Chapter 8: The Girl that Fell from the Sky
The demon that was attacking the audience of the Snowwhite play had free rain. Gohan had watched his friends, the Sailor Soldiers trapped in costumes on the stage fall over and struggling. Time to help. Quickly he snuck out of the auditorium, ran to where he hung up his coat and back pack and took the pack. He then quickly ran into the bathroom across the hall. A rapid check confirmed no one was present, and then he went into a cubicle, closing the lid. He opened his bag, and pulled out his costume. He kicked off his shoes, then started pulling down his pants rapidly. When it was off he grabbed the pants of his costume, and in need of time he rapidly pushed his foot down . . . and then there was a rip.
Stricken Gohan pulled the garment back down, and then held it up. There was a large tear in the pants. "Oh, no," Gohan muttered; the pants were not designed to be pulled on at super speeds. *Hell,* Gohan thought in irritation, *then I'll do this without the costume.* He quickly pulled his normal pants back on, making sure not to rip these pants, which meant he was doing it just as fast as any other boy on the planet. He quickly ran out the bathroom, and back into the theater room, and found the demon destroyed and his friends in their familiar micro skirts were just leaving. Gohan sighed in defeat, and went back to retrieve his costume.
Fifteen minutes later, Gohan and his friends were walking slowly toward Rei's grandfather's temple. "So why didn't you help?" Usagi asked bluntly. Gohan gave an annoyed sound, and looked away in embarrassment. "Well?" she prompted.
Gohan sighed, and said, "Can't tell you until we get to the temple." The girls looked at him, and he hung his head down in shame. Then he looked up and said, "You can't start relying on me you know, I'm leaving once the ship is repaired, or Bulma sends the new one."
Fifteen minutes later the group was inside a building of the temple, and they all looked expectantly at Gohan. He lifted his costume from his bag, disentangled the pants, and then held it up. Everybody looked at the giant rips in the right leg. "Cloth can't handle super speed changing," Gohan muttered embarrassedly. The girls blinked their eyes a few times, and then laughed hard.
They quickly stopped though, it wasn't that funny. "So how does Superman do it?" Rei asked curiously. "Did they explain it in the comics?"
"He has his costume on underneath his clothes," Usagi said brightly, giving a dreamy look.
Gohan looked at her, so did the others, and then he groaned, "I should have known." Then he went into deep thought, remembering once again what the girls had told him a few days earlier. Makoto had thought that Seijuurou was the Knight of the Moonlight, Gohan had told her he wasn't explaining his ki sense again, but she hadn't listened. He had been tinkering with the interdimensional ship when she and the others had been attacked by another demon, and how they had seen two aliens control them; a boy and a girl. To Gohan that meant he knew certain who the two aliens were; Seijuurou and Natsumi. But despite his earlier interference, and now that his identity was revealed the willingness to help out with even the weaker foes - which all seemed to be demons - he was reluctant to help out with the two aliens. For one thing, they hadn't felt 'evil' or particularly malicious to Gohan; not to his sense of ki, nor to his limited Saiyan telepathic and empathic abilities. For another, there was still the issue of simply taking over and doing all the work for his friends, not allowing them to grow stronger and better and since he wasn't staying for very long . . . Finally, no matter how certain Gohan was, until he met the aliens face to face, he couldn't be /absolutely/ certain it were Seijuurou and Natsumi, although tonight's attack at the theater, them close by although not transformed into the aliens removed any doubt in Gohan's mind, he couldn't falsely accuse the two, especially without any evidence. He decided he would go have to have a talk with them soon, lay the cards on the table so to speak, and figure things out.
After a short discussion on the still unknown identity of the Knight of the Moonlight, the girls had all returned home.
*****
A few days later Gohan found himself in detention, along with Usagi and Natsumi. The teacher had gone ballistic without any reason Gohan could have seen, and had sent all three of them to detention for transgressions that were barely that. Said teacher gave them some problems on a paper to solve, and then just left. Usagi and Natsumi looked at the problems like they were super complicated multi-dimensional equations, both of them tired, Natsumi the most so, and Gohan felt it. Her ki was weak, and almost non-existent, he had sensed the same things from Seijuurou, and it had thrown him for a loop; he didn't know whether the two were really evil, or just desperate for survival, and this latest tidbit only puzzled the half-Saiyan even more. Gohan shrugged, deciding to keep observing for now, he went to work on his allotted problems.
He was finished within ten minutes, and then he leaned back, balancing the stair on its hind legs, and placed his feet on the table. Then he casually folded his hands behind the back of his head, and announced casually, "Finished." Both Usagi and Natsumi turned to look at him with daggers in their eyes, Gohan grinned at them. He quickly got bored, even the two girls' bickering over who got Mamoru and their decision to have a contest over who got him: whoever finished the problems first, couldn't keep him entertained. He sat his chair back down, put his hands on the desk and rested his head on it. Moments later he was asleep.
Usagi was putting all her effort into finishing the problems first, her tongue was hanging out her lips in concentration. Natsumi however couldn't even begin with the questions. She was tired and looked over at Usagi, and got an idea. If she stole some of Usagi's energy she could start. So she slowly sneaked over, ready to grab and drain her.
