Description[]
American Dragon vs. Teenage Kraken. Fire and water from two teen heroes in training.
Introduction[]
Wiz: Jake Long, the American Dragon.
Boomstick: Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Wiz: It's hard enough to be a normal teenager, especially as one finds themself with more responsibility than before. But at least only a select few have the responsibility of protecting the world from evil threats.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armour and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle!
Jake Long[]
Wiz: All over the world, communities of magical creatures exist, secret from the vast majority of the human population.
Boomstick: And the minority that do know about them aren’t exactly friendly. Groups like the Huntsclan are constantly trying to make them into wall-adorning trophies and even members of the magical community can get up to mischief from time-to-time. Fortunately, there are a race of beings dedicated to preserving the balance between the magical and mundane. And of course, they’re dragons.
Wiz: Each country has its own guardian dragon, delegated by the Order of the Dragon. The dragon of China was Luong Lao Shi but as fate would have it, his daughter settled down in New York, America, and had a son named Jake.
- Background
- Age: 14
- Height: 5’3
- Occupation: The American Dragon
- Permanently dyed parts of his hair green
- One of Dante Basco’s two fire-breathing voice roles
Boomstick: Thus, it was decided that Jake would be the dragon of America, cause he’s young, he’s fast, he’s the chose-
Wiz: Nope, no singing. Ever.
Boomstick: Why? Everyone knows it.
Wiz: So do copyright strikers.
Boomstick: I’ll be quiet. But not about Jake himself. Under training from his grandfather, Jake was taught how to master his natural dragon chi, which enables him to shift into - whatever else? - his dragon form. Even if it ended up slimming down come the second season, it’s still plenty powerful regardless.
Wiz: Actually, I believe the creators decided to make this change based on differences between Western and Eastern Dragons. Whilst the latter are categorized as being rampaging monsters, the sort you’d want a heroic knight to slay, Eastern Dragons are sentient, wise beings often categorized as defenders of humanity. Definitely fits Jake more, wouldn’t you say?
Boomstick: Whatever. I still say his first one looks more striking.
- Powers and Abilities
- Martial arts skills
- Dragon Form
- Fire breath
- Claws
- Super strength
- Flight
- Scales
- Eye of the Dragon
- Ear of the Dragon
- Doppelganger Technique
Wiz: As a dragon, Jake possesses super strength, enough to stop a giant rolling pillar, and his grandfather was once able to stop a speeding train. He can achieve flight with his wings and his scales serve as a nifty natural defence.
Boomstick: As for natural weapons, he has claws and a powerful tail, which come in handy during hand-to-hand combat. Which he’s actually pretty good at thanks to his training and appears to be your standard kung-fu. And of course, he has fire breath, which is capable of blasting through stone walls and melting steel.
Wiz: Being a dragon also comes with enhanced senses, such as his vision and hearing, letting him scope out whole areas from afar.
Boomstick: And whilst he doesn’t use it to taste, his tongue is prehensile and makes a good grabber, like a chameleon’s.
Wiz: Jake doesn’t even need to transform his entire body to tap into his dragon powers. He can simply manifest a dragon ear, his tail and even his dragon snout for a quick blast of flame.
Popup: Even without his dragon form, Jake is surprisingly agile, and is a skilled skateboarder.
Boomstick: His chi can also be used for something other than transformation. He can use it to make copies of himself, putting together a team of hims. Whilst they trade in strength, their numbers make this negligible.
Wiz: Though there is the risk of creating an evil version of himself but Jake has managed to defeat one such entity before. Between having to balance being a guardian dragon and his school life, that’s often the least of the problems he has to face. Fortunately, despite his young age, he’s plenty capable.
- Feats
- Saved and protected numerous magical creatures
- Vaporized 864 million cubic centimetres of water
- Flew from New York to Greenland and back in one night
- Battled Experiment 626, AKA Stitch
- Stopped the roll of a massive stone pillar
- Defeated Huntsgirl, Huntsmaster, the Dark Dragon
Boomstick: He possesses enough literal firepower to completely destroy a house and vaporize a massive pillar of water. Based on its size compared to Jake, reducing it to mist equals 532 tons of TNT (Jasonsith).
