Dragon Ball: Ultra Army

Dragon Ball Ultra Army is a 10-part fanfiction created by Frozarburst that takes place after *Dragon Ball Super's* Tournament of Power and *Dragon Ball: Fighterz*. It was made as part of a fan art challenge by Masakox, the voice actor for Goku in *Dragon Ball Z: Abridged*, where fans of the anime after watching episode 130 could submit their fan art of characters with Ultra Instinct, which gave Frozarburst the idea to make a squad of people with it rather than one. After drawing the concept poster, Frozar decided to make a story in the style of both Team Four Star and SSJ9K's abridged dubs and eventually released it on June 11, 2018, receiving overwhelmingly positive praise and viewership for both it and Toon Wars. Due to it's success, Frozarburst began working on Dragon Ball: Rising, a sequel that would have been set before Dragon Ball Super: Broly. But due to the development of Toon Wars: The Final Days and the later Toon Wars: Legacy series, as well as a lack of focus in the sequel's overall plot, he canceled the project. In his own words, "It became too big".

On December 1st 2021, Frozarburst would revisit Ultra Army with a complete overhaul of the original version, titled Dragon Ball Ultra Army: Reimagined, aiming to fix its grammatical bugs, improve its pacing and dialogue, as well as introducing new details surrounding the lore exclusive to the miniseries, including concepts borrowed from the canceled Dragon Ball Rising sequel. An expansion, Beyond Super, was posted two months afterward, revealing the existence of other anime and exploring other anime using the Border Realm.

## Plot

### Dragon Ball Ultra Army 2018

Goku and Vegeta, aiming to unlock and master the power of Ultra Instinct for themselves after trying and failing to train normally, opted to gather members from the Tournament of Power to battle and push themselves past their limits once more. Meanwhile, Gohan, feeling guilt for his part in humiliating Universe 9 and fighting for the sake of his universe leading to the deaths of trillions (prior to Android 17's wish to restore them), contacts Whis and Beerus to see if he can meet with Bergamo to apologize. After a quick wish from the Super Dragon Balls by Goku to bring everyone to Universe 10's lookout, the Ultra Army as he dubs them is assembled, consisting of some members of his universe and select few from the tournament, including Hit, Bergamo, Hopp, Sorrel, Caulifla, Kale, and Majora respectively. Both Vegeta and Goku stretch the truth saying they're only there to train, intending to bring them near if not better than their current level to protect the multiverse from threats as powerful as a God, such as Zamasu or Frieza. The latter whom was contacted by Goku earlier, refusing to spar with him but promising to surprise the Saiyan sometime soon.

During their fight, the Saiyans teach the team how to better harness their ki and systemically up the challenge by rotating off transformations (mainly in an attempt at forcing an Ultra Instinct technique). However, Bergamo, depressed over his embarrassment at the tournament and failure to protect his universe, refuses to continue. That is until Majora encourages him to keep fighting and improving, not only regaining his strength but also proving to the Gods that he and his people have the potential to do fantastic things. When he finishes, Goku's most powerful Kamehameha accidentally misses Kefla when she tries to attack and hits Majora, almost killing him had it not been for his words reaching Bergamo to the point where the warrior broke his shell, calling to such divine energies in order to save his life. This results in Bergamo unlocking an Ultra Instinct transformation before spreading his God Ki onto the rest of the team, falling unconscious. With their new abilities, the team battles Goku and Vegeta again, this time delivering much stronger blows on par with their own. However, as they start to learn how to regulate their power, Frieza arrives with his elite squadron: The Sorbet Strikers. He sends them after the Ultra Army and personally holds his own against Goku and Vegeta. But when he's cornered and his numbers are quickly depleted, he alludes to them how their motivation for forming the team will be their undoing before fleeing from the presence of another Saiyan destroyer, who nukes the planet with everyone on it.

