Flying Nimbus

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The Flying Nimbus (Kinto'un) is a yellow cloud vehicle that Goku got from Master Roshi in the third episode of Dragon Ball. It served Goku and his sons well through Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z by acting as a way for them to fly around at high speeds without using energy. It was last seen in Dragon Ball GT at the closing scene of the last episode when Goku flew off on it.

It was originally given to Master Roshi by Korin upon reaching the top of Korin's Tower. He, in turn, gave it to Goku as a replacement reward for rescuing Master Roshi's Turtle, Turtle. (In the manga, Roshi originally intended to have his Immortal Phoenix grant Goku immortality, but Turtle reminded the hermit that the creature had died from tainted birdseed.^[1] In the anime, the gift was to be a magic carpet, but Turtle reminded Master Roshi that it was at the cleaners.^[2]) It could only be used by someone with a pure heart, so Roshi couldn't demonstrate how to use it due to his lust for women, nor could Bulma who was also impure. This is also comically used several other times to reveal the true nature of many others, such as Krillin who immedietly confessed to his adult magazines which he was carrying. There is one exception to this policy, the fact that the cloud can also support inanimate objects lain upon it, which as such are free of any particular alignment.^[3]

Goku's original Nimbus was destroyed when he attempted to battle with Tambourine to avenge Krillin, but he was given a new one from Korin after drinking the Ultra Divine Water. Korin possesses several Nimbus, which are stored together as a big orange cloud. Goku chose a new one from this stock. This one continued to be used by both Goku and his son for the rest of the series.

The Nimbus saved Gohan from being stomped to death by Nappa during the Saiyan Saga. Gohan also used it to fly from Mount Paozu to Orange Star High School, and even raced with after becoming Great Saiyaman. He later gave it to his little brother, Goten, after getting the Saiyaman Watch from Bulma, which allowed him to use Bukujutsu without the fear of someone recognizing him.

Its use within the series diminishes, due to the existence of Bukujutsu.

Contents 1 Riders 1.1 Pure-hearted riders 1.2 Other riders 1.3 Cross over riders 2 Origin 3 Dark Nimbus 4 Trivia 5 References

[edit] Riders

[edit] Pure-hearted riders

• Korin (Owned many of them; even had different types of Nimbus)
• A mermaid (in "Goku's Rival")
• A woman that Goku found for Roshi (in "Goku's Rival")
• Goku (Used Nimbus to travel as both a child and an adult)
• Chi-Chi (Was able to ride on Goku's as a child; as well as during the final episodes of the Dragon Ball anime)
• Arale Norimaki (Rode Goku's in various crossovers)
• Launch (Flew with Goku once, likely can only do so while in her "good" personality)
• Upa (Flew with Goku on it several times)
• Gohan (Used his father's as a teenager to travel to and from High School; he even races it as Great Saiyaman; saved him from being stomped by Nappa as a child; eventually he gave it to Goten)
• Goten (Uses his father's; given to him by Gohan to keep)
• Master Roshi (It is unknown if he ever could ride it (though very likely as Turtle is surprised that he could no longer ride it when Master Roshi gives it to Goku), but he at least owned it before giving it to Goku)
• Nam (when Goku rescued him in the Roaming Lake episode)
• Uub Pure hearted reincarnation of Kid Buu. Nimbus given to him by Son Goku.

[edit] Other riders

• Krillin (Though not pure, he flew it holding his arms around Goku)
• Bulma (Though not pure, was able to shrink herself and rode in Goku's shirt)

[edit] Cross over riders

• Luffy (The cloud caught him durring the crossover battle vs Enel with One Piece and Dragon Ball Z cast)
• Arale Norimaki (Dr. Slump crossover)

[edit] Origin

The Flying Nimbus is one of the two items that Goku possessed that mimics the character Sun WuKong in the Chinese novel, Journey to the West. The other is the Power Pole.

[edit] Dark Nimbus

There is a variation called the Dark Nimbus that can be used by impure or evil people. But, as demonstrated on Mercenary Tao, it could be controlled by Korin to fail to work.

[edit] Trivia

• The flying nimbus can only fly so high. When Goku tried to use the nimbus to go to Kami's Lookout, Korin said this is the highest he can go. This is probably because Kami's Lookout is above the clouds.

[edit] References