Chapter 15: Friendly Exchanges
It had been a handful of days since Kakarotto's son had blundered his way to victory in the basement of the human casino complex, which Vegeta had been somewhat impressed by - when the last reports had been returned to the Crystal Tokyo field commanders, over two hundred enemy units had been terminated. Even more, after Sailor Uranus and her hired hands had exterminated the rabble, the lesser human grunts had managed to loot an extensive horde of supplies from the command post. While some of the plunder was too alien for the humans to make use of, the largest prizes had been scores of medical supplies – bandages, painkillers, sterilizers, and the like – that their medics had been sorely lacking. Several undamaged sets of body armor had also been recovered from some of the corpses for study.
Given different circumstances, Vegeta more than likely wouldn't have heard this news from the commanders themselves - his lack of participation in the defenses as well as his clear disregard for the humans had made their allies shifty and secretive in his presence - but the juicy prospect of only a small group of resistance soldiers valiantly standing their ground against a swarm of marauding enemies had been too scintillating for the higher-ups to keep behind closed doors. Within hours, the news had been buzzing through the ranks and the refugee camps, causing a noticeable stir. When Vegeta had returned to the palace in the early hours of the following morning, there was still a large group of civilians and soldiers mingling in the palace gardens, drunk on cheap spirits and celebrating the victory, a faint glimmer of hope for their dying race.
Despite the short-sightedness of the humans - considering how much of Crystal Tokyo still remained in enemy hands, two hundred troops were practically fodder - Vegeta couldn't fault the royalty for generating such positive momentum among the ragged survivors. Weak as Endymion was physically, he possessed the shrewdness necessary for a ruler.
Still, the resurgence posed no immediate interest to him. Amazingly, no communications equipment had survived the battle, nor had there been anything remaining to indicate where exactly the main operation of the alien army was located.
That news had been disappointing. Not that Vegeta was looking to forward the human offensive - if they could spend enough time drowning themselves in the fruits of a minor victory, they could definitely see to capitalizing on the enemy on their own time. The Saiyan prince had simply deduced that wherever the main staging area of the alien army was, Damos would surely be there as well, pulling all the strings. Given Vegeta's experiences serving under Frieza and his lieutenants, he was quite familiar with battle tactics of a supreme commander - since Damos had not personally accompanied his three associates to the doorstep of the Crystal Tokyo Palace to clinch the victory, something Frieza had been quite fond of doing during his personal conquests, it was very likely that he was nowhere near the heart of the fighting. He was either holed up in a fortress on the planet surface, or perhaps he was even watching the war unfold from the comfort of a starship far out of Earth's orbit, as they'd earlier hypothesized.
Such had been the question he'd hoped to answer over the past days; while Kakarotto's son and the others were busy endearing themselves to the future humans – they'd actually offered to teach the basics of ki warfare to the Crystal Tokyo army, something that Vegeta considered an aberrant waste of time – he'd been conducting a private little war of his own within the streets of the city, ducking and weaving past larger enemy contingents and pouncing like a wolverine on unlucky stragglers. He'd attempted to interrogate a few of the smaller grunts, young ones who'd lacked the killer instinct that came with battle experience and thus might be more prone to breaking against the demands of a fiercer opponent. Much to his frustration, his results had been less than satisfying – most had refused or had been too afraid to betray the location of their master's hiding place, and the ones who'd collapsed under the pressure had provided nothing but false leads, sending Vegeta running all over town.
Today, however, he had a new idea, one he'd previously neglected.
He kicked aside a corpse that once resembled a gun-wielding grunt. Mangled as he was, he was most intact out of the entire dozen that Vegeta had ambushed only minutes ago. As with the rest of their kind, they'd been practically defenseless against his ambushes as long as he kept his battle power masked from their scouters. To think that the Saiyan prince had once shared that weakness of overly relying on technology revolted him somewhat. Even more revolting was that he'd picked up the tricks of repressing his energy and using his mind to sense for others from his 'associates.'
Bending down and brushing away the blistering smoke rising from the soldier's body, Vegeta removed from his bloodied head the prize he'd coveted - even after a thousand years, the scouter technology had not changed.