This surprise attack, fortunately, had failed as the Ultra Army made it in Frieza's ship as it was taking off. They're then met by Gohan, Goten, and the return of Majin 21, who's come to warn everyone about a version of Broly that became a God of Destruction, battling the Time Patrol and succeeding. His next target is Universe 9, which is quickly nuked much to the reawakened Bergamo's horror. But just before tending to Broly, the team is told by Frieza about Goku and Vegeta's real goal of benefiting themselves by using the Ultra Army as a punching bag to force themselves into unlocking Ultra Instinct. Angered, some of the team battle the Saiyans, which Gohan doesn't mind understanding their frustrations. However, Broly eventually arrives to face them all directly, intending to settle the score with Kakarot and Vegeta. Knowing they'll fail now that they've been weakened, Gohan along with Bergamo devise a plan to stop the Legendary Super Saiyan, taking the form of a hit-and-run style assault progressively changing tactics each time he transforms. When he reaches his strongest state, Gohan charges a Spirit Bomb while Bergamo, Hopp, and Sorrel launch a Kamehameha; the combined energies seemingly atomizing Broly but instead causing him to absorb it, transforming him into an Ultra form. This doesn't last very long as Vegeta summons his and Goku's backup plan: Sending Arale in to knock Broly out as she's not bound by the rules of anime/manga.

Frieza, perhaps seeing an opportunity to manipulate the Ultra Army again, gives them the chance to join his forces, but they refuse, allowing Whis and Vados to send him to Hell. Since Broly's been defeated and promised to stop fighting once done, he rewards everyone with an alternative. He uses his timeline's Whis' staff to open a portal to another dimension entirely, intending to live peacefully wherever he goes. Most of the team follows him, including 21 who's fallen in love with his looks. However, Shin, the Supreme Kai, arrives confused despite leaving with Broly just a moment ago, revealing those who left to be clones of their actual selves. Because Universe 9 was destroyed, Vegeta wishes with the Super Dragon Balls to restore it to a peaceful state, while Frieza, accompanied by Cell in HIFL, begins scheming a way to break out and exact his revenge.

### Dragon Ball Ultra Army: Reimagined

While the plot of Ultra Army is roughly the same, certain motivations and decisions have been altered or added to keep the story more true to the source material and its fan-parodies.

* While Goku wishes to master Ultra Instinct, Vegeta wants to achieve a power unique to him, which culminates with the reveal of Ultra Ego in the Dragon Ball Super Manga.
* The Sorbet Strikers are clones of Shisami from Resurrection F, complete with their war cruiser (reused from Dragon Ball: Rising).
* Korin is absent and Bulma, Launch, Vados, and Chi-Chi don't join in the final battle.
* Mai is a copy of her adult future self from the Zamasu Arc, not the child.
* The Lookout is known as The Mother's Sanctum; home of the Goddess of Destruction before Rumsshi, serving as the primary setting of the main story. It's also never destroyed by Frieza nor Broly.
* Kusu attends the Ultra Army, being reused from Dragon Ball: Rising.
* 21 explains she was rescued by Xeno Trunks right before the Spirit Bomb could collide with her and her evil self at the end of *FighterZ*, eventually working with the Time Patrol and Absalon Gohan.
* Hopp and Sorrel still get stuck in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but the destruction of the outside door exposes the sanctum's inner laboratory and leads to Sorrel reading notes Gravous left behind. This is what teaches her Instant Transmission.
* The Ultra Army are fully aware that they're clones intending to merge with their prime selves later on when they level up. It's also primarily what the first wish was for.
	+ However, as Sorrel points out, it's possible they maybe the original ones simply displaced from where they were and replaced by copies. Or in an even more complex theory, they're a singularity existing in two places at once.
* Berryblue secretly assists the Ultra Army, healing Bergamo's wounds and encouraging them to try different things from their prime selves.
* Broly's entire motivation is bound by the Code of a Destroyer, seeking passage out of the Dragon Ball dimension to find peace, hence why he was searching for Gravous' sanctuary as its the only one containing a way out.
* The entire Broly battle is different from the original, introducing him in an Oozaru form before transitioning to his Wrathful and Super Saiyan states.
	+ Gohan's strategy is also distinctly more offensive and malleable than the original, changing depending on the transformation.
	+ Gohan doesn't briefly unlock Ultra Instinct but does manage to compete with Broly's Saiyan God mode for a fair amount of time.
	+ There isn't a Spirit Bomb, but Hopp absorbs a Sun Ball from Beerus and launches herself at Broly with it.
	+ Since Sorrel and Kusu know about Gravous, they try activating her dimensional portal to fulfill Broly's wish to escape, which gets interrupted when he corrupts Goku and Vegeta. This also implies more to do with Sorrel as she becomes so focused she avoids all their attacks in arguably their strongest forms of Ultra Instinct and the debut of Ego.
* A new location, the Border Realm, is introduced during and after the Broly battle as a transitional zone between different types of media. Also adding to Toon Wars lore when mentioning Oswald, Netflix, and the Toonverse.
* Only Hopp, Bergamo, Sorrel, Broly, Arale, 21, and 17 exit the Dragon Ball dimension. However, Broly and Arale's whereabouts after falling in a portal are left ambiguous while 17 opts to explore before eventually returning to merge with his prime self.
* Majora and Mai elect to remain at the sanctum to watch over its warp gate should the Ultra Army ever be needed again.
* Universe 9 isn't destroyed, but Gohan makes a wish with the Super Dragon Balls instead of Vegeta to bring all its fighters on the same level as them. This later ties into Beyond Super where it's revealed that the prime Bergamo replaced Sidra in ritual combat.

