Hello readers! Sorry this update seems a little late but I've had an incredible load of things to do recently, but that's all done and I'm now officially a college graduate. Yay, me. Anyway, I hope you've all had a great holiday season and a smashing new year. Keep on reviewin' and you will be rewarded with many a kind note like this.


The people of the metropolis in the desert did not know what to make of the strange-looking travelers as they wandered throughout their town seemingly aimlessly. All of them were dressed strangely, with only the truly gigantic green one somewhat appropriately dressed for a desert environment such as this. The three youngest ones were just as tall as the average Siwaer, while the black-haired girl was taller by a head and the green-haired woman along with the green man were colossal in comparison.

"These guys are looking at us all weird." Trunks frowned as he darted his eyes at the various people gawking at them.

Hotaru looked at the people. They were…rodents, all of them. The adults were no taller than Rini, Goten, and Trunks. The children were truly tiny indeed.

"The people of this planet are all intelligent rodents." Trista explained. "This planet of Sarn is mostly desert- where the oases are, that is where the civilization of the Sarns exists. According to Elder Moori, we're looking for some kind of underground shrine, and legend says that it is well-concealed within the desert surrounding this oasis city of Siwa."

"The shrine is a place of great importance to these people." Piccolo continued.

"Then we'll just ask about them." Trunks resolved and began to move toward one of the shops in the town.

"Trunks!" Trista called out as he opened a door to the shop. The building's color blended perfectly with the sandy streets.

The shopkeeper was startled as he saw a very strange looking person enter his place of business and close the door behind him.

"E…excuse me sir. Are you looking for something?" The shopkeeper asked. It was not often that aliens visited the planet.

"Information." Trunks gruffly replied.

"And what information would you be looking for?"

The store's bell rang as Trunks' five companions came rushing through the door, startling the shopkeeper with their very imposing height.

"More tourists?" The shopkeeper squeaked in surprise.

"We wanted to ask about this underground shrine or whatever it is that's supposed to be near this town." Trunks frowned.

"What? The exact location of the Underground Castle isn't known to most people even here. Certainly no tourist has ever been there." The shopkeeper answered in surprise.

"What's so special about this Underground Castle?" Piccolo asked.

"It's supposed to hold ancient treasures and secrets. Very few are aware of its whereabouts. Only the direct descendents of the Guides know the exact location of the castle."

"The Guides?" Hotaru asked curiously.

"A long time ago, our people needed to find a new planet to call our home as our ancient planet's host star was dying. The Guides were the ones that saved our people and led them to this new homeland. The Underground Castle was originally constructed as the new citadel of the ancient secrets and treasures of our people, and is protected by the descendents of the Guides. Why are you so interested?"

"To make a long story short, the universe is in incredible danger." Trista stated. "And we've come from a far away place because we believe that a treasure that is vital to the universe's being saved is inside this Underground Castle."

"Oh dear." The shopkeeper replied in a very confused tone.

"It's probably very hard to believe, but we really need to get into the Underground Castle!" Rini said with a plea in her voice.

"I wish there was some way I could help." The shopkeeper sighed as he looked down into the girl's watery eyes. "None of us really even know who the descendents of the Guides are that know the way to the Underground Castle."

"Great, now what are we supposed to do?" Piccolo muttered under his breath.

"I am sorry I can't be of much help, but there is supposedly a way to find the Guide in this town."

This caught the traveler's attention.

"Take these." He replied, giving them a lemon and a lime. "It is said that if you put these along with a letter explaining yourselves under the two palm trees at the point where their leafs connect by Siwa Hall, you might just receive a reply from the Guide. Whatever you do, don't wait around for someone to appear, they'll find out you're there, no matter how cleverly hidden you think you are."

"Thanks for the advice." Piccolo muttered for the group as they went out the door.

"Put these under the palm trees?" Rini asked curiously while holding the lemon and lime in her two hands.

"I guess we'll have to give it a try, we have no other leads." Trista said, not noticing that the gawking of the rodent people continued now that they were out in public again.

"We should go find an inn to write the letter and stay the night." Piccolo muttered as he looked around the buildings with thin coverings of sand on their walls.

"I wonder if they'll have beds big enough for us." Hotaru said as she looked around at the people.

"Well, we're probably covered!" Goten replied cheerfully. "You guys are gonna just have to hope!"

"Yeah, I've always wanted to be taller but now my shortness is working in my favor!" Rini chimed.

"Hahahah, I bet you guys are gonna have to sleep on the roof!" Trunks teased the three taller members of their group.

Piccolo grumbled as they found a high-end inn.

