~*~*~*~
~~Dark Realm Dimension~~
The Dark Queen of all things evil sat aloft in her throne. There really were no words at that point to describe her fury of anger that she felt towards Usagi, not to mention her guards. That entire day had been hectic from the time of morning until that very moment when she had come to realize that Sailor Moon had escaped into the portal that she had opened. And now, she didn't even have that. When she jumped through, the portal had become very unstable and collapsed in on itself.
That portal was to serve as her last hope of beating Sailor Moon and the other Senshi. Her plan had been to steal the power from the weaker Sailor Moon of the other dimension, but even then her power proved to be far too much for her minions to handle. She had ascended too far. "DAMN!" She slammed her fist against the arm of her throne. "I used almost all of the power we collected from the brat when she fought with Cell!" She quieted down when she heard the small tapping of footsteps and looked up.
There stood a tall, slender woman who looked to be in her late twenties. Her black hair was cut short, almost like a boy, but it was quite rigid at the ends, causing it to stand slightly away from her head. On her upper body she wore pure silver armor and arms in long, tight, black sleeves. Her legs were covered in black leggings and silver boots that made their way up to her shins. "Madam Beryl."
Beryl's mood lightened up as she lay her eyes upon her most trusted assistant. She wasn't in the least bit surprised to see her trembling. "Come fourth, dear. Do not be afraid." Her eyes grew wickedly narrow as she motioned for the woman to come closer.
The woman complied with her Queen's wishes and walked forward to the throne. She dared not look up into Beryl's sinfully red eyes. She did not want to risk consequence of angering her further in anyway since she was already treading on thin ice as it was. "Your Majesty, we have failed you." She put her crossed her right arm over her chest as she placed her hand on her left shoulder. She slowly bowed her head and kneeled down to one knee.
Beryl looked up with rage as she looked up from the woman and on to the door, where she heard whispering. "Out with you all or you shall pay dearly!"
That got them out. Two men emerged from the doorway to join their companion who was still at the floor. One man, the one who had kept Usagi captive, had long, course, black hair down to his calves. This woman, on the floor, was his only and most hated sister. The other, shorter man had a darker skin tone than that his male companion. Also, his hair was in a Mohawk atop his head. These were the three remaining Generals of Queen Beryl left after Cell. Both dropped to their knees as their female comrade had previously done before them just moments ago.
Beryl glared down at the two male fighters who had just graced her with their presence and sneered. "You two insolent moronic excuses for fighters were supposed be guarding that brat! Where the hell were you!?"
The taller man kept his eye on the ground as he spoke. "Your Majesty, we beg of mercy from you. We did not think that the girl would ha..."
Beryl narrowed her eyes as she threw a golden cup down at the man's head, hitting him right on target. "That's the problem! You did not think! Did I not save you from death?! Did I not give you more power?! This is how you repay me!" She stood from her throne and walked to the woman. "You!"
She looked up into her queen's eyes as a result of being directly addressed. "Yes, Madam Beryl?"
"I have but little power left to spare. I used almost all of that brat's power opening the portal because I had expected to gain more power from the Moon brat there. Work on getting more energy. Be it from anyone, I don't care. We can not go after Usagi or any of the other Senshi again until we have more energy."
The girl responded with a quick nod as she slowly stood to her feet. "I shall get on it right away, your Majesty."
Beryl smiled with a certain wickedness that was enough to send chills through the entire bunch's spines. "Very good. I will await your results. Do not fail me again." She turned down to the two males who were still placed firmly on the floor. "As for you two, I suggest you aid in any way if you want to keep your lives."
~*~*~
~*Earth*~
The dark sky was begging to lift to reveal a spec of light from where the sun was trying desperately to peak through the clouds. The night had come and gone, leaving only memories and unanswered questions. The bright moon was still very much intact but the sky was lit to be almost orange.
The events from the night before had worn on the emotions of many, but, luckily, the most important part of the problem was resolved. Usagi had been returned home. But by whom, no one knew.
The large group of Kami's Tower seemed to be at a stand still on what to do while they waited for Goku and Chi-Chi to return with the girls. Truthfully, even if they weren't waiting, there wasn't much that they could do. They couldn't feel their new enemy at all so they couldn't come up with a plan of attack.
Out in the open field where Goku had teleported himself, his wife, daughter, and Hotaru; it was like walking on glass around Goku and Usagi. Usagi was acting more cold than Goku was though, and she had every reason to. But that still didn't put ease into her parents hearts. No, that only made it worse, much worse. However, Usagi wasn't very angry with her mother and they all knew it. They could all tell who she was angry with as she stood with a frown on her face and arms crossed.
Hotaru felt somewhat left out of the array of emotions between these three and it was perfectly alright with her. For one, it was none of her business, and second, she didn't want to get betwixt it. "Uhmm..." The area had been silent ever since Goku had apologized to his daughter, which was well over five minutes before. Hotaru didn't want to impose on this obvious family moment, but it was late, or rather, early. She wanted to see her father, to let him know that she was safe and with people who could protect her, especially since Usagi was the Senshi of the Moon. No one would dare mess with her now.
Chi-Chi turned away from her husband and looked down at the little six year old who was swaying back and fourth with exhaustion. 'Poor thing...' She looked up into the sky, which had an orange tint to it. 'Morning already?' Putting aside her anger for her husband, she turned back to him with a warm and caring smile. "It's been a long night. Maybe we should head back to Kami's Lookout to tell everyone what happened and then head home. We are all very tired. We can talk about this later in the day when we've had a chance to rest."
Without moving his head from facing Usagi, Goku glanced to his side and, out of the corner of his eye, caught a glimpse of Hotaru yawning. "Chi-Chi, please take Hotaru back with you."
Chi-Chi wrapped her hand around Hotaru's and continued looking on to her husband. "You're not coming?" She asked with a yawn, showing her own tiredness.
"We'll be there in a minute."
