Gohan looks over the mountainous expanse, his eyes closed before he smiles, turning to see Diserex standing on another rock spire above him, grinning in return. They both rushed off their perches, clashing loudly and trading blows. They separate and power up with twin cries, Gohan transforming before they slam their fists together. An explosion of light covers the area before The Crystal Vanguards logo appears.
Last time on Crystal Vanguard, Gohan, Flurry, and the Elements (plus Spike) made it to Ponyville, where they immediately met the Spirit of Chaos, Fluttershy’s husband, Discord.
Gohan’s visual tour ended abruptly as he sensed an odd energy… Behind me!
He lashed out with a quick kick, aiming for what he believed to be the gut of the entity, finishing with a back fist. The entity, a male, cried out as he was kicked and again as his nose was struck. He rolled on the floor, holding his face, as his attacker turned and took a stance, waiting for a counter.
Being Discord, he found a way to defuse the situation by putting smiles on the children's faces.
Afterwards, Gohan found his way to the library while Flurry went to town with Spike and Rarity. Twilight took her opportunity to ask Gohan some more questions about the saiyans and their powers, only for their conversation to be cut short.
He opened his mouth to start the explanation, but was cut off by a loud, lion like roar, followed by a deeper, more powerful roar. Both the saiyan and princess jumped to their feet, Gohan closing his eyes as he began searching for Flurry’s energy.
“Crap baskets. Where’s Flurry?”
“She’s with Spike.” Twilight said. “You don’t think-”
“I don’t think, I know. Whatever that was, it’s attacking Flurry!”
Meanwhile, while in town, Flurry was having fun with the parents-to-be, with Rarity giving her an impromptu milkshake lesson. They were all having fun, having decided to take their milkshakes on the go. But, the arrival of a wounded Sweetie Belle put an end to their fun, along with the news she carried. A manticore was on it’s way to Ponyville, and it was out for blood. In a bid to protect his loved ones, Spike stepped up to face the feral beast.
A valiant effort, but fruitless as the dragon-blood was run through the chest by his opponent. It was then Flurry had seen enough. Arming herself with the Power Pole, she rushed in and caught the monsters attention only to become it’s next target.
The alicorn-blood girl rolled into the wall, her left eye stinging a bit. Flurry lightly touched her head, looking at her hand. Well I did want to experience new things. I guess bleeding from the head could count.
The princess gasped as a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see the manticore snarling at her as it advanced, drool dripping from it’s maw. Fear ran through her blood like ice, the girl shivering as her body refused to move. Only one word came to mind as the beast lifted a massive clawed paw to finish her, closing her eyes at the last second.
“Gohan!!”
Answering to the call of his charge, the saiyan warrior took the fight into his own hands, immediately dominating the chimera. As a way of trying to both frighten off his opponent and to show Twilight what she had been asking about, Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan.
The one eyed monster roared as it turned to Gohan, who only glared back. The ground began to shake and crack under the boys feet. “You asked me before if it was something different that let us transform into Super Saiyans. It is. A powerful emotion. There are many different ways to achieve the form, but there is one common factor for us all.” The beast started tearing down the road at Gohan, the saiyan standing strong, silent.
As the predator closed in on the saiyan, he loosed with a wrath filled shout, the resulting blast of air lifting the manticore off the ground. Gohan’s eyes shifted to teal, his muscles bulged and his hair changed to sunburst blonde before he gave a louder scream, a massive twister of energy erupting around him, sending the manticore flying back.
After a raw, savage display of power, Gohan first used one of the few senzu beans he had to save the dying Spike, then began helping the Cakes to rebuild their home. After hearing that the manticore he killed was the one that killed Applejacks big brother, he gave her it’s tail as a trophy.
Flurry called out to him, telling him that she couldn’t take being protected while her friends were being hurt anymore. So, Gohan came up with an idea to fix her problem.
The saiyan looked to the cowgirls by his side. “Miss Applejack, do you by chance have any land you need tilled? The bigger the better.”
Applejack looked at him as he’d grown a second head. “Well, yeah, it’s almost time to start planting the seeds for next years crop. Why?”
He looked next to Spike and Rarity. “Make tonight’s dinner a big one, if you don’t mind. Flurry’s gonna need the energy.”
