(Chapter One)
"Ahhhhhh!!!" Usagi terrified screams pierced the silence of the Black Forest. She plummeted from the heavens screaming, "Heellpp me!!!!!!!"
And something stopped her free-fall. She looked up and saw a handsome, but concerned face. His face was battered with bruises and his clothing was torn almost to shreds. But he'd saved her, and she was more than thankful. One more of her wishes was granted (to take a nap, I think) and she fainted dead away.
When she awoke, she found herself in a strange bed and sat up. "Ow!" she cried. Her whole body ached, especially her head. Reaching up, she found her hair a mess, her school uniform wrinkled and one of her shoes were missing. (K: But with the way she loses that thing that's not really unusual.) She looked around and wondered where in the world she was. A door to her left opened and she turned. "Whoa, you're awake!" a guy was standing in the doorway, he was surprised, obviously. Usagi jerked in surprise and was overwhelmed by pain. She fell to the floor. (K: *sigh* I know, I know… she seems pathetic. But then, put yourself in her place and then see if you don't wail.)
"Who are you? Where am I?" Usagi was in a panic and in pain, close to tears.
"Hey, watch out, you'll hurt yourself! Uh, okay, that's not going to calm you down… my name's Goku… I promise I won't hurt you, okay? Okay? Come on, stop crying…" the big man looked awkward at the scared female. It's not unusual, those of the male population usually don't know what to do in those situations.
The man walked towards her and held out his hand. Usagi looked into his face and saw that he had a very kind expression on his face despite his more… intimidating appearance (K: Come on think about it, with muscles as huge as that, anyone would freak at first sight). She reached for his hand and he helped her up. She was back on the bed and was wearing a look of complete confusion, even though the panic had receded. (K: A little.)
The door opened again and a young woman walked into the room, she saw Usagi sitting on the bed and looked happy. "Oh, good, you finally woke up!" Serena stared and asked, "Who, are you?"
"I'm ChiChi, and that's my husband." and pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Goku. Serena turned, took a good look at Goku… and laughed. "What did you do to your hair?" she asked trying not to giggle, for Goku's hair was pitch black and stuck out in explosive spikes. He shrugged, "I was born with it."
"And I wouldn't talk Odango!" came a voice from the door. Usagi whirled around to the source of her familiar nickname.
In the doorway stood a guy. "Who are you?" she asked a little surprised at the nickname. "I'm Gohan. He is my dad. She is my mom. You are a stranger in the Black Forest. Now here's a question from me. Who the hell are you?" Serena bristled but stayed calm. "My name's Tsukino Usagi." Her she'd slipped her hand to her… more mangled red bow on her uniform when she felt a familiar hard and smooth surface. "The crystal! I can be Sailor Moon again! I can be a Sailor senshi again!" she squealed jumping up and down in ecstasy when she noticed everyone staring and shut her mouth.
"Uhh… yeah… okay. Did you hit your head somewhere before Dad caught you? (K: *rolls eyes* Like what? A cloud?) Who, or what is Sailor Moon?" Gohan asked unbelieving. Usagi squealed, slapping her mouth shut. "Oh no! I wasn't supposed to say that! You could be bad guys!" Goku shrugged, "If we'd been bad guys you'd have been dead by now. Usagi nodded slowly… "Okay… but who I am is kinda complicated to explain… I'll give you a visual…" And she took out her locket and held it up crying, "Moon… Prism… Power! Make-up!" (K: I forgot the actual words so the dub should do…) There was a brilliant flash of multi-colored light from her and they all covered their eyes. When they looked at her again, they looked up at her again, she had on different clothing and a slightly different appearance, the loose hair that had come out of her odangos was gone and so was all her pain. She was wearing a white body suit and a blue mini-skirt. She had on high red boots that went up to just below her knees. She looked strong, unbeatable, and invincible.
"Uhh… am I interrupting anything?" a voice came from the famed doorway. Everyone whipped around and stared at the handsome young man in the doorway. He blushed and stared at the unfamiliar face of Sailor Moon. "Should I go or something? And uh, who are you?" The last question asked of Sailor Moon.