### Beyond Super

Not long after Ultra Army, the events of the Moro Saga began but ended different from canon. When Goku gave the wizard a senzu bean after trumping him with a mastered Ultra Instinct form, Moro succeeded in destroying the Earth, forcing Whis to turn back time to correct the mistake. Having had enough of Goku's compassion turned to foolishness, the Z Warriors agreed to make a wish with the Super Dragon Balls to make him smarter, more tactical, and make little room for error. Unfortunately, this detail to correct his mistakes overrode all forms of compassion, driving him to correct people to the point where he attempted to lobotomize Chi Chi feeling she held her sons back from training to suitable levels. It was at that moment that everyone realized their mistake and tried to reverse the wish, only for Goku to have already destroyed the Super Dragon Balls and send Beerus off to another dimension using Gravous' Dimensional Gate, draining its energy. In a last ditch effort to stop him, Vegeta tapped into the full extent of his power intent on killing his rival, only for Goku to kill him almost instantly using a quick Ultra Instinct technique. Fortunately, the speed of this attack was so draining that it forced him to make a retreat to parts unknown. With no other options, Gohan decided to contact the Ultra Army to bring his father back to normal.

Off in the Toonverse living in Netherworld, Sorrel, 21, Hopp, and Bergamo received the distress message from Majora. But they could only enter the Dragon Ball dimension through the gate; not leave it as the power's been drained thanks to Goku's meddling. He's gone into the Border Realm attempting to correct entire anime/manga for things he deems as a mistake. And without Vegeta, Beerus, Broly, or Jiren to stop him, the Ultra Army became their last hope. Having looked through Gravous' notes for sometime, Majora suggests using her teleporter in the Holt to transmit instantly to the Border Realm where they can enter and exit to any realm whenever possible. When Gravous was alive, however, she hadn't finished the device but was able to make the proper adjustments with Kusu and BerryBlue. As far as 21 knew, it would take a while to complete it, but it only took Sorrel a second to learn it simply wasn't plugged in. Since it's a prototype, it would need to recharge, sending all but Hit and Mai by accident to the Border Realm. There, they split up, aiming to find Goku based on the Flying Nimbus' readings detecting him in multiple animes.

Bergamo managed to find Beerus in the Pokemon dimension trying to scurry away from training looking to catch him. The ensuing chase teaching the wolf that certain dimensions have different levels of strength than others. To distract them, Bergamo transformed to his largest state, convincing the Pokemon that their trainers were using them as slaves, causing a planetary rebellion against humanity. Meanwhile, Gohan and 21 arrive in Zombieland finding Goku there after Truck-Kun ran over Gohan instead of Sakura. He demonstrates how he corrects mistakes by blowing up the planet, aiming to make the real world redo their progress and change the plot. A similar thing happens with One Punch Man where he decides to trap Hopp there to add more variety to the anime and prevent her from chasing him. Luckily, Genos offered to help defeat him and Hopp had the Nimbat ready to pursue.

Perhaps the biggest visit involved Lop from Star Wars Visions following her debut episode where she dueled her sister Ocho when she joined the empire. Her master, Boss Yasaburo, was still injured and receiving medical support from the Rebellion the moment Sorrel and Majora teleported in the med bay at their outpost. Though she was frustrated at first, Lop apologized and explained her situation to the pair, to which Majora offers to heal Yasaburo while Sorrel searches for Goku. Grateful, Lop joins her and quickly becomes attached as she learns more about the meta side of her galaxy, as well as how to harness ki through the force. Unfortunately, when Goku was traced back to the first Death Star, he had already killed the Emperor in an attempt to force Disney into de-canonizing (in this case, delete) Visions all-together to maintain continuity. When he left, Darth Vader arrived and promptly attacked both the rabbits, but Sorrel's ki overpowered his suit giving them enough time to escape to the Border Realm.