And so, the training of Princess Flurry Heart begins today! How will it go and how much will she hate life afterwards? Find out now, on Crystal Vanguard!
The Crystal Empire with the six Elements of Harmony floating around it appears and the chapters title fades in.
Helping Out the Apples! First Day of Training!
Flurry smiled lightly in her sleep, cuddling her pillow closely. She cooed softly, deep in her dreams. “Gohan...”
The aforementioned saiyan pushed open the door, smiling a bit at the gentle smile his friend wore. He walked in and gently shook her shoulder. “Flurry, it’s time to wake up.”
His answer was a bit of unintelligible mumbling and for his new student to roll over away from him. He sighed a bit before gripping her sheets, yanking them up hard, sending the princess rolling into the floor.
She gave a shriek as she hit the floor, hopping to her feet and summoning the Power Pole to her hands, looking around for her attacker until she noticed Gohan in her room. While she had been sleeping.
…
“It’s time for-”
“GET OUT!” She screamed, kicking the young man out of the room… literally, into the adjacent wall.
Well, if nothing else, at least we aren’t starting from scratch on her physical prowess. He thought to himself as he rubbed his now very sore head. It was about five minutes later that Flurry finally came out of her room in a t-shirt she’d borrowed from Spike and a pair of shorts. Her face was still bright red and she couldn’t look Gohan in the eye as she came down the stairs.
Once she got to the kitchen, she yawned loudly, looking out the window for a moment. “Gohan, Aunt Celestia isn’t even up yet. Can’t we sleep a bit longer?” she whined as her bodyguard set a plate of burnt toast, badly fried eggs, and pungent smelling pancakes in front of her.
“Sorry, I’m not much of a cook, and no, we can’t. Miss Do’s mail route starts in thirty minutes. That’s enough time to wake up, eat, get your morning routine done, and get into your training gear.” Gohan said, setting his own food down before sitting, clapping his hands together. “Itadakimasu.”
Flurry just stared at the plate, a bit shocked. He went through the trouble of making me breakfast? She smiled and cut off a piece of her pancake, dunking it in the syrup on the side of the plate before popping it into her mouth. And that’s as far as it got. Her face turned pale and her body froze. Well, it’s the thought that, oh who am I kidding? This is horrid! Papa’s a better cook than this, and he gave the entire Crystal Guard food poisoning!
Gohan chuckled nervously as he saw his friends face begin changing colors. “Like I said, I’m not much of a cook.”
“No kidding.” Spike said as he walked into the kitchen, handing Flurry a napkin as she began scrubbing her tongue. “It smells like a buffalo used the kitchen as it’s latrine.”
The saiyan gave the two a deadpan look. “I get it, I’m not a good cook. Drop it.”
Spike chuckled a bit before taking the plates and depositing their contents into the garbage disposal, flipping it on. “Don’t worry about it, Gohan, I’ll teach you if you’d like. But for the moment, let’s get you two fed.” The dragon-blood said as he got to work on an actual breakfast.
Luckily, it didn’t take him very long and soon the kids had a delicious set up of blueberry toast, poached eggs, and banana pancakes with maple syrup for Flurry, while Gohan had a plate of six scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and seven chocolate chip pancakes.
Spike, Flurry, and the newly awakened Rarity watched as the saiyan demolished his breakfast in seventeen seconds flat. “Man, that was great! Thanks, Spike. That was almost as good as my mothers cooking.”
The dragon-blood donned a slightly smug grin. “Well, from how you go on about your mom’s cooking, I’ll take that as a huge compliment.” He smiled and knelt down to kiss his wife.
Rarity kissed him back before snagging herself a few pancakes, a few sausage links (one of her cravings made her start eating meat), some bacon, a glass of orange and peach juice, and an emerald tartar (another craving).
(Seriously though, Rarity, what exactly have you craved during your pregnancy?
Rarity: Well, meat for one, precious stones which Spike just keeps on hand for me, and obviously odd combos of my usual foods. Like lemons, pickles, and jam at the same time.
Ew.
Rarity: Oh, shush.
Son Goku: Mmmm, that sounds good.
NO, YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS ISN’T YOUR STORY!)
