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duhragonball · 2 years

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Dragon Ball: Evolution (USA, 2009)

The Gaijin Live-Action Trilogy comes to a close with “Dragon Ball: Evolution”. Regardless of which movie is your favorite, I think it’s fair to say that DBE was easily the most disappointing. “Fight/Win” and “Magic Begins” were unofficial, low-budget movies from the early 1990′s, while “Evolution” was produced by 20th Century Fox. They spent seven years and 30 million dollars on this turkey. And they had actually gone to the trouble to acquire the legal rights to make the movie. And yet...

The movie ended up being a critical and commercial flop. In the fandom, “Dragon Ball: Evolution” has become a byword for failure. Even Akira Toriyama expressed disappointment with the film, which is pretty rare for him.

For my part, I was kind of intrigued when the movie came out in 2009, and I had some hopes that it might lead to big things for the franchise. And I remember it being okay when I saw it, but I was quick to notice that there weren’t many people in the theater that day.

I didn’t really get mad about the movie until I saw the 2011 Thor movie, which proved that a big studio could have done a better job adapting a superhero fantasy world. Believe it or not, there was a time when live-action adaptations of comic books were just expected to suck. The studio would just change a bunch of shit for no good reason or to make the movie cheaper and easier to film, and if you didn’t like it then you just didn’t understand movies or something. The idea that the movie people needed to understand the comic didn’t really gain traction until the first X-Men film came out in 2000, and even then, it was understood that the movies were under no obligation to get it right, or even try to get it right.

So I graded DBE on a curve back then, and as the MCU Phase 1 movies started to premiere, I got more and more irritated at Fox for failing to recognize the moment. And now, 14 years later, I’m watching DBE for the second time ever and wondering why I ever thought it was okay. It’s a terrible movie, with only occasional flashes of appreciation for the source material. In hindsight, I realize now that I only enjoyed DBE as much as I did because of wishful thinking. I just really wanted to like it, and I so managed to convince myself that I didn’t hate it.

But now? Yeah, I hate it. This movie sucks ass. Let’s dive in.

We open with exposition, which is generally a bad sign for movies like these. For one thing, they go over this information several times throughout the movie, so there’s absolutely no reason to spell it out at the very beginning.

So, like the Korean and Taiwanese live action films, this one also dares to retell the story of the first Dragon Ball hunt. Goku meets Bulma and they search for the seven Dragon Balls, but this is 2009, and that trick has been done several times already. A timeline...

1984-1985: Chapters 1-23 of the Dragon Ball manga.

1986: Episodes 1-13 of the Dragon Ball anime.

1986: Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

1990: Dragon Ball: Fight, Son Goku! Win, Son Goku!

1991: Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins

1996: Dragon Ball: The Path to Power

2009: Dragon Ball: Evolution

Even if the audience wanted to see this again, it still would have been a bad idea, simply because of how many times it had been done before. More importantly, this was an American movie, made primarily to attract business from American fans, most of whom were introduced to the franchise through Dragon Ball Z, not the Pilaf Saga. Fans didn’t want to see Master Roshi and Mai, they wanted Vegeta and Frieza and Super Saiyans. This is probably why Fox put Piccolo in the role of the lead villain. Let’s face it, it just makes sense. Korea and Taiwan stuck to Emperor Pilaf, but they ended up turning Pilaf into some overpowered badass. You might as well swap him out for Piccolo, a villain who actually fills that role.

And also, DBE was meant to serve as the first installment of a trilogy. This was all the rage back in the late 2000′s, as movie studios deluded themselves into thinking they could turn any movie into three movies just by wishing for it really hard. Terminator 4, 5, and 6 were each supposed to reboot the Terminator franchise, but none of them made enough money to pull it off, so they ended up becoming a trilogy of failed trilogies.

So rather than having Piccolo and Vegeta fighting Frieza, like everyone probably wanted, this movie tries to take it slow, introducing Piccolo first, in order to set up Vegeta in the next movie. Only there would be no next movie, so in hindsight they really would have been better off putting their best foot forward instead of holding back.

Anyway, let’s get on with this. So in this movie, Piccolo is basically the same as King Piccolo from the manga, except he tried to conquer the Earth 2000 years ago, instead of a few centuries ago. He was defeated and sealed away by a powerful technique called the Mafuba, and in the events of this movie, he escapes and plots his revenge. But he wasn’t alone back in the olden days...

And this right here is where the movie fucked up. Piccolo’s sidekick villain is simply an ape-like creature named “Oozaru”. So any fans watching this thing will immediately see the twist coming. I suppose general audiences might not pick up on this, but come on. Oozaru is presented as Piccolo’s “disciple”, but he wasn’t captured like Piccolo was. Instead he simply... “disappeared”. This is undoubtedly meant to set up the Saiyans in the sequel, but there would never be a sequel.

