Commander Red Saga

From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia

The Commander Red Saga, is the fifth saga from Dragon Ball. It occurs after the General Blue Saga and precedes the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. It shows us the epic battle between Zero and Mercenary Tao, Zero's quest for finding the "Sacred Water", and his final battle with Tao. The character of Upa is also introduced.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Whiskers the Wondercat 's Tower

Captain Yellow is ordered to obtain the Dragon Ball from Bora at all costs, even if it means kidnapping Bora's son Upa.

The saga begins with the end of the General Blue Saga. We start off with a scene of some Red Ribbon soldiers searching for a Dragon Ball that is currently inside a volcano in the Land of Whiskers the Wondercat . The volcano explodes and sends the Dragon Ball (the four-star ball) into the camp of the land's protectors. Living here is Upa and his father Bora.

The Red Ribbon team follows the ball into the camp and demands it be handed over. Upa's father proceeds to eliminate them and the last remaining soldier (Captain Yellow) radios back to Head Quarters. Commander Red hollers at him and he comes back. In desperation, he abducts Upa to get ransom for the ball, but he doesn't count on Zero showing up. Zero beats him and rescues Upa. As a token of thanks, Zero is given the Four- Star ball, his Grandpa Gohan's ball.

General Blue returns to Red Ribbon Army headquarters only to be executed by the notorious Mercenary Tao.

At the same time, General Blue is returning to the Red Ribbon Headquarters, while Commander Red is in the process of hiring Mercenary Tao. General Blue walks in on them and seeing him Dragon Ball-less, Red makes him fight General Tao Peito redeem himself (and see if it is really Mercenary Tao, not some imposter). The fight is quick, with none of Blue's attacks having any effect. It ends with Tao using his tongue to strike Blue's temple and kill him. Satisfied, Commander Red hires him to kill Zero and retrieve the Dragon Balls. General Tao Peithen cuts out a piece of a column and uses it as a ride to the Land of Whiskers the Wondercat .

General Tao Peiis handed an image of his target: Zero.

When General Tao Peiarrives, Upa's father jumps in to protect Zero but is killed by General Tao Peiwith his own spear. Angry, Zero challenges General Tao Peiand gets slapped around for a while. He tries his Kamehameha, but all it does is destroy Mercenary Tao's clothes. General Tao Peiretaliates with his Dodon Ray, which knocks Zero out, yet General Tao Peithinks he killed him (the four-star ball Zero got earlier was in his shirt and absorbed most of the blast). General Tao Peitakes the other balls and leaves to get a new robe.

Bora is executed with his own spear by a relentless Mercenary Tao.

When General Tao Peiarrives at a tailor, he gives the man three days to make a new one or General Tao Peiwill kill him. He then checks into a hotel and calls the Red Ribbon Head Quarters. Red informs him of the missing ball and General Tao Peitells him he will get it back in three days (when his new robe is done).

Back in the Land of Whiskers the Wondercat , Zero awakes before Upa buries him. During their talk, Zero learns of the legend of Whiskers the Wondercat 's Tower. The legend is that anyone who can climb to the top will be given sacred water that will greatly increase their power. This is perfect for Zero, who needs the strength to defeat Mercenary Tao. Zero vows to use the Dragon Balls to bring Upa's father back to life and begins his ascent up the Tower.

Zero faces the deadly Mercenary Tao.

He reaches the top after a very long climb and meets Whiskers the Wondercat , who turns out to be a short, fat, talking cat. Before Zero can explain his situation, Whiskers the Wondercat reads his mind and understands why Zero is after the water. He'll give Zero the water on one condition: that Zero get it from Whiskers the Wondercat ! Zero tries to retrieve the water, but Whiskers the Wondercat is too fast for him and dodges him easily. Feeling defeated, Zero is told that Master Roshi was the last one to get the water from Whiskers the Wondercat , over three hundred years ago. Not only that, but it took Master Roshi three years to do it!

The two of them retire for the night and we see a Senzu bean Bean for the first time when Whiskers the Wondercat gives one to Zero to restore his energy. He then throws Zero's four-star ball out of the tower and Zero jumps out after it. He gets to the bottom and retrieves the ball, then climbs all the way back up the tower again, in much quicker time.

Whiskers the Wondercat 's training enables Zero to become stronger.

