Blooming Talent

by Griffin Productions

Intense, Fierce Training

The temperature fluctuated wildly between scorching hot and frigid cold inside the Chamber as Apple Boom and Goten sparred inside the white, infinite void. Goku watched from a short distance away as the two bounced off each other's attacks, and charged forward again and again like a cat trying to attack it's reflection. The two were evenly matched, but there was one reason that was so; Apple Bloom was only fighting at forty percent her new power, whereas Goten was at nearly ninety.

Each clash between the two ended the same; a collision ofstrikes, followed by a flurry of heated attacks that would be too much for many that were not Goku to track with their eyes, and then they would both pull back and charge again.

He sensed Apple Bloom's distress; her unwillingness to even attempt to use her power at it's fullest again after what happened on the World of The Kais. She was scared of what she could do, and right now, she was terrified that if she wet any further in her power output, she could hurt Goten; he knew she'd never want to do that.

Goku was not blind to the anthropomorphic mare's attraction to his half-saiyan son; in fact, he welcomed thepossibility of Apple Bloom one day becoming family. But it was not his place to interfere with their interactions when it came to love. He was her master in martial arts and fighting skills, not a matchmaker. That was something the two of them alone needed to handle.

He continued to observe their movements as they sped around in frantic loops, flips, and causing small air pops when they clashed. They had not tired yet, but Goku figured now would be an alright time for a break.

"Ok, guys, that's enough for now. Come over here." He hollered to them.

Apple Bloom and Goten both stopped their spar, and hurried over to the mighty saiyan, his halo almost invisible against the white void thanks to it's glow.

"You two are making progress," He commented. "but not nearly enough progress to be efficient."

They looked bewildered at him, not knowing what they were doing wrong. Apple Bloom had a suspicion that he was reffering to her holding back. Her thoughts were confirmed with Goku's next words.

"Apple Bloom," He said. "you have to train at the fullest power you have, or at least much higher than what your putting out right now. If this were a fight against Sapphic, you'd be hopelessly slaughtered."

She looked into his eyes pleadingly, distress becoming apparent on in her amber eyes as they met Goku's black ones. "But, Goku, you saw! I can't control it...I almost destroyed the whole planet..."

She could've hurt Goten, she added in her head.

Goku crossed his arms over his chest. "YEs, I did see. If you remember, I also felt it. I know what you're capable of, and that's why we came here, where no one can be hurt by what we do. In this place, you can unleash your fullest potential and this dimension will not even shiver. I'm fairly positive even Lord Beerus himself wouldn't be able to destroy this place."

Perhaps that was a little far, but he was actually pretty sure. There was technically no physical property aside form the doorway back to Earth that could be blown up, smashed, burned, or anything. It was a pocket-verse of infinity with no real mass. Apple Bloom could go full one hundred percent, and still not dent this reality.

"But what about you two?" She reasoned. "I could hurt you guys if I lost control again..."

"Apple Bloom, Goten and I are already dead." Goku reminded her, pointing at his halo. "And we aren't using ki blasts against each other, so unless you focus all your energy into one blast if you lose control again, we aren't going to be more than bruised a little. The only way to hurt us for real is to destroy our current bodies, which would erase us from existence in all realities, including Otherworld. The blasts that were shooting out of you on the World of The Kais weren't focused enough to do that, so you really have nothing to worry about."

Goten nodded in agreement with his father; looking his friend in her eyes as he did so.

She looked back at Goten, and she mentally recoiled at the thought of actually trying to hurt him, even he was dead. She just didn't think she could even really try to punch him. That was the reason she had only parried all of his attacks before; she didn't have it in her to strike that handsome face.

Goku took a step forward.

"You're worried about hurting Goten?" He more or less asked, already knowing the answer from her expression. "That's fine, then. You can spar with me. I can take whatever you dish out, so don't hold back at all. Release that strength on me and try to beat me into submission."

She looked up shocked at what she had just heard, and shook her head violently. "I--I can't!"

She was suddenly struck by a rather hard punch from the saiyan, and she flew back, landing roughly on her rump as her tail dragged beneath her.