"Shoot," Usagi said in irritation as the gum she was using to diligently gum away a bad answer jumped out of her hands and dropped to the floor. She bend over, and Natsumi's grab went wide. The girl crashed into the desk and fell to the floor. Usagi looked over at the downed girl, and asked innocently, "What are you doing?"
"Exercising," Natsumi quickly made up, and made a few exercise motions on the floor. "Will make sure I'm relaxed, and so I will beat you easily."
"You will lose doing nothing," Usagi replied but got a little worried, so she started working on the questions even harder. It was good thing Gohan was hunched over his work, or she'd try to sneak a peek.
Natsumi made a few more motions, and then got up, and slowly approached the oblivious blonde sneakily. Suddenly Usagi gave a quick yawn, and stretched out, her pencil slamming into Natsumi's nose and the girl staggered back, and quickly turned it into an exercising routine. Usagi scratched herself behind her neck, thinking about the other girl's odd behavior, and then quickly continued working.
After almost an hour she finally looked back up again, seeing as she had only one problem left to go. She looked over at the once again seating Natsumi, who had given up on her plan. "Only one question more to go," Usagi said with a grin, and got up, checking out what Natsumi had done; which was nothing at all, she still hadn't started. "You haven't even started yet!" Usagi exclaimed with a triumphant smile. "Would you like me to help you?" Usagi asked, both teasing and serious at the same time.
"Just because I haven't started yet, doesn't mean I won't beat you. I was just giving you a head start," Natsumi bit back hatefully.
"Oh, really?" Usagi asked confident she had Natsumi beat.
"Really," Natsumi returned, and suddenly got an idea. "I'll prove it to you, you go to sleep for ten seconds, and I'll show you."
Usagi snorted, and then side, "Fine, ten seconds." Usagi sat down in her chair, and promptly went to sleep.
Natsumi looked with giant eyes of triumph at the sleeping girl, and transformed into her alien alter ego Ann. She went over, placed her hands on the blonde, and sucked the girl's life force right out. "Yes," she whispered feeling herself getting stronger, and then stopped when Usagi's energy was growing low. Natsumi wasn't fully charged up yet, and looked over at the sleeping Gohan. She grinned and placed her hands on his shoulders, and started sucking his energy. She gasped as her hands burned, and she took two steps back, leaning on a desk behind him. She was shocked, she had never considered the possibility someone could have that much energy. She was more than charged up, she was weak again because she had taken too much energy for her to handle in that very short moment, and she knew for a fact she had hardly taken a fraction of the boy's energy. Her painful burning hands slowly started aching less, and Gohan stirred once, but kept on sleeping.
Grinning after all, knowing she had enough energy to do the problems, and Usagi now too tired to wake up unless disturbed, Ann went to her place ready to win the contest, ready to transform back. Just then, with a loud crash a demon appeared outside the window, and it growled. Instantly Usagi and Gohan woke up, looking surprised at the monster. A battle yell from what had to be the Sailor Soldiers and a well aimed attack, sent the Cardian back down to ground level. The Sailor Soldiers appeared to be only mildly successful fighting off the demon, holding him in place. Ail - also known as Seijuurou, the alien - appeared on the scene, and looked at the demon in irritation. Telepathically he explained to Ann he couldn't control it, and she couldn't believe it. The girl quickly jumped out the window, and she and her brother flew up to roof of the school.
To Gohan that settled it, he had now seen and felt the aliens, and they felt exactly like Seijuurou and Natsumi. "Damn," Gohan said, looking at the Sailor Soldiers fighting the demon. "I've got to, you know," Gohan told Usagi and quickly bounded out the room.
Usagi nodded, and then her cat Luna who had spotted her from the ground, climbed through the shattered window into the classroom. "Quickly, Usagi, you must transform," Luna told the blonde.
"Uh . . . oh, right," Usagi replied groggily - the energy drain was taking its toll. She got out her pendant and started the transformation dance.
*****
Gohan quickly ran through the corridors, nobody around, he started unbuttoning his shirt, and the pulled it open, revealing the specialized ninja outfit. He quickly added the tie, and threw them behind a vending machine he ran past. He then opened his pants, and started pulling them down, but instead of going smooth, the pants kept clinging to his costume's pants beneath them. "Damn it," he muttered, pulling and prodding, slowing his running. He made a hop, trying to pull the pants down, tried to run again. He got entangled and then he dropped over, face first onto the floor. "Auw," he said, getting irritated. "Come on, loosen." He yanked and yanked, and finally, after kicking his shoes off the pants came free. He pulled his shoes back on, and ran.
"Why did I have to put my coat this far away?" he asked himself. Finally he reached the coat rack, and he produced his mask from its inner pocket and put it on.
