A/N: For this chapter, we'll be centering more on the DBZ characters and plotline. That's all I'll say for now. This chapter is set in a dimension that's seperate from the world of Sailor Moon, a.k.a. the world of DBZ.

Special thanks to my reviewers: Light-Sakura, Princesa De La Luna, Bunny Heart Medicine, Puffgirl 1952, Rinny Wolf, Princess Seraphina88, and Sailor Dragon 1 for all of your reviews. The support is greatly appreciated! I hope you all enjoy this chapter too!

Warnings: The dates may confuse you. In the DBZ world, there's a completely different timeline system called the Age system. (At least that's what it said on Wikia.) For example Age 780 is the year Gohan dies in Future Trunks' timeline. Three years later, Age 783, he fights the Androids (in the manga anyway. In the anime it's like the next day or so, but I'm using the manga adaptation for this little tidbit). In 784, he goes back to the past nearly twenty years, the year being Age 765 in the DBZ world when he arrives. We're switching between these two time frames in this chapter. Also, normally in stories I directly tell my readers who's point of view the segments of the chapters are going to be in. Since I'm trying out a new writing style, in this story I will not do so. It's all a big guessing game, but if I manage to get the characterizations right, you'll know who's who. Anyway, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Sailor Moon or Dragonball Z

Chapter 4

A Wrinkle In Time Part 1

March 5th, Age 784

For three years, I've gone through the continuous cycle of mentally beating myself to a bloody pulp because I'm unable to do so with my hands. I want to claw out my hair, dig my nails into my skin, anything to punish myself more than I already have for allowing my mentor and best friend to die at the hands of the androids, for being too weak to take them down after finally becoming a Super Saiyan. I remember training endlessly, overconfident in my newfound abilities and at the first chance, I rushed into a losing battle. It was a close call but I was lucky. Somehow I always managed to luck out of trouble, out of the clutches of death.

The moment I found Gohan's body plays in my mind over and over on repeat, almost as if someone found humor in watching me torture myself with grief. I suppose if anyone were to find humor in this pain, it'd be 17 and 18. Yeah, those two thrive on causing misery to others. They're drawn to the scent of blood like a vampire would be if they actually existed. Still, no monster in folklore is nearly as terrifying as the horror that's been my reality.

Struggling to survive against these machines has been my life story. Even so, I still found moments of happiness within it. Though nearly all Earth's heroes were gone, there were still a few left. I still had a few people in my life to keep me strong like my mother and Gohan before he...

I wish I could hate him for the stunt he pulled that day. Knowing he knocked me out cold to stop me from running into my death doesn't make the anger I feel any less consuming. On the contrary it just makes me angrier because his concern for me ended up costing him his life.

Rationalizing the reasoning behind his actions serves no purpose but to frustrate me, yet I keep trying to figure out why he knocked me unconscious, why he wouldn't allow me to fight alongside him. I already know the answer, but I keep asking myself those questions anyway, trying to make sense of why he had to die at all.

My father fell to the Androids long ago, so Gohan had become like a father to me. He protected and encouraged me, helped me become the person I am today, but then in a flash he's just...gone.

I can't stand the rain now. I used to find it refreshing on a hot summer day. Rain was a sign that something good would grow from the darkness. Up until that horrible day, the rain was a beacon of perpetual hope. Sometimes I'd spend hours standing in it, soaking up the droplets that continued to give life despite the surrounding death.

But now when I think of rain, when I see it, all I can envision is Gohan's body lying in a puddle of rainwater, his eyes wide open, lifeless.

The rain soaked through my clothes as my feet brought me to his corpse. I couldn't understand, couldn't fathom the idea of Gohan being dead. The reality was staring straight into my waterlogged eyes and I couldn't accept it. I still haven't accepted it yet, even after three, nearly four, years. At this point, I don't think I ever will.