The last thing Chi-Chi wanted that early in the morning was an argument. So much had gone on already that she decided not to really raise a fuss about it. "Don't be too long. I don't want Usagi staying up much later."
Usagi, realizing that her mother was about to leave her alone with her father, ran to her side and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Mama!" She said, muffled, as she dug her nose into her mother's side. "He's going to yell at me, don't leave me alone with him. We're going to fight again."
Chi-Chi giggled. "Don't be silly." 'Don't tell me you still want to fight him, Usagi. No. This isn't good.'
Goku was a little hurt that Usagi would be afraid to be left alone with him. She had never been before. But of course, this time, the circumstances were a little different than before too. This time, he had actually given her reason to be afraid, unlike the time he had gone into the past as a request from the Guardian of Time. That time, she was only ashamed of herself, and not in fear.
He slowly reached out his hand and gently placed it upon her shoulder. "Come." He carefully pulled her away from Chi-Chi. "Tell the others we'll be there soon if you get there and we haven't caught up to you yet."
Chi-Chi nodded. "Alright." She tightened her grip on Hotaru's hand and smiled graciously down at her. "Come on. Let's go, Hotaru."
Hotaru smiled as she perkily giggled. "Ok!" She raised her power level with Chi-Chi and to two of them took off into the air towards Kami's Lookout.
Now, that left the two Saiyans who had been going at it with each other ever since Usagi had returned home. It was tearing away at both of their hearts in the worst way and Goku would have been damned if he allowed the hard feelings to leave that field. "Usagi, we have to talk about a few things."
Usagi frowned as she pulled away from her father and walked to an old, moldy log that looked to have been there for at least a decade. She crossed her arms, as well as one leg over the other.
Goku sighed. 'More and more like her mother every day. I can't get away with this stuff as easily as I used to.' "Usagi, don't take that attitude with me. I'm not one of your friends, I'm still your father."
Usagi impossibly frowned harder, almost like a scowl that was so well known by Vejita. "And why shouldn't I? You tried to cut my tail off without even trying to find out if I was right or not. Don't you trust me?"
Goku cringed. She just had to hit him where it would hurt most, didn't she? "It's not that I don't trust you, because I do."
Usagi wasn't impressed with that answer in the least bit. "Then why didn't you listen to me?"
"Because I was scared..."
Usagi's frown lightened up slightly at hearing that. "You scared? I don't believe it. You're never scared."
Goku sighed as he went to join his daughter on the old, moldy log. Although he was flattered by what his daughter had just spoken, they were not true in anyway. "Usagi, tell me, do you know what it feels like to have to live with knowing that you were responsible for killing someone you loved very dearly?"
Usagi shook her head as she pulled her legs against her chest. "No." She didn't see any relevance for this obvious upcoming story, but she figured that she may as well get comfortable since adults had a bad habit of telling stories no matter what.
Goku looked away from Usagi and into the vastness of the sky. "I do." He murmured.
Usagi immediately dropped her frown after hearing that and leaned closer to her father for the story. "WHAT?!" She could never imagine her father being responsible for killing someone who was on the side of good, especially if it was someone close to his heart.
Goku frowned at his daughter's sudden peppy attitude. This wasn't exactly something to get happy over. "You heard me."
At that point, Usagi didn't even give a rip about relevancy anymore. She wanted to hear more. "When?!"
"When I was still just a little boy. Usagi, do you remember me talking about my grandfather, Gohan?" Usagi grimly nodded. "Remember how I've told you that he died when I was very little?" Usagi once again found herself wordless, but nodding. "I wasn't going to tell you until you were older, but I was actually the one responsible for his death."
Everything that was going through her mind at that point stopped; dropped dead. "What...?" 'My dad's a killer?'
Goku nodded. At that point, he wasn't very proud of himself. "I'm afraid I did. But it wasn't entirely my fault. I didn't know what I was doing, and do you know why?"
Usagi shook her head. "No, but I bet you're going to tell me, right?"
Goku nodded. "You guessed right. You see, your when your dear ol' dad still had his tail, he looked at the light of the full moon one night."
Usagi's face grew pale in anticipation of what was to come next. "Oh no..."
Goku nodded. "Yep, you guessed it. I grew wild and went on a rampage. My grandfather tried to calm me, but I wouldn't have it. I ended up injuring him. He was already so old and his body couldn't handle the injuries and finally gave way. I, myself, didn't even find out until years later. I could never remember what I did while I was an ape, but I know I caused a lot of destruction." He paused to look at his pale, speechless daughter. "That's why I went crazy tonight. When you were gone, a lot happened. Your friends were attacked by some unknown enemy with no Ki. They were nearly killed until these warriors known as the Sailor Senshi appeared. Then, the moon wouldn't blow up when we tried to destroy it."
Usagi's eyes widened at those words. 'Blow up the MOON?! Not good!'
"When that happened, Gohan suggested that we cut your tail off, but I didn't want that. I knew you wouldn't want that and you know how I hate forcing you to do something that you don't want." Usagi gave a big nod as she stared down at the ground. "But, the more I thought about it, and the more I remembered what happened to me and my grandfather, I came to the decision that we should just get the tail off and be done with it. Usagi..."
"Hm?" She snapped out of her trance and looked up at her father.
"I'm sorry. I was just so upset from what happened earlier and you getting kidnapped. Then the thought of you living with the thought of killing someone you loved because of your tail... I guess I just got a little crazy, is all I really wanted to say. I don't want to yell at you..."
Usagi smiled a true smile for the first time since her first encounter with her father. "It's ok, daddy. I think I understand now. You just didn't want anything bad to happen to me, right?"
Goku nodded. "Right."
Usagi totally forgot her anger and jumped into the arms of her father with tears in her eyes. For the first time since she had returned, she felt complete. "You're forgiven."
Goku smiled. 'Thank god she doesn't hate me.' "Usagi, what happened to you when you were taken away?"
