Oozaru-Gohan released a furious roar that shook the surrounding planes as he was struck by the combined powers of the Sailor Scouts in their Sailor Planet Attack. The girls screamed and fell, breaking contact and feeling sufficiently weakened after such an attack. Horrified, they looked on to see the Oozaru before them seemed hardly phased by the blow.
"It didn't work!" shouted Sailor Jupiter, slamming her fist on the ground in frustration.
"Come on guys! We can't give up!" Sailor Venus tried to encourage her team, seeing the hope beginning to fade in the eyes of her team.
"Oh give it up Venus! What chance do we have against him?" Mars spat bitterly, her fists clenching in frustration. "We're not powerful enough to defeat him when he's like this!"
"Then we'll just have to turn him back into a human!" a familiar voice chimed in, making all the Scouts look up. "Sorry we're late!" winked Sailor Moon, her hand on her hip and striking her signature heroic pose with her bright smile. Tuxedo Mask stood behind her with a small smirk playing across his handsome face, a mischievous glint in his stormy blue eyes.
"I can't believe you tried the Sailor Planet Attack without me." Sailor Moon pouted playfully, folding her arms across her chest and turning her head away in mock irritancy, "How rude." She grinned as her Scouts seemed to choke out a small laugh between them. "Come on guys!" she said more seriously, frowning at their dejected expressions. The determined look of a true warrior on a mission pasted across her beautiful face and she smiled, "We can take him. We just need a plan!"
"Right!" agreed the team, getting to their feet slightly shakily.
"Uh, any one actually got a plan?" Sailor Moon laughed, almost making her team fall over again in exasperation. They glared at her playfully and she laughed sheepishly. "Hey, I got the motivation speech down!" she defended.
"Yeah, now you just gotta get your brain into gear for the rest of the battle." growled Sailor Mars with a harsh tone and Sailor Moon glared at her friend, sticking out her tongue as her childish retort.
"What happened to Vegeta?" Tuxedo Mask asked, interrupting their argument before it could escalate any further. He glanced around with a small frown. "And is Goten alright?"
"Goten's fine." Mercury replied, tapping her earrings and typing on her compact computer quickly. "Vegeta was crushed by Gohan."
"WHAT!" Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask gasped together, looking horrified.
Mercury frowned as she continued tapping, "Don't worry, according to my readings he's still alive. Otherwise his life energy would have disappeared completely. But, there's another energy approaching. I- I've never seen this energy before!" Mercury stuttered, her worried tone not escaping that of her partners and they glanced at one another, all wondering the same thing.
Is the approaching energy a friend or a foe? Their moment of peace was disrupted by the powerful roar of the Oozaru that towered above them. Impatiently, he began to send high energy blasts from his mouth, destroying the large buildings that surrounded him with absolute ease.
"We need to stop Gohan before this other energy shows up! If it's another enemy, I don't think we can handle it!" warned Sailor Mercury, snapping her compact shut and the computing goggles before her eyes vanished. "We need to attack his tail and I think cutting it off would be the best plan."
The Scouts nodded and quickly formed a plan. Sailor Moon put on a brave face, but Tuxedo Mask could feel it. Her energy was almost at its end and he was struggling to maintain his hero-form as he was. If this failed, he was pretty sure their energy levels would drop too low to maintain these forms. But he knew Serena, and knew that she would tap into the dangerous depths of the powers within the Silver Crystal to try to save the people of Earth.
That kind of a move would cost her her life, and he'd be damned if he would let it come to that. He had to protect her.
"SPEACIAL BEAM-"
The Scouts heard a deep voice crying out and Tuxedo Mask suddenly felt a surge of power near them, before they could even begin their plan.
Sailor Venus suddenly cried out, upon seeing a strange alien-like creature nearby in purple gi. He seemed to be charging up his energy to a point on his forehead and, much like her crescent beam attack, she knew he would fire a powerful beam of energy. But it wasn't the attack that made him cry out, it was his target!
He was aiming for the moon!
