Before Cell, before the Androids, there was Ripley Ellery. A young woman who only knew the world locked in a cage. She was just mere practice, a self proclaimed 'failure' by Dr. Gero, only being a mere stepping stone that would lead to his most prized and perfect experiments. Is it not fitting that said 'failure' would come back with the intent of slicing him in two with her bare talons? Well, it would be if the Android twins didn't get to him first...
I've had this moodboard uncompleted in my pictures folder for a long while, and only now got around to finishing it lol. I hope it's colour arrangement is alright, it has been a long while since I've made one of these haha.
bulma would have done literally anything to get her hands on the android technology, like you know that woman would reverse engineer the code - shut down all self destruct modes etc, would have found a way to replicate an inorganic source to absorb energy (particularly ki energy) and use it for the good of humanity. like it was SHEER LUCK that dr. gero got away with his creations.
writing a dragon ball z drabble currently, so here's a current excerpt that i'm happy with. It's not much, but i hope to work on it a bit more today.
warnings: uhhh impiled unethical human science experiments. also spoilers for the beginning of dragon ball z's android saga.
no pairings, just friendship/support.
“-by a madman from the Red Ribbon Army, Dr. Gero.”
Upon hearing the utterance of that cursed name from Piccolo, Ripley Ellery’s world froze. Any and all words following after that are blocked out from her mind, merely reduced to a muffled incomprehensible mess.
The brunette’s once swaying tail halts, and straightens itself out - now effectively stationary, touching the rocky terrain. The feathers that cover her shoulders and back puff and flare up, but they never recede or relax. She clenches her fists and jaw, the brown scales on her knuckles protruding, her sharp nails digging into her skin - threatening to puncture her own skin and flesh. All the while, Ripley Ellery takes in deep breaths, trying her best to maintain all of the rage boiling inside to herself.
It’s not hard to notice that Ripley isn’t okay.
“Hey Ripley, are you okay? You don’t look too good.” Krillin asks, genuinely concerned for his friend’s well-being. Internally, he knew the truth. Everyone did. Well, maybe not everyone exactly - but there is enough information from Ripley’s body language that they can piece together their own conclusions about her relationship with this Dr. Gero character.
To most of the original Dragon Team - Goku, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Piccolo, Chiaotzu, Bulma - this revelation is more than just a threat to the world.
It’s a personal threat.
Because now there’s an unspoken thought amongst them that horrifies them.
‘She’s just one of Dr. Gero’s many experiments. How many more are there? How many more Ripley Ellerys are out there?’
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obviously I still need more time to write some more - I kinda have a hard time with having a prolonged writing session as I'm a bit of perfectionist with my writing style.
other small facts about db self insert, ripley ellery
ripley ellery is her full name, but raptor ripley is a catchy nickname for her coined by yamcha. they don't really call her raptor unless pulling a joke or prank on her - she doesn't take it super seriously.
since having dinosaur dna (specifically a utahraptor), it means she has a combination of fur/feathers and scales. (dinosaurs don't really have feathers, it was more akin to fur but soft like feathers. at least that's the current scientific assessment).
power level scaling is on the same level as android 18 and 17. she's not a super saiyan so she can't really get to that level. however her partial dragon forms do give her a boost on par with a super saiyan. the full dragon form however does rival ultra instinct's power level, but it does have a limit. The longer she stays in her full dragon form, she'll become more exhausted because she's literally carrying extra body mass - we're talking kaiju size. so like. she cannot stay in that form for more than 24 hours.
UHHHH she can also turn into a utah raptor. if you've seen the size comparison with a human, you can understand why she likes being in this form. it's a great surprise weapon against her enemies.
being dr. gero's subject means that she did witness the beginning of the android program he was creating. this also means that cell witnessed her creation too. he calls her the most 'imperfect' subject during the Cell Saga.
there's a specific character quirk of hers that's really interested in sound systems, radios etc. not sure why she's interested but the technology fascinates her. (unrelated but i have thought of an au where she's a member of a punk band.)
maijinn buu saga - she fuses with android 18 as a backup plan, creating ripley 18. I haven't figured out the finer details just yet but let's just say at one point krillin isn't super sure that sending children in to fight maijinn buu is a good idea (lets be honest it's not).
during the later saiyan saga, ripley and vegeta clash and the prince is genuinely surprised that a mere human is keeping up with him in a fight. like its clear to him something is VERY wrong with ripley, but and does compliment her combat prowess (in his own vegeta way) by saying she's just like the many saiyan warrior women he knew growing up.
before anyone asks, yes, she does get involved in wrestling thanks to Mr. Satan after the Cell Saga. When he saw her, he immediately thought: "she'd be a FANTASTIC talent in the ring!". she takes to the profession very easily.
Ripley enters the Tournament (you know the one that kicks off the Maijinn Buu-Supreme Kai saga, yeah that one) - Ripley picks up on the fact that Goten and Trunks really want to enter the Tournament that is absolutely NOT FOR CHILDREN (there's a children's branch and an adult's branch of the tournament) - and so she decides to foil their plans - because she genuinely fears their possible deaths and oh boy she really does not like the idea of dealing with an angry ChiChi and Bulma - so she purposefully sabotages them so that she instead ends up in the final match with Android 18.
Before anyone asks - she throws the final match with Android 18 - who is absolutely pissed at this but Ripley's like 'hey do it for Marron, make her proud dear.' This ironically inspires 18 the throw the match with Mr. Satan since he's really just a wrestler - not an actual fighter.
This is a current visual idea of what Ripley Ellery looks like.
i'm not sure how to describe ripley ellery into words, but she just started out as a human test subject for dr. gero's werid phase of wanting to see what happened if you combined dinosaur dna with a human - but then later i thought it would be kinda metal if she could turn into a dragon - or at least had dragon wings - and honestly it just kinda spiraled out of control.
she does escape gero's lab eventually with goku assisting her and since her memory is kinda blurry regarding where she came from or who her parents are - she kinda ends up as a ward to bulma's family in the meantime. <- the briefs are so sweet i love them /platonically.
uhhh kinda becomes an unoffical member of the dragon team kinda? it's a little more complicated than that, more of a slow burn of building up trust with her before really considering her part of the team. but it should be important to establish that krillin thinks she's so fucking cool, and he's kinda the first person (outside of bulma and goku) that ripley really considers a friend.