"You know, I could sure use something to eat right now." Trunks said to no one in particular as they all walked inside the inn. It was rather nicely decorated with dark and polished wooden walls along with a matching green furniture set.

The innkeeper behind the desk was visibly startled when the imposing group walked in through his door.

"H…hello there!" He greeted.

"Hi!" Rini answered.

"I hope it's possible, but we'd like a room." Piccolo commented in his usual no-nonsense tone.

"Do you have accommodations for…larger than average customers?" Trista asked gently.

"Yes…but it will cost you extra." The innkeeper replied.

Piccolo reached into his cape and focused some energy in his hands. His hand came out with an assortment of very light brown colored bills of paper.

"Here." Piccolo placed the bills on the table, astonishing the four children that were in his company.

After a few seconds of counting the money, the innkeeper agreed to the transaction and called a bellhop to lead them upstairs.

"Enjoy your stay!" He called out.

"Piccolo, how did you do that?" Rini asked with cheer.

"Nameks have the capability to create simple forms of matter such as clothing or in this case, pieces of paper. After seeing money in the previous shop we were in, it was not a big deal."

"Great, so Piccolo can just inflate the money supply at will. I wonder how badly the price mechanism must be messed up in Namek's economy." Trunks muttered sarcastically, which caused Piccolo's face to twitch in annoyance.

"Here you are." The bellhop said and showed them the room. It was spacious enough, with a kitchen and two separate little rooms with three beds each.

Once Piccolo tipped the bellhop and he left, the group converged.

"I suppose now's as good a time as ever to write the request that that guy told us about." Hotaru said.

"I'll do it." Trista volunteered. She went over to a table and took one of the customary notepads that hotels left on their desks.

To the most esteemed Guide of the city of Siwa.

What I am about to tell you may be difficult to believe or understand but please be aware that the situation I am about to tell you of is true. The universe is in great danger, and we would not have traveled this far were this not the case. We believe, on the word of Grand Elder Moori of the Namekians, that a piece of the legendary sword the Tyrant's Bane is within the Underground Castle that is important to your people. We have here with us the reincarnation of the heir to the original owner of that blade, the Duke of Tranquility, along with three pieces. We must reconstruct the sword to defeat the danger currently posed by Bashgal's cultists in their attempt to free their master from the Abyssal Void. This may be a lot to ask but it is vital that you get back to us as soon as mortally possible about this. The fate of the universe is riding on it.

Trista proceeded to write down their names and where they were staying.

"I'll go deliver this." She said, placing the note in an envelope and taking the lemon and lime. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

The team watched as Trista flew out the window. It did not take her long to get to her destination. She carefully placed the envelope along with the lemon and lime in the spot indicated and took off, heeding the shopkeeper's word to not stay in the area. It would seem like a very long wait she was sure.


Hotaru was the first to blink her eyes open in the morning. Her purple irises took several blinks to focus on a small envelope resting upon a desk near her bedside.

"GUYS!" Hotaru shouted, startling Piccolo awake to the point of the Namek's crashing into the ceiling with a startled grit in his teeth. He crashed back down to his bed with a throbbing head. He grunted at the group who looked at him curiously.

"I forgot that Namek's ears were so sensitive, sorry Piccolo." Hotaru said.

Piccolo only continued to grumble.

"Looks like we've got a letter." Goten pointed to the envelope on the table.

"Let me see it." Piccolo immediately took charge and opened the envelope. He began to shift his eyes across the piece of paper and then looked back at everyone who'd gathered in anticipation. "It's from the Guide." He said.

Everyone quickly gathered around to read the paper.

"He says he wants to meet us in the second floor above his store." Rini said aloud.

"A general hardware store." Trunks said, mentally taking note of the location. "Am I the only one who thinks it was creepy how that note got onto the desk?" He frowned.

"Yeah, I wonder how he just got into our room without us knowing, especially Piccolo." Goten said with a very Goku-like expression on his face.

"Whoever it is, the guy is good." Trista said, stroking her chin. "We mustn't underestimate him for a moment."

"Well, should we get going?" Hotaru said, now once again Sailor Saturn.

Everyone nodded and got into their standard fighting and adventuring getups, whether that was through transforming or changing clothes. The six of them opened the nearest window and flew out, Piccolo taking time to close it behind him.

It did not take long for the group of six to reach the directions indicated. They halted and landed in front of a hardware store, but could not see any second story. There were no windows of any kind that would give such a thing away.

"What the hell? Is this a wild goose chase?" Trunks asked angrily.

"Look guys!" Goten pointed out as he was hovering in a back alley to store's left side.

