’m so sorry I started this at like 1:30am and it’s almost 2:30am I should be asleep not doing this shit-))

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 178

Round II of Goku vs. Cell.   This episode’s animation was supervised by Masayuki Uchiyama, who is generally regarded as one of the weaker animation supervisors in the Dragon Ball series.    On the other hand, about one in every four episodes is his, so I tend to find his style to be roughly default for this show.    I wouldn’t say his stuff was all that terrible either.  There’s better artists (see: next episode), but the main complaint I see is that his characters aren’t as detailed, which isn’t exactly a deal-killer for me.    The two main things I notice abut Uchiyama’s style are the really detailed irises he gives everyone...

And the off-model hair.    I’ve often said Yamcha’s look in the Androids/Cell period is his best short-hair look, but it’s not because of Uchiyama, who just makes his scalp look like an unmowed lawn.   Still, the rest of this shot looks pretty detailed to me.    It’s not like the other guys were drawing in Tien’s eyelashes or anything.  

Anyway, Goku’s powering up and he’s so pumped that he repeats the thing he does in the opening credits, only he’s a Super Saiyan this time.    Awesome!

Then he turns fan-art Super Saiyan 8 or something.   I feel like the animators struggled to illustrate that Goku is serious here, because he’s been stuck in Super Saiyan mode for the last several episodes, but now he’s powering up.    Where do you go from there? 

Not to be outdone, Cell powers up and starts glowing purple, because Frieza can’t even do that as cool as Perfect Cell.  

And so they continue to have a wrestle.  

Everyone is astonished by Goku’s immense power... except Gohan, who doesn’t seem to think it’s that big a deal.   Hmmm....

Cell is like a kid on Christmas, because he’s truly enjoying fighting against an opponent of Goku’s level.   

So to enjoy the moment even more, he starts showboating by using techniques he knows from the genetic memory of the fighters he was cloned from.   First up is Tien’s multi-form technique. 

Okay, so here’s the deal.   In the manga, Cell was only patterned after five warriors: Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza, and King Cold.   The Japanese version of the anime confirmed this when Cell told his origin story, and for the most part they’ve stuck with that.   When Cell used the Solar Flare, Krillin pointed out that Goku has used that technique before himself, so it’s not unthinkable that Cell learned it that way.   But now we have Cell using the Shishin no ken, which is specifically what Tien called it when he first used it against Goku back at the 23rd Budokai.   Piccolo used a similar multi-body technique against Nappa, but he only made two copies of himself instead of three like Tien and Cell.   

So the implication here is that Dr.  Gero must have used some of Tien’s DNA to make Cell, and maybe some others.   But this whole sequence is a filler scene, so it’s likely that Toei just decided to have Cell use some Tien moves because he knows some cool ones.   Later on, we’ll see a few Cell Juniors use the Ki Ko Ho, so it looks like Toei went with the idea that Cell has some Tien genes in him, although this was never officially stated.   

The Funimation dub just ran with this from the start, by having Cell claim to have DNA from Tien, Gohan, and Nappa, in addition to all the others.   I believe they only cited Gohan and Nappa because they happened to be on-screen during a flashback, but in Tien’s case there’s a legitimate argument to be made.    I mean, why wouldn’t Gero want Cell to know some Tien moves?    They’re pretty cool. 

The bigger issue I have with all of this is the idea that Cell can just know how to do all of this stuff simply by having certain character’s cells in his design.    Like, Namekian regeneration and Saiyan Zenkai are biological traits, so that makes sense, but why should Cell know how to do a Special Beam Cannon just because he has some of Piccolo’s DNA in him?    Piccolo wasn’t born knowing it, so why should Cell?  

On the other hand, I’ve read that DNA may have more to do with memory than we know, so maybe all these fantasy shows had the right idea all along.  It’s a lot like Serpentor from G.I. Joe.   They genetically engineered him from a pool of military geniuses and terrible dictators, and he bears all of their traits, but he also casually mentions memories of things that happened centuries ago, as if he had been there.     Does he remember Sgt. Slaughter’s AWA run?   Probably.

On top of the multi-form technique, Cell fires four Special Beam Cannons at Goku from all four corners of the ring.    This is a variation on when Tien did the same thing, but with Dodonpas instead.   Only this time Goku can fly, so he just nopes the hell out of there.

Then he just... beats the four Cells by... doubling back and hitting them?    He says that he was waiting for them to move far enough apart where he could attack them without getting ganged up on, but I dunno.    Tien and Yamcha seemed to think that Cell had somehow overcome the Multi-Form’s weakness of reducing your power with each copy, but if that were actually true, how could Goku possibly stand up to these four?   This is how you can tell it’s filler.    They just didn’t think it through.   Still a fun idea, though.

Then Cell uses another old move, which Krillin mistakes for his Destructo Disc.    Only Cell can steer it in midair, which Yamcha compares to his own move, the Soukidan, or Spirit Ball.   Then we cut to King Kai, who explains for the audience that it’s actually the final technique Frieza used against Goku on Namek.   Only Goku and King Kai actually witnessed that move in action, so I guess it makes sense for Krillin and Yamcha to be confused.  

Cell even knows how Goku beat that move the last time, which means he won’t fall for it.   So does Cell just remember Frieza getting cut in half?   That’s kind of messed up.

So how does Goku get out of this pinch?   Well, he just uses the afterimage technique to fool Cell a couple of times, and then...  I dunno.   Cell just seems to forget that he has those two energy discs still in play.    It’d be funny if they came back and cut him in half while he wasn’t looking, just like Frieza.

Then Cell closes out his greatest hits session with a Kamehameha, only it’s so huge that Goku’s afraid it’ll blow up the Earth if he fires it at ground level.    But Cell doesn’t care, so Goku flies up into the air to goad him into divering his shot away from the planet.   That puts Goku in a tight spot...

... or it would, if he didn’t know Instant Transmission.  Cell’s seen him do that before, but this is the first time he’s learned exactly what it is.    Goku asks Cell if he really would have destroyed the Earth if he hadn’t moved, and Cell explains that he knew Goku would have done something.   Yes, Cell doesn’t care about the Earth, but he does need it in one piece for his amusement, so there’s that, at least.   

Now, you’d think Goku’s teleportation powers would give him an edge here, since that’s one of the few moves in his arsenal that Cell doesn’t already know.  But it hasn’t helped Goku much so far.   Cell’s still incredibly fast, and Goku has’t been doing a lot of teleporting in this fight.   

And this seems to support Goku’s point in this episode.   He warned Cell that he couldn’t beat him with stolen fighting techniques, and he was right about that.   Goku’s seen all those tricks before, and he’s successfully defended himself against all of them.    But Cell can beat Goku through sheer speed and power, and that’s what we’re beginning to see here.  

Oh, wait, I never came up with a nickname for Masayuki Uchiyama.    Bad Hair Guy?    Moe Eyes Guy?   Hmmm....

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 113 Review

Sad! Edition

Arlingtonpark presents: SNK 113, a play in three acts.

Act I

Act II

Act III

GIVE ME A BREAK, OKAY? THIS CHAPTER DIDN’T GIVE ME MUCH TO WORK WITH!

This was a more leisurly outing for this arc compared to the previous string of chapters. We get some insight into Zeke’s plan (but not a full elaboration), Levi makes a monkey out of him, and the EFC arrives in Shighanshina. That’s it.

Ironically, this was one of the more action packed chapters, yet it’s not as thrilling as, say, SNK 112, which was mostly our main trio sitting at a table.

Our heroes, sans Eren, have been mostly helpless in the face of Zeke and the EFC’s machinations, and Isayama has pressed this to good, suspense-inducing, effect.

We still don’t know much about Zeke, and why Eren is acting like he is now is still not completely understood. The opposition is opaque and they’ve been on a real winning streak so far. Just like how reports of a serial killer in your neighborhood can put you on edge, our heroes are put on edge by…just everything that’s happened so far, and we feel that gnawing fear by extension.

But now might be a turning point.

For the first time, Zeke/Eren (Zeren?)’s plan has hit a real snag. Now, now things will really start to get interesting. Pieck and Galliard did escape and participate in the Liberio fight, and Gabi and Falco are unexpectedly here on Paradis, but those were hardly setbacks. Detours maybe, but they didn’t threaten arrival at the final destination.

This is different. The plan was to rendezvous at Shighanshina and that’s just not going to happen now. Levi is dragging Zeke around like a monkey on a leash and Eren is none the wiser. And there’s no way for him to know that.

It’s not like they can communicate telepathically. unlike Hange and Levi When the time comes to meet up, Zeke isn’t going to be there. From Eren’s perspective, Zeke may as well have disappeared off the face of the Earth.