The memory of kneeling by his side enters my mind, it's like my body was trying to force me to make sense of it, but there was no sense in his death. There was absolutely no logic or sense of fairness as to why he had to die, why anyone had to die at the hands of such monsters.

Screams echoed along with the sound of the rain. At first I was certain that the androids had struck somewhere else, that someone was in danger, that I alone would have to perpetuate justice for their despicable crimes.

But as the screams continued, the truth finally registered in my mind. I was the one making the sound and Gohan was irrevocably dead before me. Upon that realization I screamed louder, cried harder, clenched my fists so tightly that I drew blood with my nails, but the physical ache of the wounds were lost on me. There was only one emotion I could feel as the sound of my screams resounded over and over in my ears.

Rage.

And then there was a spark, something deeper than any hatred I've ever known, broke through my subconscious. I lost all control of my senses as a golden glow surrounded my body, making my hair stand up on end. My hatred and lust for vengeance blinded me in those moments, but then I awoke and saw the world again through new eyes, eyes that would strike fear into the hearts of those androids...or they would have if those things had hearts at all.

"Trunks! Are you ready yet!"

Blinking away the images I turn my gaze away from the mirror in front of me. "Yeah, mom! I just have to finish brushing my teeth. Okay?"

"Fine, but you better hurry," my mom called. "We don't exactly have all the time in the world. Get your butt in gear."

"Right, today's the day." A smile tugs at the corners of my lips as I grab the tube of toothpaste and my toothbrush from the cabinet behind the mirror. "For now I can put those memories behind me. I'll be able to see Gohan again, and I'll meet my father and Goku too. If all goes well, I'll be able to reverse the damage that's been done to this timeline with the help of Mom's time machine."

One way or another, even it costs me my life, I'll put a stop to the murderous rampage of the androids.

Twenty years earlier

February 14th, Age 765

7:05 a.m.

"GOHAN! GOHAN!"

"Oh, no, please not now mom," I thought, turning over in my bed while squeezing my closed eyes a bit more tightly in response the to shrill sound of her voice. She wasn't yelling at me to study or anything like that. On the contrary this was just the routine breakfast call. I know this because my stomach usually reacts to the yummy smells wafting up the stairs long before her voice ever reaches me.

My stomach churns with hunger, but I'm in absolutely no shape to get up yet. For one reason or another I just couldn't sleep last night. My continuous tossing and turning became a redundant cycle as needless anxieties crept up in my mind. After three hours of achieving nothing but tangling the freshly washed sheets, I gave up on sleep and decided that studying would be the best way to distract my restlessness. This worked for an hour or so, but then my thoughts drifted to the past as one reoccurring question continued to eat away at me, feeding into the already shaky state of my mental clarity.

When will dad finally come back home?

It's nearly been a year since Frieza's defeat on Namek. Initially I, along with all of my friends, thought he had blown up along with the planet. We were so certain of it that we hunted madly for the restored Dragonballs on Earth to wish him back to life as well as Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu who died during Vegeta's attack on Earth. Oddly enough, while on Namek, he became an ally and even saved my life from one of Frieza's deadly attacks.

In any case, we were surprised and relieved to find out that my dad didn't actually die. He was alive, well and on some other planet in some distant galaxy. We tried wishing him back to Earth, but Shenron told us expressly that dad wasn't ready to come back yet. None of us could begin to understand why he wouldn't want to come home, but knowing him it's probably to make himself stronger so that he'll be ready for any new perils that might befall the Earth.

Hopefully that won't happen for a while, but even knowing Dad has a good reason to stay away doesn't make his extended absence in our lives any easier to deal with. I know he'll come back, but it's difficult for me to be patient as more time passes. I really miss him and wish he were around...

