Amazing how buying an #18 statuette makes you think about bringing back an old favorite.
For those who don’t know, The 18th was a Dragonball/DBZ fanfic I wrote many years ago, and the premise was that it was set in an alternate reality where Son Goku was never sent to Earth; in his place was Android 18, who Bulma discovered in place of Goku, in a stasis pod in an abandoned Red Ribbon Army lab. Things were the same, things were different, but in the end, Eighteen (Teena to her friends) ended up becoming the Earth’s champion, and more of a hero than Goku; while Goku was still very much a hero, his main focus was wanting to fight and become stronger, while Teena’s focus was protecting the people of Earth. Teena was also very different than her counterpart, often using Buffyspeak and being a bit of a coldly sarcastic type, not akin to Spider-Man at times. If you’re curious, the 18th can be found right here in my dA account, all in prose, mind you. However, I lost interest in writing The 18th in time, wanting to focus more on original works than fanfiction; eventually I worked on stories involving Pagan, focused a bit on Oseiko, and from there, it all evolved into the ongoing webcomic, the Trinity Concept.
But now my mind is drifting back a bit towards The 18th. At least, connecting it to the Trinity Concept down the road. But a lot has changed in the Dragonball mythos between then and now, so I may have to do a soft reboot of The 18th; change some things around to make sure things tie in with what we know now about Eighteen and what has already happened. So here’s what is going to be changed…
In the original story, Eighteen was Dr. Gero’s granddaughter, named Kristina Gero; Seventeen ended up being Seth Gero. But now, we know that Teena and Sev weren’t related to Gero at all, and that their real names were Lazuli and Lapis, respectively. So how do I explain away the whole “Kristina/Seth” thing? Easy… it was all a sick mind game. Gero programmed all the those memories into the twins in an attempt to further control them. So Teena’s weak heart, watching her mother being devoured by Cell, nearly being eaten herself and the phobia that contributed to it? All lies. Suffice to say, Gero paid for that deception when she and Sev found out.
Remember Taanipu? The fanon mother of Goku? Yeah... then we found out about Gine, who filled that whole mother niche very nicely. As it pertains to The 18th, I’m softly rebooting things and retconning Taanipu into Gine; at least as it pertains to the story, Gine survives the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Speaking of Aise...
Aise may not be a Saiyan half-breed anymore. But she will still keep her feminine appearance; considering I want to connect the 18th universe with the Trinity Concept, there will be another explanation for her female form, an aberration to her fellow Frost Demons. Much like before, the Paraclete will have a hand in this. Most likely genetic tampering. A clone perhaps? We shall see.
Continuing on the subject of Aise, before Golden Frieza, there was Super Aise, a gold form that Aise was able to assume. Originally, it was from her half-Saiyan bloodline, but since she’ll be a full blooded Frost Demon, her Golden Aise form would have to be attained from extensive training, the same as Frieza.
So, when we last left the story, the events that would have been the Androids Saga and the Cell Games. What I had planned was an all out war between the Z-Fighters and Red Ribbon. Of course, the Z-Fighters would end up defeating Red Ribbon; only Ten, Eleven, Fifteen (who all join the Z-Fighters), and Nineteen survive in time for Cell to emerge, becoming the Big Bad. Sev still ends up being absorbed by Cell with Teena being next. Cell is ultimately defeated when Teena allows herself to be absorbed, but using her innate angelic power, decimates Cell from the inside out.
From there, we go to the Buu Saga. Things go about the same, only instead of Majin Vegeta, we have Majin Seventeen. Nineteen aligns herself with Buu once he sheds away the good side of himself, and when he becomes Kid Buu, has almost a warped mother/child relationship with him, reveling in the chaos he creates. In the penultimate fight between Buu, Teena, and Sev, Nineteen willingly gives herself to Kid Buu, allowing herself to be absorbed, creating a FINAL final form called Metal Buu. The situations becomes even more harrowing, but ultimately, Metal Buu is destroyed, and the Earth is at peace.
And that would’ve been the end of The 18th. But with Dragonball Super very much a part of the new canon, we’d have to add to that, won’t we? For one, considering this IS an alternate reality, Beerus and Whis wouldn’t be a factor, no… there would have to be a separate God of Destruction and their Angelic partner…
… but that will be for another time… 