Solid State Invincible
It has been an agonisingly long time. The Death Colosseum hasn’t seen a drop of blood for many months and while it hasn’t been a year since the last fight it felt like an eternity since the two space titans clashed. Hope for the series’ continuation was falling and many combatants returned to their home series, having accepted the fact that Death Battle was not going to return. Only a few remained and held onto hope. Hope that would soon be rewarded.
July 30 2024, Nolan Grayson, better known as Omni-Man and one of the combatants who stayed, received a Return Letter in the mail in front of his room at the DB accommodations. The Viltrumite was shocked at this revelation as it meant two things. For one, it meant the DB team wanted him back in the arena, despite his debut on the show only being 2 years ago, and second, it meant that Death Battle was coming back.
News of Nolan’s letter soon spread to the other worlds and the Death Colosseum soon saw every single combatant that had ever fought in it gathered inside. Excitement was at an all time high. However, the reveal of Nolan’s opponent as Bardock, the father of Son Goku, left most of the combatants with a mixed expression. A few of the more versatile and highly skilled fighters saw the Saiyans as simple brutes with little variety to how they fought. Even some of the Dragon Ball combatants were mixed upon Bardock’s reveal. Goku, one of two Saiyans who held onto hope for DB’s return, was already on the edge of his seat for the fights to continue and the announcement of his father’s debut sent his excitement to the edge of Universe 7 faster than those shockwaves could ever travel. Vegeta, who had left, was more disappointed due to Bardock’s status as a low-class Saiyan and coming from an era when not even Super Saiyan existed. Trunks, the other Saiyan who stayed alongside Goku, was happy to see another Dragon Ball fighter but couldn’t help but be a little let down at it being another Saiyan warrior and was hoping for a bit of variety. Broly, while not knowing who Bardock is, at least identified him as a Saiyan and looked forward to the destruction the fight would cause. Frieza nearly walked out of the Colosseum upon seeing Goku’s father, only being halted by Superman grabbing his tail.
“Let go of me.”
“Not a chance Frieza. This is a time for all of us to celebrate Death Battle’s return. Even if you don’t like what this fight has to offer, at least stick around.”
“And why would I want to watch another fight between a caped crusader and a monkey?”
Superman half-frowned at the idea of him and Kakarot being compared to two conquerors. Luckily, his train of thought was interrupted.
“If it’s any consolation, you might see this Saiyan die again. Unlike how you killed him, in a fiery ball of destruction where he was simply vaporised, this time we might get to see a more brutal and bloody death. I’m sure you’d at least like to see that right?
Frieza turned to the corner of the room where the voice came from. There stood the ever mysterious Doctor, prim and proper as always but never quite as clean when it came to the knowledge and wisdom he held. Frieza let out an exasperated sigh.
“Fine, I’ll stick around.”
“Ah man, thanks Frieza!”
Suddenly the “orange monkey” grabs Frieza into a bear hug while chuckling at the Emperor’s current predicament.
“LET GO OF ME!”
As much as the reaction from the combatant is mixed due to the two flying bricks they’re about to watch fight, the fact that is Death Battle’s return was enough to make them at least interested in this fight.
The day of Omnidock was here.
Combatants of all shapes and sizes began filling up the seats of the arena. Heroes, villains and everyone in between didn’t waste any time getting ready for Death Battle’s return. The arena section of the Colosseum was massive. The seats were arranged in a semi-circle that faced a massive screen. Entrances to the seats were organised like a stadium. The ceiling was a window into space that let anyone peak into the vastness of outer space whenever they looked up. This design is not purely for aesthetics though as the two planet sized titans took their place, hovering above the bleachers to watch the upcoming fight. Galactus and Unicron have the brilliance of the Doctor, Rick, Tony and Batman to thank for giving them the opportunity to spectate along with the rest of the combatants. And at the center top of the stadium two VIP seats were reserved for Death Battle’s proudest warriors; the Earth bound Saiyan and Kryptonian.
