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Dragon Ball: After the End

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This story is supposed to be about there always being someone stronger. Raditz is more a story about how weak people need to kill themselves in order to defeat strong people. They won't like the story much.
 
Andres110 said:
This story is supposed to be about there always being someone stronger. Raditz is more a story about how weak people need to kill themselves in order to defeat strong people. They won't like the story much.
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We were literally just telling them 'suffering for getting complacent because there is always someone stronger', which the story of Raditz is an excellent example of. It is also an example of power not being everything.
 
Might be in the minority here, but the baba's tournament saga seems to be the best choice here IMHO.

I figure, the story of how the z fighters were constantly punked by weaker fighters with cheap tricks and actually had to think about the fights might be better than a DBZ-style "get beaten until teamwork wins" brawl like the Raditz, Broly, or Kid Buu fights.

But if it has to be one of those type of brawls to make the point, I'd go for the Cell or Android 13 stories. The "technology out of control nearly wrecks the heroes' shit" would resonate better with Garenhulders than "someone far away has trained harder/is more naturally skilled than you".
 
Piccolo saga? Marsden wins tournament. Best friend dies. Tries to take revenge but is struck down because he is tired. Then he gets revenge on Tamborine. Ma the elder shows up. Defeats Marsden. Ma the elder goes on his conquest. Fights the turtle hermit, who trained Marsden. Is almost sealed despite fighting an inferior foe. Marsden visits the the cat sage. Drinks miracle water. Meanwhile, Shin the enlightened trains to seal Ma. Goes to fight Ma. Is defeated. Marsden fights Ma. Defeats him. Marsden goes to meet God to beg him to bring his friends back to life and is in turn warned about Ma the younger, who by prophesy is stronger than his father.

It has Marsden and Shin fighting in the tornament to determine the strongest under the heavens. They are beaten by someone stronger. Ma is the strongest in the world and is beaten by Marsden who becomes stronger. Then Marsden meets God, is casually beaten aside and warned about someone even stronger that will come along.
 
I'm gonna be honest, my main reason for NOT pushing that one is that I'm less familiar with it.

I think maybe we should start voting? Can't think too well right now, so would hold off on voting myself. Curious what others think though.

Bakkasama said:
Piccolo saga? Marsden wins tournament. Best friend dies. Tries to take revenge but is struck down because he is tired. Then he gets revenge on Tamborine. Ma the elder shows up. Defeats Marsden. Ma the elder goes on his conquest. Fights the turtle hermit, who trained Marsden. Is almost sealed despite fighting an inferior foe. Marsden visits the the cat sage. Drinks miracle water. Meanwhile, Shin the enlightened trains to seal Ma. Goes to fight Ma. Is defeated. Marsden fights Ma. Defeats him. Marsden goes to meet God to beg him to bring his friends back to life and is in turn warned about Ma the younger, who by prophesy is stronger than his father.

It has Marsden and Shin fighting in the tornament to determine the strongest under the heavens. They are beaten by someone stronger. Ma is the strongest in the world and is beaten by Marsden who becomes stronger. Then Marsden meets God, is casually beaten aside and warned about someone even stronger that will come along.
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Head cleared a little, editing something in...

I mean, not that you're wrong about this, but as narratives go it's a bit too complex. It would, realistically, take too long to tell the story in a narratively compelling way.

For comparison, the Piccolo Saga ran for twenty episodes, whereas the Raditz Saga ran for six. Even accepting that you can easily compress a full Dragonball episode into about 3-5 minutes of storytelling a la DBZA, there's a difference between a story that takes a literal hour to tell and one that takes twenty minutes to tell.
 
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Ok. The Piccolo Saga might not be the best for what was asked but it has plenty of stronger people showing up: I mean, it has Tien and Goku fighting to see who is the strongest of the world, then Piccolo shows up and proves stronger, then Goku beats Piccolo when he thinks he is the strongest of the world, then Kami beats Goku and tells him Piccolo Jr will be even stronger. The you segue into how Goku, even though he is considered the greatest warrior to ever live and one of the strongests they have record of always found somone stronger than him and at the time he didn't even reach a thousand.

Heck, if he never fights the High Priest that means that even by the time he was at his prime he was never the strongest fighter around so that is even true.

