Dragonball Story
When other sites have a section about the story of Dragonball Z, I've come to noticed that they usually just focus upon the fighting plot of the series. Well, to tell you the truth, Dragonball/Z/GT is not a series about fighting, no, not at all.
It's the story of a man's life, namely, Son Gokou.
Think about it. In the beginning of the series, we're introduced to a little boy named Son Gokou, who possesses incredible strength for someone his age. We see him grow up, train his skills, become the best fighter in the world, marry a woman named Chi Chi, and raise a family.
That's mainly the story of Dragonball. Enter Dragonball Z, the series which is famous for fast-paced fighting and incredible feats of power. But still, take away all the battles, and you see Son Gokou all grown up and living out his life with his friends and family. No matter what you say, it is still the story of this man's life.
Now you understand the underlying plot of Dragonball Z, now you might as well understand the fighting plot, the one which most people know of.
Dragonball Z is the series which really gets into battles with evil villians, therefore, that is the series we will talk about. Dragonball Z is divided into 5 main sagas: Saiya-jin Saga, Furiza Saga, Jinzouningen/Andriod Saga, Cell Saga, and the Majin Buu Saga. As the series progresses, we see the characters grow in age, strength, skill, and personality. As they rise to the next level in power, new foes come to challenge them in a never-ending battle to attain peace.
Saiya-jin Saga
The Saiya-jin Saga is the first saga of the DBZ series, and explains a little about Son Gokou's forgotten past. You see, Son Gokou doesn't remember anything about his childhood except that he used to live with his adopted Grandfather, Son Gohan (which he named his first son after), before he died. In this Saga, we're introduced to the first villian, an alien named Raditzu, who claims that he is Gokou's older brother.
Raditzu reveals that Gokou is a Saiya-jin named Kakarotto, a member of a powerful fighting race which loves conquest over planets and killing living beings for fun. Also, he told us that Gokou was sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the inhabitants. This does not match Son Gokou's gentle and pure-hearted personality, and Gokou admits that he hit his head when he was a very young child, and it's thought that he had forgotten his mission and became Earth's protector instead.
Raditzu becomes angry upon hearing this, and decides to convince Gokou to join him (Gokou said he's rather die) by taking his only son, Gohan. Gokou futilely tries to stop him, but his knocked down and defeated in only one blow.
To sum the rest up quickly, Gokou strikes a truce with a former enemy, Piccolo, and they both face off against the powerful Radtizu. The battle shows Gokou and Piccolo at a disavantage against the Saiya-jin, until young Gohan jumps in with his hidden power, tipping the scales in favor of the defenders of Earth. But, in the end of the battle, Gokou is forced to sacrifice himself to kill Raditzu, and also dies. Before Raditzu dies, he tell Piccolo that two more Saiya-jins are on their way to Earth, and will be there within a year to kill them all.
So everyone trains for the battle to come. Piccolo takes the four-year-old Gohan and trains him to control his amazing power, and Gokou receives training in the afterlife from Kaiou-sama. When a year finally passes, Piccolo, Gohan, Kuririn, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, and Chaotzu face off against the two new Saiya-jins, Prince Vegeta himself and Nappa. Gokou was already wished back to life by the dragonballs, but he still had to fly down the million kilometer Serpent Road to get back down to Earth to assist his friends and family in the battle of the century.
The battle begins, and soon, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, and Piccolo are killed by the hands of the evil Nappa. Gohan was the next soul to join the list of the dead, and nearly does when Gokou suddenly arrives. Nappa is defeated shortly after, and Gokou and the Saiya-jin Prince, Vegeta continue the battle on a different ground.
Though it took Gohan, Kuririn, and Yajirobe's help to finally defeat Vegeta, Gokou allowed Vegeta to escape Earth in safety, Vegeta vowing to kill them all.
-End of the Saiya-jin Saga.