The pig-tailed girl answered the question, "I am Sailor Moon, and I stand for love and justice. I fight any evil in my world and destroy it in any form… who are you?" the young man with the lavender-colored hair and the warm blue eyes answered her. "Trunks, and so you're saying, that you fight evil in your world? In a miniskirt? And how many guys know of you?" he snickered. Sailor Moon turned red to the roots at the implied insult and she shot back, "And how many girls fall for the cheap hair-dye?"
"Hey! My hair's real! It's anything's fake, it's your implants!"
"I DON'T HAVE IMPLANTS!"
Gohan had been silent along with the rest of his family during Usagi and Trunk's dialogue/argument/verbal war. Whoa! She's the first girl I've ever seen that hasn't been swooning over Trunks! She's actually arguing with him! Hmm… maybe she's not as much a ditz as I first thought she was… he thought, wait, what am I thinking, I hardly even know who she is! I can't judge her yet! But still… she is pretty. "Son? Gohan? GOHAN!" Goku's voice brought him back to the present. "Say, what? Huh? Sorry, I just zoned out for a minute." Goku smiled, "I can't see how." He gestured to the pair still verbally sparring and smiled, "It's been awhile since Trunks met his match in insults." Gohan had to laugh.
Meanwhile Trunks and Usagi had gone from physical insults to insults about fighting techniques. (K: Though I can't see how. Neither of them has seen the other's fighting skills!)
"Hey, we're good fighters, I could whip your butt any day!" (K: I hate to say it, but not true.) Trunks snorted, "I doubt that, and anyway who's the we're? Don't tell me there's more of you?" Usagi stopped short and she gasped, "Oh no, I forgot all about them!" she jammed her hand into the folds of her pleated skirt and from some hidden pocket, what looked like a small calculator appeared. Pressing a few buttons, a fuzzy picture of Pluto's face appeared. "Setsuna-san? I got here okay, how are the others?"
The face looked haggard and tired already, "Not very good. Only Mars is coming close to waking up. The others are still unconscious." Sailor Moon slumped, sitting down on the bed slowly. "Are you sure? They're not even awake yet?" The image of Pluto shook her head; "The others are taking care of them. They just came back from the 30th century." Sailor Moon took a deep breath of extremely needed air and nodded slowly. "Then… thank you, for taking care of them." Pluto smiled one last time, "I've stopped time in the 20th century and it will remain frozen in time until I let time run in its stream again… please hurry. Good luck, and by Mare Serenitas be—" her face dissolved suddenly into a blank screen and Sailor Moon gasped at the sudden tingling of a very high, energy source. It was a disturbing feeling. And she wasn't the only one who felt it. All but ChiChi froze as the sudden feeling of any unimaginably high ki could be felt. Sailor Moon looked up to see all of their tensed faces. "Don't tell me… that you felt it too?" she asked softly and more than a little worried.
"Yeah…" said Goku as he looked around trying to find where the source was coming from. But it seemed to have vanished. Sailor Moon bit her lip and she all but started to cry again before she whispered, "I think it's after me…" Though she had no psychic powers whatsoever, she remembered this feeling. It was from a while ago, but she still remembered. It was back when she first became Sailor Moon. Back then, she had thought that all it was, was a feeling that 'something seems weird'. The air had seemed charged with energy. It wasn't as strong now, but she remembered it. And remembered it well. How could she not? She'd died.
Gohan looked at the strange girl and he could see her face hardening, becoming serious, as she seemed to think over something. She looked down at the calculator-like thing and kept pressing buttons to no avail. It was dead. "Dammit!" she swore under her breath. So that was what that… presence had done. It'd severed the magic link between senshi. She was alone in this strange world.
She shoved the thing back into her skirt, (K: Where I don't know… do they have hidden pockets or something of the sort?) "Well… um… thank you for saving me… I won't bother you anymore." She said softly, all anger gone, as she looked young, tired and scared again. And she looked like she was beginning to cry.
Being the intuitive guy he was, Trunks began a teasing argument, hoping to cheer her up at least. "What? Running away already? I'm still standing Odango, didn't you say you were going to win in a battle?"
"Don't call me that!" she yelled, eyes blazing again. She had a soft point about her hair and only her closest friends could call her that without getting pulverized… most of the time. "You're on!"