They turned to see the young half-Saiyan pointing toward an isolated door that was perched only on the building's small ledge.

"You'd never see that thing if you didn't know where to look." Piccolo remarked. "This is a sure sign that we're in the right place.

"Let's go in." Hotaru said resolutely as she floated to open the door.

The six adventurers silently went into the building and closed the door behind them. They walked down a dim hallway and opened another door. What they spotted on the other side was a fancily dressed rodent with an ornate turban seated on a leather chair in what looked to be a small library.

"Welcome." The rodent said in a surprisingly deep voice.

"I assume you got our letter." Trista replied cautiously.

"Yes, of course. It was far too specific for me to just ignore. I am Mufasa, the Guide of Siwa. Please, be seated."

The team introduced themselves and the three smaller members were able to sit down- just barely. The three large members were forced to stand, Piccolo especially being forced to lean over slightly to avoid bumping his head on the ceiling.

"So, you need to get into the Underground Castle do you?"

"Yes." Hotaru immediately took charge. "I need that sword piece. It's imperative that the Tyrant's Bane be reconstructed."

"Hold on now. I am unaware if the legendary Tyrant's Bane has a piece that is even within the Underground Castle." Mufasa cautioned.

"With respect, the Namek Grand Elder Moori would not have pointed us in this direction without reason." Piccolo countered.

"Does the treasure within the castle look like these?" Hotaru asked, bringing out her patch and releasing it, dumping the three they'd already collected on Mufasa's desk.

"Ahhh…!" Mufasa gasped with widened black eyes as he peered at the deep purple metallic objects that were laid out on his desk. "This is precisely one of the treasures that is kept in the castle! Then…the rumors are true- the legendary blade that was at the forefront of the Youma Wars all across the galaxy…"

"Then surely you can see that we're not lying." Piccolo said as Hotaru took the three shards and carefully put them away.

"No, this must not be coincidence that you all would show up at the same time monsters have taken up residence in the castle."

This caught the group's attention.

"Monsters?" Rini asked with widened eyes.

Mufasa sighed. "A few weeks ago, monsters began appearing in the Underground Castle. The various cities in the area, including Siwa, have begun defensive preparations if they ever decide to leave the castle's premises. We have no idea what they are, but we know that they are there."

"What do these monsters look like?" Trista asked with a frown.

"They have brown bodies with fangs that make an open mouth, and six tentacles with claws on each that they also use for locomotion. Some are larger than others."

"They don't sound like Numba…" Piccolo said in thought. "Whatever they are, it appears Mordred might not have anything to do with these monsters himself."

"But they must have been active because of the growing power of Bashgal's minions." Trista mused.

"I see. That must be the reason. None of this can be coincidence! If our planet is becoming endangered because of this infestation of the Underground Castle then what you've said is true, and a strong group of adventurers such as yourselves is what we need most now!"

"So what are you saying?" Goten asked.

"I will take you all to the Underground Castle; you can tell me the full story upon the way. If you all can clear the monsters out of there, I will give you the sword shard that you seek."

"Sounds good to me." Trunks replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Rini's cheerful voice erupted and spurred everyone to action. To Mufasa's shock, the pink-haired girl grabbed him and held him close with a big smile on her face.

"Wha- what are you doing? We need to get prepared to walk across the desert!"

"Walk?" Rini laughed.

"Just show us the direction." Piccolo said as he opened the door that they'd all come through, closing it once they were all out.

To Mufasa's astonishment, he was flying in the air.

"Wh…whoa!"

"Show us the way!" Trista said as they sped off into the sky.


It only took them a few minutes to speed across the desert, and reach the designated spot- it seemed to be an incline in the land surrounded by palm trees.

"Land here." Mufasa ordered.

"But there's nothing down there." Goten said with widened eyes as he followed downward.

The team cautiously watched as Mufasa slowly circled around the indented land. He placed a stone with some engraving at the lowest point of the circular indentation in the sand and scurried back up to the elevation where the rest of the team was standing.

"Passage of fright, lift the sands' tide! Open up wide and let in the light!"

Goten and Trunks stared at each other sheepishly as Mufasa chanted the strange parable, but soon widened their eyes in surprise at the sands' shifting and revealing a large staircase that led deep underground.

"Please, come quickly!" Mufasa beckoned and scurried down the stairs.

Hotaru summoned the Silence Glaive while Trista did the same for her Garnet Rod. Rini held her Pink Moon Stick tightly. Piccolo and the two boys followed silently. Mufasa grabbed a torch and opened a huge set of double doors- even by Piccolo's standards. They were dark brown metal with raised dots all around them and had an ornate symbol in the center between the two of them. Mufasa took an old-fashioned skeleton key out of his pocket and turned the lock, an audible click being heard in the dim and silent hallway. When he opened the gigantic set of doors, the team was even more astonished at what they saw beyond them.

