"Yes, we… are giving her the chance to flourish."
What If Videl Was A Z-Fighter? is a Dragon Ball What If? fanfic by Lawrence Simpson aka MasakoX of Team Four Star fame as part of his Dragon Ball Discussion series of Youtube videos. This particular topic started on December 8th, 2020, and is the fifty-second entry in the overall series.
As the title suggests, he explores his interpretation of an alternate version of the story where Videl asserts herself more and participates in the combative scenarios of the franchise.
You can find the playlist for it here
See also Masako X - Dragon Ball What-If which explores other possibilities in the Dragon Ball verse.
What If Videl Was A Z-Fighter? has the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass:
- Videl training with Gohan far more seriously leads to her being much stronger than she was in canon. As a result, unlike canon where she got completely crushed, Videl defeats Spopovich fairly handedly. She eventually undergoes the ritual to gain her own Ultimate form alongside Gohan. Due to being exposed to the Super Saiyan God ritual and to Gohan and Vegeta's training with God Ki, she absorbs enough God Ki to have it herself.
- Due to Videl absorbing God Ki while pregnant with her, Pan also has it.
- Gohan is even stronger, since he never gave up training. His Ultimate form before Super starts is about as strong as Super Saiyan Blue.
- 18, due to training with Videl, gets more involved and does also get stronger. As they remain best friends and keep training, as such by the Tournament of Power Arc she's much stronger and comparable to where 17 was in Super.
- Shin is inspired by what he saw on Earth and decides to train with Videl and 18 to get stronger and more confident.
- Vegeta is the one to get Super Saiyan God due to Goku being mostly retired from fighting.
- Piccolo and Krillin, due to training with Videl and 18, are also considerably stronger to the point Krillin didn't need to go on his story arc to get a power up. Notably, Frost's sneak attack on Krillin fails and Krillin starts beating him.
- Universe 7 as a whole to a degree: due to Shin getting stronger and more confident, he's able to do his job better and thus Universe 7 actually beats out Universe 6 in terms of Mortal Level.
- Pan is much stronger than in canon due to Videl being much stronger and both her parents being fighters, able to reach Super Saiyan at just 5 years old and gets trained under Beerus.
- Bulla and Marron also get training under Beerus
- Adaptation Expansion: Videl's hair going gold during the Super Saiyan God ritual was just a one off thing in the anime, but Masako decides to exploit that to keep Videl relevant: it's due to having gotten the potential unlocking ritual done to her and a Saiyan inside of her and being exposed to more Saiyan related energy due to the ritual, resulting in her being altered and, according to Whis, potentially gaining some Saiyan traits herself.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Beerus is generally much nicer, as he takes interest in Videl and Pan due to the infusion of Saiyan DNA intriguing him, and is thus closer to them than he otherwise would have. Notably, he doesn't have much problem babysitting Pan and later Bulla as he did in canon. Pan even calls him 'Uncle Beerus.' He 'kidnaps' her after the tournament at the end of Z to train her, he ends up playing with her instead.
- Adaptational Wimp: Ironically, Goku. His Ultimate power makes him feel like he can't get any stronger, so he doesn't train more than to maintain it. Thus, Gohan takes his place training with Whis while Goku, while very strong, isn't nearly as powerful as he was in canon by Super, being weaker then the likes of Gohan and Vegeta. Though on the other hand, he's now very much a family man and a better father. Though he still is able to attain Ultra Instinct, thus allowing him to become stronger then Gohan and Vegeta temporarily.
- Amazon Chaser: Krillin is instantly attracted to Eighdel, Videl and 18's Potara fusion.
- Amazonian Beauty:
- Videl is much stronger and muscular now than before, even though she was strong before.
- Videl and Android 18's fusions, Vizuli and Eighdel, as well.
- Babies Ever After: One of the main reasons that he didn't have Gohan and Videl be in the Room of Spirit & Time for the full year, was that, as teenagers, Masako's friend Sophie suggested that *ahem* Videl may have a bulge around the midsection afterwards.
- Battle Couple: As Videl is far more powerful and stronger, she fights alongside Gohan and the two prove far more effective together.
- Book Dumb: Videl, out of disinterest and assuming her Father's fame and fortune would cover her. She still does well on her tests, but largely due to Gohan insisting on studying, using training as incentive.