Furiza Saga
Next is the Furiza Saga, a turning point in the series. In this saga, Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan travel to the planet Namek in search of the Namekian Dragonballs so they can wish their dead comrades back to life. They are not the only ones, and they learn that the evil tyrant, Furiza, was also searching for the dragonballs, as well as an old nemisis, Vegeta.
Immediately they call back to Earth for Gokou's help (who is still recovering from his severe injuries from the battle with Vegeta, but he's on his way as soon as he has a senzu). As Gokou's ship speeds through space to help them, the situation on Namek grows worse.
In order to get the dragonballs faster, the powerful Furiza calls his Ginyu Force, a team of the most powerful warriors (besides Furiza) in the universe. They take the dragonballs from Kuririn, Gohan, and Vegeta, and a battle ensues for the possesion of the stolen dragonballs. Due to his hate for Furiza, Vegeta forms a temporary alliance with the Earthlings, but they're defeated easily by the powerful Recoome.
Enter Gokou, who was a whole lot more powerful since he trained on his ship in 100x gravity; and soon Recoome & Burter (another member of the Ginyu Force) were defeated. Gokou orders the Gohan and Kuririn to get the dragonballs as Jeice, the last member of the Ginyu Force, escapes to get Captian Ginyu himself to deal with Gokou. Gokou originally wanted Vegeta to help him fight Captain Ginyu, but Vegeta betrays him and flies away before the battle begins.
To make a long story short, Gokou battles Captain Ginyu, and Ginyu realizes he cannot defeat this Saiya-jin, and he changes bodies with Gokou using a technique of his. After a long and hard struggle (and Kuririn, Gohan and Vegeta's assistance) Jeice is killed, and Gokou gets his body back (but due to the hard battle, it's pretty messed up, so the others put Gokou in a regeneration tank inside Furiza's ship, who is not there at the moment).
Behind Vegeta's back, Kuririn and Gohan summon the Namekian Dragon and make their wishes: They wished Piccolo back to life, and that he was on the planet Namek. Suddenly, the Dragon disappears due to the creator's sudden death, and an angry Vegeta appears. Before he could kill them, Furiza himself appears. The battle for the fate of the universe begins.
Vegeta tries to fight Furiza, but he is defeated. The Piccolo arrives and he fights the tyrant, who transforms to a higher level and power, and later transforms again. The Third Transformation is too much for the Namek, and to end the battle even quicker, Furiza transforms into his final and most powerful form.
Vegeta is nearly killed, but then Gokou arrives to save the day (da da da da! He's pretty good at that arriving-at-the-last-moment thing). Vegeta ends up being killed by Furiza anyway, and Gokou buries him and says a few respectable words to the dead Prince. Gokou wages a battle against Furiza, shaking the planet with the power generated with the battle. After a long hard struggle, it seems that Gokou had finally defeated Furiza with a Genki-dama (a.k.a. Spirit Bomb), and Piccolo, Kuririn, Gohan, and Gokou sigh in relief.
Suddenly, a very angry Furiza arrives, and his fires a point straight at Gokou's heart. Piccolo shoves Gokou out of the way and takes the blast in the lung, and collapses onto the ground. Kuririn was next, and suffered a brutal death as Gokou was completely helpess to save his best friend. His anger to his absolute limit, the peaceful Son Gokou ki explodes in an awesome show of rage and power. His eyes flash green, and his black hair stands on end and turns bright gold, his muscles buldge as his ki rises tremendously. His face is twisted in an expression of pure rare, and his fixes his ice-cold stare on the bewildered Furiza.
Barely in control of his rage, Gokou orders Gohan to leave and take Piccolo with him. Gohan complies, a little hesitant at first until Gokou yells at him to leave before he loses control. With Gohan gone, Gokou's focus goes onto Furiza, and a fierce battle ensues on the planet Namek.
The battle had so much power radiating from it, Bulma on the other side of the planet felt the affects. Realizing he can't win fairly, Furiza attempts to blow up the planet, since he can breathe in space. He doesn't succeed, but his blast disrupted the planet's core, and they only had about 5 minutes until the planet exploded.
