Crossover to Save Time and Space:
The search for the gems
By Tonz82
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, Magic Knights Rayearth, Ronin Warriors, or Dragon Ball. Each are owned by respective companies. Do not sue me because you won't get anything anyway. I mean that literally in every sense. I'm broke okay
Italic wording or [ ] = Denotes characters' thoughts
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Chapter Twenty Nine
Hotaru tried calling Vegeta's name once more.
'Oh, forget it. He probably wouldn't have come if even he had heard me,' she thought.
An upset look covered her face. She was stranded in another dimension in the middle of a desolate desert. As she looked around she couldn't help, but notice that the land looked barren and scorched as if a battle had taken place there. The blackened sky streaking with lightning drew back her attention though. Seeing how there was no way she was going to stay here, she decided that she had no choice but to walk.
'If I'm here then maybe some of the other scouts are too,' she thought.
She let out a sigh and began journeying in the same direction that she had seen Vegeta fly toward.
"Well, that was real gentlemen like," said a voice behind her.
Hotaru jumped and turned around. A teenage boy with wild blonde hair stood staring back at her. A lock of hair moved with the wind, covering and uncovering one of his violet eyes. Hotaru stared at his lightweight white and green armor. She immediately knew who he was.
"He's right you know," the boy replied. "There's a building power somewhere that way."
He stared off in the same direction with a serious face.
"I'm not sure where we are, but we're not gonna figure it out standing around here. We should get going if we're going to catch up," he told her.
"You mean you're not going to leave me," Hotaru asked in her tiny voice.
"I'd be a real jerk if I did that wouldn't I," he said coming closer.
Hotaru smiled in relief, but then got an upset look. When Kala had shown her and the rest of the 'chosen' warriors those scenes of Elo and told them of their destinies as Champions of Fate, she immediately understood why she had been returned to her original age. The age that she had been before the battle with Pharaoh 90. Somehow her body instinctively reacted knowing that she was needed in this new fight and accelerated in growth. But at the moment she didn't know what the point of any that would be if she couldn't become Sailor Saturn.
"I can't find my transformation wand," Hotaru said in a dispirited voice. "It's the source of my powers. I don't think I'll be of much use to anybody in my current state."
A silence hung in the air for a few moments, but then the boy spoke.
"Well, I'm not sure how, but you'll figure out how to call forth your powers eventually," the boy answered. "Besides to be perfectly honest I'm sure how to call forth the Chronos power myself."
She smiled slightly and then nodded. He was only three or four years older than she was, but he spoke with a lot of maturity.
(AN: Oh, Hotaru is twelve years old in this fic. The same age as Gohan.)
"I know your name and all, but we haven't been formally introduced," she said. "I'm Hotaru."
"Call me, Sage," the boy answered.
He reached out for her hand.
"Let's go. Maybe we'll see some of our friends on the way," Sage told her.
"Can you fly, too," she asked him.
Sage looked upward at the sky and made a lopsided smile.
'Yeah, right. I wish,' was the expression his face seemed to say.
"Well, no," he answered.
Then turned around and then stooped down.
"Hop on," he told her.
"You don't have to carry me if we're going to walk," she said staring at him. "I'm capable of doing that."
"I have no doubts that you can. Just trust me okay. Give me a chance."
Sage gave Hotaru a coaxing smile that made her blush lightly. She let out a sigh and then climbed on to his back.
"I may not be able to fly," Sage replied, "but I can run pretty fast. Hold on!"
And with that last comment he took off with a quick start.
As they traveled along the empty desert, Hotaru had to squint her eyes from the hard blowing winds hitting her face. The landscape moved by so quickly that it was difficult to make out any passing objects. She couldn't believe the incredible speed at which Sage was moving at, especially with having to carry her as an extra load. She remembered seeing Amara move at a similar pace during senshi battles and always wondered what it would feel like to be able to move so fast. She didn't have to wonder about that anymore.
"This desert really stretches on quite a bit," Sage said yelling back toward her.
"How are you doing back there? You okay?" he asked when she didn't respond.
"Hmm hmm," she said nodding her head and then tightened her arms around his neck.
"All right," he shouted. "Time to pick up the pace then."
"Pick up the pace?" Hotaru said opening her eyes forgetting about the wind lash.