Now the rest of them came alive again. ChiChi first of course, "Hey! Now wait just one moment! I am not allowing you to fight anyone yet! You were practically dying a few minutes ago! Trunks! Don't do anything or I'll get your dad to come here and beat your ass into the ground!" cried ChiChi. Trunks and Sailor Moon both visibly flinched. ChiChi could be really intimidating when she had to.
~*~*~*~
Meanwhile…
"Augh…" the sailor senshi groaned as she sat up slowly, her head spinning. "Did anyone get the license plate of that truck?" she muttered under her breath. Wait a minute… where was she?" She blinked and stared around herself again. Pluto rushed over to her. "Oh, thank goodness," she sighed with relief, "You're the first to wake up. No one else yet…" Mars shook her head to clear her head and then stared blankly at Pluto. "Huh? Who are you? Where am I? WHO am I?" she asked close to tears. Pluto's was taking on a look of startled understanding… if she had been anyone else, she would've groaned outright. "You're Sailor Mars. A monster back on Earth beat you and the other Inner Senshi. You are here at the Time Gates while the others are recovering…" Mars stared at her… and suddenly she did something she would never would have done before… She started screaming her head off. "WHAT?! You mean I'm not even on Earth anymore? Who's Sailor Mars? Who're the Inner Senshi?" she cried in panic. Pluto's garnet eyes closed momentarily. This is not my day… She then went to the task of calming down the panicked girl that was acting more like a frightened three-year-old than a mature Sailor Senshi.
~*~*~*~
Back in the Black Forest…
Gohan sighed. Despite the truce between Sailor Moon and Trunks on not physically fighting, he'd been given a sample of how a blonde could fight back (verbally) with a saiyan. And a smart-aleck saiyan at that. Do they ever run out of breath? Finally he decided to stop it. "Let's stop this alright? It's getting tiring." Trunks grinned… he was actually having fun. "And stop this interesting conversation? Are you crazy?" (K: Hmm… I'll have to personally deign them both insane. Insults never made number one on my 'Interesting Conversations'
Sailor Moon, who was sitting on the bed grinned too. "It actually feels more at home than ever…" she said a little shyly. "I always used to fight with Shingo about everything…" Gohan groaned, "You are a strange girl if you miss sibling fights." Sailor Moon nodded only half-listening, she was getting tired. She'd been Sailor Moon for a while… it was starting to take its toll on her, especially with the ginzoushou weakened in this dimension. As both of them were staring at her, she stood up a little wearily. Taking out her locket, she held it up muttering, "De-transform." As the fuku disappeared into ribbons for moments before her school uniform appeared on her body again. She found both Trunks and Gohan fumbling for tissues to fend off the oncoming nosebleeds.
Goku walked into the door and announced that it was time for dinner. Usagi kind of shrank back while the others headed for the door… she wasn't even supposed to be here. She should be find those… Dragonball things and the Rainbow crystals right now… Gohan turned and found her trembling. "Hey, aren't you coming?" he asked in a soft and comforting voice. Usagi nodded meekly, and gave Gohan a weak but quite a nice smile.
He went over and took her small hand in his and then led her towards the others who were already eating and got her a chair next to his and Trunks'. Trunks smiled at the petite girl and whispered to her, "You've entered the Spanish Inquisition, you know that?" Usagi blinked, "What's an 'inquition'? Who's Spanish? I don't even know how to speak Spanish! I can barely manage my English verbs! You're doing this on purpose right?! You're trying to kill me! This is a plot to make me go back to school!" sending both Gohan and Trunks into table-pounding laughter while the rest looked on with great sweatdrops on the side of their heads.
ChiChi made an effort to strike up a conversation after Gohan and Trunks had… calmed down. "So what year did you come from? You aren't from this time." She said bluntly. Usagi nodded, looking more careless than she actually felt. "Yeah, you're right I'm not. I'm from 2002. Tokyo, Japan." (K: Happy New Year!)
"So… I guess asking if you know anyone around here is out of the question…" joked Goku casually in between bites. Usagi cocked her head, "What year is it?"
"2781." Usagi choked on her orange juice and Trunks pounded on her back helpfully as she coughed. "For real?!" she gasped looking up at him. "Yeah, for real." Usagi didn't seem much fazed. Instead, she looked curious. "So… is anything very different?"
