The King of Ashes Arc (From The Z-Fighters React To Death Battle! (Take Two)
Intro: Hey, y'know what's totally original, and not at all ridiculously clichéd, annoying and a total waste of time? Having the characters who are close as family get torn apart because of something they could work out if they talked! That's what I wanted to deconstruct with this plot line.
This was an arc that would happen during the in-between sections and would be hinted at/occur for quite a while. However, I failed to set this up, so... yeah.
Also, I gutted this early into the writing of this fic, as I realized this was way too dark and stupid. Technically, this would culminate at the Tournament of Power, but it never really came to be. And for good reason!
The story…
The idea being Skorch has this sceptre, that whoever holds it, essentially controls Skorch, and no matter what they say, he must do it. The Pheif gang found it, and used it to control Skorch without him knowing, either due to him blacking out, or having no memory. Eventually, they stopped because they feared what he'd do to them if he found out. He gives it to Bulma without explaining what it is, making it clear that he trusts her with it regardless. (This was part of an earlier idea where the Z-Crew distrusted/feared Skorch for much longer than they did in the actual story, and this was part of them warming up to him. That was dropped due to the fact that it was stupid, and the characters work better when they can have a good back-and-forth. Skorch also was meant to be a lot more cryptic and semi-sinister, but that changed… well, it was explained in the Future Trunks Arc.)
Jump ahead to the Universal Tournament. Goten and Trunks find it, and use it to make Skorch help Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and Buu win without any trouble, via him possessing them, or empowering them with his Entity Abilities. The issue being, it was revealed Skorch knew all along what they were doing, and had said nothing because he trusted them enough to where he figured they wouldn't use it. They use it again, and Skorch begins to grow more and more distant. He can't say anything about it out of fear of what the villains of the DBZ world would do if they found out about it (or Universe Six for that matter.) The others used it as well only in a last resort (or when Goku wanted to fight Skorch, but Skorch said no) until eventually they pushed it too far and Skorch attacked them. In the fight, the Sceptre is broken, and Skorch tells Goten and Trunks that he's done. He burns Goten's face as a 'fuck you' and disappears for several months, including the 'Goku Black Arc'. Jump ahead to the Tournament of Power, Skorch was going to be drafted into the team, but on the day of, he doesn't appear. Chi-Chi uses the key to his world and finds him, and Skorch tells her that whatever happens, happens. He doesn't care anymore and isn't going to get involved.
If this wasn't a 'Reacts To Death Battle!' Fic, this might have been a really emotional point in the story, with a newcomer who gets dragged into this, while still earning their powers or some crap like that. Heck, it's kinda reminiscent of Gohan's struggle towards the end of the Cell Saga. But… yeah. This is one of the ones I'm MUCH happier remained on the ground.
The story…
(For context, Skorch has been missing for a few months, and Chi-Chi finally found him)
"Skorch?" Chi-Chi spoke up, seeing the entity carving symbols onto a blade.
"…"
"Skorch, the others… we… we're looking for you."
"Go. Away."
"…Skarwarth, I don't know what happened. But we need your help. They-"
"No."
"Pardon?"
"I'm not helping them."
"But…"
"Don't bother talking, you aren't gonna change my opinion."
"Skorch. People may die. They need your-"
"No. They don't."
"So that's it? You just want to leave this them to their fate?"
"SCREW THEM!" Skorch suddenly snapped, his hair suddenly blazing in anger. "I've spent years dealing with their crap! Ever since I got here, things have gone nowhere but downhill! If it isn't Friza trying to destroy the world, it's Vegeta's arrogance or Goku's stupidity causing it to be destroyed! They were once respectable warriors, but they're nothing but impatient children now! You drag me into your battles, your conflicts, your dumbass tournament! Or you drag me all over the place to find the dragon balls so we can resurrect those two idiots!Did you ever think things would be better if they died and STAYED dead?"
Chi-Chi was left speechless. She had a feeling Skorch wasn't happy, and didn't like being dragged into everything her husband had dragged him into. But this… this wasn't what she was expecting, and yet… It made sense. Sure, Skorch was being far too harsh on the Z-fighters, but he also had a point.
"Do you remember what happened when we first met?" She finally asked, somehow completely calm, talking as if she was trying to reassure Goten. "When Vegeta blasted you through the roof, and then you explained what we really were? The others may have grown to trust you rather quickly, but I was still nervous. I was afraid you were some demon from hell, sent to kill everyone I cared for."