So we move on to the present day, where Gohan is teaching is adoptive grandson Goku. Goku looks like Frodo Baggins accidentally wandered into the wrong movie. DBE Goku resembles a lot of other movie characters from around this period. Frodo, Edward Cullen, Tobey McGuire Spider-Man. I could probably keep going, but the one guy he really doesn’t resemble is Goku.

Gohan defeats him in a sparring contest, and Goku is too frustrated with his social life to learn anything. The kids at school bully him, and he can’t fight back because Gohan made him promise not to use his power. Goku seems to understand this, but he’s also frustrated that he doesn’t know how to do anything else. This movie tries to force Goku to fit into some sort of classic secret identity trope, where he has great power but he mustn’t reveal it. In ‘09, I accepted this as a new take on the character. In 2023, I’ve pretty much abandoned DC and Marvel superhero comics altogether, and I can see now how stupid this was. It’s like doing a Bugs Bunny movie and making him act like Mickey Mouse. It’s not going to impress Mickey Mouse fans. All it does is expose your inability to understand the classic character you have.

They wanted Goku to be Spider-Man so badly, or maybe Harry Potter. And I’m like, fuck Spider-Man and Harry Potter. Give us Goku, you cretins!

Or... yeah, the Twilight connection is really starting to seem more apparent to me. Everything in this movie is blue or orange and it pisses me off.

So Goku’s in high school and the teacher is explaining what a solar eclipse is, which reminds me way too much of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four movie, where a college professor literally explains the cosmic MacGuffin that gives the FF their powers. And Goku’s too busy crushing on his classmate, Chi-Chi. He hallucinates her in a field of flowers, eating strawberries, which is kind of like... not exactly horny, but hornier than Goku needs to be, if that makes any sense. Chi-Chi really doesn’t serve any purpose in this movie, except to be a love interest for Goku, which he doesn’t really need because there’s enough going on here as it is. So Chi-Chi just sort of exists in the film, liking Goku for no particular reason and being this hot chick. It’s dumb.

Then the teacher calls on Goku and asks him what their ancestors would say about a solar eclipse, and Goku stammers some crap about how the Earth was nearly conquered by the Namekians during an eclipse thousands of years ago. Everyone laughs at him, but I don’t understand what the hell this movie is trying to establish here. On the one hand, there’s all this secret lore about Piccolo and Oozaru nearly conquering the world, but on the other hand wouldn’t everyone kind of know about that? I mean, there would be historical accounts of this terrible battle, right? It would have altered the course of history, but these high school scenes make it look like the world is basically the same as our world.

Later, Goku sees Chi-Chi struggling with the lock on her locker, and her homework assignment is trapped inside. So Goku uses The Force his ki to open all the lockers. This impresses Chi-Chi, who already knows about ki. Meanwhile, I’m confused. At the beginning of the movie, Gohan told Goku to use his ki, and he couldn’t do anything with it. So why did he even try it here? Maybe his boner for Chi-Chi unleashed his hidden potential?

Chi-Chi invites him to a party at her house, and he ditches his grandfather’s humble birthday celebration to attend. Oh, right, it’s Goku’s 18th birthday, by the way. The bullies from school try to intimidate Goku, but he stands his ground and defeats them by dodging all their attacks and getting them to defeat themselves. It’s actually pretty true to Goku’s style in mismatches like this, and I’d give it a little credit, except it’s too similar to gags used in the Spider-Man and Superman films. One thing that bothers me here: the bullies are using like kicks and flips and shit. They seem pretty skilled in martial arts themselves. Not on Goku’s level, obviously, but they’re not just stock football players or whatever. It’s another example of this world being sort of a half-inch removed from reality. It can’t decide if it wants to be the real world or a fantasy world like the one in the source material.

Meanwhile, Piccolo and Mai barge into Gohan’s house and kill him. They came looking for his Dragon Ball, but don’t realize that Gohan gave it to Goku that morning as a birthday present. Goku took it with him to the party, so it’s not here.

Okay, so let’s talk about the bad guys. Mai is basically Mai from the Pilaf gang, but she works for Piccolo here. She has a hole in her costume, which... I mean I’m not complaining, but I’m starting to see that this movie really uses eye candy as a crutch. Like, Rey’s pretty good looking in the Star Wars movies, but there’s so much other cool shit happening in those things that it’s not the main thing. Here, just about all you have to occupy your attention in DBE is ogling Chi-Chi, Mai, and Bulma.

Piccolo absolutely sucks. James Marsters wanted this role because he was such a huge fan of the franchise, and I always felt kind of bad for him because he seemed really excited at the prospect of playing Piccolo in the sequels, only for this movie to turn into such a huge flop. I guess there’s a non-zero chance he’s reading this, so I don’t want to be too hard on him, but there’s just nothing to this character. He just glowers menacingly, destroys a place, then collects the Dragon Ball and leaves. He pops up briefly throughout the movie just to remind us that he’s doing stuff, but most of what we know about him comes from other characters talking about him. He’s mad about being sealed away for 2000 years, but we never learn how he got unsealed. For that matter, we never learn why he wants the Dragon Balls. He seems to want to wish for world conquest, but he was doing pretty well on that front 2000 years ago.