“Ohoho I can’t wait for the fight to start!” grabs a fistful of popcorn from the giant popcorn bucket in front of them
“Same here. Do you think your dad’s gonna win this?”
Chewing while talking “I don’t know. Nolan is pretty strong but my father is no slouch either.”
“What transformations does he have?”
“None actually, I was the first to ever go Super Saiyan in a long time.”
“Really? Well, you Saiyans are pretty powerful even without power ups. Perhaps Bardock doesn't need one.”
Meanwhile, all the way down near the front of the seats was someone who frowned at the news his super hearing was picking up. Bardock not having any transformations didn’t sit too well with a certain capped “hero” whose cape donned the design of the most influential country in the world. His blue eyes stared intensely at the screen all while his face made a pathetic attempt to hide his mix of excitement and anxiety. Homelander didn’t want to come back to see Omni-Man fight even if it was Death Battle’s return; not after they pitted him against him in a one-sided beatdown they didn’t even bother to sugar coat. But upon hearing that he was going to fight a Saiyan his interest was piqued at the idea of watching the Viltrumite have his grave be dug and covered in his blood by a warrior race with the power to destroy a planet in excess. And now his super hearing was picking up contradictory statements.
Vegeta: Bardock was a low-class Saiyan warrior. He doesn’t even have a transformation. So why did Death Battle think he was worth bringing to the arena?
Trunks: Maybe they saw something in him that we don’t.
Vegeta: Hmmph, a measly power level is nothing to take note of. (Author’s note: To my knowledge Vegeta has no idea Bardock’s power-level rivaled King Vegeta’s. He only knows him as a low-class Saiyan so he probably thinks his power-level is just as low as other low-class Saiyans) Still, it should be far greater than that of a Viltrumite.
Now that was music to Homelander’s ears. Not sitting too far from the Egomaniac was Lord Frieza. Who sat and waited in disinterest at the fight and only looked forward to Bardock’s beating. Silently hoping that Omni-Man had what it took to defeat the Saiyan.
The Colosseum had two entrances. One is situated behind the seats and splits into many halls that lead to the various entrances to said seats and the other on the opposite side behind the large screen that leads into the battle simulator. This entrance actually splits into two separate hallways. The procedure involved in entering this place is meticulously designed to ensure the two combatants have zero interaction with each other leading up to the battle simulator. The hallways are dark and the open door that leads into the fight is even darker. Nolan stood in front of his door, the darkness and mystery of his opponent’s capabilities stared back. While he had overheard some conversations about Bardock’s capabilities from the Saiyan Prince that all won’t matter once he steps through the door as all memory and information about his opponent will be erased once he’s inside. He takes a deep breath and floats into the fight.
[Now playing: Solid State Invincible]
The screen comes to life to show Thraxa, peacefully floating in space. Then, an Attack Ball streaks by and crash lands onto the planet’s surface. The crater made by the impact is littered with blood and bodies of Thraxans and the pod opens up to reveal Bardock, who proceeds to inspect his surroundings.
“Great. Another gross bug planet.”
He flies up to scan the area with his scouter and behind him Omni-Man flies in to deliver a welcoming punch. Bardock notices Omni-Man’s presence at the last second and barely dodges his fist. Having missed his attack Nolan swings around and clashes with Bardock. All of a sudden, an all too familiar word burst onto the screen.
FIGHT
The stadium erupts in cheers. Death Battle is back. The cheers were so loud it almost drowned out Omni-Man’s voice.
“This planet isn’t anyone’s to conquer.”
Omni-Man wins the clash and takes a quick trip around the planet to deliver a blow to Bardock’s chest. The Saiyan quickly recuperates and reciprocates with anger.
“Don’t underestimate me!”
With a hook, Bardock sends Omni-Man flying and charges up before pursuing him for some aerial combat. The two trade blows in the air until Bardock is able to blitz Omni-Man and send him back down to the ground. Omni-Man is far from bothered and continues to battle it out with Bardock while insulting his skills.