- Canon Immigrant: Tapion, Hoi, and Hirudegarn from Wrath of the Dragon, due to the events of that movie being integrated into the story in Broad Strokes fashion. Notable in that, as Masako himself points out, he doesn’t usually incorporate elements from the Non-Serial Movies.
- Character Development: In this timeline, Goku ends up having his potential unleashed instead of Gohan. While he was sour soon after (to the point where he seemed more like a standard Saiyan, which unnerved Vegeta), he eventually came to accept that he basically peaked, and, due to a pep talk with Chi-Chi, took this as a new beginning, that he could still become stronger and better as a husband and not just as a fighter.
- Cool Big Sis: Android 18 gives off this vibe in her interactions with Videl, being a cool older mentor to Videl at points. She even is able to fuse with Videl a couple times.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Videl vs Spopovich is still one, but in the exact opposite direction, due to a combination of Videl being much stronger and more skilled than in canon and Spopovich's power up not doing anything to address his lack of skill as a fighter.
- Gohan, due to being completely furious at Spopovich and Yamu for badly injuring Videl in an ambush, demolishes Spopovich and nearly beats him to death.
- In Babidi's ship, Gohan easily kills Pui-Pui, Goku easily kills Yakon, and Vegeta easily kills Dabura.
- As in canon, Vegeta doesn't stand a chance against Buu, despite being as strong as Majin Vegeta, leading to him still sacrificing himself with Final Explosion.
- Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta wasted no time in kicking Vegeta Black into Vegeta Blue and Black, and didn't stop until Vegeta Black retreated into the future.
- Like in the original timeline, Vegeta, Gohan, Tapion and Future Trunks got their butts kicked in the future timeline by Vegeta Black and Zamasu and had to retreat to the past.
- Instead of getting their butts kicked a second time, Vegeta, Gohan, Tapion and Trunks make sure Fused Zamasu gets sucked into the Mafuba.
- Curb Stomp Cushion:
- Beerus is even less inclined to blow up Earth, since Vegeta is more passionate in his fight with him as SSG, and Gohan and Videl intriguing him more.
- Eighdel fights evenly with base Kefla but gets knocked out of the ring after she goes Super Saiyan, but does weaken her enough for Vegehan to easily take her out.
- Vegehan puts up a good fight against Jiren, but they defuse and Vegeta and Gohan get knocked out individually since they are powerless. However, he did manage to severely damage Jiren and leave him weakened.
- Decomposite Character: With Goku reaching his full-potential in the Buu Saga, many of his roles in the latter half and in Super are taken by either Gohan or Vegeta.
- Deuteragonist: Gohan and Vegeta could be considered this. While Videl is the focus character and much stronger than in canon, she's still a normal human, so any threats at or above the threat of Frieza are handeled by them. However, Videl still plays a major part, be it by giving moral support/guidance to taking out smaller threats.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- When Gohan was teaching Videl how to fly, she also asked him to help her become stronger so she can defeat her father in the World Martial Arts Tournament. Gohan gets fired up because he is reminded of training under Piccolo and Goku and agrees. With only a few days before the tournament, he takes her to the Room of Spirit and Time and they spend one week/15 minutes inside training. As a result, they fall in love and Videl becomes much stronger, though it wasn't enough time for her to figure out ki blasts.
- Due to being considerably stronger, Videl defeats Spopovich in a Curb-Stomp Battle rather than the other way around, forcing Yamu to shoot her with a ki blast so he's not taken out of the tournament. Gohan is then set up against him instead due to him winning by default...leading to Gohan beating the absolute tar out of him. As Spopovich is in no condition to help, Yamu is only able to get a far lower amount of energy before being forced to flee. As a result, him and Spopovich are killed by Babidi for their failure rather than outliving their usefulness.
- Krillin doesn't join the Z-Fighters in pursuing Spopovich because he left to get Videl a Senzu Bean, so he escapes getting turned to stone by Dabura. When Videl recovers, he decides to take her back to the Room of Spirit and Time to train her in the parts Gohan neglected like ki blasts. Later, when Piccolo is returned from being a statue after Vegeta kills Dabura, he goes to the Lookout to help with Videl's training.
- Goten and Trunks don't go to Babidi's ship.
