Chapter 5: To Fight? Or Not to Fight?
The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. Gohan managed to not get himself in any more jams, by studiously ignoring all of Ami's and Makoto's advances, and acting like they were just friends, which meant he passed on a trip to the park with all of them including Naru and Umino, because Ami and Makoto were far too demanding about going to the park. The rest of the time he spent mostly with Naru and Umino, or Usagi instead, who he kept calling Bunny, and completely missing Usagi's frustration over it.
On Saturday Gohan fought in the announced tournament, and not too surprisingly he won. They all had celebrated afterwards for as long as the parents still around allowed, which came down to that they had to be back by six for diner. Gohan was nervous for Monday when the new week started. Lucky for him, he came through it without much trouble . . . until the moment came that school was out, and he arrived at the school's main entrance / exit way.
The whole group of girls were present, and Makoto and Ami greeted Gohan at exactly the same time. Immediately the rivals turned and looked angrily at each other. "Why can't you just butt out!?" Ami told the brunette in irritation.
"Because I saw him first!" Makoto flung back at Ami. "And I have a butt worth looking at!"
"Why you!" Ami yelled and then grabbed Makoto's hair and started pulling. Makoto screeched in indignation, and returned the favor.
Gohan looked embarrassed at the scene, and when he noticed that the other girls, and even girls and boys not part of their group started standing around to watch, he quickly snuck away. The moment he was sure he was far enough away nobody would notice, he quickly ran around the corner and out of sight. He sighed in relief muttering, "Girls, they're insane, or at least those two are."
Makoto was finally fed up with the hair pulling match, yanked Ami's hands away from her hair, and performed a flawless judo throw, dumping Ami unceremoniously on the floor. "Ow!" Ami exclaimed, and quickly got up, rubbing her sore ass. "Gohan cares about intelligence, not brute force. Tell her, Goha . . ." Ami looked around and only saw snickering and out right laughing class mates, but no Son Gohan. "Gohan?"
Meanwhile, Minako, who had seen Gohan sneak away, and hadn't blamed him, was getting more and more fed up with the two fighting girls. Usagi was trying to calm the two down, without success.
"This is all your fault!" Makoto accused Ami. "You drove Gohan away, with your incessant bickering, and gnawing at his head with ridiculous discussions!"
"No, it isn't, he got turned off by your barbaric behavior!" Ami returned, getting ready to attack the brunette again.
"THAT'S IT! YOU TWO STOP IT NOW!!" Minako yelled out with surprising commanding presence. The two girls stopped and looked back at the blonde, seemingly chastised by just this, but Minako wasn't done yet. "Look at yourselves! You're a disgrace! Fighting over a boy like you're a bunch of sex slaves in the middle ages. It's bad enough you two are willing and steering toward sacrificing your friendship over a boy, but to do it over one who has /no/ romantic interest in either of you whatsoever, who only wants to be friends is stupid, and insane! And after this, you should consider yourselves blessed if he still wants to be friends with you two!"
"Gohan's just dense, and inexperience when it comes to girls, that's all," Ami defended herself, and Makoto nodded her agreement.
"/Trust/ me, if you think that, if you /really/ think that after this display Gohan still hasn't figured it out, you're the ones who are dense!" Minako told them angry, and then started counting on her finger. "He suddenly has plans with Umino and Naru, he misses a trip to the park with his entire class where I /was/ present and I'm not even from this school, every time he carefully danced around both of your feelings, now he quickly slipped away, he knows. He doesn't want anything but a friendship, he's just been too polite and careful around you two fools to say it as cold and bluntly to your faces as I am doing now, idiots!"
Makoto and Ami swallowed and slowly came down from their anger high, and looked around themselves again, getting more and embarrassed as the truth of Minako's words sank in. "Way to kill the romance, Minako!" Usagi scolded the other blonde, thinking, *I thought you were the Sailor Soldier of love?*
"Stupid odango-head!" Rei said in irritation. "Can't you pay attention!? The whole point of Minako's speech is that there /is/ /no/ romance to kill!"
"Why do you always have to be so mean!?" Usagi burst out with anger.
"I can't help it if you're an idiot!" Rei returned in irritation.
"I hate you!" Usagi spat out, and then turned around and ran off.
"Oh, great," Minako said in exasperation, if one couple wasn't fighting the other was.
*****
The sonic boom sounded as the hypersonic craft crashed into the Earth's atmosphere and streaked downward. It rapidly lost speed, but still got hot enough to have a white hot plasma trail at the beginning of its trip. The craft, triangular in shape, steered toward an open field behind Tokyo, and thus shot right over the ship. Japan would scramble its defensive fighters, but since the craft was on a one way trip toward ground and super fast, it would be off their radar screens in no time. But it put the Japanese military on alert, and had the planes looking for the craft in the general area it was headed.
The craft zoomed to a halt above a farmer's land. Landing gear moved out from under the belly, and then the spaceship gently landed. A hatch opened, on the craft that wasn't much bigger than a bus, place for only a few people, obviously a scout. Two aliens got out of the craft, and looked around. One was big, easily two meters and twenty centimeters tall, wide, all muscles. It had dark blue skin, giant fangs falling down over its lower lips - they were practically tusks. It had yellow eyes, with greenish irises, round pupils, and two pointy, almost dog-like ears were on top of its head. It wore some form of uniform, from the looks of it armored - it was dark green, had triangle shapes on its torso, and the alien wore heavy boots. "Damn it's cold," he muttered in the twenty-eight degrees Celcius heat.
The second alien was small, no more than one meter fifty, but it was wiry, all muscle. Although the muscles weren't big, they looked agile, and very deadly. Green fur covered his entire body . Its beady eyes were a deep light purple, and he had small pointy ears. It looked a little like a furred kobolt, except that his mouth seemed quite narrow and more human like. "I think it's nice and comfortable, better than the heat inside," the second alien grinned, receiving an incredulous look of his companion.
