2022 Update – This one… needed work. This was deinfetly a chapter I wrote, but did'nt re-read, because I wanted it to be DONE. As such, 17 isn't very 17-ish, so that needed to be fixed.
After the world was destroyed then restored (yes, that happened) the Z-Fighters had all collectively decided it was time for a break. Even Goku had decided to stop training for a few hours each day and just rest. During this time, Bulma had remembered the box that Pird had delivered a while ago. It took a bit longer than the scientist would like to admit to getting everything set up, but once she did, she was intrigued. The letter made it clear that they would be able to see shows and heroes form other dimensions, including different versions of themselves. Spawn had an animated series that some of the fighters had to admit was pretty cool. Krillin, Vegeta (of all people), Roshi and Goku found themselves watching it a bit more thoroughly, intrigued by the mysticism and rather emotional story it told. Still, Time moved on, Pan was as healthy and happy as you could hope for a baby, and was now beginning to crawl about.
Bulma had kept working on what Trunks nicknamed the 'Bat-Sayian' suit, a new type of armour that would be able to not only absorb and reflect Ki attacks, but also gave the user the ability to fly via small engines embedded on the back of the suit, coupled with a wing-suit like material under the arms and between the legs. On paper, this was an awesome idea, but when the testing phase came… Well, the issues began when she couldn't find anyone who would test it. She didn't want Trunks or Goten to try it (also they were too small), Goku, Goten, Vegeta, Tien, Krillin and a few others could already fly, and didn't want to get hit by even a weak Ki blast, so they were out. Eventually (and despite many protests) Bulma decided she would test the flight capabilities herself.
Skorch walked into the medical bay of Capsule Corp, his dreads still lightly smoking, and looked at the scientist on the bed. Her left arm was broken, both legs were either fractured or outright broken, two ribs were cracked her left hand was dislocated, as was her right shoulder, and she had a pretty nasty black eye.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm looking for Mrs. Briefs room." Skorch said.
"That's me you idiot." Bulma grumbled. Annoyed not only by the failure of the flight test, but also by Skorch's semi-gloating over his regenerative powers and the fact that he repetitively warned her this was a bad idea. "And before you say anything, I know it was a bad idea, but there was no one there to help test it."
"Eh, nothing ventured, nothing gained right?" Skorch shrugged in response, understanding where the scientist was coming from. "Gohan wanted to tell me to tell you that he will be coming by later with some senzu beans. Apparently, they need to be cleaned or something before consumption. I dunno, not my kind of plant."
"Couldn't you just heal me and we'd be on our way?" Bulma asked the entity, and Skorch paused, seemingly not having thought of that.
"Huh." Was all he said. "I'll get back to you on that." And with that, he disappeared into smoke, leaving a very pained and annoyed Bulma behind.
Over at the Kame house, Roshi had locked himself in his room and had been using one of the devices that the 'Blackthorns' as Skorch, Bulma and the letter called them, had sent. The others didn't know what it did, and frankly, they didn't want to know.
Goku had stopped by, more as a way to get out of work than anything, and was relaxing with Tien, Vegeta, Piccolo, Launch and Oolong. The small group had no real plans until a young man appeared, walking through the front door.
"Oh, Goku. I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"Hey, Android 17!" Goku replied, happy to see his (not psychopathic) 'friend', even if 17 barely knew Goku.
"Look, I was wondering if you've seen my sister recently. It's been awhile since we've talked, and I was thinking we should meet again, it's been too long."
"So, you came all the way out here, rather than go to the police station to ask Krillin?" Piccolo then asked, the Namekian pointing out some very obvious holes in 17's thinking.
"Well, Cue-Ball is out with his mates, apparently there's a massive drug bust going down, so he's out of reach currently, and when my sister moved with him, they gave me their address and…"
"You forgot it didn't you?"
17 said nothing, his eyes subtly darting to one side for a moment. "Er, I also heard about some sort of super powerful creature showing up. What's up with that?"
"Which one?" Vegeta scoffed.
"Wait. There's more than one?"
"Yeah, there was Beerus, this purple Cat-God of Destruction." Goku explained. "And then there's Skorch, this weird fire-thing, I don't know if he's a God…"
"I wouldn't call him a God in the sense that people refer to Beerus as one." Tien spoke up. "He's more along the lines of an Elemental Genie, rather than a straight up God, albeit less malicious."
"I'm not gonna lie, that may be the weirdest thing I've heard in a long while." 17 said, after a few moments of quiet surprise. "And that's after all the stuff I seen and been through."
"Speaking of weird crap, you've seen, have you seen those Death Battles that old guy brought us?" Launch asked, taking a drink from her glass.
"Death Battle? What's that?" 17 raised a brow, this being the first time he'd heard about it.
"Yeah! It's kinda awesome!" Goku exclaimed, a somewhat child-like excitement in his voice. "Hey, we aren't doing anything, why don't we watch one? Show 17 what he's been missing."
It didn't take much arguing for everyone to agree. They debated if they should call Roshi or not, but eventually decided he was probably busy, and no one wanted to go near his room. Eventually, they had settled down and the familiar rock theme began once again, along with the bloody spikes and swinging chains.
"No anime tough guy trope is complete unless he has outrageous spiky hair, a sword that's clearly compensating for something..." Wiz began as a man with those exact features was shown walking towards the foreground.
"…And belts. Lots and lots of belts." Boomstick continued as a man was shown with about seven belts wrapped around his chest.
"And usually a really, stupidly tragic backstory leaving them a broken, silent man." 17 remarked, somewhat sarcastically, not knowing how accurate he was.
"Ragna, the Bloodedge." Wiz said, as a man with a red jacket, baggy black pants, a giant sword, and a spiky white haircut was shown, glancing over his shoulder at the viewers.
"…Bloodedge? Not gonna lie, that's pretty awesome." Launch commented, also finding Ragna rather good looking.
"And Sol Badguy, the Flame of Corruption." Boomstick added as a man who looked rather similar to Ragna, but with brown hair, white pants, and wasn't wearing a shirt. "He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick."
"And it's our job to analyse their weapons, armour and skills to figure out who would win… A Death Battle." Wiz concluded as the doors closed, then reopened.
(*Cues: BlazBlue Calamity Trigger - Imperial Code*)
"Nearly a century ago, humanity was hunted to near-extinction by the fearsome Black Beast. Fortunately, six brave heroes slayed the monster and saved mankind." Wiz began as a tapestry of a giant, multi-headed beast was shown, clothed in fire, destroying a city. Another image appeared of six heroes seemingly banishing the creature, or destroying it.
"Not the intro I was expecting, but okay." 17 shrugged. "That thing looks really weird… I wonder who those 'heroes' were…"
"Ragna's probably one of them." Tien commented.
"The remains of humanity were then reorganized under an oppressive government, as tends to happen when things go bad." Wiz continued.
"It's either full on anarchy, or a bat-shit insane government." Boomstick agreed. "To be honest, you'd think people would wisen up to this… but no."
"Eventually, one man decided to rise up, to fight back, and to dress in MC Hammer Pants... He would become known as Ragna, the Bloodedge." Wiz concluded, as an image of Range appeared, a burning fire shown reflecting in his eye as he swung his giant sword up and put it onto his shoulder, then smirked somewhat.
"This is gonna hurt." Ragna smirked.
