"Vegeta's head jerked again. This time, a flash of golden-yellow light rippled through his hair and vanished as his head dropped again. The sudden flash seemed to encapsulate that moment, freezing it in time."
"I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans! I am the legend, the Super Saiyan terror of your nightmares! I am death, brought to life!"
— Vegeta
Bringer of Death
is a Dragon Ball fanfiction co-written by npberryhill and davidstarlingm.
Starting in the Frieza arc during the climatic battle with Frieza, shortly before Vegeta's imminent death, the Saiyan Prince unlocks the legendary Super Saiyan form, an event that carries tremendous effects on the course of history.
From there, the story chronicles the adventures of Vegeta, having become the first Super Saiyan of his era.
Partially canon-compliant with Dragon Ball Multiverse.
Tropes appearing in Bringer of Death:
- Achilles' Heel: Android 16 delivers a devastating blow which does such significant damage to Vegeta's spine that not even advanced medical technology could completely heal it. It requires a metal substitute that restores normal functionality, but leaves him unable to channel ki effectively into it, making his defenses weak in that area. This saves him from getting absorbed by Cell early on, but it also gets abused, though unknowingly, by his enemy in the final battle.
- Adaptational Badass: King Cold. In canon, he was easily killed by Future Trunks. Here, he is able to fight both Vegeta and Goku using his Fourth Form.
- Gohan, who has continued training over the seven-year gap since Cell's defeat.
- Affably Evil: Perfect Cell.
- Alternate Universe Fic: A universe where Vegeta ascends first and kills Frieza, then takes over his empire after killing the formers family. And it all goes from there.
- And I Must Scream: This is ultimately Garlic Jr.'s fate.
- Krillin experiences this when he is
turned into an Ajisa tree by Majcnavn, mostly as a way of showing how he utterly outclasses the Z fighters. Fortunately, this did not last very long.
- Krillin experiences this when he is
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- Tien using the Tri-Beam empowered by x12 Kaioken. Despite it's power, the combination of both techniques drains him of his power rather quickly.
- King Cold's Fourth Form. Despite its power, he has difficulty controlling it.
- Back Stab: Imperfect Cell ambushes Goku and attacks him with a Death Beam through the chest and then fires a massive Kamehameha before Goku can react, seemingly destroying him. Unbeknownst to Cell, Goku survives.
- Badass Boast: Majcnavn frequently delivers these to the main characters."I have warred with the old gods and never once faced defeat. Demons and spectres and the stars themselves tremble in my presence. My powers extend infinitely beyond the comprehension of mortals. If you are wise, you will not forfeit your lives by provoking me. Go now."
- Badass Cape: Vegeta wears a red one once he takes over Frieza's empire He gets rid of it after recovering from surgery, since it attracts attention to his Achilles' Heel.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Frost Demons can survive in the void, and are not afraid to take advantage of it. Vegeta comes up with a way to do the same, knowing that Cooler would disintegrate the planet they were on as soon as he was at disadvantage.
- Battle Trophy: A particularly gruesome example in the form of Frieza and Cooler's severed heads, affixed to the front of Vegeta's Cool Ship.
- The Berserker: Gohan becomes this after Super Perfect Cell kills his father and takes out Krillin and 18. Complete with Attack! Attack! Attack! and No-Sell features.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Goku arrives in the nick of time via Instant Transmission to save Vegeta from Third Form!King Cold's attack.
- Future Trunks arrives just in time to save Goku and Vegeta from Fourth Form!Cold.
- Tien saves Piccolo from Android 21 after having his energy absorbed.
- Book Ends: Title Drops happened during the first chapter when Vegeta ascended to Super Saiyan during the fight with Frieza, and it happens again on chapter 78 after his sacrifice to destroy Cell.
- Butt-Monkey: Yamcha, especially when he fights C47. The authors have flat out stated they don't like Yamcha and his status as Butt Monkey will probably not improve.
- Calling Your Attacks: It's Dragon Ball Z. Of course this trope applies.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Vegeta vs. Frieza after Vegeta is brought back to life
- Vegeta vs. Garlic Jr.