*****
The demon backhanded Rei off of it, and it freed it up. Sailor Moon looked at it, and pulled out her magic scepter, ready to defeat the monster. "Oh, my," she muttered as she was attacked by a wave of dizziness, and she staggered forward. The demon crowed in satisfaction and quickly moved over and grabbed the super heroine, intent to finish her off. Sailor Moon struggled, but with her energy down, the grip felt like iron. "Help!" Sailor Moon screamed, and then suddenly the grip was gone, a white rose flew into the opening the demon had vacated.
Sailor Moon blinked and saw Ninja Z floating a few centimeters above ground, looking down at her. "You alright Sailor Moon?" Ninja Z asked concerned, of his head only his eyes and hair was visible, and his eyes radiated concern. Sailor Moon blinked, seeing the demon tumble through the air still and only slowly regain control and look around to see what had happened.
"I'm fine," she answered, and then Ninja Z nodded. The red-and-black-clad ninja slowly turned around and regarded the demon with cold angry eyes. Sailor Moon looked around, seeing the rose, and then spotting the Knight of the Moonlight, who seemed somewhat embarrassed at his miss. The other sailor suited warriors looked on in triumph at the ease with with Ninja Z had removed the demon from their leader, while Ail and Ann up on the roof looked on in surprising disbelief.
"That's it," Ninja Z growled and rapidly moved over to the demon. "Come on," Gohan said flaring his energy, "you want energy don't you?"
The red-and-blue, horned monster zeroed in on Ninja Z and growled in anticipation. It's green tentacles shot out and wrapped themselves around Ninja Z's waist. Then it moved forward and grabbed Ninja Z's shoulders with its claws.
"Like that, huh?" Ninja Z sneered with anger. "Want more?" Promptly Ninja Z flared his energy, making it bound visibly around his body. The demon growled with satisfaction. "How about enough to level the city?" Ninja Z asked, and output even more energy. The beast once again made its approval audible. "How about the continent?" Ninja Z asked, and his chi-flame burst into existence, as the girls, one young man, and the two aliens watched enraptured. The demon suddenly didn't look so comfortable anymore, and it tried to disentangle itself. "Half the planet?" Ninja Z asked and his flame became more intense, rapidly grabbing the demon's wrists, making it impossible for it to move away.
The demon shook its head desperately, making protesting noises. "No, please," was one utterance that the demon's limited to non-existent vocal abilities managed with difficulty. The demon's body slowly started to glow.
"Don't be shy, not now," Ninja Z told it. His voice was cold and calculating as he raised his energy. "Here, have enough to obliterate the planet," Ninja Z added and made his ki flame flare with energy. The thing shook his head with all its defiance, and it screamed out in pain, as his body started more and more to glow. Suddenly Ninja Z let go, formed a ki shield around the demon, and then with a vicious kick sent the encased demon up into space. The demon raced, quickly hurtling past the moon, and then there was blinding flash. Everybody present shielded their eyes, and then they looked up to see a mighty shockwave of energy pass through space, and then it was gone. Slowly Ninja Z turned his enraged eyes toward Ail and Ann, and they quickly left the roof, going into the school building.
Inside, Ann told her brother, "I'll have to get to class quickly, before Usagi suspects something. Ail, I don't think that blast last time coinciding with the attack of those aliens was from an asteroid, it came from the fighters. Gohan is one of them, he's Ninja Z, you should have felt his power Ail, it's incredible." Ail nodded slightly.
By the time Ann was back in the classroom, a disheveled Gohan was sitting at the table, as if he had dressed very quickly. Usagi too was present, grabbing a pen and triumphantly finishing the last question.
*****
In the next few days Seijuurou and Natsumi were absent from school, and so Gohan couldn't talk with them. He had been partially avoiding the Sailor Soldiers, but he still spent time with Umino and Naru. The problem was, that Gohan could find the aliens using his sixth sense, but the problem was his non-interfering. He remembered back to the latest demon attack, how he had let his anger over tripping cloud his judgement. When he looked back at the event, he was certain that his friends could have beaten it most likely, which meant he already was starting to take over their duties. Gohan was slowly walking along the streets of Tokyo in the general direction of the shop area; he needed a part they should have here for the interdimensional ship. After a while, halfway to the store, he felt an odd disturbance. He debated with himself for a short moment, and then rapidly walked into an alley in the direction of the disturbance.
He went right once, then left, and stood still at the sight. There energy crackled, about one meter fifty above ground, a mist of energy swirled, and became more and more pronounced. Gohan blinked in astonishment, and then suddenly, a figure came shooting from the disturbance, which stopped producing visible light immediately thereafter. Flabbergasted, Gohan was completely incapable of getting out of the way of the figure, which squarely collided with his chest. Gohan went down, and with two oofs, one from both persons they landed horizontally. The girl - for that was what the figure was - lay on top of Gohan, her left leg right from Gohan, her right in between his legs. Gohan's right leg was between hers, and as she shook her head lightly to clear it, she backed up against his leg. Gohan watched the girl shake her head, and then open her bright, brilliant, and sad eyes. She was beautiful, incredibly so; the pink hair - very rare - gave her an alluring exotic look unmatched by any girl Gohan had ever seen. Instantly he wanted to comfort the girl that was so obviously in pain. Gohan dimly recognized that she was wearing a Sailor Soldier outfit; skimpy, tight, naked legs, ultra short skirt. Her soft but strong body pressed completely against him. Her breasts, which had only just started to grow, pressed into his chest just below his chin. To his extreme embarrassment Gohan felt himself grow erect.