Also, we never learn how he knows where the Dragon Balls are. It’s like how Baby from GT knew where to send his lackeys. We see Piccolo destroy a Japanese village and then Mai goes down to fetch the Dragon Ball from some lady, and it’s like she knew exactly where to go. But here, they show up looking for Gohan’s Ball, and it’s like they knew it used to be here, but they don’t know where it’s gone?

Back at Chi-Chi’s place, Goku’s Spider-Sense is tingling, so he runs back home to check on his grandfather and finds him buried under the house. He pulls him out the wreckage, where Gohan tells him to find all the Dragon Balls to stop Piccolo, and reminds him to “have faith in who you are.” That’s like the moral of this movie. That and “the first rule is that there are no rules”. Just hackey drivel presented like some profound wisdom. Also, there’s a poem about the Dragon Balls, like the verses etched in the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Then Gohan dies of terminal cliche and Goku buries him in a shallow grave.

The next day, Bulma breaks into the house... Well, I guess that’s a relative term, since the house is already half-destroyed. She accuses Goku of stealing her “promethium orb”, because she tracked it to this house. Goku realizes she’s talking about the Dragon Balls, and when he shows her his Four-Star Ball, she understands that it’s not the same as the Five-Star one she lost.

Okay, so a couple of things. First, if Bulma has a Dragon Radar in this story, why is she just now learning that there’s more than one of these things? Second, after Goku tells her about the Dragon Balls, she just drops the whole “promethium orb” thing. That seems kind of weird, since she had this whole thing planned where she was going to use them as an unlimited power source. I can’t see her abandoning the name she came up with.

Anyway, Bulma is easily the best character in this movie. She’s not quite authentic to the original character, but she’s constantly pointing guns at people and growling thinly veiled threats. It’s sort of a half-Bulma, with all the badass two-fisted scientist stuff, but none of the flirty, bratty stuff.

Also, I have to give her credit for the one (1) streak of blue hair, which is more than the other live-action Bulmas ever got. Seriously though, this is like a symbol of the entire movie. They wanted to put Bulma in this thing, but they stopped short of giving her all-blue hair. Like, which is it? Do you want Bulma or not? And if the answer is no, then why are you doing a Dragon Ball movie in the first place?

So before Gohan died, he told Goku to seek out Master Roshi at Paozu. As it turns out, Paozu is a big city, and Roshi’s house is located on a weird little island in the middle of a lake in the middle of the city.

Roshi is played by Chow Yun-fat, which was probably a big “get” for the studio. He’s also the worst live-action Roshi I’ve seen, and I wasn’t very impressed by the others. This is just Chow Yun-fat screwing around in a Dragon Ball movie. He doesn’t have the turtle shell on his back, which isn’t much of a surprise, but he also lacks the beard, sunglasses, and bald head. He has a waifu cartoon on his shirt, and Bulma finds a bikini magazine in his stuff, and that’s about as pervy as he ever gets. Seriously, Goku is a bigger horndog in this movie than Roshi.

And I’m not that fussed about this, since I’m not a big fan of Roshi’s to begin with, but it’s weird to me how all three live-action adaptations went out of their way to include Roshi, but refused to go all-in on the portrayal. Like, if you don’t want a problematic sex-pest in your movie, I totally understand, but the solution is not to tone down the character. Now you still have the character in your movie, but you’ve stripped away the only personality he had.

The solution should have been just to do a different story, one without Master Roshi. Just have Chow Yun-fat play some other character, like the Supreme Kai or whatever else you want. But if he’s not gonna ogle girls and wear sunglasses and have a bald head, what’s the point of calling it Roshi?

Anyway, Roshi also has a Dragon Ball, and he fills in the others on the whole deal with Piccolo and the eclipse, and whatever else. There’s a lot of mysticism thrown around with this plot, where I can’t tell if Piccolo’s return was just a quirk of fate or some fufilment of an ancient prophecy or something. Also, every time Goku touches a new Dragon Ball, he has visions of the future.

Roshi’s plan is to train Goku to defeat Piccolo, and to track down the Dragon Balls before Piccolo can get them all. To do that, he takes Goku to some “secret” training ground, but it turns out to be full of kids beating the shit out of each other as they prepare for a martial arts tournament. Goku runs into Chi-Chi there, and she reveals to him that she’s a martial artist, but none of the others at home know. I don’t understand what the point is to any of this.

So the good guys move on to a different, more secluded training ground. On the way, Bulma drives into a hole, and this turns out to be a trap laid by Yamcha. He offers to help them out, but only in exchange for payment. This seems like a really dumb trap now that I think about it. I mean, how long did it take him to dig this hole? And he just assumes someone will drive into it, and that they’ll be rich enough to make this worth the trouble he went to. I mean, past a point, it’d be simpler to just get a job, right? Or at least go rob people in a big city, like a regular criminal.