Sage just let out a laugh and quickened his step.
Her eyes then tilted skyward at the stirring clouds, observing their movement. She turned around to get a better view watching closely as they moved.
"What's up?" Sage asked.
"The clouds...they're moving in the same direction as us. Like they're all gathering in one spot," she said speaking into his ear.
Sage then looked around just as Hotaru had done.
"You know I think you're right."
"But why?" Hotaru asked.
"They must have something to do with the building power increasing in that direction," Sage answered.
"Sage look!" Hotaru said now pointing to the sky.
The ronin warrior looked up coming to a halt. A glowing sphere of light was breaking through the sea of clouds, causing them to part. Slowly the sphere began to descend. Hotaru slid off his back and then joined him at his side.
"What is it?" she asked.
They watched as the ball continued to drift slowly to the ground like a lone snowflake. Upon touching the earth the light exploded and then died completely.
"Let's go check it out," Sage told her.
The two ran over the flat, dry terrain and toward the glowing orb's landing site. Hotaru came to a halt first. One of her rare and few between smiles lit her face.
"Lita!" she said now running to her friend and fellow scout.
The chestnut brunette looked up dazed from the ground she was sitting on.
"Hotaru?" she said now rubbing her neck.
Hotaru dropped down to her knees staring into Lita's face.
"Are you okay?" she asked in a gentle, concerned voice.
"Oh, yeah," Lita said giving her a wry smile. "Just had a heck of a bumpy ride that's all."
"Your not the only one," said another slightly groaning voice.
The two sailor scouts turned around to see a young man with shoulder length lavender colored hair (AN: I think Trunks looks so sexy with his hair like this *shivers and then laughs*). He was sitting on the ground just like Lita and had the same reeling look. He opened his closed eyes to see Sage reaching out with an extended hand. He took it and pulled himself up to his feet. Then walking over to the two girls Trunks stretched out his hands giving them the same courtesy.
"Thank you," Hotaru replied.
"Yeah, thanks a lot. That was really thoughtful," Lita said with the same dazed look on her face again, but this time because of a different reason. It had only taken her a second to realize that this was the same guy who had rescued her when the platforms in the sacred realm had begun to collapse.
Hotaru lifted one eyebrow as she stared at the starry eyed look on Lita's face. Her eyes lowered into slits and she let out a breath of air. She had forgotten how the inner the scouts could get like this.
"What did you say your name was again," Lita asked leaning forward with a beaming smile.
"Uh...I..Tru-Trunks," he said taking a stumbling step backward. The teenage girl's face was only centimeters away from his.
"Oh, cool name! That's so cute! I'm Lita," she said jumping back and pulling two clasped hands by the side of her face.
Then she pointed to the younger girl beside her who was giving her a tiresome look, but Lita didn't seem to notice though.
"And this is Hotaru."
"I'm Sage," said the blonde boy standing behind him.
Trunks gave him an acknowledging nod. Lita smiled at him, but then her look returned to Trunks.
(AN: Sure, Sage is a cutie, too, but in case you haven't noticed the sailor senshi have this tendency to develop crushes on the guys that save their lives. You know the whole girlish fantasy of a knight in shining armor. Anyway didn't want to break the tradition)
"Well, now that we're all acquainted, what are you guys doing here?" Trunks asked looking at the three.
"Wait, so this world is yours?" Hotaru asked.
"Well, more or less," Trunks answered looking around. He recognized this as the same barren area that he and the rest of the z-fighters had been taken from.
"Unfortunately, we can't really tell you how we got here, since we don't even know ourselves," Sage replied, "But I think its obvious that Kala got our destination wires crossed somehow."
"Or maybe it's just fate! Yes it has to be! Anything is possible with fate! I mean two perfect strangers from completely different worlds can be destined to meet and fall in love!" Lita said jumping forward and speaking dreamily (we now see her standing in front of a background of stars matching the ones clouding her eyes).
"Don't you think so?" she said taking a quick step beside Trunks (who had now developed a sweat drop). Her face was staring up him at with the same dazzling smile and starry eyes. He just looked back at her uncomfortably.
Sage on the other hand had just stared unblinkingly at the scene he had just witnessed [Where the heck did that backdrop come from? And where in the world did it go? It just disappeared!].