Wiz: And whilst it’s stated that his top flight speed is 179 miles per hour, considering he was able to fly from New York to Greenland and back in a single night, then he should be clocking in at twice that speed. And of course, there’re his feats of dodging Huntsmaster’s staff beams, which can be compared to light seeing as how they bounce off reflective surfaces and burn on Impact.
Boomstick: But you know who we can scale Jake to in order to determine how impressive he really is? Why, an entity who has truly left a trail of destruction and historical impact in his wake. I’m talking about Fu Dog, before he went on to also bear the name Jake.
Wiz: Being several hundred years old, Fu Dog is responsible for a rather major folkloric event.
Boomstick: The relocation of Atlantis to the bottom of the ocean, done by pulling a plug and causing it to sink downwards just like that.
Wiz: The size of Atlantis is a subject of much debate, though experts have determined the closest real-life equivalent to be a submerged Grecian landmass about the same size as Crete. Crete is estimated to have a total weight of 1.3 quadrillion kilograms and its highest mountain is Ida at over 8 thousand feet tall. With that in mind, along with the distance Atlantis must have dropped to become submerged and the timeframe of about half a second, then the earthquake caused by pulling the plug out would have equalled 3 teratons of TNT.
Boomstick: Fu Dog was able to survive this and Jake is clearly a few levels above him.
Wiz: Whilst more a brawler than a planner, Jake can be fairly clever when he wants to be, planning two steps ahead to steal back gold from an evil sorcerer and using his environment to his advantage against foes much larger than himself. Getting tutelage from his dragon grandfather has its advantages after all. Unfortunately, that training wasn’t equipped to help Jake deal with the reveal that the girl he loved was a part of the clan trying to wipe magical kind out.
Boomstick: But don’t worry, they made it work. Even after Jake wished for her to have always had a better life without the Huntsclan to indoctrinate her, she was able to remember Jake and their time together, just in time to help him finally defeat the Dark Dragon. Ah, young supernatural love.
Wiz: Whilst Jake isn’t completely invincible as a dragon, thanks to sphinx hair and a weak spot behind one ear, the magical community of New York, and indeed America, can rest easy thanks to this rising fire-breathing star.
Ruby Gillman[]
Wiz: I believe anyone who knows their monsters knows of the classics from ancient myth, such as the Dragon, the Minotaur, Centaurs…
Boomstick: A lot of “Taurs” basically. For any world or terrain, there be monsters, and the sea is no different.
Wiz: And originally coming from Norwegian roots, there is the legend of the kraken.
Boomstick: AKA the Ur-Example of hentai. I’m guessing. Though they are probably known better for sinking ships and terrorizing sailors.
Wiz: But in some worlds, the nature of a kraken is a little different. As was to be discovered by a young girl named Ruby Gillman.
- Background
- Age: 16
- Occupation: Royal Kraken, Oceanside High School sophomore
- Likes: Algebra, Connor, Prom
- Tended to a stranded whale for hours
- Explains her blue skin as being from Canada
Boomstick: At first, she seems like your standard awkward teen, having a crush, trying to navigate the jungle of high school and deal with her own anxious self. But just by looking at her, you can tell something is especially different compared to everyone else. And no, it’s not because she’s from Canada.
Wiz: As if her surname wasn’t a big enough hint, Ruby, and indeed her whole family, are creatures of the sea themselves. These are our aforementioned krakens, living just short of the sea in order to, well, stay moist.
Boomstick: Not quite towering monsters capable of pulling down ships, though that reputation is known to Ruby. Hence her desire to keep it under wraps. But there is a secret side to the krakens she was unaware of and ultimately, it was about their true nature.
Wiz: Turns out, her mom isn’t the standard kraken, since there’s apparently a distinction. No, she’s kraken royalty, and they are much more of what you’d expect when thinking of a beast that pulls down ships. Or at least, almost.