Skorch didn't respond, he simply walked over to his cooler and got another drink.
"But when I met the Blackthorns… They told me what everyone else had. You were the outcast, you were the lazy one."
"Nailed that."
"But they also told me that the reason why you were seen as an outcast was because you actually cared. You met with the people in the worlds you went to, you fought alongside them, gave them hope and kindness when they didn't have any. I've seen it here as well. You took care of Pan without anyone asking, you fought with Goku and Vegeta to protect the world. You could've left at any time you wanted, but you kept coming back, you kept sleeping at Capsule Corp. you kept hanging around, training with Goten and Trunks, helping Bulma with her experiments…"
Chi-Chi paused, seeing Skorch had lowered his head, as if he was ashamed, or didn't want to admit to something.
"I mean, you broke your own code to save me! Goku didn't threaten you, or offer you his soul. You choose to do that. I think the truth is you care about the worlds you watch, and that's what you're afraid of losing, your friends."
"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME CHI-CHI!" He roared, suddenly whirled around and seemed to outright snap. "I HATE THE BLACKTHORNS! I HATE GOKU! I HATE VEGETA! I HATE EVERYONE IN THIS DAMN WORLD AND ALL THE OTHERS I'VE BEEN FORCED TO WATCH DESTORY THEMSELVES! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR FUCKING HEAD BEFORE I PUT MY FIST THROUGH IT!" He stormed off angrily, leaving a wordless Chi-Chi behind.
(Yadda, yadda, yadda… Jump to the team at the meet-up to leave.)
"Skorch! Where the hell were you!?" Vegeta shouted.
"Thinking."
"Hm, that's a first." Beerus muttered. "Regardless, we need you to get in there and-"
"Actually… I quit." Skorch shrugged.
"I'm sorry. What?" Vegeta blinked.
"Heh, that's a good one Skorch!" Goku laughed. "You quit… good one."
"I'm serious. I'm done." Skorch said in a flat tone no-one had ever heard him use before. "With all of you. I quit, I'm not fighting for you in your stupid-ass tournament."
You could hear a pin drop with the shocked silence that overtook everyone in the room.
"Hey, Skorch? I don't know if this has anything to do with the campfire jokes… But This really isn't a good-" Android 17 began, but Vegeta cut him off.
"You can't just quit! Are you insane!?"
"I can do whatever I want." Skorch retorted, turning his head slightly to look at Vegeta. The slightest hint of a laugh in his voice. "When you broke the sceptre, that meant we were done. I owe you nothing."
(I guess Mad Dawg was here?)
"Every freakin' time, I come this close to being dead! Remember when you made me bury myself?! THAT FUCKING MESSED WITH MY HEAD!" Mad Dawg screamed, seeming frustrated beyond words. "AND NOW YOU'RE JUST IGNORING YOUR DAMN JOB!?"
"Yeah, I'll admit. I screwed up on that one." Skorch nodded. "But hey, life's a bitch, you die, and your corpse gets fucked by some drunken asshole."
(I have no idea what that interaction was in regards too.)
"I've known you to be abrasive and dimwitted, but this is ridiculous!" Frieza snapped. "You really think you can just walk away from this?!"
"Why not? You're all the champions of earth or whatever Goku was spewing. You don't need me to win."
"…What about all the worlds? The stuff you told us was going to happen?"
"Let it go Bulma." Skorch sighed, looking over to her. "All of you. Someone'll use the Dragon Balls and fix it. Even if Goku or Vegeta die again, they'll just come back. It's the same crap, just a different day. It's getting old."
"Skorch, you could be selfish, but this is insane!" Piccolo growled, standing in front of the entity. "BILLIONS could die if you walk away! And for what?! You're damn ego?! Are you really so thick-skulled that you can't see past your own insecurities!?"
Skorch looked up at the Namekian, his eyes holes seeming… indifferent
"I don't like you." He finally said, shattering the conceptions everyone had of him. "Any of you. But I've been here long enough… that you deserve to hear it from me. Good-bye."
With that, Skorch turned and began walking away, never looking back. Vegeta yelled in anger and fired a destructo disc at him, and it sliced Skorch clean in half…
And he just kept walking.