The plan apparently was to provoke an attack on Paradis by a coalition of the world’s forces. But this plan also apparently hinges on being able to use the Wall Titans to repel this attack. But that’s out the window too now. Zeren’s plan is in danger of catastrophic failure and at the worst possible time.

The enemy is already here. Pieck is on Paradis, no doubt gathering intelligence. It’s good that Zeke is subdued, but that creates a power vacuum and there’s no one around to fill it.

The legitimate government is facing a legitimacy crisis.

The EFC will be in damage control mode now that their plan is in danger of falling through.

And oh yeah, Marley has already infiltrated the island.

Paradis can easily devolve into chaos, now. Pixis’ government is a leader without much of a following; Eren has popular support. The EFC has a following but their leaders will soon be scrambling to regain control of the situation. And all Marley cares about is killing everyone.

And this raises a very intriguing question: How will Eren react to this?

Like I said, things have mostly gone smoothly for him. Yes, Eren’s had this stone cold demeanor, even in the middle of his fight in Liberio, but really he’s been coasting so far. Things have done nothing but go his way. Now it suddenly isn’t. So how does he react to that?

If SNK 112 is any indication, he won’t handle things well. Eren lost his cool at a backhanded swipe by Armin. And I’m not gonna lie, if that was all I had ever seen of Eren, I would have said he was weak.

Sad, even.

When it comes to Eren, Isayama will probably go the classic shonen villain route. Think Frieza or Cell from DBZ. Calm and cool, but only when they’re in control. Once they lose control, they lose their cool and reveal themselves as the wild animals they always were.

This will probably play into his freedom complex. Eren wanted to free humanity from the titans so they could explore the outside world. He framed it in terms of control. Freedom=control is the equation here.

Not being in control, to him, means not being free, so when he realizes he’s not in control anymore, he’s going to go apeshit.

Like the Trumpian figure that he is, Eren will probably resort to dominance rituals to sooth his own ego.

Floch had better watch out. When the guy at the top is a dominance obsessed lunatic, it doesn’t matter how high up the food chain you are. If you’re not at the top, you’re at the bottom. If my Eren=Trump framework is correct, Eren is going to abuse that to hell and back. He’s going to subject Floch and co. to all manner of degradations.

I honestly wouldn’t mind that, if it’s not extreme. Floch would deserve it.

Where do I even start with Floch?

In the past, I’ve compared the story of SNK to the current political landscape in the US. I don’t think this is intentional, to be clear; it’s just a very amusing parallel.

As leader of the Yeagerists, Floch roughly corresponds to Mark Meadows, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The HFC is a band of extremist, Trump-aligned, Republican politicians who openly rebel against their leadership. Meadows is the group’s current chairman.

Floch and Meadows share one overridingly important similarity: neither of them can create; they can only destroy.

John Boehner (pronounced “baner.” Seriously.) was leader of the House Republicans, until he was shit-canned because the Freedom Caucus didn’t like him. Here’s how he described their mindset:

“They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”

That’s basically Floch. He wants to Make Eldia Great Again and he thinks the Wall Titans have a role to play in that, but does he have a plan beyond that? Almost certainly not! That would require building something up, and that is beyond his feeble abilities. He thinks Hange is soft and opposes that. He thinks the military is old fashioned and opposes that.

Is there anything concrete that he supports? He supports using the Wall Titans and he supports Eren’s leadership, but his “game plan” is basically:

Use Wall Titans.

???

ELDIA IS GREAT AGAIN!!1

That’s hardly a plan.

All Floch and his team have accomplished is create chaos and dysfunction.

That’s it.

They instigated a social uprising, decapitated the government, and now? They’re just running around trying to find Zeke. (Even though Zeke and Eren already have a rendezvous point worked out.)

All Floch is good for is blowing stuff up and shitting over everything. But in the words of the great Sam Rayburn:

“Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.”

Floch is no carpenter. Floch is a coward. This pitifully small boy. This absolute failson. It’s no surprise at all he’s where he’s at.

Floch talks big now, but that’s only because he’s riding high now. I bet he’s the type of person who buckles under even minimal pressure. You all saw how he was during the Shighanshina battle. Everyone kept their composure even as Zeke’s rocks were closing in on them. Except him. He was the first to crack.

My sense is that Floch is not a constitutionally strong person, and he knows it. And he thinks he’s a coward, so we know he doesn’t think well of himself.

That’s the key. That’s why he is so devoted to Eldia.

He can’t feel pride in himself qua himself, so he has to feel pride in himself qua an Eldian. His logic is that if Eldians are strong then he is strong by proxy because he is one of them.

It’s the same thing with Trump supporters. Trump’s base supports him because Trump wants to maintain the racial hierarchy that benefits white people. And Trump’s base supports that because a lot of them are poor, white people. Because even though they don’t have a lot going for them, “at least I’m not black.” There’s little in their lives to be proud of, so they take pride in their race to feel better about themselves.

It’s like the evil version of gay pride.

Gay people take pride in their homosexuality because it’s a form of psychic preservation. They are denigrated for this one aspect of themselves, so they emphasize pride in that aspect to counter the stigma. It’s a way of preserving their sense of self-worth.

People like Floch take pride in their race because they have no self-worth to preserve. They’re empty and sad. Their race is one of the only things they have going for them. So they fight for Eldian greatness because a restored Empire will make them feel all big and strong.

It is utterly pathetic.

That’s one thing Floch and Eren have in common. They’re both sad. From Eren’s sad enslavement to the vague notion of freedom, to Floch’s sad belief that if Eldia is made “great” he’ll be made great in turn. It’s sadness all the way down.

The exemplar of that in this chapter is when Floch confronts Shadis.

It’s hilarious how Shadis calls Floch out on being a sad pissant and Floch tries to prove him wrong, only to prove him right in the process.

Not only does Floch miss, he’s stupid enough to say so out loud. He even explains what he was trying for.

Duuuude!

Just play it off as a warning shot! You’re trying to put up a tough guy front. Don’t admit to having failed spectacularly.

He would have been better off doing that anyway. Hitting Shadis in the foot just for mouthing off also would have proven him right. If you feel the need to shoot someone for mouthing off to you, then yeah, you are, in fact, a sad pissant.

But if it was just a warning shot to the ground around him, then that still would have been excessive, but it wouldn’t make you look insecure as hell.

To quote Game of Thrones:

“We’ve had vicious kings, and we’ve had idiot kings, but I don’t think we’ve ever been cursed with a vicious, idiot king!”

He’s not just vicious. He’s not just an idiot. He’s not even just a vicious idiot. He’s a vicious idiot with power. God help them.

But this idea of insecurity being the root cause of nationalist behavior raises an important question: why are the denizens of Paradis also on board with this nationalist program?

Well, nationalism runs on tribalism, so the people need to care about their Eldianism. Their being Eldians.

And going by that…it might actually be the Survey Corps’ fault.

At the start of the series, the Walldians were apathetic about the outside world. But thanks to the (not unjustified) efforts of the Survey Corps, the Walldians started to care.

Rod’s titan was over twice as big as the Colossal Titan; it loomed over Orvud like a kid looms over a toy cityscape playset. A lot of parallels were made in that sequence to the original Colossal Titan attack. In hindsight, Isayama, in his typically blunt style, was probably motivated by more than a need for a stylistic flourish. He probably did it to impress on the reader what he intended the Walldians to take away from the same event: From their perspective, this was another Shighanshina.

But the ending was different this time.

This was bigger than the first attack. Much bigger. Thousands upon thousands of people died in the first attack and its aftermath. Literally no one died the second time. Rod’s titan was subdued without incident. Awesome, but it also had the effect of inspiring nationalistic pride in the people.

Historia’s plan, very explicitly, was to exploit these nationalist feelings to the Survey Corps’ advantage. Stopping a second Shighanshina created a sense of communal unity among the Walldians. The plan was to encourage and then use those feelings to “stabilize the situation” as Historia herself put it.

And it worked, only it worked too well. Now those nationalist feelings have carried over to the Marley conflict to deleterious effect.

And then there’s the Wall Maria operation. That was described by the narrator like this:

“The area within Wall Maria represented one third of the land humanity had left. When the territory was lost five years ago, the loss of human life and property was massive. And, as those who remained inside the two walls quickly realized, those losses were only the beginning. It seemed wrong for us to continue living. Whether humanity could survive another day was out of human hands. Everything was now up to the titans. Because humanity had no way of defeating them. But, that day, one boy gripped the dagger in his heart and used it to kill a titan, stomping its massive head into the  ground. How did the humans who saw that sight feel? Some were filled with pride. Some were filled with hope. Some were filled with rage. But all of them screamed. Now, if Wall Maria is taken back, what scream will fill humanity’s hearts?”