"He looks like some teenager going through a hip-hop phase." 17 remarked, thinking that while 'Bloodedge' was a cool name, the pants and jacket were a bit much…
"Baggy pants, giant sword, brooding personality… Yeah, Ragna has 'tragic back-story' written all over him." Boomstick remarked, despite not being visible, they could hear the host roll his eyes.
"I wouldn't say 'tragic' as much as 'gruesome' to be honest." Wiz replied. "As a young child, he and his siblings were confined to an experimental laboratory and used as human lab rats."
"I was joking!" 17 exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. (Sometimes, singing Ay-yo, gotta let go.)
17 eyes seemed to widen somewhat at that. While he didn't seem to react, he felt like he just got hit in the gut. Hard. The others were taken aback as well as they saw footage of Ragna and a few others being gruesomely experimented on. They were cut open, injected with unknown fluids, and a whole host of other horrors.
"I'm glad Bulma isn't here, she'd probably put her fist through the tv…" Launch muttered. Vegeta silently nodded, while his wife was a woman of science, if she ever saw something like that… she'd probably personally drag whoever did it down to hell with her bare hands.
"So, not trying to make light of a bad situation, but why do so many of these guys have a terrible, awful backstory?" Oolong asked.
"I think it's to be a sort of catalyst for why they decide to fight for the innocent." Piccolo answered. "Often in stories, if someone has a terrible childhood and ends up fighting to defend those who can't defend themselves, people find it easier to root for that person."
"Well that sucks. What were they trying to do?" Boomstick asked. "Was this another super solider plan that went horribly, horribly wrong?"
"Honestly? No one knows." Wiz replied.
"And that makes it SO much better." 17 grumbled, clearly having some old memories dragged back to the forefront.
"The important thing here is they were rescued by a talking cat named Jubei, who also happened to be the most feared warrior on the planet." Wiz continued as a cat wearing a cloak and with a large staff appeared, fighting off the scientists masterfully.
"Surely you can do better." Jubei snarked as he spun a staff much like Roshi's around, fighting off an entire wave of security guards.
"Wait. What?" Goku said. "Why do they seem so casual about that?"
"Who knows. Maybe that's just normal in their world." Oolong shrugged. "Like how flying superpowered dudes and wish-granting dragons are normal in our world."
"However, things took a darker turn when Ragna's sister Saya grew very sick."
"Yes, because sickness is so much darker than being experimented on!"
"Are you alright?" Tien finally asked, having picked up on the Ex-Android's anger.
"Honestly? No, not really." 17 shook his head. "I dunno, I guess I've been trying to move on from all the crap that happened to me and my sister and well… I guess this just brought some bad memories up."
"Hey, we can stop if you want." Launch said, feeling sorry for Lapis. While she didn't know his whole life story, there was clearly something bad in it.
"Nah, I'll be good." 17 said with a wave. "Just needed to get that out, ya know?"
"Wow. That sucks." Boomstick remarked. "With what?"
"Sickness? No one knows." Wiz replied clearly at a loss. "Regardless, Ragna took Saya under his wing doing what he could to keep his sister safe." Some footage was shown of Ragna carrying a tiny girl who was sleeping in his arms.
"Aww! She's so cute!" Launch cooed.
"But their younger brother Jin was irritated that Ragna was not spending more time with him. Being a reasonable guy, he decided the only solution was to murder his brother. Yes. Really."
The room fell silent at that, Launch's other side was now clawing to get out in anger, Tien remained stone faced, Oolong just blinked, Goku wanted to say something but couldn't, Lapis just shook his head, and Piccolo and Vegeta remained neutral, honestly expecting this kind of thing at this point.
"That makes sense." Vegeta scoffed. "I mean, why not? Hell. Why not just bring the Black Beast back and wipe out humanity again? Why stop there? Why not just destroy all live in the universe? That should get your brother to spend time with you."
"…did you have a brother Vegeta?" Lapis asked with a raised brow.
"No." Vegeta almost immediately answered, clearly lying.
"Oh yeah! That makes a ton of sense! I'm lonely. I'll kill one of the people I care about." Boomstick whined sarcastically.
"I hate saying this, but he's right." Vegeta grumbled.
"Great plan kid. So, then a maniacal hipster villain named Yuki Terumi showed up out of nowhere, helped Jin impale Ragna through the chest, and then cut off his arm for good measure. As you do."
"His brother's kind of a dick." Goku remarked, not as horrified as he may have been had he not seen a few of these Death Battles before, but the betrayal still stung. Family was family, and being hurt by your own… that pain was real. Oh, the pain of being impaled and having your arm forcefully sliced off your body while you were impaled also probably hurt like hell too. And it clearly did, as Raga was shown paralyzed in pain.
"KIND OF!?" Launch's other side exploded briefly startling most of the group (except Vegeta). "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HIM!?"
"If you're talking about Ragna's brother, he's probably mentally broken from the experiments, if you're talking about Goku, he's an idiot." The Sayian prince said, not turning his head. They watched as a very punchable face appeared on screen, behind Jin, then helping Jin stab a still very young Ragna graphically through the chest, and then cut his arm off, blood spraying everywhere, before simply walking away, leaving his brother to die.
"I really wanna punch that guy in the face." 17 remarked. "Not just because of what he did, but because he has a really punchable face…"
"Agreed." Piccolo nodded.
"Why? How? No one knows. Have you familiarized yourself with that phrase yet? Good, cuz it's not stopping anytime soon." Wiz replied.
"Pretty sure Bulma would hate this episode." Lapis commented. "This whole 'Just go with it' mentality ain't really her style."
BACKGROUND
Name: Ragna ("He dosen't have a last name?" Goku asked.)
Height: 6'0.8"
Whight: 172 lbs
Blood Type: B
Alias: The Grim Reaper
Frequent Dine-And-Dasher ("Same." 17 said nonchalantly.)
Bounty: 90,000,000,000 (This shocked everyone into silence, even Vegeta)
His Foul Mouth Gives The Angry Video Game Nerd a run for his money. (There was some wondering who that was.)
Has A Crippling Fear of Ghosts ("Really? Ghosts?" Piccolo blinked, confused.)
Zero Sense Of Subtly
(*Cues: BlazBlue Calamity Trigger - Queen of Roses*)
"Moving on for sanity's sake, Ragna would've been done for until an omniscient time-traveling pig-tailed vampire descended from the heavens, snapped her fingers, magicked him a new arm, and left. No, no. Don't think. Just accept."
The fighters watched as indeed, a young woman appeared, gave Ragna a new arm, then disappeared.
"Alright then." Piccolo finally said.
"Are they always this weird?" 17 asked, looking over to Goku.
"No. Usually it's just a dinosaur or a vengeful spirit." Goku shook his head.
"Yes, because that's so much more normal…"
"Surprisingly still conscious and apparently an expert of things that never happened before, Ragna not only got up and kept going as if nothing happened, but naturally decided to get revenge. Even if he had to kill his brother." Wiz continued.
"Well, he kinda has more justification for it than some of the other fighters we've seen go on revenge-quests." Launch said. "Still, I don't think he has to kill his own brother…"
"At this point, killing his brother may be a mercy, both to him and to the world." Tien replied. "If his brother is really this far gone, then there's no telling what he might do. He might even try to bring back that beast creature. Killing him would prevent that from happening, and prevent more people from being harmed."