To sum it up, the dragonballs are summoned on Earth (Piccolo and Kami are alive now, therefore the dragonballs exist again), and Kaio-sama tells Kami-sama to wish for everyone ever killed by Furiza and his henchmen back to life. This results in Guru (I forgot his Japanese name), the creator of the Namekian dragonballs, to come back to life again. Immediately, the Namekian dragon summons itself since the third wish was not used up. The third wish is used to transport everyone but Gokou (by his request, he wanted to finish Furiza once and for all) and Furiza to the planet Earth. The wish is granted, and Gokoku and Furiza are the only souls left on the planet.
The battle goes on, each side desperate to win over the other. Finally, the battle ends in Gokou's victory over the evil Furiza, and with the tyrants death Gokou races to escape from the doomed planet Namek. He reaches Furiza's ship, but the ship refused to start, and the planet explodes with Gokou on it in a brilliant flash of light.
A couple months later, all of the Nameks and the Z-senshi are on Earth at the Capsule Corporation, summoning the Namekian dragon once again. They wish Kuririn and the other Z-senshi whom were killed against the Saiya-jins. But when they try to wish Gokou back from the dead, the dragon say that cannont be done since the man named Gokou was still alive. Everyone is shocked by this, but they change the wish to have Gokou teleported to Earth. The dragon explains that this cannot be done either, since Gokou does not want to go back to Earth yet, and while another time. Once again everyone is shocked by this turn of events, and Vegeta figures out that Gokou had somehow escaped from Namek and is training out in space somewhere. He becomes angered by this and takes one of the Capsule Corporation ships to search the universe for Gokou.
Later, the Nameks use the dragon to wish themselves to a new planet, and our hereos say a tearful goodbye to their friends.
-End of the Furiza Saga.
Jinzouningen/Andriod Saga
This saga is relatively short compared to the other Dragonball Z sagas, since it ties into the Cell Saga. Still, this saga is still considered one of the better sagas since the plot somewhat changes from the "big bad guy go kill" theme the other sagas tend to have.
In the beginning of this saga, all of the Z-senshi on the Earth feel that something...terrible is coming from space to Earth. The ki feels very famaliar, and deep in their hearts... they know who he is, and dread his upcoming wrath upon the Earth.
Furiza was alive, and he was coming to Earth for revenge.
It seems that he had survived the explosion from Namek, and his father's ship picked up his remains, and rebuilt Furiza to be better than before. Now, Furiza was an unholy mix of metal and flesh, with a dangerous grudge against a man named Son Gokou. He did not come alone, either, his father, King Kold, was with him, and was even more powerful the Furiza. It seems that the Earth would fall.
Our doomed fighters assemble in the area they know where Furiza's ship would land, knowing that they're probably going to die. The ship lands, and Furiza, King Kold, and their henchmen step out. Furiza immediately orders his men to kill all of the humans they can find and pile the bodies here so when Son Gokou arrives he would see them. The men leap into the air to complete their task, and their limbs fall in pieces onto the ground.
Furiza, King Kold, and our Z-senshi stand in bewilderment. We're introduced to a purple-haired youth, whom lands on the ground and clicks his large sword back into its shealth on his back. Furiza asks what the youth wants, and he answers back in a determined tone:
"I am here to kill you."
Furiza laughs and tells his remaining men to kill this naive boy, when the youth disposes of this men easily. Then, to Furiza's horror, the youth tells him that Son Gokou was not the only Super Saiya-jin, and to Furiza's utter dismay his transforms, turning his blue eyes green and his hair gold. Furiza tries to kill him several times, but the youth keeps coming back, completely unharmed.
Then, with a few quick strokes of his sword and a large ki blast, Furiza is truely dead. The powerful Super Saiya-jin sets his focus on the bewildered King Kold, and defeats him easily as well. Meanwhile, our hereos stand dumbfounded not too far away. To their surprise, the youth falls out of Super Saiya-jin mode and turns his attention on them, and calls out that Son Gokou was going to arrive soon, and that he was going to meet him. Our hereos are shocked, but decide to follow this mysterious boy.