It was a surprisingly well-lit mega dome of a room, one that truly dwarfed anything they'd ever seen before. Within this large chamber stood a complete castle- made of sand.

"Whoa…" Goten said in amazement as he gazed up at the huge structure, complete with towers and windows.

"Mufasa, where is the piece of the sword?" Piccolo asked, even amazed himself at what he saw.

"It's up in the treasure room of the back northwest tower." He pointed at the distant tower on the left. The castle had four in total, two on the left and two on the right, and had front and back towers on each side. "We'll have to go to the top of the other three towers and get the keys out of those rooms first. Only by turning three locks simultaneously can one have access to the treasure room."

"Well, let's get started then." Trista said as she began to walk toward the short but very wide staircase that led up to the castle's front entrance.

"Should we split up?" Hotaru asked as she narrowed her eyes in caution, remembering Mufasa's story about the monsters.

"It would be a big gamble." Mufasa warned. "We don't know exactly what sorts of powerful enemies might inhabit this place."

"We can handle it!" Trunks insisted. "It'll save us a lot more time!"

"Alright." Piccolo made the decision as they all entered the foyer of the castle. "We'll split up into groups of two. Each of us will go into one of the three towers. We'll meet at the back west tower in one hour. That should be more than enough time."

"Small Lady, you come with me." Trista said firmly.

"Ok." Rini nodded and ran over to her longtime friend.

"Small Lady and I will take the front west tower." Trista declared.

"Alright." Piccolo agreed. "Hotaru, you and I can take the front east tower."

"Got it!" She nodded.

"Then I guess we'll take the back east tower." Trunks said determinedly.

"Right, ready to go when you are!" Goten agreed.

"Mufasa, you should go with Trunks and Goten. They might need your guidance around the place."

The two boys sneered inwardly at Piccolo's lack of confidence in them.

"Yes, of course." The rodent agreed.

"Let's go!" Piccolo's voice resounded.

The group split up, darting through the huge foyer to the directions of their respective towers.


Trunks cautiously opened a set of wooden doors and stepped into a hallway, followed by Goten and Mufasa.

"I wonder how long these torches have been lit for." Goten said in astonishment at the rows of lit torches along a dim and long hallway.

"Keep your eyes focused ahead!" Mufasa admonished. "There could be monsters anywhere!"

"I'm not afraid of any monsters!" Goten whispered, the Saiyan in him eager for a fight.

"Just walk quietly to the end of that hallway!" Mufasa said.

Goten and Trunks both walked slowly and cautiously, using their eyes to scan for any movements of shadows, their ears to hear any disturbances, or even their skin to feel any odd vibrations in the air. They could not sense any energy, either physical or ethereal in this room. After an orchestra of slow, deliberate steps, they reached the end of the hallway. At the end they came upon a very narrow bridge of tiles that led to a gently spiraled staircase. The bridge was no more than one tile wide and the drop to blackness below seemed to go on forever.

"Not a problem when you can fly!" Trunks grinned to Goten in triumph.

As Goten was agreeing with him and placing Mufasa on his back, a loud bang was heard throughout the room. Less than a second later, a swarm of the brown tentacled monsters that Mufasa described earlier swarmed around the room, coming from all sides of the wall.

"Great, so they aren't stupid! They waited for us to be at the most narrow portion of the room!" Trunks growled.

"Let's just blast e'm!" Goten said and charged a yellow ball of energy in his hand.

"NO!" Mufasa said and grabbed Goten's back, causing the young half-Saiyan to jerk his head back even as the monsters were approaching. "You can't fire blasts in here!" He admonished. "You'll wreck the castle!"

"Keep them low-powered then- just enough to fry these guys!" Trunks said. "HA!"

His yellow blast hit its mark- right in the face of an incoming monster. The beast let out a low monstrous yelp and collapsed to the floor, still smoking.

"Just like that!" Trunks smirked in triumph.

"Oh, I see!" Goten grinned and fired his own blast, hitting his own mark.

Mufasa was astonished as Trunks and Goten worked as a pair, each taking one side of the gathering of monsters to blast the groups effortlessly into fried road kill.

"UAH!" Mufasa called out in fear when one of the creatures jumped down off the wall toward him.

Goten quickly turned and kicked it in the face, his booted foot going through the beast's entire body. The creature yelped and fell in death. Trunks grimaced and elbowed one that tried to get the drop on him, sending it crashing and splattering into the wall.