He strapped the tiny instrument onto his ear, the fit somewhat tight. The pink eyepiece was cracked slightly from the grunt's rough landing, but brilliant gold characters were still displayed on its surface.
Let's see if these work the way I remember...
He clicked the large tab on the scouter's side a few times, causing the screen to cycle past various options - short and long distance radio mode, environmental readings, a diagnostics menu...
Ah, here!
Vegeta smirked as a small line of text reading 'Access Primary Info-Net' flashed onto the viewscreen. Just as with Frieza's armies, the scouters were still patched through to some type of main information network that provided all the essentials to a soldier on the move - troop movements, priority messages, orders from field commanders...and, in particular interest to Vegeta, command structure. He was somewhat surprised that Damos had created such a similar provider system for his troops as Frieza had, but the efficiency and overall simplicity of the technology was nearly absolute - it warranted no improvements or changes.
As a command prompt materialized beneath the first set of text, Vegeta spoke for the scouter's voice recognition circuitry to hear.
"Request access to Primary Info-Net."
The device didn't respond at first, and Vegeta suddenly felt his confidence dwindling as a separate message appeared.
"Scanning...bio-signature??" Apparently, there had been room for improvement, after all. Before the sense of surprise could even diminish, Vegeta cried out as he felt his ear beginning to burn and ache, some circuitry within the scouter prodding his ear canal. Twisting about in discomfort, Vegeta still managed to catch another message appearing on the scouter's screen - unknown bio-signature; request to Primary Info-Net denied.
Screaming from the prodding pain in his ear and the slamming of that particular doorway into Damos's military mind, Vegeta reached one tight hand up and crushed the frail device between his fingers. The screen crumbled into tiny specks of shiny dust, and Vegeta forcibly removed the intruding earpiece from his head, smashing the ruined circuits onto the ground in a rage.
Still, even as Vegeta felt his own warm fluids dribbling from his throbbing ear, he did have to admit a grudging respect for the security measure - it appeared that he would have to enlist in Damos's army in order to gain the greater privileges of the scouter. Whatever bio-signature the scouter had dissected him for was probably apparent in each member of the warlord's army, and considering the prudence of even devising such a system, Vegeta imagined that it contained a significant amount of fail-safes to spoil any chance of getting around it...
A quick prick to his senses snapped him out of his musings. It appeared that his experiment wasn't entirely secretive after all - a small collection of power levels mirroring those of the soldiers he'd just dismantled was quickly swooping down on him from the northeast.
Not wanting to be taken off-guard, Vegeta hurried across the boulevard and dove behind a number of burnt and crumpled human ground transport vehicles that had been piled up in an unstable stack. He let out a calming breath, attempting to push down his power level below the sensor tuning of their scouters. As he peered out from behind the twisted, gnarled chunks of metal, he was somewhat disappointed - it was only another squad of grunts, these of Damos's aerial brigades. Vegeta had since been able to make the distinctions between the different specialized divisions of the opposing army - ground troopers wore predominantly white body armor, the marksmen donned stockier violet uniforms along with domed helmets to match their arm blasters, and the air squads dressed in sleeker, more aerodynamic models in a combination of blue and a mint-tinted green. Strangely, these particular grunts were bearing a neon insignia on their chestplates that Vegeta was unfamiliar with at that particular moment; as none of Damos's other forces bore the mark or anything like it, he gathered that they were part of a more specialized regiment.
The largest of them was glaring around at the crippled messes that remained from the previous squad, his drooping cheeks flaring as he cursed loudly.
"We need to get these bastards, now!!" He fumed as Vegeta took a quick read of their power levels, and while they were a bit sturdier than most of the common rabble he'd seen so far, the Saiyan prince was still nearly laughing at the pitiful energies. He could probably vaporize them all without ever being detected - despite the ease of disposing of such fodder, it was an exercise that never lost its appeal to him. Nonetheless, it might have been entertaining to watch the bumbling fools in action. The stand-out of the group reminded Vegeta of Frieza's corpulent bodyguard Dodoria, just as he should've – aside from the brown skin and glossy green eyes, this grunt and Dodoria were of the same race, right down to the raspy voice. "Treyos, give me an assessment!!"