“Just like my son; sticking his nose in places he’s not ready for!”
He lands a blow on Bardock’s face, drawing blood from his nose and knocking his scouter off. Bardock simply wipes the blood away before charging up a KI blast.
“Heh. My sons would kick his ass!”
He flings the Ki ball at Omni-Man, who blocks the attack but is knocked back into a building. He flies out of the building unscathed and watches a flurry of Ki blasts fly at him. Omni-Man launches forward, dodging every blast but there’s too many and he struggles to close the distance. Hoping to cause a distraction he grabs Bardock’s Attack Pod and throws it at him. Bardock, not wanting to lose his only way home, catches his pod but leaves himself wide open to a devastating punch from Omni-Man. The punch not only destroyed the pod but sent Bardock into the ground, cratering it.
The combatants watched in anticipation as Omni-Man stood on top of Bardock’s body. For the past weeks, Vegeta and Goku were making it very clear that Bardock had no Super transformations and that Goku was the first Super Saiyan in a long time. So they were all wondering how Bardock was going to get out of this situation.
Omni-Man’s foot crushed the armour under it, causing Bardock to cough up blood.
“Whatever you are, you’re an embarrassment.”
Behind him, the clouds scatter to reveal the light of a full moon. At that moment, a key memory clicked inside of both Goku and Vegeta.
“Oh wait! I remember now!”
“No way! He still has his tail!”
Superman turned to Goku.
“What do you mean?”
“With his tail he can transform into the Oozaro!”
“Ooza-what?”
“Wait ‘til you see… the real power… of a Saiyan!”
Nobody needed to wait long for an answer. Bardock’s pupils went blood red before disappearing. His chest began to thump heavily and the sound of his heartbeat could be felt throughout the stadium. Then, his eyes began to turn orange.
Omni-Man quickly flies out of the crater as a giant fury hand reaches out and slams the ground. Omni-Man turns back and the screen turns with him to reveal the Oozaru transformation in all its glory. Various combatants were impressed by this unknown transformation. It had been so long since Goku and Vegeta had tails that they nearly forgot about this transformation. A few other combatants found the idea of a Saiyan transformation being a literal giant monkey to be amusing and immediately understood Frieza’s insults. Meanwhile, Omni-Man was far from impressed by the display.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?”
If he wasn’t the rest of the combatants watching definitely were. You don’t expect something so big to move so fast it can barely be registered by the eye. Yet here they were, watching Omni-Man get speedblitz by a kaiju. The Great Ape gave the Viltrumite no rest as he began a relentless combo after catching him with a Super Rebellion Cannon. Omni-Man gets his bearings back and begins searching for the Great Ape, only for it to appear behind him and sandwich him in its grasp. Omni-Man struggled but eventually he broke free, much to the Ape’s surprise, and knocked him back only to be knocked back as well by its tail. Recognising a weakness Omni-Man grabs the Oozaru’s tail with the purpose of throwing him into the sky. What he wasn’t expecting was for the tail to come loose before he could properly let go. Bardock was sent flying while Omni-Man stared at the decapitated limb before turning to where he launched Bardock. The only thing going through his mind was extreme confusion and disgust. Meanwhile, Bardock spiralled through the sky. He manages to come to a stop and realises he was no longer in his Great Ape form. Suddenly, the visage of his giant tail appears behind him in a swinging motion and upon seeing this most of the combatants burst into laughter. Even Vegeta couldn’t help but chuckle at how amusing the situation was. Bardock didn’t see the situation as amusing though.
“Shit.”
Clubbed out of orbit by his own tail, Omni-Man gave chase. Spearing Bardock with a punch to the face before grabbing his neck and flying to a nearby blue star. The bloodied Saiyan began to choke at the lack of air as Omni-Man simply waited for him to suffocate.