"The Castle!" Mufasa said in an outburst of grief as he saw the mess the two youths were creating.

"What's more important, the castle or our lives?" Trunks asked with a frown as he scattered his shots at his targets, frying all of them.

Goten grimaced and shot more blasts. Eventually, the two young half-Saiyans whittled the monsters away until they were all dead- either fried or splattered on the walls and floor.

"It looks like they know how to suppress their energy!" Goten observed.

"Come boys! We must hurry!" Mufasa beckoned.

Goten and Trunks with the rodent in tow took off to the air and flew across the narrow bridge and then up the stairs. They went through to the next area.


Piccolo and Hotaru opened a door that led to a fairly long and moderately wide area that was at the bottom of a set of steps. There were three alcoves with iron bars blocking entry and then another door that led out of the area. Hotaru and Piccolo took off toward the door at the end of the hallway. They landed and looked up at the rather large portal- there were no knobs or anything that would obviously open it.

"It looks like a sliding door." Hotaru observed.

"But no way to open it." Piccolo said. "We could blast it down of course, but that wouldn't do well for our relations with the people of this planet."

Hotaru looked into the separate alcoves, seeing that there was a crystalline object of some kind in the nearest one to the stairs.

"It looks like this room is some kind of puzzle." Hotaru said, looking back at her companion.

Piccolo floated over to where she was and spotted the crystalline protruding out of the floor. "Alright." The Namek said, pondering what to do next. "How do we get past these bars to investigate?"

Hotaru looked around and then widened her eyes when she saw something on the ceiling. "Piccolo, look!" She pointed up.

The Namek spotted a similar crystalline object on the ceiling right above them. He immediately floated up in the air to investigate it.

"What would something like this be doing here?" Piccolo muttered out loud, tapping it once with his fist.

To his and Hotaru's surprise, the crystalline object lit up yellow upon his tapping it, and the bars Hotaru stood next to opened up.

"Of course!" The purple-eyed girl said in confirmation. "It's a switch!" Hotaru rushed into the now open alcove and tapped the next crystalline with the bottom of the Silence Glaive. It lit up yellow and opened up the second alcove, which she and Piccolo ran in to.

"This next one isn't that obvious, but it's got to be in this alcove somewhere." Piccolo said as they began to look around.

"Here it is!" Hotaru smiled as she pointed toward a wall with an indent. Hidden within the shadows stood the crystalline switch. She tapped it with the Silence Glaive and it lit up the dim place it was in. "This isn't so hard!" She cheered as she ran into the third alcove with Piccolo behind her.

"But where's the one in here?" Piccolo asked, reprimanding her for speaking too soon.

Nothing was showing in this room. No switch, no funny indentations in the wall- nothing but an empty alcove.

"There needs to be something in here." Hotaru said with narrowed eyes. "I'll take the left side of the room, you take the right."

Piccolo agreed without any words, and they began to inspect their respective sides of the alcoves' walls. Piccolo grumbled as he saw nothing conspicuous that would give him a lead. When touching a part of the wall near the center of it, his ears perked up by a funny sound that accompanied his hand motion. Piccolo moved toward the end of the particular tile he had his hand on and saw that it wasn't clearly plastered to the castle's wall at that end. He pulled the tile back and it revealed a grey, patterned knob. To his surprise however, it would not move when he tried to turn it- something seemed to be locking it.

"Hotaru!" Piccolo called.

The purple-eyed girl turned back toward him in curiosity.

"Go to your side of the wall exactly opposite of me." He ordered.

She nodded and proceeded, spotting the different tile. She pulled it back and revealed a second knob on her own side of the room. They didn't need to tell each other what to do as Hotaru leaned the Silence Glaive against the wall to grab the knob with her other hand. Each of them turned the knobs backward at the same time. The far wall of the alcove then opened up, revealing the crystalline switch behind it. Hotaru smiled and rushed toward it, grabbing the Silence Glaive. She gently tapped it and both of them could hear the door in the main room open up.

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Hotaru smiled.

As soon as she and Piccolo were out of the alcove however, they widened their eyes at the swarm of monsters that had appeared through the open portal and stood there now, growling at them.

"Guess we forgot about something…" Hotaru said as she readied the Silence Glaive.

One of the monsters rushed Piccolo. He easily dodged its tentacle and blasted it from underneath its belly, frying it. Piccolo next spun and kicked one into the wall with such force that its body splattered apart, leaving a trail of green blood staining the sand-colored wall. Piccolo grunted and began to fire low-powered blasts at the gathering creatures, frying them accurately.

