Chapter 9 Luna could tell that lightning flashed by the way different doorways lit up, and by the boom of thunder that followed. The storm was becoming more fierce by the minute, scaring Luna more and more until Goku gently moved her to his lap.

"If you're going to be a Sayin-cat, you're going to need a Sayin name. Let's see, what can we call you! The only real Sayin names I know are guy's names, so we'll just make up one," Goku tilted his head back in thought. "How about Meta? That sounds pretty nice, don't you think?"

Luna wasn't sure what she thought of the name, but decided it would be best to let Goku do what he wished, "Meow."

Goku scratched behind her ears, "Good, I'm glad you like it, kitty. It even sounds like a Sayin name; I think I've outdone myself this time, 'Meta.' "

Luna pondered silently, "There's no way this guy can be with the Nega-verse, can he? No, he's way too nice. His partner on the other hand..," Luna's thoughts trailed off as she realized how sleepy she was. With a little cat yawn, she pulled her tail around her and fell asleep right there on Goku's stomach.

Luna awoke to the sound of people talking. She yawned, stretched, and blinked a few timed to wake herself up. When she was up enough to understand what was being said, she heard Goku and Vegeta carrying out a conversation.

"You were the one that was stupid enough to go out in the storm last night."

"I know, Vegeta, but it doesn't matter! It's still raining outside, so we don't have to do anything until the storm stops."

Luna had no idea what they were arguing about, so she assessed the situation instead. She was still on Goku's lap, he was still sitting shirtless on the stairs, and Vegeta was about a meter ahead of them, leaning against a wall.

"Great, just what I always wanted; to be stuck in a building with you and a cat, and with nothing to do."

"Really! Gosh, I didn't know that!"

Vegeta looked even more ticked off than usual, "I was being sarcastic, Kakarot."

"Oh," Goku rubbed Luna gently under her chin as she purred. Then he thought of something, "Hey, Vegeta, does Meta sound like a Sayin name for a girl?"

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow, "I suppose it could, why?"

"No real reason," Goku said casually as he smoothed Luna's semi-dry fur.

Vegeta looked away, as though the wall was more interesting than Goku, "You're going to name that cat, aren't you? And you wanted to give it a Sayin name, right?"

Both Goku and Luna were surprised, "How'd you know?"

"For starters, you really like that thing, and she's the same cat that was here two nights ago. Another thing; you don't think she belongs to anyone, so you want to keep her."

Goku's eyebrows were raised in surprise, "Wow, you're pretty observant."

Vegeta only scowled, "Humph."

***

At Sailor Moon's house, Sailor Moon was listening intently to her battery powered radio, waiting anxiously for some good news.

"Due to last night's thunderstorm and the severe power outages caused by it, schools will not be holding classes today."

"Yes!!"

Serena threw her arms up in the air triumphantly, "All right! School's out, whoo-hoo!" She danced around her bedroom, "Do you hear that, Luna? School's out! That means that you and I can spend the whole day together!"

Serena giggled as turned off her radio. She became worried when she didn't get a response.

"Luna, did you hear me? Luna?"

She looked around her room, then headed downstairs, "Luna," she called, "Luna, where are you? Come out this instant, you silly cat!"

Serena ran into the rest of her family in the kitchen.

"Hey, have any of you seen Luna lately? I can't find her!"

"No, I haven't seen her," Serena's Moon said. "Are you sure she's not in your room?"

"I'm positive! I can't find her anywhere!" Serena placed her fists under her chin in exaggerated worry, "What if she's outside! What if she got caught in that storm last night!"

Sailor Moon began to play different scenarios in her head of what might have happened to Luna. She imagined Luna huddled under some garbage as the storm raged on, then she thought of the cat running away from the thunder and getting lost in the city. Finally, she imagined the worst; Luna was being swept down a storm drain and was now stuck in a torrent of water and garbage in the sewers. "This can't be happening! Mom, Dad, I'm going to look for Luna!" Sailor Moon snatched a raincoat from the closet and grabbed an umbrella on her way out. "I'll come back when I find her!

Her mom tried to stop her, "Serena, dear, wait!"

"No time, Mom! I'm on a mission!" Serena breathed quickly as she pulled her boots on. "See you later!"

Sailor Moon hopped outside, yanking her coat on in the process. She flipped her hood up and buttoned her raincoat while she walked down the sidewalk, water everywhere. Sailor Moon opened her umbrella and started calling for Luna.

"Luna! Luna, come here! Where are you?" Sailor Moon was almost crying. "Oh, please be okay! I know! I'll go to Amy's place, maybe Luna's over there!"