They sit in the hole well into the night, and Roshi tells the story of Piccolo and Oozaru. He warns that the coming eclipse will bring forth Oozaru, which is why they have to stop Piccolo before that happens. Why? Isn’t Piccolo strong enough on his own? The implication is that Oozaru is like his trump card or something, but I don’t buy that. He killed Gohan effortlessly, and no one else has displayed any greater ability.

Yamcha thinks the story is dumb, but he has to sit here and wait for them to pay him before he can move on. Then Roshi just jumps out of the hole and offers him a deal. If he could do that the whole time, then why did he wait so long to do it?

Meanwhile, Mai has been following the good guys, and she reports back to Piccolo that Roshi is training Goku to oppose him. Piccolo then has blood drawn from his arms, which he uses to bring life to... whatever these things are. They’re like the Putty Patrol from Power Rangers, only even shittier.

Goku just tosses their bodies in lava, and uses them as a bridge to reach the next Dragon Ball. Don’t ask how we ended up in a lava floe. Anyway, when he touches the next Ball, he has visions of Oozaru killing the others, so he resolves to defeat Oozaru, and Roshi starts to lose confidence in their plan. They won’t have time to track down the remaining Dragon Balls before the eclipse, so he heads for Toisan to consult with someone else for Plan B.

That someone is Sifu Norris, played by Ernie Hudson from the Ghostbusters movies. A lot of geek journalist sites said that Hudson would be playing Mutai-Itoh, the master who trained Roshi and developed the Mafuba technique that defeated Piccolo in the original manga. But the character’s name in ths movie is Sifu Norris, and while Roshi bows to him in deference, it’s not clear that Norris was Roshi’s teacher. And he couldn’t have invented the Mafuba in this world, not unless he’s 2000+ years old.

Anyway, Roshi never took the poem about the Dragon Balls seriously until now, when the signs are finally starting to come true. So he apologizes for his doubts, and asks Norris to help him prepare another vessel for the Mafuba. Roshi plans to seal up Piccolo all over again, at the cost of his own life.

See, here’s why this doesn’t work properly. In the original story, Roshi told the other characters all about Piccolo’s original attack on the world, and how his old master sacrificed his own life to seal Piccolo away. That was important, because you need that established up front. That way, when Roshi begins planning to use the Mafuba himself later on, the audience knows exactly what it means, and how desperate the situation is. The audience also understands how Roshi would know the technique, as he was one of the only living witnesses to have seen the technique used.

But in DBE, we don’t get that. We’re only told that the Mafuba is a technique that sealed Piccolo away. We don’t find out that it kills the user until this scene, when Roshi and Norris say so. Roshi says he’s the only one who can do it, but we never find out why. When would he have learned the Mafuba? Why would he have learned it? He was never worried about Piccolo until a few days ago. He certainly never saw it used the first time around, because it was before his time. And why can’t Sifu Norris use it instead? He seems more experienced in this sort of thing.

Meanwhile, Goku meets with Chi-Chi at the Toisan tournament, while Bulma and Yamcha commiserate over the upcoming end of the world. There is zero chemistry between these two, and Bulma says she likes bad men, so she’s already preparing to dump him for Vegeta, and they haven’t even introduced him yet.

Roshi shows Goku how to do the Kamehameha, and Goku says that he’s heard of the technique, but Gohan never taught him because he wasn’t ready. Roshi says that Goku still isn’t ready, but he has to learn it anyway because they’re almost out of time. Well if he’s not ready, then what good does it do to teach him? This movie really can’t make up it’s mind about Goku’s ability. We’ve already seen him use ki powers, even when the movie insists that he has no aptitude for this.

As he struggles to light torches with his ki, Chi-Chi shows up and basically offers to make out with him if he does a good job. That’s the other weird thing about this movie, it keeps presenting this notion that romantic intimacy makes you better at fireball karate. I mean, that sounds awesome, actually, but it’s not Dragon Ball.

Later, Bulma finds Chi-Chi in Goku’s room, and she thinks they’re having sex, except Goku’s not in there, and Chi-Chi’s doing exercises somewhere else. Turns out Mai disguised herself as Chi-Chi. At the Toisan tournament, she was in a match with Chi-Chi, and managed to get a drop of her blood, which she somehow used to shapeshift into her? I mean, that’s fine, I can believe Piccolo has special magic that lets Mai do that sort of thing, but I feel like they should have explained it in greater detail. Anyway, Goku finds the two Chi-Chi’s fighting, and he beats the wrong one, and Mai shoots him.

Goku has a near death experience where Gohan tells him to believe in himself or some shit, while Roshi uses a Kamehameha to revive him. Uh, okay?

So the bad guys have all the Dragon Balls, which normally means they’ve already made their wish, but in this movie there’s still time, because you have to take the Balls to the Dragon Temple to summon Shenron. So Yamcha drives the gang over there, and partway into the trip he just reveals that his truck can fly like the DeLorean in Back to the Future II. So why didn’t he do that before?