“So, Gohan darling, any reason in particular you’re up this early?” Rarity asked, tearing into her food as politely as she could.
“We’re starting Flurry’s training today, remember? Best to start early.” He answered simply, thanking Spike for the juice he passed him.
Spike then noticed something. “Gohan, you have bags under your eyes. Did you start having those nightmares again?”
Flurry looked up from her food to see that her friend did, indeed, have light bags under his eyes. “No, I didn’t sleep. I was busy.” He answered again, shoving another pancake in his mouth. After swallowing it all but whole, he continued. “I was busy working on something.” He stood up from the table, walking over to a bag he had set in the corner. He opened it and pulled out a dark purple gi that looked a lot like his, same kanji and everything. The undershirt for it was a shade of sky blue. All in all, it matched Flurry’s hair rather well.
Rarity smiled a bit as Gohan presented the outfit her, him, and Spike had made for the young princess, who was now sleeping on the table. The pregnant woman donned a confused look. “Gohan, we finished that hours before I went to bed. I thought you went to bed just before I did.”
“I did, but then I remembered I had to get another part of Flurry’s gi ready.”
Flurry huffed and puffed loudly as she carried the very heavy bag of mail from house to house. Being an alicorn-blood, she was naturally stronger than most her age, but this bag was every bit as heavy as her and Gohan together. Then, you just have to tack that onto the other little addition her teacher had made. “Gohan, explain… to me again… why I’m wearing seventy-five kilos of weighted gear?”
“I told you, it’s strength training. It’ll also give your stamina a good boost.” The saiyan turned to his student. “Come, on pick up the pace. If we’re late finishing this up, we’ll be working to finish it through lunch.” Flurry whined a bit at this, picking up the pace a bit. “I know you hate it now, but trust me. In a few weeks you’ll see the results.” Gohan said, pulling another letter from the bag and slipping it through the mail slot.
“A few weeks?!”
“Well, you didn’t expect to become an expert over night, did you? Where’s the fun in that?” He flashed her a quick smile, a light blush spreading over her cheeks. She smiled back and started walking behind Gohan again.
“One more question.”
“Just one?”
She glared at his back, knowing he had that smart-ass smirk on his face. “How come you aren’t wearing any weighted clothing?”
“What do you mean? Of course I’m wearing weighted gear.” He pulled off one of his wrist bands and dropped it, the princess’s face mimicking a dying gold fish as the small band slammed into the stone path hard enough to crack it. He casually bent to pick it up, slipping it back on. “Come on, let’s get going. We’ve gotta be at Sweet Apple Acres in an hour.”
Flurry gave another yawn as she struggled to keep pace with her teacher, dropping another package on the door step of another Ponyville resident. It was honestly startling how large this little town actually was. Maybe that was also due to the fact that she was lugging around an extra hundred plus pounds.
“How many more houses do we have to get to before we go help the Apples?”
Gohan took a look at the list, mentally checking off the homes they’d already hit.
“Fifteen.”
Flurry very nearly started crying at that answer as she continued on her way.
The alicorn-blood princess flopped face first into the dirt, Gohan looking down on her with a light smile. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. At least you aren’t getting the training I had.”
As much as Flurry was hating life right now, she had to admit that was at least one good thing about this whole situation. At least he wasn’t tossing her out into the wilderness for six months with nothing but her gi and a sword.
“Come on. We gotta get going to Sweet Apple Acres or we’re gonna be late.” Gohan said matter-of-factly. He started down the road slowly so Flurry could keep up with him.
The younger child whined again before standing and walking after him. Then, a thought crossed her mind. “Hey, Gohan, it’s gonna be a bit of a walk. Would you mind telling me a bit more of your story?”
The saiyan smiled and pat her head gently. “Sure, I don’t see why not. You’ve been working hard today.”
Flurry went from tired and annoyed to hyper and giddy as Gohan began his story from after Nappa’s death, detailing Vegeta’s Oozaru form and the technique he’d used to transform, as well as explaining that the monster that killed his grandfather was his father. He got to his fight with the saiyan prince. “I can honestly say I’m happy Vegeta was as tired as he was because if he hadn’t been, I’m pretty sure he would have killed me without a second thought.”
“Was Vegeta really that strong?”