Boomstick: The women in the Kraken Royal Family, AKA Ruby’s family, have the power to transform into giant monster forms. And in sharp contrast to their reputation, royal krakens aren’t terrorizers of the sea. They’re it’s defenders. Talk about a switcheroo, especially since mermaids are the monsters of the vast moist this go around.
Wiz: Well, this was released around the time of a certain remake but no time for shade. With the reveal of her true heritage, Ruby was stunned and not quite interested, though again, no shade. But eventually, curiosity got the better of her and she went to her Grandmamah to learn about her kraken powers. She already has slight elasticity, letting her stretch her limbs out and move her body in ways humans can’t, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
- Powers
- Boneless physiology
- Elasticity
- Giant Kraken Form
- 300 feet
- Super strength
- Speedy swimming
- Body armour
- Camouflage
- Laser eye beams
- Boneless physiology
Boomstick: Her full-sized kraken form is the rest of it, which starts out by being freaking huge. Like this, she’s 300 feet tall, and thus packs a whole lot of super strength. And not just because she’s underwater, where, by the way, she’s a naturally fast swimmer thanks to her three tentacle-legs. She was able to lift a giant cruise ship above the water’s surface after all.
Wiz: Aside from those natural abilities you’d expect from a giant sea monster, Ruby can also equip herself with scale-like body armour, which enables her to withstand high temperatures, and camouflage herself to better hide in her surroundings.
Popup: Whilst camouflage wasn’t used in the movie itself, it was featured in the trailer and isn’t contradicted by anything in the movie; only before she received training did she cumbersomely try to hide in her giant kraken form on land.
Boomstick: But what’s even cooler than body armour, though only slightly, are her laser eye beams!
Wiz: Technically they’re described as electrically charged bioluminescence, AKA electrified biochemically emitted light, so they likely go at light speed.
Popup: When under duress, Ruby’s presence causes lights to flicker.
Boomstick: So kraken powers are pretty useful and Ruby would need all of them in order to get to the Trident of Oceanus. Which is in the Heart of the freaking Ocean, a magical volcano which supplies the oceans with all their energy.
Wiz: What this means is rather debatable but after much thought, we figured this must mean the combined kinetic energy of the oceans, as in its most natural constant state of movement. Thanks to a scientific analysis, the combined kinetic energy of the oceans’ is the equivalent of 740 megatons of TNT.
- Feats
- Figured out how to destroy the Trident of Oceanus
- Dodged rebounding laser beams
- Travelled through the Seven Seas in seven hours
- Swam into the centre of the Heart of the Oceans
- Lifted a party cruise ship
- Helped defeated Queen Nerissa
Boomstick: It took a lot of effort but in the end Ruby was able to get into the centre of the Heart and claim the Trident. And why did she need to get it? Well, according to the daughter of Queen Nerissa, Chelsea, it would be the key to peace between mermaids and krakens. But even acknowledging the trident’s significance when it comes to the sea, why would a weapon be the key to peace?
Wiz: Perhaps only in a roundabout way, because Chelsea wasn’t Nerissa’s daughter, she was Nerissa.
Boomstick: So an adult pretended to be a teenager to get close to an actual teenager in order to get something from them? That right there is a terror greater than anything the depths could produce.
Wiz: And really, something that could have been avoided had the prior generations of royal krakens not let their differences keep them apart; Ruby’s mother wanted a normal, risk-free life for her family whilst Grandmammah wanted the tradition of kraken protectors to continue.
Boomstick: But being the continuation and culmination of both these roles, Ruby was able to strike a balance between them. Once she helped her mom and grandma destroy the Trident and beat Nerissa once and for all -
Wiz: Through the power of math.
Boomstick: - Unfortunately, yes, with math – she was able to carry on as both Ruby Gillman and the kraken defender of Oceanside.
Wiz: For when the ocean is in danger, a kraken shall always answer the call.
Interlude[]
Wiz: Alright the combatants are set, and we've run that data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
The Battle[]
Setting: Oceanside’s Docks at Night
Ruby ran down the dock’s streets, closely pursued by Jack Long.
Ruby: I keep telling you, I’m from Canada!