Usagi sighed as she looked down to the ground. That wasn't something that she wanted to be reminded of, but she knew it was bound to happen some time. Better now than never, but what would she tell him? She couldn't tell him the entire truth or else her sworn secrecy to Luna would have been broken. She also couldn't tell him about going into that other dimension and what she had done there. The answer to that was not telling the entire truth, but could she do that? Goku had always been able to see through her lies, he also knew exactly when she wasn't telling the entire story. "Well, I'm not sure exactly what happened while I was there because I was knocked out for a long time. But when I did wake up, there was this big, ugly guy with this really long, scraggly hair. He had this really mean look to him. He looked like he wanted to kill me or something."
Goku frowned. Anyone who tired or even wanted to kill his daughter would have to pay dearly. Already who ever kidnapped her would pay for what they had done.
"He said that his Queen was going to steal my energy and then use my body to kill all of you guys and take over the world."
"What?!"
"I know, that's what I said."
Goku clenched his fist at the thought of having to fight his own daughter in serious combat. 'They're going way too far.' "Do you know where you were?"
Usagi looked away from her father as she opened her mouth. She couldn't look him in the eye and continue on for what she would say would have to be a lie to some extent. 'Why me?' "Not exactly. I think I was in another dimension or something. It was really dark and I could hardly see at all. But I could feel everything around me and it was so evil it was scary. There was nothing good about this energy. And you know what's worse, daddy?"
"What?"
"It was the same energy as Cell."
Goku gasped. "You mean the same people who sent Cell back to earth are the same people who kidnapped you?"
Usagi nodded. "That's right. Our very own Cell. Remember how I told you that his Queen sent him to get my power for her?" Goku nodded. "Say hello to her. I didn't get to see what she looked like but I'll be she's got lotsa warts and is really ugly!"
Goku laughed as he gently wrapped Usagi in his arms as he stood up. "I'm Just glad you're home, safe and sound."
Usagi smiled as she made herself comfortable in his arms. She was lucky that she didn't have to use anymore of her energy to fly back on her own. Using her strength to revive Eternal Sailor Moon's power in the other dimension had pretty much wiped her out power wise. She was even luckier that her father hadn't really given her much of a reason to lie to great extents. "I'm probably more glad than you are, daddy."
"We should get going or else everyone is going to get worried." Before he could receive any kind of protest at all, he raised his power and took to the air. Usagi was out cold from exhaustion before long.
~*~*~
Meanwhile, back at Kami's lookout, Chi-Chi and Hotaru were just returning from their flight over. Hotaru was ready to crash in a nice, warm bed with big, fluffy pillows. She landed on the far end of Kami's Tower with Chi-Chi; furiously looking around for any sign of her father, whom she for sure felt. "Daddy?!"
Chi-Chi reached down for Hotaru's hand and guided her towards the rather large crowd of her friends. "Don't worry, Hotaru. You'll be home soon and asleep very soon."
Hotaru tried to smile through a yawn as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "So... sleepy..."
Chi-Chi only replied with a soft smile as she made her way forth. "Professor. Professor, I think I may have something of yours."
~*~*~
Luna and Artimas, who had been conversing to each other about their new threat and how they would go about creating great fighters of their new Senshi, both perked their ears back at the sound of Chi-Chi calling for the father of the youngest Saiyan.
Artimas wasn't in the least bit surprised about the child, but Luna was. And it wasn't because she felt any strange sort of power being emitted by her being, it was because she knew exactly who Hotaru was and exactly what kind of power she would one day grow to have. "Hotaru..." She whispered.
Artimas, not having heard Luna's quiet statement, walked to Luna with curiosity. "She knows about us, yet she is not a Sailor Senshi."
Luna gasped as she turned back to her partner. "What? Did you slip up, Artimas?"
"No. Of course not. She was there when I had to awaken the Senshi; fighting right along with them. She held up to the intense power, but was quite lacking in her fighting skills; much lower than the girls. The strange thing is that she can feel the Senshis' power."
Luna decided to play along with Artimas and not let him know what she in fact knew. It would have been pointless to tell him anyway since she was going to erase her memory of that little fact along with Usagi's. It wasn't safe to know, especially with a little girl. Luna knew how kids couldn't keep very good secrets. Had Hotaru been left to know what kind of power she would be soon to hold, it could cause the flow of time to come to a stand still or run off its tracks, making Usagi have to go back and fix it so the Multiverse would not collapse. "She can?"
Artimas nodded. "Yes. I don't know why though. I think she may somehow be affiliated with the Moon Kingdom. That girl has already promised us that she won't tell anyone of us."
Luna sighed. 'She IS part of the Moon Kingdom. I wonder if we should erase her memory as well, after all, she is the strongest and deadliest Senshi around. But she doesn't seem evil at heart.' "We'll watch her."
Artimas nodded. "Right. But she isn't the only people who can feel the Senshi. A group of older kids can also."
Luna looked around to the group of adults, spotting Mamoru and his gang having a good time with loud laughter. 'Mamoru... Serenity's destined Prince...' "What do you think it means? That they too are affiliated with the Moon Kingdom some how?" 'Guess we'll have to erase our memories of those ones too. It will all be revealed in time. It's not safe to know ahead of time.'
"What else could it mean? Only people who have something to do with the Moon Kingdom can feel our Senshi. I just don't know who they would be. As far as I know, there are only our Senshi and the Prince of earth, who we still have to find."
Luna grinned. 'I know who he is.' "Make sure they don't find out about our Senshi. That would be a catastrophe. No one must know. Not even those we suspect to be part of the Silver Millennium. They could turn out to be the enemy if we aren't careful."
"The girls already know not to tell anyone."
Luna looked away from her partner back to the girls who were in their own little group talking with each other about the night's happening. 'They will grow to serve our Princess well.'
~*~*~
Across the way, Mamoru stood, arms crossed, with his gang. "Look at those kids." He sneered.
Haruka turned her attention from the four Americans onto the four girls who sat near the Palace. "What about em'?"
Mamoru frowned. "They're hiding something."
Haruka rolled her eyes. "So what? It's probably nothing important. You know, kids' stuff."