Sailor Saturn widened her eyes when one of them appeared right in front of her and raised the Silence Glaive in defense. She struggled for a second or two with the beast, and then used her boot's heel to kick him in the eye, causing the beast to shriek. She finished it off with a Silence Buster blast from her glaive.

"Finally that ridiculous heel on your boot comes in handy." Piccolo smirked at her.

Saturn sliced the next one in half with the Silence Glaive and immediately readied her next attack against her latest target. She used another Silence Buster. The bright blue spiral blast destroyed it.

"SCATTER SHOT!" Piccolo yelled as he deployed a huge array of yellow blasts, each of them hitting their targets precisely.

Sailor Saturn jabbed the Silence Glaive into one of the creature's eyes, the weapon going all the way through its body and coming out the other side. In what would be a surprising show of strength to one that didn't know her well, she then lifted the impaled creature up and over her head and then smashed it to the floor, removing her weapon from the monster at the end of the motion. Saturn then jumped into the fray, swinging the Silence Glaive in one fluid motion that cut down three of the monsters. Piccolo watched her back and blasted the rest of the incoming creatures.

"I couldn't sense their energy." Hotaru frowned over the piles of corpses.

"No, neither could I. And they waited for the perfect moment to strike." Piccolo followed. "They're not mindless beasts."

"Let's get going." Hotaru said and ran through the doorway to the next area, followed by her large green companion.


"Wow!" Rini said as she and Trista stood atop a balcony overlooking a large square room. A large window surprisingly let in a lot of sunlight, even though the castle itself was very deep underground. Truly, this castle was an engineering marvel, a testament to the Sarns' capacity as builders. The two Sailor Soldiers did not need to take the stairway to their side as they jumped off the balcony and floated down to the center of the room instead.

Trista turned her head to the left and saw a darkened door that obviously led to the next area, but there was no obvious way to open it.

"Trista, look!"

The green-haired woman turned to look where Rini was pointing. It was on the wall just above the door. It had what looked like a symbol on it. She then turned to see that there were four separate statues with mirrors in their centers that were placed on the corners of the large room's floor, one of which- the top left one, already had sunlight shining on it.

"I know what we need to do." Trista declared. "Rini, go to the mirror at the top right, opposite to that one." She pointed and then darted over to it.

The pink-haired girl nodded and floated over to the mirror Trista told her to go to.

"Alright Rini! I'm gonna push this mirror until it reflects light on your own. When you see that, I'm gonna go to the one opposite you on the bottom right of the room."

"Ok!" Rini agreed.

Trista saw a handle on the mirror and she began to slowly push it until the sunlight was clearly reflecting to Rini's mirror.

"There's one, Rini, you should have figured it out by now!"

"Yes!" Rini agreed as Trista floated over to the bottom-right mirror. The pink-haired girl pushed the large mirror in the mobile stone carving with all her strength. It began to budge from its position, little by little, until she began to turn it freely. She lit up in delight when she saw a beam of light reflect from her mirror to the one Trista stood by now, with a clear line of light between the three statues engraved with mirrors becoming clear.

"Alright Rini, go over to the fourth one." She beckoned.

The pink-haired girl happily obliged, thinking that this puzzle was fun. She received Trista's beam of light from the third mirror and turned her own mirror toward the opening above the doorway. With a few more pushes, she the sunlight entered the opening, and the door lifted open, revealing the next area beyond it.

On the other side was a swarm of the monsters Mufasa had warned them about.

"Small Lady, stand back!" Trista, once gain taking up combat as Sailor Pluto warned as she shuffled the young girl behind her. The Guardian of Time grimaced as she jabbed the bottom of the Garnet Rod into the eye of one of the creatures, the weapon coming completely out the other side. The creature yelped as its blood was shed on the floor and then died.

As Sailor Pluto was kicking the creature off her staff, another one of them rushed up and tried to outflank her.

"PINK LADY'S FREEZING KISS!" A high-pitched voice called out and suddenly the creature was frozen in ice and shattered on the floor.

Pluto grinned back at Chibi Moon.

"Dead Scream!" She called and vaporized one of the creatures with the purple orb of energy that erupted out of her Garnet Rod.

The creatures jumped toward them, but Pluto and Chibi Moon jumped into the air, using their various energy attacks against them before the monsters were able to hit them. Some of them tried to jump toward the walls and bounce off with a trajectory that would allow them to reach the Sailor Soldiers, but they were blasted before they had the chance.

The two Sailor Soldiers landed and looked over the piles of corpses.

"Looks like they were smart enough to try and ambush us." Rini observed. "I wonder if the others have had the same encounters."

