//------------------------------// // "And This Is To Go Even Further Beyond" // Story: Blooming Talent // by Griffin Productions //------------------------------// Apple Bloom stared at Goku as he washed the ashes out of his gi in the river they had camped out by. Gohan and Goten had done the same and were drying off said clothes; to her perverted dismay, Goten, along with Gohan, had brought spare clothes to wear while they cleaned the other articles of said fabric and cloth. Her mind wasn't really focused on that at the moment though. The thing that occupied her brain was what the hay had happened back there? Goku had turned into some kind of glowing god, or something, and still got his butt whooped by that strange fighter with the Dragon Ball on his chest. Speaking of the Dragon Ball, she was at least relieved they had found Uub and the one-star ball. He hadn't flown far, and had admitted to Goku that once he had found a hiding place for the magical orb, he would've come right back to the battle, to which the saiyan smiled and chuckled at. Apple Bloom had not been smiling nor chuckling, however. This was seriously bugging her; what had Goku don back there? On top o that, what had the other guy done as well? Spitting fire; super heating his skin? Uub had said he was like a walking volcano, but she thought he had just been using colorful descriptors for the now deceased arsonist. On top of all of this, she still was getting the creeps from the one named Trunks. He just gave off this weird vibe whenever he talked. Sometimes when he walked by her, he would shoot a strange glare at her; whenever she would ask about that, though, Trunks would act confused. Goten had told her he could be trusted, and that they'd known each other since birth basically. That didn't help her bad feeling, unfortunately. Goku finally dressed himself, and yawned slightly. He was a little tired, but she could tell he was still full of energy. The day was only halfway through, afterall. She waited until he sat down beside her to ask her question. "Goku?" "Hm? What is it, Apple Bloom?" "How'd...how'd y'all do that back there?" She asked, unsure of how to describe it. She was going to have to somehow, because the mighty saiyan raised an eyebrow in question. "The whole...hair color change thing.." She said, deciding that was as best as she could say it. "Oh!" He smiled. "You mean me going Super Saiyan." She blinked. "Super Saiyan?" "Super Saiyan is a form that those with enough saiyan blood can transform into and out of at will once they unlock the ability to do so." Goku explained. "It's a power multiplier that amplifies your natural fighting abilities by double. In other forms, it triples or even quadruples it!" "Wait, other forms?" Apple Bloom questioned. "What other forms?" Goku raised a finger to speak, but suddenly looked unable to think of a proper way to explain it. He rose to his feet instead. "It'd be easier if I show you." He smiled, standing a bit away from her. The young mare watched him intently, waiting for the transformation to happen once again before her very eyes. Goku grunted, puffing his chest out; a shockwave of air blasted out in a radius around him and he became the same golden haired warrior from earlier. "This is a Super Saiyan." He said, his voice a slightly deeper pitch. "This form doubles my natural abilities." He suddenly looked as if he were posing for a muscle magazine; his veins popping out of his arms as he grunted once more. Another air blast, and his hair stood even straighter up save for one small strand that hung in front of his face; lightning crackled all around his glowing body, and the pressure was starting to build in the area around them noticeably pushing outward from his center. "This is Super Saiyan 2." He said, his voice once again even deeper than before; his eyes also seemed to get more menacing. "This form triples my fighting power." She looked awestruck as the saiyans body seemed to have become a living electrical conduit. He was extremely intimidating even just standing there. "And this..." he started, hunching over and putting as much pressure on his muscles as he could muster; veins once again sticking out all over his skin. He suddenly began shouting as if in pain. She thought something was wrong, but somehow refrained herself from moving. The air pressure became almost unbearable as Goku's long drawn shout began to echo off the very mountains themselves, miles away. After a few more moments, the ground began to shake, and rocks floated slowly up into the air along with small rodents and a few bigger stones; the trees around the river looked as though they were holding on by their roots trying not to get flung away by the massive output of pressure from Goku. Apple Bloom herself was clutching as best she could with her hooves to the ground as she started to be pushed away from her original point. This was crazy; what kinda person had the power to do this with his voice? Was it even his voice doing this? It sure sounded like it. She glanced at the river; the water was sloshing violently and fish were jumping like salmon up a waterfall attempting to escape whatever was happening. Goku gave one more definitive shout; the very sound cracked a large boulder some feet behind him. As the air died down, Apple Bloom looked back up at Goku, and her jaw dropped as her pupils shrank to pinpricks. Goku had completely changed; his golden colored hair now extended all the way to his ankles and looked like a big, static filled shell on his back. His eyebrows had disappeared as well, but where they used to be, his skull had pushed out, making it look like he had a permanent evil look on his face. His frown did nothing better to help that image, but is electric blue eyes were the most terrifying. They held such passion and power within them that if she looked too long into them she might start whimpering. She had never, ever even dreamed of someone looking like this in her wildest imagination. Goku smirked cockily at her stunned expression. "This is the big one; the legendary Super Saiyan 3." His voice had become deeper still, and held an edge to it as if his words were knives being held to her throat. "Pretty impressive, huh?" He questioned her, flexing a bit as more lightning straddled his arm. "My power is quadrupled in this state." "Where...are your...eyebrows...?" She asked finally. Goku looked confused. "Huh? What do you mean?" "Your eyebrows are gone.." "What?" He exclaimed, feeling the bumps that had replaced them. "I don't have any eyebrows when in this form?!" "You've been able to use this form for years, and you're just now discovering this cosmetic change, dad?" Gohan's voice came from behind them. Goten and Gohan were both returning from their laundry duties on the other end of the river. "Well...I guess I never looked in a mirror like this." He chuckled nervously; a sound that did not match his dark pitch. "This is the first I'd heard of it. Maybe that's why everyone looks at me funny like this. I always thought it was the massive amount of hair." "Well, that's pretty distracting too, but the eyebrows draw our attention."Goten laughed. Apple Bloom had a burst of curiosity suddenly. She pointed a hoof at Goten and Gohan. "Can y'all do that too?" They smiled, setting the clean clothes back into a pack. "I can transform up to Super Saiyan 2." Gohan said. "Goten here has only reached Super Saiyan, at least by himself." "By himself? You can get help going higher?" She asked. Goten beamed as an idea seemed to come to his head. "Can Trunks and I show her fusion?" Another technique she didn't know about? "What's fusion?" "Fusion is where two people of similar strength and power level can form one being that adds their power together." Gohan explained. "It basically creates a whole new person temporarily out of two existing people." "You mean to tell me you can mesh people together and make a new person..?" She asked doubtfully. "Just watch, Apple Bloom, I'll show ya." Goten happily exclaimed. "Hey, Trunks!" Trunks, who had been sitting on a rock nearby, looked up at the beckoning Goten. "Apple Bloom wants to see our fusion! She wants to see Gotenks!" Gotenks? Who was Gotenks? The person Goten would become when he did fusion with Trunks? She didn't think she liked that idea; Goten was perfect as he was, and Trunks was still sending her all the wrong signals. "Fine." He said, hopping down and walking over to join them. The two young half-saiyans took positions next to each other. In a moment, they both started moving in perfect synchronization; they raised their arms and started to walk sideways towards each other. "Fuuuu--" They suddenly stiffened, standing on one leg with the other bent, their arms shooting out away from each other to the sides. "--sion!" They quickly leaned into each other, pointer fingers extending to touch each other. "HA!"