"NO STOP!" she shouted, "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" immediately, a link of powerful magical hearts erupted from her hands and flew towards the alien-like creature and wrapped around his wrist just as he seemed to be releasing his attack.
"-CANON!" Piccolo shouted, but as his attack was suddenly pulled off course by a glowing chain that wrapped around his arm and pulled him to the side. Making him miss his target and, cursing under his breath, he quickly flew out of Gohan's line of attack.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Sailor Jupiter shouted at the being, furious at his attempted attack and watching angrily as the creature landed in front of them and glared furiously.
"I was going to destroy the moon." He growled, glaring at Sailor Venus as she released her magical hold on him. "It's the source of his transformation power since I couldn't get a clear shot at his tail."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Sailor Mercury gasped, surprising her fellow Scouts with her sudden outburst. "If you destroy the moon then you would destroy the Mare Serenitatis, which is the source of Sailor Moon's power!"
"We can always restore the moon after we stop Gohan!" spat the creature, his intimidating air hardly making the Mercurian Princess even wince. She continued to glare at him with furious determination.
"Not without the power of the Silver Crystal! But she won't be able to control it if her power source is gone." she countered and Piccolo continued to glare down at the small blunette.
"We don't have time for this, guys!" Sailor Moon suddenly interrupted, and Sailor Mercury winced as she felt some of the power of the Silver Crystal hit her in a disciplining manner, which only happened when Sailor Moon used her authority as Princess to overpower her subjects. "We have a plan and we need to stick to it." She turned a powerful and determined gaze up to the alien towering over her, without even a hint of fear. "As much as we appreciate you trying to help, we can handle this."
"You don't know what you're dealing with. Gohan's more powerful now than he was last time he became an Oozaru. He's more dangerous like this." Piccolo warned, anger and regret evident in his tone.
Sailor Mercury's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Last time?" she muttered to herself before her eyes suddenly widened with surprise. "Y-you're Piccolo aren't you? Gohan's first master?"
Piccolo sighed and nodded, his fists clenching. "I let this get out of hand." He grumbled and the Scouts frowned at him thoughtfully. They screamed as they were brought back to the present state of danger with the furious roar that erupted from the Oozaru and they dived out of the way of his furious mouth-beam.
"How about we worry about whose fault it is later?" teased Sailor Jupiter, getting to her feet and dusting herself off.
"Right, everyone knows what to do?" Venus questioned with finality and the group nodded before separating to keep their share of the plan in action.
"MERCURY BUBBLES, BLAST!" Sailor Mercury cried, creating a cold fog around everyone. Gohan roared furiously and began sending powerful blasts of energy from his mouth, trying to attack anything that surrounded him.
There was a scream amongst the shadows, making all the Scouts panic.
"Is everyone ok?" Sailor Moon shouted nervously, sensing Tuxedo Mask's ki and feeling comforted in knowing he was at least safe.
"I'm fine!" Sailor Mars called, "It almost got hit. Sorry!" she apologised, quickly getting to her feet. "Keep going!"
"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" Sailor Venus cried from the mist, her magical chain of Vensuvian hearts wrapping around the thundering feet of Oozaru-Gohan. He roared furiously and was about to move forwards and break the chain that tried desperately to hold him.
"SUPREME THUNDER, CRASH!" Sailor Jupiter shouted, attacking, not Gohan, but the ground by his feet. It gave way and the Oozaru was very close to losing his footing. He roared angrily, but continued to try to regain his balance. Venus could feel her chain beginning to weaken and gasped, gripping it tightly and squeezing her eyes shut, begging for her power to hold.
"NO! VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!" Sailor Venus cried desperately, summoning more of her planetary powers and charging it through her Love Chain, holding it together long enough to trip up the powerful Oozaru. With a disgruntled roar, Gohan fell over his own feet and crashed to the ground flat on his stomach. The girls screamed as they tried to remain balanced during the earthquake Gohan's impact with the ground had created.