"Yeah, but…" Launch wanted to respond, but trailed off falling silent.
"He honestly seems to be taking this far better than some of the others." Vegeta added, not turning to look back. "If he was Kratos, he would've ripped someone's spine out and used it as a backscratcher at this point."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." 17 exclaimed. "I'm sorry, what?"
"We'll explain later." Tien said.
"He also, instantly recognized his new appendage as an Azure Grimoire, a piece of the Black Beast that was now fused onto Ragna's body, giving him some of the powers of the ferocious monster. On top of that, Ragna can use his new arm to manipulate Seithr. Seithr is a radioactive energy left behind by the Black Beast all over the world. While it's not clear what its full effects are, it does allow Ragna to do some crazy stuff." Wiz continued with his explanation.
AZURE GRIMOIRE
Gives Ragna Virtually Unmatched Control Over Seithr
Absorbs The Soul Of It's Target ("Again with the souls." Goku remarked.)
Augmented By The Idea Engine (There was some text about where it came from, but the fighters couldn't understand it)
Adds The Ability To Create Force Fields
Turned Ragna's Right Eye Red When It Bonded With Him
Double's Ragna's Attack Power
"So, what's the Idea Engine?" Launch asked.
"No one knows." Lapis replied sarcastically.
"So, this Aussie Grim stuff is like magic?" Boomstick asked.
"Well no, Magic is totally different."
"But it lets him do magic-type stuff..."
"Yes..."
"So, it's magic, but it's not magic?" Goku asked, seeming extremely confused.
"Don't question it, we'll be here all day if we start trying to figure this out." Piccolo said matter-of-factly. Thankfully, everyone agreed, but Goku mentally noted to as Skorch about that later.
(*Cues: Black And White - BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma*)
"Ooo... kay! Moving on!" Boomstick after a minute of confused silence. "Well after missing out on the maiming and resurrection of Ragna, by a few freakin' years, Jubei the cat ninja returned and decided to teach him the ways of combat."
"Where the hell was he before? No. One. Knows." Wiz groaned in response, clearly being driven insane by this backstory.
"Hey yeah! Where the hell was he!?" Launch exclaimed, feeling agitated. "He saves these kids, then just pisses off and leaves a kid to get mutilated!?"
"Well, pain can be a powerful teacher." Vegeta responded, then saw the look of absolute bloody murder in Launch's eyes. "What? He survived the attack, and clearly went on to become one of the most feared warriors, it's clear that loss and pain clearly acted as a catalyst to make him who he was. I'm not saying it's fine for his own brother to try and kill him over such a stupid reason. But you don't become a powerful warrior by sitting on the sidelines and wishing your enemies have a change of heart."
The room went silent as everyone listened to Vegeta's words. They held truth to them, a very complicated truth that could easily be debated at another day, but before anyone could say anything in response, Boomstick spoke up.
"Probably destroying someone's furniture or pissing in their shoes."
17 snorted in an attempt to muffle his laughter, the others had to admit it was pretty funny.
Suddenly, the door opened and Roshi groaned as he cracked his back, clearly just having gotten out of a shower.
"That… was… awesome…" He muttered to himself, going to get a drink, then noticing that the Z-Crew were watching another episode of Death Battle. "What I miss?"
"Some kid got his arm cut off and was impaled by his own brother, then a magic cat ninja began training him." Tien answered plainly.
"Ah, okay then." Roshi said, sitting down. "So, the usual stuff?"
As footage of Jubei training Ragna played, Wiz continued.
"Through his training, Ragna's control over Seithr became practically unmatched. He can form various parts of the Black Beast in combat, transform his own arm into razor-sharp claws, or drain the soul of his foe through his strikes."
MOVE SET
Hell's Fang
Dashes In With A Seithr-Enhanced Punch
Inferno Divider
A Rising Leap Slash Using His Sword
Gauntlet Hades
Downward Strike Powered Be Seithr
Dead Spike
Summons The Jaws Of The Black Beast ("That sounds like a bad idea." Tien remarked.)
Blood Kain
Boosts Speed, Power, And Soul-Draining Ability
"Hold on. If the Black Beast was destroyed, then how can Ragna summon the jaws of it?" Vegeta suddenly asked. "I can understand and accept the Azure part, but how can he summon so many parts of this creature?"
"Well, maybe when it fused with him it was partially reborn in him." Piccolo reasoned. Not realizing he was right, and wrong.
"But if he needs more power, more defense, and more... soul-sucking, he can crank these up to 11 with his Blood Kain form, giving him increased, speed, strength, reaction time, pretty much everything gets a power boost"
"This Seithr stuff seems a lot like Ki, but a twisted version of it." Roshi remarked, connecting a few dots that he wasn't present to pick up on in the first place. "Almost like a kind of blood magic, if that even is such a thing…"
"Upon completing his training, Jubei bestowed upon him a red cloak and a deadly blade called Blood-Scythe." Wiz continued, showing Ragna now wearing his red outfit and a giant sword.
"That's a sword." Goku commented flatly. "Not a scythe."
"Yeah, what gives?" Lapis asked.
"This baby can extend for stabbing strikes and like the Azure Grimoire, it even has the added benefit of slowly draining the souls of its victims upon contact. Before you ask, it's not totally clear what happens if someone innocent gets hurt by this scythe."
"But it's a scythe!" Goku shouted, getting annoyed.
"And before you point out that it's clearly a sword and not a scythe, it can do this." Boomstick added. Ragna's sword suddenly changed, as the straight blade curved around to make a scythe, which he then used to slash someone.
"Ragna use his Astral Heat on Arakune, which causes Blood-Scythe to transform into a Scythe. So, it's both." Wiz explained.
"Oh." Goku blinked.
(*Cues: Nemesis Horizon - BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma*)
"Ragna's angsty rage took him on a world tour of single-handed government smashing, earning him the nickname the Grim Reaper."
A wanted poser was shown, reading;
WANTED: Ragna the 'Bloodedge'
Alias: The Grim Reaper
Wanted for crimes of: Extortion, Murder, Stealing, Dine-And-Dashing, Attempting To Overthrow Government Officials, Bribing Government Officials, Liking Coldplay Music, Drug Trafficking, Taking The Last Two Doughnuts, Illegal Cock Fighting, Forcing The Author To Read A Bunch Of Stuff And Delaying The Release Of This Chapter, Illegal Arms Possession, Being An Edgelord, Graffiti, Poor Singing, Plotting Terror Attacks, Jaywalking
Reward: 90,000,000,000 Money Things (What the hell do we use for currency here anyway?)
"That's… a lot." Piccolo finally found his voice after seeing everything Ragna was currently wanted for. "Are we sure he's an anti-hero, and not just a villain claiming to be a hero?"
There was a bit of quiet concern, and everyone shrugged.
"And despite racking up an unprecedented bounty of 90 billion... whatever their currency is. No one knows, and even though his bounty was the largest bounty of all time, he still freely walks the world on foot and in public with no attempt to disguise himself whatsoever. Not even a mask, he just does what he wants, sword out and everything."
FEATS
Accelerated Healing Ability
Absurdly High Pain Tolerance (Has taken many, MANY impalement wounds through vital organs, even cut his left arm off without flinching.)
"Well, he seems to be a decent fighter." Vegeta remarked, somewhat impressed with Ragna's durability.