Jake: No-one from Canada has blue skin! I just need to make sure you’re not anything…well, dangerous.
That statement irked Ruby, all too familiar with being misinterpreted as dangerous. She twisted her upper body around, with her lower half remaining in the same direction to continue running.
Ruby: Fine, then see if this is dangerous!
FIGHT!
Her eyes glowed and shots of electrified bioluminescence were sent in Jake’s direction. Jake’s eyes went wide in surprise, and he ducked and weaved around the shots as he continued running after Ruby. He pulled his skateboard from his backpack and jumped on whilst simultaneously ducking beneath another shot. With his board, Jake began to gain ground on Ruby, who exclaimed in alarm at the fact. Because of her distress, the electric lampposts lining the docks flickered and just as Jake was about to make a grab for Ruby, they blinked off.
When they came back on, Jake found Ruby had vanished.
Jake: Hey!
Suddenly, a bioluminescence shot took out the left front wheel of Jake’s skateboard, sending him skidding out of control. As Jake struggled to regain his balance, Ruby’s arm stretched out from the shadows and grabbed him by the back of his jacket. Jake was thus yanked off his board and thrown into an electrical lamppost, which bent to his impact. The other lampposts came back on and Ruby picked up Jake’s still rolling board, to which the latter noted the busted wheel.
Jake: Oh, not cool yo!
Ruby marched towards him, a glower on her face and the skateboard held ready like a bludgeoning weapon.
Ruby: This isn’t cool? Oh, let me tell you what’s not cool…
A fireball sprang from Jake’s suddenly transformed mouth and Ruby only narrowly dodged it, looking with wide eyes as it seared past her face.
Ruby: Uh, yeah, that.
Jake: Dragon Up!
Jake was enveloped by a whirlwind of flame and came out in his dragon form, lunging forwards and grabbing Ruby. Both teens reacted in the same time, with Ruby using her eyes beams and Jake unleashing a breath of fire, causing an up-close explosion between the two of them. Ruby was launched backwards off the dock’s edge and fell with a splash into the ocean. Jake arrived over where she’d fallen, hovering in the air and cocking his head out.
Jake: Ear of the Dragon.
With the enhanced sense, Jake heard the sound of upheaving water beneath himself and Ruby’s voice.
Ruby: You go dragon? Fine…then I’ll go BIG!
Jake quickly flew backwards as Ruby, now in her giant kraken form, breached the water’s surface, sending waves of water out. The waves crashed over Jake, sending him spinning in the air as his wings flapped desperately to right him. They succeeded just as Ruby swiped her gargantuan hand at him, which Jake dived down to avoid. He landed on the ground and looked up as Ruby fired several eye beam bursts at him, which he prematurely detonated with blasts of his fire breath. Smoke and steam filled the air as a result, which Jake zoomed through with a flap of his wings towards Ruby. The kraken received a blow across her cheek and to her shock, it was powerful enough to send her reeling back. She shook off the dizziness and attempted to clap both hands around the hovering Jake, who quickly flew out of reach. He circled Ruby’s whole form as she desperately swatted him, missing each time.
Jake: Swing all you want, I’ve done things like this thirty times a week!
Ruby: The mathematical logistics of that are absurd!
Her following grab missed Jake but as he flew back, she lifted one of her bottom tentacles out of the sea beneath him. This was able to knock the dragon further up in the air and as he fell back down out of control, Ruby punched him towards the open ocean. Jake’s velocity saw him skim the water’s surface before he was able to bring himself under control, hovering just short of the water as he turned around. Unable to see Ruby nearby, he activated his -
Jake: Eyes of the Dragon.
- peering out in search of her. To his confusion, his sharpened eyesight picked up what appeared to be something of a dark shape heading towards him. It stopped just short of him and it shifted, a tube-shaped extension from itself shot towards him. Jake spun around the extension, blasting it with fire and Ruby cried out in pain. Her camouflage faded as she clutched at her burned arm.
Jake: Can’t handle the heat huh?