Back at the stadium Frieza watched with a small smile. I suppose suffocation is enough of an entertaining slow death he thought. Meanwhile, Homelander was fuming. No no no no no no no no not like this not like this come on you really don’t have any transformations?! . The rest of the combatants were at the edge of their seats. The music score was clearly not over but Bardock was already at his limit. Even Goku and Vegeta were unsure what was going to happen.
“No… my sons… need… me!”
Suddenly, the camera pans to Bardock’s eyes. They start to flicker. A familiar flicker. One that every Saiyan, and Frieza, immediately recognised alongside the glowing golden aura that began to emit from his hair.
Goku: “Wait a minute! Is he going…”
Vegeta: “Impossible!”
Frieza: “I don’t believe it!”
Trunks: “It’s happening! He’s-”
Broly: “Going Super.”
The combatants barely had time to register that information before Bardock’s body burst into a flame of golden energy. Omni-Man was knocked back from the release and shielded his eyes from the immense light.
“I won’t let you take me FROM MY WOOOOOORLD!!!”
A golden light streaks across the screen multiple times as Bardock blitzes Omni-Man. The Viltrumite, unable to react suffers multiple injuries in the short span of time, Bardock even finds the opportunity to land a kick on Omni-Man’s leg, snapping the bone inside. Now bloodied too, the Viltrumite notices Bardock behind him and tries to punch him, only for the Super Saiyan to effortlessly dodge his attack. The screen hangs onto this frame for a while, giving the audience a view of the full glory of Super Saiyan Bardock. Goku and Vegeta were speechless, the rest of the combatants were in awe, Frieza was left grumbling. Meanwhile, Homelander let out a celebratory shout. One so loud that it would’ve deafened the other combatants had Discord not intervene and create an invisible barrier around Homelander, where can shout and cheer to his heart’s content.
“FUCK YEAH! Kick his ass! Kick his ass! Fuck him up!”
Bardock unleashed a 3-hit combo on Omni-Man before firing a Full Power Energy Wave at him. Nolan recovers just in time to see the beam approaching him and at the last second catches it with his hands. He yells out in pain as his smart atoms adjust, allowing him to throw the attack away before charging at Bardock, who does the same. As the screen shows the two charging at each other the combatants began cheering for their preferred combatant to win. Of course, Goku and the other Dragon Ball fighters were rooting for Bardock but so was Superman, Thor, Naruto, Ichigo, the Paladins and of course Homelander. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime, Kratos, Sonic, Bowser, the Rangers and of course Frieza were rooting for Nolan.
The two warriors clash fists again, the screen shakes from the impact, Bardock grabs Nolan’s shoulders and delivers a headbutt to the face which Nolan reciprocates. The back and forth headbutting goes on for a while as blood begins to spill into the vastness of space. One last headbutt clash sends both flying away before they begin to charge at each other again, with Bardock’s back facing the blue sun. As they charge Nolan lets out a battle cry.
“YOUR TIME IS UP... SAIYAAAAANNN!!!”
The two clash fists one last time and the shockwave sends ripples throughout the arena. The camera closes in on the two fists struggling before Bardock’s begins to give way. In a split second, Nolan’s fist punches straight through the Super Saiyan’s arm, cleaving it open and blasting it off Bardock’s body. The punch was so strong it even carved a hole through Bardock’s right chest. The Saiyan yells in pain as half his upper body is blown away and he is knocked out of Super Saiyan.
The music begins to go silent and the crowd watches in disbelief. Bardock, knowing he’s been defeated, gives Omni-Man a warning before his body falls into the sun.
“(coughs) You said... "Saiyan"... remember it…”
As Bardock falls into the sun the screen pans to Nolan, bloodied and broken after killing another family man like himself. He was tired and it took every fiber in his being to not fall into the star with Bardock. Lost for words, he can only utter one in a state of confliction.
“...Fuck…”
The screen goes black and two familiar letters burst onto the screen.