The term for the “scream” the narrator is describing here is “nationalistic fervor.” The Wall Maria operation inspired further feelings of nationalism in the people. And again, those feelings have carried over.

This is a case study in unintended consequences. They wanted humanity to fight, now humanity is fighting and it’s backfiring spectacularly. The people are out for blood. Only this time the blood doesn’t evaporate without a trace.

It’s very revealing how Floch acts towards Shadis compared to Hange.

Hange didn’t have a very high opinion of Shadis the last time we saw them in a room together, but they still stood up for him. Even when they’re pissed at someone, they still don’t lose sight of the humanity of that someone.

Floch also has a low opinion of Shadis. He ordered him beaten for no reason. Because Floch is a sad, maladjusted, man-child. He sees the world in black and white terms. If you support him, you’re golden. If you don’t, you’re not even human.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Floch actually gets off on abusing whatever power he has over people. Being powerful is a high he doesn’t get to experience often, so don’t be surprised of he savors the exercising of it.

So I’ve noticed that the Survey Corps is still training recruits to fight titans. Who don’t exist anymore.

Ooookay.

Where is Isayama going with this?

Floch cites the stagnation in Survey Corps tactics as a reason why Eldia isn’t great. Isayama isn’t trying to both-sides this debate is he?

Floch is an asshole and his movement is repugnant. He’s a right-wing fucking nationalist. But it seems Isayama is trying to send the message that he’s not wrong.

What is it with this series and this schizophrenic approach to right-wing nationalism? The story has condemned it in certain moments, but when it comes to condemning the actual leaders of this movement, Isayama equivocates.

Floch is an asshole, BUT he’s actually right because the Survey Corps really is backwards thinking and in need of new leadership.

Eren is an asshole, BUT he’s actually right because the rumbling *is* necessary to protect Paradis and everyone else was just slow to accept this.

This isn’t just a case of the villains having a point. The key in situations like that is to show they have a point, but that their methods are obscene. Important to that is showing an actual alternative to those methods. Putting forth an alternative is important because it doesn’t matter how horrific Eren or Floch’s actions are, if it’s the only way to proceed then the argument can be made they are doing the right thing.

When the villain has a point, they have correctly identified a problem, but have incorrectly identified the solution.

With Eren and co. the story doesn’t just depict them as having correctly identified the problem. Their proposed solution is depicted as being at least somewhat correct too.

That’s a problem because it means Isayama is granting undue legitimacy to a repugnant, real world ideology.

Them being assholes should be a feature, not a bug. The bug being that they have a point. But the way Isayama has set things up, it’s that them having a point is the feature and their jackassery is the bug.

It all amounts to the story criticizing the nonessential aspects of this movement while leaving the substantive aspects intact.

At this point we’ll all need gas masks real soon because the smoke just keeps piling up.

The last thing of note is Zeke. Apparently he doesn’t get off on pain and suffering. Who knew.

We are apparently going to finally get a peak (you know it’s only going to be a peak) at his backstory and mindset next chapter.

Zeke worrying about his glasses, which belonged to what seems to have been a childhood friend of his, is obviously supposed to signal that Zeke can in fact empathize with people.

I am…warily looking forward to this. The ending blurb teases that he does in fact have a reason for what he’s doing. What I hope Isayama will do, because I think it would be a cool twist, is reveal that Zeke’s motives and plan is merely internally logical, but from an outside perspective, his plan is still totally batshit insane and maybe even nonsensical.

Because that’s how it is with people. People are rational actors, but all that means is that they respond to incentives and harms as they themselves weigh them in accordance with their own internal value system.

In other words, people act in a way that is always internally logical but not always truly logical. The prisoner’s dilemma is a classic example of this. Everyone acts rationally and because of that everyone loses.

How interesting would it be if Zeke’s motives only make sense to him, but are still, in a way, understandable?

The next chapter will end the second volume of this arc. Based on past chapters in a similar position, it will probably end on some event that rapidly escalates the conflict. My guess is that it’ll end on Marley launching its attack on Paradis.

SNK 114 awaits.

[bigbadwolf619]

Ah yes, 1 of my most embarrassing moments in my life how I got this form, at 1st I thought I was having a nightmare of being in a Frieza Fan-fiction because...Fanfic are very scary people...the things they write about us...yeah, anyway the way I received this form started during my time in Conton, we had new enemies to deal with and Paradox Monsters that were never suppose to exist or be in our Dimension, but they were We became well-known and I became infamous to many bad guys in every Universe, including my dear-bastard cousin, I thought Goku was his main focus but he hated me too...so like him to be a douche to me too, many of Goku's and my enemies gathered, I was so powerful to the point the Gods of Destruction couldn't beat me, I mean not to brag hehe and they knew with my race's rapid power build up they would continuously be screwed! So they did best thing, they managed to gather the 7 Dragon Balls and wished me to die, but luckily Shenron couldn't do that as it wasn't in his power, so they decided maybe if the changed my race I would be weaker and my power would likely kill me without my really high defense Saiyan? No because Goku, do they want another? Hell no, Namekian? Strong and can heal, plus Piccolo is hated by many bad guys so that's out, Majin? I mean...what else do I have to explain? Majin Buu, Super Buu, Kid Buu, Bibbidi Babbadi Buu, they knew any of those I would still have an advantage so what was the best thing, oh Human, why not? I mean you have your strong humans like Krillin and Master Roshi but who in Dragon Ball gets the victories? Anyone NOT Human, I don't mean to be offensive it's true unless it's a flashback So I was turned Human and to make things worse for some reason I became a girl! Why? Well it turns out even though my race is all-male (no those fanarts of female Arcosian are not accurate, we have no Mothers and no females in general) however, we do have 1 thing in common with races that have genders, we possess the Sex Chromosome, why? I don't know but it explains why me, Frieza, King Cold and Frost look like how we do and why we're short...ish Cooler and my Father looked different and were taller because the had the Male Gene wile we had the Female Gene, so turning Human made me a Female from my Genes, so made things worse, I don't mean to be sexist but some of my enemies were hound dogs who...think of them like Goblins from Goblin Slayer, only bigger with power...and dumber, with me being weak and not being able to use my full-power without harming myself I was in trouble Kuraudo kept teasing me many in Conton kept flirting with me, then I had these weird feelings in me that I never felt before, things were going really badly for me, so I had to do what I can to wish myself back finding the Dragon Balls, though on my way I encountered my Father who revealed he was too strong for Cold, Frieza and Cooler and so they imprisoned him on the Blue Moon where he was never allowed to leave, King Ice, who was very much like me and plus though he dominated worlds with King Cold he was fair and had rules, a proper King H e explained to me why my skin charred and why I was the weakest Arcosian at the time of his falling was because he locked away true power, apparently I had so much power in me that surpassed even the Angels, but it was too dangerous that it was killing me, it caused my skin to burn up and go black while also damaging my insides, my Dad wanted to protect me and so he locked away my powers There being a Legendary Super Saiyan there was also an Omega Arcosians like me, after he released the lock I was able reverse the Wish and change back while also achieving my new form, with my new power I am able to switch from and back to my Human form, why would I use it well it turns out with every other stat being lower than every other race, my Superior Ki Blast are way superior than my Arcosian and my Ki flows more better in that form, plus my attack power is better when I'm at full power I don't mind the form much but I hate the attention it gets, it now makes everyone think of me female even when I go back Arcosian and Kuraudo really annoys me when I go Human, but I still use it for tactical advantages Kuraudo: If you know what I mean wooo! Blizzard: Kuraudo! Please stop the teasing Kuraudo: Hehe guess my Brother is really my Sister Blizzard: Oh shut up and die

[coldphoenix]

John Lewis Ad - Merry Christmas Gine

A/N:- I guess this is kind of a John Lewis advert as well, but not so much. I just love Gine and the idea of this fic… had to write it XD The song I chose though, All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey… I know it’s too upbeat for this, but I really liked the lyrics so… just imagine a slow version I guess lol (and if you know of a slow cover please tell me about it!) Also, apologies if anybody is OOC… I’m not much interested in saiyans anymore so I don’t write them often, but I really like Gine so I wanted to do a Christmas thing for her. Hope it’s okay…

xxxxx

All year… all goddamn year Bardock had been keeping out of trouble in Hell, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded for him. He was passionate, and willing to fight for his beliefs… which meant he was willing to fight. Over pretty much anything. He wasn’t as hot-headed as some of his comrades though, and with the large helping of willpower that he had he’d managed to hold his tongue and keep his clenched fists at his side, whenever he got the urge to knock somebody out. He hadn’t even so much as dished out a black eye. It wasn’t like him… but his patience and self-control had been worth it. Now he’d earned a Christmas present. Well… kind of. Bardock had actually wanted a power up. As a new incentive to become good, pure souls, Hell had agreed to give a present to anybody who behaved themselves all year. One possible choice of presents was a power up. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be enough to let Bardock rule over some of the stronger guys down here. Raditz was entitled to one as well – actually, Bardock was surprised at that. Raditz was even more impatient and hot-headed than him, but somehow he’d managed to keep out of trouble as well. So, he’d earned… something. Not a power up. That was what he wanted, but it wasn’t what he was getting. Not after talking to his father. Not after Bardock had decided to give in to his rare urges to do the nice thing instead of the fun thing. The truth was… neither Raditz nor Bardock were using their present on themselves. Which, ironically, would probably earn them an even bigger one next year. That wasn’t really Bardock’s intention, though. … Not that he’d turn the offer of a really good power up away.