Punched A Crater Into A Wall With His Non-Azure Grimoire Hand (Goku was impressed)
Defeated The Gigantic Anti-Black Beast Bio-Weapon, Take-Mikazuchi Without Losing His Azure Arm (The fighters didn't know who that was, but assumed that had to be a hard fight if this thing was designed to be the anti-version of what Ragna's main power was.)
Can Defeat Murakumo Units (Super Cops) Without Using His Azure Grimoire
Has Fought All Four Members Of Team RWBY
"Probably because nobody wants to piss him off. We're talkin' about a guy who treats getting knocked though solid concrete as an inconvenience, has survived multiple impaling's through the chest." Boomstick explained as Ragna was shown being thrown through several walls and even being stabbed multiple times.
"Why do so many of these guys seem to be just otherworldly versions of Sayians?" Goku asked.
"Skorch did mention that in the world where we're just fictional characters-" Piccolo began, but was cut off by a loud spit from 17, who lurched forward in shock, paused for a few moments, then whirled around so fast his head jerked to one side before snapping back.
"I'm sorry. WHAT!?" He shouted, disbelief and shock clear in his voice. The room fell silent until Roshi spoke up.
"Right. He wasn't here for that…"
One extremely awkward and convoluted explanation later…
"Huh, that's pretty cool actually." 17 remarked, seemingly taking this extremely well.
"Yeah, we'll talk about this later."
"…took out hundreds of armed officers without breaking a sweat, and obliterated an entire street with a single one-hand sword strike." Boomstick concluded as Ragna was shown slicing his blade once, and what almost seemed like a supersonic shockwave flew out, cutting dozens of armed (assumedly) police officers into pieces in one shot.
"Ragna is referred to as some as the most powerful man in the world, but he's also known as a risk-taker with a short temper, preferring to act fast and strategize never." Wiz now spoke.
"Hm. Hit-and-run tactics can be effective, but if your opponent's stronger, then you're in trouble." Tien commented.
"Well, in his defense, he can take on squads of armed super cops, so hey, whatever works." Boomstick reasoned.
"Add to this the fact that while he is a skilled swordsman, he's not the world's most skilled swordfighter."
"That honor probably goes to samurai grumpy cat. And despite being trained by the most dangerous kitty cat in the world, and potentially the deadliest warrior in existence, Ragna's obviously nowhere near Jubei's level of skill, who terrifies even the deadliest villains of the series."
"So that's yer plan then?" Jubei asked, suddenly appearing behind the hipster dick from earlier, who jumped in shock.
"GAH! Geez! Let your guard down for one second… Then this crap happens!"
"But after all's said and done, Jubei left Ragna with a dire warning: never think of the Azure Grimoire as your own."
Ragna and Jubei were seated on a hill, the moon was shining brightly and the stars were clear. Ragna seemed to be cleaning his weapon when Jubei finally spoke:
"Look, kid." He began. "Yer doin' fantastic, you're really gonna do good. But here's one last bit of advice. Whatever happens, you remember it's a path ya choose. Accept responsibility fer what ya do." Jubei paused, it seemed like he wanted to say something, then sighed deeply, getting very serious. "And don't ever make the mistake of thinkin' that the power of the Azure Grimoire is yers. Ya do that, bad things'll happen. It's only yer partner -and I use that term super loosely there-, so long as you gots it by the horns. Let go, you're dead."
"I wonder what he means by that." Launch mused.
"Well, if that Grim weapon was at one-point part of a creature so powerful that it nearly wipes out all of humanity, it can't be doing good things for his mind." Vegeta replied. "It's like when us Sayians would enter out Great Ape forms. We don't have as much control as we normally do."
"Which is kind of bullshit. I mean its attached to him, so I'm pretty sure he's got dibs."
"Fair point." Goku nodded, seeming to be on a cognitive brainwave akin to Boomstick's
"Well not exactly. While he does technically have dibs on the weapon, it has much more control over him in some ways. If he loses control over it, it can transform him into the Black Beast itself. In fact, Ragna was the original Black Beast-"
"WHAT?!" Was collectively shouted, even Piccolo and Tien were shocked by that revelation. Ragna. The guy whose whole deal seemed to be fighting evil and corruption, was a living embodiment of evil that wanted to wipe out humanity just for kicks. Finally, everyone tried to speak, but didn't have words to say.
"He-"
"I-"
"What?"
"No!"
"But-"
"How?!"
"I mean-"
"That can't-"
"He's the-"
"But what abou-"
"Skorch!"
"PISS OFF!" A voice yelled from another room.
"-that was sent back in time after falling into a magic cauldron. The two were somehow separated and did battle in the past. These events would repeat themselves in a 100-year time loop until this chick saved Ragna from falling into that cauldron, stopping the Black Beast from appearing in the past in the first place."
The fighters watched as a montage of Ragna falling off of a cliff and into a flaming whirlpool, dozens upon dozens of times. Finally, a young girl grabbed his hand and Ragna seemed shocked by what was happening.
"Why are you…?" He muttered, clearly exhausted by everything that had happened.
"It has to stop!" The girl shouted back.
"I have so many questions… But honestly I don't think they'll be answered." Lapis remarked.
"I don't know anything about BlazBlue or Guilty Gear! This chapter took way too long to be written so EXCUSE me for being kinda lazy!" Skorch shouted from another room, clearly very tired and agitated. "AND NO, I didn't bother reading more for the re-tool! Leave me alone!"
"Who was that and what was he talking about?"
"We'll explain later." Roshi said quickly.
"But hang on." Boomstick spoke up, realizing something, something that occurred to Piccolo, but Boomstick beat him to the punch. "If the Black Beast never went back in time, then it never would've created Seithr. And if Seithr never existed, then Ragna wouldn't ever be able to tap into it with the Grim Azure, and transform into the Black Beast before being sent back in time. Therefore, that chain of events would never have happened, keeping the Black Beast from going back in time and to an extent, ever existing! So, wouldn't everything in BlazBlue never have existed as we know it due to the timeline being reset and altered in such a huge way? So how-"
"No one knows!" Wiz full on shouted, clearly losing his sanity.
There was a long silence as everyone took in what Wiz and Boomstick were trying to explain. Tien and Piccolo had headaches, Launch had no idea what had just happened, Goku was confused as all heck, and even Android 17, an Android built with advanced intelligence, kept finding himself running in circles to an answer that only asked the same question.
"You wanna just make this guy fight someone now?" Boomstick asked as the doors closed.
"Please do."
SOL BADGUY
(*Cues: Guilty Gear XX - Existence*)
"Way back in the year 2010, the discovery of magic forever changed the course of human history. Traditional technology was eliminated for newer and environmentally friendly methods, and after improving the planet, a certain world superpower sought to improve mankind itself. Be it through enhanced strength, increased intelligence or even elimination weakness like sickness in the human body." Wiz began with a story that sounded all-to-familiar.
"Oh hey, another super soldier project. Lemme guess, they injected this guy with some serum and it didn't really work out the way they wanted, but now he's a badass who fights for the innocent against the people that made him who are completely evil but no-one seemed to notice it!"
"Replace serum with magic and... close enough, although the organizations alignment is questioned, they weren't evil… just misguided. Regardless, this man would emerge as the feared bounty hunter, Sol Badguy." Wiz remarked.