Sailor Venus gasped, feeling her body weakening significantly from that burst she had summoned and she struggled to maintain her Sailor form. She fell to her knees, gasping for air, but keeping a firm hold of her Love Chain. Terrified that, if she let go, she may de-transform completely.
"MERCURY BUBBLES, FREEZE!" Sailor Mercury cried, charging around Oozaru-Gohan's fallen body and quickly beginning to freeze him to the surface of the Earth. Knowing that he would be able to break it within a moments' notice, she hoped it would hold long enough.
Sailor Mars immediately began her ritual chanting, summoning her powers as a priestess and combining them with her magic through multiple paralysis scrolls, "Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" She leapt into the air and threw them all over Oozaru-Gohan with a cry of "Evil Spirits, Be Gone!"
But, within a few moments, he was showing signs of resistance to her magic. "Mars Crystal Power!" Sailor Mars cried, closing her eyes and summoning as much of her powers as she could and focusing her magic on controlling Gohan long enough for Sailor Moon to finish the attack. The fire princess began to glow red with power, as did her scrolls and successfully paralysed the creature. But she knew it wouldn't hold for long. "Hurry Sailor Moon!" Mars managed to choke out, desperately trying not to break her concentration.
"Right! My turn!" Sailor Moon cried, grasping her tiara from her head and charging her crystal powers through it to enhance the power of her attack more than she had ever done in the past. It slowly began to spin and transformed into a flying discus that floated patiently in her hand. She looked up to Tuxedo Mask, who nodded and closed his eyes, focusing his energy into charging the discus. They prayed this plan would work, it needed to be as powerful as they could make it.
Taking a deep breath, Sailor Moon took aim of the powerful discus in her hand, "Moon Tiara, MAGIC!" she cried the familiar attack and threw it forward towards Gohan's tail.
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Sailor Jupiter cried, spinning a powerful storm of thunder-clasped leaves. They, too, surrounded the flying discus and were absorbed. Charging its' power even further.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Sailor Mercury cried, following Jupiter's lead and attempting to charge the discus as much as they could. Again, it absorbed her attack and now appeared to be glowing with a blue-ish silver haze, as the power of Mercury and the Silver Crystal shone through; a golden glow surrounded it, as the power flooding through from the Golden Crystal was increased and it crackled dangerously with the power of Jupetrion lightening.
"Please let this work..." Sailor Venus pleaded weakly as she watched the discus fly towards Gohan's tail and make contact.
A furious roar erupted from the Oozaru, as the paralysis scrolls were no longer needed. His tail landed with a loud and thunderous thud by his shrinking body and, exhausted, Sailor Mars fell to her knees and panted for breath. She was shaking and she could feel fatigue threatening to overpower her. It had taken nearly all of her magic to keep the Oozaru frozen for those precious few moments.
The Mercurian fog had already cleared and roar of the Oozaru faded. Instead, it became the screaming and agonising voice of their half human, half Saiyan friend once more. They watched, amazed as he became human, but was in his Ascended Saiyan form. He held his head, crying out in agony before falling limp completely. They knew, immediately, that he had lost consciousness when his hair returned to its' original ebony shade.
"I-is it over?" Sailor Venus seemed to voice out weakly, as she watched Sailor Moon's discus return to her hand and levitate there momentarily before becoming her tiara once more and safely falling into her open palm. She placed it back on her head and smiled at Tuxedo Mask. Her smile faltered immediately as he seemed to be frowning in Gohan's direction.
"I don't think so." He said darkly, seeing Nikiko appear by his young friends' body. Nailah appeared not a moment later, a few feet away from her sister and the unconscious Saiyan.
Nikiko bent down to Gohan's side and glared furiously at her sister, "This isn't over." She hissed.
"DON'T!" Nailah called and, for the first time in their battle, she charged up her energy and fired a black ki-blast upon her own sister.
"FOOL!" Nikiko shouted, immediately charging her own energy and responding with a ki-blast in return. The collision of the these two blasts should have created an intense explosion, that would have at least knocked back the Scouts, Tuxedo Mask and the other members of this present battle.