The truth was… Bardock was a jerk most of the time, but a decent guy to people that mattered to him. … Not that many people mattered to him. He had his friends that he played around with, he had his son Raditz, who he kind of just left to do his own thing… They got along but they weren’t that close. They never had been. He technically had a second son as well. Bardock didn’t think about him much… but his mother did. Kakarot mattered to her, and Gine mattered to Bardock… So, here he and Raditz were. Surrendering the power ups they’d been biting their tongues and holding their fists in place all goddamn year for, just because it was the nice thing to do. …. She’d better fucking appreciate this.

King Yemma stared at Bardock and Raditz sceptically, as they stood before him, reluctantly offering up their presents. Raditz was more reluctant than Bardock. Bardock had needed to make several threats to get him to do it, actually… It was too bad his present alone wasn’t enough. He didn’t even know if the two together would be enough. But, if they weren’t… well, he had nothing to lose. Raditz was probably hoping King Yemma would say no… “A day on Earth, hm?” King Yemma glared down at them. “You think it’s wise to grant that to anyone in Hell?” “I think it depends on who you grant it to.” Bardock shrugged. “I mean… I wouldn’t recommend giving it to Frieza, not while there are still planets in the universe.” “Hm.” King Yemma grunted. He moved his eyes to Raditz. “And this is what you want as well?” “Tch. No, I think it’s a stupid idea.” Raditz huffed. “She doesn’t even know him – and she shouldn’t anyway because he’s a jerk. If we do this, she’ll only end up disappointed, and I’ve wasted my present.” He felt his father’s cold glare on him, and he moved to meet Bardock’s eyes. This was a stupid idea. Raditz didn’t want to do it, and he didn’t mind making his feelings known! He didn’t give a shit what his father thought! … But still, that glare made him back down. Not because he was scared of his father, just because… fuck. His old man was right. Fucking jackass. “But…” Raditz sighed, and looked up at King Yemma. “She won’t believe he’s a jerk until she sees it for herself. Maybe if we do this she’ll shut up about him.” He looked away, and grunted. “Anyways, it’s what she wants. I always heard she gave me what I wanted all the time…” “Yeah, she did.” Bardock snarled. “She was always way too soft on you.” “Whatever…” Raditz mumbled.

King Yemma stared at the two of them, and then turned his attention towards Fortune-teller Baba, who was floating behind them on her crystal ball. “What do you think?” He asked. “I think two saiyans doing something nice is a rare sight.” Baba answered. “We should take a photo.” “Hm.” King Yemma smirked. He leaned back in his chair, and went quiet for a moment while he thought about it… and then he sighed. “Alright.” He said. “But only because it’s her, and Gine isn’t a bad soul. I know she won’t do any harm up there – I wouldn’t let either of you two have a day’s pass.” “Thanks.” Bardock spat. “Nor would I let anybody else in Hell do it. I’m only letting her because she doesn’t actually belong down there – she’s only there because she refused to go to Heaven without any of you.” He narrowed his eyes at Bardock. “But, a day is too much. Twelve hours, and you both lose your presents.” “What!” Bardock cried. “Twelve hours? That’s ridiculous!” Raditz barked. “I almost killed myself this year! Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to earn that present? And all you’re giving me is twelve fucking hours?” “Take it or leave it.” King Yemma shrugged. “You haven’t told her about it, have you? You could always take your offers back.” “Fine then, I’ll –” “No.” Bardock interrupted his son, glaring sternly at him. He stared up at King Yemma, and snorted. “Thirteen hours.” “… You take the piss.” King Yemma growled, and Bardock smirked.

I don’t want a lot for Christmas There is just one thing I need I don’t care about the presents Underneath the Christmas tree

“Miss Gine?” “Yes?” “Come with me. You’re going to the surface for thirteen hours.” “What? But – but why? What did I do?” “Oh – no, it’s nothing bad. It’s a Christmas gift.” “But I asked for new boots…” “Uh… it was a… donated Christmas gift. Ask your family later. Now come on, thirteen hours starts now.”

The scene played before Gine over and over again as she stood on Earth, in the world of the living, her new boots making footprints in the snow. It was cold outside… she wasn’t really dressed for this weather, but she didn’t care about that. She was still in shock over this. She couldn’t believe… this was happening. She couldn’t believe where she was. She was nervous, and hesitant… She stood outside his house for ten minutes, suppressing her ki, before she finally built up the courage to knock on the door.

I just want you for my own More than you could ever know Make my wish come true

Knock knock. Click. The door to the Son house opened, and a bewildered looking Goku stood there, staring down at a woman who was clearly freezing cold. Jeez… what was all this about? He was only expecting Gohan and Videl… “Uh…” Goku sweat dropped. His instincts told him to invite her in immediately before she froze to death, but in the back of his mind he was wondering if he should at least ask her who she was first. She obviously had the wrong house… “I – can I help you?”

He watched her reaction. She didn’t say anything at first. She opened her mouth like she was going to speak, but then she started to tremble… Oh, no! “Hey!” Goku adjusted himself, ready to grab her if she collapsed. “Come inside, you’re freezing – whoa!” His eyes widened and he jumped back as the woman leapt at him, locking her arms around him like she was scared he’d disappear. Then, she started to cry. Not just cry… wail. Really loudly. Goku had never heard anything like it. It was pure, unstifled emotion. He could feel the heat of her tears before they even fell onto his Christmas jumper. Within seconds he was soaked. What… the hell…? “Um…” He uttered awkwardly, unsure of what to do. “It… it’s okay…?” He placed his hand on her back, which made her tighten her grip even more. The sobbing grew louder, and Goku just about managed to hear another woman’s voice over it. Oh, crap… “Goku!” Chichi screamed from behind him. “Who is that?” “I – I have no idea!” Goku protested, staring at her. “She just – came to the door and –” He stopped, when he looked back at the woman, and noticed something brown and furry behind her. She had a tail…? Wait… was she a saiyan…? Now that he noticed, she was wearing armour. She certainly looked like a saiyan… “Um…” Goku tensed slightly, and a sharp coldness struck his heart. Was she related to him…? Did he have an evil sister?

The woman’s sobbing finally started to soften, and she raised her head to look at him. Her lip quivered as she stared at him, she was clearly trying to talk but she couldn’t. She was too much of a wreck. Then, Goku found himself overcome by the strangest sensation. Her energy… she’d stopped suppressing it, and it felt… kind of familiar, actually. Sort of… warm. Then Goku noticed something about her face, and his lips parted just a little, the breath slowly escaping his lungs. She… had his eyes…

All I want for Christmas is you…

[demoniclovedbz]

Demonic Love Ch1

Read the full fic here:- http://archiveofourown.org/works/9324374

Description:- King Piccolo is forced to enrol on a rehabilitation course in Hell; he is reluctant to co-operate with his mentors until he learns that with good behaviour he can return to the world of the living and finally get his revenge on Son Goku! Meanwhile Frieza is ashamed of what a good-natured girl his sister is, and is hoping that the evil King Piccolo will destroy her... *King Piccolo/OC shipping*

‘Good luck, my son…’

In the darkest depths of Hell King Piccolo clenched his fist, cutting his own flesh as he recalled his death and his last words, for the third time that day.

‘Get revenge for my demise. Destroy all of my enemies.’

He gritted his teeth in anger, enraged at the vision he saw before him on a small TV screen that depicted the world of the living. It was his son, Piccolo Jr… and he was sparring, with the offspring of that tiny boy that had defeated the demon king now over twenty years ago.

‘Get revenge for my demise… Get revenge.’

