Special Training XXVIII
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z belongs to Funimation, and Akira Toriyama, not me, and I make no money from this at all.
Trying to be nonchalant, Ami gripped Trunks hand tighter, and started walking to the edge of the amusement park, all the while lamenting the end of their date.
Why, of all times, did this have to end now? She groused internally, and huffed.
Trunks was thinking about the same thing, and red was staining his cheeks, as he thought about how he had wanted to give her a goodnight kiss, before taking her home…
They hit the edge of the park quickly, and Ami found herself being swept up in his arms. She gasped, and wrapped her arms around the demi-Saiya-jin's neck. Smiling to herself, she thought, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all.
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"Phoenix, I hate it when my father goes ballistic on me, so, you will get one chance to explain this," said Usagi, barely holding back laughter, as she gestured towards the pale Ryouga.
"Phoenix, what are you?" he asked, looking at his tall friend.
Phoenix turned her attention to her mother, and tried giving her a cold look. Usagi just looked amused.
"I found Ryouga after I finished some business. He was lost, and I volunteered to take him back to wherever he had come from. From there, we went to Nerima-"
Usagi had a look on her face that said it all made sense to her now. She nodded. "I've heard of Nerima. You don't have to say much else."
Piccolo growled. He hadn't heard of Nerima, and so had no idea what strangeness went on there as a matter of course.
"For some reason, I was splashed with water, and the makeup I was using ran off. Ryouga turned into a pig…" Phoenix said, and Ryouga blushed.
"I loose all my clothes when I do that," he told the still growling Piccolo. "I was about to get stepped on when Phoenix grabbed me. They called her a freak, and she took off flying… How can you fly?" he asked her, and Phoenix answered, "Its easy."
Shaking his head, trying to get some sense of reality back, he said," I went to the 'furo to change back, and Phoenix walked in on me, and I fainted. The next thing I knew, that green guy was coming after me!" he exclaimed looking at Piccolo like he was afraid the other man might attack again.
Piccolo looked like he just might.
"Papa," Phoenix said, surprising herself. "I haven't been born yet, and you are already overprotective."
Ryouga's head snapped around.
"Papa?" he asked, confused, but the similarities were too much for him to doubt. He was about to ask some other questions, when a purple haired young man walked in, carrying a blue haired girl. Both looked disappointed when he put her down.
"Guys?" asked Ami, seeing the newcomer. Shrugging, she went on. "I have bad news. Usagi, do you sense it?"
Usagi looked at her curiously, and then tilted her head to the side. Closing her eyes in concentration, she reached out- and sensed something that had her running for the bathroom as she heaved her guts out.
"Its strange," Ami said, following her, with the boys in tow. Phoenix, in concern, was kneeling beside her. "The power is very negative. It is also familiar, in more ways than one."
Piccolo was also trying to sense whatever it was that had the Ami on the ropes, his face a grim mask. Then, his eyes snapped open.
"I sense Saiya-jins," he said flatly, and Ami looked at him like he was crazy.
"No, it feels nothing like Trunks and Gohan!" she yelped, stepping back, into Trunks' warm embrace.
"It feels like- Metalia," Usagi whispered, wiping her mouth.
"Could someone tell me what is going on here?" asked Ryouga, scratching his head.
"Later," snapped, Usagi. "We need to get the others here, Ami, okay?"
Ami nodded, and they both grabbed their communicators, and started calling the others, even Rei and Mamoru.
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Ryouga watched with bemusement as the blue haired girl, and the blond started to whip out some strange looking devices. They seemed to be calling people with them.
He turned to Phoenix. The was standing there, biting her nails, like she was trying to think hard about something, and was having a rough time with it. He shrugged to himself. He guessed that now was as good a time as any…
"Phoenix? What are you?"
Turning to him, she sighed, and started to tell him a story, that had he not had proof in front of him; he would have thought was completely crazy.
Then, maybe not. After all, he did spend most of his time in Nerima.
"I don't know what to say about that…" Ryouga said, and turned away. Phoenix nodded to herself, like she had expected something like that, then offered," Would you like me to fly you back?"
Ryouga grimaced.
"I can't. At least not for a little while, not until Akane has gotten over P-Chan. It would hurt too much," he grinned crookedly. "Literally."
Phoenix snorted.
They could here the sounds of feet, as the closer Senshi made it.
Gohan beat them all there, however.
"You're that guy who turned into a pig, aren't you?" he asked, as soon as he saw Ryouga. Ryouga groaned, and slapped his hands over his face.
"What's the situation?" someone asked, and Piccolo said, succinctly:
"Saiya-jins."
"That's not possible-" said Haruka, but Setsuna shook her head.
"It is possible. This is a big universe."
"That's not all, you guys. I sensed Metalia," said Ami, who had already transformed, doing what she did best, and was scanning, getting information.
"METALIA?" gasped all present, including Rei and Mamoru, who were in the background.
"They can't be related, can they?" asked Chibi-Usa softly, voicing everyone's fear.