The bad guys are already at the Temple, so I’m not sure what the point was of making this like a chase or anything. Fortunately for the good guys, it seems to take a long time for Shenron to get summoned. Roshi tries to use the Mafuba, but Piccolo shoots a ki blast at him and destroys the magic pot? Yeah, let’s go with that.

So all this wild shit is going on and Goku’s just been putting on his costume the whole time. It looks like ass, but it’s a huge improvement over the street clothes he’s been wearing through 80% of this movie. He goes to confront Piccolo and threatens to defeat him and Oozaru, but Piccolo calmly explains that Goku is Oozaru. Or rather, he’ll become Oozaru when the eclipse happens.

This is really the closest Piccolo gets to any meaningful characterization. He doesn’t develop his personality, and we learn nothing about him or his connection to Oozaru or Goku, but at least he gets to talk to another character besides Mai.

So the eclipse happens and Goku transforms into... a slightly taller, hairier ape-man. Why the hell did Piccolo need this to happen? He explains that Goku was sent to Earth in a meteor to hid among humanity until his 18th birthday, when Piccolo would be ready to use him again. So how long has Piccolo been planning all of this? Again, we never learn how he got out of the seal from before, so we don’t know how long he’s been loose, or what arrangements he’s been making. But apparently he had a space baby sent to Earth in preparation for this day.

Also, what is the connection between Goku and the Oozaru from 2000 years ago? The movie seems to imply that they’re the same character, but how does that work? They keep saying Goku’s 18, so is he the second Oozaru? What happened to the first one?

I mean, you have this mysterious figure baked into the lore of this movie, directly connected with Goku, but separated by a vast gulf of time. It’s almost like...

No.

No, we’re not doing this.

So anyway... Roshi tries the Mafuba and gets his ass kicked, and then Oozaru goes to choke Roshi out, but Roshi somehow gets through to Goku, who then... wills himself back to normal? Piccolo can’t believe it, and Goku just repeats the line from the start of the movie, when Gohan told him “there are no rules”. So I guess there’s no point in asking how Goku’s clothes were restored to normal, then.

So they fight, and it looks like crap, and Goku says some nonsense about how he has to be Goku and Oozaru and believe in himself, and I guess that was what had been holding him back. All this time, he couldn’t properly focus his ki because he didn’t know his true nature, but now he understands what he is so he can do it? Anyway he shoots a Kamehameha, and it’s dumb as hell. The poses are all wrong, and then he leaps forward while he shoots it, like he wants to punch Piccolo as he shoots him.

I mean, how did they manage to fuck up the Kamehameha? They made it the climax of this movie, and it’s like no one involved in this production had ever seen the movie before. Either that, or they studied the anime intensively, only to brainstorm ways to “improve” it.

So Piccolo’s defeated, and Roshi’s dead. Bulma says she wishes that it didn’t end this way, and Goku’s like “Oh yeah, that Dragon who grants wishes.”

So they summon Shenron at the temple and holy shit this is bad. This was the best dragon they could come up with?

So Roshi’s alive again, and Bulma says they have to re-collect the Dragon Balls, but Goku has one more piece of business to take care of. He goes back to Toisan to meet Chi-Chi and apologize for beating her up before, and she says she let him hit her, so they decide they need to fight to see who’s really better at fighting, as this is the only way their relationship can move forward. And that’s kind of cute, I guess, but it reminds me too much of the ending of Rocky III. Also, “The Magic Begins” had a similar ending, but with Yamcha instead of Chi-Chi.

And then there’s a mid-credits scene where some lady is nursing someone back to health and the guy rolls over and it’s Piccolo. This was really stupid because they dragged out this reveal like it was some sort of shock. Meanwhile, everyone knew Piccolo would survive, since he would have been needed in a sequel. Also, they show him still in one-piece after Goku defeated him, so it’s not like this is a huge twist or anything.

But, of course, there would be no sequel, so this was the last we saw of DBE Piccolo.

This movie was a real garbage heap of a film, but there was one positive development that came from it. Akira Toriyama really didn’t like how this movie turned out, and this probably had a lot to do with him getting involved with the production of Battle of Gods around 2012. And that movie turned out to be a big success, in part because of Toriyama’s efforts, and this led to the Dragon Ball rennaissance we’re in today. Dragon Ball Super has been a mixed bag in my opinion, but the movies have been great, and even the worst of Super is still miles ahead of “Dragon Ball: Evolution.”

And... yeah, that’s all I got. So ends the Gaijin Live-Action Trilogy. I’ll leave you with the highlight of the series: Puar smoking a cigarette.