“What part of that didn’t you understand, Son!” King Piccolo suddenly roared, raising his hand above the TV screen. He was about to unleash the fall force of his rage upon the object when a familiar voice interrupted him. “King Piccolo!”

King Piccolo didn’t look up. He simply let out a sigh and composed himself. “How much did you get?” He asked. “Three bars each, Sire!” A cheerful voice answered him. “Three bars?” King Piccolo turned to look at the group of mutated namekians that had joined him. Piano, Tambourine, Cymbal and Drum were all stood there looking incredibly proud of themselves, and each holding three bars of chocolate in their hand. “We did a song!” Tambourine beamed. “And we won first place!” “Hm.” King Piccolo smirked slightly. “Well done, my children.” He looked at them, trying to imagine what their combined singing voices would sound like. “… So I suppose the competition was pretty awful, hm?”

The mutants’ faces all dropped and they lowered their eyes to the floor, disheartened. “You could… at least pretend to believe in us.” Cymbal mumbled. “Haha!” King Piccolo rose to his feet and noticed the TV disappearing beneath him. Had it really been thirty minutes already? Time certainly did fly when you were watching your biggest disappointment. He approached the boys and held out his hand. “Give it here, then.” He ordered. “Uh… well…” Drum sweat dropped. “We uh… we kind of…” Cymbal kicked Tambourine’s foot and gave him a sideways glance. “Oh! Well, King Piccolo, Sire…” Tambourine began. “We were kind of wondering if… if…” He looked at King Piccolo, trembling under the namek’s terrifying eyes and that menacing face. “Piano…” Tambourine growled, shooting a forceful glare at his older sibling. “Oh. Yes, well…” Piano cleared his throat and stared up at the demon king. “King Piccolo, we were wondering that… well… since we did earn more chocolate than usual today, that perhaps we could uh… keep some?”

The other three mutants squealed and stared up at Piccolo, eagerly and fearfully awaiting his response. King Piccolo simply stared down at Piano, and smiled. “Heh.” He uttered. “Piano… my dear child…” He looked across the others. “Boys… is that what you want more than anything? To be able to keep your chocolate?” “Uh-huh.” The mutants nodded, sweat dropping. “I see…” King Piccolo mumbled. He stared at the floor for a moment and the nameks watched in anticipation, until King Piccolo finally raised his eyes and glared at them. “Absolutely not!” “Aiii!” The four mutants all screamed, huddling together. “You shouldn’t eat this stuff, anyway! It’s bad for you!” King Piccolo scolded, snatching the chocolate bars out of their hands. “But… but Sire we’re – we’re dead! How much harm can it possibly do?” Cymbal reasoned. “Yeah and… and you know – those counselling classes are really boring!” Tambourine whined. “Every time I go I just sit there and remember what it was like to die, and all I can think is how much more fun that was!” “Well I will gladly grant you that experience again, Tambourine!” King Piccolo seethed. “You all know your orders – you will all attend those ridiculous rehabilitation classes, and in exchange they will give you one chocolate bar per visit just for turning up, and on top of that you are to earn more chocolate by taking part in their team-building activities and entering their competitions… and then you will hand over all your chocolate to me so I can actually use it for something useful – like buying the spy-screens!” He pointed at the empty space where the temporary TV had once stood, demonstrating his point. “That has been our arrangement ever since they started doing the rehabilitation program down here, and it will remain our agreement for as long as we are living in hell! Do I make myself clear!” “Yes King Piccolo!” The mutants all nodded.

Drum looked up at his master, brave enough to try to reason with him one last time. “But… Sire – surely you can… maybe go a couple of days without the spy-screens? I mean, what you do down here is your own business but… you seem to spend all day just watching Junior.” He said. “Yeah and – and it doesn’t seem to be doing your state of mind any good!” Cymbal protested. “Every time you finish watching him you’re in an even worse mood than when you started.” “Yeah and… doesn’t it get kind of repetitive after a while?” Tambourine sweat dropped. “He isn’t the most interesting person.”

Piano whimpered slightly, noticing the look of fury that was sweeping across their master’s face as he stared down at the mutants. “Uh… what I think they’re trying to say, Sire…” Piano began. “Is – and without any disrespect, uh… they – we… we think it might be time that His Majesty got uh…” He looked up at King Piccolo and sweat dropped. “Got… a hobby?” “Grrrrrr!” King Piccolo roared over them, causing the mutants to wail and huddle together once more. “Fools! Are you seriously idiotic enough to question my actions? Let me remind you that I created you idiots and I can destroy you as well!” He fired a ki blast at the group, causing them to scream and leap away from each other. “Now!” King Piccolo snarled. “I am going to obtain more spy-screens. I also heard a rumour today that the next big event in those classes will be a painting contest. The prize for the winner is ten bars of chocolate – so when I get back I expect you to be practicing your skills!”

He shot the nameks a menacing glare before he leapt into the air and flew off towards his dealer. The mutated nameks made various groaning noises and re-joined each other. “Geez… you’d think that after two decades he’d let it go a little.” Drum mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck in confusion. “This is all Junior’s fault! If he’d just hurry up and kill Goku then maybe King Piccolo wouldn’t be so hard to live with!” Piano growled. “Yeah but he’s not going to, so we need to think of something to mellow Dad out a little.” Tambourine sighed. “I guess getting him to go to those classes himself is a stupid idea, right?” Cymbal mumbled. “Mm-hm.” The others nodded disheartenedly “I really want to know what chocolate tastes like…”

Meanwhile King Piccolo landed outside a small cave and knocked against its wall. “Hey!” He called. “It’s me – I want more spy-screens. I have the chocolate –” He stopped in his tracks when an almost-naked Zarbon emerged from the darkness of the cave. Zarbon leaned against the wall with a cigarette in one hand and looked Piccolo up and down, his body only covered by an open silk robe and a pair of tiger print y-fronts. “God – can’t you put some clothes on!” King Piccolo snarled. “If you’ve got it.” Zarbon quipped, taking a drag of his cigarette. He kept his eyes fixed on King Piccolo and slowly exhaled, watching the namek intently. “So. Do you have it?” “Of course.” King Piccolo answered bluntly. “Now get Frieza out here!” “Show me.” Zarbon instructed.

King Piccolo let out an impatient sigh and pulled four bars of chocolate out of his clothing, then held them up to Zarbon. Zarbon moved his hand out to take them when Piccolo suddenly yanked the bars away, glaring at the man. “Frieza.” He stated. Zarbon hesitated just long enough to give King Piccolo an arrogant look before he took another drag of his cigarette and called out, “Lord Frieza! The giant cucumber’s here to see you again.” He smirked at King Piccolo as the namek shot him a cold, angry glare. “Now? Dammit Zarbon, didn’t you hang the ‘do not disturb’ sign!” Frieza’s voice came from within the cave. “Oh…” A look of surprise briefly passed through Zarbon’s face and he shifted a little. “No… I forgot…” “Silly boy.” King Piccolo smirked at him mockingly, causing Zarbon to shoot him a dirty look. “Tch. Maybe next time you forget I should carve it into your forehead and make you stand outside – would you forget then?” Frieza’s voice drew nearer and he appeared at the cave’s entrance wearing a pale purple cloak that barely covered the tops of his thighs. He looked at King Piccolo. “Well, hurry up. You can see we’re a little busy.”

King Piccolo looked at Frieza in disgust, and held the chocolate bars out to him. “Four bars for four screens. Deal.” “Yes, deal…” Frieza mumbled as he took the chocolate, examining it. “Wait – hey!” He glared at King Piccolo angrily. “This is white chocolate!” “So?” Piccolo replied. “So?” Frieza snarled. “I don’t like white chocolate! It’s sickly and it makes my wine taste funny! Bring me milk chocolate!” “This was all they had!” King Piccolo protested. “What does it matter anyway? Chocolate’s chocolate isn’t it?” “No, chocolate is not chocolate!” Frieza argued. “Don’t you have a sweet tooth?” “Frieza, do I look like I have a sweet tooth to you!” King Piccolo roared. “Figures.” Zarbon sniped, taking another drag of his cigarette as he eyed up the demon king, and smirked. “He seems like the bitter type.”