Hotaru's eyes developed into slits again (*sweat drop*), but she stepped forward to begin filling Lita and Trunks in on everything that had happened since arriving herself.
Lita's eyes narrowed in anger as she listened.
"Are you kidding me? And that jerk just left you here?" she shouted.
"Just wait until I get my hands on this thoughtless moron," she said clenching her trembling fists.
Trunks on the other hand was happy to hear that his father was there.
"I can't stand guys like that!" Lita said continuing her angry rant.
"Hey, hey calm down," Trunks replied. "Unfortunately, I have to admit that that... definitely sounds like something my father would do."
"He's your dad!" Lita exclaimed.
"Umm, yeah," Trunks said putting his hand on the back of his head.
Lita's face changed from anger and into sympathy.
"You poor, poor thing," she said shaking her head.
"My dad's is kind of a hard man to understand. Just don't be so quick to judge. I mean he did save Hotaru's life and maybe what he did was all for the best in the long run. I mean she did say that she couldn't find her transformation wand."
"Well, its more like misplaced at the moment," Hotaru corrected. "I just haven't figured out how to call it forth yet."
Lita made an unpleasant face as she thought about what Trunks had said. To be honest she couldn't find her transformation wand at the moment either, but she wasn't about to say that to Trunks for fear that he might start considering to leave Hotaru and herself behind, too (AN: which of course he wouldn't).
"Well, we'll see," she said still somewhat unconvinced [Leaving Hotaru in the exact same spot that had put her in danger in first place, kind of cancels out the rescue in my book]. "I'm not gonna make any promises about what I won't do when we do see him."
Trunks stared in shock at Lita from her statement [She's gotta be kidding!].
"You still don't get what I'm trying to say. You can't actually approach my dad that way. He's kind of undergoing this path to becoming a better person, [Probably dragging his feet every step of the way, too] so if you could just over look this minor little misunderstanding maybe-," Trunks said trying to explain.
"Look, if you don't mind could we not talk about your dad anymore," Lita said interrupting. She had pretty much made up her mind on how she was going to handle the situation. Then she looked over at Sage.
"You said that there was some kind of building power over in the direction that these clouds are moving toward?" she asked.
Sage nodded.
"Then let's go!" Lita said running forward with a quick start.
Sage stooped down to let Hotaru climb on to his back again. He looked up ahead at Lita and than back at Trunks who was staring after her.
"You got to admire a take charge kind of woman," he grinned. "But I think I'll go do it more up close." Then he turned to go catch up with Lita.
(AN: Hmm! If you can think back to chapters 3 and 4, Sage acts kind of shy and aloof around girls. At least this is what he lets his friends think. Could this just be part of his game? )
Trunks shook his head with a slight smile, but ran forward. He caught up with her quickly enough, though. She looked at him in surprise. It was like he had just suddenly appeared.
"Is this you at your fastest?" Trunks said asking casually.
Lita stared at him, but then gave him a sly smile assuming this was his way of trying to challenge her to a race.
"Why do you ask?"she questioned still running hard.
"Its just I think we'd get to where we're going much faster if we flew," he said.
"Flew?" she said now puzzled. The cunning smirk vanished from her face.
"Hey, Sage, you can run at a faster pace then this right?" Trunks asked looking to his side at the ronin who had appeared at his side a second or two later after him.
Trunks knew the answer to this of course since he could sense his ki level. He could tell that the guy could push it harder if he needed to.
"Yeah, no problem," the ronin replied back.
Trunks turned back to Lita.
"Okay, so listen. Sage has Hotaru, so how 'bout if me and you fly?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked still staring at him confused.
Trunks grabbed her forearm to slow her down.
"Here wrap your arms my neck," he said taking her hand.
Lita's face blushed, but she did as he told her. Trunks didn't notice this since she was too embarrassed to actually look him in the eyes now. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red when she felt him wrap one of his arms around her waist. Slowly they levitated a few feet in the air. She watched as white light surrounded the two of them. Then Trunks charged up and they both took off shooting through the sky.
Sage watched as the two passed by Hotaru and him overhead.
"Man, I really got to get these z guys to show me how to do that," he said sighing. Then he increased his pace so not to lose sight of them.
