The Plantains (The Forgotten)

The Plantains, often referred to as the 'tains, are a group of fighters featured in Dragon Ball Z: The Forgotten. They specifically work under Governor Guva on Planet Cooler 92. Their allegiance is to Cooler and his section of the

Members
Captain Banas - killed in the 766 Age

Lieme - killed in the 766 Age

Payar - killed in the 766 Age

Meloon - killed in the 766 Age

Ledas - removed from post in the 745 Age

Aprido - aspiring member, killed in the 766 Age

Purpose and Feats
The Plantains, under Banas, were mostly responsible for keeping order on Planet Cooler 92. And while they were also responsible for training the other lesser soldiers, Guva didn't really enforce that requirement. In addition to keeping uprisings of the planet's native species to a minimum, Banas' team sometimes was assigned to extra-planetary missions by Cooler. Due to the strength of each member being very high, Cooler favored them and gave them quite a few missions - all of which they completed successfully. They were one of the only teams to successfully find and destroy a rebel outpost, when the anti-Planet Trade Rebellion was at its height. Prior to their final conflict, where they faced off against Super Saiyan Ledas, no member of the Plantains had ever been killed.

Equipment
The Plantains were known to use a variety of equipment during their missions. The most common items were as follows:
 * - All Plantains use the Cooler-empire version of these. They are a light blue color, have pointed edges, and triangular windows. Additionally, each Plantain has a color band, which is displayed around the upper part of the pod. For Banas, the band is yellow; for Lieme, it is green; for Payar, it is red; for Meloon, it is pink; for Ledas, it is cyan.
 * - All members, except Lieme, possess a scouter. Ledas kept the scouter that he used on Planet Vegeta, so his model is slightly different than the model used by the rest of the Plantains. Banas' scouter is purple; Payar's is red; Meloon's is blue; Ledas' is teal.
 * - All members wear battle armor. Banas' armor is shoulder-less (which is nonstandard), and it is colored black with light turquoise shoulder straps. He also wears white gloves and boots, with light yellow pants. Lieme wears the standard Cooler-empire armor with the chest piece and skirt guards as well as white boots and gloves. He wears a navy blue undershirt, and his armor is colored black with a green shoulder pauldron. Meloon wears a purple undersuit and a black chest piece with a pink-colored shoulder pauldron as well as metal boots and gloves. Payar wears a black undersuit with an orange chest piece and skirt guards with a black shoulder pauldron. He wears white boots, but he does not wear any gloves. Ledas wears a black undersuit with a black chest piece and a lime green shoulder pauldron, grey boots, and black, red, and grey fingerless gloves.
 * Saibamen - The Plantains have been known to use Saibamen as lesser soldiers in lieu of other, more sentient soldiers, as they are far easier to control. By the end of the Stomping Grounds Saga, the team's Saibamen reserves had been almost completely exhausted.
 * - All members use these tanks, usually when gravely injured. They will not often use a tank if they have received only modest injuries. Banas hates to use them no matter how injured he is, and as such, he is the only Plantain never seen being healed by one during The Forgotten.

History
The Plantains were formed in the 718 Age by Guva. After he won the governorship for Planet Cooler 92, he recruited Banas (a fellow soldier who had also competed for the governorship of that planet) to lead a security team for him. Banas then recruited Payar, Meloon, and Lieme based on their power levels. The Plantains kept peace on the planet and ran missions for Cooler for the next few years.

After Ledas crash-landed on Planet Cooler 92, Payar and Meloon led a troop of forces to capture him. Even though the Saiyan was able to kill several regular soldiers, Payar and Meloon were easily able to restrain him. Ledas was later placed into the Plantains by Guva (and despite all of objections by the members of the group) due to his strength. Over the next few years, Ledas was integrated into the group more and more through training and bonding with the other team members. While he once tried to kill them while utilizing his Great Ape form, he eventually became less hostile towards them. Lieme was even able to teach Ledas how to sense ki during their trainings together.