The pink-haired girl for one had been completely disoriented at her sudden appearance, collision and fall. She had shaken her head, and then gently raised upper torso a little, pushing up with her arms and hands. Her right hand was just next to Gohan's head, her left was holding onto his upper right arm. Once she blinked a few times, she looked down in Gohan's face, and became aware of his dark eyes looking up at her. She felt the muscles in his arm, and along his body, and it felt good, as their eyes locked together, each just staring surprised into each other's eyes. *Oh, my, he's got some muscles,* she fleetingly thought, and then the girl's eyes widened as she felt something grow. At the same time an unfamiliar warmth spread through her young body, and she felt her nipples start to harden. "Uh, sorry," she muttered out rapidly and pushed herself off of him, blushing deeply. "Please, just forget I was here," she added as Gohan smoothly stood up from the ground. "Right, bye," she said, and then quickly ran away.
As she ran away she thought, *Kami, he felt good against me, and he looks so . . . stop it, Usagi! Focus! You have a mission! You have a world to save! No time drooling over boys!* Properly chastised she went into a dead run, hoping she had enough time.
Meanwhile, Gohan was still standing there, embarrassed about his body's reaction. "Wow," he whispered completely floored. Slowly he turned toward the direction of the story, and started walking. "Wow, she was so hot," he muttered, and blushed. *You shouldn't think that . . . and why the hell not?* He grinned as he proceeded to imprint the girl's looks and appearance into his mind. "What the hell was she doing in a Sailor Soldier outfit?" he muttered softly.
*****
A little over a half hour later Gohan arrived back at his apartment having bought the part. He stood on top of the metal chairs leading right to his second story front door. He noticed his door wasn't locked when put his key inside. For a moment he wondered if he forgot to do it, but quickly dismissed it. He extended his senses fully since his collision with the mysterious girl dressed like a Sailor Soldier. He had been too preoccupied with her vision to fully examine the rest of her, so when he felt a presence, he didn't recognize her. He opened his door, took a step inside, and looked at his guest sitting on his small couch, which filled almost a quarter of his entire room. The girl - about fourteen years old - looked at the door expectantly, and her eyes widened in recognition.
"You," the two stated at exactly the same time, dumbfounded for a moment.
*Stupid, stupid, Usagi!* Usagi admonished herself, as she watched Gohan casually walk into his apartment and settling in without fear. *Ooh, what fantastic muscles! You're only here looking for the most powerful guy, and thirteen-year-old on the planet! Stupid!*
Gohan finished putting his purchase away, and sat down in a chair, looking into the horrified, and hollow eyes of the beautiful girl in front of him. "So, tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine, but I think you already know mine," Gohan prompted smiling at her.
Finally prompted out of her stupor, Usagi got up, and took a deep bow, saying, "Son Gohan-sama, my name is Chiba Usagi, princess of the . . ."
"Hey, hold on," Gohan interrupted, almost panicking. He had gotten up, and shook his hands from left to right to ward off the praise. "First straighten up," he said, and she did. "I am not a god, nor am I some exalted priest, ok, I don't deserve such praise."
It took all of Usagi's self-control not to blush deeply. The stories she had heard tell of the boy in front of her, had been legendary, myth, his power unimaginable, her parents and friends had talked about him like he was god who had ordained to walk amongst mortals for a short while. She was screwing up, giving Gohan hints of his future he shouldn't have. She remembered another thing from the stories, and she said, "But you are a prince, are you not?"
Gohan groaned, and said, "Just don't call me that."
"Ok," Usagi said, a little confused, but Gohan sat back down relieved it seemed. "This may sound strange," Usagi continued, sitting back down herself, "but I'm from the future."
Gohan gave a quiet nod, starting to understand the horror in the girl's eyes, they were filled with even greater despair than Trunks' had been. "I figured as much, a friend of mine returned from the future to warn us of threat that was coming. I know an Usagi here, and she too wears an outfit like that . . ."
Involuntarily Usagi grabbed her tiara and felt it for a while, then said, "She is my mother. They call me Chibi-Usa." Gohan gave a small smile at the insulting term, but she didn't seem to be very insulted by it.
"So, Little Bunny, what's your story?" Gohan said, and the girl smiled for the first time. She couldn't help it, the way he said it, with a twinkle in his eyes, and some form of deep rooted respect that she didn't think she deserved from someone nothing short of a god warmed her right up, and it sounded so much more cuter than Chibi-Usa, even though she enjoyed having that name for a long time now.
"You weren't supposed . . ." Usagi shook her head. Gohan watched her do it, watched her mumble something under her breath, which sounded suspiciously like, 'stop thinking like that.' Usagi looked back up, and said, "The aliens came here because of you. They detected your inter-dimensional trips, the tear in the fabric of the universe, and they detected your power. They came to find the ship." She watched Gohan's smile falter, and horror replaced it.