"I don't know about that. I swear I heard that cat say something tonight."
Michiru leaned her head upon Haruka's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Then why don't you try to find out what it is? They're just kids, they can't hold a secret that long."
Mamoru grinned. "That's exactly what I plan to do." He stopped himself from going on any further when he felt Goku and Usagi arriving from behind. "Looks like the two fighters finally decided to show up." His grin turned into an impish smirk as he spun around to stand face to face with Goku, who was just setting down a groggy Usagi. "Well look who decided to show up. It's the two duelers."
Goku gave Mamoru and unexpected grin as he passed him walking towards the main masses. "Nice to see you too, Mamoru."
Mamoru was at a loss for words as Goku passed by. 'Wow. The first time he didn't have something to yell at me about. He must be in a good mood.'
Goku chuckled to himself. "Hey everyone! We're back!"
Everyone dropped what they were doing, what they were saying, and looked in the direction of Goku. Chi-Chi nearly dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes with excessive joy when she saw her husband and daughter standing there together. It was obvious that they had made up already for Usagi was not resisting the touch of Goku any longer.
Bulma looked down at the grief stricken Usagi who was nearly falling over from exhaustion. "That didn't take very long."
Vejita snickered. "Good to see you finally got that brat under control there, Kakarotto. You finally laid down the law. Now if you can only control that wild mate of yours..."
Chi-Chi's face grew bright read as her emotions boiled with anger. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"
Goku chuckled as he grabbed his wife away from Vejita. "Calm down. We don't want any injuries this late." He wasn't at all worried about his wife. In fact, he was actually worried about Vejita. Had he taken the opportunity to hit Chi-Chi in any way, Chi-Chi would completely blow her top, not to mention Bulma.
Vejita grinned. "And you call yourself a man? You sicken me."
Bulma smacked her husband in the back of the head with her fist. "Can it!" She smiled as she looked up to Goku. "So what's the word? Chi-Chi explained to us what happened while you were away. Now that we know that the tail thing isn't a problem, which is strange in itself, what are we supposed to do?"
Goku shrugged. "I have no idea and, honestly, I don't want to think about it right now. As Chi-Chi pointed out before, we're all really tired right now so I suggest we take this time to get some rest while the enemy is not here. We can figure everything out tomorrow."
Gohan nodded to show his compliance. "Sounds good to me."
Videl nodded, but frowned at Goku. "No more late night house hopping anymore either. I don't want to wake up to see my husbands FATHER staring at me while I'm asleep in MY bed!"
Chi-Chi turned to Goku with fury in her eyes that sent his heart racing faster and faster with each second she looked at him. "YOU WHAT?!"
Goku gulped as he backed up. "It's not what it sounds like..." He continued to back up until his foot his something rather hard. "Huh?" He took one moment to forget about his wife and turned around to see his daughter sitting, cross-legged on the ground staring up at him with her big, blue eyes as if she were pleading for them to stop fighting so they could just go home. "Uh..."
Chi-Chi glared at her husband. "Look, I'm willing to forget about this if you are." Goku's eyes widened as he turned around to his wife. Never in his time that he had known her to just drop something like this. But in fact, it was not because she wanted to drop it, it was because she was much too tired to hold up any kind of argument.
Usagi looked past her father's legs to see her faithful kitty companion, Luna, running right for her. "Luna!"
Chi-Chi and Goku stopped their conversation and curiously looked down to their daughter. "Who's Luna?"
Usagi smiled brightly as she looked up to her parents. "She's a cat a met in the place that I was taken to. Her name is Luna." She reached out for the black cat and pulled her into her lap. "See?" She pointed to the crescent moon on Luna's forehead. "This is a Crescent Moon which is why... uh... I named her Luna." 'Whoa, how am I going to get them to say that I can keep her? I already almost didn't get to keep Lucky.'
Chi-Chi carefully looked down to the tiny creature in her daughter's arms. "Is she evil? I mean, if she was there she had to be evil."
Usagi shook her head. "Nope. She helped me escape."
Goku cocked his head to the side as he scratched it. "Usagi, how does a cat help you escape?"
Usagi froze at that. She could lie to her father. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but she had just never been able to successfully lie to him before. He had always seen right through her. "Uhm... she helped me out of my little cell and attacked a lot of the bad people who came to attack me."
Chi-Chi totally disregarded anything that her daughter had just spat out and kept repeating, in her head, 'cell'. "WHAT?!" She folded her legs inward and plopped herself on the ground with her arms around her daughter. "They put you in a CELL!? MY BABY?! ARE YOU OK?! YOU'RE NOT TRAUMATIZED OR ANYTHING ARE YOU?!"
Usagi giggled as she pulled away from her mother. "I'm fine, mom. Luna helped me, remember?"
Chi-Chi looked down to the cat and quirked an eyebrow. She looked like an ordinary cat except for the crescent moon on her forehead. 'Strange. I wonder what that symbol means.' "I don't care as long as you're safe."
"I am, mom. I am. So can I keep her? I'll take care of her real good, just like Lucky!" All the while, Usagi had other plans in the back of her head for this cat. 'Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please. I have to keep Luna. She's more than just a pet, she's an advisor.'
Before Chi-Chi could answer, Goku placed his hand on her back. "We can talk about it later. I don't think your mom would say yes when's she this tired."
Chi-Chi frowned. "What makes you think I'm going to say yes at all? She already has a dog."
"Oh, but mom!" Usagi whined.
Chi-Chi grinned as she pushed herself up from the ground. "Tomorrow, tomorrow."
Usagi was the one sporting the frown now. "No fair." She looked up to Makoto, who was waving for her. "What?" She asked as she got up from the ground and dusted herself off.
"Tomorrow, tree house, three in the afternoon, be there."
Usagi nodded. "Ok."
(Wow, what was that, a two day span of nothing? I'm getting better, ne? No week long wait this time. So what did you think? Good or bad? Well, off to do homework. Can you believe it? I put this before homework for once!)
