Shadow Dragon Saga

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The fourth and final chapter of Dragon Ball GT not only ends the series, but also brings a conclusion to everything in the Dragon Ball series. The Shadow Dragon Saga, which spans episodes 48 to 64, is the final decisive battle for Earth and brings the series full-circle after 510 episodes (because of the two 1993 OVA episodes), detailing the lengthy saga of Goku and his friends.

This saga aired in Japan in 1997. This is part of US Season Two.

Synopsis

Following the defeat of Super 17, the Earth is on the verge of collapse. The interdimensional rift that let loose an onslaught of past foes from Hell, in combination with the damage they caused before the heavenly order was restored -- along with the massive clash between Super 17 and the Super Saiyans -- has upset the natural balance of the planet and brought forth an unholy chaos of earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions and other phenomena, threatening the lives of everyone on earth.

As a last resort, Goku and his friends immediately round up the Dragon Balls to revive Krillin and wish things normal again. A swift hunt for the Dragon Balls proves to be the only blessing to be had, however; each of the seven spheres has become inexplicably cracked since the last wish, leaving serious doubts as to whether or not they should be used. Left with no choice, Goku calls for the Eternal Dragon Shenron, and the sky becomes thick with an odd red darkness.

An insidious black smoke issues forth from the Dragon Balls, and from it emerges a dragon that is anything but Shenron. Elder Kai and Kibito Kai urgently explain to a stunned Goku that an overuse of the Dragon Balls over so many years has caused a build-up of negative energy to accumulate within them and disrupt their balance. (Prior to the invention of the Dragon Radar, the Dragon Balls would often go unused for centuries at a time, allowing the negative energy to disperse harmlessly.) The stress of using the Dragon Balls yet again has caused the negative energy to at last erupt all at once and coalesce into a dragon of darkness who cares nothing for granting wishes; instead, he ingests the Dragon Balls and, in a swirling storm of wind and smoke, divides their incredible power and splits off into seven separate entities. These Shadow Dragons, each in possession of a Dragon Ball, promptly scatter across the earth and cause a haze of minus energy to envelop the atmosphere, leaving Goku and the others to ponder over what they should do.

Feeling responsible for the exploitation of the Dragon Balls over the years (everybody else blames Bulma, including the Elder Kai, for creating the dragon radar), Goku resolves to chase down each of the dragons and recover the mystical orbs, thus restoring Shenron to his rightful place. Pan comes along against Goku's better judgment, and with Giru's help they are able to track down Haze Shenron, Rage Shenron, Oceanus Shenron, and Naturon Shenron and defeat them fairly easily in a set of mostly comedic confrontations. However, the situation becomes far more serious with the arrival of Nuova Shenron, who represents the Four-Star ball. Goku is forced to transform into Super Saiyan 4, and an intense battle ensues.

Eis Shenron proves to be deceitful and treacherous.

Goku and Nuova Shenron thoroughly enjoy their battle, but before a winner is decided, Eis Shenron soon arrives and demands that Nuova Shenron team up with him to obliterate Goku. Nuova Shenron refuses on the grounds that there is no honor in such ruthless combat, and a dismayed Eis Shenron takes matters into his own hands as he beats down his brother and fights Goku one-on-one. Eis Shenron battles Goku and soon freezes Goku. Goku is defeated but when Eis Shenron tells Nova to finish Goku off, Nova unfreezes Goku instead and Goku is back in the fight. Goku has a decisive advantage over the Three-Star dragon, who soon begs for his life, but then just as quickly preys on the Saiyan's trust as he unleashes a last attack that succeeds in blinding him completely.

Eis Shenron is executed by an enraged Goku.

Enraged, Goku wreaks havoc on Eis Shenron and utterly destroys him with the Dragon Fist technique to recover the Three-Star ball. Nuova Shenron finds little honor in attacking a disadvantaged opponent and withholds his attack on Goku but is instantly killed with the arrival of (Syn Shenron), who immediately engages Goku in battle. Blind, weary, and his power nearly exhausted, Goku is beaten to within an inch of his life by the most powerful of all the Shadow Dragons, and after a fierce fight, he no longer has the energy to sustain the Super Saiyan 4 transformation and falls unconscious.