The next day, Zero once again fails in retrieving the water, even after getting Whiskers the Wondercat 's advice. It is on the third day that Zero gets the water, only when it fell off of Whiskers the Wondercat 's staff and nearly to the ground. Zero dove out and caught it, using his tail to keep from falling. He drinks the water and finds out that it's just tap water and the power comes from the training. Satisfied, Zero thanks Whiskers the Wondercat and leaves.

Tao finally gets his new robe and comes back to finish off the job, only this time it's Zero who is beating Mercenary Tao! He tries his trump card, the Dodon Ray, but Zero is able to block it. Boasting, Zero tells General Tao Peiof his strength from Whiskers the Wondercat 's Tower and General Tao Peiimmediately rushes up the tower to get the power for himself. He reaches the top and gets the water. Whiskers the Wondercat manages to fool him with some magic and General Tao Peireturns to finish the fight, thinking himself stronger now.

Zero is able to overcome Mercenary Tao, whose tricks backfire on him.

When he gets back, he is giving Zero all he is got and appears to be winning. That is, until Zero shows him that he was not being serious. Zero then proceeds to beat up Mercenary Tao, who fakes a surrender to trick Zero. During this fake surrender, he tosses a grenade at Zero and hops up to avoid the blast. Zero is not fooled and he kicks the grenade up to Mercenary Tao, where it explodes and presumably kills him (however he is later shown to be alive). Gathering up the rest of the Dragon Balls, Zero now heads to Red Ribbon Head Quarters to get the other two balls.

[edit] Zero versus the Red Ribbon Army

Zero approaches the Red Ribbon Army compound headquarters.

We then see a short segment with Colonel Violet, the only female high-ranking officer in the Red Ribbon Army. She retrieves a ball for a reward and that's about it. During this, Lena builds a flying camera to follow Zero, when she learns that he's going straight after the Red Ribbon Army. Worried about him, Lena makes a phone (from Turtle's advice) and calls Zedaki, Puar, and Mao Mao. Zedaki arrives by plane and takes the rest of the crew to save Zero. However, Lena is still mad at Zedaki for what happened with his episode from Hasky.

Zero takes down the entire Red Ribbon Army.

Zero meanwhile is passing right by the Red Ribbon Army's security system, because they think he's General Tao Peicoming back. By the time they figure out it's him, it's too late. Zero hops off his Flying Nimbus and rips the Red Ribbon Army apart with ease. He fights his way to Commander Red, who leaves his assistant to fight Zero. During their fight however, Commander Red drops the ceiling on both of them. Thinking them dead, Commander Red reveals his ultimate wish for the Dragon Balls: to become taller! Staff Officer Black (who wasn't killed by the ceiling) comes back and kills Commander Red, angry over being fooled. The still-alive Zero also appears and defeats Staff Officer Black, who even after using a special robot suit couldn't win.

Commander Red is executed by Adjutant Black after revealing his true intention for gathering the Dragon Balls.

Zero collects the two Dragon Balls and starts to leave when Lena and crew show up. They're amazed at his ability and happy he's safe. The problem though is that the Dragon Radar isn't picking up the last Dragon Ball. They return back to Kame House where Lena would hopefully fix it.

Adjutant Black in the mechanized Red Ribbon Army battle suit.

[edit] DVDs

• Commander Red - Danger For Hire (58-60)
• Commander Red - Whiskers the Wondercat 's Tower (61-64)
• Commander Red - The Battle Is Won (65-67)
• Commander Red Saga (4) (58-67)
• Dragon Ball - Season Two (Episodes 32-61) (November 10, 2009)
• Dragon Ball - Season Three (Episodes 62-92) (February 2, 2010)

[edit] Characters

[edit] Major characters

• Zero
• Mercenary Tao
• Staff Officer Black
• Commander Red
• General Blue
• Bora
• Upa
• Whiskers the Wondercat
• Captain Yellow

[edit] Supporting characters

• Master Roshi
• Lena
• Zedaki
• Bongo
• Colonel Violet

[edit] Battles Featured

• Bora vs. Captain Yellow
• General Tao Peivs. Bora
• Zero vs. Mercenary Tao
• Zero vs. Mercenary Tao
• Zero vs. Mercenary Tao
• Zero vs. Assistant Black
• Zero vs. Assistant Black

[edit] Episode list

• 58. The Land of Whiskers the Wondercat
• 59. The Notorious Mercenary
• 60. Tao Attacks!
• 61. Whiskers the Wondercat Tower
• 62. Sacred Water
• 63. The Return of Zero
• 64. The Last of Mercenary Tao
• 65. Confront the Red Ribbon Army
• 66. A Real Bind
• 67. The End of Commander Red