Especially in moments like this because after studying my brain into a stupor, the last thing I want to do is go downstairs and listen to mom's rants about me being a famous and successful scholar. Don't get me wrong, it's not just her dream for me. I actually do want to be a scholar someday, but I also want to have a normal childhood and have days where I just run around and goof off all day. I'm not saying that I don't get to do that sometimes. Mom is strict but not so much so that she won't let me be a kid. Still, she grills the studying thing religiously and will sometimes quiz me randomly first thing in the morning. Today, there's no way I can stomach it. All I really want to do is sleep now that my brain has finally settled down.

"Gohan! Breakfast is ready!"

Unfortunately, I've inherited my father's wild appetite as of late. Ignoring my stomach is impossible. Ugh, talk about really bad timing for that to happen.

With a groan I blinked my eyes open, wincing at the sunlight filtering in through the window. "I'll be right down mom." Blinking and moaning I attempted to plant my feet on the floor.

"Alright son!" she called, just as I clumsily plummeted to the wood floor beneath me with a small yelp. "Be sure to wash up before you come down."

Stifling another fatigued groan I lifted myself up. "Yes ma'am!"

Fifteen minutes later

My mother stared at me with wide onyx eyes as I unconsciously tore through the breakfast she prepared. As always, the food was delicious, the usual assortment of bacon, pickled omelets, french toast, fried rice, a hash-brown casserole, ramen noodles,chicken stuffed dumplings, cinnamon roles, and blueberry pancakes spread out across the tabletop. Even though I tried to eat with my manners in tact, my stomach screamed angrily at me to fill it up and not waste time worrying about what mom may do in response. On most days I was able to win against my Saiyan instincts, but exhaustion prevented me from fighting them today.

Mom was clearly flabbergasted at the display, but instead of saying anything like she normally would in this situation, she simply sat down, watching me eat. I complimented her cooking over and over because today, it was especially good. A faraway look gleamed over her eyes as she continued to watch me, never replying to the compliments I gave her. It actually started to worry me a little.

"Are you okay mom?" I asked, swallowing the mouthful of the casserole she'd made.

She nodded, that faraway look still in her eyes. "Yes, I'm fine Gohan." A bright smile lit up her face. Pressing the palm of her hand to her cheek she said, "You just remind me so much of your father."

Grinning, I set down the bowl of ramen, my hunger subsiding for a moment. "Do I really, Mom?"

Her smile slipped into a snide looking smirk. "That's not necessarily a good thing Gohan. Your father never did have any manners. Whenever food comes into play he completely ignores his impact on people around him. He'll talk with his mouth full, at restaurants he'll ask for more food long before he finishes his first plate..." she trailed off, a slight giggle slipping from her mouth. "If he hadn't spent all his time training I'm certain he'd be obese."

"Obese?" I questioned, blinking in confusion. "What does that mean?"

My mom's eyes narrowed, the usual fire in them returning ten-fold. "Now, now Gohan you know the rules. If you want to know what a word means, you have to look it up in the dictionary." She pointed toward the bookshelf in living room for emphasis.

Sighing I stick my fork into a piece of an omelet. "Can't you tell me what it means? Just this once?"

Mom laughed again, rising from the chair to remove the apron around her waist. "Well, I suppose I can tell you this one time since today is a special day."

"Special day?"

"Yes," mom answered while hanging up her apron. Turning around she gave me an odd look that I remember her distinctly giving Dad once, the look that says, "Don't play dumb you know what I'm talking about mister."

Of course Dad didn't know what she was talking about and neither do I.

With a groan she muttered, "Today is Valentines Day, Gohan. You don't remember me telling you about it?"

No, I remembered. She told me about the holiday revolving around couples in love last month. It's not a holiday like Thanksgiving where you get to eat a really special meal or Christmas where you get lots of presents, so I put the whole thing out of my head. From my standpoint, it sounded like a holiday meant solely for girls.

"That's today..."

"Yep, today," Mom replied, smiling as she sat back down at the table again, a glass of water in her hand. "Your father used to always forget too..." she trailed off once more, that faraway look in her eyes coming back, probably to stay. "Oh, Goku...I wish you'd come back."