However, that is not the case.
Upon collision, the two blasts seem to absorb one another and, in a small puff of black smoke, they disappeared completely. No one seemed to have been harmed by the attack, but it had redirected their attention long enough. When Sailor Moon looked back to where Gohan and Nikiko should have been, she saw the fading silhouette of the flaming aura that usually surrounded Nailah when she charged up her energy levels. With a blink of her eyes, the image was gone, and Sailor Moon sunk to her knees as she felt the hopelessness that they had once again lost their friend.
Suddenly, all her exhaustion was catching up with her and, sensing her energy levels dropping so dramatically, Tuxedo Mask was at her side to catch her as Serena fell into his arms. She smiled up at him weakly, "I guess I used up more energy than I thought, huh?" she laughed weakly and he smiled at her, closing his eyes and de-transforming into simple Darien Shields once more.
"NAILAH!" they heard Lita's voice cry out, and looked up in shock to see Nailah had fallen to the floor, unconscious with exhaustion.
"I guess that battle really took it out of us all, huh?" a new voice joined their group and the, now de-transformed Scouts, looked up to smile brightly at their friends. Trista, Hotaru, Michelle and Amara, the civilian forms of Sailors Pluto, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, joined them. They looked beautifully perfect, as though they had hardly been in a battle at all and the younger Scouts admired the power and grace their outer Scouts held with each step. They were followed by the Shitennou, who seemed slightly more dishevelled from recent events, a far less glamorous. Though they held an immediate sign of relief upon seeing their Prince was unharmed and safe.
"Hotaru! Trista! When did you get here?" Mina blurted out in surprise.
"I thought you were still a baby?" Lita questioned further, curiously looking to Hotaru.
"Are the Shadow Senshi gone?" Darien asked, frowning and ignoring the previous questions.
His was more important anyway.
Kunzite answered, frowning and shaking his head. "It was the same the entire time you left. The more we fought and destroyed, the more appeared."
"And that was while Nikiko was fighting with Nailah." Jadeite added, folding his arms across his chest with slight irritation. "It didn't even seem to distract her during their battle."
"She's more powerful than we thought." nodded Zoicite, picking at his tattered uniform with restlessness.
"It was an intense battle to watch though." Nephrite commented, not bothering to hide the impressed tone in his voice. "They were very evenly matched, and sometimes too fast to even see."
Trista nodded darkly, "Yes. It seems that things have gotten a little more out of control than I expected."
"So, this wasn't the fight that King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity warned us about?" Mina asked weakly, sounding somewhat disappointed.
"It's too soon." Amara responded, shaking her head and frowning. "This might just be a taste of what's to come. The battle they spoke of isn't for another few months."
"Don't count on that." Piccolo warned, surprising the most recent additions to their gathering with his interruption.
Amara eyed him curiously and suspiciously, her protective nature kicking in and she took a defensive step in front of her friends and towards Piccolo.
"We've had warnings from the future before." Piccolo continued, ignoring the untrusting gesture from Amara and recalling the warning the Z-fighters had received only a few years back from Future-Trunks. "The knowledge of events that were due to happen twisted the order of what we were expecting and some things happened sooner and later than we anticipated."
Trista nodded and released a weak sigh and she looked down, "I was afraid of that." She then looked up to the surrounding Scouts, specifically directing her words to Darien and Serena. "The future is never set in stone. We must fight to protect what we have seen."
The future rulers nodded darkly, understanding her words in more depth than the others. Trista, Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time was warning them, indeed, that the future they had once seen may not happen if their future didn't progress as it was expected to. Rini, the daughter they had met and were expecting to see someday, may never come to exist.
Serena sat up, feeling a bit of her strength returning after having rested in Darien's embrace. She looked around and released a deep sigh. "How bad is it hurt?" she asked him quietly.