"Can… can he do that?" Krillin quietly asked.
"Listen, Skorch I don't know what's gotten into you, but we need you here-" Gohan began, appearing in front of Skorch.
"No. You don't." Skorch replied. "What you need is to open your eyes and see what's happening around you. Your dad is borderline retarded, he put literal UNIVERSES at risk just so he could fight someone."
"And all the things you told us about Dimension Zero? About how people watched us? You're just gonna leave after all that?"
"It's true. But that changes nothing. When you found that sceptre, I trusted you-"
"Are you really that shallow that you'll let billions die just because they overtook your mind once or twice?! In your own words, grow the hell up!" Gohan snapped. This did get a genuine reaction from Skorch, who froze in disbelief, and seemed to blink. "They did that because we didn't know what else to do! And besides, you've done WAY worse for us in the past! I won't act like hijacking your mind was okay, and sure, Goten and Trunks were idiots for what they did to you. But the rest of us used it as a last resort! YOU said yourself that everything would die if we didn't take matters into our own hands! YOU on more than one occasion have stated that you believe evil deeds for good reasons are acceptable! YOU LITERALLY MURDERED AN ENITRE PLANET BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT IT WAS JUSTIFIED!"
"You. Don't. Know. Shit." He finally said. "That sceptre wasn't just a way to control me. When a Watcher surrendered their token to someone, that means a lot more than just trust or friendship. It means they see them as family. It means they see them as equals, if not someone they look up to. I held on to that for what to you may have been millions or possibly billions of years, and more worlds then I can care to count. Many of which I watched die, in none of them did I ever find someone I could surrender that to. And then…"
Skorch trailed off and shook his head.
"Why am I explaining this to you? You haven't changed as a character since Dragon Ball Z."
Skorch turned away and kept walking. Beginning to fall forward as his body turned to a skeleton, and his bones turning to dust, with his skull clattering and rolling across the floor before finally disappearing.
"…I think I just screwed up." Chi-Chi muttered, having seen the last bit of the conversation.
End
Why'd I Cut It?
SO MANY REASONS!
This was way, way, way, way, way, way out of character for Skorch and Gohan. Skorch would get angry, or he'd get frustrated with choices made. But he'd never take it out on someone like Chi-Chi and not immediately regret that. Gohan would try to reason with Skorch, even call him out for being cowardly or lying to them, but he wouldn't go as far as he did here. This was during a drafting phase when I wanted to add a story to everything outside of the battles, and totally forgot there already was a story. IDK why man, I probably thought it was a good idea at the time.
Now, it does seem believable that The Pilaf Gang and Goten and Trunks would use the scepter. Heck, there could even be some fun bits where they're trying to figure out how it works. But that's in character for them.
But Skorch getting angry like that? Against Vegeta? Maybe. Friza? Sure. But this whole thing felt way too mean spirited, not just for this story, not just for the character I created, but for Dragon Ball as a whole. (also, see the last sentence of the point below here)
The call outs about Goku, Vegeta or Gohan never growing or changing came from a series of videos I watched where they deconstructed the characters, and brought up that point. I'm also pretty sure I wrote this when I was not in a good place, and that REALLY shows…
Also, the setup (and a good chunk of the dialogue) is taken from Red vs. Blue Season 15, Episode 6 – Reacts where it worked there due to the tone and story of that a how having built up to it. Also, it could get away with being nasty or mean-spirited sometimes because the show was like that. Dragon Ball isn't. At least, it isn't to a point where I'd be okay publishing this and thinking 'Yeah. That's good.'
It also turns out when the scepter is used, it's essentially someone forcing themselves into Skorch… that has some very heavy implications that I didn't realize were there until I took a step back and immediately decided this was a bad idea. Overall, I liked the idea, but Skorch started out as the laid-back jerk-ass who was a massive Dragon Ball fan at heart, and even if from the second or third chapter I started planting the seeds to make this pay off, it wouldn't be right.
Also, Skorch and the Blackthorns (in supplementary material) have been friends for AGES, so him calling them out too? Nah, unless this was some big plot twist that Champa or Goku Black was controlling him, which was impossible, I didn't like it. If you guys wonder why my stories tend to be more comedic or light-hearted, and sometimes use humor during a really dark scene, this is why.
This... was not something I was proud of. At least, I'm not now.
Ugh, let's hope things get better...