Part 38: The Mysterious Cave!! An Old Foe Emerges!!

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to Attack of the Saiyans! Last time, we trekked through the Desert and collected a Dragon Ball, but only after destroying a giant bird's eggs and then kicking the ass of said giant bird. Today, we're going to head to the Mysterious Cave and see what we can find there, so let's head out.



Alrighty, this is our location for the day. And the last of our locations for Dragon Ball hunting.





Well, shit. Who can hold their breath the longest?



I would not be surprised in the slightest if Goku could hold his breath for ten minutes. Might even explain a thing or two.



This is also a location from Dragon Ball, another Red Ribbon holdout.



I've gotta start looking at the next shot before I explain things. It would save me some time.



But how the hell are we supposed to--



At least we know someone--



Ugh. Fine. Just go ahead and do this next bit without me.













Alright, maybe I can get a word in here. Or else I've learned to look ahead before speaking.



Well, it's an issue that you're just about the only person we can turn to for.





Yeah. We kind of need them. Did you not notice Goku's halo?



Hey, wait a second, did anyone tell Briefs that Goku is dead?



I don't think anyone did.



You think Bulma would have mentioned that in the last six months. Then again, that might be a hard subject to bring up apropos of nothing.



Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure the good Doctor showed up only a little in Dragon Ball itself. He got a lot more screen time in Dragon Ball Z.



He spent a lot of time thinking that Goku was Bulma's boyfriend, despite him being a child. He also repaired some cop's motor scooter.



His love of porn is similar to that of Master Roshi's. Dr. Briefs has the hobby of collecting dirty magazines, despite running the biggest company on the planet and quite possibly being the richest person alive.





Oh, hey, there's a submarine for us. Neat.



I honestly don't know why we had to come here and do this, but hey, we get to see more of Dr. Briefs, which is never a bad thing.



And with that, let's run back to the Cave.



Don't look at me like that; you just saw where it is, you haven't forgotten.



Well, doing that got us this sweet animation of the sub, so I guess it was worth it.



So, one thing I've forgotten to do until this point is show off the Dragon Radar in action.



Using it layers the screen of the Radar over our screen and has a trail pointing out where the Dragon Ball is.

How exciting.





Surprisingly, there are Pirates in the Pirate Cave.



These guys have 780 HP, so this is most of what is needed to take them down.



Their female counterparts have only 700 HP, and attack like the lady bandits from the Desert.



On a sidenote, Gohan is dealing roughly the same amount of damage Piccolo does with a physical.



Oh, yes, he will hit Level 35 here.



Alright, there's a hatch. Let's pop in--







Okay, just going to step away from that. It's a damage floor around there, so I'll keep away. Even with the Rubber Boots, there's not much reason to go wandering around there.





Oh-ho, these sons of bitches aren't going to know what hit them.





450 HP on these guys, just so you know.









Let's go get that treasure chest. There's something good in there.





...Well, lookit that.



With 2,600 HP, they have some staying power, but if you've come here last, like we did here, ain't nothin' in here gonna be shit.



I didn't encounter any more of these guys, and this is the only attack he got off. Poor bastard.





Hey, alright, another Fruit. Now who the hell do I give it to...







Here's another attack item. Maybe I'll get around to showing those off at some point.





The Man-Fish is a stronger version of what we encountered in the Hermit's Cave.



And with 680 HP, they won't last too long. A knee in the crotch does wonders.



Yeah, these guys lasted long enough to get off some attacks, so I can talk about them a little bit.



This does a bit of damage, and can also Freeze whoever it hits.



They also have this sweet slide kick, which still looks cool, no matter what. Especially the fire one.



Oh, shit, ya'all, look at Gohan.



So, yes, this is what happens to him at Level 35. In the previous levels, he had only gained +1 to each stat. From here on out? +3 Power, +1 Recovery, and +2 everything else. And with the two bonus points, Gohan is getting +4 Power and +3 Skill every level. And each character has their stat gains change when they hit a certain level. Let's do a quick runthrough of it all:

Goku: For levels 1-19, he gains +2 Power and Defense, and +1 to everything else. After that, he'll start gaining +2 to Speed and Skill.

Piccolo: For levels 1-29, he'll gain +2 Skill. After that, he'll start gaining +2 to everything, except for Luck.

Tien: From level 1-24, he'll gain +2 Skill, and then he'll start also getting +2 Power and Defense.

Krillin: For levels 1-29, he'll gain +2 Speed. But after that, he'll only gain +1 Speed, but will start gaining +2 Power, Defense and Luck.