"Yeah, and they can suppress their energy too." Trista observed. "You fought well, Small Lady." She smiled.

"About time someone would let me fight!" Rini crossed her arms and squinted with constricted eyes and a sweat drop.

"I guess that training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber paid off!" Trista laughed.

"Now let's get going!" Rini resolved.

Trista laughed as Rini went through the open door and bounced up the wide and low spiral staircase on the other side of it, quickly following her.


"We're getting close." Mufasa said to Trunks and Goten as they were in yet another dark room with narrow walls and a low ceiling.

"What the…? I hear the sounds of blades." Trunks muttered, referring to the low hum of blades cutting through the air that his above average Saiyan hearing detected in the room. It was then that they made out a number of blades slicing from floor to ceiling and back.

"What is that?" Goten asked in disbelief.

"Magnetic blades to prevent intruders from entering the tower." Mufasa explained. "Follow me."

Goten and Trunks began to follow Mufasa when after a few steps, they saw a swarm of creatures appear.

"Gah!" All of them cried out at once.

It was even more of a surprise when the torches lighting up the room went out.

"Uhhhahhh!" Mufasa began to panic.

"Hey Goten, looks like we'll need to generate our own light!" Trunks said confidently in the dark.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Goten agreed.

Suddenly, Mufasa went from panic to surprise when he saw Trunks and Goten emerge from the darkness with glowing golden auras around them, their hair and eyes completely changed to look like golden torches with blue-green orbs. They lit up the entire room.

"What is this!" He asked in complete shock.

"Sorry Mufasa, but our patience is running out!" Trunks said.

Goten nodded and followed his friend. Together they unleashed a huge volley of energy blasts, incinerating both the magnetic blades in the room and the creatures that sought to take advantage of the narrow, confined space.

"You can repair those!" Goten insisted.

"Let's hurry!" Trunks took Mufasa's hand and sped through to the next area and up the tower. The door at the top of the long spiral staircase was ornate but unlike many others they'd encountered, it had a knob which opened it. Mufasa yelped when he saw what lay at the other end of it.

What he saw was a much larger than average creature, who's claws could easily swipe a man of Piccolo's size in two.

"Stand back!" Goten ordered.

Both he and Trunks got in front of Mufasa, their golden auras flaring again.

"Kamehameha!"

"Big Tree Cannon!"

Both boys released their powerful attacks at once- and the blue and yellow blasts completely destroyed the monster before it could even so much as move to attack them. Mufasa was stunned once more.

"You boys really are something!" He grinned and rushed to the tower's north wall. Underneath a banner between two windows, he pressed in a brick, and another one slid out, containing a carved tray within it that held an ornate key. "Come boys; let's go to the back west tower!"

"Finally!" Goten grinned and followed Mufasa along with Trunks, both boys powering down to normal.


Piccolo and Hotaru went up the large stairway toward the top of the front east tower. Each of them cautiously looked at their surroundings. They had run into more creatures along the way, but they were nearing their goal. Hotaru's foot suddenly sunk more than usual.

"Piccolo, stop!"

The Namek looked back at her in curiosity.

"This looks like a switch of some kind." Hotaru said as she pressed her foot down and up again.

"Wonder what it's for…?" Piccolo wondered.

A low rumbling noise filled their ears and bid them to turn their heads. It was soon followed by the ground shaking beneath their feet.

"What the-?" Hotaru burst out in surprise.

A huge rock rolled down the wide stairway coming right toward the two.

"A BOULDER!" Piccolo shouted in surprise. He then quickly regained his senses and blasted the thing apart with ease. It was reduced to shards and dust.

"Looks like they set a lot of traps to keep out undesirables. Too bad we were mixed in with them by virtue of our ignorance of this castle." Hotaru mused as the two continued their trek up the stairs.

"Looks like we've come to the top of the tower." Piccolo declared and opened the ornate door slowly, expecting a monster to be inside.

Nothing was there.

Hotaru walked in and searched throughout the room, finding nothing except a banner at the north end in-between two windows. Piccolo walked to the banner and instinctively pushed the brick directly underneath it. Both he and Hotaru smiled as he grabbed a key out from the tray carved into the brick.

"Let's just hope the others have fared just as well." Hotaru smiled.


Pluto blocked an attack of one of the creatures with her Garnet Rod. She glanced back and saw Sailor Chibi Moon belatedly dodging the sharp claws of the creatures attacking her.

"SMALL LADY!" She called out in concern.

Sailor Chibi Moon flew in the air and shot a Pink Sugar Heart Attack at her assailant, bludgeoning his eye and then vaporizing him with the energy. She then froze and shattered a bunch of other ones with Pink Lady's Freezing Kiss.