Three hours later, Gokou's ship lands right where the youth said it would, and he steps out. Gokou's very surprised to see that everyone was waiting for him, but he was very happy to see them again. Then, the youth politely asks Gokou if he could talk to him for a moment, alone. Gokou's innocent expression turns serious, and he complies. They fly a distance away from the confused group, and Gokou thanks him for defeating Furiza for him.
But the youth tells Gokou that would have been impossible since Gokou's ship was three hours behind Furiza's, but Gokou cheerfully answers back that he could have used his new technique to get here, ShinkunIdou ("Instanteous Movement"). The youth was impressed, but he grows serious again and says to Gokou that he needed to tell him something.
He tells Gokou right off that he is from the future, twenty years in the future, to be exact. He also tells Gokou that his father is Vegeta, and Gokou nearly falls over with the news (he can't imagine Vegeta actually being a father ^_^). The boy also tells Gokou his name: Trunks. Trunks continues his story, telling Gokou that three years from now two Jinzouningen (Artificail Humans a.k.a. Andriods) will appear close to Southern City, wreaking harvoc. According to Trunks, everyone but Gohan dies in a terrible battle against these Andriods. And when Trunks grows old enough, Gohan trains him so he could fight the Jinzouningen as well, but soon after Gohan is killed.
Gokou asks Trunks want the Jinzouningen wanted, and Trunks replies that he didn't know. He tells Gokou that an evil man, Dr Gero (pronouced Geh-ro), the sole survivor of the Red Ribbon Army, created the Jinzouningen in order to kill Gokou and settle a grudge he had against him. Gokou remembers the Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization he defeated single-handedly when he was a boy, and is amazed that Dr. Gero had held a grudge that long.
Trunks informs Gokou that he went back in time with his time machine built by his mother so he could warn Gokou of the danger. Gokou's a little surprised with the news, and asks what happened to him in this future (Trunks didn't mention anything about Gokou dying at the hands of the Jinzouningen), and Trunks answers that Gokou dies before the battle of a fatal heart disease which has no cure in this time. Gokou's a little angry about this, and says that he really wanted to fight the Jinzouningen, surprising Trunks a little bit that he actually wanted to fight them. Trunks gives Gokou an antidote, and Gokou immediately becomes excited and thanks Trunks, who mentions that Gokou was just like his Mom said he was.
Gokou slowly figures out who Trunk's Mom is, and Trunks confirms Gokou's suspicions when he points over to the other Z-senshi at Bulma (who came along despite everyone's protests). Gokou shrieks and falls over (a very funny scene), yelling "BUH...BULMA IS YOUR MOM?!?!" . Of all people, Bulma! Trunks pleads with Gokou not to tell anyone, since there was a possiblity that Bulma and Vegeta wouldn't get together and he wouldn't exist. Gokou agrees, still recovering from the shock. Anyway, Trunks informs Gokou that he had to leave now, but he'll be back in three years, and Gokou wishes him goodbye. With a thumps-up Trunks flies away to his time machine.
Well, from there, all of the Z-senshi (Vegeta, Gohan, Gokou, Piccolo, Kuririn, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, and Chaotzu) all agree that they were going to train for the three years they had until the Jinzouningen would arrive, and the say their goodbyes. Piccolo, Gokou, and Gohan decided to train together, Tenshinhan and Chaotzu went off to train as well, while Yamucha and Vegeta decided to train alone. The training begins, and three years later all the Z-senshi (except Vegeta, for some reason or another, he hadn't arrived) gather at near the location where the Jinzouningen where supposed to arrive.
Bulma arrives as well, stating that she just wanted to watch them defeat the Jinzouningen. Everyone notices that she is holding a small child, and Gokou (by mistake) called the baby Trunks, and Bulma asks him how he knew his name (whoops!). Gokou stutters that he thought it was a good name for the baby and he laughs hysterically. Unexpectatly, Yajirobe arrives and gives our hereos some senzu beans from Karin, then to Gokou's disappointment leaves (he thought he was there to help them).