#dragon ball #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #dragon ball evolution #dragon ball: evolution #goku #bulma #grandpa gohan #master roshi #yamcha #piccolo #mai #chi chi #and texas battle as corey fuller

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z-iridest · 2 years

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Quest of the Phoenixborn- An MHA Fantasy AU fanfic

Chapter 1- Revelry in the Dark:

Now, my reader, this story does not begin the way you'd expect. Instead of starting in the royal city of Endylon, or near it, our story begins in the dark kingdom of Khazadum. I know what you're thinking: Isn't this the dark kingdom from before? Isn't this kingdom's ruler responsible for the fall of Embermore? That is true, however, our hero wasn't raised... Well, as a hero. For you see, 15 years prior, a baby had been born, sired by the only remaining member of Embermore's royal family: Princess Akaida. But, the child's father, had been the Demon King in disguise. Much like the Ancient Grecian King of the Gods, Zeus, had done many times before, the Demon King had disguised himself in a mortal body to create an heir to his dark throne. But unlike the King of the Gods, the Demon King had a dark purpose for this heir. His heir, with proper teaching, would continue his treachery. His heir was to be a shell, a vessel for him to continue his cruelty. As a newborn, this heir was ripped from her mother, stolen away and taken to Khazadum. It was there that our hero grew, half demon, and told that her mother had abandoned her due to her half demon appearance. With eyes like rubies, mid back length, jet black hair with tips blood red in color, massive bat-like wings and a demon form so massive it nearly rivaled her father's, all in Khazadum knew to fear the young princess or die. But... Very few knew that the child was not what her father had wanted her to be. Instead of cruelty, the child showed kindness that those in Khazadum had never known... And many a time, it had angered her father. Many a time, the princess had been forced into her demon form so that her father's rage may fully punish her. In fact, it had happened so often, that the child became disfigured by her demon form. The leather of her wings gained holes, scars littered her entire body, the worst of which covered the left side of her face from her hair line, across her left eye, and to her jaw. Talons grew instead of nails, and scarlet gold feathers stuck up unnaturally in her hair. Though she had been told that she was a curse, a monster... Princess Hinotori remained curious about the world outside of Khazadum. She longed to see the world, though her cruel father forbade such a thing...

But, we wouldn't have our story if she'd obeyed...

Hinotori approached the window of her dark, lonely tower, able to see the day's first light breaking over the horizon just beyond the borders of Khazadum. Curled up next to the window was a jet black dragon, a whelpling that served as Hinotori's only companion. Hinotori giggled softly as the little one stretched its body and wings. "Good morning. Do you think today might be the day? Are you ready to try flying?" She asked. The little dragon crawled into her waiting hands, chirping in a manner that told her the answer. Her smile dropped for a mere moment. "Are you sure? It's definitely going to be a good day to try. If I picked a day to try flying for the first time, this would be it. Endylon is having a ball in a few days in honor of the young prince's birthday. It could be fun!" Hinotori had only heard from patrolling demons about the annual party in the royal city of Endylon, and while they went on and on about how disgusting the celebrations were, it couldn't sound more fun to the princess. As she described the events to the whelpling, she noticed that the whelpling dragon flapped its wings harder and harder, straining as it lifted off of her hands and into the air. Hinotori giggled mid explanation and showed the whelpling her hands before laughing again and catching the little dragon as it landed again. It chirped at her, as if asking for her to go with it. She shook her head. "As much as I desire to go, I can't. Father would be more furious if I ever left my tower, let alone the kingdom." Hinotori stopped, sighing. "Although... It would be fun just to have at least one night with no responsibilities hanging over my head...." Shadow chirped again before a knock sounded. "Come in." Hinotori answered the knock, turning as it opened and a woman stepped through.

"My lady, if it's only one night you require, why let your father stop you?" It was the dark witch, Plasmia, although Hinotori knew her simply by a different name:

"You know why, Chizuki. He'd burn down the world if I ran away from home and hid." She replied. Plasmia snorted in retort.

"He'd do that anyway, regardless if he was looking for you or not. You've done nothing but follow his every word since you were young, you deserve this chance." Plasmia told her.

"And why would you help me with this?"

"Hey, believe it or not, even witches like me aren't all bad. Besides, life isn't a spectator sport. You'll watch your life go right by without you if watching is all you're gonna do."

"You've got a point, but he'd never let me out of the tower, even if I asked."

"And who said you have to ask? You sneak out, have fun and sneak back in. He'd never know you were gone."

"One of the demon scouts would recognize me."

"Not if you wear a disguise."

"What if I got caught?"

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission, little princess." Plasmia pointed out, the princess hesitating for a moment.

"Well..."

"No one wants to stay couped up here forever, little bird."

"You know what... You're right. I'll get cleaned up, walk down the tower steps, and through the doors and-"

"What're you blabbering about now?" Hinotori jumped at the voice and froze when she saw the captain of the guard glaring coldly at her from the door she'd just opened, his fist raised as if he was about to knock. While he had magic that could decay anything he touched with all five of his fingers, Tomura Shigaraki had been charged with protecting Hinotori's well being until she was of age to take the dark throne. "Don't tell me you're still going on and on about going outside. It's that little whelpling, I knew I should've dusted it when I had the chance..."