Sailor Pluto smiled at her companion and booted her own assailant away, smoking him with Dead Scream. She then took the Garnet Orb off the top of her staff. "Chronos Typhoon!"

The wind she sent forth tore the remaining creatures to shreds.

"Come Small Lady, let's go!"

"Ok!" Rini agreed and followed.

The two ran up a large and wide spiral staircase, coming to the top of the front west tower. They nodded at each other when they came upon a door and slowly opened it. To their surprise, nothing was waiting for them on the other side, and they'd been harassed by monsters a lot since the mirror room.

"Look at this." Rini said as she walked up to a banner at the north end of the room between two large windows. "But there's nothing else here."

Trista darted her eyes around. "Mufasa said that the key was in this tower, so it's here somewhere. She searched around under the banner and found a grey brick that looked somewhat different than the others. Trista gently pushed it inwards and another brick beneath it popped out, with a carved-in tray containing the key. Trista smiled at her friend as she took it and reset the brick.

"Come, we need to go meet the others."

Rini giggled happily as the two rushed toward their designated meeting spot.


Trista and Rini were the last to arrive at the entrance to the back west tower.

"What took you two so long?" Trunks gave a friendly taunt.

"I think we've run into more monsters than you have." Trista answered. "Anyway, are we all ready to go?"

Mufasa, Trista, and Piccolo each held up the separate keys.

"Excellent." Mufasa said as they entered the stairway.

To their surprise, a horde of monsters was waiting for them when they reached the top of the stairway.

"This is really beginning to annoy me!" Trunks grimaced.

"Get them!" Piccolo barked.

A volley of blasts from the team quickly finished the monsters off, and Mufasa marveled at just how strong these six adventurers really were. He could only wonder what sort of other teammates they had back on that faraway planet they were from called 'Earth.'

"Ok." Mufasa gathered their attention. "Each of you with a key, step toward a lock on the doors." He ordered and pointed at the large set of double doors. "The front west tower goes on the left. The front east tower goes in the center, and my key, the back east tower, goes on the right."

Piccolo and Trista looked at each other as they went toward their locks and placed the keys inside them.

"Now on three! One…two…three!"

Piccolo, Trista, and Mufasa turned their keys at the same time and then opened the doors.

"W…wow!" Trunks, Goten, and Rini all hummed when they saw what was beyond them.

It was a room filled with treasure, like something out of an old pirate movie. Stacks of gold and jewels were laid out and various treasure chests were scattered about the room. Many valuable artifacts lined tables and the room's walls.

"Now I see why you've all gone to such great lengths to protect this place." Hotaru mused as she herself marveled.

Mufasa grabbed something under one of the tables and placed it carefully on top. "Here is what you seek." He said as he opened the case.

The team smiled widely as they saw what they'd come for- the unmistakable purple glinted shard of the Tyrant's Bane. Hotaru carefully put her hands on the piece of the sword, and more memories of the war long ago returned to her- this time her exploits alongside her father in the opening stages of the conflict in the outer solar system. She put the fourth piece of the sword in her pouch.

"I hope that that will be of help to you all." Mufasa smiled as he shut the case. "Thanks for ridding this place of the monsters! The other Guides and I will undo any damage they…or you, have caused."

"It will. Thank you." Hotaru replied. "We're sorry about any damage we've done!"

"It's alright!" The rodent laughed, not caring about damages given the result.

"Come, let's take you back to town." Trista smiled.


"Well, that place would be kinda cool to explore if we weren't in such a hurry!" Trunks smiled later on, after they'd dropped Mufasa off and were back in the air over the desert.

"The Underground Castle was truly an engineering marvel, very beautiful indeed." Trista agreed.

"So, where to next?" Rini asked.

"It's time for us to visit this 'king of the winds' Elder Moori told us about." Piccolo declared.

"We've no time to lose. Who knows what's going on back on Earth?" Trista said with haste. "Let's go!"

She held up the Garnet Rod and all six disappeared into a cloud of grey mist that lingered in the blue sky.


Thanks again everyone! Hope you enjoyed the longer than average chapter to make up for my tardiness. Before I leave however, I'd like to pitch forth an idea. Are any of you good at RPG maker? I'm toying with the idea of turning this story into a playable RPG. A DBZ/SM crossover game would be a dream come true for both me and many other fans, and this would be the perfect story to base it on. Unfortunately, I have no talent for these kinds of things whatsoever, so I'm looking for some potential volunteers already good at the program. So, feel free to PM me if you are interested in pursuing this idea!