There was a sound, and the two looked up, seeing two fighter jets fly across the sky. They were getting closer, but their path didn't take them directly toward the aliens. "They build machines in order to fly?" the big blue alien grumbled with disdain. "How pathetic." He pointed his hand and fired an energy ball, quickly followed by a second, and moments later the balls connected with the planes and blew them apart, incinerating the pilots instantly. The alien chuckled.
"Damn it, Jarbal," the green alien admonished the bigger one. "We're here to look for that space time continuum distortion the ship picked up, and that energy spike. You can't go around destroying everything."
"I know, Dimwu, I'm not stupid!" the bigger alien told his companion.
"Yeah, well just keep yourself in check, and definitely do /not/ try to level any cities," Dimwu stated sternly. "The boss said if we destroyed whatever it was that caused that distortion, he would kill us, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah," Jarbal answered wearily. "Let's just get going already, and follow that damn sensor trinket of yours." Dimwu pushed a button and the ship sealed itself hermitically. Then the two of them blasted off toward Tokyo.
*****
Back in Tokyo, four of the five Sailor Soldiers walked along together, chatting about this and that. Ami and Makoto's rivalry seemed to be gone completely. Suddenly Luna and Artemis landed in front of them, and miaowed, rather unconvincingly. The group quickly went into a side alley, away from prying ears, and the Luna started speaking, "Hurry! Two monsters arrived from outer space, and have just entered Tokyo. They'll be in the central district soon!"
The girls nodded, and pulled out their magical pendants, then transformed into the micro skirt wearing Sailor Soldiers. Minako - Sailor Venus - in an orange skirt, Rei - Sailor Mars - in red, Makoto - Sailor Jupiter - in green, and Ami - Sailor Mercury - in traditional blue.
*****
A short while later the four heroines arrived at the scene. They stood upon a roof, and looked down at the blue and the smaller furred monster. "Wow, he's big," Sailor Venus commented a little in awe at the massiveness of the blue demon, and its muscles.
"All right, let's get going," Jupiter stated bloodthirstily, ready to take them on.
Mars interrupted Jupiter's eagerness with a concerned voice, "This is /not/ going to be easy." The other three looked at her, as she added, "They're powerful, that's something I can tell you. I don't know exactly how to describe what I'm feeling - but it's very similar to what I felt from Gohan and the other two at the tournament - but they're tough, that's for sure."
"Hold it!" Mercury commanded the others suddenly, and they looked over at the blue-haired soldier, who had a pair of futuristic goggles in front of her eyes, and a small computer device in her hand. "They're not demons, we can't attack them without reason." The whole group looked astonished at her.
"What!?" Jupiter asked incredulously.
"They're not demons, they have none of the characteristic energies surrounding them, they're just aliens here for a visit," Ami explained somewhat enthusiastically and engaged. "We can't attack them without provocation."
"But they're monsters," Venus pointed out.
Mercury answered with a slight smile, "They might find you even more of a monster than you them."
Mars cut in with irritation, "Are you telling me we should just let them walk around and let them destroy the city before we can do anything?"
Mercury got animated as she replied, "How would you feel if you just invented an interstellar spaceship, took it out for a spin, landed on a lovely planet, and as you admire the architecture some people jump you and start shooting you with the intent to kill you. As long as we can't be certain of their motives, we can't just attack them. 'Innocent until proven guilty'."
The cats fidgeted, not liking it but understanding Mercury's reasoning. Jupiter had gotten convinced herself, and said, "However much I hate to admit it, Mercury is right." Mars and Venus looked at the other two, the determination on their faces slowly faded, realizing the other two were right.
"How come nobody's screaming?" Artemis wondered out loud looking at the few people walking past the aliens without much more than a double take.
The Soldiers looked over. It was Luna that came up with a possible answer, "Could it be, people have seen enough demons being destroyed by you, they think if you're not attacking them they aren't evil?"
"Or real?" Venus asked. "Do they think they're in costume?"
*****
Down below, the two aliens walked onward casually. They were rather surprised none of the residents ran around screaming at their presence, they didn't think these people were advanced enough to have met other species in the universe. They were glad though, much easier to reach their goal if there were no hysterical people running about.
"Man, these people are weak," Jarbal commented looking on a scanner device mounted on his left wrist. Dimwu barely acknowledged him, fiddling with his scanner in deep concentration.
They passed a fruit stand, belonging to the shop they were walking by, and Jarbal casually grabbed an apple. After scanning there was nothing in the apple that was native to these people but poison to him, he took a big bite, and started chewing. "Hmm, pretty good fruit," he mumbled.
The shop owner came out of his shop at that moment, and screamed after them, "HEY, YOU!! YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THAT!"
Jarbal casually pointed his hand back and fired an energy ball. A moment later the ball connected with the shop owner's chest, and then the man crumpled to the ground, now having a hole where his chest had been. Neither Jarbal, nor Dimwu even showed a sign of any kind of event, as if what just happened was nothing important at all. The people around them though did notice, and started running as fast as they could.
*****
"Did you see that?" Mercury said, shocked at the casualness with which the alien had dispatch the shop owner, and the complete lack of reaction from the smaller green alien. "Not even a blink."
"That settles it then," Mars stated angrily, the other soldiers, and the cats nodded grimly. Then Mars added not pleased about it at all, "Call Sailor Moon, we might need her help with this one."
Venus pulled out the communicator, and after a quick command, the four jumped from the roof - intent to kick some alien ass.
*****
Gohan casually walked around the city, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He had switched clothes at home, and left to wander around thinking things through. Girls were insane, he had most definitely decided on that one. Question was, how did one go about dealing with insane people? And more importantly, how did you diffuse an obsession of two insane persons; said obsession being himself.
He had no idea, and he really didn't want to lose their friendship - if they weren't obsessing over him, they were great friends. Perhaps he should ask a girl? He shuddered at the thought, he really didn't want to be the but of a bunch of jokes of one of those insane people. But then, how else? So thinking Gohan didn't really pay attention where he went. Too lost in thought he didn't even notice the alien's landing. Finally, eventually, he did see Usagi. The girl seemed to look around, as if checking no one watched her, and slipped into a dirty side alley.