Frieza grunted and looked at King Piccolo. “I’ll give you one screen – and that’s only because I know somebody who can eat this.” He said. “What!” King Piccolo glared at him. “The deal was four screens for four bars, Frieza!” “That was before you brought me this.” Frieza replied, holding up the chocolate bars with a sinister smirk. “But if those terms aren’t acceptable to you then why don’t you go ahead and take the spy-screens off me yourself? After all, I’m sure I’ll be no match for your… what, five hundred power level?” “Grrr…” King Piccolo growled, and looked away, his fists clenched in anger. “Fine. Just go and get me the screen – and hurry up!” “Zarbon. Fetch our friend his looking glass, would you?” Frieza said, not taking his eyes off Piccolo and not wiping the smirk from his face. “Of course, Lord Frieza.” Zarbon nodded. He looked at King Piccolo as he flicked his cigarette onto the ground and squashed it with his bare foot, staring at the namek in a challenging manner before he disappeared into the cave. “Next time I want butterscotch flavoured.” Frieza told King Piccolo. “Butterscotch? How the hell am I supposed to get that?” King Piccolo growled. “That’s not my problem.” Frieza shrugged, and smirked mockingly. “Why don’t you get your boys to make macaroni pictures of you for their good Samaritan classes?” “You –” King Piccolo was interrupted by Zarbon reappearing with a spy-screen. “Here. It’ll fade in twenty minutes.” Zarbon said, handing it to Piccolo. “Twenty minutes! Is that the best you can offer me?” King Piccolo snarled. “Nope.” Frieza smirked and turned his back to Piccolo, grinning at him wickedly over his shoulder. “Bye-bye.”

King Piccolo gritted his teeth and readied himself to rip open the icejin’s throat, before his mind got the better of him and he reluctantly refrained. He shot Frieza and angry glare and grunted at him before leaping into the air and reluctantly flying away. “What a fool.” Zarbon commented, watching as the demon king disappeared into the distance. “Hm. Don’t be too hard on him, Zarbon.” Frieza replied. “His son is an even bigger disappointment to him than Kuriza.” “Hey, guys!” Cell’s voice came from inside the cave. “Are you almost done out there? I’m not going to wait forever.” “Haha, coming Dear!” Frieza answered. He looked at Zarbon and tapped his behind with his tail. “Come on.” As the two started to walk towards Cell, Frieza called to him, “Good news, Cell! I got you some white chocolate!”

XXXXX

“Okay guys! Today’s lesson – sharing!” An icejin girl beamed with far too much enthusiasm, looking brightly at the group of hell inhabitants that were sitting before her. They all started to grumble amongst themselves, expecting that they would have to let each other use their personal possessions. “Don’t all look like that! It’s fun to share – you’ll learn that today.”

Meanwhile Frieza, Zarbon and Cell stared out of their makeshift window, which was a long hole in Frieza’s cave. “Oh my God…” Zarbon groaned. “She is just too cute to be allowed to exist. She makes Goku look like Satan.” He took a drag of his cigarette and passed it along to Frieza. “You shouldn’t sound so glum, Zarbon. She isn’t your counterpart.” Frieza growled, taking hold of the cigarette as he watched the girl in disgust. Frikiza… That was her name. She was from another universe, a universe where genders were inverted. Frikiza wasn’t just an ordinary icejin girl, she was the female version of Frieza. That was why Frieza couldn’t stand how nice she was – she gave him a bad name! She made him look weak, in front of all the saiyans that he’d sent to live down here in hell! Up to now the dead inhabitants of Planet Vegeta still feared Frieza, and he wanted to keep it that way. None of them knew who Frikiza really was; very few people knew of Frikiza’s true relationship with Frieza, and Frieza wanted to keep that number as low as possible. If the saiyans ever found out that Frieza was just an alternate version of that cute little do-gooder… Frieza didn’t want to think about what those filthy apes might try to do. What was she even doing in here? This wasn’t Frikiza’s universe, if she wanted to spend her life trying to turn bad people good then why didn’t she just do it in her own universe? Or better still, why didn’t she find something else to do with her time? Frikiza wasn’t like Frieza. She was alive. She had given up her life as a planet-trading tyrant almost ten years before Frieza’s death, and she had been on the run from her family ever since. It didn’t seem like much of a life… but still, it was a life, and Frikiza was wasting it. It infuriated Frieza to see a version of himself that treated his life with such disrespect! She still had her own empire – why the hell didn’t she use it!

Frieza let out an angry sigh and took a drag of the cigarette before coughing. “Oh – Zarbon, this thing is disgusting!” He snarled, and tossed the cigarette through the window. “You shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for your skin!” “But I’m dead, Lord Frieza. Nothing can harm my skin.” Zarbon protested. “I wouldn’t smoke if I was alive.” “Well what if you come back to life? You’ll be addicted and then it will affect you – quit now while it’s not doing you any harm.” Frieza scolded. “Frieza, do you really think you have the right to say that to him?” Cell narrowed his eyes at the icejin. “Wine isn’t exactly a heath food.” “Shut up!” Frieza hissed and continued looking at the icejin girl, who seemed to be handing the class over to another good-natured sap. Frikiza turned to face Frieza’s cave and started to fly towards it. “Oh dammit, she’s coming over!” Frieza growled and moved away from the window. “I’m not home.” “That never works.” Cell smirked, and started to walk towards the cave’s entrance.

Frieza let out an annoyed sigh and threw himself down onto the sofa, holding out his arm. “Wine.” He ordered. “Yes Lord Frieza.” Zarbon said, rolling his eyes. “Where is Dodoria?” He questioned as he poured his master a glass, silently thinking to himself, “He should be doing this!” “I sent him on an errand.” Frieza replied. “I thought it was best…” He looked at Zarbon. “Unless you wanted to get into bed with him as well?” “Ugh… No.” Zarbon answered, his face twisting in disgust. Frieza smirked. “I thought not.” He said, and took the glass off Zarbon. “Look who it is!”

Frieza and Zarbon looked up to see Cell entering the lounge chamber of the cave with his arm around Frikiza, smirking at Frieza tauntingly as if to say ‘what are you going to do about it?’. Frieza glared at Cell and looked at the icejin that was smiling brightly at him, completely oblivious to Cell’s ill intentions. Cell was always so nice to her, just because he knew it annoyed Frieza. He thought it was fun, and Frikiza was too naïve to realise that Cell’s affectionate gestures were no more than a game to him. If she knew what was really going on in Cell’s head she wouldn’t be so keen to smile back. In fact she wouldn’t want to go anywhere near him, not if she knew what he really wanted to do to that sweet little body of hers… “Hello Frikiza. Lovely to see you.” Frieza said without enthusiasm. Frikiza giggled and ran over to him. “Hi niichan!” She beamed, throwing her arms around Frieza. “Get off me!” Frieza hissed, pushing her away. “I’m not your older brother Frikiza, how many times do I need to tell you! You are the female version of me, we are the exact same age and technically we aren’t even related!” He looked away from her. “And to be honest even if I was your older brother I wouldn’t own up to it. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is watching you purify all these tainted souls? You’re alive Frikiza, can’t you find a better hobby than rehabilitating people? Like, for example… ruling an empire?” “Right, because that life really worked out for you!” Frikiza pouted. “The only reason I’m still alive and you’re not is because I chose to be nice to people instead of trying to terrorise them!” “Really?” Frieza looked at her with a smirk. “Well at least I’m not on the run from my family.” “How can you be? They’re down here with you!” Frikiza argued. “Anyway…” She looked away, smirking. “I did have a special gift for you, but if you’re going to be so mean then maybe you don’t deserve it.” “A gift?” Frieza looked at her.

Frikiza shot Frieza a wicked glance and nodded. “Mm-hm!” She beamed. “But only if you promise to be nice – and I want you to attend a rehabilitation class!” “Well then…” Frieza uttered and took a sip of his wine. “Keep your stupid gift. I can get plenty of chocolate down here as it is.” “Really… That’s a shame…” Frikiza smirked, reaching down the front of her armour. “Because this isn’t chocolate… and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to drink it all by myself…” She pulled out a capsule and looked at Frieza. “Are you sure?” “Hm?” Frieza glanced at her. “What is it…?” He asked cautiously. “Our favourite brand.” Frikiza winked. “Tch! Impossible. You can only get that on our home planet – and I know you haven’t been there ever since you decided to betray your family!” “But me, Zarba and Doria took a huge supply of wine when we left.” Frikiza laughed a little, semi embarrassed. “But… you’re right – once I run out I can’t go back and get more, and this is one of my last bottles! So once it’s gone, I can’t bring you another.” “If it’s one of your last then why are you giving it to me?” Frieza demanded. “Because I’m nice.” Frikiza replied. “And because I want something from you.” “Forget it! I’m not going to those stupid classes!” Frieza snarled. “Why would I want to be nice? I’ll get taken out of hell – and all my friends are here.” He flashed her a smirk. “Well, it was worth a try.” Frikiza sighed, tossing the capsule over her shoulder for Zarbon to catch. “But… you can still help me. Do you know the demon king, Piccolo?” “Piccolo?” Frieza looked at her. “Yes, I know him. What about him?” “I’ve been trying to take him on as a client for a week now, but every time I try to go near him he just flies away.” Frikiza sighed. “But he gets spy-screens from you, right? So next time you see him, tell him to let me be his counsellor. I’m sure you can get him to do it in exchange for a screen.” “Why would I do that?” Frieza snorted. “And why do you want him? There are millions of others people down here that you could reform.” “Well… I was trying for months to rehabilitate his counterpart in my universe, but I just couldn’t get through to her…” Frikiza sighed. “But I figured, if I can just change the guy version at least, that’ll be something.” “But if you can’t change her then what makes you think you could change him?” Cell questioned, taking a seat next to Frieza. “I probably can’t…” Frikiza admitted. “But I want to try. At the very least, based on what she’s like, I’m sure he would be an interesting person to know.” “Hm…”