"Go on," Gohan said grimly.
"Others will follow them," Usagi continued, swallowing away the lump she felt forming in her throat as she remembered her past. "Aliens with vast powers, others with vast armies, either because they too detected the intrusion, or because they have beef with those who did. I was fighting when I was five years old, against beings with powers far in excess of mine, or against overwhelming odds. Sometimes we sent me, or somebody else back in time to improve our chances of success with future knowledge on how to beat them. Then there came an ecological disaster, prompted by one of the alien's attacks. The world starting freezing over, and we placed ourselves and almost the entire world in cryo-stasis."
She halted her story, mustering strength for the rest of the tale, and watching Gohan's reaction for a few moments. "When we woke ourselves up, a thousand years later, Earth was a wasteland. For a thousand years, one battle after another was fought right here. The first of them over your technology, then it became a strategic fortress for a war between to galactic super powers, prompted because of Earths position, it's inhospitable climate, and the knowledge of what the previous battles here had been fought over. Near the end of our thousand-year sleep, the reasons for needing Earth, were mythological, religious, prestige. The reason why Earth was so important to all the different factions and armies had been lost in time, the earlier battles reduced to myth and legend, but still wars were fought over it. Of the six billion that went to sleep, no more than five hundred million woke up, another hundred million died because of complications sustained in the first few weeks after our awakening."
Again she halted her story, wiping a way a few tears, and then continued, "We fought, long and hard for our world. There were four different enemies, each fighting each other as they fought us. Two hundred million more died in the war that ensued. Finally we threw them off, all of them, but none of our enemies were as powerful as those waged their wars on Earth in the millennium before - if we'd only known that. It was decided the world, although salvageable, was too destroyed, even our restorative powers couldn't restore all of it, and it certainly could not bring back all those billions who had died - so, with blessing of Sailor Pluto, the Sailor Soldier of time, me and Sailor Saturn were sent back in time to make sure the ecological disaster never happened - we succeeded. But that didn't stop all the others from coming to Earth. We fought them, one by one, each becoming stronger after another. I've seen my mother, father and assorted friends die now a dozen times over and more. Every time we sent someone back in time to rectify their deaths, give them advanced knowledge on our enemies weaknesses and exploit that. Eventually there came enemies that were so powerful even their weaknesses were too powerful for us to overcome"
"That's basically my life, we're so much alike, you and I," Gohan said grimly, picturing the horror of what she had just painted. He saw her looking at him, with hunched up eyebrows, and tears filling her eyes. "I half Saiyan, half human, my father is Saiyan, they were a race of ruthless warriors who destroyed all intelligent life on planets in order to sell them to the highest bidder. My father was supposed to destroy Earth, but he fell on his head and forgot who he was. When I was four my father's brother, Radditz, came to the Earth to check up on him. My father died killing his brother in order to protect me, but two other remaining Saiyan's had heard, and they were coming as well. The next year I trained so I could face them, I tried." He looked up at the pink-haired Usagi, and watched her look at him silently. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to her, close enough their knees touched. He gave her a smile, she smiled back and he continued telling her, of Vegeta, of his failure to overcome his fear then, of the Dragonballs, the trip to Namek, Freeza, Cell - Littica's arrival, his father's second and permanent death - Android 25, Brolli, and finally Bojack.
"We /are/ very much alike, aren't we?" Usagi told him with a weak smile. He gave in to the urge to sling his arm around her shoulders, and she put let herself fall against him. "But where you succeeded, I failed. You're a hero." Usagi squinted her eyes shut, and the memories of the hours leading up to her transport through time.
[The tentacle shot out, and wrapped itself around the Sailor Moon's neck. With a yank, her neck broke, and she was dumped onto the floor. "USAGI!" Prince Endymion screamed out in grief, just before he was hit by an explosive ball of energy that splattered his remains across the battle field.
"Momma!! DAD!!" Usagi screamed out, and Venus grabbed her around her waist, and pulled her back, instead of letting her continue the urge to go to her parents and certain death. The vaguely humanoid monster - easily the size of a house, with tentacles sprouting from its back and chest - easily bashed an apartment building to rubble. Around him, on foot or in various dangerous vehicles his army of aliens, all in excess of two meters tall, fired guns or energy blasts from their bare hands. Jupiter went down in one of them. The alien commander ordered something in an alien tongue, and suddenly the army started lifting high into the air, either under their own power, or in vehicles.
With tears in her eyes, she watched the monster charges two very large balls of energy in his hands, and then brought them together, laughing. "Oh, my god!" Neptune suddenly called out, understanding. "Teleport now, he's going to destroy the whole city!"
Venus, Chibi-Moon, Pluto, and Neptune managed to do exactly that, just in time. They reappeared on top of the Mount Fuji volcano, which was nothing but a small hill and watched in horror as Tokyo - which was a strange mix of the old Tokyo and the futuristic Crystal Tokyo, most notably the palace - was engulfed in a giant fireball and mushroom cloud.
"Haruka," Neptune muttered with tears in her eyes as she sagged to her knees.