Gohan remembered his notion of asking a girl, and after hesitating, wishing it wasn't so, he decided she was the best of all horrible options. So he quickly walked to the side alley, and entered it. After another turn - Usagi had taken it too keep snoopers from the busy shopping street from seeing her - Gohan saw Usagi. He was just about to call her when he noticed she was talking into a communicator. Gohan blinked, and then his eyes widened more, when unnoticed by Usagi, he watched her transform. Engulfed in a pretty light show, Tsukino Usagi disappeared revealing Sailor Moon. She then quickly ran away.
"Whoa!" Gohan exclaimed when she was out of sight, catching himself. "Bunny!? Bunny is one of those short skirted heroines!?" It was true. The moment Usagi had finished her transformation, her ki was submerged in magical energy, altering her ki signature. However now that Gohan knew who Sailor Moon was, he realized it wasn't that hard to filter out her ki signature from beneath the magic. He hesitated a moment more, but curiosity and concern decided for him, and he locked on Sailor Moon's energy and ran after her, easily catching up.
*****
"Damn it!" Dimwu muttered, "There's no way to pinpoint it's location. One part of it says it's over there in the mountains, then there's a reading in that direction, and I've got another right in front of us!"
"Perhaps there are more than one?" Jarbal suggested casually.
Dimwu's face lightened, and then looked up at his companion. "You know, you aren't as stupid as you look," he said with a grin. Jarbal made a face but grinned evilly. "Ok, so, which one do we go check out first?" Dimwu wondered to himself. "Hmmm . . . I guess . . ."
Just as the small alien was about to point a direction, four girls in micro skirts dropped from above in front of them. They were all doing graceful dances, that joined together in a smooth unit. The aliens' jaws dropped at the sight, and even more so when they started chanting, "We're the Sailor Soldiers. Killing is bad, doing it after stealing is worse. In the name of love and justice we will punish you!" The four girls finished, standing next to each other, pointing at the two aliens.
"Oh, you have /got/ to be kidding me!" Jarbal exclaimed in disbelief, which caused the girls to straighten up and look mightily annoyed at him. "Do you girls think this is a movie or something? Think you can just act out your fantasies, and impress some potential mates? Some advice: less corny lines, more action."
To say the Soldiers were furious was an understatement, they looked darkly at the aliens. Dimwu decided to add, equally disbelieving, after seeing the power level of the girls on his sensor device, "Yeah, I don't know about the customs on this world, but shouldn't you four be in school or something?"
Ami took a step forward, angry as hell, and told them, "You're going to pay for that. We fight monsters like you two all the time, and they're all dead, and you won't be any different." She then started to glow with magic energy, causing the aliens to look a little surprised, and the sensor device to admit a shrill alert sound.
"Shabon spray!" Sailor Mercury exclaimed and a row of powerful magical bubbles shot from her hands and impacted on Jarbal. Mercury took an involuntary step back in shock, the other Soldiers gasped in similar shock, for Jarbal hadn't even flinched - with the exception of the rage now evident on his face.
"YOU TRIED TO KILL ME WITH SOAP BUBBLES!!" Jarbal raged out in extreme anger. "I don't know whether to take that as an insult, or you being stupid beyond belief!!"
Despite the shock, Mercury got angry, hissing at him, "I'll have you know I'm the most intelligent person in this country, if not the world!!"
"Really?" the big blue alien growled out with even greater anger. "In that case, I'll have to take it as an insult!" Mercury's eyes widened as the blue alien shot forward, and that's all she had time for before the being's fist smashed into her chin. Immediately she was launched backward, and the bone in her chin made a popping sound and her face blossomed with pain. She crashed into the hard street, and just bounced onward. She had never felt such pain, increasing with every bounce her body made on the hard asphalt, not even her magical transformation which made her tougher than she was normally, was able to protect from such raw power. Finally she came to a painful stop against the curb of a T-fork in the road. She groaned out in pain as she slowly wiggled around, trying to find out if she could still move.
Jupiter, Mars, and Venus looked with shock at their downed sister in arms, and the ease with with it was done. They looked back at the grinning alien, and quickly jumped back. "CRESCENT BEAM!" Venus screamed, pointed her finger and shot out a powerful energy projectile in the form a crescent moon.
The green furred alien smirked in amusement at the readout, and watched his companion move his arms protectively in front of him. The beam hit the alien's life energy that he had enveloped himself in like a protective cocoon. A jolt shot through Jarbal, and then the beam was absorbed. He stood up straight, and grinned evilly. "Is that all you've got?" he asked his grin never wavering.
"FIRE SOUL BIRD!" Mars exclaimed sending fire attack in the form of a bird straight at Jarbal. It connected and the conflagration whipped around the blue alien. He took a few steps forward, stepping out of the flames without a scratch on him, but with a giant smile. Mars looked shocked. "No way," she muttered.
"Aah, that's better, not quite there yet, but so much more like home!"Jarbal told her with a smirk. "I would thank you, but I don't believe in giving thanks."
He then shot forward and rammed an elbow across Mars's jaw, sending her flying against the wall behind her. She sank to her knees in pain. "SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter screamed, and a thunder strike came down against newly extended antenna on her tiara. They redirected the strike directly at Jarbal, but the alien exhibiting uncanny speed avoided the blast, and thus it hit the sidewalk several meters on, leaving a scorch mark and a small hole.
With a roar - which sounded more like an impetuous shriek coming from the young girl - Venus threw a fist at the alien. Jarbal blocked the punch with a grin and an open hand palm. Venus threw another fist, and a kick, and another. Each one the massive Jarbal avoided or blocked with a mere raised palm. Venus couldn't comprehend how a being so massive was so fast. She gained assistance from Jupiter. The two magical warriors fought it out with the non-magical, normal - as far as normal applied to an alien - Jarbal, and yet neither of them could even get a punch in. Finally Jupiter was fed up, and with a scream of rage she attacked harder and faster then she ever had before, Venus joined her instantly in the hope a double attack at their maximum could do the trick. It did, two fists hit his head, and two kicks hit the abdomen of the alien that could only be described as monstrous. Both girls took a step back, wincing at the dull ache in their fists, and looked even more astounded when it was apparent all they had succeeded in doing was snapping his head to one side.