"I wouldn't know. I wasn't alive in 2002." Gohan replied.
"HA! So I'm older!"
"18. How old are you?"
"16… oh well, I was born earlier." She said to comfort herself and laughed as she thought of how ridiculous that sounded, even to her.
"Where's your time capsule stored?"
"Time… capsule?"
"Didn't you come here in a time machine?"
"Uh… no, I went through the Time Gate. Granted, the descent would have killed me, but… I could never tinker with machinery. I'd probably blow it up before I turned it on!"
"So I guess the thing with the 'dumb blonde' existed way back in your time right?"
"'Way back in MY time'?! What, you think I've gone senile already?!" she paused pondering the question. "What does 'senile' mean anyway?" that made the entire table crack up as she looked up at the question mark flashing above her head.
"Why use it if you don't know what it means?"
"I don't know! It's something my mom yelled at me when I started complaining…" she shrugged, getting it out her mind. She looked down at her plate, empty of course. She was Tsukino Usagi after all.
Finally, after the meal was done, both Trunks and Gohan were about to leave. Usagi looked up at both of them curiously. "You mean… you guys don't live here too?" Gohan laughed, "Are you kidding? We're roommates over at the other side of here, nearer to the city. I've got classes, Trunks' got work to go to. (K: Don't ask me, I've somehow merged GT Trunks with Z Gohan ~when he's a teenager~) Usagi shrugged, "I don't know. I go to school… high school anyway, and I still live with my parents." Gohan grinned, "Yeah, well, I'm in first-year college."
Usagi looked horrified. "Even in this time there's still COLLEGE?!"
"I'm guessing you don't like school."
"Are you KIDDING?! Seeing friends, great, go to the mall. But to willingly be submitted to SCHOOL?! That's only what Umino-kun or Mercurius-san, maybe even Ami-chan to a certain extent, do! Not me!"
Now as she rattled off the names of the well-known geniuses (to us anyway), the others were looking rather confused at what she was spouting. She finally stopped and shrugged, "They're school geniuses."
"I… see."
Her broach suddenly heated under her fingertips and she literally jerked as the others stiffened, feeling a dark ki. "Oh kami, they're coming again!" whispered Usagi as she readied herself for what she KNEW would turn out with a drooling, female youma. (K: They always turn out female don't they? If I weren't so nice, I might agree with Kamille's point saying Naoko was a leeeeetle sexist.)
A sudden crash outside made them all turn to the window where a tree had fallen, the trunk still smoldering due to being unceremoniously ripped in half, and shot through with flames. Usagi shot to her feet, just like everyone else, and not knowing where the door was, (K: and unwilling to find herself in a broom closet if she should attempt to find one) followed everyone else.
She yelled out her henshin words, bringing out the Sailor Soldier persona and her moon wand appeared in her hand. She was the first one to reach the youma, (K: surprising considering her company… and her footwear) and she faced off with the youma, wearing an airy, white dress, with little flowers tied in her hair, and an adorable little face, in other words, the perfect face of innocence. This made Sailor Moon stop and look around for the youma, the ones who were always yelling and spitting and drooling and terrorizing. This girl was simply staring at her and smiling while little birds flitted down onto her shoulders and a little puppy frolicking beside her. (K: Anyone ever play the Sega Dreamcast game with Capcom against Marvel? The little red/blue riding hood girl? Heh, talk about looks can be deceiving!)
The girl suddenly walked up to Sailor Moon laughing and throwing flowers into the air. Gohan, who was standing beside her reached up to catch one to look at carefully but Sailor Moon jerked him back. "Don't touch them!" she hissed as she aimed her moon wand at the girl who was staring at her now… with a hint of deviousness in her eye. Goku was eyeing the girl closely, and ChiChi was eyeing her husband closely. She broke his concentration by slapping him upside the head. "Do you HAVE to gawk at other women in front of me?!"
"But I—"
"NO BUTS!"
"But, she—"
"I don't care! NO BUTS!"