The alien commander appeared lazily from the inferno, and he did not seem pleased. "He figured it out," Venus said, as she saw the alien bellow his new orders. She violently stuffed away her feelings, and she commanded, "We need to go now."]
"I'm not a hero," Gohan said, and it jolted Usagi from her memories. "I'm just born with all this power, nothing heroic about it," he continued, and Usagi looked up into his eyes. "Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, my father and Piccolo were the true heroes. They fought, and trained against overwhelming odds for every little bit of power they had. The soldiers who died taking a futile, but heroic stance against Cell were heroes, and despite the lies, and cheating Satan and his students were heroes trying to take on Cell. Policemen, and firemen saving people, going into burning buildings, or standing up to criminals, with nothing but their courage and occasionally a small gun, those are heroes. Me, I'm just a kid handed everything over to me with a silver spoon."
Usagi went over his words, and his story, and asked him, "Cell was far stronger then you when you started fighting him, wasn't he?"
"Uh, yeah," Gohan asked not quite getting it.
"And you trained in that Chamber of Spirit and Time against a Super Saiyan version of your father in order to become one yourself, didn't you?" Usagi asked.
"I suppose," Gohan returned not quite getting it.
"And this Freeza was far more powerful every time you faced him, right?" Usagi asked again.
Gohan looked at her, answering, "Yes."
Usagi smiled at him, and said, "Then you /are/ a hero, you're just one on a higher level. Facing Freeza and Cell while you didn't know if you could win, takes the same amount of courage it takes a fireman to walk into a burning building. You /are/ a hero."
Gohan felt uncomfortable looking into the girls adoring eyes, and quickly said, "So why are you here? Why come looking for me? I know I caused all your grief, but . . ."
"No," Usagi interrupted him, and sat back up straight. "Not you, we did." Gohan looked at her confused. "You have to go back to your dimension, I know, you need to protect your own world, I did not come here to ask you to stay, or come with me to the future, besides you still have . . ." Usagi clamped her mouth shut, and Gohan looked at her even more strangely. "Forget I said that," Usagi fidgeted, and got up, took a few steps and turned around, thinking of how to put this. "We were arrogant, Sailor Pluto was arrogant the most of us, I suppose. She can she a possible future, except she thought she saw /the/ future. You were . . . are not from this universe, which made it impossible to foresee. When you came here, you irrevocably altered the flow of time, as well as influenced the forces around the entire galaxy. But that was not /the/ future that Setsuna saw, so it was not to be. You were insanely powerful, and since she never saw people with your power - she couldn't even imagine such power in just one person - she figured there wouldn't be anymore. But they came anyway, weaker ones at first, but still powerful enough to beat us. But this was not meant to be, right? So we go back in time, and with the known weakness beat them easily. We patted ourselves on our backs - look, how good we are, how strong! But more came, with greater numbers, greater power, all coming to investigate . . . and yet we did not grow stronger; oh, we grew stronger, but not to the levels required, none of us trained, none of us sought out ways to boost our strength, we all waited for hand outs, a boost in strength here, one there, at random mostly, but that wouldn't last, eventually the ones ready and willing to fight us, simply grew too strong - some of them were professional armies, others power hungry mad men - unlike us they /do/ train, they /do/ seek out ways to become far stronger, one of the very reasons they came to Earth . . ." Usagi let the sentence hang there, and locked eyes fully with Gohan, "By the time Setsuna finally realized she could only see a possible future, and that others would continue to come, especially since we beat an army, or a powerful mad alien that others exalted, or feared, or were hunting down, that her ideal possible future she saw wasn't ever coming true, it was too late; we lost."
"So, why are you here?" Gohan asked after a few moments of silence.
"Because there is only one solution, one final desperate hope," Usagi answered him with pained eyes. "Make /sure/ we grow stronger, /force/ us to train, /force/ us to understand there is no way back . . . make sure we can /not/ travel back in time. That's why I'm here, to find you, before we started using it, because you are the only one powerful enough to destroy the time gates, and Pluto's time scepter."
Gohan looked at her somewhat shocked at first, and then his gaze went to thoughtful, taking in the girl deeply. He was drawn to her - was that coincidence, or design? Was she really has hard up as she seemed, or was this all a ploy to use him to cripple his friends. Usagi for her part was suddenly very nervous. Why was he looking at her so cold and calculating all of a sudden? "So, how do I know your little story is true?" Gohan asked her calmly.
*Oh, god,* Usagi thought in horror. *He doesn't believe me! Why should he!? For all he knows he's going to help defeat his friends. We should have thought of this, brought proof, but there wasn't time.*
["It's the only way, you know where to go!" a bloodied Pluto told Chibi-Moon. Behind them, as they ran through the streets of Saitama. An explosion rocked them through to their bones, and they looked behind them. The aerial army was gaining on them, and several buildings collapsed under their weapons' power. "Once you get to the past, the portal will stay open for four hours, even if you got Gohan to destroy my time abilities. If you don't get back in before that time . . . you'll be stuck there, I won't blame you."