Gohan nodded. “He was the strongest being to ever land on our planet at the time. There wasn’t a single doubt about that. And he refused to die to boot. Even after my dads Genki Dama.”
“Genki Dama?”
“Spirit Bomb.” Gohan translated. “It’s one the techniques he learned from King Kai, along with the Kaioken.”
“Wow, did he teach you any of those moves?” The princess asked excitedly.
The warrior prince chuckled lightly. “Yeah, he taught me them. The Instant Transmission technique I use my dad taught me as well.”
“Your teleportation technique? Your dad taught you that?” Gohan nodded with a smile. “How did he learn it?”
This one threw the boy for a loop. “Uh, you won’t like the answer.” She gave him an inquisitive look, to which he sighed. “He got it from eating sick aliens.”
Flurry’s face turned from the light pink it normally was to pale, to green. Then she made a quick trip to the bushes. Once she got back, she gave her teacher a disgusted look. “You didn’t-”
“Good green God, no! I just watched him do it and figured it out from there.”
The princess gave a sigh of relief, following after Gohan after a moment. “Do you think you could teach me?”
He smiled at her and pat her head. “Let’s worry about teaching you to fight first. Besides, you can already teleport. You don’t need to learn Instant Transmission.”
Flurry pout a bit, but didn’t say anything more. She did smile as they walked beneath the entry way for Sweet Apple Acres. She waved excitedly to Applejack, Apple Bloom, and a rather elderly woman who all seemed to be waiting for them.
Gohan smiled and bowed as they got to the Apple family. “Thank you for letting us train here.”
“It’s no problem, sugarcube, but Ah am a bit confused as to why ya’ll wanted to train here.” Applejack said, crossing her arms and unintentionally lifting her impressive bust.
The elderly woman stepped forward slowly, looking close at Gohan. “Are ya’ll the boy that done in that manticore that took my baby boy, Mac?”
Gohan gave her a sad smile and nodded, a bit shocked as she hugged him and the strength she was able to put behind it. “Thank you, son. Thank you.” She pulled back, smiling broadly. “Ah’m Granny Smith. From here on, ya’ll are part of the Apple family. Anything ya’ll need, just ask.”
“Really? Wow, thank you, Granny Smith.” Gohan said as Flurry started chatting with AJ and Apple Bloom. “Actually, there is something I’d like to ask for.”
“Oh? What’s that, sonny?”
“A job.” Granny Smith’s eyes widened a bit at this request. “I’m sure Twilight will be more than happy to provide for me monetarily, but I can’t ask that of her. I’d rather work for what I get and I’m sure you could use an extra set of hands.”
The old woman gave a laugh before simply smiling at Gohan. “Sonny, Ah’ll do ya one better. Ah’ll give you a paying job working here on the farm on the condition ya fill that empty room we got.”
The saiyan smiled and nodded, extending his hand. “You have a deal.”
The grandmother swatted his hand away, giving him another near bone-crushing hug. This time though, Gohan returned the hug. “I like AJ’s beef, apple, and cabbage stew, just in case you were wondering.”
“Well, Ah’m happy.” She whispered into his ear. “It’s mah recipe.” They both shared a laugh at this.
Gohan turned to see Flurry struggling to walk around in her gear again, smiling a bit more before he walked over to her. “Flurry.” The princess turned to her bodyguard. “It’s time to start the next part of your training for the day.” He said before looking to AJ. “Where is the field you needed tilled?”
Applejack looked at him oddly for a moment before simply pointing out to a large field of soft dirt. Actually, large wasn’t the word for it. Massive fit better. Gohan gave a whistle in appreciation. “That’s gotta be almost a quarter acre. That’ll be more than enough for us.”
Flurry’s jaw could not be any lower unless it fell off. “We’re gonna till that entire field?!” She asked incredulously. Gohan nodded and the student sighed a bit. “Okay, well, where’re the plows then?”
The saiyan chuckled a bit, pulling his arms into his shirt and letting the straps of his gi fall before pulling the red undershirt off, giving the ladies a nice view of his well built body before he slipped the top part of his gi back on, though his blushing apprentice (and a young blushing farm girl) noticed something she hadn’t before. His shoulder… where did that scar come from?