Yamcha: Like Gohan, his stat boost doesn't come until level 35. Until then, he only gains +2 Speed. After that, he'll start gaining +2 Power, Defense, and Skill, and +3 to Speed.



Jesus Christ, that was a lot of words, but hey, now I've got the informative part of this LP going again.



Hey, the Pirate Robot. Goku and Krillin fought this thing way back when, and it was a bad motherfucker. It was blasted with a cannon and blown the hell up with little inconvenience to it.



Okay, let's--





Well, shit, looks like we have a miniboss on our hands.



He has 4,000 HP.





Or had 4,000 HP. He's down to 616 at the moment.



And this is all he got to do. I feel kind of bad, since he's a pirate robot that kind of looks like a Xenomorph, and I just punked him.



That's the issue I have when an RPG opens you to the world to tackle an objective in the order you'd like to; some areas are designed to be visited earlier than others, despite you having the choice to go where you'd like.



For instance, take this area and the Desert. The Desert seems like it's supposed to be visited first, considering the weaker enemies and the general shortness of it, while this place isn't bad to come second or third; Muscle Tower isn't a bad place to start, either, like we did. The Devil's Toilet and Yunzabit Heights, however, are good to leave until later; Devil's Toilet is pretty long to get through and has two bosses to face (thankfully, you can hit the save point in the beginning when you finish one side), and the Yunzabit Heights aren't too long, but they feature some powerful enemies and the boss fight is a massive slog (it's the one I didn't post because it was eleven and a half minutes long), unless you're around the levels I am now.



Granted, I like how it's set up, but it's still kind of annoying to think you can do this area, but you should be over in that area. It's like they wanted to give you some freedom, but then they're still guiding you along by nearly level-locking some areas. Some games are worse about it than others, and this game does it pretty well.





Hey, lookit that, we can see the boss from here.



Not that we're going to get over there for a bit, but it's good to know we're going to have to kick an octopus' ass at some point.



Not by going through there, though. We'll have to fix another short-circuit to do it; the one we fixed before fixed the other electrified hatch.





Ooh! A button!



...Goddammit.





The Rubber Boots are nice to have here, but it's kind of a dick move for you to be able to get here without them. Especially since that damage floor will wreck your shit if you cross it without being able to mitigate it.





So, this isn't actually the Pirate Robot.



Just the other big enemy of the area.



Like most of the other fights in here, this screenshot sums it up pretty well.



Alright, let's get this over, Pirate Robot's Pirate Robot Brother.







Man, those two work together so well.



Anywho, we fix the other short-circuit, so we can crack open that one hatch.





This fight doesn't contain a new enemy, but it does contain something I've never seen before.



I'd never seen this before, and this shit is awesome.





The stairs bring us back to this room, but I'm going to investigate the other hatch first.



Well, I'm going to get some more treasure, but it's kind of along the way.



This adds +20% Accuracy to whoever has it equipped. At this point, whoever would need it would just get the Targeting Ring.





This area down here is just a treasure room, and you don't need to enter it at any point.





This raises Attack by 15%. I combine it with the Fighter's Emblem and give them to Goku for a +25% boost to his Attack.



These make you move faster on the world map, but increase your chance of being hit with a sneak-attack. I leave them unequipped for now.



Also, the wall right next to the electrified path can be destroyed.



As can this wall; if you don't have the Rubber Boots, you can avoid the electrified floors to get the Swift Boots, and not get your ass shocked to Kingdom Come.



Why, yes, this is a graveyard.



And, why yes, we're going to blow up the graves.





The one we're looking to destroy is this one right here.



This is a battle item that can be used repeatedly, which restores a bit of HP to the party. Neato.



Let's skip back here and get this hatch open and go fight the boss.





Honestly, I can't really picture Piccolo chilling on a beach chair. I can see him with the umbrella drink, but not under an umbrella.





Hmm. Looks like we're finally face to face with Ultros' discolored cousin.





Which is true. Goku had encountered this guy before.



Well, Goku had fried you with a Kamehameha and eaten you before.



Said you tasted like chicken, in fact.



Though, he'd mistaken you for a spider that time.





You were also dark blue at that time. 'course, you turned this pink color after Goku fried you.



Yeah, that is enough talking about this.



Well, let's go kick his ass and take it. Goku chumped him when he was just a kid, so it shouldn't be too much harder now.





It isn't much harder, if you were wondering.



Ultros, this ain't.