"Dad?!" Goten exclaimed. "What--what was that for?"

Goku was looking deathly serious at Apple Bloom as she stared back fearfully into his intense eyes.

"I said attack me." He stated simply; no emotion in his voice at all.

She teared up a little, and tried to get back to her two hooves, her whole body shaking from what had just happened. As soon as she was standing again, she was floored once more by another, even harder strike from the saiyan.

She gave a small cry as she skidded across the surface of the Time Chamber, holding her face in pain. He began to walk menacingly toward her, obviously intent on hitting her again. She was panicking and started to crawl backwards away from her master.

"Please..." She sniffled. "stop...please stop..."

"Would Sapphic stop if you were fighting him right now?" Goku yelled, his rising tone threatening. "Would he just up and quit trying to beat you up if you say 'please stop'?"

She was struck with pure terror as Goku began to pick up his pace, moving closer to her in an intimidating manner. She got up and tried to strike at him, but it was half-hearted, and he smacked her away; the sound of his flesh clapping against hers rippled through the air like wet thunder.

She fell on her face, tears coming out not from pain, but from not understanding why this was happening. Why was Goku suddenly being so harsh and cruel for?

She yelped as she was yanked by her tail into the air, and then brought into a chokehold; Goku's beefy arms nearly crushing her windpipe as she struggled against him.

"If you don't come at me at full power, how can you expect to fight the tyrant who's probably killing ll your friends at home?"

He spun her round, and landed another blow perfectly in her gut, and high kicked her in the jaw as she doubled over which caused her to do a backflip and flop against the floor hard. She noticed that Goku had suddenly entered Super Saiyan state, and was towering over her intensely.

"Please.."She cried. "I can't do it..."

The Super Saiyan scowled, and lifted her up by her mane; her bow coming off from the force of the pull releasing her long red strands, at least the ones Goku didn't have a hold of.

He held her to his face and bellowed loudly. "No wonder you couldn't save your sister or friend! You don't have the guts to do what it takes!"

He threw her a few feet away, and she spun on the floor. Her face was tear stained, and her heart ached more than her body. His words had hurt worse than anything he had done so far.

As he stalked over to her, he shouted out eve more insults. "You're too selfish! Always afraid to do what has to be done to do what needs doing! You're so scared of your own ability, that you won't even use it to save your friends! You're as weak as your big brother; couldn't even tend to an orchard without dying!"

That last comment angered the yellow filly greatly; her tears turning from sadness to madness.

"Don't you say nothin' 'bout Big Macintosh!"

She lunged forward, her power raising to around sixty percent. Goku went Super Saiyan 2 to avoid taking too much damage as her fist planted itself in his gut. It did little more than cause him to bend a bit, and he punched her once again, sending her skidding a few feet away once more.

Instead of staying down, she rushed him again, her power now at sixty-five percent. Good, she was letting it go. Goku had no meant anything by his insults, and hated having to do this to the mare; but she needed to open the floodgates of her power. She needed to train at maximum potential, or else she wouldn't have the strength to bet Sapphic when it came time. He needed to get rid of her inhibitions; it seemed the first step towards doing this was working so far.

The two traded blows for a few moments, and then Goku caught her wrist, lifted her arm up and jabbed a few fingers into her exposed armpit, causing her to cry out. He tossed her to the side with a yell; the lightning crackling around his body.

She raised once more, a little more determination to punish Goku for his words in her amber eyes; but her power level remained at sixty-five percent, and was not showing signs of going up. She was still holding back.

He transformed quickly into Super Saiyan 3, and appeared behind her to smack her into the sky. He then appeared behind her in an instant once again, and delivered an overhead smash that sent her reeling into the ground. There was no big explosion or dust-up when she hit; there was no dirt or terrain to cause such. But she was hurt, and she was now struggling to get back up.

Goku floated down, and stood above her once more; his massive amount of golden hair sparking like static.

"You can't beat me like that." He taunted her again, attempting to get a rise out of her. "You're too weak. You couldn't save anyone in this condition."

