Blooming Talent

by Griffin Productions

No Choice But To Fight

Vegeta jumped over several smaller carts, dodging and weaving through peddlers and merchants; the ones too slow to get out of his way, he shoved or shoulder brushed aside.

It was just his luck that one of those freaks had shown up here, and Kakarot and Trunks were nowhere even close. He was on his own, and even though he was strong, the power from that tall man was too...blood spattered, so to speak, to even attempt to fight. It was similar to Frieza's but darker in the sense that Frieza normally killed entire planets at once; this guy, though? This guy had killed all the people on his kill count personally; his power had a "stench" like death from the uncountable lives that he had taken.

Vegeta forced himself to stop thinking about that; he had to get away, to lose him in the crowd. If he flew off now, the creep would just fly up after him. He made sure he had a firm hold on the Dragon Ball, and dove behind a vacant shop set-up, doing his best to hide his power level.

He sensed the ominous energy again; he was walking slowly past the spot Vegeta was hidden behind. How did he keep pace with him just walking? Vegeta had been booking it. Hopefully he hadn't seen where the saiyan prince had hidden.

After a few more moments, the energy started to move away; the tall stranger in the Dragon Ball armor beginning to move out.

"I think I'm in the clear now..." Vegeta breathed to himself.

As he moved to get up, a sudden movement right in front of him caused him to jump back in surprise. A crazy-eyed woman with long black hair dangling from her head like a waterfall of darkness pouring out of her skullcap as she hung upside down in front of him.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, fair prince?" She giggled maniacally.

She dropped down in front of him to stand upright, and Vegeta noticed she too was wearing the same coat and armor the tall fighter had been wearing, except her insignia was the four-star Dragon Ball as opposed to his three-star insignia.

"You have to stay and play a bit! I've got so many fun games we can play!" she cooed.

Her green eyes seemed to sparkle with electricity; in fact, Vegeta could have sworn there literally were bolts of lightning dancing in her eyes.

Not just one of them, but two had found him here in the middle of nowhere. Why did life hate him so much?

The woman who was the same height as Vegeta poked him in the chest; an intense sensation of pain and burning hit him before he went flying through several carts, destroying even more goods as a pink lightning bolt blasted him across the way and back into the open.

He tried to recover and stand up, but before he could actually get back on his feet, he noticed the sand starting to creep it's way up his limbs, ever so slowly. What was this sorcery?

He looked up as he sensed the return of the ominous energy; the tall, sinister fighter had returned and was looking down at the saiyan prince in that same creepy way he had before, except this time, he had a faint smile tugging at the edge of his lips. His wide-open eyes made it all the more intimidating to see.

Vegeta stood quickly, examining his surrounding for a possible escape route. The creepy tall one stood before him, and the short woman with the storm in her finger stood behind, giggling and humming something akin to "Ring Around the Rosey."

"Ring around the rosey..." she started to sing, cheerfully; her body swaying in a carefree way.

To Vegeta's surprise, the tall one began to sing as well; his tone giving the normally silly song a sinister feeling.

"Pockets full of posies..." He sung with a smirk, his wide-eyed stare not leaving Vegeta's face.

The girl began to close in on him, her dancing a combo of drunken swinging and walking on numb-legs. "Ashes..."

"Ashes..."

"The prince...burned...down!" The green eyed woman shrieked, thrusting her finger forward like a javelin.

A large bolt of pink electricity shot from her pointed digit, and soared at blinking speed towards Vegeta. He saw it at the last second, and smacked it away; the bolt striking a stand, and lighting it ablaze in the hot desert sun.

Vegeta immediately grabbed the hand he had used in pain, which had been his right one; it had been pretty badly burned by the attack, even though he'd deflected it. In fact, he couldn't feel his pinkie or ring finger at all. Not good.

He was sure he wasn't going to have a choice anymore; he was going to have to fight them.

He whipped around as he hard the tall one take a step forward. The whirlwind of sand had become even more visible than before; his eyes looked like those of a predator that had trapped it's prey....hungry.

* * *

"I've got you now!" Apple Bloom yelled, leaping into the air with as much effort as she could muster.

Bubbles saw her coming, and quickly sped out of the way as the yellow mare hit the ground hard with a grunt. Applejack and Goten continued their pursuit of the little simian; Goten having been forbidden to fly, and Applejack banned from using anything like a lasso.

Apple Bloom struggled to stand up, and when she finally did, she felt like she had run for an hour; in reality, the training had only been going on for twenty minutes. This monkey was fast, or maybe she was slow? It had to be the gravity. That was part of the training, she guessed. At least her legs would be beefed up by all this, and maybe she'd pack more of a punch.

She shook her head back into game, and took of after Bubbles again.

King Kai watched from the sidelines, admiring the tenacity of the trainees. They were already getting pretty used to the gravity, especially Goten; he figured it wouldn't be too much longer before they caught Bubbles. It was impressive to say the least.

He did notice, however, they were looking a bit hungry again; why wouldn't they be? They'd ran off all the energy they ha gained from the earlier meal, and Applejack, as far as he knew, hadn't eaten anything since getting her body back. This would be a good time for a break.

"Hey!" He called out to them. "Let's take a break, and get some grub, guys. You've all been working really hard."

The three seemed to nearly collapse with relief at the mention of a break; they were all sweating profusely, and breathing hard. They had worked hard so far, as catching a monkey that was used to this gravity had proven to be easier said than done.

Applejack chuckled wearily.

"Woo wee!" she exclaimed. "I ain't exercised this much in a long, long time. My dogs are barkin'!"