Setting my fork down I turned my gaze toward the living room. There's an armchair near the television set where Dad used to sit after training. I was really young then, but I remember all the times we played together near that chair and the times when I'd just sit on his lap and watch T.V. with him. Peaceful days like that, with Dad being in the forefront of my life, I can barely remember it.

But he's still a great man and an even greater warrior. The way he came strolling in when Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta and I were in a losing battle against Frieza was amazing. He was so confident and calm. The fight could have been his last, but I doubt the thought even buzzed through his mind. I don't think Dad has ever been inclined to think that way about any situation. He's always up for new challenges and ready to beat impossible odds. Dad became a Super Saiyan and took Frieza down, saving me and everyone else in the process.

I know he'll come back someday, even if it takes a little while longer.

With that settled in my mind I slowly rose up from my chair. "Hey mom?"

She blinked, having obviously been lost in thought. "Yes, what is it Gohan?"

"I was wondering," I began, walking slowly around the table so I stood by her side, "do you think you and I could take a walk through the woods today? I remember you telling me that you used to do that with Dad all the time, right?"

Mom nodded, a look of slight surprise on her face. "What brought this about Gohan?"

"Dad wouldn't want us to worry about him," I told her, determined to make her smile. "He knows Valentine's day is special to you and is probably thinking about both of us right now, hoping that we make the most of the day and spend as much time together as we can so we can tell him all that we did when he finally comes home." Pressing my hands together I pouted a little. "So, can we go please?"

I don't think I've ever seen my mom smile so brightly. "Of course Gohan..." she trailed off, that smile turning into a devious smirk. "After you've finished..."

"Actually mom, last night I couldn't sleep so I did my homework early," I cut in, giving her a smirk of my own. This was bound to make her happy, so much so she'd give me the day off from my studies tomorrow too..."

"YOU STAYED UP ALL NIGHT! THAT'S NOT HEALTHY!"

Before I could blink Mom had raced to one of the kitchen cabinets. Seconds later she stuck a thermometer in my mouth and placed her hand over my forehead while muttering inaudibly to herself. Once the little thing beeped she yanked it out, staring at the numbers.

"Ninety-eight point eight," she stated, glaring at me now. "Gohan, I think you should take a quick nap first. That should cure the fever."

I felt like slapping myself for walking into this one. Still, I am really tired and with Mom's moods swinging like this, it's probably safer to just go along with the overreaction. After all, she just wants what's best for me and staying up all hours of the night definitely isn't a good thing.

"We'll go on our walk in a few hours." She smiled again, moving toward the closet where she'd hung her apron. "That'll give me time to prepare a picnic lunch. Does that sound good?"

"Yes ma'am that sounds perfect," I answered, my eyes locking on the messy table. "Do you want me to help you clean this up?"

She shook her head as she passed by me, already moving to pick up the pile of empty plates. "No, no Gohan. You go upstairs and sleep for a while. Like I said before, today's a special day. Now go get some shut-eye."

"Okay..." I started for the stairs.

"And Gohan."

"Yes Mom?" I asked, halting in my tracks.

"When I say obese in reference to your father, I mean that with all the food he eats he should be severely overweight."

Her back was to me, so I couldn't see her expression, but the warm tone in her voice assured me that she was feeling better about Dad. Knowing that I helped made me smile.

"Thanks mom. I'll see you later."

Back in the outskirts of Crystal Tokyo

1:23 a.m.

"Keeyah!"

After dodging Pluto's Dead Scream blast for the umpteenth time, Kousagi spun on her heel, raising up her right foot as she did to slam an unrelenting roundhouse kick to the side of the older woman's head. Pluto yelped out in pain, slamming into the ground and hitting her head against a tree in the process, effectively knocking her out for the count.

With a breath of exasperation, Kousagi transformed back to her base state, grateful to the tree for helping in her efforts. That kick definitely wouldn't have been enough to stop Pluto from attacking again. She'd been tougher than the thirteen-year-old first anticipated.