Goku is rescued by his family and friends, who offer their help. Goku insists that no number of people will be enough to overcome Syn Shenron and declares the situation to be hopeless, but rather than fight together the real intent is for Gohan, Goten and Trunks to lend every last ounce of their combined Saiyan energy to Goku and restore his strength. Majuub barely manages to hold off the dragon long enough for this to be accomplished, and the result is a full-power Super Saiyan 4 Goku who despite his handicap is now far superior to his opponent. Goku thoroughly demonstrates his advantage.

Battered but not beaten, Syn Shenron plays his trump card and ingests the other six Dragon Balls, uniting the seven Shadow Dragons into the even more powerful figure of (Omega Shenron) who now possesses the individual powers of all of them. Despite having regained his sight, Goku finds himself outmatched again and again even after resorting to his fully powered Dragon Fist, and has made up his mind to sacrifice his life in a final kamikaze effort by the time Vegeta shows up to even the score.

Goku and Vegeta take on Omega Shenron

Goku holds off his effort. With Bulma in tow, Vegeta reveals his plan. Having made use of his wife's intellect to construct a machine capable of producing Blutz Wave Generator, Vegeta allows himself to become overwhelmed by so much of this energy that he regrows his tail, transforms into a Great Ape, and consequently makes his ascension to Super Saiyan 4, but even with Goku and Vegeta on equal footing and teamed together, both of them recognize that they stand little chance of defeating their enemy, leading Vegeta to suggest Fusion.

Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta dominating Omega Shenron.

The collective sons of Goku and Vegeta hold off Omega Shenron long enough for the two rivals to fuse into the incomparable Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta, who is far too incredible an adversary for the dragon to overcome, but, unfortunately, Gogeta spends too much of the battle toying with his enemy and defuses before he can deliver the final blow, leaving the horrified pair in the same predicament as before. Though they try to fuse once again, Goku has spent too long and hard a battle to maintain Super Saiyan 4 any longer and again reverts to his childhood form after a last fusion attempt, thus making Fusion impossible and setting the stage for the final desperate conflict against Omega Shenron.

Soon enough, Nuova Shenron emerges from Goku's forehead due to Goku earlier swallowing the Four-Star ball himself. Because of their mental connection, the two trick Omega Shenron into an unguarded moment and Nuova Shenron takes that chance to use his ultimate attack, however to no avail, which causes Omega Shenron to reabsorb him. Vegeta soon loses his hold on the Super Saiyan 4 energy as well, leaving the two pure Saiyans absolutely powerless against the might of Omega Shenron, who renews his assault. After Goku is seemingly destroyed in a struggle against the dragon's Power Ball attack, Vegeta orders Trunks to gather everyone into Bulma's spaceship and make their escape before continuing his hopeless offensive against Omega Shenron, but even so, Gohan, Goten and Trunks join in the battle despite Vegeta's wishes. All of their efforts are to no avail, as none of them can make any impression against this horrific embodiment of the Dragon Balls' power.

The Saiyans are felled one by one, but Vegeta assures Omega Shenron that he has lost the battle despite everything. At that moment, a massive Spirit Bomb rises into the sky with Goku to hold it up, having gathered energy from everyone on earth, and as the Shadow Dragon looks on in disbelief Goku continues (with the help of the four Kai's) to draw in energy from the rest of the universe. A Spirit Bomb so massive is formed that no evil can stand against it, and with nothing more to do, Goku hurls the bomb upon Omega Shenron and completely obliterates him with a terrific blast, and restores all seven Dragon Balls to their normal state.

With all seven of the Shadow Dragons defeated, Shenron appears at long last without being summoned and explains, much to everyone's surprise, that he will now separate himself and the power of the Dragon Balls from Earth for 100 years to prevent another Dragon Ball corruption. Goku makes a final request of the Eternal Dragon to restore the earth and her people, and this wish is granted. Shenron asks Goku to accompany him, as he is not powerful enough to grant the wish by himself without negative effects. Goku hops on Shenron's back and flies off, telling his friends and family that they will meet again. During this scene, Goku wears the Power Pole, which had not been present for the majority of GT.

