As soon as Trunks' and Goten's fingers touched, there was a brilliant flash of light; Apple Bloom had to shield her eyes because of the intensity.
Suddenly, a small explosion burst forth from their position, and the two half-saiyans were blown away from each other violently. Trunks was bashed into a tree, and slid down after a moment of impact while Gohan caught Goten with his body, causing them both to fly into the river.
Apple Bloom was confused, and looked to Goku for an answer; he looked just as lost and surprised as she felt. That was not a good sign.
"What happened there...?" He asked the two young men as they recovered from they're short flights.
"I...don't know..." coughed Goten, spitting out the water in his mouth.
Trunks got up, laughing and half-grunting as he did so. "I think I know. Goten hasn't been training enough. I've gotten stronger than him and now he can't fuse with me. Shame on you, Goten."
"I have too been training!" Goten retorted.
"Well, you must not have been training hard enough. You really shouldn't be so lazy."
Apple Bloom felt a small surge of anger towards Trunks for insulting Goten like that. He wasn't lazy; he was just a lax person.
"Even if that were the case..." Goku said, his hand to his chin in thought. " failed fusion either results in an imperfect version of the fused persona, or nothing happens at all...I've never seen this before."
Goten's expression then changed from angry, to concerned as he looked at his best friend. "Hey Trunks...how come for a moment there, your ki became super dark..?"
Trunks shrugged, apparently not really caring about the entire situation at all. "How should I now? Maybe my dad's genes are more prominent in me than we thought."
"But Vegeta's ki has never felt that black..." Goten mused to himself.
Apple Bloom trotted over to Goten as he looked deep in thought; his eyes focusing on nothing in particular.
"You alright, Goten?" She asked, hesitantly.
He snapped out of his trance at her words, and turned towards her; putting a hand on her head and a smile on his face.
"Yeah, no worries!" He said. "I'm pretty tough! Heh."
She smiled back, but his physical condition was not what she had meant. However, she didn't try to ask again, because now the handsome half-saiyan was smiling again, and she didn't want to say anything to stop that.
She enjoyed his gentle petting for a bit, and then sat there as he moved to grab their packs and get ready to move; she was trying to hold on to the feeling of his hand on her as long as she could.
"Well," Goku spoke up loudly, his body and hair now back to normal. "now that we have the Dragon Ball and Uub is rebuilding his village, let's go track down the rest of 'em!"
Everyone nodded an affirmative and took to the skies.
* * *
In the busy East City, a lone stranger walked down the sidewalks. The people walking by made sure to either find another route to their destination or give the black and orange-clad man a wide birth. His physique is not what frightened them however; his near stick thin arms and legs were not the intimidating part about him. He gave off a strange vibe to those that got close to him.
Along with his black coat and armor, which was emblazoned with the insignia of the two-star Dragon Ball, he wore a hood which obscured his facial features except for his jaw and lips. If he did not do so, he knew people would make much more of a panic than if they saw him as he were now; and for his mission, he had to keep low until he reached his destination.
As the man with the Dragon Ball symbol on his chest continued forward, he came across a drink stand. He did feel slightly parched, and liquids would be good for him; he needed an extra boost if the saiyans decided to show their faces in his business.
"Um, hello there...sir?" The vendor greeted him, uneasily. "Something I can get ya?"
"I'd like a Hi-Tap if you don't mind, my friend." He answered; his voice was cold and carried with it a small hissing noise that was almost unnoticeable...almost.
The vendor, a bit too weirded out to remember to charge him, grabbed one of the canned beverages and handed it over to him.
He took it, graciously bowing and throwing a few dollars onto the cart. As he walked away, he snapped open the can, and began to drink. He then shuttered in revulsion.
"Five degrees is too warm for a drink..." He complained to himself. "No matter, I can fix that."
Without so much as moving, the can began to grow ice crystals on it as the temperature of it dropped to well below freezing; one would expect it to be an undrinkable block of ice now, but he raised the can to his lips and took a swig of the now severally chilled Hi-Tap.
Sighing in satisfaction of the ridiculously cold drink, the black and orange-clad stranger could see his destination ahead; the Museum of Magic and Mystery.
He smiled a toothy smile, and began to hum a little tune as his footprints left thin sheets of ice where they had once been.