- Babidi turns Gohan into a Majin instead of Vegeta. He attacks Vegeta and brings Buu's energy up to 95% before Videl arrives and snaps him out of it. As a result, everyone survives. When Goku's time runs out and he returns to the Otherworld, Shin decides to take him to the Z-Sword. Everyone trains to prepare for Buu's arrival. After about three days, Babidi steals enough energy from civilians to awaken Buu.
- Hercule was sent to stop Babidi...and he distracts Babidi long enough for Buu to swat him and seriously injure him, allowing Vegeta to easily kill him, thus freeing Buu and causing Hercule to befriend him far earlier than in canon.
- Videl is a bit more empathetic than Piccolo is, so she is able to notice the problems with Gotenks' Fusion Dance and thus address the problems that made Gotenks so problematic. As such, Gotenks is less arrogant and more driven and composed than in canon.
- As Good Buu knows about and cares for Videl, who is on the Lookout, he is able to restrain Super Buu from attacking her. Thus Krillin and 18 survive his rampage there thanks to her distracting Buu long enough to escape.
- Since Vegeta didn't go Majin and kill a bunch of innocents, he wasn't sent to Hell after he does the Final Explosion. This allows him to join Goku and Shin on the Kai's planet and train with them.
- Bulma uses the Dragon Balls to bring back everyone killed by Buu or Babidi, which brings back Vegeta. After Super Buu absorbs Goten, Trunks, Vizuli, and Ultimate Goku, Gohan and Vegeta fuse into Vegehan and curb-stomp him like Vegito did. After getting absorbed, they free their friends but don't free Mr. Buu, so Kid Buu doesn't form. Once they escape, they fuse back into Vegehan and vaporize the weakened Super Buu. When Hercule asks, they use the Dragon Balls' second wish to bring back Mr. Buu.
- Due to Videl's continued interest in fighting and his continued training, Gohan avoids the work life balance issue he had in canon.
- Universe 7 isn't loathed by the rest of the Multiverse, as due to Goku's change of personality and Future Zeno remaining in the not destroyed future. Zeno merely starts the Tournament of Power on his own.
- Due to Shin being more confident and stronger, he's done his job much better. As such, Universe 7's Mortal Level went up, beating out Universe 6, and thus the exhibition match is Universe 6 vs Universe 9 instead (with 6 winning due to Kale going berserk).
- Toppo does go God of Destruction, but does so in a more honorable fashion, as he fights Goku instead and respects him.
- Due to Gohan being Earth's other main champion, he takes Goku's place in Broly's events, and both him and Vegeta go to Vampa to lend aid and training with Gohan offering ways to deal with his anger, being in a similar spot in his youth.
- From Bad to Worse: Buu absorbs Ultimate Goku.
- Fusion Dance:
- In addition to Gotenks, 18 and Videl fuse into Vizuli to buy time for Gotenks to fuse again. While not as strong as Buu, she's still strong enough to keep up and 18's Infinity Engine means she remains at full power the entire 30 minutes without draining the timer.
- As Goku is absorbed by Buu, Vegeta ends up fusing with Gohan instead, forming Vegehan. Unlike in canon, Vegeta is willing to fuse again because Gohan earns his respect. They're also the one who fuse to fight Broly, becoming Gohgeta.
- 18 and Videl use the Potaras to fuse into Eighdel.
- Instead of Goku and Vegeta fusing into Gogeta to face Broly, Gohan and Vegeta fuse into the nearly-identically named Gohgeta.
- Gender Bender: Somewhat. After Buu absorbs Vizuli, they take on more female qualities.
- Happily Married: With Goku being less focused on training after his full potential is unlocked, he and Chi Chi have a less strained relationship.
- Hated by All: Videl takes Barry Khan's advances more personally and slaps him, sending him flying into a pile of boxes. The crew proceeds to cheer and state they'd all wanted to do that.
- I Can't Sense Their Presence:
- Inside Babidi's ship, they can't sense anyone outside, which makes Gohan worry that Videl may be dead.
- While Majin Gohan is fighting Vegeta, Babidi teleports Goku and Shin to a distant planet so they can't interfere. They are too far away from Earth for Goku to sense them and use Instant Transmission. Fortunately, Shin doesn't need to sense people to teleport and he returns them to Earth.
- While Videl is freeing Gohan from Babidi's influence, Piccolo grabs Babidi, but Babidi blinds him with light and escapes. The Z-Fighters and Shin can't sense him and they can't sense Buu's pod, so they can't find them.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- While they were an Official Couple already, Videl and Gohan became a couple far earlier than in canon here due to having more personal time around one another.