~~Dark Realm Dimension~~
The Dark Queen of all things evil sat aloft in her throne. There really were no words at that point to describe her fury of anger that she felt towards Usagi, not to mention her guards. That entire day had been hectic from the time of morning until that very moment when she had come to realize that Sailor Moon had escaped into the portal that she had opened. And now, she didn't even have that. When she jumped through, the portal had become very unstable and collapsed in on itself.
That portal was to serve as her last hope of beating Sailor Moon and the other Senshi. Her plan had been to steal the power from the weaker Sailor Moon of the other dimension, but even then her power proved to be far too much for her minions to handle. She had ascended too far. "DAMN!" She slammed her fist against the arm of her throne. "I used almost all of the power we collected from the brat when she fought with Cell!" She quieted down when she heard the small tapping of footsteps and looked up.
There stood a tall, slender woman who looked to be in her late twenties. Her black hair was cut short, almost like a boy, but it was quite rigid at the ends, causing it to stand slightly away from her head. On her upper body she wore pure silver armor and arms in long, tight, black sleeves. Her legs were covered in black leggings and silver boots that made their way up to her shins. "Madam Beryl."
Beryl's mood lightened up as she lay her eyes upon her most trusted assistant. She wasn't in the least bit surprised to see her trembling. "Come fourth, dear. Do not be afraid." Her eyes grew wickedly narrow as she motioned for the woman to come closer.
The woman complied with her Queen's wishes and walked forward to the throne. She dared not look up into Beryl's sinfully red eyes. She did not want to risk consequence of angering her further in anyway since she was already treading on thin ice as it was. "Your Majesty, we have failed you." She put her crossed her right arm over her chest as she placed her hand on her left shoulder. She slowly bowed her head and kneeled down to one knee.
Beryl looked up with rage as she looked up from the woman and on to the door, where she heard whispering. "Out with you all or you shall pay dearly!"
That got them out. Two men emerged from the doorway to join their companion who was still at the floor. One man, the one who had kept Usagi captive, had long, course, black hair down to his calves. This woman, on the floor, was his only and most hated sister. The other, shorter man had a darker skin tone than that his male companion. Also, his hair was in a Mohawk atop his head. These were the three remaining Generals of Queen Beryl left after Cell. Both dropped to their knees as their female comrade had previously done before them just moments ago.
Beryl glared down at the two male fighters who had just graced her with their presence and sneered. "You two insolent moronic excuses for fighters were supposed be guarding that brat! Where the hell were you!?"
The taller man kept his eye on the ground as he spoke. "Your Majesty, we beg of mercy from you. We did not think that the girl would ha..."
Beryl narrowed her eyes as she threw a golden cup down at the man's head, hitting him right on target. "That's the problem! You did not think! Did I not save you from death?! Did I not give you more power?! This is how you repay me!" She stood from her throne and walked to the woman. "You!"
She looked up into her queen's eyes as a result of being directly addressed. "Yes, Madam Beryl?"
"I have but little power left to spare. I used almost all of that brat's power opening the portal because I had expected to gain more power from the Moon brat there. Work on getting more energy. Be it from anyone, I don't care. We can not go after Usagi or any of the other Senshi again until we have more energy."
The girl responded with a quick nod as she slowly stood to her feet. "I shall get on it right away, your Majesty."
Beryl smiled with a certain wickedness that was enough to send chills through the entire bunch's spines. "Very good. I will await your results. Do not fail me again." She turned down to the two males who were still placed firmly on the floor. "As for you two, I suggest you aid in any way if you want to keep your lives."
~*~*~
~*Earth*~
The dark sky was begging to lift to reveal a spec of light from where the sun was trying desperately to peak through the clouds. The night had come and gone, leaving only memories and unanswered questions. The bright moon was still very much intact but the sky was lit to be almost orange.
The events from the night before had worn on the emotions of many, but, luckily, the most important part of the problem was resolved. Usagi had been returned home. But by whom, no one knew.
The large group of Kami's Tower seemed to be at a stand still on what to do while they waited for Goku and Chi-Chi to return with the girls. Truthfully, even if they weren't waiting, there wasn't much that they could do. They couldn't feel their new enemy at all so they couldn't come up with a plan of attack.
Out in the open field where Goku had teleported himself, his wife, daughter, and Hotaru; it was like walking on glass around Goku and Usagi. Usagi was acting more cold than Goku was though, and she had every reason to. But that still didn't put ease into her parents hearts. No, that only made it worse, much worse. However, Usagi wasn't very angry with her mother and they all knew it. They could all tell who she was angry with as she stood with a frown on her face and arms crossed.
Hotaru felt somewhat left out of the array of emotions between these three and it was perfectly alright with her. For one, it was none of her business, and second, she didn't want to get betwixt it. "Uhmm..." The area had been silent ever since Goku had apologized to his daughter, which was well over five minutes before. Hotaru didn't want to impose on this obvious family moment, but it was late, or rather, early. She wanted to see her father, to let him know that she was safe and with people who could protect her, especially since Usagi was the Senshi of the Moon. No one would dare mess with her now.
Chi-Chi turned away from her husband and looked down at the little six year old who was swaying back and fourth with exhaustion. 'Poor thing...' She looked up into the sky, which had an orange tint to it. 'Morning already?' Putting aside her anger for her husband, she turned back to him with a warm and caring smile. "It's been a long night. Maybe we should head back to Kami's Lookout to tell everyone what happened and then head home. We are all very tired. We can talk about this later in the day when we've had a chance to rest."
Without moving his head from facing Usagi, Goku glanced to his side and, out of the corner of his eye, caught a glimpse of Hotaru yawning. "Chi-Chi, please take Hotaru back with you."
Chi-Chi wrapped her hand around Hotaru's and continued looking on to her husband. "You're not coming?" She asked with a yawn, showing her own tiredness.
"We'll be there in a minute."