One of the nearby soldiers had taken a less explosive reaction to the slaughter, surveying the strewn bodies and calmly shaking his head as he read some readouts on his scouter.
"The humans haven't shown such aggressiveness in prior encounters - this is the handiwork of those new surprise warriors, or maybe even the Sailor Soldiers at the very most."
The little schoolchildren? Such a thought amused Vegeta; aside from the vicious Sailor Uranus, he couldn't imagine any of the high-and-mighty of Crystal Tokyo even soiling their gloves with enemy blood. He leaned in slightly, ducking his head low and listening further.
"Do you suppose they could be moving against the Siege Wall?" The gaunt analyst speculated. "It doesn't appear that a large attack group did this - they could've sent a few of their new hands in as a scouting measure for a possible assault."
The commander nearly laughed in the face of his subordinate as Vegeta made a mental note of the name.
Siege Wall, eh? It was a promising title, one that had not yet been mentioned by the Crystal Tokyo upper brass. And from the sense of urgency that had crept into the calm soldier's voice, Vegeta imagined that it held some special significance for Damos's army...perhaps important enough for the warlord to attend to himself.
After listening for a few more minutes to the overweight grunt ridiculing his comrade for even suggesting the possibility of a human offensive after such a one-sided war, Vegeta finally heard the statement he'd begun hoping for - the squad was returning to this alleged Siege Wall to file a report about the incident; evidently, the grunts Vegeta had disposed of had belonged to one of the garrisons stationed there.
Lining up in a tight formation, the aerial squad soared upward at a somewhat remarkable speed off to the north. Counting down from ten to give him enough breathing room and cover from their scouters, Vegeta lifted off into the pre-dawn air and followed in the shadows. They'd been quicker than the prince had given them credit for - by the time he'd reached a respectable speed, they were already closing on the horizon, the descending fog obstructing his view.
He reached out his senses, attempting to track the soldiers through the mess of ki interference that was still plaguing the atmosphere of the entire city. As he finally settled on their location, he began his clandestine pursuit.
"Rise and shine!" ChibiUsa's tranquil dream was abruptly cut off by the sound of an overly cheery voice practically in her ear. She grumbled lowly as she raised her head from her large feather pillow; she squinted her eyes as she noticed that the bright overhead chandelier had been turned on, flooding the entire bedchamber with an obnoxious amount of light. Glancing at the side of her bed, she rolled her eyes as she gazed straight into the eager face of Son Gohan, fully dressed and filled with energy.
Doesn't he ever knock?
Tempting as he was, the all-encompassing silkiness of her sheets was much more appealing at the moment; a quick look at the crystal clock hung on the far wall added to her complacency - four in the morning. Anybody who could've willfully possessed energy at this hour was superhuman in her book.
Burying her head in her pillows did little to solve the problem - Gohan simply resorted to tapping her on the shoulder, lightly at first, but as time ticked by, his poking and shaking became more incessant, as if a puppy was jumping on her.
"Come on, ChibiUsa, it's time to train! You promised!" Gohan prodded her, his voice ringing in her ear.
Finally, she relented, sitting up with a tired moan. She brushed some of her thick pink hair out of her drooping eyes, her shoulders sagging.
"Gohaaaaaan...." She whined as Gohan continued to pull her out of her round bed. "People fish when the sun comes up, people make food when the sun comes up, but I've never heard anything that says warriors have to train when the sun comes up! I can get just as much out of training at ten or eleven o' clock in the morning as I could this early!"
"Ten or eleven?" Gohan seemed genuinely surprised as the princess reluctantly tore herself away from the sanctity of her sheets. "That's practically half of the day right there! Besides, it's more invigorating to be up with the sun; it gives you energy!"
Speak for yourself...
This had been the fourth day straight he'd intruded ChibiUsa's bedchamber to drag her off to the training she'd so hastily agreed to. Even as she threw on her robe and stumbled across the floor toward her nightstand where she kept her transformation compact, she felt her legs stiffening, her muscles still freshly sore from the intense regiment Gohan had put them through for the past three days. Laps around the palace - several on foot, several more in the air - honing basic attack techniques, strength training, more laps, practice using and defending against ki attacks, sparring, cool-down laps...she was a princess, not a gymnast!