So, censoring the story a bit, we end with... something of subpar quality but meh. Perhaps a better writer can pretty it up.


[Guest Narrator: Karen]

This story happens in the age of legends, after the twenty second tournament to identify the strongest under the heavens. The best warriors of the land had gathered to test their might and while a lot could be said about the battles that took place, in the end it came down to a battle between the hero Marsden, after whom my family is named and Ten the Enlightened, prize pupil of a rival school. The fight was harsh and they were evenly matched and while at first they hated each other by the end of it only respect remained. However, no matter how close in skill, only one can be the strongest and while they were both exhausted by their fight, it was Ten who proved the winner.

No grudges were had as they both went there to test their skills; much merryment was to be had and there would be a feast after it had tragedy not struck. Chestnut, Marsden's best friend was murdered and in a rage Marsden chased his killer before he could rest. He caught up to him, a monster by the name of Tamborine but tired as he was he was easily defeated and left for dead.

While this was happening and back at the tournament grounds, the warriors there gathered were mourning their loss. Among them, the Turtle Hermit, eldest and wisest among them and the one who trained both Chestnut and Marsden took in the scene and a great fear came to him. He recognized the signs for what they were, as the mark of the return of Ma the Elder, King of Demons and the greatest threat the world had ever met. For you see, he had met Ma a long time ago, when he was a wee lad still training under Master Mutaito and had seen what terrible power he could bring to bear: an army of demons sired from his stomach and martial arts beyond human understanding. His rampage centuries ago had almost brought the sons of man to extinction and it was only Master Mutaito's sacrifice that allowed them to seal him with the technique known as demon containment wave, now lost to the ages. Ma felt great fear for this technique, for it allowed those weaker to defeat those many times their strenght and as such he sent Tamborine, his servant, to kill all martial artists of great reknown that could possibly know it and seal him again.

What Ma didn't know, however, is that the Hermit was the only one who knew such technique, having seen when it was first used. The old master had not fought in many years, having retired to train the next generation of heroes and as such he escaped Tamborine's notice. So with a heavy heart from the lost of his student, but relieved that he could save the world as his teacher once did, he retired to prepare a trap for the Demon.

While this was happening and out in the wilds, Marsden was recovering from his fight with Tamborine. There he met a wandering swordsman by the name of Yagi who, to Marsden great surprise, could match him in strength if perhaps not skill. Yagi had no interest in honor or being the strongest but on traveling the world and finding the greatests delicacies. Thus, despite his great strength, he had no interest in the tournament and as such Marsden had not heard of him. Yet for all that the swordsman loved his food, the hero was as gluttonous himself and they quickly bonded over their love for it as the wanderer nursed him to health.

Learning of the hero's survival to their fight, Tamborine searched for Marsden again but now that he wasn't tired from his fight with Ten, he slayed the monster with ease. The moment he killed him though, Ma felt his kin being slain and realising a strong fighter still lived, searched the Hero himself. For all that Marsden had recovered and was at the peak of his strength, the Demon King defeated with the ease of a single strike, my ancestor left half dead from it. With the threat dealt with, Ma continued on his journey to get rid of the who had a chance to oppose his rule and that would have been the end of it had Yagi not been nearby. He knew of the legends about Ma the Elder and hid as soon as he saw him; with the Demon King gone he approached the downed form of his new friend and threated him to save his life.

The wounds were too deep, however, and so at Marsden directions he took him to see the Sage of the Tower, a healer he had met years before. He cured the hero in short order but things looked grim. Marsden had never met someone as strong as Ma and even if he trained and gave his all, he wasn't sure he could beat him before he ended all life and so he asked the sage for advice. The wise man delivered about it and since he knew of Marsden's dedication and his will to beat the odds, offered a magic under his care: the ultra sacred water, an item said to release the potential of those who drank it, but as a cost. Because you see, for all that the water could perform incredible miracles, it was also a potent poison and of ten people who had drank it before, ten had died because of it without seeing any results. Without hesitation, Marsden drank it.