The last thing Chi-Chi wanted that early in the morning was an argument. So much had gone on already that she decided not to really raise a fuss about it. "Don't be too long. I don't want Usagi staying up much later."
Usagi, realizing that her mother was about to leave her alone with her father, ran to her side and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Mama!" She said, muffled, as she dug her nose into her mother's side. "He's going to yell at me, don't leave me alone with him. We're going to fight again."
Chi-Chi giggled. "Don't be silly." 'Don't tell me you still want to fight him, Usagi. No. This isn't good.'
Goku was a little hurt that Usagi would be afraid to be left alone with him. She had never been before. But of course, this time, the circumstances were a little different than before too. This time, he had actually given her reason to be afraid, unlike the time he had gone into the past as a request from the Guardian of Time. That time, she was only ashamed of herself, and not in fear.
He slowly reached out his hand and gently placed it upon her shoulder. "Come." He carefully pulled her away from Chi-Chi. "Tell the others we'll be there soon if you get there and we haven't caught up to you yet."
Chi-Chi nodded. "Alright." She tightened her grip on Hotaru's hand and smiled graciously down at her. "Come on. Let's go, Hotaru."
Hotaru smiled as she perkily giggled. "Ok!" She raised her power level with Chi-Chi and to two of them took off into the air towards Kami's Lookout.
Now, that left the two Saiyans who had been going at it with each other ever since Usagi had returned home. It was tearing away at both of their hearts in the worst way and Goku would have been damned if he allowed the hard feelings to leave that field. "Usagi, we have to talk about a few things."
Usagi frowned as she pulled away from her father and walked to an old, moldy log that looked to have been there for at least a decade. She crossed her arms, as well as one leg over the other.
Goku sighed. 'More and more like her mother every day. I can't get away with this stuff as easily as I used to.' "Usagi, don't take that attitude with me. I'm not one of your friends, I'm still your father."
Usagi impossibly frowned harder, almost like a scowl that was so well known by Vejita. "And why shouldn't I? You tried to cut my tail off without even trying to find out if I was right or not. Don't you trust me?"
Goku cringed. She just had to hit him where it would hurt most, didn't she? "It's not that I don't trust you, because I do."
Usagi wasn't impressed with that answer in the least bit. "Then why didn't you listen to me?"
"Because I was scared..."
Usagi's frown lightened up slightly at hearing that. "You scared? I don't believe it. You're never scared."
Goku sighed as he went to join his daughter on the old, moldy log. Although he was flattered by what his daughter had just spoken, they were not true in anyway. "Usagi, tell me, do you know what it feels like to have to live with knowing that you were responsible for killing someone you loved very dearly?"
Usagi shook her head as she pulled her legs against her chest. "No." She didn't see any relevance for this obvious upcoming story, but she figured that she may as well get comfortable since adults had a bad habit of telling stories no matter what.
Goku looked away from Usagi and into the vastness of the sky. "I do." He murmured.
Usagi immediately dropped her frown after hearing that and leaned closer to her father for the story. "WHAT?!" She could never imagine her father being responsible for killing someone who was on the side of good, especially if it was someone close to his heart.
Goku frowned at his daughter's sudden peppy attitude. This wasn't exactly something to get happy over. "You heard me."
At that point, Usagi didn't even give a rip about relevancy anymore. She wanted to hear more. "When?!"
"When I was still just a little boy. Usagi, do you remember me talking about my grandfather, Gohan?" Usagi grimly nodded. "Remember how I've told you that he died when I was very little?" Usagi once again found herself wordless, but nodding. "I wasn't going to tell you until you were older, but I was actually the one responsible for his death."
Everything that was going through her mind at that point stopped; dropped dead. "What...?" 'My dad's a killer?'
Goku nodded. At that point, he wasn't very proud of himself. "I'm afraid I did. But it wasn't entirely my fault. I didn't know what I was doing, and do you know why?"
Usagi shook her head. "No, but I bet you're going to tell me, right?"
Goku nodded. "You guessed right. You see, your when your dear ol' dad still had his tail, he looked at the light of the full moon one night."
Usagi's face grew pale in anticipation of what was to come next. "Oh no..."
Goku nodded. "Yep, you guessed it. I grew wild and went on a rampage. My grandfather tried to calm me, but I wouldn't have it. I ended up injuring him. He was already so old and his body couldn't handle the injuries and finally gave way. I, myself, didn't even find out until years later. I could never remember what I did while I was an ape, but I know I caused a lot of destruction." He paused to look at his pale, speechless daughter. "That's why I went crazy tonight. When you were gone, a lot happened. Your friends were attacked by some unknown enemy with no Ki. They were nearly killed until these warriors known as the Sailor Senshi appeared. Then, the moon wouldn't blow up when we tried to destroy it."
Usagi's eyes widened at those words. 'Blow up the MOON?! Not good!'
"When that happened, Gohan suggested that we cut your tail off, but I didn't want that. I knew you wouldn't want that and you know how I hate forcing you to do something that you don't want." Usagi gave a big nod as she stared down at the ground. "But, the more I thought about it, and the more I remembered what happened to me and my grandfather, I came to the decision that we should just get the tail off and be done with it. Usagi..."
"Hm?" She snapped out of her trance and looked up at her father.
"I'm sorry. I was just so upset from what happened earlier and you getting kidnapped. Then the thought of you living with the thought of killing someone you loved because of your tail... I guess I just got a little crazy, is all I really wanted to say. I don't want to yell at you..."
Usagi smiled a true smile for the first time since her first encounter with her father. "It's ok, daddy. I think I understand now. You just didn't want anything bad to happen to me, right?"
Goku nodded. "Right."
Usagi totally forgot her anger and jumped into the arms of her father with tears in her eyes. For the first time since she had returned, she felt complete. "You're forgiven."
Goku smiled. 'Thank god she doesn't hate me.' "Usagi, what happened to you when you were taken away?"