Kneeling down she breathed in and out while reaching down into her pocket for her cell phone. Tapping a button, blue light lit up her face as her eyes looked at the time.

"I wasted a whole hour," she muttered, rising to her feet once again while stuffing her phone back into its place. Huffing she stalked toward her duffel bag a few steps away, Crimson Shakugan and her time travel pen lying right beside it.

"I told you to just use me to blast her with a fire attack, but nooooooo," Crimson stated after Kousagi slung the sheathed blade behind her right shoulder again, making sure to secure the sash attached across her torso. "Apparently you don't ever want to listen to what I say even though we're practically the same person. Dummy!"

"Well, if that's the case you're just as dumb as I am," Kousagi fired back, tucking a loose strand of raven hair behind her ear before slinging her duffel bag over her left shoulder. "Besides, a fire attack could have killed her. We don't want to do that, especially when we can make up for lost time without much effort."

Crimson grumbled from within the dull stone corridors of Kousagi's mind, her scarlet eyes shifting to one of the crumbling beige columns. "Whatever. You're still a dummy."

Kousagi didn't even attempt a comeback. After all, it was the same line she always used to shut Crimson up. They're two sides to the same person, if one calls the other stupid, they're both stupid. Of course, that seemingly ingenious logic never seemed to faze Crimson anyway. She said what she wanted without hesitation. No amount of pestering on Kousagi's part ever made a difference.

"By the way, you really need to add some color to your mind," Crimson added, drawing out the words to add emphasis on how miserable she was hanging out inside Kousagi's inner world. "It's about as boring as that Wolf's Rain cartoon..."

Kousagi stopped dead in her tracks, clutching the sheath a bit more tightly in her hand while gritting her teeth. "First off, it's called anime! Secondly, Wolf's Rain is a beautiful, heartfelt story about a wolf finding his paradise..."

"Oh please, you only watch it because you love listening to Johnny Yong Bosch talk," Crimson interrupted. "Seriously, who has a crush on just a voice?"

"Just another side to my soul," Kousagi muttered, not even bothering to fight the inevitable rolling of her aquamarine eyes. "Yeah, that's classic. We may as well be two different people." Rolling her eyes again she addressed the spirit. "I love Wolf's Rain for the content, not the stupid voice actor." With another exasperated sigh she lifted her arm up toward the dark sky above her.

"Tell yourself that all you want to little girl but I..."

Cutting Crimson off mid-rant, Kousagi began to chant words up toward the clouds. The words were reminiscent to the words Rini used to speak when she would travel through time and space to spend with her meatball headed mother while she was still a teenager.

"Magic prism of light, I ask for you to guide me on this night..."

"Hey! How dare you start chanting while I'm talking to you!"

Kousagi's eyebrow twitched, but she ignored Crimson's voice. "Through time and space, keep me at a steady pace until at last I find..."

A swirl of teal energy began to circle around the teen, rising higher as a gust of cool wind whirled around her.

"Hope to fill their days and goals to fill thy mind," Kousagi continued, abruptly opening her eyes to lock on the portal opening inside of the New Moon. "Forces of all that is good, take me through the portal. Rewrite the past and make happiness immortal!"

The light of the magic intensified as gravity became nonexistent within. Seconds later, Kousagi found herself moving inhumanly fast through the sky, through the portal, and into the swirling black and blue void that was the space-time continuum. The push and pull of energy forced her forward, but Kousagi felt no fear. The first time she traveled through the void she was thoroughly and understandably freaked out by the seizure inducing flashes of light directly in front of her as well as the odd sounds of howling, voices, and she distinctly remembered hearing a cow moo loudly, adding a whole new meaning to the nursery rhyme about the cat and his fiddle.

You know, cause the cow jumped over the moon...