She started to think he was right; she was too scared to save anyone. If this was any indication, she'd never be able to beat Sapphic; she'd never save Equestria. It would all be over. What was the point then? There wasn't one of she couldn't even save herself...

Goku felt her power level start to drop. Damn, she was giving up. He couldn't let that happen. He raised a fist to strike down at her--

"Dad!! That's enough!!" Goten's angered voice shouted out as the younger Super Saiyan sped towards them.

Perfect, Goku thought. Hopefully this would be the motivator she needed to come at him full boar; he'd apologize to his son later.

Goten came flying in to tackle his father and get him away from Apple Bloom, but Goku moved to the side and elbowed his youngest son into the floor as hard as he could (which was very VERY hard).

Goten landed, and instantly, he was back to his normal state. Apple Bloom gasped in shock as she saw this, and then a look of torture came to her eyes as Goku stepped on his son, putting most of his weight on his back as if to snap it. He didn't intend to, but if he could make it convincing, it might work.

"If you two can't even beat me, then I guess there's no use for either of you. Say good-bye to Goten, Apple Bloom."

That was it. Seeing her crush being hurt like he was had finally pushed her too far; on top of the familial insults, the mocking, and now Goten's own pain, he had finally pushed the right buttons.

Knowing what was coming, he turned into Super Saiyan 4, and the true fight began.

Shockwaves erupted with every blow the mare sent Goku's way; each contact feeling like a boulder sent from a slingshot into his body. He was barely able to keep up as she increased her speed exponentially. She blasted through his defense, and rocketed him upwards with a large uppercut that would have shattered a normal man's jaw. In less than a second later, she was bouncing the saiyan around like a pinball in mid-air. Six strikes per second, Goku counted, trying hisbest to block the majority of the pain she was dishing out to him.

She appeared above him, and with one huge wind-up punch, she sent the Super Saiyan 4 spiraling into the surface of the Time Chamber at unbelievable speed. If there had been any terrain here, there surely wouldn't have been anymore.

Goku struggled to sit up, a silly smile on his bruised and throbbing face. As he looked over at Apple Bloom, he sensed it; one hundred percent power. All except for that small bit Elder Kai couldn't unlock, she had used everything to make him pay for what he had said and done.

"Good job, Apple Bloom. I knew you had it in you..." He grunted out painfully.

She stopped seething when she heard his words, and a second later it clicked. He'd been testing her, hadn't he?

"You...you were...you were training me just now?"

The Super Saiyan 4 nodded curtly, the smile not leaving his lips. "I never meant any of the insults I threw at you, and I definitely didn't intend to cripple my son. I just needed to get you to stop refraining yourself. And now look..."

He motioned up and down her body, and she knew that she had been feeling it; her full power was out, and though it was a raging vortex right now, she was in no danger to anyone unless she wanted to be. No ki blasts randomly firedfrom her body, and no high speed winds threatened the Chamber's door to Earth. She was at full strength.

She calmed herself down a bit, and ran to hug Goku, who winced in pain as she threw herself into his body. She giggled a bit as h grunted.

"You kinda deserve that." She joked.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Goku agreed.

* * *

In the middle of an open field in Equestria, a lone pony stood waiting. Her white coat keeping her warm from the cold as her purple shades covered her red eyes. When that bastard Sapphic flew over here, he was going to know what it was like to be dropped by the bass...

Comments

[Philosophysics]

NO! NOT VINYL SCRATCH!

Only thing keeping me from crying is that this hopefully follows the DBZ formula!

[HB_DS2013]

What does Vinyl Scratch have to do with Sapphic?

[Mallory S Nocturne]

The f*toot*! Vinyl scratch's gonna die!

[Griffin Productions]

5787059 Sorry that the ending was kinda rushed with this chapter.;someting came up last second. I was going to explain why she is going to fight him, but I'll save that for the next chapter.

[Moonpie]

No. No No No! Don't you fucking dare! NO NO NO! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[AtTheCrimsonFckr]

Bass cannon 100%×20 haaaaaaaaaa.