Suddenly, Yajirobe's car explodes in the distance. Immediately, the Z-senshi go into the city to find the source, believing that the Jinzouningen were there, though they couldn't sense them (you cannot sense the Jinzouningen's power since they have no ki). No one seemed to find anything, but finally Yamucha steps onto a scene which seemed to have had the Jinzouningen attack a little earlier...
Dead bodies littered the streets, and Yamucha searches for the Jinzouningen, and meets two figures... an old man and a pudgy white man. Yamucha informs them that some deadly Jinzouningen were in the area and that they should try and escape to safety. Neither men reply. Yamucha begins to slowly realize... and one Jinzouningen speaks in a evil tone: "We are they."
Yamucha tried to raise his ki to signal the other Z-senshi that he had found the Jinzouningen, but one grabbed his face, his hand over his mouth. Then Jinzouningen promptly runs his fist through Yamucha's stomach, making Yamucha fall into unconsciousness. A gas truck drives down the road toward them, and the drivers panics and swerves off the road to avoid them, crashing the truck and causing a huge explosion.
The other Z-senshi sensed this disturbance, and quickly they flew to the area. Gokou arrives on the scene, and immediately he challenges the Jinzouningen to fight elsewhere so no innocents will get hurts. Gokou takes off, with the killer Jinzouningen close behind.
When they reach the new battleground, Gokou faces off against whom we're told to be Jinzouningen 19, surprising both evil Cyborgs of his incredible Super Saiya-jin power. But during the middle of the fight, Gokou fights slower and slower, and his breath becomes more labored. Jinzouninge 19 takes advantage over the situation and lands painful blows onto our hero. Gohan realizes what's wrong with Gokou when he sees him clutch his gi where his heart is... it's the heart virus!
In those three years of training, the heart virus never revealed itself, and Gokou went along as always, not thinking twice about it (in one ear, out the other!). Now, it has hit Gokou full-force, handicapping his fighting ablities.
On the battle-field, Gokou was being choked by the Jinzouningen, and at the same time was having his ki sucked out of him through the red-thing on the Jinzouningen's palms. Piccolo atempts to save Gokou, but other other Cyborg, Jinzouningen 20, keeps him from helping. Suddenly, Vegeta arrives, kicking Jinzouningen 19 off of Gokou effortlessly and stating the Kakarotto was his to kill.
Gokou's unconscious body was given to Yamucha (healed by those nifty senzu-beans!) to travel to his house and give Gokou the medicine, while Vegeta faced off against the Jinzouningen. He defeats him easily with his new skill, the level of Super Saiya-jin (and a new technique: th Big Bang Attack!) ! After 19's demise, Vegeta turns his attention to the other Cyborg, he promptly escapes from our Z-senshi into a wooded area, but not before being spotted by Bulma (who was flying an airplane at the time, trying to get to the scene). She realizes who he is, and the Jinzouningen explodes her airplane, providing a distraction in which to escape from.
Luckily for Bulma, Trunks was there to save her and Chibi Trunks ("Chibi" means "little"), and a little pissed that Vegeta didn't try to save them (after all, Chibi Trunks is his son! Bulma tells the others that the Jinzouningen that just fled was Dr. Gero himself, who had turned himself into a Cyborg. Then they conclude that he must be trying to get to his lab, to do what, though? Then Trunks says that these weren't the Jinzouningen from his time, and everyone stares at him and freaks out. Somehow, Dr. Gero had made more Andriods in this timeline! Meaning...
...that the Jinzouningen that wrecked Trunk's time were in Dr. Gero's lab, and he was going there to wake them up!!
The Z-senshi immediately embark on a desperate search for the fleeing Andriod, still not being able to sense his ki since he has none. They finally find his lab, but they were already too late -- Dr. Gero had already awakened the other Jinzounigen...
Juuhachigou (18) and Juunanagou (17)!
I'll write more soon!
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