"Dogs? I don't see any dogs.." Goten said, looking around.

Apple Bloom and Applejack both laughed loudly, and poor Goten looked at them confused.

"What?" He asked, innocently.

Apple Bloom managed to get control of herself and speak first. "She means her legs are really sore, Goten."

"That's a funny way of saying it. Why not just say your legs are sore?"

"We're gonna have to spice up your vocabulary, eh, Goten?" Applejack suggested, nudging his leg a bit before heading inside.

Apple Bloom smiled up at Goten, who smiled back, embarrassed at not knowing her terminology. They followed the orange mare into the house not too long after, but before the entered, Apple Bloom suddenly jumped up and hugged Goten tightly; her forelegs around his neck, and her hind ones around his waist.

He hadn't expected the sudden burst of affection, but he hugged her back as well, keeping an arm under her rump just above her tail to keep her from falling off him from the gravity.

"What's this for?" He asked her, moving his head back to look at her.

"Cuz hugs are great, especially when you give one to a friend!" She said, paraphrasing a certain pink party pony back home.

Goten laughed. "I guess I agree. But let's get some food in our bellies, eh? I'm starved!"

Applejack watched the two come in, and once again she wondered if that boy knew what Apple Bloom was trying to tell him indirectly. She really hoped he was just dense, and not trying to blow her sweet little sister off.

* * *

Vegeta back flipped twice to dodge two more lightning bolts that had been hurled at him; the bright pink zaps were disintegrating most everything they hit, and Vegeta thanked whatever power would listen that he was fast enough to see them before they turned him into ash.

The saiyan landed on his feet, and shot two ki blasts at the obviously insane woman. Before they connected with her, a wall of sand jutted up, sucking up the blasts like a leech shield before settling back into the desert.

During their skirmish, Vegeta had learned that not only was the short one capable of hurling oddly colored bolts of lightning, but the tall one with the awful eyes was able to manipulate sand as well; and of course, the battle had to be taking place in the desert where sand was literally everywhere.

Vegeta decided to stop inwardly complaining, and focus on the fight. Unlike the others so far, these two seemed to have plenty of combat experience, and were working in tandem. When one would attack ,the other would either serve as distraction, or become the defensive player, and protect the attacker as much as possible. So far, not much offense had come from mister sandman. He still looked very eager to kill the saiyan though.

"You always know just when to pop in, Dosne." The crackling woman giggled playfully to her tall companion.

He smiled darkly. "Of course, Seaiga. I'm always ready for anything."

"Hey!" Vegeta shouted, getting a bit annoyed. "How about you two quit flirting and we actually fight? Enough of this cat and mouse game! Just come at me and let's get this over with!"

Seaiga lauged; a high pitched noise that seemed to scratch at Vegeta's very eardrums.

"He wants us to stop playing, Dosne." She finally said, a mock sad tone in her voice. "But I wanna play longer."

"I'll make sure you have all the playtime you want, Seaiga." Dosne droned out, licking his lips at Vegeta.

Vegeta sensed the attack just before it struck; a spear of hardened sand jutted out from where he'd ben standing as he jumped into the air. He was immediately smacked back down to the ground by Seaiga, who had somehow gotten behind him in mid-air.

As he hit the desert floor, he was bounced back up again by a volcano of sand; the particles burning hot from the time in the sun. As he was flung in the air, he saw the woman called Seaiga charging up another attack, and hurled a bolt at him.

He barely had time to react, and decided it was now or never. He gave a definitive shout, and as the bolt struck his prone form, he used it's energy to speed his transformation along. In mere moments, Vegeta hovered above the market, his hair a brilliant gold, and blue electricity crackling around him. He was breathing hard from Seaiga's attack, but he was alive, and now, he wore a smirk on his features.

"Now you're in for it, fools!" He bellowed in a righteous voice, booming across the sky. "This is Super Saiyan 2! It shall be the last thing you ever see in this world!"

The two Dragon Ball emblazoned warriors didn't even flinch.

* * *

King Kai's antennae shot upwards, and he gasped in concern.

This quick behavior did not go un-noticed by his hungry students.

"What's wrong there, King Kai?" Applejack spoke up.

King Kai gave a nervous smile, and laughed. "Oh, uh, nothing...just, uh, something I forgot came to mind, that's all."

He turned back way from them, his face turning rather fearful. Vegeta had found the three-star ball, but he was now alone against two of those strange fighters. Even at Super Saiyan 2, King Kai could sense Vegeta's powers were no match...this was troubling indeed.

Apple Bloom walked over, as did Applejack. They knew when someone wasn't being totally honest, and wanted to know the real reason behind King Kai's distress. Tapping him on the shoulder lightly, Applejack spoke first.

"King Kai, not to be rude, or nothing', but somethin' serious is buggin' you." She said. "Please, tell us what..?"

King Kai sighed; he supposed there was no way to hide things from the Element of Honesty herself. He turned back away from them as Goten walked over to join them.

"Just place your hooves and hands on my back. You'll see what I am seeing..." He said.

The three did so, and fell into another sense of consciousness. It felt like they were a satellite hovering miles above the world, searching for something. They concentrated on what King Kai himself was seeing, and instantly, Apple Bloom and Goten gasped.

"Vegeta's in trouble!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

Comments

[Fluffy-Boi]

Sorry... But I must place it here.

[Darklight902]

If pan is nine years old, and you are talking about beerus, then shouldn't goku and Vegeta have the super saiyan blue transformation? Also, the original super saiyan transformation multiplied their base power level by 50 times.