- While Babidi doesn't get enough energy to awaken Buu thanks to Videl's influence, the group realizes that even if they stop and kill Babidi, someone else might just finish the job. So they let him go, and then train for when Buu shows up.
- Masako gives this as his reason for glossing over the Universe 6 Arc: with Videl sitting out the tournament due to having just given birth to Pan — and thus being in no condition to fight — the arc happens more or less the same as in canon, just with Gohan in place of Goku.
- Goku still unlocks Ultra Instinct and is ultimately the one to finish off Jiren and win the tournament along with Freeza and 17. This is despite Goku's power ceiling being a lot lower than in canon.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- While fighting through Babidi's ship, Goku thinks of it as a fun adventure and is oblivious to how upset Gohan is since he wants to get back to Videl.
- Goku finally tells Gohan that Videl is okay...about an hour or so after he should have. This leads to Babidi turning him into Majin Gohan in his anger and confusion.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Videl recovers thanks to the Senzu Bean, she wants to fly over and help Gohan, but Krillin, who was able to sense Dabura's energy, tells her they don't stand a chance as they are now. He decides to train her so that she can contribute more.
- Lonely at the Top: Videl admits that being Hercule's daughter made her isolated because everybody sucks up to her instead of being her friend. She likes Gohan because he is a genuine friend.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: As Piccolo trained him, Gohan trains Videl to get stronger, something that Piccolo takes pride in after seeing Videl's progress in the tournament. After the Buu Saga, Videl alongside 18 trains Shin Kai to help boost his confidence.
- Mirror Character: Freeza respects Gohan and even points it out. Both are sons of powerful men with enormous potential, and both are intelligent and cunning self-made men. While Gohan objects to this at first but after Freeza explains it just why he feels this way, Gohan admits he isn't entirely wrong.
- Morality Pet: Beerus ends up taking interest in Pan and bonds with her, and is thus far nicer to her than anyone else.
- Mythology Gag: When talking with Gohan about how strong Videl got, Krillin mentions that it would be have been like if Krillin were a woman and Goku and female-Krillin got together and that that would be weird. Something similar happened in Masako's What If Goku Was Female? story, where the now female Goku and Krillin got together and had a female child.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: After freeing Old Kai from the Z-Sword, he gives Goku his Mystic powerup. Goku doesn't like getting outside help and assumes that he cannot become any stronger now and becomes upset.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Zamasu doesn't steal Goku's body, but rather Vegeta's. As such, Vegeta is even more infuriated by the fact Black stole his face and used it to kill the future version of his wife, and goes right to Blue and nearly beats Vegeta Black to death. This backfires when the beating results in Vegeta Black getting an even bigger power boost than in canon.
- Not a Game: Gohan just wants to get through Babidi's ship as fast as possible and scolds Goku and Vegeta for wasting time with things like using Rock–Paper–Scissors to decide who fights who and toying with their opponents.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Spopovich defeats Videl by default when Yamu hits her with a ki blast. The Z-Fighters were the only ones able to see it, so Spopovich doesn't get disqualified.
- Official Couple: While they were this in canon, Videl and Gohan became a couple far earlier than in canon.
- Out of Focus: After the Buu saga, Goku willingly takes a backseat in the story after his potential gets unlocked by the Old Kai, effectively losing his passion for fighting. He still offers assistance during the Ressurection F saga and occasionally trains with Vegeta and Gohan, but it's not until the Universal Tournament that he really comes back into the limelight.
- Perfection Is Static: When the Elder Kai unlocks all of Goku's potential to fight Super Buu, Goku is furious as having all of his potential unlocked means he'll never get stronger, and after the final battle he loses his passion for fighting. Even Vegeta can only feel empathy instead of envy at Goku's position, since for a Saiyan to lose their ability to continuously get stronger might as well be a Fate Worse than Death.
- Poor Communication Kills: When Videl is injured by Yamu, Krillin saves her with a Senzu Bean. But then Gohan gets his energy drained, and everyone follows Spopovich and Yamu to Babidi. In all the confusion, everyone forgets to tell Gohan that Videl is fine. Gohan thought the Senzu plant wasn't ready, and thus is constantly worried that Videl is at death's door. When Goku tells Gohan this deep in Babidi's lair, Gohan's already in a very bad mood, and being told that Videl was fine about an hour too late makes Gohan's anger boil over. Babidi detects this anger, and decides Gohan would be a great Majin slave.