Jarbal regarded them, and then laughed, and laughed harder as he moved up his hands and they started to glow. Both girls' eyes widened, just at the energy exploded, and the concussion wave sent the both of them flying backward. Venus crashed into the wall at the corner of a building, and Jupiter groaned as she landed painfully on the hard pavement right next to the corner.
"Aah!" Mars screamed as she returned back to the fight. She sailed through the air, and threw a powerful punch to Jarbal's face. Unfortunately for her, what she called powerful, Jarbal considered pitiful. While she was still in the air, he grabbed her upper arm, and yanked her down. Mars landing painfully with her stomach on his knee, causing her to cough for breath, and groan in pain. Then Jarbal casually threw her aside, so she landed next to her slowly rising friends.
"We've got to find an opening," Jupiter told them with a depressed tone, realizing they had severely underestimated the two - not that they had much choice about fighting the thing if they hadn't underestimated him.
Mars looked over to Mercury and saw her slowly stagger to her feet, and then watched a gloating Jarbal just standing their in the middle of the street. She told her friends then, "He's just toying with us, he's much more powerful than that he's letting us see."
"You've got to be kidding me," Venus commented shaking her head to try and clear it, she'd never been hit this hard before, and the fact that the thing was just standing there, arms folded across his chest, grinning with satisfaction did not sit well with the blonde.
At that moment a white rose came soaring into view, which perked up the Sailor Soldiers especially hearing the Knight of the Moonlight's voice from up there somewhere saying, "Sailor Soldiers, you should not . . ." Of course the up mood quickly came down when the knight's voice stopped in surprise, for the rose was pushed aside by Jarbal's ki, and dropped harmlessly to the floor without even touching the alien.
"What the . . .!?" Jarbal exclaimed in surprise. He looked at the rose and then bent down and picked it up. He examined it and its thorns. He looked up seeing the Arabian robed man standing on the roof of a three story building. "Say, Dimwu, why the hell do you think pansy threw a flower at me?"
Dimwu shrugged, just as puzzled as Jarbal, and speculated, "Perhaps it's some kind of challenge ritual . . . or he wants to date you." The Sailor Soldiers couldn't believe the conversation, and looked even more shocked at what happened next.
Jarbal suddenly stood all girly, blinked his eyes and said with a gentle voice, "I'm very flattered, sir . . ." Then his posture returned to being all ruthless, and crumpled the rose in his hand. He raised both hands and an energy ball formed in them, and he finished, "but I don't date outside my species, that's just sick." Jarbal fired his energy ball upward then, and a moment later it smashed into the building's side, just below the Knight of the Moonlight. Instantly the ball exploded, and tore apart a large part of the buildings corner, and roof. The Knight of the Moonlight was hurtled off the building, a lot of the stone debris smashing into him. He shot out a line from somewhere, which connected to the undamaged part of the roof. His almost complete obfuscation of his face the only thing keeping the fear in his eyes from become visible to everyone. He was in luck, the line with grappling hook snagged somewhere, and he swung downward, instead of dropping to his death.
Before he reached the ground though, Dimwu snickered, pointed a finger and fired a small energy blast. It shredded the hero's line and he dropped the last part to the ground. "Oops," Dimwu said sarcastically as the knight dropped to the floor painfully and rolled along a few meters.
Mercury had enough. Remembering the alien's comment about liking he heat, she got up and attacked. Going into an elaborate motion, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!" Jarbal who had payed attention to the other three warriors and the new arrival was surprised and got frozen solid. "I got him!" Mercury stated with a victorious cheer.
The other Soldiers quickly started powering up their attacks. To Mercury's shock, the ice suddenly started to melt, forming a pool of water at Jarbal's feet. Suddenly a flame of visible energy burst around the blue alien, and the ice splintered as he shot forward. He grabbed Mercury painfully around her throat and lifted her off the ground. "You didn't really think a little ice could stop me, did you!?" he growled at her, as she struggled to try and get out of his unrelenting grasp. With a quick yank her threw away then.
"CRESCENT . . ." was as far as Venus came before Mercury crashed painfully into her and the two girls went tumbling backward.
"SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter just finished her attack, and the electric bolt shot forward hitting the blue alien.
"AARGH!!" he screamed out as the electricity fried his synapses, and he took a few involuntary steps back and shook his head to clear himself.
"That's it!" Mars yelled quickly. "Electricity can hurt him, quickly Jupiter, again!" Mars saw Dimwu start to move to stop Jupiter, and so she quickly fired a Fire Soul at the smaller alien to keep him from doing just that. The smaller alien avoided the attack thought, but it gave Jupiter just enough time to fire off another attack.
"Supreme Thunder Dragon!" Jupiter finished, and with a roar a dragon made from electricity shot forward and enveloped Jarbal. Jupiter not wanting to take a chance, kept the attack going unlike normally. Jarbal screamed as the electricity and the dragon itself tried to devour him.
Jarbal staggered back under the onslaught, and finally had enough. "THAT'S IT!" he roared, his arms going into a fists and a powerful ki flame burst around him and outward, staggering Jupiter with the feedback it caused in her attack, and making Mars look in astonishment at just how much power the being had hidden away. With a grin, Jarbal pointed his hands directly into the attack and fired an energy ball. The thunder dragon was dragged along by the ball, crumpled and wrapped itself around the ball of energy. Moments later it crashed into a shocked Jupiter and she was launched backward at the impact, now her own attack and Jarbal's attacking her. The electricity re-directing antenna's on her head now the only thing protecting her from the attacks. She crashed painfully into the wall of a building behind her as the attack dissipated.
[Start Gohan's theme]
"No more Mister Nice Guy!!" Jarbal growled, the massive alien zeroing in on Mercury. He grinned and shot forward. He grabbed the shocked girl by her shoulders and rammed his knee into her stomach. She doubled over in pain, coughing up blood. Next he threw a punch across her face, causing a bloody nose. He pulled his arm back, ramming his elbow across her right cheek, smashing her face back and breaking her jaw. Dazed by now, Mercury could never hope to protect herself from the devastating uppercut that followed. She groaned as she was launched into the air, smashed against a window, splintering it. She dropped to the floor, being cut in several places by the glass and lay there still, unconscious and too beat up to get up anyway.