ChibiUsa finally reached the shimmering crystal locket, its soft glow warm against her hands as she let out a substantial yawn. Normally, she'd considered it more of a fashion accessory than anything else, wearing it around as nothing more than a common pendant. She'd nearly forgotten of its true potential until this war had begun. The power of the Silver Crystal within its jeweled casing was connected to her more than anybody, and despite her fatigue, it always seemed to lend her an extra boost of energy when it was in her possession. As her small fingers tightened around the locket, her fatigue began to slip away, the soreness of her tendons dissipating. It was relief, however slim the feeling was.
She turned back toward Gohan, yawning one more time.
"Same as before?" She inquired as the young Saiyan folded his arms. "Twenty trips around the palace?"
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of thirty - we were pretty quick yesterday," Gohan's words caused ChibiUsa's heart to sink and her legs to tremble. She didn't think even Captain Benson's prescribed training regiments for the Special Forces were this rigorous. Gohan seemed to sympathize with her discomfort. "Hey, you're making progress! If we keep this up, you'll both be wrecking machines in no time!"
"Right...wrecking machines..." If this kept up, ChibiUsa was simply going to be wrecked.
"Look on the bright side," Gohan moved closer to the door, patting the weary princess on her shoulder as he opened the door. "This is nothing compared to what Piccolo would put me through when he first trained me."
The very idea frightened ChibiUsa - Piccolo was intimidating enough as an ally, but as a teacher, as a person of authority...? It was a wonder that Gohan could be as confident and optimistic as he was - it also stirred some concern for Michiru, who was currently alone in the warrior's company.
"What did he do?" The princess wondered.
"Same thing pretty much," Gohan informed her. "Except he didn't very much believe in breaks...if I wasn't eating or sleeping, we were sparring together...he was tough, but it worked out for the best in the end."
"Wow..." Poor Michiru - she suddenly felt glad that she hadn't gone back to get the Dragonballs with him.
The two proceeded out into the corridor, waving a quick hello to the two vigilant sentries that kept watch over the princess's bedchamber. As they stepped down the glass hallway, ChibiUsa felt her spirits lifting as she saw Hotaru waiting patiently ahead. While she looked equally as drowsy as the princess - her narrowed puffy eyes indicated that Gohan had given her a similar wake-up call - ChibiUsa was pleased that she'd kept her end of the agreement and was giving Gohan a chance to make good on his word.
"Well then, Gohan," Hotaru blinked away her fatigue as she met eyes with their trainer. "What's the agenda for today?"
"Taking it up a notch," Gohan replied with anticipation. "I say thirty warm-up laps around the perimeter before we get started, fifteen on the ground and fifteen in the air."
The announcement wasn't altogether thrilling for Hotaru - she'd never been much of a marathon athlete, and these last few days had been particularly taxing on her. Gohan had allowed a few rest periods during the first few days of training, but they'd decreased in length as the days went on - ChibiUsa decided not to count on any today, if he was going to push the envelope.
"And afterward?" She continued, attempting to appear level-headed and enthusiastic.
"I was thinking of a small experiment..." Gohan informed them as they proceeded toward the elevator that led back down into the main hub of the palace. "I want to start seeing how well your powers mix with the basic techniques we've been doing."
"Should be interesting..." Hotaru absently said.
The trio proceeded in silence toward the elevator, but as Gohan reached for the call button, ChibiUsa pulled his hand back.
"Gohan..." His skin felt soft, distracting her momentarily. you take the first car by yourself? I just want to talk to Hotaru about something..."
The elevator was quick to arrive, the glass doors separating and allowing them access with a friendly pinging noise resonating through the speakers.
"Well, I mean there's no need to keep secrets from me; if something's wrong, my lips are sealed," The boy offered. ChibiUsa threw a glance at her counterpart, who was still looking sullen and tense aside from her drowsiness; the princess had wanted to talk to her about this for some time.
She pasted a pseudo-embarrassed expression on her face, uneasily twisting around as she fake-stammered some words.