Goku looked helplessly at Gohan and Trunks. Sailor Moon on the other hand took things… into hand. Literally. She ran up to her, dodging the little flowers falling from the air, which were beginning to create enormous scorch marks on the ground that they landed on. She grabbed the girl's bouquet, flinging it into a nearby tree before wincing as the entire thing burst into flames. She winced at the sudden scorch marks on her own hands but she ignored them for the time being. She always waited to whine afterwards. She held her wand out at arm's length in front of the girl's face. "You're moondust!"
"?" the girl didn't say a word, just gave a questioning look and giggled. She picked a rose from a bush that suddenly bloomed between the two of them and the entire thing suddenly changed into a very sharp-looking rose sword… she smiled innocently again before attacking, as dainty on her feet as she seemed but just as fast. Moon found herself using her wand for parrying purposes only as she didn't have enough time to aim when the girl was directly in front of her with a sharp and pointy thing. She winced as she looked at her wand… surely it wasn't meant for such usage… but it remained as it always was, smooth, pretty and… well… plastic-looking.
Hurriedly, as she saw in the corner of her eye that both Gohan and Trunks both had some power ball things in their hands and trying to aim. Well… she would get that thing to stop and she wouldn't let her be destroyed. "Moon… Tiara… Magic!" she yelled, pulling off the golden circlet thing (K: How does that stay on?!) as it became a glowing discus. She threw it at the youma, stunning it and breaking the sword as a bonus. "Moon… Healing… Activation!" she yelled as the normal display of moondust, crescent moons, and crystal copies flew around the girl who began screaming before changing back into a more familiar-looking girl to both Gohan and Trunks. A certain Videl from Gohan's college. Gohan took one look at the girl and gave a strangled gasp, running towards her. He held her carefully in his arms and looked into her unconscious face. "What did you do to her?!" he yelled at Sailor Moon who had a defensive look on her face. "I just saved her!" he looked down at the girl's face who was already coming too. She opened her eyes and after a moment's blinking, she recognized the face of her friend since early high school. "Gohan?"
"Hey… you okay?" she nodded holding her head. "Yeah… I was walking across the campus… and then some ghostly woman seemed to fly across it freaking out the entire student body. It stopped in front of me and… I don't know… did something."
"She turned you into a youma." said a soft voice, and as Videl turned to face Sailor Moon. "Pardon me?"
"She turned you into a youma, forcing you into… I think Mercury called it a 'concentrated body of evil'."
"I see…" Videl shook her head to clear it and smiled. "Well, I'm alright now. I'll just head on home… okay?" she didn't seem too shaken. Gohan looked at her carefully, "Are you sure?" she smiled, he was so protective, over everyone. "I'll be fine." And to Sailor Moon's amazement, she leaped into the air and flew out of sight quickly.
Gohan was extremely protective of that girl, thought Sailor Moon to herself, I wonder who she is? And she could fly! "Wow… that would be so cool to do that." she breathed as she watched Videl disappear from view. Trunks, standing right beside her grinned, "Well… we could teach you but I doubt you'd be able to learn."
Usagi's suddenly filled with tears as she looked at them about to burst into tears. "You… you think I can't do it?! How, how COULD you!" she sobbed, and she really did burst into tears. Gohan, Trunks and Goku stood their with sweatdrops trailing down the sides of their heads while ChiChi purposely got up and smacked Gohan upside the head before doing the same to Trunks. "You, are a complete baka." She told him before turning to Sailor Moon. "And you can stop crying because I assure you my son nor his friend won't be making any such rude comments anymore." She said giving a warning glance to her son.
"But I didn't do anything!"
"You didn't tell Trunks to shut up!"
Gohan sighed, defeated. It was impossible to argue with his mother. ChiChi smiled, "Now, do you have a place to go, Usagi-san?"
"No… I don't know anyone in this time. I came here to find the… the… Dragon somethings."
Gohan froze. Actually everyone froze. Of course they knew what she was talking about… but how would she know about them?! "What do you want them for?" asked Gohan tersely. She shrugged, "I need to find the Rainbow crystals… and they've merged with the Dragonballs or something and I need to get them back. Do you know how many Dragonballs are there?"
"Ten."
"NANI?! I may be an adango-atama but I can count to ten… seven is not the same as ten!"
"There are ten." Sailor Moon sat down on the charred grass, and began to think… "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." She finally announced to them all after a minute of profound thinking. "Well… do you have a wish you want to have come true that you'll ask the dragon?"