"So, we've got a good guy and a bad guy duking it out? This should be fun." 17 shrugged. He wasn't sure what to make about the show just yet, but the concept seemed fascinating, and Ragna seemed interesting enough.
"What if he's actually a good guy but he's stuck with the worst last name ever?" Launch laughed.
"So, he's clearly the bad guy." Boomstick commented matter-of-factly.
"Actually, he's the main hero of the story." Wiz remarked, leaving everyone present in a range of shocked to confused.
"Alright then." Launch said simply, blinking.
"Hmph, with some of the other battle's we've seen, it'll be interesting to watch two heroes fight." Piccolo reasoned.
"Fair point, after the Tsung and Akuma thing? Yeah, I'm cool with some heroics." Oolong nodded in agreement.
"Well then why would they..."
"No one knows!" Wiz shouted, his voice cracking in desperation.
(*Cues: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus - Launch Out*)
"Before Sol's transformation, he was known as Frederick, a scientist tasked with leading the super solider project alongside with his love interest, Aria-"
"She's dead." Launch immediately remarked in a dry tone.
"Probably." Tien nodded.
"Definitely." Vegeta affirmed.
"-but when he intended to or not, Frederick would become the prototype of this new super race, the Gears. Giant death machines… In some cases, it's weird."
BACKGROUND
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 163 lbs
Real Name: Frederick ("How'd he go from that to Sol Badguy?" Lapis asked. "And does he have a last name!?" Goku added, still bewildered.)
Alias: Haitoku no Honoo (Flame of Corruption)
Favourite Band: Queen ("Yeah!" 17 exclaimed, raising a fist. This surprised a few around him. "…what? Queen is amazing.")
Ironically Guilty Gear's Main Protagonist, And An All-Around Decent Guy, Despite The Name
Really, REALLY Likes Belts
"Huh, that's not exactly what I was expecting." Vegeta remarked. "Still, if Ragna's backstory was any indication, something terrible is about to happen in about ten seconds."
"But is he... guilty?" Boomstick asked, a mixture of sarcasm and curiosity.
"Oh, hell yeah! He was responsible for Aria's death, due to… reasons. And then her next death when she was resurrected into this... thing."
Everyone was surprised when they heard Sol had sort of killed his girlfriend, but were even more shocked when they saw a giant blue mech appear. It had giant shoulders and long red hair. Add to this a pointed tail that seemed almost reptilian but metallic at the same time.
"That…what?!" Roshi finally exclaimed.
"Wait. He killed his own wife?! Why would he do that!?" Goku exclaimed, anger flaring up in his tone. He had done a number of dumb things, but anything that would ever hurt Chi-Chi… he couldn't imagine doing something like that.
"I'm not sure if he intended to kill his wife but either way…" Tien remarked.
"Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting." Oolong remarked.
"Maybe he is a bad guy…" Launch grumbled.
"Oh. Wasn't expecting her to look like that, but not as much as I wasn't expecting the BLUE ROBO PENIS! Who even does that?!" Boomstick shouted as the image of Justice zoomed in on…
Honestly, I have no idea. Anyone who plays Guilty Gear. What… what is that.
Those drinking spat their drinks out in shock, and those eating choked on their food. Roshi froze, his entire body not sure of how to react, Vegeta's jaw dropped, Launch felt like she was going to puke, Tien wanted to say something but couldn't find his words, Oolong stood up and walked away, and Piccolo's eye aggressively twitched.
"Huh. Neat." 17 finally spoke, no emotion in his voice.
"I need a drink." Launch remarked, getting up and leaving to go get some tequila.
"I… I'm gonna go… stand outside…" Tien finally said, unsure of what else to do.
It took the group about five minutes to finally come back together and to continue watching, while all of them had questions, objections, or remarks about what they had just seen, they all collectively (and begrudgingly) decided that the answer would probably be 'No one knows.'
"So, we're all in agreement to never bring that up to anyone outside of this group?" Vegeta asked, a raised brow. "Because I really don't want to have to try and explain that to Bulma, let alone give her any ideas…"
"Y'know, now that you mention it…" Roshi mused, a thoughtful tone to his voice.
"NO." Vegeta immediately shut the old man's thoughts down.
"This, is 'Justice' a Gear, which is essentially a giant mech, that was created with some of the remaining DNA of Aria. She was likely created a to poor Sol by That Man." Wiz explained as a figure wearing a robe that wouldn't be too out of place in an Assassin's Creed game (sans the odd things hanging off of it, and the giant cross on the hood) appeared, laughing manically.
"Which man?" Boomstick and Goku asked at the same time.
(*Cues: Guilty Gear 2: Overture - The Man*)
"That Man." Wiz replied.
"…I only see Sol Badguy." Boomstick replied.
"Yeah, where is That Man?" Goku asked confused.
"He's literally right there." 17 replied, pointing to That Guy.
"Goku, his name is-" Piccolo began, but was cut off by Wiz.
"No, no it's That Man."
"It's just me and you here, Wiz." Boomstick replied, clearly as confused as Goku.
"Yeah, and if Sol's there, then who's That Man?" Goku asked again. "Is he like, an evil version of Sol?"
"Are you really this stupid Kakarot?!" Vegeta exclaimed, amazed at Goku's stupidity. "The person who did that to Aria is named-"
"Listen. The villain is That Man." Wiz repeated, trying to explain himself this time. By now, Tien Launch, Roshi and the others (minus Goku) had picked up on what Wiz was saying, and were trying to figure out how to explain that to Goku.
"Sol Badguy's the hero and the villain?" Boomstick asked bewildered.
"He is?!" Goku exclaimed in shock. "So he did that to his own-"
"NO!" Vegeta now screamed. "HIS NAME IS-"
"No, no, he's another character- just pretend Sol Badguy's not there." Wiz groaned, clearly getting annoyed now.
"YOU MEAN HE'S INVISIBLE?!" Boomstick shouted.
"He's invisible now too?!" Goku exclaimed.
"HE..I..YOU…HATE…"
"When this person was born into the world, his parents looked at this child and decided they would name him "That Man"!" Wiz shouted back, clearly at the end of his rope.
"Who were they looking at, Wiz?!" Boomstick shot back, annoyed himself.
"HIS NAME IS T-H-A-T SPACE, M-A-N!" Wiz full on screamed.
"WELL F-U-C-K SPACE Y-O-U! I'M OUT!" Boomstick shouted back.
"Hang on. That guy in the funny bathrobes… His name is 'That Man'?" Goku asked, it suddenly seeming to dawn on him.
"Yes!" Vegeta shouted. "HOW DID YOU NOT-"
"Calm down Vegeta, you could've just said so."
Vegeta stared blankly at Goku, trembling in anger. His eye twitching with the need to brutally murder something. Then the Sayian prince quietly stood up, walked outside, and screamed to the heavens.
"I'm not gonna lie, that was funny." 17 laughed.
"Seems like Wiz and Boomstick are fans of Tabbot and Contiello." Roshi remarked.
"I'm surprised you'd know who those two were." Tien added, a bit surprised.
"Kid, I was around before they were born!"
The screen suddenly turned gray as the sound of heavy footsteps and a door slamming could be heard.
(*Cues: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Windmill Hut*)
The screen then read: Sometime later...
