[Buu Saga] The Divine Warrior- Rewriting Son Gohan

[mrfrankyg4]

There are many things that can be said about this arc. A big criticism was how Gohan was written: Saiyaman, slacking off in his training, the random unlocking ritual, and all the build-up over nothing. Sure, Mystic Gohan had his hidden powers unlocked, but it was cheap. There was no struggle for it. All Gohan did was sit around as his powers were unlocked. It didn't change him as a character, progress him, or anything. It felt so..routine-like.. no risk or anything...

I feel as though another route could've been taken with this. One that would've actually progressed Gohan's character and maybe this could've been a good wrap to the saga.

First, I want to introduce my first fix, primarily Gohan's character:

Instead of Elder Kai unlocking his potential, Gohan should've drunk the Ultra Divine Water

Yup, I'll be bringing it back for this arc. In fact, scratch out the whole Elder Kai/ Z-sword business. It did nothing AT ALL. Also, I have some ideas for what to do with Gohan's character in conjunction with the water.

So here's where I'd start to change things:

After Gohan is defeated, Piccolo eventually locates him and Shin and brings them back to the Lookout. While there, they're both healed. Goku suggests teaching the fusion to the boys with Piccolo's help.

Meanwhile, Gohan is watching them and is ashamed of himself. He's holding many regrets about not having kept up his strength in times of peace and is ashamed of letting his duty as the protector of Earth take a backseat. It's compounded even worse that even his own little brother and his friend are being prepared to fight Buu, and he's powerless to do nothing. Goku tells him to not beat himself up over it but presents an opportunity to Gohan. Something that may help him. He tells Gohan to visit Master Karin. As the boys are practicing, Gohan makes his way to Karin's Tower. Karin figures out that Goku sent Gohan to drink the Ultra Divine Water!

He explains to him the purpose of the water, it's properties and all. But he mentions that while it can draw out your hidden power, failure to be accepted by the water will result in death.

This causes great doubt in Gohan..but he's reminded of the imminent threat below them. He steels himself with a deep breath, as he accepts the water. Once he drinks it, the effects are instantaneous. As he swallows the water, the cup falls and breaks, and he's writhing on the floor screaming in pain.

The trial of the Divine Warrior has begun!

Everything else goes the same, except here. No more merely sitting around in boredom like in canon (bleh). Here, Gohan is fighting for his life. We delve into what's going on inside his head, while we see a mental projection of Gohan, and we see him watch these flashbacks of his life before, his battles, and the peace he knew. Gohan's delving into these memories helps him stay alive in this trial. Then we get a glimpse into what made Gohan retire from fighting/training altogether. It turns out he tried to train every now and then..but every time he did, it'd just remind him of his failure to defeat Cell when he had the chance. It left him without a father, his mother without a husband, and his little brother denied the opportunity to grow up with him.

Gohan's inner morale is at a low, and that's when it comes. ..A voice that sounds like his own...but is distorted..turns out to be a foreign mental projection of Gohan, brought on by the magical properties of the water! He feeds into Gohan's insecurities, telling him things like "You've always been weak!" "Peace has cost you your strength. Your once great victory became your downfall. You don't deserve the gifts that you've wasted, you are NO warrior!"

This hurts Gohan is hurt to his core...but he challenges this enemy to a battle. It accepts, and a battle begins.

The battle goes on for a long, long time. Gohan is doing his best, but his opponent is matching him move for move, attack for attack. Gohan realizes that this being is pulling from his own style, forcing him to improvise and come up with new strategies/attacks. This helps more, but it doesn't close the gap much. The being continues to break Gohan down with psychological warfare.

Eventually, Gohan's down for the count....!CopyGohan taunts him, "I suppose it was always meant to be this way. Never being able to save yourself without someone helping. Goodbye, Son Gohan." He then prepares a full--powered Kamehameha blast.

But, in a sudden twist, Gohan is empowered by his taunt instead of demoralized. So he then responds, "Heh, maybe you're right. I've always needed a little push from others to unleash my strength because I was scared of what could happen if I let it out. But no more. I will never be that again. I am the protector of earth. My friends and family need me, and I WON'T LET IT END HERE!!"

!CopyGohan fires his blast straight down at Gohan. But to his surprise, it doesn't even affect him. Gohan flies through the blast like a hot knife through butter to head straight towards his copy. He then stuns !CopyGohan with a gut punch. He then kicks him away before killing him with a masenko blast, obliterating him, purging Gohan's mind, searing through his mental pathways, and finally eliminating his self-doubt forever.

(So basically this was Gohan's trial. The magic took the form of himself and represented Gohan's doubts and insecurities. A battle began, which was similar to the image training Gohan once did with Krillin. Gohan was losing the mental battle because he was feeding into his doubts/insecurities. But once he stepped up and accepted them, he was able to overcome the magic projection and that meant that he was finally rid of those weaknesses, forever. It also served as an intense long-term training session that gave Gohan more experience, strategies, and control)

Gohan then wakes up to the real world, his trial completed. Gone is the former weak, passive, and meek Gohan. In his place, was a now decisive, confident, and powerful warrior (power nearly equal to his canon-Mystic counterpart). He goes to change in a new copy of his blue gi (representing Gohan wanting to stand on his own).

He flies down to where Buu is. Gohan makes mincemeat out of him, but can't kill him due to the properties of his skin. Eventually, Super Buu unleashes an attack to blow up the earth (like Kid Buu), and throws it down. Gohan then charges up a Kamehameha/Masenko blast at it to push it towards Buu. He struggles, not having enough power from the start. But during the struggle, he concentrates and is able to become a SSJ2, killing Buu at last!

.

[EGonzo]

I find this pretty generic, sorry. The idea of the "battle against your insecurities in the form of an evil you" has been done to death, even before DB began