//------------------------------// // The Battle Rages On // Story: Blooming Talent // by Griffin Productions //------------------------------// Apple Bloom's fist jammed into Sapphic's gut and not a second later, his jaw was roughly introduced to Goten's elbow. The southern anthro mare then swiftly grabbed the king behind his head, slamming his face into Goten's knee with intense force, breaking the tyrant's nose audibly. Sapphic gave a grunt, as his upper body snapped back from the recoil, and the duo delivered a dual kick straight to his chest, sending him flying back. The gave chase but Sapphic fired a blast of explosive energy that detonated before making contact, making the two warriors back off. He took a moment to catch his breath; he knew he wouldn't have but a few seconds. He may be stronger but his battle fatigue was still very much a strain on him. He needed to be careful; those two worked in such amazing sync it was unbelievable. Not even his six underlings on Earth had fought together this well. He wondered if it was from being fused...no, it couldn't be; he knew from years of spying that not even Vegeta and Goku fought that well together, and they had fused a few times. It had to be something else. His time to rest was brought to a close as the duo one again burst rom the explosion cloud, fists and legs flying. He tangoed with them for a brief few seconds, and managed to grab Goten's arm. He brought the Super Saiyan forward with brute force, and slammed his forehead into his own. Although this hurt the half-saiyan, it had been a foolish move, as he was temporarily dazed, which allowed Apple Bloom to land an overhead fist smash, sending the tyrant rocketing towards the ground. He caught himself mere inches from the dirt, and flipped back to a standing position. He looked to the sky but saw nothing, and whipped around in time to duck under Apple Bloom's swinging punch, and blocked her follow up quick with his knee. He chopped at her side where her kidney was located, and as she went to tend to it with her hand, he kicked her away and threw a high intensity ki blast after her, intending to turn her to cinders as she landed on the ground. She hit the round with an oomph but the blast would never reach her as Goten appeared to smack it into the ground like a small stone; it exploded at his feet, sending dust and rock all over the place, but the Super Saiyan did not even flinch as he launched his own attack on the evil king. The two exchanged blows at high speed, giving out short battle cries with each strike they made at each other. Goten caught Sapphic's fist and held it there, pressing his free palm against the king's chest. Before the beam left Goten's super charged hand, Sapphic moved to the side, and used Goten's iron grip against him, flinging him into the ground face first, making an imprint in the rock and dirt that was once Canterlot. He stepped on the Super Saiyan's shoulder, and threatened to break the young half-saiyan's arm if he did not let go. Goten did let go, but not before Apple Bloom arrived to grab Sapphic around the waist and perform an earth-shaking german suplex on him, smashing the back of his head down wit the force of a jackhammer. The ground crumbled like paper mache, and Sapphic gathered his strength to flip over and smash the still holding on anthro into the ground with his entire body weight. She did not let go, and Goten was suddenly atop him beating his already mangled face in with mighty and focused punches. Sapphic had had enough, and gave out a loud yell, using his signature air blast attack and forcing Goten away quickly, and pinning Apple Bloom to the ground, her grip broken by the pressure emitting from his body. He took a moment to land two sharp elbows into her side and flipped over to blast her into a new grave with a powerful blast. The energy engulfed Apple Bloom, and forced her down into the ground for several feet. He looked down once he finished his attack to see her struggling to stand back up; he was impressed she had survived the blast. "You're pretty tough, young one, but I wouldn't get up if I was you." He offered snidely. "Why don't you take your own advice!" Goten shouted from behind. He grabbed the king by the shoulders from behind, and brought his spine crashing down perfectly on his knee. Sapphic shouted in agony, and flipped over to lend a kick on Goten's head. The attack connected, and sent the young half-saiyan into the dirt once more as Sapphic landed behind him on his feet. He had no time to recover as Apple Bloom lunged forward into the fray once more. * * * Luna stirred, feeling a sharp pain in her chest as she regained consciousness. The kick that Sapphic had nailed her with had been a strong one; strong enough to shatter most of her ribs and bruise her flesh horribly. Curse him, she thought; this monster would pay for everything. She would see to it. She tried to stand, but the pain in her chest was far too great for her to put any pressure on her front legs. She tried to fly, but didn't get too far before her chest dragged down on her and she plopped back to the ground. Except it wasn't the ground. "Please stop bouncing on me..." Piccolo's strained voice rasped. Luna looked down at the namekian who was underneath her. He had broken her fall when they had been smacked downward by that nasty tyrant, and had probably saved her life in doing so. She knew he must be much more durable than her, but still, his face expressed an obvious pain as he lay beneath her. "Please, forgive me...I just--" She stopped when she saw his arm was smashed flat as paper beneath one of the massive stones that had accompanied their fall. His purple colored blood was all over the place, and was still pooling outward slowly. "Oh my! Piccolo, you are grievously injured!" She exclaimed. "Just give me a minute..." HE grunted again. He shouted to block the pain he knew was coming, and used his free arm to slice the damaged and trapped art of his other off in a bloody mess. As soon as the limb was severed by his ki enhanced chop, his bleeding increased, and he gritted is teeth to stop from shouting anymore. Luna watched in mute shock at the display playing before her; he had just willingly ripped his own arm off to get free. Something akin to a trapped animal chewing it's limb off to escape. She was about to offer her condolences for the lost body part, but then she saw it. Piccolo's wound began to bulge slightly, and the bleeding subsided as a growth began to form where the wound had been. With a loud growl, a brand new arm that looked fully formed and healthy sprouted instantly from the once bloody stump. "There...all good..." He breathed, laying back again and breathing heavily. "You...you can heal yourself..?" Luna asked, still staring at the new arm as if it were some strange science project Twilight Sparkle had invented. "Yes...and...I can sense your pain as well...four broken ribs...and bruised skin...I can...at least help with that..." He added. "Now if...I can just remember what Dende showed me..." He placed his hands on Luna's chest,and focused as much of his ki as he could into repairing the damages done to her regal body. Luna gasped and winced as she felt her shattered bones reform inside her and snap back into place as if they were never touched. The pain disappeared as soon as he removed most of the bruising form her outer flesh, and once he was finished, he let out a tired breath and fell back once more. "That...took a lot out of me...but at least your up again..." He said. Luna got up off of the namekian, and looked down at herself, lifting her wings to check for anymore injuries. She felt none, and saw none, so she decided there were none, and turned her attention back to the tired and nearly drained namek on the ground. "Heh...don't look...at me like that...I'll be ok...just...get back in the fight.." He chuckled a bit, trying to reassure her. She curtly nodded, remembering that they were indeed in the midst of a massive battle. She spread her elegant dark blue wings, and stated to fly up through the hole they had created when they fell into the cavern. She stopped to take a last look at Piccolo before leaving though. "Thank you, Piccolo." She told him, smiling. "Thou truly are a noble soul to protect on such as I."