"So... I looked at the internet and discovered that his actual name is... That Man. I apologize for earlier. Let's move on." Boomstick muttered, clearly not wanting to talk about this.
"Huh, so he CAN apologize, didn't think he knew how." Launch snarked.
(*Cues: Guilty Gear - Death and Republic*)
"Sol had to maintain a human appearance to disguise his true Gear form. So, he developed a special limiter headpiece to keep his own power at bay." Wiz explained as Sol reaffixed his trademark headband to his head.
"Think of them like Shadow's inhibitor rings, they essentially limit the flow of raw energy and power, and if that thing comes off, say goodbye to whoever recently pissed him off."
"Add to this the fact that as a Gear, Sol's aging was slowed to a near halt." Wiz continued. "This gave him more than enough time to develop his own fighting style."
"So, you get to look young longer and create a fighting style? How does one learn this power?" Launch whined.
"Be a Sayian." Vegeta replied, not looking back.
MOVE SET
Gun Flame ("I don't know what that is, but I love it." Vegeta immediately said. "Agreed." Launch nodded.)
Creates then shoots incendiary projectiles from the ground, launching the opponent. (Also, commonly mistaken for 'Girlfriend' when called out. ((That got a few laughs from the viewers)
Bandit Revolver
A forward moving spinning-kick (with guns)
Riot Stomp
Launches himself off the wall then flies in foot-first.
Volcanic Viper
Leaps upward, slashing with his sword.
Dragon Install ("Install? That's stupid." Vegeta scoffed.)
Temporary enhances speed and power.
"Well, whatever fighting style lets you punch fire, that's the one I wanna learn! Sol's Volcanic Viper and Fafnir Punches are flame-enhanced strikes, that can punch through someone! While his Riot Stomp flies in with a fearsome kick, shattering bones of anyone unlucky enough to be caught in its path. And because this is anime, Sol can trigger his second form: the Dragon Install."
"Let me guess, another super-sayian like mode?" Vegeta rolled his eyes.
"The Dragon Install allows Sol to safely tap into a fraction of his full Gear power, boosting his strength, speed, and healing ability. The drawback: he can only sustain this power for so long, as well as fully tapping into his power leaves him drained. Afterward, he's left vulnerable." Wiz explained as Sol was shown surrounded by a red aura that seemed to be growing stronger.
"Pretty much, yeah." Roshi nodded.
"As Sol wandered the Earth, That Man -that is such a stupid name *ahem*- began a plan for world domination using an army of Gears. In response, Sol put together a giant, anime dead weapon that's stupidly impractical and was also a Gear-obliterating superweapon called OutRage." Boomstick added as a weapon was shown that looked… weird. When the fighters heard 'superweapon' they were all interested in what this could mean, but the weapon looked more like a bunch of junk and garbage slapped together than a giant death weapon. But perhaps that was the intention.
"Not what I was expecting…" Tien remarked.
"Which looks like the world's most complicated can opener... or next-gen Bop-It." Wiz quickly added.
"Actually, yeah. It does." 17 said, sounding surprised somewhat.
"But, because reasons that are only known to the sloths who live in my attic, it turns out it was so powerful, nobody could wield it... not even Sol." Boomstick now spoke.
"What good is a weapon no one can use?!" Goku asked, his confusion actually making sense for once.
"I… yeah, you've got a point Goku." Piccolo conceded. "Unless he intended to use it as a means of threating people into surrender, it seems kinda useless."
"Which then makes it worthless if someone is able to damage is." 17 reasoned, raising a fair point. "If you can't use a weapon, then it's worthless, but the best weapon is one you only need to fire once."
"So, he had to split it apart into eight pieces just to make it useable. I guess that's just how giant ultra-death weapons work now… Cool. Naturally, he took the best piece for himself: the flame-enhanced Fireseal." Boomstick continued as a giant red-accented sword appeared in front of Sol, who then picked it up and swung it over his shoulder. "I wanna fire seal, that'd be fuckin' sweet. Try and eat me now, orca whale. Fire seal!"
A picture of an Orca appeared and was then hit with a picture of a baby seal that was on fire.
"In all seriousness, how many times has Boomstick been attacked by Orcas?" Oolong asked. "Because it really does seem like this is something that's happened frequently enough for him to have to bring this up."
"Pig, I stopped asking questions after the blue robo-penis, I suggest you do the same." Roshi replied, slumping back in his chair some more.
(*Cues: Guilty Gear 2: Overture - The Re-Coming*)
"Using Fireseal to its full potential, Sol defeated That Man's forces twice over. Also, not that kind of seal." Wiz continued, as Sol was shown slashing his way through hordes of gears without any issues.
"And then he decided to upgrade the shit out of it with the Junkyard Dog Mark 3 casing."
"I'm gonna get a dog, just so I can call him that." Lapis smirked.
FEATS
Completely Incinerated A Massive Gear With A Fraction Of His Power
Survived Witnessing His Past Self Die
Actual Reason Given: Because He's Sol Badguy
"….huh." Tien said.
Outran A Missile And Hung Onto It With Just His Fist (No One Knew How To React To That.)
Endured The Soul-Destroying Atmosphere Of The Backyard
Once Stabbed Through The Shoulder, Then Used That Same Arm To Swing His Sword Seconds Later.
"Okay, this is just getting ridiculous." Oolong shook his head.
"Now? It's just now getting too ridiculous to believe?" Roshi asked, looking over to the pig, who wanted to say something, but remained silent.
"But this is hardly the full extent of Sol's power. He once survived the Backyard, an alternate dimension which would annihilate the soul of a normal man. But it didn't. And by removing his headband, he can access his full unrestrained potential." Wiz continued, as Sol removed his headband and seemed to explode with energy.
"Like when he shot a laser out of his sword to incinerate an inhuman Gear the size of Mount Everest!"
"That's pretty cool." Goku remarked.
"And once, he went back in time and witnessed his past self-get murdered, which should've erased him from the present ala Marty McFly, but he didn't like that idea very much, so he just... didn't."
"How… how are you alive? I destroyed your past!" A woman asked in shock. Sol however just cracked his neck and smirked.
"Dosen't matter if it's the present or the past… I'm me."
"So... we all agreed to not question this, right?" Launch asked, taking a swig of vodka.
"Woman… bottle." Vegeta sighed, seeming defeated himself, before taking the bottle and drinking heavily.
"After BlazBlue, nothing is too bizarre for me anymore." Boomstick muttered.
"Sol is powerful, but fears his full potential. He's also pretty lazy. His favorite strategy is always whatever's the least strenuous. This lack of extra effort can sometimes leave him underestimating his opponent." Wiz remarked on Sol's weaknesses.
"But the second he starts trying, few can stand in his way." Boomstick concluded as the doors closed.
"Well, that was interesting." Roshi stated.
"Agreed." Tien nodded.
"I think Ragna's gonna take this one, even if he has to break out the Black Beast, it's still more than Sol can handle." Launch remarked with a shrug.
"No, Sol's strength clearly outclasses Ragna." Vegeta replied. "If he can take down armies of Gears, which understandably are much more powerful than humans with training."
"Well yeah, but how do we know if those cops were just humans or had some sort of training?" Oolong asked. "Add to that the fact that Ragna was trained by the most powerful fighter of all time, that's gotta count for something."