With that, Sailor Moon trudged off. She checked down every all and in every tree on her way to Mercury's house, but to no avail. She rang the doorbell when she got there, and Mercury's mother answered.

"Oh, hello Serena. Amy's in her room right now."

"Thank you very much, I hope I'm not disturbing you any."

"No, you're not any trouble at all! I just don't believe you came out in this storm to visit Amy."

Serena explained her reasons as she removed her wet apparel, "Well I was worried a little about Amy, and I can't seem to find Luna, so I decided to do two things at once. By coming here, I can check up on Amy and look for Luna.

"I can see your logic, but your cat isn't here. I'm sorry. You can still say hi to Amy, though."

Sailor Moon was disappointed that Luna wasn't here, but she still wanted to see Amy, "Thank you."

Sailor Moon entered Mercury's room, closing the door behind her. Mercury was sitting oh her bed with her left leg folded beneath her right leg, and books were scattered around her. Mercury's injured leg was wrapped with some type of bandage, with white gauze covering it. The actual leg was semi bent at the knee and half laying on its side.

"Hi, Amy,"

"Serena, hello!" Amy put her flashlight down. "What a surprise! Did you come all the way through this storm just to visit me?"

Sailor Moon stood next to Amy's bed, "Well, sorta. You see, Luna's missing, and I figured that she might have come here, so I thought that I'd see you in the process."

"That's sweet of you," Sailor Mercury moved her books around. "Here, sit down. Now, tell me all about Luna."

"There really isn't that much to tell. Last night, I thought Luna was in my room with me when I fell asleep. This morning, she was gone," Sailor Moon leaned closer to Mercury in worry. "It's not like Luna to just up and leave like this! What if something really bad happened?"

Mercury put a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder. "Relax, I'm sure Luna's fine. She probably went to learn more about Mr. Goku, and just got trapped somewhere by the storm. She'll be fine."

"I hope you're right. Without Luna, we wouldn't be able to find the Nega-verse's minions, and millions of people could end up dying as a result of un-eliminated Heart Snatchers."

"Serena, don't be so negative. Like I said, Luna is fine. I wouldn't be too surprised if Mr. Goku was looking after her this instant."

Sailor Moon looked at the floor, "I know Luna can take care of herself, but I'm just worried that she might have gotten lost in that storm."

Sailor Mercury took her hand off her friend's shoulder, "Luna's fine. She'll be back home as soon as it stops raining."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

Luna was chasing a ball of light that Goku created around the floor of the old museum. He and Vegeta were laughing hard as Luna stumbled around.

"If I can get that ball, I might be able to find out how they make these things! Oof!" Luna dove for the orb and missed. "If I can only catch it."

"Oh! Almost had it, Meta!" Goku teased.

Luna fell down, exhausted and panting, when Goku called the ball of light to his hand, absorbing it back into him through his palm. He let Luna catch her breath a little by putting on his boots before retrieving her.

"As much as I hate cats, I must admit that that was pretty funny," Vegeta said rather sheepishly.

Goku cradled the breathless Luna in his arm, "See, cats aren't that bad, you have to admit it."

Vegeta grumbled something that Goku couldn't make out, then changed the subject, "It's stopped raining now; we should get to work."

Goku went back to the stairway and set Luna down on one of the steps. He yanked on his damp weighted shirt, then threw on his orange one.

"You know what they say, Vegeta; all work and no play makes one a dull boy."

Vegeta scoffed at the idea, "That's just something some kids made up." He started for the door, "Let's get going. The sooner we find this thing the sooner we can go home."

Goku picked Luna up and put her on his shoulder, "You're right about that." He followed Vegeta.

Once they got outside, Vegeta outlined his simple game plan, "Goku, you can head that way, into the city, and I'll go this way, towards the houses."

"Oh sure, give me the hard job." "Actually, I'm taking the harder route. On a day like today," he motioned to the clouded sky, "most people will be staying at home. Judging by the lack of power, I'd say that many stores will be closed, leaving people stuck at their homes.

Goku could only stare wide-eyed at Vegeta. Vegeta, on the other hand, stalked off.

"Well, there's no arguing with the facts," Goku said absently to Luna. "Let's go, Meta. We've got work to do."

Luna was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice that Goku was talking to her, "I thought Goku was in charge here, but now I'm not so sure. Vegeta's pretty bossy when he wants to be. Maybe I've got this all wrong, maybe neither of them are in charge, after all, they did call themselves partners, not leaders or followers. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out later."