All attempts at joking aside, Kousagi heard it and nearly had a panic attack, especially when she literally saw a cow floating though the space-time continuum about a minute or so later.

Luckily, it didn't take long for Kousagi to become accustomed to the strange sounds and visions of the strange void of space. Now she enjoyed pinpointing the different sounds that filtered in and the different sights she saw, though a cow jumping over the moon never came up again. Even now, that part would still freak her out a little.

"Kousagi...Kousagi..."

The young woman in question mentally sighed. "Why does the spirit in my sword have to be so immature."

"Ugh, wrong spirit dummy," Crimson stated, rolling her eyes from within Kousagi's inner world. "Honestly, just because I pranked you in here that one time!"

Kousagi kept her gaze straight ahead, opting to keep quiet and focused on the task at hand instead of engaging in another pointless argument with the spirit of her sword. She'd wasted enough energy already.

"It was Halloween for crying out loud! Don't you have a sense of humor? It was funny!"

It certainly had not been funny. For the next month the poor girl's dreams were plagued with nightmares because of Crimson's little stunt. In fact, she nearly didn't come back to Crystal Tokyo because she'd been terrified to go through the portals of the weird realm again.

"So I called your name out over and over and pretended that I was the souls of those soldiers you killed the week before," Crimson stated, trying in vain to defend her actions. "The timing may not have been great but the look on your face had been priceless."

Kousagi groaned audibly, an involuntary shudder shaking through her as she remembered how the spirit had perfectly mimicked their voices. "Crimson..."

"Well, it wasn't me this time!"

Suddenly the swirling light in front of her intensified, changing shapes and colors as Kousagi's airborne body regained its weight, dropping toward nothingness in the span of two seconds.

"Crimson if this is a joke!"

"I already told you that it wasn't me!"

Kousagi gazed frantically around her, watching as the blue and black swirls slowly slipped into hues of grey and green, then white and yellow, and lastly red and orange. Gravity continued pulling her down until a gust of invisible energy slammed into her chest, knocking the air out of her and sending her hurdling backwards.

Biting back screams Kousagi tried to stop herself from somersaulting through the shifting space, but she had no control over her body anymore. Just when she thought she was about to hit the some form of ground another portal would suck her up, causing her to spin in circles and flip around the twisting space. Kousagi couldn't begin to guess how long this continued or how she managed to hang on to her sword, bag, and the time travel pin, but she managed it, spinning uncontrollably all the while.

"Definitely...getting...nauseous," she screamed out, another yelp escaping her as she hurdled down again. She couldn't discern her environment anymore or make sense of the disjointed echoes of chiming bells. It was far too much to take in.

But before losing consciousness, she briefly saw the silhouette a strange machine mixing along with the void she found herself lost in. Within the bulky, yellow thing sat a young man. She noted frustration in his sky-blue eyes as he fiddled with the controls of whatever that thing was, but after he and the machine disappeared into the void, swirling endlessly with the colors of the cosmos.

A/N: And that ends this chapter. As for what happens next, you'll have to wait and see. The only thing I can say at this point is that Kousagi's adventures have begun. Also, when it comes to where Kousagi ends up, it won't be where you expect. Don't know what I'm talking about? Stay tuned. The only way to find out is to read the next chapter.

Also, when it comes to Gohan in this chapter, I'm not entirely sure how well I did with his characterization and his interaction with Chi-Chi. I'm hoping I didn't make Chi-Chi too over the top because she's more than just a person who yells about studying all the time, but the yelling is hilarious. Plus, with Gohan, at this point in the story he's only five nearly six years old so I may have made him a bit...too smart. With how often he studies he should be smarter than the average kid his age and he's more mature because of what he's dealt with to this point, but I don't know. What do you guys think? It's my first shot at writing for his character and with Trunk's too, so I'd like to know if I did okay or not. Constructive criticism is welcome. As the old saying goes, there's always room to improve. Thanks for reading everyone! Please review.