Jarbal slowly turned facing Venus, who suddenly jerked with fear, realizing she was next and there didn't seem to be a way to avert it. She started her beam attack, but didn't even get halfway before a punch to her gut doubled her over in pain. Her eyes widened when she felt herself being lifted off the ground by her hair. Shocked she saw his feet rising from the ground as well, and then she was brought down. Jarbal's knee bashed into her face with enormous power, and her head snapped back at the impact. The sound of bone crunching reached the dazed girl's ears, the pain threatening to black her out. Too dazed to feel anything except excruciating pain only Jarbal's laughter made her realize it was her bones, not his. Blood oozed from wounds on her face, and she gurgled as she felt her arm being twisted into an impossible position, hearing her tendons snap and pop. Then she was thrown through the air, and she didn't stop until she crashed painfully against a wall, then dropped to the floor right next to the battered Mercury.
Mars and Jupiter looked shocked at the sight of their battered companions. The Knight of the Moonlight was similarly shocked. Not even when they were all killed several months earlier had they been in such a brutal battle, and the one doing damage didn't even seem to be phased, let alone hurt. His sinister growling laugh drew their gazes to the impossibly strong alien, by which point an uppercut sent Jupiter up in the air. The alien went after her and smashed his fist in her stomach, flipping her over stomach down. Jupiter gasped, eyes wide in shock and pain as she felt a rib breaking.
"Go kiss your planet in thanks," Jarbal grinned and bashed the girl down with a double handed blow to her back. She crashed into the ground and screamed in pain. "Look out down below!" Jarbal grinned evilly and hurtled down.
"Jupiter no!" Mars called out in, as Jupiter looked up in fear. Jarbal landed, one foot next to Jupiter, the other smashed into her back with force. She screamed in pain, and went rigid. The ribs in her back broke audibly. Jarbal laughed with glee, then pulled his foot back, and Jupiter's eyes widened. A moment later his foot hit her face dead on, sending more pain to her brain. Blood gushed out from wounds instantly, and deep purple bruises blossomed on her face with the same haste as she was launched through the air by the vicious kick. She didn't stop flying until she crashed into the wall with her already battered back, and then dropped to the ground next her two companions. She lay still as tears flowed from her eyes, unable to muster the strength to get up.
Mars swallowed as fear grew inside of her, looking at the alien as he zeroed in on her. She realized she had kept the one who's attacks were the most useless - in fact she could only make him more comfortable - for last. With a defiant yell the Knight of the Moonlight jumped in. With a casual motion of the alien's arm Jarbal bashed the knight into his stomach, and made him fly back a meter before landing on the street. "I'll get to you later," Jarbal told him casually.
Defiantly - fear gripped her every being - Mars charged. Jarbal grabbed her copious air and simply lifted her off the ground. "No!" she screamed, kicking and screaming more, but her arms and legs couldn't even reached the giant alien monster. Jarbal laughed once, and then went down, ramming a wide-eyed Mars face first in the pavement. She groaned in pain, stars bursting behind her eyelids.
"Wanna go again?" Jarbal asked with amusement and lifted her off the ground.
"No," Mars protested weakly before being smashed into the pavement again, and again, and again. After four more times her face was nothing but a bloody mess, and she had two concussions. Jarbal let go. Ever defiant the fire warrior pushed herself to her knees. Jarbal shook his head once, and then with a left backhand sent her sailing through the air to join her friends with a painful landing.
Jarbal grinned with satisfaction as he saw Mercury coming to, and Venus and Jupiter slowly get back up to shaky feet. They were done for; they knew it, he knew it, but apparently they wouldn't acknowledge it. That gave him certain ideas for their future. For now he turned around and looked at the risen Knight. "So it's just you and me, pansy boy," Jarbal growled with satisfaction. Before the knight could react, Jarbal grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the floor. "Tell me, just how big of a coward are you? Shall we find out who's behind the robes?" Jarbal asked with a deep grin. "I won't know you, but I have this innate urge to rip apart the packaging of every little present."
"Knight of the Moonlight!!" a voice shrieked out in shock, and Jarbal and Dimwu who had enjoyed watching Jarbal take care of the halfwits looked over to see the arrival of Sailor Moon. "Guys . . ." she whispered as she saw the battered state of her slowly rising friends.
Jarbal casually threw aside the knight putting him with the others, as Venus - shaking her head to clear the cobwebs - thought of her duty to protect the princess, and weakly said, "Sailor Moon get out of here."
Sailor Moon didn't here her and she said with extreme anger, "I'm pretty soldier Sailor Moon, and you bastards hurt my friends . . ."
"Oh brother, not another one," Dimwu said with disgust.
Jarbal gave a laugh, shot left past Dimwu, and put his fist and Sailor Moon's stomach. " . . . in the name . . ." Sailor Moon doubled over in pain, her speech dying on her lips.
"A little advice," Jarbal told her with a grin, turning over his hand and grabbing the doubled over girl by her collar, "don't talk so much." He then simply threw her over his shoulders, and she dropped painfully down on the pavement. Her face crunched up in fear and pain, she scrambled backward, before getting up and pulling out her scepter. Jarbal just laughed and spread his arms, inviting her wordlessly to take her best shot.
"Bastard!" Sailor Moon said and started performing a complex set of motions. "MOON PRINCESS HALATION!!" A beam of pink energy shot from her moon scepter straight at Jarbal. The beam hit, and then dissipated. Sailor Moon looked shocked at the laughing and unharmed alien.
Jarbal brought his arms to his chest, and said, "Wow, impressive! That actually tickled." A moment later Jarbal was near the scared Sailor Moon and bashed her across her left cheek. She flew to her right and smashed into the wall of a building. Her friends were a building and a street further. Jarbal turned to face the warrior for love, truth and justice who staggered back to her feet in pain.