“What do you mean where are the plows?” He said, hanging the red undershirt of his outfit on a tree limb. The weighted part of his training gear was the over-shirt, so this was just to make breathing a bit easier as he worked. He got into a runner-like position, his fingers buried in the dirt. “We are the plows.” And just like that, he sped off, shoveling the dirt out with his bare hands.
The women just watched as Gohan plowed through the dirt, forming a straight line. Applejack started laughing loudly before she grabbed a bag of seeds. “Ya better hurry up, Flurry. Gohan’s gonna have the whole field done before long.”
The princess took on a determined, almost angry face before she got her hand in the dirt, immediately wondering if it was too late to go back home. She just growled and started pushing the dirt aside like her teacher had been. Her line wasn’t as straight, but it was straight enough that the other two Apples began planting seeds in it while AJ planted seeds in Gohan’s line.
Gohan stopped after his third line, noticing that Flurry had just finished her first and was starting on her second. “So, Gohan,” He turned to young farmer. “Mind telling me why ya got Flurry diggin’ in the dirt like a hog?”
The saiyan laughed lightly at her simile. “Well, I have her ‘diggin’ in the dirt like a hog’ as part of her training. Look at her face.”
AJ looked at her friends niece, noticing that while her determination hadn’t diminished in the least, there was another emotion on her face. “It looks like she’s hurtin’.”
“That’s because she is. The point of this training is hardcore conditioning and to help develop stamina as well as teaching her to control her strength. If she pushes too hard, she’ll mess up the line, if she doesn’t push hard enough, the dirt won’t move. The rocks and whatever else is in the dirt will help to toughen up her hands.” He noticed that Flurry was pulling her hands from the dirt and that she was bleeding a bit. He started to move towards her, but she instead got back to work plowing through to her third line.
“Don’t ya think yer being a bit hard on her?”
“Yes, but that’s the point. Nothing worth getting is easy. My training consisted of me running for my life until I could hunt what was hunting me, and now I stand nearly on equal footing with my dad.” He crossed his arms as he watched the princess toil away. “She asked me to teach her and to give her anything but the best would be an insult to her.”
“There’s a lot more to martial arts then Ah thought.”
“The martial arts isn’t a hobby or a sport. It’s a way of life that my father and many others have dedicated themselves to.”
AJ looked down at the boy. He was the textbook definition of an old soul in a young body. “And what about ya?”
“… I’ll get back to you on that. For now,” He got back down into position. “I’ve got a field to till.” He began to tear his way down the field, easily catching his panting student. She was much faster than he’d anticipated, but he figured that had something to do with her being an alicorn-blood.
Flurry looked over at Gohan as he tore past her, the girl growling a bit and picking up the pace. Man, this really hurts, but I’m not gonna quit! I refuse to quit!
Flurry gave another hiss of pain as Apple Bloom started cleaning out another cut on her knuckles. “Darlin’, this seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. What’s the point?”
The princess grimaced as AB finished wrapping her hand before looking out door and seeing Gohan outside, fighting a clone of himself. The multi-form technique he called it. Sweat and a bit of blood dripped down his chin before he rushed back at the clone.
“I’m tired of feeling helpless. I wanna be stronger so I can protect what means most to me. Just like Gohan.”
The youngest Apple looked out the door at the boy currently trading blows with himself at blinding speeds. “Ya really look up to him, huh?”
Flurry hummed in response, flexing her hand a bit. “Thank you, Apple Bloom.” She said with a quick hug that the farm girl returned, nearly causing her to vanish into her large chest. Once free, Flurry hopped off the table, idly wondering what she normally did when her mother did the same to her. She shook her head clear before walking to Gohan.
The saiyan landed hard after his clone kicked him to the ground, his hands cupped at his hip. “KA, ME, HA, ME, HAAAAA!!!!” He fired the beam of energy up into the air as his clone charged it’s own. “MASENKO, HA!!!” The two beams collided midair and shook the air around them, the blast wave very nearly uprooting the trees around them. The twin saiyans pushed against each other for a moment before the original dug in his heels and let a massive wealth of energy explode out into the Kamehameha Wave, easily overwhelming the clones Masenko. Lines of smoke ran out of the beam and into Gohan, his energy increasing by a wide margin.
