//------------------------------// // It Happened Again // Story: Blooming Talent // by Griffin Productions //------------------------------// It felt like the corridors and large rooms stretched on forever in this place. Had there not been the present danger of possible attack at anytime and the ice all over the place, Apple Bloom would've been impressed by the sheer size of the museum and the sheer number of artifacts on display. As the group rounded another corner, she noticed Trunks had a strange look on his face. His eyes were darting up to the ceiling a lot, and when she looked to see what he was supposedly seeing, she didn't see anything. What had him so interested in the roofing of the old place? Maybe he thought something was going to fall on top of him. She hoped it did; mean as that sounded, he kind of deserved it. Trunks then suddenly stopped them, putting a hand up in a halting gesture. "I think it would be best if I go look for the Dragon Ball this way." He said, pointing down one of the out of the way hallways. "You guys can keep looking elsewhere." Without waiting for approval, he started to move. "What about Vegeta?" Goten asked him, a bit of a sharp tone in his voice. "Yeah, yeah, him too." Trunks said, not even turning around as he continued to walk off. Once Trunks was out of sight, and presumably out of earshot, Goten let out an exasperated guttural noise; he took a small break sitting down on one of the frozen benches along the wall which was once used to view the rather large statue in the center of the chamber-turned-industrial-freezer. Apple Bloom trotted over to him, concern in her eyes. She really didn't want to see him like this, and would much prefer it if he was smiling. Randomly, she found herself wishing Pinkie Pie were here; the pink party pony somehow knew how to cheer anypony, or in this case, anybody up in an instant. But Apple Bloom wasn't Pinkie Pie, and so she offered what she could. She sat down on the bench beside him, using her red tail to keep her rump warm. He didn't even look over to her, and just had his head in his palm. "I can't believe after so many years...he's just done with me like that..." The young half-saiyan finally spoke. Apple Bloom put a sock covered hoof over his shoulder as comfortingly as she could. There had to be someway to take his mind off the current situation. She could only think of one, but did she have the courage to do it; and was it appropriate at a time like this? She figured it may as well be now or never. She leaned her muzzle up to his cheek, and planted a quick kiss upon his face. Goten's eyes went wide with surprise, and he looked at Apple Bloom in a silly way. Now several questions were running through her mind, and one of them was if she had just made a mistake. "What...what was that for?" Goten asked, gently touching where her lips had made contact. "Well," she answered, rubbing her right foreleg with her left one and blushing a shade of red that gave her name of Apple Bloom merit. "I thought maybe I'd take your mind off the bad stuff for a little bit." Goten just stared, trying to think of something to say to the mare who was now a little closer than he remembered her being a moment ago; it looked as though he was trying to rationalize what had happened. "I'm sorry if that was too--" "No, no.." Goten stopped her. "it's ok, Apple Bloom, you didn't do anything wrong...I just...didn't expect it is all." She looked down a bit, but made herself look him in the eyes after a minute. "But...did I do somethin'...right?" Goten was about to speak, but Gohan once again shushed everyone; the scuttling noises were back, and they sounded much more prominent then before. It was almost like the saibamen wanted to be heard this time. Apple Bloom and Goten slowly got up to stand as they listened around; the scratching noises in the walls now more than noticeable. Just as suddenly as the noises had started, they stopped. The silence was sudden and thick; it was also suspicious. "Did...did they leave?" Goten asked. After a moment, Goku replied. "I don't think so..." There was more silence for a few moments; the tension in the air becoming palpable. Apple Bloom breathed in to speak, and I was at that moment the room suddenly became filled with green monsters breaking through the floor and walls. There was almost no time to react before each of the fighters present were trapped in the vice grip clutches of the saibamen. They struggled to get free, but Goku noticed that the saibamen were merely a decoy trap. He looked down and saw ice forming around all of their feet; the sheets thick like the ones all over the building. He tried to move his now encased foot, but the ice was not normal, and was tougher than any ice he had ever encountered before. Once everyone was frozen in place by their ankles (or hooves in Apple Bloom's case), the saibamen released the captives...all except Goten, who one eager looking saibamen still clung to. Gohan was suddenly filled full of dread; he remembered what had happened the last time a saibaman had clung onto a friend of his like that, and he was now filled with intense fear and panic at the thought of it happening to his little brother. "Goten!" He shouted. "Don't...move...a muscle..." Goten was focused on the green beast stuck on his chest; it's evil red eyes entrancing him in a tense gaze that