- Fourth Form!Cold vs. Goku and Vegeta
- Android 21 vs Tien and Piccolo
- SSJ!Gohan vs Android 21
- C47 vs. Wemu
- ASSJ!Vegeta vs. Imperfect Cell
- Goku vs. Slug
- ASSJ!Goku vs. Semi-Perfect Cell
- C47 vs. Yamcha
- Android!Krillin vs. C47
- Vegeta vs Broly and then reversed when Broly achieves his Legendary Form.
- And then reversed AGAIN when Vegeta achieves Super Saiyan 2.
- Goku vs. Frieza Jr.
- Perfect Cell vs Goku and Trunks
- Super Saiyan 2 Gohan vs Perfect Cell
- Krillin vs Semi-Perfect Cell
- Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta vs Super Perfect Cell.
- Special case since the majority was Vegeta's favor, and then the minority, Cell's, when he luckily hit Vegeta's Achilles' Heel.
- Doorstopper: The fic is over 1 million words long.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Mr. Satan is in perfect shape, and even tops what he pulled in canon.
- For Want Of A Nail: Vegeta becomes a super saiyan after his beat down from Frieza.
- From Bad to Worse: The Saiyan Saga's primary antagonist has just unlocked the Super Mode that The Hero is supposed to unlock first... and he's the only thing standing in the way of that arc's Big Bad. Shit.
- Practically a Running Gag. Vegeta is the only thing standing between Frieza's servants and Cooler's takeover. Then, Vegeta is the first responder to King Cold, who plans to conquer and sell the Earth. Then, in one future, Vegeta kills Goku and is later killed by the Androids. In the Androids timeline, Hoi causes the release of Hirudegarn, and the events that transpire lead to Tapion's death and eventually Future Gohan's.
- Anybody who knows the series knows what the Android Saga inevitably leads to, despite the numerous victories of the Z-Fighters and even the gradual change of heart from the past versions of 17 and 18
- This is destined to happen anytime Cell survives something that should kill him.
- Heel–Face Turn: Piccolo III, Broly
- Heroic Sacrifice: Vegeta blows himself up to finally destroy Cell.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Trunks nearly becomes this when fighting the Present Day Android.
- Hope Bringer: Goku, as always. Also, amazingly enough, Vegeta: the soldiers of his army know that, if faced with something they can't defeat themselves, Vegeta will come and save the day (and see it the most clearly when he, in short order, overcomes Broly and saves them from a supernova), and his return to Earth during the Perfect Tournament is exactly what's needed to bring back hope of survival to everyone.
- Hope Spot: You may as well call the entire Cell Saga 'Hope Spot Saga.'
- Idiot Ball: Goku failing to check if Cell definitiely died after he self-destructed on Namek (Which is rendered indestructible). This is especially jarring after all the times that Cell has survived situations that should have killed him before.
- I Have No Son!: Said by Vegeta when Trunks decides to spare the present day Androids.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Future Trunks' sword that he gained after he was forced to kill Tapion has the power to cut through any living evil in a similar manner to Spike the Devil Man's Devilmite Beam. It doesn't work on the androids due to their mechanical nature... With the exception of Cell, who is biological.
- In Spite of a Nail: Just like DBZ canon, murderous androids are released and a dark future is formed. In fact, many of the same antagonists and battles happen, almost as if the universe is course-correcting. Naturally, this includes many instances of Necessary Fail.
- Killed Off for Real: Chichi, Dr. and Mrs. Briefs, Dabura, Babidi, Tapion, Hoi, and eventually Future Androids 17 and 18 in Future Trunks' timeline.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Doctor Gero and Future Android 18.
- Mêlée à Trois: Bojack's invasion of Earth culminates in a three-way fight between Bojack, Gohan, and Broly.
- Monster of the Week: Garlic Jr. appears for one chapter, gets absolutely destroyed by Vegeta and hasn't been seen or mentioned since.
- No-Sell:
- Trunks's brave sword is able to destroy King Cold's Death Ball, due to it's ability to cut through anything evil.