He unleashed a massive blast of heat into the water surrounding Ruby and it instantly began to bubble. Ruby was quickly steamed as her eyes went wide and she let out a rather comical holler of pain as she straightened upwards. Her reddened skin was suddenly covered by her body armour, letting her charge through the boiling patch without harm. She punched downwards, planting Jake on her fist and pushing him into the water. To continue the punch’s downwards motion, Ruby dove beneath the surface.
Ruby: Let’s see how you like depth pressure!
In a superhero-like flight pose, Ruby kept her arm extended before her as she swam down to keep Jake planted on her face. But despite being sandwiched between Ruby’s downwards movement and the ocean’s upwards push, Jake was able to roll himself off the latter. As Ruby continued past him, Jake latched onto one of her leg-tentacles with his claws. He held on for dear life as Ruby flexed all three legs and began to swim at incredible speeds, buffeting Jake with the aquatic G-Force. Jake however fought through the drag of the water as he clawed his way up Ruby’s armoured body. Ruby looked back and tried to shoot the dragon off with her laser beams. With quick pulls forwards, Jake avoided the blasts and reached the top of the tentacle. He pulled at the armour with his claws and blood erupted into the water. Ruby cried out in pain, especially when Jake bit the flesh and especially when Jake unleashed a close-range blast of fire. Pain shot through the whole leg and Ruby ceased swimming to grab it in pain. Jake beat his wings to swim upwards, his strained lungs finally given focus.
As he came close to breaching the sea’s surface, Ruby’s hand reached up to close around him. Thinking quick, Jake returned to his human form and became small enough to slip through her fingers. He breached the ocean’s surface and took a breath of air – when Ruby breached the surface just behind him, he transformed back into a dragon and launched himself into the air.
To Jake’s shock, Ruby was holding over her head a sunken modern merchant ship. She hurled it broad-side at Jake. However, as it flew through the air, a hole was melted out its side and through it burst out four fire-breathing Jake Longs. Ruby groaned in annoyance and set about trying to swat the four Jakes flying around her as they breathed fire to attack.
Meanwhile, the thrown ship landed end-first in the sea and lodged in a risen seabed, one end sticking up into the air.
Ruby re-equipped her armour and now able to weather Jakes’ attacks, was able to focus on swatting them away. She did this by whipping her head about, her tentacle hair striking each Jake and sending them flailing back. Three of them immediately flew back into the fray but before one did, he noticed the lodged ship. And the anchor dangling from the risen end.
Ruby, having successfully grabbed all three of the attacking Jakes, turned to see the fourth flying towards.
Ruby: Oh no you don’t!
She squished the three Jakes together and quickly calculated an angle so that when she threw them as a clumped ball at the fourth Jake, he was struck dead on. With him stunned from the impact, which sent his copies falling into the sea below, Jake was shot in the back by Ruby’s eye beam.
With a scorched back, Jake cratered into the ship’s surface, groaning as Ruby barrelled towards him.
Ruby: Gotcha!
She threw out a punch but before it connected, Jake struck the ship’s surface with a chop. The impact knocked the dangling anchor loose and it fell onto the top of Ruby’s head. The young kraken seized up mid-punch at the strike, the anchor sliding off her skull. Jake flapped his wings and shot into the air, grabbing the anchor’s chain as the anchor itself fell past him. His flight dragged the anchor upwards, one of its long sharp hooks aimed at Ruby’s head. The young kraken recovered just in time to grab the anchor with both hands inches before it could reach her, pulling down on Jake’s upwards pull. Her eyes glowed and she fired a continuous beam which reflected off the anchor’s surface into Jake. The dragon yelled in pain as the laser slowly fried him.
For a couple of seconds, Jake kept pulling the anchor up and Ruby kept it down whilst lasering him. But then from the ocean burst the three Jake copies, who performed a synchronized triple kick on the anchor. Combined with the main Jake pulling on it, the anchor was forced up, its hook piercing through Ruby’s skull. The kraken was instantly killed, going limp with her body hanging from the anchor as the four Jakes became one, hovering in the air to observe the outcome.