*Oh, shit,* Sailor Moon thought, looking at the giant, and rubbing her painful head. *If energy can't hurt him, hopefully something solid can.* She picked off her tiara and started a complex pirouette.
Dimwu joined his companion, and asked the giant, "What do you think is the idea behind these attacks, Jarbal? We get so bored waiting we fall asleep and get hit unguarded?"
"Must be," Jarbal muttered in disbelief.
At the same time Sailor Moon finished her pirouette and yelled, "MOON TIARA ACTION!" The tiara was then thrown like a frisbee at the alien glowing with energy.
Jarbal easily picked the tiara out of the air, looked at it and said, "I think she wants to play catch."
"No way!" Sailor Moon said freezing up in shock and fear.
"The polite thing to do would be to take her up on her offer," Dimwu replied to Jarbal grinning evilly.
"And I am nothing if not polite," Jarbal returned and then to Sailor Moon he called, "Here, catch!" Jarbal threw the tiara back, in the same frisbee manner, but far faster than Sailor Moon could ever hope to throw it herself. The tiara crashed into her stomach, the wind was knocked out of her lungs, and she cried out in horrendous pain as she was flung back, doubled over the tiara. She crashed painfully against the wall behind her again, and then sank to the floor. She grabbed her stomach, and cried out, gasping for breath through the pain that seemed to be everywhere in her body.
*****
Gohan watched it happen from his hiding position in an alley. Pain blossomed through his being, an emotional pain. Every instinct he had in him told him to help, but his intellect held him check. Every time he wanted to jump in, the words, *You can't interfere. This is not your world. They must do this themselves. If you interfere you might make things worse, if not for them, then for the entire planet later.*
He shook his head wishing things weren't like this, and then the sound of powerful engines assaulted his ears. Two tanks drove into view. One of them close to him, the other on the other side of the two aliens.
"You monsters give yourselves up now!!" a male, obviously military, voice said from a bullhorn on the tank closest to Gohan. "Or we open fire, nobody attacks Japan like this, least of all those who would attack our beloved heroes." All it did was make the aliens narrow there eyes in annoyance. "They're not complying, all right, let her rip."
"They won't stand a chance," Gohan said, the inner battle still raging. A powerful boom followed. A grenade was launched from the tank's barrel and moments later it impacted on the aliens and a powerful explosion followed.
*****
"We got them good!" the tank commander exclaimed in triumph, even the Sailor Soldiers seemed relieved, although they were concerned for their leader who was pretty close to the explosion, but she didn't really seem harmed, although it was close . . .
. . . All except Mars. She looked with horror at the smoke where the aliens just were. "No way," she muttered. "They can't still be . . ."
Jarbal suddenly stepped out of the column of smoke, unharmed, and he did not seem happy. At almost the same moment Dimwu stepped out of it on the opposite side, each facing a different tank. "You insects are really starting to annoy me," Jarbal stated at a fearful and disbelieving commander and mystical warriors. "Do you have any idea how high my cleaning bill is going to be!?" Jarbal raged out, pointing at the dust covering his uniform. He pointed out his hand, as did Dimwu, and both generated a powerful ball of energy with a little concentration. Then the fired them, as the tank commander frantically ordered to get going. It was far too late though, the energy attacks hit the tanks, and both exploded in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics. The Sailor Soldiers ducked and warded off any debris of the closest tank.
Jarbal turned back around and faced the fearful Sailor Moon still clutching her painful stomach. He pointed his hand at her and formed a new energy ball. "You, ugly one, I'll kill, rest assured in the notion that I won't kill your friends. After they're healed - and I've given them a proper training . . ." Jarbal grinned in anticipation a that, " . . . they'll fetch a good price on the sex slave market."
*****
The two talking cats landed near the other Sailor Soldiers who were looking at the scene unfolding frozen with shock. "You must help the princess!" Luna called out in desperation.
"How?" Mercury croaked out.
*****
Gohan was tense, his eyes squinted shot, his right arm in a tight fist. The anger at what had happened and what was going to happen growing every moment. *I could have saved those lives!! But I can't! I mustn't! It's not my place!!*
*****
"Goodbye, bitch," Jarbal finished and fired his explosive ball of energy. The ball shot forward at incredible speeds and exploded mightily, sending pieces of pavement flying everywhere.
*****
"Usagi!" Mercury cried out in horror, tears flowing from her eyes, stinging against her bruises.
"Oh, god, no," Jupiter muttered in horror as her eyes started misting up. Tears flowed from Venus' eyes as well.
Mars looked - as best as she could with her bloody and eyes swelled shut - at the scene in shocked silence with mouth dropped open.
*****
Blackness. Darkness. Everywhere she looked there was nothing but inky black. *Oh, Kamis, I'm blind! Oh, Kamis, I'm dead! Oh, Kamis, I'm both!* Sailor Moon thought in mounting horror. *Wait a minute.* A small creak of light fell on her lens, and she let that fact filter into her mind. Then Sailor Moon fearfully opened her left eye further and noticed the dust around her. Nervously she opened her right eye, and took a quick look around. *I'm still alive! But how!?* She became aware of a silhouette standing in front of her, one that became rapidly more clearer as the dust started dispersing. "Gohan?" she whispered in disbelief.
Gohan slowly turned around and regarded her. His face filled with anger for just a moment, and then was replaced with genuine concern. "Are you ok, Usagi?" Sailor Moon nodded dumbly, not really noticing the use of her real name. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah," Sailor Moon said softly her eyes filling with confused gratitude.
"Good. Usagi, go to your friends, /I'll/ handle this," Gohan told her gently but with command.
"But," Usagi whispered.
"Go," Gohan said. Usagi nodded and then painfully got to her feet. She picked up her tiara, and then ran to her friends.
*****
Jarbal was chuckling at the nice leftovers of the explosion, when Sailor Moon emerged and ran over to her friends. "What the hell!?" he exclaimed in disbelief. It seemed the girl didn't have a scratch on her. That couldn't be possible. Dimwu and the girl's friends cried out in equal surprise, and so he looked back at the explosion site. So did Dimwu, and then the dust settled completely to reveal Gohan, the dust sliding down his ki field, and not touching him at all. He looked up at the two aliens with an angry look.