“Wow.” He turned to his awestruck student. “I saw you use an attack just like that when you were fighting the changelings.”
“The Kamehameha. My dad taught me it. It’s his signature technique.” He smiled and pat her head. “Maybe I’ll teach it to you one day.” His smile faded as he looked down at her hands, knowing that even if she stopped today, she’d have the same little scars on her hands that dotted his.
She looked at where he was looking and smiled, jumping back and taking an improvised stance. He laughed and popped his neck, taking his own stance. “Well, I did want to spar to end out the day. Come at me!” No sooner did he say this did his friend run at him, throwing a poorly aimed punch at his head. He sidestepped and lifted his knee, letting her momentum carry her into the hit.
He spun quickly, kicking her back as he did. The princess cried out as she was kicked away, just barely stopping herself before kicking off the ground and rushing back in. Gohan simply sidestepped again. “You’re getting angry. It’s stupid to fight angry. Calm down.”
Flurry growled a bit before jumping into the air and kicking at the boys head, said boy dropping down under the kick, standing on his hands and slamming his heels into his students back. The alicorn-blood spun into the air before she stopped herself, hovering in the air with her wings. She panted hard and started looking for Gohan, only to realize too late that he was behind her. “DODGE!” She turned in time to get kicked down to the earth below once more.
Gohan landed a few feet away from her, watching as she slowly rose. “You’re losing me too quickly.”
Flurry panted hard, glaring at her teacher. “You’re… moving too… fast.”
“Your eyes will lie to you. Focus on my energy, not me.” He said, taking his stance again. This is gonna be a really long training session.
Twilight groaned a bit as she paced. It had been dark out for an hour now and still no sign of Flurry and Gohan. She knew that Gohan wouldn’t let anything happen, but she was still worried. “Spike, can’t you just-”
“Rainbow Dash is already out there looking for them, Twi. Worrying your hair out isn’t going to get them home any faster. They’re probably finishing up with training as we speak.” The sound of a heavy door sliding over the floor before slamming shut. “See, what did I… By the Goddess.” Spike said as he walked around the corner, Twilight close behind. The Princess of Friendship stopped dead as she saw the pair she’d been waiting for, dirty, sweaty, and in Flurry’s case, bruised.
Gohan shifted the girl in his arms, said girl wrapping her arms loosely around his neck and nuzzling into his chest. Twilight ran forward to the two, Spike next to her. “What happened?” She demanded in a hushed tone.
“We were training.”
“This looks like you tossed her in a cage with a boxer, Gohan.” Spike said, not bothering to hide the anger in his voice.
“Martial arts isn’t easy to learn and it’s even harder to master. It was Flurry’s decision to train, so going easy on her would be an insult to her and to me as her teacher.” The saiyan said as he carried his charge up the stairs to her room. Spike still glared at the boy, but he pushed the princess’s door open for him.
Gohan thanked him and moved into the room, laying Flurry in her bed as gently as he could, smiling a bit as he brushed some hair out of her face. He pulled a chair over to the side of her bed, grabbing a rag and going to the bathroom to wet it. He sat down before starting to gently clean the light bruises on her arms and the few on her cheeks from where she hit the ground.
Twilight came up behind him, watching him as he worked. He was such a powerful fighter, a tough teacher, and yet he could give such a gentle expression. The young woman watched the saiyan work for a moment before opening her mouth, only to be cut off.
“She has a lot of heart, and she’s more stubborn than a mule. I told her hours ago that we’d done enough for the day, but she insisted on keeping it up.”
Twilight smiled lightly. There was heavy guilt in his voice that hadn’t been there before. She put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s much stronger than she thinks she is. She just doesn’t know her limitations.”
“She’s going to need to learn them if she’s gonna get any stronger. Strength without control is just destruction. I’ve seen what that can do, and I won’t let it happen to her.” he said, cleaning a bit of dirt off her cheek. He gasped a bit as her pretty opal eyes opened a bit.
She smiled softly at him, her glazed over with sleep. “Thank you, Gohan.” she said softly, her eyes sliding shut again, that smile still on her face.