Frieza looked at his female counterpart, and started to smirk. “You can’t fool me, Sister.” He purred. “Wh-what do you mean?” Frikiza asked, blushing a little. “Come on. An ‘interesting’ person to know? You’re targeting him.” Frieza said. “Oh… I see.” Zarbon smirked, looking down at Frikiza. “I suppose he’s just your type is he? I didn’t know you had a soft spot for bad boys, Frikiza. Maybe you and I do have something in common.” “No! It – it’s not like that!” Frikiza insisted, blushing. “This isn’t my universe – I’m only allowed to work here if I get results, and well – I figured if I can convert him, then I’ll be allowed to stay working here for years!” “Whatever. I don’t believe you.” Frieza said, still smirking. “But sure, I’ll get him to do it.” “You will? Thanks!” Frikiza beamed and threw her arms around Frieza. “I’ll be back over here tomorrow afternoon – let me know what he says!” She giggled a little as Frieza forcefully shrugged her off. “I have to go now – see you tomorrow!” Frikiza waved at the boys and ran out of the cave.

Cell moved his eyes to stare at Frieza in disbelief. “Why did you agree to that? He’s going to corrupt her, you know.” He scolded. “Exactly.” Frieza replied. “And then maybe she’ll be a little more bearable. At the very least she’ll be less of an embarrassment to me.” “You’re so selfish, Frieza.” Cell smirked. “He won’t just make her less cute, he’ll completely break her down. She’ll start crying, you know.” “Well…” Frieza looked at him wickedly. “I’m sure you’ll be there to watch, won’t you?” “Yes. Angrily.” Cell growled. “You know very well that I wanted to be the one to break her.” “Shut up!” Frieza hissed, his face twisting at the thought of Cell acting out his dark fantasies on Frikiza. “That’s disgusting – and what do you want her for anyway! She’s just a bad version of me!” “That’s a good point…” Cell purred, moving himself on top of the icejin. He looked down at Frieza and his eyes twinkled wickedly, his tongue teasing against his lips and he looked down at the smaller, weaker creature. “I could just break you, couldn’t I my darling?” Cell moved his eyes up to Zarbon and looked at him sternly. “Leave.” He ordered. “What? No!” Zarbon argued. “He was with me first! I’m not leaving just because –” Zarbon stopped when Cell’s stern glare started to turn deadly, and it was joined by Frieza. “… fine.” Zarbon muttered angrily, and started to storm towards the cave’s entrance. “I’ll be outside when you’re done!” “Go for a walk!” Frieza called after him, and Zarbon clenched his fists in anger at the sound of Frieza and Cell laughing.

Next chapter

[untitledcreativeproject]

Day 4. [3048]

The admin running the RP site gave me a writing discount with the agreement that I would be willing to be a battle mod when necessary. It was much appreciated. Took my 4250 word requirement down to a 3000 word one.

