Kid Trunks and Goten VS Android 18

[Kuro]

I've always wondered what would happen if this fight didn't get interrupted by the referees and was allowed to run its course.

How would 18 do against the two boys after they went SSJ on her?

[big_adventure]

I've always wondered what would happen if this fight didn't get interrupted by the referees and was allowed to run its course.

How would 18 do against the two boys after they went SSJ on her?

Given the level she'd shown to then (still right at her end-of-Cell-saga level - she explicitly wasn't training), the two of them at SSJ ought to be able to take her, as long as they lose the Mighty Mask costume. Nothing ever really explains her orders-of-magnitude powerup from the Cell Saga to the ToP.

[BitVyper]

I don't really recall them doing anything too significant without fusing to peg their power at mid-Cell Saga levels. I think 18 was about the strongest thing they genuinely fought, and she was mostly just surprised that Mighty Mask posed any sort of challenge at all. Her main difficulty with them seemed to come from both of them attacking simultaneously and then changing up their movement when they switched places. She skirmishes with them just fine when they're both super saiyan and attacking her without the costume, so even if they're close to her, limitless energy should see her through.

Of course, if they manage to fuse, the whole thing's a wash, but this seems to be intentionally from before they learned fusion.

[The Arbiter]

Given the level she'd shown to then (still right at her end-of-Cell-saga level - she explicitly wasn't training), the two of them at SSJ ought to be able to take her, as long as they lose the Mighty Mask costume. Nothing ever really explains her orders-of-magnitude powerup from the Cell Saga to the ToP.

Gonna have to hard disagree here.

Before Vegeta learned ssj, he was training in 400x gravity. Trunks (near the tournament) was struggling even more at just 150x.

Remember that ssj is not a tier. It's a multiplier. 18 snapped ssj Vegetas arm when he had grown even more powerful from his 400x G days.

The only reason Goten and Trunks were viable opponents to late game DBZ villains was because Fusion is a RIDICULOUS power boost. Stacked with ssj3, they became relevant.

[big_adventure]

Disagreement is fine. :-)

I'm not really stuck on an answer here in any case. I was kind of basing my reply on what is anecdotally stated about the kids. Super Saiyan is a joke to them, in effect.

Vegeta had a couple of massive power boosts during the Cell saga. Like - trivially losing to 18 to trivially dominating semi-perfect Cell level stuff, which is gigantic. Goku does similar. And we know that they are both much weaker than Cell-era SSJ2 Gohan. But by the time Buu rolls around, Goku and Vegeta are both many times stronger than Gohan was at Cell. And while yes, Trunks and Goten are much weaker than Vegeta and Goku, I don't know that I'd place them so far below Gohan, just given the trivial nature with which they master stuff it took Gohan relative years to do.

[Kuro]

Forgot to mention

this is NO fusing. Just Trunks and Goten at the level they were fighting at against her in the Budokai before Buu came by and mucked everything up.

Obviously, no SSJ3 either.

[The Drunkard Kid]

I will point out that #18 explicitly did do at least some training after the Cell Saga, since she learned how to use the Kienzan and I believe also was able to sense ki, things that she couldn't do when she was first introduced.

Not to mention that ISTR the Tarble movie had Goten and Trunks be roughly equivalent to Avo and Cado, who were said to have gotten to be around as strong as Frieza was before his first death, who in turn was turned into chunky confetti by a guy who proceeded to severely notch the blade he used for that feat when #18 blocked it with her bare forearm.

So yeah, she probably swats them unconscious with casual ease when she isn't holding back because she thinks that she's fighting some rando.

[Siriel]

The only reason Goten and Trunks were viable opponents to late game DBZ villains was because Fusion is a RIDICULOUS power boost. Stacked with ssj3, they became relevant.

Also it's easy to forget but they had over a year of training between the last thing they did solo and Gotenks' fights.

[big_adventure]

Also it's easy to forget but they had over a year of training between the last thing they did solo and Gotenks' fights.

I had forgotten that - true. Ah, HBT. How you screw timelines up.