caused bad vibes to run all throughout his body. From above, unseen by the warriors, Izotz observed the scene. From what he had collected thus far, the little pony with the impressive power had an attachment to the youngest saiyan. He had ordered one of his saibamen to help conduct a possible way to see if his theory of it being a sleeping power rather than a known one was true; now it was time to carry out the experiment. Without even needing consent from it's master, the saibaman laughed maniacally; a screeching and ear scrapping sound as it started to glow brightly. Goten's eyes filled with intense fear as he felt he rise in power on the little monster that clung to him. "GOTEN!!" Gohan cried out, trying to bust out of the ice, but only succeeding in breaking one of his ankles, and shouting out in pain at doing so. Apple Bloom looked on in horror as she saw heard a loud boom for a split second. The rest of the noise was drowned out completely by the ringing in her ears, and her vision was obscured by he brilliant white flash of the saibaman's attack. She hoped that maybe Goten was ok; maybe he was just hurt and could still be helped. Her hopes were faultering as little bits of flesh and blood started to spatter across her yellow fur. As the light began clear from her vision, she saw what she was desperately hoping not to; Goten, or what was left of him, was lying on his back, unmoving. His chest was completely blown open, ribs missing in a few places and his organs seemingly having disintegrated. His lower jaw had been blown clean off; his charred tongue hanging limply on his exposed trachea. One of his hands was also missing. There was not too much blood on the ice covered ground, but it had probably been vaporized by the heat of the explosion. Apple Bloom thought she heard Goku and Gohan both screaming out Goten's name in agony, but her world had gone numb; their voices were little more than blurred out background beats to the symphony of shock currently playing in her aching heart. Her eyes did not move from Goten's mangled cadaver; she didn't want to see anymore of it, but she just couldn't look away. She couldn't believe the handsome and kind young half-saiyan was nothing more than a burnt husk on the iced floor of a dead museum now. Izotz focused on Apple Bloom through the shouts from the other two. He still sensed the extreme power level within her, but it currently was not rising in an attempt to break free of the ice as Gohan's and Goku's were. "It is not an active power level." He deduced. "She has no idea she has such massive potential. Good for me, bad for her. I believe I can safely engage." He dropped down from the high ceiling, and hit the icey floor with a crunch. Goku, Gohan, and Apple Bloom turned suddenly to see the hooded figure rise from his landing position; his black and orange attire emblazoned with the two-star ball sticking out to them instantly. "You!" Goku yelled furiously. "I thought we finished you!!" "You finished my comrade, not me." He said, pointing to the number of stars on his armored chest piece. "I am Izotz; completely different than Aedus." Goku's eye were burning with anger; his son's horrible demise still replaying itself in his head. "I don't care who you are!" He shouted loudly. "You've made me mad!!" The air pressure was rising rapidly, but not just around Goku; Gohan's energy was suddenly nearly matching Goku's, if not starting to surpass it. Izotz hadn't expected this; why was Gohan's power just coming out now? But then he sensed it; something he ahd not anticipated for: kai magic. "I didn't plan for fighting someone with power unlocked by the kai's!" He gritted his teeth. "I must regroup and replan!" He jumped off, zigzagging throughout the ice-made rafters and passageways of the museum. "You won't get away!!" Goku screamed as he transformed into Super Saiyan 3, blasting the ice away from his feet. Gohan finally didn't hold back, and unlocked his mystic power he had gained from the Elder Kai years ago and broke free as well. HE suddenly fell as he put pressure on his ankle; the one he had broken trying to save Goten. His mystic power vanished as the pain broke his concentration. Goku put a hand on his son's shoulder, and Gohan nodded. "I'll be right back." he said, darkly to both him and Apple Bloom. "Find Trunks, take Goten, and get out of here." He then flew off at high speeds after Izotz, his massive golden hair flowing behind him. "I'm coming for you, Izotz!!" Gohan watched his father take off after the villain, and then limped over to Apple Bloom to blast her legs free. As soon as he did so, she galloped and slipped a few times over to Goten's corpse. Her tears were too heavy to hold back as she saw his eyes; open and blank, no light left in them at all. They were forever staring out into nothingness. She began to sob uncontrollably, her whole body convulsing as her lungs tried to regulate her breathing, but failed to do so. She had lost another one; she had not been able to save another one of her friends. She had lost Goten. It had happened again. Gohan knelt down and hugged the crying mare, as she flung her forelegs over his shoulders. It was taking every ounce f control he had to not start bawling as well; he shut his eyes tight, and managed to choke out a few words. "It's...it's ok...Apple Bloom...it's...it's gonna be..o..ok..."