"Leave Shadow alone, you know he's my friend." Hinotori barked, her eyes glowing red and her hair turning to flames, only to shrink when a dark presence entered the room. Her father was right behind Tomura. Plasmia dropped to a bow, forced to do nothing but listen as the Demon King spoke to his daughter through a dark shroud.

"You will listen to Tomura, daughter. You have no idea how cruel and wicked the outside world is. That is why darkness must cover this world." Her father's voice spoke from the silhouette.

"There's not really a point in my taking the throne unless I at least meet the people I'm supposed to be ruling over, is there?" Hinotori asked, her gaze locked on the ground below her. "Besides, you let other demons patrol outside our kingdom, why can't I-"

"Most of the demons I send out never come back, cut out of the sky by the very people you are curious of. I am trying to protect you, foolish child. Do you know what will happen if the people outside our kingdom see you like that?" The shadowed figure pointed to Hinotori's looks, reminding her of the toll her half demon form was taking over her. Hinotori hugged herself out of instinct. "You would be shunned, a demon's child could never fit in among the others. They would kill you if they knew what you truly were... In darkness you were born, in darkness you shall remain. Not even your own mother wanted you, and this is the thanks I get for raising you?"

"A spell of disguise would fix my appearance..."

"Hannya!" Hinotori flinched at her father's use of her demon name. She hated the name, but it was the one he used whether she liked it or not. "You are to never speak about the outside world again." After a moment, Hinotori spoke softly.

"Yes, Father... I'm sorry." Hinotori apologized.

"You are forgiven, my daughter. Remember, this tower is your sanctuary." The Demon King replied before leaving the room, Tomura following suit without a second glance to the younger princess.

"My sanctuary..." Hinotori looked out her window. "Yes, I'm safe here... But, at what cost? I don't fit in with the people I was born among... It feels more like I'm imprisoned rather than I was born to rule this kingdom like I'm told is my purpose." Hinotori looked at the little dragon. Shadow chirped at her, nuzzling into her hand. The action made the princess smile as she pet the whelpling. "All I need is one night. If I have to spend the rest of my life couped up in this castle in exchange, I'd gladly take it." A clinging came to the princess's ears. When she turned, a gold amulet was in the witch's hand.

"This will disguise you. No one will be able to sense you as half demon unless the amulet gets ripped off... Not even your father would know it's you." Plasmia told her before placing the amulet around the princess's neck. Instantaneously, the dark haired, ruby eyed child was transformed into a young woman with scarlet gold locks, golden eyes and when she let out her wings, they were no longer the leathery wings she knew. The wings were feathered, the color of the feathers the same scarlet gold as her hair. In place of her talons were human hands and feet, the rest of her body having no scarring. A soft gasp left her when she caught sight of her reflection. Plasmia smiled. "When you wear this amulet, you're not linger Hannya the half demon Princess of Khazadum. You are merely Hinotori. Best leave this evening if you want to make it to the royal city in time."

"You're not coming?" Hinotori asked her. Plasmia shook her head.

"It's best if you leave alone. I have duties here, if I leave suddenly with no explanation, it'll look suspicious." Plasmia explained. Hinotori removed the amulet for the time being, nodding.

"I understand, thank you, Chizuki." Hinotori responded, getting a nod in return. That night, the two women met up again, this time, just outside the tower door. Chizuki fastened a cloak around the younger girl before giving the girl a satchel.

"There's a fresh change of clothes in there and gold in case you need it. Should be enough for the time it'll take to get there... If need be, you can always hunt for food. Make sure you stock up on potions the moment you get into a town and please be wary of strangers. Not everyone will be kind outside of Khazadum." Plasmia told her. Hinotori covered a giggle.

"It's not like you to fret over me like a mother hen, Chizuki." She teased, making the female go bright red.

"Oh, hush." Came Plasmia's embarrassed response, making the younger girl giggle even more.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. You're the closest thing to a sister I have." Hinotori told her.

"I just want you back safe and sound so my ass doesn't get tortured in eternity or something. Safe travel, Hinotori." Plasmia told her, her arms crossed over her chest. The sound of boots echoing through the hall cut off what Hinotori was going to say next. Swaggering through the halls toward the two women was the turquoise eyed, black haired bandit that held what was left of Plasmia's heart... Dabi. His face held its own scars, and it had been Dabi who had tended to the younger child's scars when she first gained them. Chizuki hid Hinotori in the shadows.

"Where's little bird?" Dabi asked Plasmia.

"Asleep in her tower, where else would she be?" Plasmia sassed back. A dark chuckle rumbled through his chest, pulling the woman he loved close to his chest.

"Just makin' sure, doll. Don't want ya to lose that pretty head." Dabi eased her, pressing kisses down her face and neck.

"Dabi, not now. I'm supposed to be guarding her." Plasmia squeaked, smacking him across the chest and causing him to laugh. Ignoring the rest of the conversation, our hero set out, determined to break free of the chains her father had on her.