Together again, the Ultra Army decide not to split up again and confront Goku in the middle of Death Note and Yu Gi Oh where they theorize based on his actions that he's not fully responding to the Super Dragon Ball wish, similar to the Black Star Dragon Balls creating the evil Shenrons after too many wishes. Indeed, as he explains to the group, he is actually a form of Shenron taking control of the Saiyan's body still in accordance to the wish to correct for error. They've judged that the entire Animeverse needs to be remade into a perfect version of itself. And the only way to succeed is by unlocking the Fourth Wall controls. To do this, Shenku travels back to Star Wars to abduct Majora before the Imperials arrive to bombard the planet. But with enough time to radio Lop, Boss Yasaburo tells her that the Jedi were wrong and that the Sith ultimately returned thanks to their rigidness and commitment to the Senate. He inspires her to join the Ultra Army in defeating Shenku before he's killed in the shelling.

Now motivated more than ever, the Ultra Army track the Saiyan back to Exegol where they free Majora and meet Shenku, Vader, and Ocho face to face. Vader is easily dispatched thanks to Sorrel's ki, but it's Ocho who opts to duel with Lop personally. However, the Lepi is hesitant not wanting to kill the last member of her adoptive family despite her turn to the dark side. It's then that Kaiba tells her to screw the rules and that her sister will have to know what she's in for now that she's committed to the Sith, motivating Lop into attacking her with righteous anger to the point where she briefly becomes a Sith herself. This scares Ocho so much she surrenders and tells her that this isn't the step-sister she knew. To which Lop switches back and explains her point, having been acting to sway Ocho back to the light. With Shenku left to deal with, Gohan gathers even more of the strongest anime characters to confront his father, including Gods and powerful entities. But as Shenku points out, the ensuing fight will surely cause reality to shatter, exposing the Fourth Wall controls (much like the Toon Force's fight against the Toon God in The Final Days). As expected, this is precisely what happens as Gohan realizes the only way to defeat his father at this stage now that he's beyond the limits of Dragon Ball entirely is to kill him. With Hit and Mai's distraction, Gohan charged up a Spirit Fist from the energy given off in the battle and rammed it through Goku's stomach, reverting him to normal before he dies from his injuries.

Since reality has been totaled and many have died, including the destruction of the Super Dragon Balls, there's virtually no other way to reverse the Animeverse except to access the controls. However, due to their lack of understanding with its functions, they run the risk of not only resetting nearly every event prior to the wish, but also their memories. The Ultra Army, as well as Lop preferring to join them now that she knows about Exegol and the second Death Star, would be spared from the global reboot since they'll be returning to the Toonverse. But any hope of the *Dragon Ball* dimension remembering their existence is zero to none. Gohan accepts this anyway and Hit and Beerus join him in returning to their dimension once the reboot ends. Before they go, however, Lop sends a message to Boss Yasaburo after the reset telling him everything the Rebellion needs to know to stop the Empire while they still can and that Ocho's location has been exposed, finally reuniting her family.

Although the reset was a success and the memory of the Ultra Army became null and void, Gohan still remembers them and the events prior to accessing the controls since he himself is a core member of the team who was with them at the time. He realizes then and there that he has returned to the moment Goku gave Moro a senzu bean, to which Gohan promptly kills the wizard with a fully charged Kamehameha before he can recover. He apologizes to his father saying he knows he can't be perfect but he didn't want him to make the same mistake twice like with Cell. He understands, and the two return to Canon events as per the Dragon Ball Super Manga.

Back in the Toonverse, the Ultra Army hold a feast at their new neighborhood when they get curious about future events in their home dimension. Telepathically searching, Majora learns that the entirety of Universe 7 had been converted into a Hellscape worse than that of Universe 9's after Gohan's previous wish had taken effect. It was the reason why Jiren, Broly, Vegeta, and other powerful beings in the multiverse were called to arms during the scuffle with Shenku as the opposite Bergamo who became a Destroyer has reached unfathomable levels in an effort to kill the Omni Kings and plunge the entire dimension into chaos. With everything clearly crumbling in the timeline, Sorrel figured they'd be fine and the team continued to eat.