Usagi sighed as she looked down to the ground. That wasn't something that she wanted to be reminded of, but she knew it was bound to happen some time. Better now than never, but what would she tell him? She couldn't tell him the entire truth or else her sworn secrecy to Luna would have been broken. She also couldn't tell him about going into that other dimension and what she had done there. The answer to that was not telling the entire truth, but could she do that? Goku had always been able to see through her lies, he also knew exactly when she wasn't telling the entire story. "Well, I'm not sure exactly what happened while I was there because I was knocked out for a long time. But when I did wake up, there was this big, ugly guy with this really long, scraggly hair. He had this really mean look to him. He looked like he wanted to kill me or something."
Goku frowned. Anyone who tired or even wanted to kill his daughter would have to pay dearly. Already who ever kidnapped her would pay for what they had done.
"He said that his Queen was going to steal my energy and then use my body to kill all of you guys and take over the world."
"What?!"
"I know, that's what I said."
Goku clenched his fist at the thought of having to fight his own daughter in serious combat. 'They're going way too far.' "Do you know where you were?"
Usagi looked away from her father as she opened her mouth. She couldn't look him in the eye and continue on for what she would say would have to be a lie to some extent. 'Why me?' "Not exactly. I think I was in another dimension or something. It was really dark and I could hardly see at all. But I could feel everything around me and it was so evil it was scary. There was nothing good about this energy. And you know what's worse, daddy?"
"What?"
"It was the same energy as Cell."
Goku gasped. "You mean the same people who sent Cell back to earth are the same people who kidnapped you?"
Usagi nodded. "That's right. Our very own Cell. Remember how I told you that his Queen sent him to get my power for her?" Goku nodded. "Say hello to her. I didn't get to see what she looked like but I'll be she's got lotsa warts and is really ugly!"
Goku laughed as he gently wrapped Usagi in his arms as he stood up. "I'm Just glad you're home, safe and sound."
Usagi smiled as she made herself comfortable in his arms. She was lucky that she didn't have to use anymore of her energy to fly back on her own. Using her strength to revive Eternal Sailor Moon's power in the other dimension had pretty much wiped her out power wise. She was even luckier that her father hadn't really given her much of a reason to lie to great extents. "I'm probably more glad than you are, daddy."
"We should get going or else everyone is going to get worried." Before he could receive any kind of protest at all, he raised his power and took to the air. Usagi was out cold from exhaustion before long.
~*~*~
Meanwhile, back at Kami's lookout, Chi-Chi and Hotaru were just returning from their flight over. Hotaru was ready to crash in a nice, warm bed with big, fluffy pillows. She landed on the far end of Kami's Tower with Chi-Chi; furiously looking around for any sign of her father, whom she for sure felt. "Daddy?!"
Chi-Chi reached down for Hotaru's hand and guided her towards the rather large crowd of her friends. "Don't worry, Hotaru. You'll be home soon and asleep very soon."
Hotaru tried to smile through a yawn as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "So... sleepy..."
Chi-Chi only replied with a soft smile as she made her way forth. "Professor. Professor, I think I may have something of yours."
~*~*~
Luna and Artimas, who had been conversing to each other about their new threat and how they would go about creating great fighters of their new Senshi, both perked their ears back at the sound of Chi-Chi calling for the father of the youngest Saiyan.
Artimas wasn't in the least bit surprised about the child, but Luna was. And it wasn't because she felt any strange sort of power being emitted by her being, it was because she knew exactly who Hotaru was and exactly what kind of power she would one day grow to have. "Hotaru..." She whispered.
Artimas, not having heard Luna's quiet statement, walked to Luna with curiosity. "She knows about us, yet she is not a Sailor Senshi."
Luna gasped as she turned back to her partner. "What? Did you slip up, Artimas?"
"No. Of course not. She was there when I had to awaken the Senshi; fighting right along with them. She held up to the intense power, but was quite lacking in her fighting skills; much lower than the girls. The strange thing is that she can feel the Senshis' power."
Luna decided to play along with Artimas and not let him know what she in fact knew. It would have been pointless to tell him anyway since she was going to erase her memory of that little fact along with Usagi's. It wasn't safe to know, especially with a little girl. Luna knew how kids couldn't keep very good secrets. Had Hotaru been left to know what kind of power she would be soon to hold, it could cause the flow of time to come to a stand still or run off its tracks, making Usagi have to go back and fix it so the Multiverse would not collapse. "She can?"
Artimas nodded. "Yes. I don't know why though. I think she may somehow be affiliated with the Moon Kingdom. That girl has already promised us that she won't tell anyone of us."
Luna sighed. 'She IS part of the Moon Kingdom. I wonder if we should erase her memory as well, after all, she is the strongest and deadliest Senshi around. But she doesn't seem evil at heart.' "We'll watch her."
Artimas nodded. "Right. But she isn't the only people who can feel the Senshi. A group of older kids can also."
Luna looked around to the group of adults, spotting Mamoru and his gang having a good time with loud laughter. 'Mamoru... Serenity's destined Prince...' "What do you think it means? That they too are affiliated with the Moon Kingdom some how?" 'Guess we'll have to erase our memories of those ones too. It will all be revealed in time. It's not safe to know ahead of time.'
"What else could it mean? Only people who have something to do with the Moon Kingdom can feel our Senshi. I just don't know who they would be. As far as I know, there are only our Senshi and the Prince of earth, who we still have to find."
Luna grinned. 'I know who he is.' "Make sure they don't find out about our Senshi. That would be a catastrophe. No one must know. Not even those we suspect to be part of the Silver Millennium. They could turn out to be the enemy if we aren't careful."
"The girls already know not to tell anyone."
Luna looked away from her partner back to the girls who were in their own little group talking with each other about the night's happening. 'They will grow to serve our Princess well.'
~*~*~
Across the way, Mamoru stood, arms crossed, with his gang. "Look at those kids." He sneered.
Haruka turned her attention from the four Americans onto the four girls who sat near the Palace. "What about em'?"
Mamoru frowned. "They're hiding something."
Haruka rolled her eyes. "So what? It's probably nothing important. You know, kids' stuff."