"No, no, you have to scream while you do it," Captain Ginyu coached. "The point of the pose is not simply to pose, but to show off your excellent physique. When you scream, you call attention to yourself and force your opponent to gaze upon you in your full glory." Gatas sighed. This newest technique that the Ginyu Squad was trying to show her seemed utterly pointless, but each member had struck a different pose before insisting that she choose at least one to learn for her own benefit. Of the five, this one looked the least ridiculous. Now they were expecting her to scream while doing it? She shook out her arms to limber up before striking the pose again, this time voicing her irritation in the form of a primal bellow. "Yes, just like that!" Ginyu roared with approval as the rest of his squad cheered and applauded. "Again!" A few more practice runs of the move and the older Shikirian was sufficiently satisfied that Gatas could execute it properly. Each time brought another round of applause from the other four warriors, but on the final rep Gatas heard another slower clap continue after the Ginyu Squad had ceased in their celebration. She turned to see that a tall and imposing green humanoid now stood in between Burter and Recoome, a steady smirk on his face. "Well done," he said. "I haven't seen you around here before, so I'll assume you fell into league with this motley crew because you're new and you didn't know any better." Gatas raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The Ginyu Squad may have been an eccentric and rowdy bunch, but they had been nothing but respectful and helpful to her since their meeting. "Oh, how rude of me," the green man laughed. "I forgot that the newcomers usually haven't heard of me, since I came and went before their time. I'm Perfect Cell." "Oi, back off mate. She doesn't wanna talk to you." "And she hasn't yet," Cell said. "Come on now, you old dogs are running out of tricks to teach her anyway. Don't think I wasn't watching. Aside from Ginyu's body swap maneuver and Guldo's fancy time stop trick, what do you really have to offer her besides the one pose she just chose to learn out of the five you were offering?" "Er..." "Thought so!" Cell looked to Gatas. "Come now. I see you're interested to learn more powerful techniques for your own sake, and I'm probably more qualified to teach you than anyone else down here." "What makes you say that?" Guldo interjected. "Because, my dear Bas-jin, my genetic makeup includes DNA and information from all the greatest heroes of our time. That means the same people and the same attacks that killed all of you," Cell paused, gesturing vaguely in Ginyu's direction, "well, most of you, are inside of me. And my fathers, who art mostly in heaven, had all the best moves." "Mostly? What about the rest?" Jeice couldn't help but ask. "Well, don't act too surprised when I tell you this, but someone you know was also a major contributor to the magnificence that is me. His dad, too." Cell smiled, his gaze passing over the five members of the Ginyu Squad in turn. "You don't see the resemblance? I may not be as pale or as purple as them, but you could say I'm a little... King Cold-blooded?" Recoome snorted. "Hehe, I get it." "Anyway, enough of that. You're more than welcome to join me, if you're interested in picking up a few new tricks. Even on the off chance that you are interested in what I have to teach, I could point you in the direction of other potential trainers." Cell began to walk away from Gatas and the Ginyu Squad, looking back over his shoulder once he was several paces away. "I'll be making my rounds shortly. The decision is yours." Gatas looked around at the quintet, nodding at the Captain and Jeice before she left to follow the slowly retreating form of Perfect Cell. Catching up quickly, she fell into step, walking slightly behind and to the right of the bio-android. "No, no, with me," Cell said, slowing his pace until the Shikirian woman was walking beside him. "I can't keep talking to you if you're way back there, and I don't think I can expect to have you carry the conversation." They continued at a leisurely stroll through the various parts of Hell, slowing down or stopping entirely any time the powerful bio-android found someone of import to comment on. By that notion, Gatas was quick to observe, Hell was full of important people. "Not much to see around these parts," Cell commented. "The majority of the rabble that frequent this area are some of Frieza's men. Most of their names aren't worth remembering, but-- oh, wait a moment. That one over there, with the green hair? That's Zarbon. He almost killed Vegeta once. I know Vegeta is probably one of several Saiyans with the same name, being named after their home planet and all, but I'm talking about the Vegeta. One of my main sources of DNA. His power never quite lived up to Goku's, except maybe in moments of extreme rage, but I do appreciate having some of his genetic code. Glad I didn't get his hair, though. That widow's peak would have clashed horribly with the rest of my face. "I'm surprised Dodoria isn't hanging around today if Zarbon's around. Dodoria's not very bright, but he likes to use his head. In a much more literal sense, I mean. The spikes aren't just there for decoration. I'm sure you understand that. If I had horns, I'd certainly use them. It would be like an homage to Frieza's encounter with Krillin," Cell chuckled. The two continued their walk. Hell was by no means empty, but it managed not to be crowded even with all its inhabitants. Still, hardly a minute passed without Gatas and Cell seeing another damned soul. Gatas spotted a few Shikirians that she recognized from their race's big brawl earlier and waited for Cell's commentary, if any was to come. "Ah yes, your race. Fascinating, really, that trick Ginyu has up his sleeve. It kept him alive much longer than the rest of his squad, though I'd hardly call it living if you're stuck in the body of a Namekian frog for almost the whole time. I hope you put the move to better use than that, if you have the opportunity. But then again, I don't know what your plans are. Did you want to go back to the world of the living eventually, or is this it for you? Just gonna spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife?" Gatas's brow furrowed. She hadn't considered the possibility of there being a way to come back to life; she merely accepted that she had died in battle, as was the ideal for her race. Now Cell was telling her that she could go back to life as a soldier? Gatas had heard of the legendary warrior Goku and how he and his allies managed to come back from death time and time again, but she had no allies she believed would be willing to wish her back to life. Another rumor she had heard involved a Tuffle of some renown on planet Namek, who had supposedly died in battle and then reached back from the dead to claim his enemy's life. She had more battles left in her, that much was certain. Did she want to go back and pick up where she left off? She could claim more victories, and more victims. The war couldn't possibly have ended in the brief time that she'd been gone, and her victory against Lute meant that if she returned, she was guaranteed intel on other high-profile targets. On the other hand, it seemed that she still had much to learn in Hell. "Oh, that's hilarious," Cell said, interrupting Gatas's bout of introspection. She followed his gaze and saw what had caught his eye. A tall, broad-shouldered figure in the distance was hard at work plowing a massive field in the shade of an equally enormous tree. "A Shin-jin in Hell, and taking up farming by the looks of it. I wonder what old Yema had to say about him when he came through the checkpoint for judgment." Filing Cell's comment about returning to life away for later, Gatas climbed up a hill after Cell to get a better view of the tree. A Saiyan sat at the base of its trunk, picking his teeth with a bored expression on his face. The bio-android's eyes lit up. "Turles! Now, he wouldn't be anything special if not for that tree he's guarding, but he's been snacking on those fruits for a while now. They've got a lot of juice, I hear." Cell snorted at his own pun. "Too bad he has nothing to offer in the way of innovative techniques. Let's move on. We may have eternity, but I'm not going to waste any of it watching plants grow if I can help it." The pair descended from the hill the same way they came, then took a left to continue into new territory. "It is a shame, you know," Cell commented. "So many new souls condemned here day in and day out, and of the minority that are strong enough to even retain a physical form, even fewer still have any worthwhile techniques for me to observe. I hear there's a war going on back on Earth. Where are all the warriors?" Further travel was quiet for a while. Gatas wasn't sure whether it was a real lack of any notable fighters passing or if Cell had suddenly lost his enthusiasm for being her unofficial tour guide. She glanced his way and saw that he was silently counting on his fingers over and over. Occasionally he would mouth something, frown, then start counting again. Their pace continued to slow as Cell completely stopped paying attention to their surroundings, eventually stopping entirely in the middle of a clearing. Gatas looked around and then back at him, unsure of how to proceed. Minutes passed. "You know what we need?" Cell announced suddenly as Gatas was just about to give up on him and wander off. "We need an Afterlife Cell Games." "What?" Gatas said, a bit louder than she intended. Cell's intensity in breaking the silence between them had startled her. "Well, I wasn't always the perfect being I am today," Cell began, his voice taking on a narrative tone. Gatas got the distinct feeling that she would soon regret giving him the chance to monologue. "I came into existence in an alternate timeline from this one. Unfortunately for me, my original timeline made it impossible for me to achieve this form, so I had to hijack my way into a timeline where it was possible. Once I'd managed that, it was just a matter of absorbing my android siblings into myself and becoming whole. And let me tell you, that was quite the fiasco thanks to Son Goku and his little friends. "Anyway, it was after I achieved my perfect form that I realized there had to be some way I could truly test my abilities to the fullest. And what better way to do that than to hold a tournament to lure out the world's strongest fighters? Thus the original Cell Games came to be. Of course, it was me versus the world back then; this time around I think a standard elimination-style tournament will suffice. We'll just have to see how many people want in." Cell tapped a finger on his chin, his elbow resting in his opposite hand. "I'm sure Frieza will want to participate, and maybe his father. I'll go ahead and invite Turles too; we can see how much stronger the Tree of Might's fruits have really made him. Oh, and Raditz will show up whether I ask him to or not, I know that." Cell scoffed. "He's like our Yamcha." Cell pushed off and took to the air. "I suppose we can worry about the guest list later. Our first order of business should be finding a suitable spot to build the venue." A pause. "You can fly, can't you?" Gatas responded to Cell's question by jumping up to hover beside him. "Ah, good. You know, I've watched people try to learn how to fly from that meathead Recoome before; I can tell you haven't learned it from him. Anyway, we're looking for two things. One is a big field, which won't be too hard to come across. The second will be harder to come by, and that's a big plateau that I can use to make the arena." They passed up several large tracts of land, each rejected by Cell for not being scenic enough. After he began to grow irritated by his lack of viable options, he settled for one of the spots he'd previously rejected, leveling some nearby hills to expand the space to his satisfaction. A similar compromise had to be made for the arena's building material; finding no single rock big enough, Cell settled for razing part of a nearby forested area to construct the arena out of wood. At each corner Cell positioned a large spike taken off one of the steep and unforgiving mountains to give the main stage the dramatic flair he wanted. Calling everyone together was just a matter of Cell amplifying his voice to announce the tournament. The competitors came in droves, amassing around the arena. Gatas stood next to Cell in the arena as more and more fighters joined the crowds. She tried to pick out some fighters that she thought would do well in the tournament, but as the assembled populace grew, she instead began to wonder how Cell intended to organize such a tremendous turnout. She wasn't left to wonder for long. Clearly marking his own time, Cell waited for a while before calling everyone to attention once more. "Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone outside or in between! Welcome to the second ever Cell Games. We have quite the crowd out here, and I'm sure you're all itching for a good fight, so I'll keep it brief. This tournament will have two main components, and we're about to begin the preliminaries." Cell fell quiet for a moment, appearing to focus his concentration. The tip of his tail, still retracted near the middle of his back, widened significantly, and with some effort produced five smaller and bluer versions of the bio-android. There came a mixed reaction from the parts of the crowd that could see what had just occured, though it was mostly shocked outcry or cheering. The five Cell Juniors turned to their sire for direction. "Hello, my perfect children," Cell greeted them. "You all know the Multi-Form technique as well as I do, isn't that right?" The Juniors nodded. "Well, look around you, my sons. All these people have come to meet us, but there are just so many of them. If you all split up, I'm sure you can manage to say hello to everyone. Do you understand?" The Cell Juniors nodded emphatically and suddenly the five of them became twenty. Cell addressed the masses once more. "Congratulations. You've all been officially entered into the preliminaries. Anyone left standing once my precious children have all been defeated will qualify for the actual tournament. The preliminaries begin...." Cell drew out the pause to its greatest effect, waiting until the tension in the air was at its peak. A thought occurred to him and he looked over her shoulder at Gatas. "Wait, were you planning on participating or just spectating?" Gatas considered for a moment, then shrugged. "I'll watch." "Fair enough." To the crowd once more. "...Now." At his word, the multiple Cell Juniors leapt out of the arena and into the assembled masses. Chaos ensued. The sound of hundreds of combatants clashing together permeated the vicinity, and Gatas smiled. It was a comforting sound. Cell floated up to get a better vantage point of the slaughter, and the Shikirian woman followed him. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to participate or just sit back and watch for something good," Cell commented. His tone was purely conversational, as if he had just given Gatas the weather forecast for the day. It was a stark contrast to the mayhem below. "So I gave myself the best of both worlds. I automatically get a bye in the first round, so when the real tournament starts I get to scope out every one of my potential opponents. Not that I need the advantage, really, but if any of them have techniques worth learning I may get to observe them sooner rather than later. I imagine that's what you're still here for, after all." Gatas nodded. "Hey, do you mind grabbing me a drink from one of the vendors?" Cell asked. He pointed towards the outskirts of the battlefield where a line of food trucks had set up shop. Gatas's brow creased. She hadn't noticed them until now. How quickly had they set up shop? "I'm in charge, so it's on the house. You can grab yourself something too. This may take a while." All in all, there were still nearly a hundred survivors once the last Cell Jr. was taken down. Cell appeared undaunted by that outcome, quickly drawing up a massive tournament bracket and getting the first round of fights under way. Several hours and trips back and forth to the vendors for snacks later, there had still been no techniques used that were impressive enough for Cell to take notice. Gatas yawned. While she was curious to see who would eventually emerge victorious, she was starting to feel antsy. She didn't know how well she would have fared against some of the fighters she'd already seen, but she felt a pang of regret at turning down more chances to fight. Suddenly Cell sat up from the lawn chair he'd been lounging in, almost spilling his fruity drink in the process. "There! That's the move we've been waiting to see!"

[Running Total: 5,930 words]