"Attacking defenseless girls, cowards," Gohan told them in a low growl.
"Shit!! Look at that - another kid!" Jarbal exclaimed in annoyance. "What the fuck is wrong with this world, Dimwu!?! Nothing but kids, little girls, and a bunch of fools in toys! Where are the men!? The pansy in robes over there is the only one, and he's weak and barely old enough to be considered a man!"
Sailor Moon reached her friends, and looked in shock at their state. In turn they looked in shock at Gohan, their friend Gohan apparently ready to take on the two monsters. "Don't worry, this world has its heroes and men," they heard Gohan tell the big and seemingly invincible alien. "It's just that they won't bother with a few weaklings like you. They know more than a kid isn't necessary to beat the crap out of you."
"WHAT!?" they heard Jarbal roar in rage at that.
"Hold still, guys," Sailor Moon said as she picked the tiara off her head. "Moon tiara stardust!" she said and threw the tiara. It sailed over her friends, including the Knight of the Moonlight's head, and sprinkles of light came raining down from it, hitting the Sailor Soldiers. When the sprinkles hit them their bruises mended, and cuts healed. Sailor Moon grabbed the tiara back out of the air, and the soldiers and the knight stood up straighter and easier, but still wincing. "Sorry, but that's all I can do," Sailor Moon told them sadly, as she saw them still gripping their broken and cracked ribs.
Mars still looked with her mouth agape at Gohan, hardly noticing her mostly healed face, and she whispered too softly for anyone to hear, "Incredible. He could obliterate the entire . . . how can anyone have that kind of power?"
Jarbal in the mean had walked over to Gohan, and growled at the half-Saiyan, "I'll show you." He threw a devastating punch . . . and missed. Gohan had just leaned to his left a bit, the fist going past his head. "Huh?" Jarbal muttered looking into the angry eyes of the raven-haired boy who looked back directly into the alien's eyes. "Why you . . .!" Jarbal called out, and pulled his missed fist back. He lashed out another punch, which Gohan side stepped. A kick followed and Gohan jumped over it. Another punch and Gohan ducked beneath it, then rolled between the alien's legs and came out the other side. "What!?"
"Behind you," Gohan told him and Jarbal jumped around.
"You little fuck!" Jarbal kicked out, and Gohan side stepped. Jarbal threw a low punch, and Gohan bended backward, making Jarbal's fist fly over him. This went on a few more times, Jarbal getting more angry by the minute. "That's it!" he said and fired energy balls, that Gohan easily avoided. They exploded on impact leaving a bunch of small pot holes in asphalt. "STAND STILL, YOU LITTLE INSECT!!" Jarbal roared and smashed both his fists down. Gohan jumped to the side lightly, and Jarbal's fist smashed into the asphalt cracking it open. Gohan grabbed the overextended arms and gave a quick tug. Jarbal staggered forward, tripped because of the sudden motion and dropped onto his stomach.
"THAT'S IT! YOU THINK YOU CAN MOCK ME!?" Jarbal raged and jumped into the air. He flew up, laughing maniacally he raised his hands above his head and started charging an exceptionally powerful ball of energy. Gohan casually followed him with his eyes moving his head upward. "LET'S SEE YOU AVOID OR OUTRUN THIS ONE, KID! I'M GOING TO LEVEL THE WHOLE CITY!!" Jarbal yelled insanely.
"Damn!" Dimwu exclaimed in irritation, and he flew up to avoid being destroyed along with the city. "I take it back, you /are/ stupid! Stop it, you damn fool!"
"He's bluffing, he's got to be. He can't blow up the entire city, can he?" Mercury said fearfully, looking up at the growing energy blast.
"He can," Mars replied without real thought, her sixth sense latching onto the energies flowing around the whole area and being lost in the sensations.
"We have to get out of here!" Venus said somewhat afraid. The two cats looked at each other thinking if they could teach the Sailor Soldiers the teleportation technique.
"We'll never make it, we're done for," the Knight of the Moonlight added solemnly readying himself to die.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK NOW, KID!? SCARED YET!?" Jarbal screamed having a small energy bomb about one and a half meters in diameter between his raised, and outstretched arms. The bomb had a red outer rim, was dark blue just underneath, and had a white, brightly sparkling inner core.
Gohan was looking up at him, locking eyes, and didn't even gave a flicker. Fists casually next to his body, giving him the mere boy a sense of superiority. Then he gave a smirk, and said, "Bring it on."
"God, he's so brave!" Sailor Moon gushed. "He doesn't even show fear."
Mercury and Jupiter took a step forward, Jupiter shouting, "Gohan get out of there, save yourself!" They were about to step forward when the remarkably resolute arms of Mars grabbed both by a shoulder. They turned annoyed half around, and saw her shake her head.
At the same time Jarbal roared in anger. "FINE! DIIIEEEE!!!"
"Don't do it, you bastard!" Dimwu yelled in vain, knowing it would destroy what they came here for. With a roar Jarbal threw the ball of energy downward and it rushed down straight for Gohan.
The half-Saiyan casually looked at the ball of destructive energy rapidly coming closer. He didn't do anything, he just stood there. "We're doomed," Artemis said, realizing using the teleportation was far too late now.
The ball of energy rushed to the Earth, closer and closer. There was nothing to oppose the raw amount of destructive power. In morbid fascination the Sailor Soldiers watched it going down, and down, putting Gohan, themselves and the direct environment in a eerily changing light, causing even more eery shadows; the eeriness of onrushing death. The ball was practically on top of Gohan, and still he just stood there, smirking. Still closer the ball came, and just as the ball was about to hit the half-Saiyan, explode, and destroy the entirety of Tokyo, Gohan rapidly, but casually, flung up his hand, and squatted the ball back up as if it was a pesky fly. The ball shot upward into the atmosphere with incredibly speeds, shooting right past Jarbal who followed the ball and its upward path with dropped jaw, and said, "Impossible." Dimwu was looking up at the rapidly shrinking ball with the same slack jawed look, and pulled his scanner out, took a reading, and paled in shock.