Usagi's eyes were filled with tears, she didn't want to leave her good friend to her fate. "I'll stay here and distract them, hurry, it's our last hope," Setsuna told her, as she turned around to face the onrushing army.
"You can't . . ."
"GO!" Pluto yelled, their eyes met for one last brief moment, then Usagi ran for all she was worth. She zipped in between alley's and across streets, all around people ran for their lives, trying to flee the city. An explosion sounded, and then another, and Usagi new that Pluto had engaged the aliens. A television in a shop announced that all the world was mobilized against this common threat, but Usagi knew that unless they nuked the whole of Japan, and hopefully take most of the aliens out that way, they didn't stand a chance. Nobody on Earth stood a chance against these monsters.
Finally she reached the place, the shimmering energy in the wall showing her she was really there. There was another explosion and then it was oddly quiet, at least for now. "Setsuna," Usagi whispered in shock; she knew it, they had stopped firing for a moment to celebrate the demise of their for to last enemy. Usagi herself was hardly hurt, the other soldiers had done duty too well for her liking: protect the princess at all costs. "Goodbye," she whispered, wiping away her tears, and dove into the time portal that Setsuna had managed to summon.]
Usagi's heart broke. How could she possible convince him? This whole trip would be for naught, they'd all be dead anyway. Tears started to flow from her eyes, across her cheeks, and Gohan's heart broke, he wanted to help her so bad, but what if she was just a very good actress? Suddenly he had an idea. "Saiyan's are touch telepaths," Gohan said, and Usagi looked up. "If you'd let me into your mind, I could be certain."
Usagi's face lighted up, and she wiped away her tears, as she nodded, and choked out several grateful, and hopeful sobs. She walked forward, and Gohan got up. He ran his fingers through her hair once, fingering the jeweled clips that kept her side tails in place, and gave her a reassuring smile. Then, like his father once did to him, he placed his right hand on the top of her head, and closed his eyes. He had never really done this, so it took him a few seconds to figure out, and then Usagi's mind blossomed open for him. He gasped once, and so did she. Then he took his hand away, and she looked up into his eyes. "You're telling the truth," Gohan told her unnecessarily.
Usagi nodded, and asked, "Will you help, Gohan-san?"
"You know this might only speed up your deaths, don't you?" Gohan asked her with concern.
Once again she nodded, and said, "It's our only hope." He nodded, and she swallowed, and a big, but deeply saddened smile graced her features. "The times gates are not on the planet," she said. "They're on an asteroid in between Mars and Jupiter."
"So how are we going to get there?" Gohan asked her gently.
"Teleportation," Usagi answered and held out her hand. Gohan took it. "Ready?" Gohan nodded. "Sailor Teleport!" The kindred spirits disappeared from the apartment a moment later.
*****
The two suddenly appeared in a dark, dark stretch of land. The sky swirled like ink, everything was black, or dark blue, except for a gleaming white building, large gates sealing it off, it radiated power. Gohan extended his senses, and noticed there were large sections underground. Usagi stood next to him, a little nervously, when from the darkness there emerged a dark female form. She had green hair that reached to below her buttocks, she was dressed in a classic Sailor Soldier uniform, and she was holding a large staff defensively in front of her. "Who's there?" she asked suspiciously.
"Setsuna," Usagi called out and took several steps toward Sailor Pluto, guardian of the Gates of Time.
Pluto looked at Usagi suspiciously, but recognized her. "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here, at least not for another . . . who's he?"
Gohan regarded her calmly, and gave her a smile, his ki slowly rising, knowing he had to blow the whole asteroid away. "This is Son Gohan, Setsuna," Usagi started explaining, hoping this could go over easily. "He came her via the inter-dimensional ship, Setsuna, he needs to destroy this place. You sent me yourself to make sure it's done."
"No way," Sailor Pluto answered becoming more and more defensive.
Usagi got desperate, she had no interest in hurting her longtime friend. "Setsuna, please . . ."
Pluto then started charging an attack, but suddenly Gohan shot forward grabbed the staff and pulled it away from her before either Pluto or Usagi could even blink their eyes. The two Soldiers looked shocked, even Usagi, who had heard all the stories, could barely believe her eyes. She had hardly seen Gohan move, a flicker that was it. But Pluto was disarmed, and Gohan held the staff horizontally in front of him. "Sorry," he apologized, and he grabbed the staff with both hands, and started pushing pressure on it. His ki flame erupted, and slowly but surely the staff of time bent upward. Pluto looked on in fear as the boy bent it further and further, until cracks could be heard, and then with a snap the staff broke and slammed together. Sparkles of energy were released from the broken end. Then Gohan started the process over again until the staff broke a second time, now in four parts. Finished he burst into the air, charged his hands with energy, enveloping the broken staff, and he yelled, "KAMEHAMEHA!!" The staff was sent downward, hurtling at the edge of the massive beam of energy, and it crashed against the building of the Gates of Time. Not even the ancient magical building could withstand enough power to obliterate a planet, and it was vaporized instantly. The beam cut down into the core of the asteroid and exploded outward with a heavy roar. The explosion that followed tore the ground itself apart sending it flying though the air. Usagi and Pluto looked shocked at the sight of the gates disintegrating, and the massive shockwave heading their way. A shimmer of light surrounded them just in time, as Gohan landed next to them. The shockwave of energy that was reverberating throughout the entire asteroid bounced of the shield, and continued onward. "Get out us out of here, Usagi! The whole place is going to blow," Gohan said with urgency, as the rock was starting to groan and pieces were breaking open.