With careful, but quick steps, the Princess of Darkness moved silently through the night, determined to reach the edge of the only home she'd ever known, unseen by her people. Before long, she reached the wall that separated the Demon Kingdom from the rest of the world. With the amulet around her neck keeping her disguised, the half demon princess jumped from the wall. Gravity brought her to the Dark Wood's Forrest floor below, her hood falling as she rolled. Springing to her feet, she dusted herself off and began to run, the cape flowing behind her as she did so. A smile crossed her face at the cold evening breeze that blew on her face, the girl looking up to watch the moonlight dance between the trees. Once she was far enough, she slowed to a walk, drinking from the flask of water provided for her. She had a lot of distance to close if she was to make it to the royal city in time... As soon as the young girl cleared the border of Khazadum, she made camp for herself, taking a rest, but upon sunrise the next morning, Hinotori was on the move again. Before long, she'd reached the ruins of a kingdom she'd only heard about in war stories... Embermore. The moment she set foot inside the ruins, she felt a rush of sadness and a different emotion she'd never felt before... Belonging? Why did she feel as though she belonged within these ruins? She felt her sadness turn to rage. She knew her father was responsible for this kingdom laying in ruins... She could practically hear the screams of its people from when they were slaughtered, the demons who'd helped vanquish the royal city ruthless in the slaughter of every last one... From men and women who tried resisting the onslaught to children hiding with their grandparents or elders to try to remain safe, no one had been spared from the cruelty...

"Hinotori..." The teenager turned this way and that, trying to find where the voice was coming from. Who was calling her? Shadow peeked out of the princess's cloak, the whelpling sniffing the air.

"You hear it too, right?" Hinotori asked, getting a chirp in response.

"Hinotori..." The voice called again. Hinotori followed it to the center of the ruins, not noticing the watcher in the shadows following her from afar. In the center of those ruins, my dear reader, was a sword, stuck into the ground next to a coffin, a coffin that held Queen Zarina. Though it had patches of rust, for being stuck in the ground for 30 years, it seemed to bekon our hero closer. As if in a trance, Hinotori answered its call, her hand reaching out to grasp the black leather wrapped hilt. With little effort, she lifted the sword from its place, watching in awe as the sword seemed to renew itself in her hands, becoming a sword perfectly made for her and her alone. The rust disappeared, the hilt became decorated with an intricate design of a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the blade seeming to ignite with Phoenix flame as it revealed Hinotori's demon form for a split second. The light died down after a moment, but the sword remained in its renewed state.

"For many years, I've watched as travelers of all kinds have tried to free the Blade of the Phoenixborn, and yet, I didn't expect a half demon such as yourself to be able to free it." Hinotori turned at the sudden voice, poised in a position ready for battle. Her eyes watched as the stranger revealed himself. His body was one of a normal human, the same height as her, and yet... His head was one of a bird, black feathers adorning most of his head and face, a yellow beak and crimson eyes that seemed to pierce her own. A black cloak was wrapped around him, hiding most of his body from Hinotori's line of sight and making him look intimidating to most who saw him.

"How do you know I'm a half demon?" Hinotori asked, a glare prominent on her face.

"Your human appearance faltered for a moment when the sword was inflamed. Since I was watching the whole time, I saw your demon form. Now, who exactly are you?"

"I could ask the same of you." Hinotori shot back. He seemed to glower at her before it faltered after a moment, the boy bowing his head.

"My apologies... I am Fumikage... These ruins have been my family's home for a while now. Since the day a scarlet haired stranger showed us this place, we've been guarding the sword you now carry. She assured us that only the rightful heir to the throne of Embermore, the Phoenixborn, could pull that sword. But, it seems our job is complete, now that you have been found." In the shards of a shattered mirror, Hinotori caught her reflection. Resting upon her forehead was a silver circlet, adorned with a singular ruby, the crown of the last Phoenixborn.

"I can't be... There's no way..." Hinotori trailed off. Her? The Phoenixborn?

"Now that I'm taking a closer look at you, you look like the child that was stolen away from that same stranger... She set out from here toward the Dark Kingdom to find her daughter, but that was nearly 10 years ago." Fumikage mused. Hinotori shook her head.

"No... That isn't me. My mother abandoned me because of my half demon appearance." Hinotori told him. Fumikage hummed for a moment, not quite believing her before Hinotori gave a cry of realization. "I'm so sorry! I didn't introduce myself! My name is Hinotori."

"It's a pleasure, Lady Hinotori." Fumikage bowed again.

"Oh, please, no need for formalities." Hinotori told him, gaining a smile from her new companion.

"Very well... But, forgive me if it slips out every now and then."

"I'll remind you." Hinotori smiled, following her new companion to meet the rest of Fumikage's company. And so it was that in the ashes of Embermore, new bonds were forged. As the princess's company grew from two to four, she had no idea the changes fate had in store for her.

Taglist: @qweenexplosionmurder13 @euphorical-angel

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#mha #fantasy au #cannon x oc #Hinotori Shigaraki #Quest of the Phoenixborn

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