The Sailor Soldiers looked equally shocked and relieved at the ball shooting up and away. "I guess he was bluffing after all," Knight of the Moonlight muttered.
"No, he wasn't," Mars replied like a robot. Suddenly there was a blinding light, and they all averted, closed and covered their eyes in a reflex. Then a slow rumble became audible, and it quickly gained in strength. The buildings around them started to vibrate, and then suddenly they were knocked off their feet, windows in the nearby windows shattering and raining down. The shockwave of the energy ball had been weakened enough during its path back down it wouldn't destroy the city, but it still had enough power to shatter virtually every window throughout it. "I guess I was wrong," the knight groaned out, and slowly got back to his feet. The girls around him did the same, and looked around at the splintered glass everywhere, and raised their arms protectively against the glass still coming down from higher up. They looked over and saw Gohan standing there, still looking up and the glass bouncing off his invisible energy field.
Jarbal looked back down in disbelief, back into Gohan's eyes. Gohan's smirk deepened, and he called out, "/Now/ it's /my/ turn." Gohan blinked out of existence, making the Sailor Soldiers gasp out in surprise. A moment later Gohan reappeared at Jarbal, who had only been able to see the rapid moving Gohan, but had no way to react in time. Gohan's fist rammed into the blue alien's gut, cracking bones, doubling him over, and making him groan and gasp out in pain. Gohan's face was in an angry grimace as his fist stayed in its position for a moment. Then Jarbal coughed up blood and Gohan slowly floated down a little.
The Sailor Soldiers and the knight stood there, looking up in shock at the pair floating next to each other. "One punch," Venus whispered audibly in awe, "just one punch." The others gave a nod.
Gohan and Jarbal had locked gazes, Jarbal just looked with his eyes, and Gohan had his head cocked just slightly. "What are you?" Jarbal croaked out, coughing up some more blood.
Gohan just gave a smile, and with a quick scream he flashed upside down, and rammed his foot onto Jarbal's back in between what passed as shoulder blades. Jarbal gave a yell of pain, and then of fear as he rapidly hurtled to the ground, where he crashed into the concrete. There was a shockwave, an explosion, and then smaller and bigger pieces of asphalt were thrown everywhere. The girls and the knight once again covered their heads with their arms from the onslaught of pebbles of asphalt. Gohan watched with a grim smile as the dust settled, revealing a moderate crater with the crumpled form of a barely alive Jarbal at the bottom.
Suddenly Gohan shot his head over to the right, looking directly at the smaller green alien. Dimwu had subconsciously let himself float back down, and was standing on the asphalt of the street, his eyes widening when he realized the amazingly strong boy had now targeted him. Fearfully he started running. Gohan flashed down, arrived right next the smaller alien, smashing his right elbow in the things face at the same time. With painful yell at his broken nose, Dimwu was launched backward. He bounced several times on the street and then dropped into the crater, joining his companion. Gohan turned around, moved his left foot as if to set it down on the asphalt and then flashed out of existence. He put his foot down, and then his other, right at the edge of the crater. He stuck out his right hand, pointed it at the two aliens and charged an energy ball.
"Does he teleport?" Usagi muttered out.
"No, all speed," Mars replied with furrowed brows, having felt Gohan move. "How can this be?" Mars added out loud. "Gohan's got enough power in him to obliterate this planet . . . with ease." The team of heroes looked over at their fellow warrior, and looked at her in shock.
Dimwu groaned and slowly opened his eyes, they widened in fear when he saw the deadly ball of energy pointing at them. "Listen to me carefully, I'm warning you only once," Gohan told him in a voice filled with anger and command, "my father would have let you go just on principle, and he would probably let you go over and over again. I'm not my father, but in honor of him, I will let you go only once. So take this opportunity and better your lives. Return here and I /will/ kill you. I meet you up there and you haven't bettered your lives, and I /will/ kill you. Got that?" Dimwu nodded in fear. "Then get out of here, before I change my mind. Take your friend with you, and tell him what I told you."
Dimwu nodded again, and hefted Jarbal up on his shoulder, who groaned out in pain only half-conscious. Then the alien lifted slowly in the air, and shot away toward their space ship.
[Stop Gohan's theme]
Once out of sight, Gohan's grim face transformed in a bright smile, and he walked over to his group of friends. "Hey, guys," Gohan told them smiling. "You were amazing, heroes all of you."
The Sailor Soldiers looked surprised at Gohan's familial tone. "Uh," Minako, the oldest and most experienced of them managed first. "You know us."
Gohan looked puzzled for a moment, and then answered, "Of course, Minako. Ami, Makoto, Rei, and Bunny." The Sailor Soldiers looked even more shocked at that revelation. "Why are you looking so weird? It isn't as if you're wearing masks now is it? Besides, I can sense your ki." The girls eyes widened slightly and they looked away from Gohan and at each other silently communicating their shock. Gohan looked over at the knight, frowning and in thought. "You though, I don't know, but you feel familiar, and really weird."
"Ah, right, well, I'm the Knight of the Moonlight," Knight of the Moonlight said, backing up nervously. "Well, it's been fun and all, but I've got to go again. Finding more wrongs to right and all, I'm sure you fellow heroes know how it is . . . ah . . . well, goodbye then." Then the robed figure quickly turned around and ran away, after a few steps he whipped out a few metal claws, jumped up and climbed up a wall then disappeared quickly.
Gohan blinked his eyes once at the hero's odd disappearance and then turned back to his friends smiling. "So, where shall we go now? I'm certain you've got a lot of questions to ask me," Gohan asked brightly.
"First of all," Artemis the cat said sternly since the shocked Soldiers didn't seem willing or able to do it. Gohan looked down at the cat, and smiled not surprised in the least at the talking cat, which once more surprised the girls, as well as Luna the other cat. "No more mentioning of their real names in public, got that?"
"Uh, sure," Gohan answered, not really getting the importance, but if that what they wanted. "So there are talking animals here after all, huh?" The girls' jaws dropped once again at that statement.