KO
[Music stops]
As the letters began to disappear from the screen the arena was filled with thunderous applause. When the letters disappeared they were replaced with a victory card of Nolan. The applause died down and was replaced with conversation. The combatants found the fight to be exhilarating and began sharing their thoughts on it with each other, even for those whose preferred one didn’t win they still found the fight to be entertaining. Discord still kept the barrier around Homelander as he began unleashing a tantrum. Frieza let out a sigh from the unexpected adrenaline rush he experienced from watching the fight. Back at the top, Goku and Superman were discussing the fight amongst themselves.
“That was awesome! I’m a little sad that my father lost but that was so cool that I can’t help but say I enjoyed it.”
“Same here. I wasn’t expecting Nolan to pull through at the end and I wasn’t expecting your father to pull off Super Saiyan either.”
“Yeah! That surprised me too. I guess if Frieza gave him a bit more time he would’ve achieved Super Saiyan and saved our planet.”
Below the screen two doors began to materialise and Bardock and Nolan walked out of them. Bardock looked at stadium seats with awe at how many fighters there were. He was taken aback even more when he looked up and saw Galactus and Unicron staring down at him, one with a look of amusement and another a look of disinterest. Nolan snapped him out of his gawking.
“You ok?”
Bardock turned to him and scratched the back of his head.
“Yeah, just a lot to take in. How close was I to killing you?”
“Pretty close, you put up a good fight.”
“Heh, when do we get to do this again?”
“Hmm, not now. Maybe some other time.”
Before Bardock could respond he was caught off guard by his son materialising in front of him with Instant Transmission.
“Dad! It’s so good to see you here!”
“Son! You’re here too?”
It didn’t take him long to snap out of his amazement at seeing his son all grown up.
“Are you ok! You’re all grown up! How are you? What is this place? Who did you fight?”
“Hehe, it’s a long story. Come with me, I’ll explain everything.”
The two walked by Superman, who flew down to talk to Nolan.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m feeling fine thank you.”
The two continued to talk as they made their way to the other combatants.
“Just fine? I would’ve thought you’d feel better after being put up against a more worthy foe.”
“I guess. I just didn’t think my emotions would get so strong back there.”
Superman places a hand on Nolan’s shoulder.
“Happens to the best of us. Emotions are what drive us and so they’re the ones that push us beyond our limits. To reach for victory. I’m sure every combatant here felt that emotional drive when fighting in their Death Battles. It may be a bit embarrassing at first to have it be televised but no moment is more honourable to witness than watching someone give it their all for the people they love and the ideals they stand for.”
Nolan stopped walking and turned to look at Superman before smiling.
“Thanks Superman.”
The screen began to glow again, causing the two caped fighters to turn around. The rest of the combatants began clapping and cheering again as the next announcement was about to start.
“What’s going on?”
Bardock asked.
“They’re about to announce the next fight!”
Boomstick’s voice emitted from the screen’s speakers, announcing the next fight.
“Next time on Death Battle.”
The screen quickly showed various scenes from two different medias back to back. Small hints on the serieses that these combatants were from. Finally, a black screen was pulled away to reveal it to be a part of the leader of the Phantom Thieves and rainbow colours streaked across the screen to reveal the golden hair leader of Passione and his equally golden Stand. A flash of light then revealed four silhouettes standing opposite of each other before giant text came on to reveal the names of the next combatants.
Joker from Persona vs Giorno from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
The crowd gave a positive reception. It had been a while since another Persona character got on the show and Jojo had enough variety in their stand abilities that even the most stingy combatants couldn’t help but look forward to the fight.
Joker (DC): Hey! Why was I never told I was going to fight again?
Mitsuru: Finally, another Persona user.
Jonathan: Another one from our world! I don’t recognise him though.
Jotaro: You’ve got to be kidding me.
Dio: What’s the matter, Jotaro? Is it someone you don’t like?
Jotaro: That’s not the problem Dio. Don’t you know? That’s your son.