The saiyan’s smile returned and he brushed her hair out of her face again. “Twilight.” The princess hummed in response. “Heal her up, but only enough that she isn’t hurting too badly tomorrow. We need those wounds to heal on their own for her to be conditioned enough to show that the training was worth it.”
“How long is the conditioning portion of her training going to be?”
“If she’s really dedicated, the rest of her life. Like I told Miss Applejack, the martial arts is a life style, not a hobby. I’m sure right now Flurry hates life and probably hates me too, but if she stays on this path, she’ll understand.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before.” Spike said with a chuckle.
Gohan shook his head as he stood up, pulling the comforter of Flurry’s bed up and over her. “No, I’m just telling you what Piccolo told me during my training.”
Twilight suddenly felt a twinge of pity for the boy. “You really had it hard, huh?”
Gohan chuckled a bit. “I don’t think so. I’m happy with the life I’ve had. If I were to die, I’d have no regrets. I may not have been the most social child, but I know that there aren’t many people who can say the same. And I’m only eleven.”
He started to walk out of the room, wrapping his tail tight around his waist as he moved. He wrote out a quick note before putting on the table beside the door. “I’m headed back to the Apple Farm. Have a good night, guys.” He put his fingers to his head, vanishing from sight and leaving the princess and her assistant/captain of the guard alone.
Twilight turned back to see her niece still smiling. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her smile like that. Thank you, Gohan.
Gohan appeared in front of the Apple Family home, the smell of stew and pie filling the air. He walked into the house, smiling lightly as he saw the women making dinner for them. He looked over at a shelf and saw a table cloth, pulling it down and setting forth to get the table set.
AJ turned around about that time, smiling as she walked over, pulling down the dishes and setting them on the cloth with Gohan. They worked in relative silence as Granny Smith and Apple Bloom finished dinner and got the bowls made (a large mixing bowl being used for Gohan, along with his own personal meat and apple pies).
The older Apple sister poured them all some cider to go with their dinner whilst her saiyan housemate set out the silver ware and plates. After this, they all set their meals down and took their seats. After talking about their day (a house rule), they dug into the meal before them. Some more stories were shared, including some of the story AJ had heard from Gohan and the siege on the Crystal Empire.
They ate, laughed, Granny Smith got onto Apple Bloom for swearing at the table, which was funny to watch. The young woman’s face turned almost as red as her hair, even redder when Gohan made a comment about how she looked cute when she blushed, making them all laugh.
Never before have I wanted something so much, and not known until I received it. I kinda wish Mom, Dad, and Piccolo could be like this.
For the first time in his life, Gohan felt like he was part of a normal family. No wars had to be fought, no monsters from space trying to take revenge, no homicidal cyborgs or bio-androids trying to get vengeance for a long dead army. Just… that feeling of being home.
I wonder how you’re doing, Mom. I know Dad’s probably looking for me. I’ll make sure to apologize to you both when I get home. Until then…
Gohan picked up his fork and, without anyone noticing, used it to catapult a piece of his apple pie at AJ.
The blonde gave a rather adorable squeak that made Gohan, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom laugh. In retaliation, AJ slammed Gohan’s and Apple Blooms faces into their food, resulting in Granny Smith pouring her cider on her eldest granddaughters head. And the food fight commenced.
Gohan had so much fun that night, he slept better than he had since he’d gotten there. So, this is what a normal family feels like, huh? I think I like it.
The scene opens with Gohan flying into frame as a Super Saiyan, landing and powering down with a broad smile on his face before catching a falling Flurry Heart, the young girl wrapping her arms around the boys neck and kissing his cheek as the logo for Crystal Vanguard appears overhead.
Gohan: Hey guys! It's me, Gohan!
Flurry Heart: And Flurry!
Twilight: Hey, Flurry. How’s your training going?
Flurry Heart: Tough. Really, really tough, Auntie Twi. Gohan’s been trying to teach me a new move, but it's not going well. Speaking of which, where is Gohan?
Twilight: Pumpkin Cake wanted to play with him today, so I think he’s in town.
Flurry Heart: *blushed furiously* What?! Why would he go play with Pumpkin?! Hold on… somethings up with her energy.
Gohan: Next time, on Crystal Vanguard: Learn the Kaioken! Flurry Hearts Fierce Battle!
Flurry Heart: Get away from him, you monster!