- Android 21 is able to withstand Tien's Solar Flare since Doctor Gero installed protective lenses that negate it.
- Future!Slug breaks his hand by punching SSJ Past!Goku.
- Original Character:
- In response to Vegeta, Goku and Trunks defeating King Cold, Dr. Gero created another energy absorbing android: Android 21.
- The author created C47, an droid companion to Vegeta who is essentially a Dragonball version of Knights Of The Old Republic's HK-47. C47 later had the components of the defeated Android 21 incorporated into his system but was limited by the lack of a battery. However, after Android 16 was destroyed in the battle with Cell, Bulma and Oniya incorporated 16's energy source into him, making him as strong as 16 was.
- Vegeta gains a ship appropriately entitled "Bringer of Death". He gets a crew to go with it, but most notable is the ship's engineer/first mate Oniya. Romance begins to bloom between Vegeta and Oniya and for a bit it looks as if Oniya will replace Bulma as Vegeta's love interest. This is proven false as soon as the crew lands on Earth when Oniya is killed by a black mist infected Yamcha. Though Vegeta briefly grieves over her death and Oniya is later revived, Vegeta and Bulma develop their romance during her death and the subplot is quickly dropped.
- Wemu, Cui's brother. He's just as strong as Cui was and gets killed just as easily by C47.
- After the events of the Perfect Tournament and Bojack, the protagonists encounter Majcnavn, aka the Dragonspawn.
- Original Flavor: A spin on the super saiyan ascension with Vegeta instead of Goku ascending first.
- Put on a Bus: Goku during the beginning of the Androids arc, due to being inflicted with the heart virus and having to be sent to the future in order to be cured.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Surprisingly enough, Vegeta to the Planet Trade Organization.
- Rocket Punch: Android 21 has a variation of this, as his fists have cables attached to them, which allows him to drain energy. He uses these to drain Piccolo of his energy.
- Shout-Out:
- Vegeta's ship, Bringer of Death, is based off of the Strahl airship from Final Fantasy XII
- Oniya is based off of the Asari race from Mass Effect.
- According to the authors, the "THUUUM" sound effect used when fists collide is a reference to the Thu'um from Skyrim.
- Desann, the reptilian member of King Cold's Alpha Tokusentai, shares his name with the Dark Jedi from Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.
- Shown Their Work: A Meta Example: David applies his knowledge of physics in attempting to, as accurately and effectively as possible while complying with the knowledge supplied from the manga, manga supplements, as well as Toriyama himself, explain many of the things that happen in DBZ. And they do, indeed, make quite a lot of sense.
- Super Mode: The Saiyans have Super Saiyan, Freiza and Cooler have their forms and King Cold uses his Third and Fourth forms in his fight against Vegeta, Goku and Trunks.
- Taking the Bullet: Krillin shields Android 18 from Trunks' Buster Cannon.
- Title Drop: Vegeta's flagship is named as such. Also appears in the first few chapters and chapter 78 whenever Vegeta severely beats or kills his opponent.
- Took a Level in Badass: Krillin after Bulma turns him into an Android to save his life.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Frieza and Cooler are so used to overwhelm their opponents through brute force alone they have developed little actual fighting skills. Subverted with King Cold, who is strong and has some decent skills. And serious problems at controlling his True Form, as it grew too much a long time ago and he's not been able to bring it back under control.
- Wham Episode
- Chapter 75: The Homecoming. Where do we even begin?
- The Dragon Balls are near the sun.
- Super Perfect Cell returns and kills Goku, and at LEAST mortally wounds 18 and Krillin.
- Super Perfect Cell defeats Gohan!
- This universe is big enough for two Ascended Super Saiyans.
Vegeta: "Cell. So, we finally meet again." - Majcnavn appears on Namek as the Z crew are making their wishes following the Perfect Tournament and the invasion of Bojack...and promptly destroys Porunga.
- Chapter 75: The Homecoming. Where do we even begin?
- Wham Line: Chapter 90: Majcnavan's face was emotionless. "I have removed his ki, permanently. He will never be able to use energy for as long as he lives."