"The dragon? There's a dragon?! What am I supposed to do with the dragon?! AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGHT A DRAGON?!"
"No, but the Dragonballs can grant a wish to the person who finds them all and brings them together."
"Ah… well, sure I have wishes but I need to get my crystal and I need to get home and make sure my senshi are okay!"
"Do you need help?"
She eyed them hopefully, "Do you have them?"
"Er, no…"
"Do your friends have them?"
"No…"
"Then how can you help me?!"
"We know how to find them." Sailor Moon groaned. Finding. Which meant she couldn't just lug the entire package together and get her crystal back anytime soon.
"You mean I'm going to be going on a needle-in-a-haystack hunt?"
"Well, we have our devices…"
"So you'll help me?!"
"We could…"
"ARIGATO!" she squealed jumping Trunks and hugging him ecstatic. He looked shocked for about two seconds before smiling and hugging her back lightly and putting her back onto the ground.
"So… you don't have a place to stay?" the still sailor-suited super-heroine shook her head. "Well… she could stay with us…" said Trunks doubtfully to Gohan.
ChiChi's eyes widened. "NO she is NOT! I will not have you two troublemakers living with a young girl like Usagi-san! And especially not unsupervised!"
"But MOM! We're not planning anything!"
"I don't care!"
"Then let me be the supervisor." Said a voice from somewhere. Sailor Moon recognized that voice… and she recognized the blue-black cat that was slinking towards ChiChi. "LUNA!" she squealed pouncing on the dignified feline guardian. "A cat? Where'd it come from?"
"She's my cat! Luna, why on Earth are you here?!"
"I was sent here as well Usagi-chan." The cat said a little put off with her dignity being considerably lessened with the sailor soldier cuddling her in her arms.
"Kami, the cat can talk?!"
"Yes, this cat can talk." replied Luna haughtily as she looked at the outspoken Trunks with disdain. "And I doubt I am the only one. I met a flying talking cat earlier on my travels around this strange place. Puar I think it's name was."
"You went to my place?!"
"I do not know whether or not it was your place, but there was a very disinterested man there who was staring at me before this blue-haired woman dragged him inside."
"That would me my folks."
"Then it certainly was your place I had to get past." The cat turned to ChiChi. "I believe I can be a supervisor as well as a guardian if I must. I already have to my duty to Usagi-chan, I would be willing to watch over her in the stead of anyone else."
ChiChi nodded slowly. "Okay… well, uh, go ahead…" she said shakily before fainting into Goku's arms mumbling something about 'talking cat' and 'must still be dreaming'.
The sun slowly sank towards the horizon coloring the sky with beautiful reds, golds, and pinks. Gohan and Trunks decided it was time to go. They said good-bye, and then got ready to fly. "Wait! Oh come on, get back here! I can't fly!" Usagi called as they floated off the ground. "We… have a problem."
"Hey, no problem at all. I'll carry her." offered Gohan and looked at Usagi. She fidgeted and said nervously, "Okay, but PLEASE don't drop me… if you do, I swear I'll come back to haunt you." Gohan laughed and so did Trunks. "If he drops you, I'll catch you." Trunks promised although he did accept the light burden of a certain crescent-mooned cat. Gohan picked her up and held her close. The closeness made her cheeks redden… just a little bit. They jumped into the air and flew off into the sky.
~*~*~*~
The Outer senshi were having no luck with those of the Inner planets. They were baffled with what had happened to the girls. They didn't know them very well but they were the guardians of the Neo-Queen. If anything should happen to them… Mars was still hysterical and while the others had awakened and although they had their memories still, they were too badly injured. Even with their amazing healing abilities, it would take some time.
"Get me off, get me off, get me off! I WANT OUT OF HERE!" Mars was still shrieking in hysterics. Michiru and Haruka were watching over the rest of the girls. And Hotaru was helping Setsuna watch over Mars. "She will have to do her duty soon enough…" sighed Hotaru brushing her violet-black hair out of her eyes. Setsuna nodded. "This girl is to find a king, who'll rebuild his empire." She said her eyes landing on the Time Key beside her…
~*~*~*~
Another chapter finished! Email me. I like email. oceangirl168@hotmail.com okay? Ja ne!