## Characters

* Goku
* Vegeta
* Gohan
* Bergamo (Ultra Army)
* Broly
* Majin 21
* Hopp
* Sorrel
* Majora
* Hit
* Mai
* Korin
* Krillin
* Tien Shinhan
* Supreme Kai (Ultra Army)
* Supreme Kai
* Kusu
* Bergamo
* Gowasu
* Chi Chi
* Basil
* Whis
* Vados
* Beerus
* 17
* Videl
* Goten
* Trunks
* Piccolo
* Frieza
* Cell
* Evil 21
* Zarbon
* General Blue
* Recoome
* Gravous
* Berryblue
* Kikono

## Time Placement

Both the remake and the original, as stated before, happen sometime after the Tournament of Power arc and *Dragon Ball Fighterz* but sometime before *Dragon Ball Super: Broly*. Since the story follows many changes in continuity by Frozarburst, Team Four Star, SSJ9K, and other parody channels from 2018, it's likely that it's in an abridged timeline parallel to the main one by Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation. However, its still possible to fit this and the expansion, Beyond Super into the canon series, which by then directly ties into the Moro arc.

## Reception

At launch, Dragon Ball: Ultra Army became one of the most successful fanfictions Frozarburst had ever made, garnering over a thousand views in total on Fanfiction.net and Deviantart that continues to grow even after its release thanks to its humor combining styles of TFS, SSJ9K, and Frozarburst's own. Its fan art featuring the Ultra Army was featured on Masakox's fan art challenge for Episode 130 and appeared at the end of 131. It had also become the most reviewed, commented, and requested series to date for Frozar. By the end of Ultra Army's run, due to the story's success, a sequel series was in production around the same time as Magiswords: Echoes, which was concluding its run to make way for Toon Wars: The Final Days. The remake, Ultra Army Reimagined, was also well received, praised for its modern sense of humor and additions to the story.

## Trivia

* Unlike *Toon Wars**,* this story is completely unrelated to any of the other stories Frozarburst has made, and is incredibly self aware referencing marketing material and the creator, Akira Toriyama.
* Like Toon Wars, there is no one main character. However, Bergamo is more developed since his appearance in the Tournament of Power, at first having self doubt after being defeated and humiliated twice but encouraged to move forward and improve thanks to motivation from Majora. Gohan is also given equal treatment feeling regret for fighting and humiliating other universes despite their goal to survive.
* Toon Wars is referenced as a TV show Gohan watches in his free time, and a Magisword made of ki is spawned by Mai in reference to *Mighty Magiswords*. It would later be revealed in The Watterson and Beyond Super that the Toonverse is accessible through the Border Realm.
* According to Frozarburst, Gohan was written to be more like a superhero than a warrior wanting to fight.
* Originally, a full segment about the ending of the Future Trunks Saga was going to be posted to explain a minor detail in the story that hints at a much different outcome of the arc, but the scripts weren't completed.
* On the Fanfiction.net version of Ultra Army, there is a spotlight chapter that worked to show Broly's past before appearing in the story and test a future style of character storytelling that would be made into Toon Wars: Shorts.
* Initially the fate of the Ultra Army was left ambiguous until the remake. However, it's revealed in The Watterson that they now reside in Netherworld.
* The decision to have Launch return was in dedication to her obscurity following the end of the first original *Dragon Ball* series.
* A different fan series known as *Dragon Ball: Absalon* was mentioned, also including a scene with Future Gohan before he traveled to the timeline of the story, revealing that he and Majin 21 previously worked with each other before splitting off on their own adventures.
* Although Ultra Instinct was heavily used in light of the humor of the fanfiction, it is seldom used in the remake.
* A character created by a meme during the Tournament of Power named El Hermano appears at the end of the original Ultra Army along with Future Trunks from his previous saga
* The scene where Steve Rodgers is on a video in HIFL/Hell is a reference to the detention scene from *Spiderman: Homecoming* by Marvel Studios.
* The end of Beyond Super was based on the ending to No Way Home.
	+ Speaking of, though the memory of the Ultra Army was forgotten by all but Gohan, it's likely that the knowledge of Gravous' Sanctum was left intact since Goku still visits it