Here’s where things are going to get interesting.
To recap last time: Trunks fled back to the past to keep the time machine away from Goku Black, who wants it for some unknown reason. While he was gone, gathering Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan to help him fight, Black killed a Supreme Kai of another universe, preventing a God of Destruction from appearing to stop him. Now, after being given a mysterious capsule by Bulma, Trunks heads back to the future with his new allies to face Black.
When the gang first arrives, we get a full view of how bad the situation is. There are less than one hundred humans left (including Yajirobe, because of course that guy would survive and that’s hilarious), over half of which are beleaguered soldiers. Here, we discover an injured Future Mai, whom Trunks rushes to heal, just as he did in the original anime.
Only in our version, Goku will know what the fuck a kiss is. Because the dude has two kids, there is no way in hell he hasn’t kissed his fucking wife before. Who the fuck wrote that line?!
*Ahem* Anyways, once our heroes have gotten a grasp of how bad things are, Goku Black appears. He’s had time enough to heal from his battle with the Supreme Kai we saw last time and now he’s more confident than ever. When he spots Goku, however, that confidence waivers ever so slightly. Then he grins and whispers, “Perhaps I could make use of you, as well.”
Oddly, Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan all feel an odd sense of faint familiarity when looking at Black. All three remark that his Ki feels familiar, but they can’t quite place where. Yet they’re all fairly certain that they’ve all been near this person before, quite recently.
They don’t have time to think on that. Black is eager to take the time machine, as well as to fight and further escalate his abilities. He goes Super Saiyan immediately and asks whether Goku or Vegeta would face him first, completely ignoring Trunks and Gohan.
Of course, Vegeta is first up to plate. He goes Super Saiyan and spits some cocky line about not having to go all-out against such an amateur. To his surprise (and not to ours), Black manages to keep up with him. In fact, he is growing at an unnaturally quick pace and quickly begins to push back on the prince.
This is until Vegeta decides to stop playing around and goes Blue. Once he does so, Black is practically powerless. More than anything, he’s amazed. He rapidly tries to figure out exactly what had happened and what Vegeta did.
Just as Vegeta is about to deal the killing blow, Black begins to laugh. He’s figured out Vegeta’s transformation, and says, “You’ve combined Divine Ki with your own mortal Ki. How clever. How vile.” Or something to that effect. Then, standing and cackling, he says, “Should be easy enough to do.”
Now it’s Vegeta’s turn to laugh. He explains that his training in acquiring the Divine Ki was a long and difficult process. One that filth like Black will not be able to replicate. Certainly not within the limited time he has before Vegeta kills him.
That’s when Black erupts in dark pink light. Grinning and laughing, filled with power, Black achieves his own unique form: Super Saiyan Rose. With this form, he not only closes the gap between Vegeta and himself, but he even surpasses the prince.
Seeing this, Gohan’s mind races. While Vegeta is getting his shit kicked in, he’s putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Their opponent had familiar feeling Ki from some recent event and already knew how to use Divine Ki, a feat that took Vegeta a ton of hard training. Not all of the pieces are there, but he’s starting to figure it out.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much time to do so. Black quickly defeats Vegeta and moves on to Goku. Seeing his rival go down like that, Goku immediately goes Red and fights with all he’s got. But even that’s not enough, and Black is soon victorious over our hero.
Afterwards, Gohan and Trunks tag-team to fight Black (because I’m not above a little bit of fanservice, especially when it comes to Future Trunks and Gohan). As strong and clever as these two are, though, they’re still not nearly powerful enough to stand up to Black. Although at this point, Black’s injuries are starting to get to him, and he hasn’t mastered Rose yet. By the time the final two Saiyans are defeated, Black is left exhausted and drops his transformation.
Even still, he’s grinning and laughing in victory. He picks Trunks’ pockets, stealing the Time Machine capsule. Then he throws the unconscious Goku over his shoulder, hops in the time machine, and vanishes to who knows where and who knows when.
So… things are bad. Black has the time machine and kidnapped Goku for some reason and all of our other heroes are down for the count. Luckily, everyone’s favorite Bean-Daddy Yajirobe is there with the Senzu bean supply! He gets everyone back onto their feet and explains all that they missed.
Naturally, the three aren’t too happy about it. Vegeta is frustrated by his own uselessness and at being so quickly surpassed, Trunks feels guilty over dragging everyone into it, and Gohan is racked with worry about his father. On top of it all, they’re stranded in the future with no escape, as well as with no idea where Black is or what he’s planning.
That’s when Trunks remembers the capsule Bulma gave him. Popping it open, he’s shocked to discover… the other Time Machine! Turns out, Bulma had repaired the one that Cell had used all those years ago in case of emergency. Now the gang has a way back home, as well as to pursue Black.
Although they still don’t know where he is. Luckily, Gohan has an idea on that. They head back to the present. As soon as they get back, the three scatter. Vegeta heads to the Time Chamber for some extra training, Trunks starts to look for any sign of the second time machine in case Black pulled a Cell, and Gohan goes off to talk to Supreme Kai to follow his lead on Black’s identity. Whis and Beerus (who were just hanging out on Earth, as they’re want to do), tag along with him.
While Trunks searches, knowing full well it may be in vain, he’s surprised to be joined by the main timeline’s kid Trunks and Goten. Kid Trunks, having actually been raised by Vegeta, is much more stubborn and proud than Future Trunks, so he displays contempt at F. Trunks’ anxiety and frustration, and Goten tries (and fails) to reign him in. Seeing this childish display of both determination and innocence, F. Trunks finds himself being reinvigorated.
Meanwhile, Gohan reunites with Supreme Kai. He explains the situation and asks for some advice. Here, he reveals that he’s figured out: Black is actually a Supreme Kai, given his clothes and his ability to use Divine Ki. Not only that, but they had met this Kai in the Universe 6 tournament. With all their heads together, they come up with a suspect. One that Whis would be more than happy to transport them to see.
Hard cut to Universe 10. Zamasu is meditating, reflecting on the powerful mortals he saw in the Universe 6 tournament. Slowly, what was supposed to be a peaceful moment of reflection turns dark as the god’s fury expands.
Fury turns to shock as a flash of light illuminates the area. Appearing from this blinding haze is the time machine. From within emerges Black, with the unconscious Goku slung over his shoulder. Smiling, he looks down upon Zamasu and tells him that it’s time to fulfill his ambition.
That’s where we’ll leave off for now. Black and Zamasu have met for the first time (unlike in the original, where they already knew each other), Goku has been kidnapped for mysterious purposes, and our other heroes are closing in on Black’s true identity. We’ll explore how this conflict further develops next week in Act 3 of the arc.
Let’s see if I can come up with a good ending for this one…
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