Jake: Phew…think I need to overhaul my kraken knowhow.
KO!
Outcome[]
Boomstick: Jake, don’t leave all that uncooked calamary sitting there. You’ll get seagulls all over the place.
Wiz: Jake and Ruby had several things in common here, such as their ability to think on their feet – or tentacles or claws – react at the speed of light through avoiding laser-like attacks. Both could also control the pace of the battle through different dominions; the sea for Ruby and the air for Jake, especially since only Ruby could survive long-term in the ocean whilst Jake being in the air would likely force her out to continue fighting.
Popup: Fu Dog has several oxygen-pocket granting charms which Jake could access for an ocean-based location; since Ruby and her family wouldn’t stray far from the ocean, even without outside knowledge of Ruby specifically Jake would likely have them on hand.
Boomstick: And Ruby’s sheer size meant she had the greater physical strength but Jake’s smaller, nimbler form meant he lightweight and slippery enough avoid this strength. But whilst Ruby can be said to be stronger, her ability to take a hit was a different story. Remember, the Heart of the Oceans Ruby swam through outputs the ocean’s energy of over 700 megatons. But Jake’s companion Fu Dog was on Atlantis as it sunk, which was worth 3 teratons of kinetic energy.
Popup: Another calculation, if the Heart releases heat energy, puts it at 5 teratons, and Ruby needed her body armour to fully power through its currents. Since Jake scales above Fu Dog, he can still compete or even outdo this level of power/durability.
Wiz: Just in case you’re still sceptical, one of Jake’s foes wielded a legendary trident capable of controlling the seas and Jake was able to get the better of him despite this trident.
Boomstick: A trident that, by the way, was searched for by said magical aquatic foe after it was hidden. Sounds familiar, no?
Wiz: Indeed it does. Which actually lines up with what was easily Jake’s biggest advantage in this fight, to the point of supporting his others or even making them redundant.
Boomstick: Unlike Ruby, Jake had way more experience. To abridge it, Ruby has only a single movie under her belt with one main mission but Jake’s been through two seasons of numerous magical fights and adventures. Whilst both were trained by their grandparents, Jake has been on actual missions, meaning he learned on the job.
Wiz: Of particular note are his fights against larger, physically stronger foes, like the Dark Dragon or an evil dentist which became a kaiju through a dragon’s baby tooth. Yes, that happened, and Jake came out on top with his quick thinking and use of surroundings. And whilst Ruby had some varied abilities in the form of laser eyes, body armour and camouflage, so did Jake in his Dragon senses, fire breath and Chi clones, which could counter Ruby’s camo and give him the edge in attack options.
Popup: Jake once dehydrated a seaborn sea serpent by steaming the water it was in, and since krakens like Ruby need to stay moist, it was a strategy he could repurpose. Even with Ruby’s armour letting her resist heat, he could still gleam some opportunities to use it.
Boomstick: Jake and Ruby matched or stalemated each other in some ways but Jake’s broader experience and greater toughness left Ruby green around the Gills, man.
Wiz: The winner is Jake Long, the American Dragon.
Next Time[]
Season Finale
One-Punch Man
Invincible
Trivia[]
- Connections: Both are teenagers initially living a normal life before realizing they have the ability to turn into a mythical creature (Dragon and Kraken respectively) and the responsibly to protect the world using said powers. They both inherited these powers thanks to their mothers' heritage (Susan Long and Agatha Gillman) and were initially on good terms with a female friend until they realized they were enemies of their people (Rose being a member of the Huntsclan, whose main goal was to get rid of all magical creatures like dragons and Chelsea being a mermaid, which were enemies of the Krakens, respectively). Both Jake and Ruby also receive training from their grandparents in order to master their powers (Luong Lao Shi and Grandmamah, respectively) and have fought against enemies who they thought where their friends (Rose, who was Huntsgirl and Chelsea, who was Queen Nerissa, respectively).
- Animation Style: 2D.
- OST Idea: "Teenagers Scaled Up!" based on them both being teenagers, the title of Ruby's movie, the fact both their transformations give them scales and Jake's transformation line.