So, this fight isn't too hard, overall. He's got one really nasty attack, but aside from that, he's not a bad boss to start this hunt with.



He also has only 10,000 HP.



And Ultimates and S-Combos will just tear right through that number.



I don't know if he's coded to start the fight this way, but I've seen him start pretty much every fight with this attack.



He sprays ink on your party, which does no damage.



But it has a pretty good chance of inflicting Blind.







But we have a better chance of inflicting the Ass-Kicked status effect.



This is the attack I mentioned earlier.



He begins to inhale, which doesn't sound too bad.



Do you see those pink numbers? White numbers are damage inflicted to health.

Pink numbers are damage inflicted to your Ki points; this son of a bitch can drain your Ki and I've not found a way to mitigate the amount drained, even with a Guard. And Ki attacks are the best way to inflict tons of damage in a short amount of time.





Octopapa (oh, yeah, that's his name) here can also slap the shit out of you for meh damage.



So, Piccolo has himself a second Ultimate attack!



Which he hadn't used until the Android Saga, like the Light Grenade.



In this attack, he boots an opponent into the sky and begins firing tons of Ki blasts around them.



None of them are meant to hit the opponent; they're meant to surround them, which leads to the big finale.



Where Piccolo, using his incredible Ki control, then takes all of the Ki balls and smashes them into the opponent. This 1,200 damage is just the first level.



I was wrong with my previous assessment of Piccolo; he's a good character, but I still don't like the single-hit property of his regular Ki blasts. But with the Targeting Ring, those woes are facets of yesterday.







I get it; you were just trying to intimidate us. Happens to us all.



And nobody else is going to acknowledge Octopapa again. He's...Just kind of there. Good for him.



It seems pretty abandoned, though. Guess some remnants and squatters found their way here.



Even if they are, we'll make our own crazy plans, and they'll out-crazy the RR Army's plans, which means they'll be dead, and then it doesn't matter how crazy their plans were.



Alright, let's get the hell out of here.



Oh, yeah, there is one more Dragon Ball. I'm sure most of you realized that, since we only visited five locations and already had the Four-Star Ball, but the first time I played, I practically slapped my forehead when I realized I had one more to find.



Especially considering we found six of the seven in less than 24 hours and have had to fight our way through all those locations.



Well, I'll agree that Gohan was instrumental in finding most of them, as he was around all the damned time, but you weren't around that much, Piccolo.



Thinking about it, Tien didn't do shit. Goddammit, Tien.



Eh?



Has everyone read this LP? Because you all really should.



: But before I do, I gotta stop by the Kame House!

Why the hell--



Oh, yeah, Roshi. He probably is wondering how things are going.





You know who would have been more interesting temporary party members than Gregory? Either Master Roshi or Fortuneteller Baba.



Yeah, and we won't have our OP party member with us.





Yeah, me too. I like having someone around who can punch holes through souls.



Eh, he'll be back in time for that.



Well, maybe. I don't know. Nobody seems to really know how powerful King Kai is.



Oh, Gohan, give it up. Just go connect with your other dad.



: I'll still ignore you when I get back!





The next time Gohan returns home, he finds the latest issue of Neglected Child Monthly.



Chi-Chi got him the subscription while he was gone.









And just like that, those two are gone. Goku is now out of the party voting!



We don't have a whole lot else to do.





Aww, crap. Why can't this be easy?





Hey, alright. This is going to be even easier than the last two.





Roshi is asking the important questions, while Yamcha is still trying to catch up.





Well, this doesn't look good.





Well, son of a bitch, it's those three.



...Yeah, right. Get the hell out of here.



Why aren't you kicking his ass, Krillin? Yamcha? Gohan? Tien? Nobody wants to step up and punt these sons of bitches into the ocean?



I don't think we had to do all that much, really.



...Uh-huh...



D-Did he just take our Dragon Balls?



Oh, my God, he did. What the hell, guys!?



Did we just leave the fucking Dragon Balls outside?





Not even some sort of token explanation for how they took the Dragon Balls, either. They...Just kind of have them now.





:uggh:



And just like that, they walk out. Nobody tries to stop them. Nobody even fuckin' moves.



I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU



WHY DIDN'T YOU GO AFTER THEM WHEN THEY FIRST SHOWED UP





Alright, folks, update's over. My blood pressure has spiked.

To help relax me, and since Gohan isn't leaving the team again, BOLD a vote for the two people who join him in storming Pilaf's Castle.

Have your vote in by Thursday, 8:00 PM, EST, and we'll go from there!