"I don't know about that. I swear I heard that cat say something tonight."
Michiru leaned her head upon Haruka's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Then why don't you try to find out what it is? They're just kids, they can't hold a secret that long."
Mamoru grinned. "That's exactly what I plan to do." He stopped himself from going on any further when he felt Goku and Usagi arriving from behind. "Looks like the two fighters finally decided to show up." His grin turned into an impish smirk as he spun around to stand face to face with Goku, who was just setting down a groggy Usagi. "Well look who decided to show up. It's the two duelers."
Goku gave Mamoru and unexpected grin as he passed him walking towards the main masses. "Nice to see you too, Mamoru."
Mamoru was at a loss for words as Goku passed by. 'Wow. The first time he didn't have something to yell at me about. He must be in a good mood.'
Goku chuckled to himself. "Hey everyone! We're back!"
Everyone dropped what they were doing, what they were saying, and looked in the direction of Goku. Chi-Chi nearly dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes with excessive joy when she saw her husband and daughter standing there together. It was obvious that they had made up already for Usagi was not resisting the touch of Goku any longer.
Bulma looked down at the grief stricken Usagi who was nearly falling over from exhaustion. "That didn't take very long."
Vejita snickered. "Good to see you finally got that brat under control there, Kakarotto. You finally laid down the law. Now if you can only control that wild mate of yours..."
Chi-Chi's face grew bright read as her emotions boiled with anger. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"
Goku chuckled as he grabbed his wife away from Vejita. "Calm down. We don't want any injuries this late." He wasn't at all worried about his wife. In fact, he was actually worried about Vejita. Had he taken the opportunity to hit Chi-Chi in any way, Chi-Chi would completely blow her top, not to mention Bulma.
Vejita grinned. "And you call yourself a man? You sicken me."
Bulma smacked her husband in the back of the head with her fist. "Can it!" She smiled as she looked up to Goku. "So what's the word? Chi-Chi explained to us what happened while you were away. Now that we know that the tail thing isn't a problem, which is strange in itself, what are we supposed to do?"
Goku shrugged. "I have no idea and, honestly, I don't want to think about it right now. As Chi-Chi pointed out before, we're all really tired right now so I suggest we take this time to get some rest while the enemy is not here. We can figure everything out tomorrow."
Gohan nodded to show his compliance. "Sounds good to me."
Videl nodded, but frowned at Goku. "No more late night house hopping anymore either. I don't want to wake up to see my husbands FATHER staring at me while I'm asleep in MY bed!"
Chi-Chi turned to Goku with fury in her eyes that sent his heart racing faster and faster with each second she looked at him. "YOU WHAT?!"
Goku gulped as he backed up. "It's not what it sounds like..." He continued to back up until his foot his something rather hard. "Huh?" He took one moment to forget about his wife and turned around to see his daughter sitting, cross-legged on the ground staring up at him with her big, blue eyes as if she were pleading for them to stop fighting so they could just go home. "Uh..."
Chi-Chi glared at her husband. "Look, I'm willing to forget about this if you are." Goku's eyes widened as he turned around to his wife. Never in his time that he had known her to just drop something like this. But in fact, it was not because she wanted to drop it, it was because she was much too tired to hold up any kind of argument.
Usagi looked past her father's legs to see her faithful kitty companion, Luna, running right for her. "Luna!"
Chi-Chi and Goku stopped their conversation and curiously looked down to their daughter. "Who's Luna?"
Usagi smiled brightly as she looked up to her parents. "She's a cat a met in the place that I was taken to. Her name is Luna." She reached out for the black cat and pulled her into her lap. "See?" She pointed to the crescent moon on Luna's forehead. "This is a Crescent Moon which is why... uh... I named her Luna." 'Whoa, how am I going to get them to say that I can keep her? I already almost didn't get to keep Lucky.'
Chi-Chi carefully looked down to the tiny creature in her daughter's arms. "Is she evil? I mean, if she was there she had to be evil."
Usagi shook her head. "Nope. She helped me escape."
Goku cocked his head to the side as he scratched it. "Usagi, how does a cat help you escape?"
Usagi froze at that. She could lie to her father. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but she had just never been able to successfully lie to him before. He had always seen right through her. "Uhm... she helped me out of my little cell and attacked a lot of the bad people who came to attack me."
Chi-Chi totally disregarded anything that her daughter had just spat out and kept repeating, in her head, 'cell'. "WHAT?!" She folded her legs inward and plopped herself on the ground with her arms around her daughter. "They put you in a CELL!? MY BABY?! ARE YOU OK?! YOU'RE NOT TRAUMATIZED OR ANYTHING ARE YOU?!"
Usagi giggled as she pulled away from her mother. "I'm fine, mom. Luna helped me, remember?"
Chi-Chi looked down to the cat and quirked an eyebrow. She looked like an ordinary cat except for the crescent moon on her forehead. 'Strange. I wonder what that symbol means.' "I don't care as long as you're safe."
"I am, mom. I am. So can I keep her? I'll take care of her real good, just like Lucky!" All the while, Usagi had other plans in the back of her head for this cat. 'Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please. I have to keep Luna. She's more than just a pet, she's an advisor.'
Before Chi-Chi could answer, Goku placed his hand on her back. "We can talk about it later. I don't think your mom would say yes when's she this tired."
Chi-Chi frowned. "What makes you think I'm going to say yes at all? She already has a dog."
"Oh, but mom!" Usagi whined.
Chi-Chi grinned as she pushed herself up from the ground. "Tomorrow, tomorrow."
Usagi was the one sporting the frown now. "No fair." She looked up to Makoto, who was waving for her. "What?" She asked as she got up from the ground and dusted herself off.
"Tomorrow, tree house, three in the afternoon, be there."
Usagi nodded. "Ok."
(Wow, what was that, a two day span of nothing? I'm getting better, ne? No week long wait this time. So what did you think? Good or bad? Well, off to do homework. Can you believe it? I put this before homework for once!)