Full Moon

Sealed in and Waiting for Sunrise

Morning cannot come fast enough for the group locked inside Pilaf's glass observation chamber. Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, Puar and Goku press against every seam looking for a weak point and find nothing. Outside, Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu settle in smugly, confident that the desert sun will finish the job for them once dawn arrives and the chamber becomes an oven. The mood is resigned and quiet until Puar happens to glance upward and notice the enormous full moon hanging over the castle courtyard.

The Story of Grandpa Gohan

The sight of the moon prompts Goku to talk about his grandfather for the first time in any real way. He describes how, on certain full moon nights, a terrible monster would appear in the hills around their little house, and how one such night Grandpa Gohan was found crushed to death beneath something huge. Goku tells it plainly, without suspicion or grief, because he himself has never seen the creature and holds no memory of ever encountering it.

A Horrifying Realization

As the boy talks, the others start putting the pieces together. The timing of the attacks, the tail Goku has always carried, and the fact that he is always fast asleep whenever the killings happen. Bulma and Yamcha turn cold with the understanding that Goku himself is the monster, and they beg him not to look up at the sky. It is already too late. The boy has tilted his head toward the glowing moon.

The Beast Breaks Loose

For a long second nothing happens and everyone dares to breathe. Then Goku's pupils dilate, his body swells, fur sprouts across his limbs, and he balloons into a towering Great Ape. Pilaf and his henchmen jolt awake at the noise as the massive creature smashes straight up through the ceiling of the castle, ending any question of who controls the night.