When the Planet Trade rebels assaulted Planet Cooler 92, the Plantains defended their outpost, and eventually beat back the opposing aliens. And after it was found out that Banas had prior experience with the rebels, Guva demoted him and placed Lieme as the team's temporary captain. Lieme then led the team off-planet to the rebel's base. With the help of hordes of Saibamen, the Plantains killed off all of the rebels.

Some time later, the Plantains, still sans Banas, went to Lauto's planet to investigate some weird power spikes. Therein, Payar and Ledas found Lauto, and Ledas accidentally absorbed a vast amount of Lauto's energy. In retaliation, Lauto tried to kill the Plantains, but they were able to escape, albeit with Payar critically wounded.

As soon as they got back to their planet, Banas, who wanted to reclaim his position as Captain, knocked Ledas unconscious. He then took Ledas off-planet to Cooler's Stomping Grounds. His reason for doing this was that by telling Cooler's council that Ledas was the one who was one who had ties with the rebels, all blame would fall off of him. This succeeded in that Ledas went to trial over the false accusations and Banas was allowed to re-assume his post. However, Ledas fled from the council while on the planet, and was considered dead or lost to Banas. Thus, Ledas was removed from his post at that time.

However, Ledas actually survived, and years later, he returned to the planet. Aprido, a mid-tier soldier, instantly grew jealous at Ledas coming back. He had assumed that since Ledas had been lost, he would be able to join the Plantains, himself. So he tried to kill Ledas as the boy slept. This failed, and Ledas killed him instead. Banas, learning that Ledas had returned only to kill one of his better soldiers, grew intensely angry about this and asked Guva to allow him and Ledas to duel to the death. Guva obliged, as he wanted to replace Banas with Ledas anyway.

Before the duel, several events transpired that allowed Ledas to reach Super Saiyan. After Banas saw that Ledas had suddenly become more powerful, he requested the other Plantains to help him defeat Ledas. They attacked Ledas at once. However, Ledas was able to effortlessly kill Lieme and Meloon in the struggle. Payar was left mortally wounded, and he was killed by the Planet's native species a few minutes afterwards.

While Ledas had dueled with Lieme, Meloon, and Payar, Guva had revealed his plan to supplant Banas with Ledas. This caused Banas to attack Guva. However, after Ledas dealt with the other three aliens, he put a swift end to the conflict between Banas and Guva. Not caring about either of them, he then forced Guva to tell him where Earth was, so he could leave Cooler's empire and find his friend Vegeta. As Ledas questioned Guva, Banas disappeared; and the governor did not know if he was still alive or if he had fled.

After Ledas left, Guva maintained the role of governor of Planet Cooler 92. He sent several messages to Cooler's command post to request new members for the Plantains. However, these messages were never received, as Cooler had already left for Earth, himself, to get vengeance on his brother's and father's deaths. As Guva waited for a response, Banas suddenly reappeared and requested one final duel with Guva. Guva accepted the offer, though the two agreed to go to another planet to fight, in order to keep Planet Cooler 92 intact. Once their arrived at the planet of Banas' choosing, the two fought a bitter, bloody battle. Though both were horrifically injured during the long, hard-fought duel, Guva eventually overcame Banas and killed him. With Banas' death, the Plantains were officially disbanded. Since Cooler's empire never sent Guva any more soldiers, the team was never reformed.

Trivia

 * The name of this squad is based on Banas' name.
 * The Plantains were based on the Ginyu Force's team structure, though not off of any specific characters in the Ginyu Force.
 * Though Guva wanted to replace Banas with Ledas, he did not mind the other members of the Plantains. Having them live would be more convenient, though he always felt like they could be replaced as well.
 * The only member of the Plantains that Guva had a positive relationship with was Payar, as they bonded over torturing and killing their planet's native species. So Guva was slightly sad to see him die.