He looked to her in surprise before frowning, "I don't think it's too bad." He replied gently. He placed his right hand on the Earth and closed his eyes, feeling his connection with his planet flowing through his body. Images of the damaged portions of his planet began to come to mind. It was a planet that was suffering, but it was nothing he was sure the combined power of the Golden and Silver Crystals couldn't fix.
"It'll be alright." He comforted her gently, "When we're both rested and healed up, then we can use the crystals to fix everything. It'll be as if there had never been a battle." Serena nodded weakly.
"But what now? Do we head back to Capsule Corporation and continue training?" Rei asked, looking at her friends curiously.
"No, I think Piccolo will tell us what we need to do next." Hotaru said, smiling wisely as she looked to the former Guardian of the Earth.
Piccolo looked down to the young Sailor of Destruction and nodded, turning his attention back to remaining Scouts. "Here." From within his gi, he withdrew a bag and began to toss small beans to each member of the surrounding group before walking towards a deep crater.
"What are these?" Rei asked, frowning at the small green bean she had skilfully caught.
"They're senzu beans." He replied, kneeling down beside the crater and reaching into his bag once more before reaching into the crater. A few moments later, Vegeta sat up and looked around before cursing mildly and thanking the 'Namekian'.
"V-V-Vegeta?!" Mina gasped, staring in horror at the warrior who she had seen being crushed. By all logic, he shouldn't even be conscious right now, let alone be moving!
"Eat them." Piccolo said, turning back to the Scouts. "Senzu beans have incredible healing powers and they'll restore you all to your full strength." He explained, walking over to the unconscious body of the Nikoten Princess.
Cautiously, the warriors ate the beans they had been handed and were surprised to feel their strength immediately return to normal. Their wounds were healed and their exhaustion was gone.
"T-that's incredible!" gasped Serena, returning to her feet with a bright and happy smile.
"You're ok!" a small voice cried suddenly, appearing from the rubble left behind. Amy turned in surprise and was almost knocked down from the force of Goten's hug. She smiled gently and returned his embrace.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm glad you're safe too." she said with a smile and he grinned up at her brightly, in a way that reminded her very much of Gohan.
"Aren't you going to get a bean to her?" Jadeite asked Piccolo, frowning curiously towards the unconscious Nikojin.
"No." The Namekian warrior responded, kneeling down and simply lifting the princess into his arms. He eyed her neck with what could only be described as furious displeasure. "Amy, I want you to analyse her before we heal her."
"A-analyse her? What for?" she questioned curiously, looking up from Goten and frowning at Piccolo. He simply nodded towards the unconscious Nikojin in his arms and Amy, taking this as a sign, curiously peeled herself away from Goten and stepped forwards. A gasp escaped her lips at what she saw.
"What... I've never seen something like that before." she said in a hushed voice to no one in particular.
Darien frowned and stepped forward, his eyes widening at what he saw. "What does it mean?"
Amy shook her head gently, completely at a loss for words. Vegeta grunted impatiently from the side and glared at the group.
"It means she's using too much magic and it's poisoning her." He spat, before floating into the air. "I have better things to do than hang around a group of weaklings. You're not even a challenge for a Saiyan." And with a swift turn he sped off into the sky. Piccolo knew he could only be heading towards the Lookout, which is where they needed to begin to make their way.
"Where is he going now?" growled Amara, irritably.
"What's happened to Nailah?" Rei asked with a frown and Amy looked to her friends with sad eyes.
"Why is her magic poisoning her?" Serena questioned gently, approaching the group with worry etched across her face. She couldn't imagine why magic that is designed to protect the holder would respond in such a way. Her hands clasped over her mouth in horror as a small gasp escaped her lips. She looked upon Nailah's body and saw black where all her veins lined her neck, arms and chest. They pulsed, concluding that the black aura of her magic was indeed flowing through her body, but to the extent that it was visible like that?
"We need to get her to the Lookout." Piccolo said and then looked up at Darien, "And I think you should all follow. It's time you met the Guardian of the Earth."
"C-can't you heal her with a senzu bean?" Serena asked hopefully and Piccolo shook his head.