"Right," the pink-haired girl said, and grabbed both of her friends' arms. "Sailor Teleport," she called out, and the group of three disappeared from the asteroid, which was destroyed a moment later.
*****
The both of them were back in Gohan's apartment after putting Pluto somewhere safe on the ground. The fiery embers of the destroyed asteroid wouldn't become visible until after nightfall, but they were there. Gohan stood across from Usagi, and they looked at each other with said eyes. "I have to go," she said weakly, not really wanting to, afraid of what she would find on the other side, and not wanting to leave this kindred spirit.
"You could stay," Gohan tried. He didn't know exactly what he felt, but he knew it was more than lust, more than attraction, as powerful as love perhaps, not quite it, but it could become that. She was so much like him, their histories so much the same, it was almost scary. "Help change the future."
She shook her head, "I can't, they won't learn."
"How about just living on your own? Perhaps even come back with me, to my dimension?" he asked hopefully.
"I belong here," she replied looking into his eyes. "I'm going back, and either I succeeded . . . or I will make my last stand there." The two stood there, gazing into each other's eyes, finally Usagi turned around and started going for the exit.
Suddenly Gohan reached out, grabbed her gently by her left upper arm, and pulled her to him, and against him. A little shocked Usagi looked up into his eyes, shivers running down her body as she felt his arms around her. "How long do you still have, before you can't go back?" he asked huskily not really knowing why, his eyes searching hers.
Feeling weak in her knees, Usagi checked the watch that Sailor Pluto had given her. Then she looked back up to him, and answered, whispering, "Another two and a half hours."
"Don't go yet then," he pleaded, and then he dipped down and kissed her on the lips. Fire burned through Usagi's veins, this was so wrong, she was far too young, wasn't she? "This is our only chance, your only chance, you'll leave possibly to your death." Usagi swallowed, he was right, she didn't want to die, but if she was going to . . . she nodded weakly. Gohan dipped down, and kissed her again, more intensely this time, and they gently started maneuvering to his bedroom. Soon tongues were involved, and the two started fondling each other feverishly, experimenting. Soon the two settled down on the bed, pulling off each other's clothes, both suddenly hungry for each other. When her small, starting breasts appeared he fondled them with urgency, she did the same to his chest and arm muscles. Soon she was lying on her back, her legs lightly spread, and he moved over her. Kissing her deeply, and kneading one breast with his right hand, he penetrated her deeply, eliciting a moan and then a soft shriek as tore through her hymen.
*****
Gohan climaxed deep inside her, and they collapsed forward on the bed. He on top of her back, holding her breasts, sending pulses of ki into them. With a small shriek she orgasmed as well, and she moaned, "Mmh, that was incredible, all three times."
"I know," he answered breathlessly, amazed that they had actually done it, if his mother knew. No! She would never know he vowed. The two of them, had found in this cocoon of familiarity, and possibly impending death something not many people would understand, and it would stay between them. He knew he didn't even need to ask her that, this was something private, something only they would share together.
The two stayed in bed together, shifting positions to find themselves in a spoon position. After several minutes of contently lying together, Usagi checked her watch, and she said sadly, "I really have to go."
"Ok," Gohan said, and kissed her neck, and played with her amazingly pink hair. Slowly, very slowly the two got up, and started putting their clothes on.
Half an hour later they found themselves in front of the time portal, which started shimmering the moment Usagi came close to it. "You can still change your mind," Gohan whispered.
"I have to go," she answered him once again. He took her into his arms, and kissed her deeply one last time, gently cupping her ass. She started to heat up again, and broke the embrace. "Goodbye, Gohan," she said softly.
"Goodbye, Usagi, my Little Bunny," Gohan said, fighting back tears. One tear slid over her cheek, and smiled deeply at her nick name, and then dove into the swirling energy vortex. A moment later the light show was gone, and Gohan sighed deeply.
He stayed there, looking down at the floor sadly, and suddenly got an idea. "You may be able to change the past, Little Bunny, but I can change the future, it's my future to write," he suddenly said with a grim, confident smile. "I'll give you a world you can live in, not a world to die in." He nodded, after all, all this was because of his arrival, he had already irrevocably altered this dimension's time and history, might as well arm it as best as he could in the short time still left to him, to the things coming.
He turned around, and then ran. He found a phone booth, quickly went in and dialed Umino's number, remembering his friend had a thing for being heroic not to mention an incredible aim. "Hey, Umino, it's Gohan," he greeted, and listened to Umino's happy reply. "Do you know the Hikawa Shinto Shrine? All right them, meet me there, see you soon." Then Gohan hung up, and raced toward the Shrine.