Sailor Mercury looked to the Z Senshi and Usagi for confirmation, and Usagi nodded grimly.
"I'm afraid," she answered slowly, gulping in fear," that it's so."
The moment seemed frozen still, as the worst nightmare they could have imagined. The scene would have been funny, to anyone who would have seen it. Ten girls, all standing in the bathroom of a house from another dimension, with a two half aliens, a full alien, and a man who turned into a pig. Yet, it was deathly serious.
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Metalia smiled from inside her new host body, and stroked that body's beard.
Beryl had been so weak compared to this new species… she would finally get her revenge on the White Moon Family, which had sealed her way so long ago.
She hissed menacingly to herself. There were several readouts about Earth on the screen, most of which containing information that she already knew. Her mind drifted back to her first humiliating defeat by Queen Serenity. On the verge of her greatest victory, she had been sealed away.
There was a loud cracking sound, as her hand crushed the arm of the chair she was sitting in. The Throne in the middle of the command deck was not a comfortable seat, but it should have held up to King Vegeta's temper better.
Metalia again skimmed the readouts, when something caught her eye.
"Second, what is this about the planet being purged already?"
"Sire," the taller man said, trembling. King Vegeta had always been ruthless, but in all the Kings before, this one had been the cruelest.
Metalia listened as he told them of the pod that had lost contact with planet Vegeta long before.
"It was the standard third class child sent?" Metalia asked, and was affirmed.
She stroked her beard again. She knew, from the dates before her, that the infant had to have been there when she had fought Princess Serenity and lost.
She dismissed the thought as unimportant.
What mattered was her revenge. She cackled insanely in her stolen body, planning her vengeance, dreaming of the little, weak princess' screams, tasting her blood, making her watch as her beloved earth was laid bare…
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"Can you tell how many Saiya-jins there are? How long it will take for them to get here? How is Metalia involved?" fired out Usagi, as she paced, still in her robe, around the living room of the capsule house.
"I can't give you any numbers yet," said Ami, who was sitting next to Trunks, her face ashen. Trunks had his arm around her shoulder, but she was so worried she couldn't even take comfort in that.
"We shouldn't have any trouble with them, should we?" said Gohan, who was perched on the edge of a table, still avoiding the single-minded pursuit of Chibi-Usa. "Me and Trunks are Super Saiya-jins, you're the Eclipse, we have Piccolo, who is stronger than basic Super-Saiya-jin, and however strong Phoenix is-" he looked to her and she sighed.
"I'm as strong as a Super Saiya-jin," she said succinctly.
"There, we don't have anything to worry about," said Trunks, trying to comfort Ami some more.
"If they are aligned with Metalia, then we definitely have something to worry about," she answered him, burying her face in his shoulder.
Phoenix looked at him soberly. "These aren't the Saiya-jins you are used to, either, Trunks. I have never been to this dimension before. Just while this is a parallel earth, these are a different set of Saiya-jins. They might be working for Frieza, they might not. They could have discovered how to turn Super Saiya-jin, but then, they might not."
"So, anything goes?" asked Ryouga. Phoenix looked to him, and nodded.
"Metalia is a very powerful magical, malevolent force. Combine that with the force of the Saiya-jins," added Ami, grimly.
"Can I help?" asked Ryogua, shyly, and everyone turned to him. He went defensive. "I'm a good martial artist."
"That might not be enough," said Piccolo, and Phoenix finished," These people are incredibly powerful."
"I bet I could beat one of those girls," he said, pointing to the Sailor Senshi. Phoenix weighed their powers in her mind, and reluctantly agreed.
"Well, then, that means we have to train!" shouted Makoto, while Minako noticed the new boy, and started drooling.
Ryogua backed up several steps. Minako in 'man-hunter' mode is scarier then Phoenix.
"Train?" said Rei, confused.
"If Usagi could get so much more powerful, then maybe we could to!" she said gleefully.
Sweat drop.
It was a collective thing, as they all thought about it.
"I'm in," said Ami, as she snuggled closer to Trunks. He got a goofy smile on his face, and Minako pouted.
"I'm in," she sighed, and turned her gaze back to Ryouga, and drooling commenced.
Makoto winked. They already knew her opinion.
The Outers looked at each other, and nodded simultaneously.
Rei cocked her head to the side, and glanced at Mamoru.
"We'll fight," she said reluctantly.
Chibi-Usa was drooling at Gohan, as he edged away.
Usagi smiled. "So, we start tomorrow?" she asked.
"We will, but you won't," said Piccolo, pushing her down onto a couch.
"WHAT?" she screeched.
"You are not going to be fighting," he told her flatly. "Remember the baby."
Usagi opened her mouth to answer, then crossed her arms across her chest, and pouted cutely.
"That won't work on me," Piccolo protested.
Usagi sighed, and glared daggers at him, then relented. He had a point.
"Other than the one on his head," she muttered under her breath.
Piccolo didn't answer.
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"Incoming message, sire," said a voice, and Metalia looked up.
Metalia looked at the face on the screen.
"I never would have thought…"
To be continued!