The world was not iddle as these events happened and the day Marsden drunk the water another confrontation took place. The Turtle Hermit, Ten the Enlightened and his best friend Gyoza prepared themselves to face down Ma the Elder. The Hermit knew that they would likely die if they fought him and that Ten, proud as he was, wanted to test his skill against the Demon. So right before the encounter, the Hermit drugged Ten so that he couldn't interfere, reasoning that he had a long life anyways and the world would need virtous men like Ten to protect it after his end. Ma underestimated the Hermit and faced him directly, just as the old man desired and so he could land the evil containement wave to seal the demon at the cost of his life. Luck was not on his side though, as the grief from losing his student weighted heavy on his heart and the technique failed at the last moment. Ten could only watch paralised as one of the greatest men the world ever knew gave his life for nothing and couldn't even move as the Demon killed Gyoza, so potent the poison. Ma left the field confident there was nobody else to oppose him and moved on to rebuild his army and conquer the kingdom, yet some hope was still left. Ten had witnessed the legendary technique and thus vowed to master it and put an end to the Demon once and for all.

Thus, for the next three days Ma rampaged and killed countless of people. For three days, Ten trained in the mountains to learn the technique. And for three days, Marsden writhed in agony as the poison cursed through his veins. Yet at the dawn of the fourth, both warriors were ready to fight for the fate of the world, at the kingdoms capital.

Ten was the first to arrive. He fought bravely, he fought fiercely, but he never managed to fight Ma. The evil contaiment wave was a strong technique but it took a tool in those who performed it; thus it was to be used only on the Demon King. Ma had learned as much from his previous encounter with it. Ten boldly proclaimed his intent to seal the Demon and knowing only it could beat him, Ma sent his monsters to deal with Ten first. In the end, the warrior was overwhelmed before facing him.

It looked like it would be the end for the enlightened warrior, had Marsden not arrived and defeated the monster standing over him. Ma was surprised to see him, as he had thought he had killed Marsden but upon confirming that the hero did not know the feared technique, he grew confident in his victory and faced him himself.

Much is said of the battle that followed. It is said that nothing was left of the city the battle took place in. It is said they threw ki blasts as the world had never seen before. What is said is that Marsden won the battle and most importantly that before he died, Ma the Elder swore his son would avenge him, even if Marsden didn't know it at the time.

Victory was bitter to the hero. He had avenged his friend and his master but that would not bring them back to life. He confesed as much to the Sage in the Tower when Yagi brought him to him in order to heal him.

The Sage though, informed him otherwise. Marsden had saved the world from the Demon King and such actions don't go unrewarded. As such, he had gained the right to meet Kami, the God of the World and make an appeal to him. Marsden used his magic staff then, one that could grow as to his will and used it to ascend to the palace in heaven, keen to beg god to bring his friends back to life. Yet one last surprised awaited the hero on this journey though, for as he reached the palace, the visage of Ma awaited him. For you see, good and evil come together and as Ma was to evil Kami is to good and were both once the same being and looked extremely alike. So without thinking, Marsden attacked the god and brushed aside in a single hit for his efforts.

Kami was understanding and after clearing the misunderstanding he listened to Marsden plea. He agreed to resurrect Chestnut and the Hermit and Gyoza, much to Marsden delight. However, there was a catch to this agreement and Marsden would have to remain at the palace and train under him for the next three years. For before he died, Ma the Elder had sired a son called Ma, thus dubbed the Younger, who had inherited all of his father's power and more beyond that. And in three years time, at the twenty third tournament, in the same place this adventure began, the fate of the world would be decided again... but that is a story for another time.

As are many others to be honest. Marsden is one of our greatest heroes and one of the strongest warriors we have a records of, but it took him a long time to come into his power so for all his life there was always someone better. At the time he fought Ma he was already fifteen and his power was less than a thousand even though he trained all his life and while we consider the greatest warrior to ever live... there was always someone stronger. He wouldn't have it any other way though. All records show that he loved a challenge and fighting those stronger than him because that was the fastest way for him to improve.
 
I respect Bakka's version; mine is still underway and I won't finish it until at least this evening. That said, for now, I'm still voting


[X] Story time.
-[X] Tell them about Raditz
 
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By the way, it kinda got lost with the stories but... 50k power level. In less than a year. How much did Maya grow in a year when she started? Around 70-80k?

[X] Story time.
-[X] Tell them about Ma the Elder (Demon King Piccolo)
 
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