"I don't think that'll work. But Dende is a healer. He might be able to help."
"How do we get there?" Lita asked with determination, her face set.
"You have a hover-car?" he asked Darien and the older members of the Scouts team, namely Michelle, Amara and Trista. They all nodded, "Head to the top of Korin's tower." He directed and floated into the air, flying off in the same direction as Vegeta had with Nailah in his arms.
"So, uh, what're we waiting for?" Mina asked, bright and smiling with a determined look.
"How long will we be gone?" Serena wondered gently, glancing around and the group seemed to be all be looking at her curiously. She laughed brightly and scratched the back of her head, "I just figured I should tell my parents I'll be at the Temple tonight. You know, so they don't worry."
Collectively, they stared at the future Queen for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"I think we should clean up the mess we made around here too." Michelle pointed out with a smile, gesturing around to the destroyed buildings and intense craters in their poor Earth.
Serena smiled bright and placed her hands on either side of the broach that was fastened to her chest, withdrawing the beautiful and shimmering Imperium Silver Crystal. Mimicking her actions, Darien withdrew from within his body the Golden Crystal and it shone just as brightly. They stood together and, sensing the others' powers, they merged together and released a burst of healing energy. With a flash of light, their surroundings were restored to its' former glory.
"Ok, now that that's sorted, let's get out of here before we get people asking questions." Amara suggested, withdrawing a few capsules from her pocket and throwing them a few feet from herself. Within moments, three hover-crafts appeared in their place and she climbed into the first. Michelle entered the second and Trista entered the third, with Hotaru by her side. Darien followed their actions and withdrew his own capsule hover-craft.
"Uh... How're we doing this?" Lita questioned curiously, looking to the Shitennou. They were opening gaping at the technology they had just witnessed.
Sure, magic they have no problem with. But flying cars and they're openly staring.
Serena laughed slightly before shrugging, "However you guys want?"
"How about Lita and Nephrite can go with Trista and Hotaru, Rei and Jadeite can go with Amara-"
"WHAT! There's no way I'm sitting with HIM!" Rei objected rather childishly.
"It's not like you're exactly pleasant." Jadeite retorted, folding his arms across his chest.
"You should be honoured to even be in my presence!" she spat in return.
"Children, please." Amy teased, stepping between the two.
"What, you got a problem with Jadeite, Rei?" Serena teased suggestively, giggling and wiggling her eyebrows at her friend.
"Of course not!" Rei flushed immediately. "I just don't like being the only one sat with him..."
"Hey, what am I? Invisible? I'm the one driving!" Amara defended with faux annoyance.
"You're just jealous!" Serena giggled, latching on to Darien's arm with amplified affection and sticking out her tongue to Rei.
"UGH! Get a life Serena!" Rei retorted, sticking out her tongue in response. Somehow, being around Serena always drew out this immature side of Rei.
"I'm not THAT bad you know!" Jadeite added with a pout.
"That's what you think." Nephrite smirked and Jadeite then turned on him.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You're a pain, that's what I mean."
"Stop this, you two. This isn't the time!" Zoicite tried to intervene.
"This is ridiculous." laughed Trista, shaking her head with a disbelieving smile on her face.
"It's wonderful that no amount of time changes their friendships." smiled Hotaru, observing the younger versions of the King, Neo-Queen and their respective court. They behaved in exactly the same way that she knew of them from her time in Crystal Tokyo. She prayed that the future she knew would, indeed, come to pass.
After a few more arguments, the group FINALLY began to make their way towards The Lookout to meet this 'Dende' – the true Guardian of the Earth.
A/N: Sorry for the MASSIVE delay in updates! I've had so SO much work you'd be amazed! I still need to catch up on about 15 lectures and have two sets of coursework to do and I've been travelling all over the place for interviews and stuff, so it's been stressful guys! I know not much happens in this chapter but I promise I'll make the next one more eventful! I just wanted to make sure I got SOMETHING out since it's been so long. Hope you enjoyed it and thank you so so much for sticking with me for so long!