"Well, even with that, Ragna can transform into the Black Beast. I doubt Sol can take that." Goku tried to reason. Regardless, the fighters all thought both fighters were rather interesting, while they had flaws, it was clear they weren't as twisted as some of the fighters they had seen (and would see in the future…) but most votes were on Ragna, but Tien, Vegeta and Roshi chose to go with Sol Badguy. Once again, they had forgot to pause the video, and the battle was just beginning. But a notice appeared in screen Note, Sol speaks in Japanese, so all his dialogue will be subtitled.
"Good to know." Oolong remarked.
DEATH BATTLE
The doors opened revealing a rainy night, it didn't seem like a storm foreboding grave evil coming, but rather a storm that one could conceal themselves in if they so wished as to remain anonymous. It was clear that the setting was in a city that seemed to be carved into a mountain with text briefly reading BlazBlue's 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, 11:23 PM. A shot of a long sword was shown as a figure walked through a garden, keeping his head low but his gaze focused ahead. After a few moments, Ragna's red overcoat could be seen, and the Grim Reaper was walking through the garden, occasionally stopping and looking at some of the flowers, almost seeming to be thinking back to times gone by. The scene cut to one of Ragna's wanted posters, and Sol was examining it, almost seeming excited at the prospect of going after Ragna. As if on cue, Ragna walked by, not seeming to notice the other man with the giant weapon on his back. Sol snapped to attention and turned around. Ragna suddenly paused almost cartoonishly, and looked behind him at the wanted poster, then to Sol, then to the poster, then to Sol, then to the poster, then to Sol then to… Well you get the idea. Eventually, Ragna let out an annoyed sigh.
"Look, can we like, not do this?" Ragna grumbled. "I'm really not in the mood to kill someone."
"He seems rather apathetic about someone who wants to kill him." Launch remarked sarcastically.
"He's probably used to this by now." Piccolo reasoned (correctly). "With how many people probably come after him on a daily basis, being attacked or given that kind of look shouldn't be anything new to him."
"Damn. You're an eyesore…" Sol remarked, this being subtitled.
"Coming from the asshole who looks like an emo power ranger, that really fuckin' hurts." Ragna rolled his eyes. "So… Who are you? Actually, scratch that. Get out of my way, or you're dead.
"GUN FLAME!" Sol yelled, summoning a series of fireballs from the ground which Ragna began backflipping to avoid.
"Ah shit. Here we go again." Ragna sighed.
(*Cues: Blood Pain II - BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma*)
"I'll burn you to cindering ashes peeling off your bones!" Sol shouts, pointing to Ragna.
FIGHT!
Sol charges at Ragna, whom is about to slam Blood-Scythe down, however, the bounty hunter seems to predict this, and he uses Fireseal to throw Ragna off balance. However, their blades clashed as sparks flew off their sword, extinguished by the rain. The two seemed to enter an endurance contest, trying to push the other off. Finally, Ragna duck and spun his scythe, slashing at Sol who jumped back and tried to use gun flame again. This time, instead of dodging backwards, Ragna slashed through the flames with his scythe, flying forwards and yelling "Inferno Divider!" and slashing upwards. Sol was knocked back and seemed momentarily unsure of what to do. This was a bad move as Ragna flew in and kicked Sol as hard as he could.
"That's still a dumb name." Android 17 remarked. "But a badass move."
When Ragna rushes forward again, Sol masterfully dodges out of the way, before grabbing Ragna's leg and slamming him into a brick wall. The fighters cringed as Sol grabbed Ragna's head and began running, dragging Ragna across the brick, cutting his face and making the white-haired fighter yell in pain. Finally, Ragna managed to jump off of the wall while still being dragged. This genuinely shocked most of the fighters, as they hadn't expected Ragna to be capable of that. While in the air, Ragna charged a seither blast and launched it at Sol. Badguy didn't seem to expect this, and was sent flying into a wall by the magic blast.
"Woo! Kick his ass Ragna!" Launch cheered.
Suddenly, Sol flies forward and attacks with a Bandit Revolver, hitting Ragna dead-on and sending him through several walls. Ragna landed on his knees and breathes heavily, his face partially healing, and began preparing the Azure Grimoire again.
"You son of a bitch!" Ragna yelled, clearly in pain. "Release Restriction Number 6..." Before Ragna can finish, he is kicked to the face by Sol's Bandit Revolver once more, knocking him back.
"Sol's faster than I thought." Tien said, a bit surprised.
"Okay asshat! You're gonna pay!"
Ragna punches the ground, then raises Azure Grimoire. Suddenly, Sol is trapped by a large Dead Spike. Sol begins trying to break free, but Ragna isn't having this.
"Restriction 666 released, Dimensional Interruption Imaginary Number Formed! BlazBlue, activate!"
"Before anyone says it, hasn't every battle had this one point where it looks like it's over but it really isn't?" Vegeta said, not turning to look back at the other nodding in agreement and not saying what they were going to.
Ragna charges at Sol for a punch. The Dead Spike holding Sol disappears, but before he can react, Ragna punches him. Everything slows down as the full, slow-mo impact of the Azure-fueled punch hits Sol's face. The pure energy and force of it seems like that of a Sayians. Regardless, the punch sending him flying into through a rooftop, across a floor, through another wall, and then coming to a stop in another arena altogether where he bounces off a wall like a cartoon character. Sol seems to be trying to collect himself, but before he can hit the ground, Ragna uses the Azure Grimoire to stab him, then proceeds to unleash a combo with Blood-Scythe. Seeming to drain Sol's well, soul from his body.
"It's my turn now!" Ragna yells as he mercilessly slashes at Sol.
"Dumb question, but would Sol have a soul?" Oolong asked. "He's part machine, so would he be capable of having a soul?"
17 felt eyes turn to him and he scowled slightly, before flipping everyone off over his shoulder. The message loud and clear. Don't. Ask. The combo concludes with Sol hitting the ground. Ragna picks him up, but the grapple is reversed and Sol throws Ragna into the wall.
"Idea Engine, linked! This'll sting!"
Suddenly, the Azure Grimoire glows with a white light and Sol is suddenly knocked right into the wall. He then falls down with his next comment muffled by the ground.
(*Cues: Ride The Fire - Guilty Gear Xrd*)
Sol gets up and unleashes Dragon Install to tap into his power, to which Ragna retaliates with Blood Kain. Their powers glow as they pause, breathing heavily for a moment.
"Sol's been kinda quiet this battle." Roshi off-handedly remarked.
"Blood Kain!" Ragna shouted.
"Death awaits you!" Sol shouted back.
The two charge at each other and strike, with both hitting the other's sword. Sol is on the offensive and overpowers Ragna, then knocks him into the air. During his assault, Ragna reverses it and slams Sol back to the ground. He flies downward and swings Blood-Scythe as Sol jumps out of the way, then the two trade swings and punches. Then Ragna grabs a hold of Sol by his head and tosses him into the air before punching him and striking him with Blood-Scythe multiple times. It seemed to be trying to ripping bits of Sol's life force out. Shockingly, it seemed more like an annoyance to Sol than anything.
"Damn. He's a lot tougher than I expected." Goku admitted, surprised by Sol's pain tolerance.