They go by Tien and Chiaotzu by a waterfall, Yamcha and Puar in the desert where they first met. Goku then makes a stop at the Kame House to see Master Roshi and Krillin. While there, Goku and Krillin reembrace the past when they were kids, they then decide to have a friendly spar in which Krillin wins (presumably Goku let him win); Goku compliments Krillin on his strength and disappears without saying a word, while Master Roshi knowing he is leaving, he looks up in the sky telling Goku to give his thanks to Shenron for the Dragon Balls. Then, Goku stops in Hell to see Piccolo. He tells Piccolo that he will be leaving and that they are glad they met and teamed up. He also says that he has become a good friend and will get out of hell someday. They shake hands and Goku leaves. Meanwhile back on the obliterated city battle field, Goku's family and friends whom witnessed the insane battle now depart to their own respective homes. Pan however comes upon the set of clothes that Goku had been wearing before leaving with Shenron, Vegeta tells her to keep them dear to her forever. Now with Goku's final destiny at last fulfilled, he flies through beautiful golden clouds atop Shenron, proceeds to close his eyes, and Shenron slowly absorbs each of the Dragon Balls individually into Goku's body, eventually causing him to disappear. This insures that the Dragon Balls negative energy can effectively dissipate using Goku's positive energy. With that occurrence, Shenron flies into a bright light with a loud roar, bringing Goku's story to an end.

Goku, a hundred years later, in the very last scene of the Dragon Ball series.

100 years later, after all of the original Z Fighters died of natural causes, Pan is the only fighter left. In A Hero's Legacy, Goku's great-great-grandson, Goku Jr., wearing the same ravaged clothes that Pan had saved, now finds himself competing at the most recent World Martial Arts Tournament in the final round of the Jr. Division. His grandmother, Pan, and his school friends watch on in the audience as his opponent comes onto the stage; this opponent, Vegeta Jr., is a descendant of the original Vegeta. Pan soon learns this from the boy's mother and thus cheers her grandson with all the encouragement she can give. With the bell tolling, the two boys fight it out in an evenly based fight, amazing the crowd, who've never seen such feats as flight and super speed before in their lives. The two boys stop the fighting for just a few seconds and both go Super Saiyan, compliment each other's abilities, and resume the battle. Pan looks on, but she catches a glimpse of her grandfather, Goku (now an adult again), in the audience watching the fight. Wanting to see him, she moves through the crowd where she saw him and tries to find him; she realizes she's lost him in the crowd just as the winner is announced, but she knows that he has returned. With the battle of his descendant finished, Goku now walks along the outside of the World Martial Arts Tournament arena, remembers every major event in his lifetime through flashbacks. Goku then flies upward as he grabs his power pole. Finally, he gives his final wave and calls his old Flying Nimbus cloud. He flies into the distance as he yells out "Till we meet again, guys!", which officially ends the story of Dragon Ball.

Characters

Major characters

Supporting characters

Battles Featured

Pan vs. Haze Shenron
Goku and Pan vs. Haze Shenron
Goku and Pan vs. Rage Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Rage Shenron
Goku vs. Oceanus Shenron
Goku and Pan vs. Oceanus Shenron
Goku and Pan vs. Naturon Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Naturon Shenron(Pan absorbed)
Goku vs. Nuova Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Nuova Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Eis Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) and Nuova Shenron vs. Eis Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Syn Shenron
Gohan (Super Saiyan 2), Goten(Super Saiyan), Trunks(Super Saiyan) and Majuub vs. Syn Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Syn Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Omega Shenron
Gohan, Goten and Trunks vs . Omega Shenron
Gogeta (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Omega Shenron
Goku (Super Saiyan 4) and Vegeta (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Omega Shenron
Goku and Vegeta (Super Saiyan 4) vs. Nuova Shenron
Nuova Shenron vs. Omega Shenron
Goku vs. Omega Shenron
Vegeta (Super Saiyan 2) vs. Omega Shenron
Vegeta (Super Saiyan 2), Gohan (Super Saiyan 2), Trunks (Super Saiyan) and Goten (Super Saiyan) vs. Omega Shenron
Goku (Spirit Bomb) vs. Omega Shenron
Goku vs. Krillin
Goku Jr. vs. Vegeta Jr.
Goku Jr.(Super Saiyan) vs. Vegeta Jr.(Super Saiyan)

DVDs

Episode list