- The Power of Love: Videl's reassurance that she is alright freed Gohan from Babidi's influence.
- Praetorian Guard: Tapion, due to his movie being added to the timeline but the time machine being not an option, becomes Dende's bodyguard and stays on the Lookout with him.
- Rage Breaking Point: Gohan blows up at Vegeta for wasting time toying with Dabura. Babidi decides that with so much anger, he can turn Gohan into a Majin.
- Restraining Bolt: Good Buu acts as this to Super Buu, specifically in regards to Videl. As he can sense Videl is similar to Hercule and Hercule told Buu about her, Super Buu is held back from harming her, even when she attacks him.
- Sealed Evil in a Can:
- Using his ocarina, Tapion seals Hoi into the music box he was formerly in.
- As Gohan is the one to learn the Mafuba rather than Goku, the talisman isn't forgotten and thus Fused Zamasu is permanently imprisoned by Trunks. His jar is then handed to Whis for safe keeping.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Vegeta still uses Final Explosion against Buu. Not only does it not do a thing to Buu, Hercule had already started to befriend Buu and had Vegeta just killed Babidi and left them alone, Hercule would've just befriended him and ended things then and there. Thus, all Vegeta's sacrifice did was needlessly kill himself.
- Sixth Ranger: Videl becomes a full member of the Z-Fighters.
- Skeptic No Longer: When the Senzu Bean instantly heals a critically injured Videl, Hercule is forced to admit that the Z-Fighters are not frauds.
- So Proud of You:
- When Hercule sees Videl lift a five-hundred pound weight like it's nothing, he's a little intimidated, but says he's proud that she is so strong.
- When Videl defeats Spopovich, the Z-Fighters, especially Piccolo, say they are proud that Gohan is an effective teacher.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Vegeta never goes Majin and kills a bunch of people, Super Buu never does the Human Extinction Attack, and Kid Buu never appears so the Earth and a bunch of planets don't get blown up.
- As the talisman isn't forgotten, Trunks is able to seal Fused Zamasu away with it. As such, not only is Fused Zamasu technically still alive (if unable to do anything), he never becomes Infinite Zamasu and thus the Future timeline isn't destroyed.
- This Cannot Be!: While getting pummeled by Vegeta, Dabura exclaims it is impossible that a mortal could be more powerful than him shortly before Vegeta kills him.
- Took a Level in Badass: Videl's more successful training with Gohan results in Videl going from unable to actually match up at all to Spopovich to delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle in the other direction. She gets even stronger after training with Krillin and Piccolo. Masako admits that the power gap would logically be too big to bridge in such a short time, but also points out Toriyama would've done the same thing had he had the idea.
- Touched by Vorlons: Videl both having a half-saiyan in her womb and being exposed to the Super Saiyan God ritual results in Videl's DNA being altered and her gaining Saiyan traits. This includes gaining Zenkai.
- Villain Respect: Frieza has this towards Gohan due to their similarities.
- Undignified Death: Well, 'defeat'. After being sealed away by Future Trunks, Fused Zamasu's prison is handed over to Whis for safe keeping... who promptly puts him on his and Beerus's spice rack, next to the garlic.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Spopovich's Majin power up only increased his power, not his actual combat skill. Thus, with Videl's greater strength negating that edge, her being a far better fighter results in her trouncing him rather than the other way around.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- When the Z-Fighters can't find Babidi, they decide to let him go and drain energy from civilians to awaken Buu so they can kill him. Shin calls them out on this and tries to explain that Buu is too powerful, but they ignore him.
- Vegeta calls out Goku and Gohan for their suggestion to recruit Frieza for the Tournament of Power. Though Gohan counters that Frieza is the only choice they have left.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: The Z-Fighters realize that even if they stop Babidi from gathering the energy needed to awaken Buu, it’s likely that someone else will do so in his place. As such, they decide to not even bother, instead opting to train more so they’ll be ready for Buu when the time comes to fight him.
- You Have Failed Me: Babidi blows up Yamu and Spopovich for this reason instead of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, because Yamu was only able to extract a quarter of Gohan's ki.