"Inferno Divider!" Ragna shouted again, now seeming somewhat desperate. He jumped up once again and unleased a fury of strikes at Sol, before knocking him into the air and then slashing him back into the ground.Ragna lands and exits Blood Kain while Sol falls to the ground. Sol lies down and is about to get up, but then he exits Dragon Install and is momentarily stunned. Ragna uses this to his advantage and grabs him.
"Tappin' out?" He smirks.
Ragna places Blood-Scythe in front of him, then extends it, penetrating through Sol, who screams out in pain. Ragna then tears it out of Sol, whom falls to the ground. By now, the fighters weren't sure if they should say that Sol was going to come back, or if Ragna had beat him. However, considering how much Sol had taken thus far, it seemed reasonable to say he might come back.
"So, are they not going to go into their super weird forms?" Roshi asked. "That'd be kinda disappointing if they didn't…"
"I'm not gonna waste any more time on you, asshole!" Ragna yelled, beginning to give everything he had into destroying Sol.
Suddenly, Ragna is stabbed.
"Shit!" Ragna screams in pain. Somehow, Sol stabbed Ragna above the groin with Fireseal. Seemingly ignoring the scythe, he just got cut with. Ragna steps back and begins to bleed from his wound. This pushes Ragna too far and after dark clouds of smoke cover him.
"Okay… FUCK IT." Ragna snarls.
"Here we go." Tien said.
(*Cues: Howling Moon II - BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma*)
Ragna yells out in animalistic fury as transforms into the multi-headed Black Beast. The fighters now saw how truly terrifying this thing looked in all its twisted majesty. The heads roared as black thunder exploded around it. Blood red and black fog seems to swirl around it.
"Holy… holy crap." Goku finally manages to say. Yes, he and the others have fought some really, really weird things. But seeing what the black beast truly was… was terrifying. No way around it. Even Vegeta was left in stunned shock at just how twisted this creature was. This wasn't a maniacal dictator, or a twisted science experiment gone wrong. This was evil. Pure, absolute, evil.
Sol dragged himself up from the edge of the crater he was thrown to ang groans. He looks over at the eight-headed beast and as smoke covers him, Sol's face changes from one of unreadable focus to pure determination. He sighs deeply as if he's about to do something he wishes he couldn't.
"If this is how it must be…" Sol began, reaching up to his headband.
"Oh snap. We're about to see these two throw down, aren't we?!" Oolong exclaimed, suddenly getting a lot more excited. The camera zoomed in on Sol's face, and he said three simple words.
"…so be it."
Sol removed his headband.
Heck, even the more stoic watchers, like 17, Vegeta and Piccolo had to admit, they were kinda on the edge of their seats with this fight. It had such a larger scale to it… and the fighters seemed league above even Spawn and Kratos!
Almost immediately, Sol begins to yell both in fury and possibly in pain. There was a bright flash of light, followed by a pillar of fire exploding to the sky. When it cleared, two dragon like wings protruded out of Sol's back, his head seemed to change into that of a dragon as well, his hands became long and clawed, like each finger a deathly knife that could cut through anything. His entire body now seems to be surrounded by some sort of blood-fire Ki.
The Black Beast notices the change and roars, one of the heads coming down, crashing into the ground and eating a huge section of ground, ground which Sol was standing on. Before anyone could remark, a red energy began to illuminate the creature's mouth, then a sword protruded out the head's right eye. The creature screamed in agony, but the head suddenly exploded. Sol remained in the air, charging another blast as two more heads fired sickening black bursts at him. With no effort, Sol cleanly sliced through them, his sword still charging.
"Is it too late to change my vote?" Android 17 asked.
"DIE!" Sol roared, unleashing a gigantic blast of energy, and the whole screen turns white, the powerful energy blast destroying everything.
"That did not just happen." Piccolo said, shocked at what he had just seen.
To answer his question, the light died down, and Sol was standing on the ground in his normal form. Ragna, and the Black Beast, were nowhere to be seen. Sol then cracks his neck and chuckles.
K.O.!
Sol jumps down into the rubble, comes across a book titled "BlazBlue Story Script", knocks it upward, punches it away with a fiery strike, and then walks off.
"…just…wow…" Launch finally got out. "I'm not even mad Ragna lost, that was just awesome."
"Agreed." Android 17 nodded, his normally calm tone betraying a hint of shock.
"Still, even with their forms being so different, how could Sol defeat a giant death monster?" Goku asked. "I don't doubt he could, but the size difference alone seemed to lean towards Ragna wiping the floor with him."
"Well, it would stand to reason that while the Black Beast may have been stronger, mentally it's only drive was senseless murder." Tien mused. "Sol seemed to have full mental control during the fight even after he changed. Therefore, even if the Black Beast could beat him, Ragna's mind was too far gone in order to properly formulate a strategy."
"That… makes a lot of sense actually." Vegeta conceded with a nod.
Results
(*Cues: Gear Xrd Sign - Give Me a Break*)
"Bullseye!" Boomstick laughed.
"While Ragna did put up a tough, seemingly unstoppable fight, Sol had him outclassed. In more ways than one."
"Likely due to the fact that while Ragna had on four belts, Sol had 18." Boomstick added as images of Sol and Ragna appeared, with their belts all being circled. It was true, Sol had eighteen belts."
"Who needs that many belts?" 17 asked bewildered. "That's just overkill."
"I know." Roshi nodded. "Even people into that sort of thing would think that's a bit much."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"While it's true that Ragna was trained by one of the most powerful warriors who ever existed, Ragna had an estimated ten-to-fifteen years of training. Even if that's not the exact numbers, Sol's centuries worth of fighting experience trumped Ragna's training." Wiz explained, and he raised a good point.
"And if you're thinking 'Hey, wouldn't Ragna already have the knowledge of everything that happened up until the time he fell into that magic cauldron?' Well, that's a good question. Sadly, there's no clear answer in either the manga or the anime. And even if he did, he'd only know so much, as the same thing happens over and over."
"That's a good point actually." Piccolo spoke up. "If Ragna did remember everything that happened until he was sent back in time, wouldn't he be able to change the future? Or at least bring that up with his cat-mentor and be trained to better control it? I think even if he did know, he couldn't do anything to change that."
"That's kinda depressing green man." Android 17 remarked, his tone suddenly getting more somber. "Imagine living your life, and then royally screwing everyone over. Only to go back in time to the beginning, and know what's going to happen, but being unable to do anything to stop it. That… that seems like hell."
"Even Sol's... soul is tough enough to withstand Ragna's Azure Grimoire, just like when it survived the Backyard." Boomstick added.
"I'm curious about that place, but I don't feel a need to actually go there…" Vegeta mused. "I wonder what properties a world must have to be able to literally strip someone's soul apart."
"And how is Sol able to ignore that?" Goku added.
"Even Ragna's last attack The Black Beast was impressive. But Sol's Gear form is leagues above the Beast's maximum power. Recall when Sol turned that Gear the size of Mount Everest into dust." Wiz continued, replaying the clip, but then pausing it and a chart appearing. "By comparing the size of the Gear to the clouds, we can determine its volume to be around 140 billion cubic meters. Destroying something this size would require more than 85 gigatons of TNT. That's nearly 200 times more powerful than the 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan in 2011."
"And that wasn't even his full power." Oolong said in realization.
"More than enough to take Ragna down... and that was only a fraction of Sol's real power. Ragna just burned out in the end." Boomstick added.
"The winner is Sol Badguy." Wiz concluded.