"It's just...you see...something, of a, uh...feminine nature," The explanation caused Gohan to flinch uncomfortably, his mind probably ringing back to his indecent incident with Hotaru during his first morning in the palace. Hotaru had been particularly chagrined by the encounter, but when it had reached the ever-receptive ears of the princess, she couldn't help but find Gohan's naiveté charming...cute to a degree. As the Saiyan's face reddened slightly, ChibiUsa turned her head as a smirk emerged on her face.
"Ah, well...take your time..." Gohan sauntered onto the elevator. "I'll be waiting, err, downstairs, whenever you are, uh, ready..."
He quickly closed the doors and sent the car on its way. Alone in the corridor, Hotaru flashed the princess a bewildered expression.
"Feminine nature?" She repeated incredulously. "All respect, your highness, but what are you getting at here?"
"Hotaru..." The princess started carefully, knowing full well that bringing this subject up risked a large argument. "...The fight in Le Fin."
Hotaru exhaled quickly, shaking her head in annoyance.
"What about it?"
"Don't you think you're being a little too hard on him? I was as much a part of his plan as you were...if it weren't for him--"
"Then you'd probably be dead," Hotaru retorted. "You saw what nearly happened--"
"He protected us!" ChibiUsa contested. "He wouldn't have let anything happen to us, you know that!"
"I..." Hotaru looked agitated, her mouth moving but no words exiting - as she swallowed with a bit of difficulty, ChibiUsa gathered that she didn't know what to say.
"He drove off the rest of those creeps when you'd lost your weapon," ChibiUsa staunchly reminded her. "He protected you then..."
"That was..." Hotaru shook it away, hitting the call button on the elevator. "That was his decision - I could've gotten myself out of that mess without his help. All respect, ChibiUsa, but I think you're relying a bit too much on his abilities to get us through things."
The verbal jab struck deep, and ChibiUsa was compelled to fire back.
"What are you insinuating, that I'm too weak to fight??"
"You may be our princess and heiress to this kingdom," Hotaru offered calmly. "But you've allowed your emotions to cloud your judgment - how often has your life been in danger since you began courting him?"
"You're one to talk..." She snorted indignantly as the elevator slid to a stop at the floor entrance. "...I caught a glimpse of your face while he was carrying you to the ambush site. You didn't seem to mind him holding onto you too much. I can't imagine what the trip toward Le Fin was like..."
"That has nothing to do with anything!" Hotaru responded almost too quickly, almost too vehemently to the accusation. ChibiUsa narrowed her eyes, her suspicions being confirmed as Hotaru's face began to redden. She seemed to realize her outburst as well, clearing her throat calmly. "My point is, strong and eager as he is to fight, it's just like Haruka-papa says: he's too dangerous to simply let loose at will... as a Sailor Soldier and your protector, I need to keep an eye on him while he's in your presence. I nearly failed my mission once - I won't take that chance again."
"Even before my friend?" ChibiUsa frowned sullenly. "Hotaru..."
"I'm sorry..." Hotaru breathed as she stepped onto the elevator. "For what it's worth, I protect not only as my princess, but as my friend. If Piccolo and Michiru-mama fail and something happens to Haruka-papa, you'd be the only one I'd have left."
Despite the proverbial brick wall Hotaru had erected, ChibiUsa slowly nodded, joining her in the elevator.
"I understand..." She hit the holographic keypad, sending the crystalline car down toward the palace hub. "But please don't hate Gohan...I can feel that he's doing his best for us. I believe in that promise of his."
"I don't...hate him, no...It's just that my duty to you and Haruka-papa come first."
As the two rode down, passing the offices of the commandants and the armory en route to the hub, ChibiUsa leaned over toward her friend with a mischievous glance. The argument had been brief, but it had pointed out a candid fact for her.
"How old do you think he is?" She wondered out loud. "I never did get a chance to ask his age."
"About our age, I'm pretty sure," Hotaru nonchalantly replied. "Though he acts well beyond his years...and I'm never quite seen a physique such as his on any--"
"Ah-ha!!" ChibiUsa pointed an almost accusing finger at Hotaru, surprising her. "So you were checking him out, I knew it!"
Hotaru uneasily cleared her throat again.
"It's simply an observation," She stammered. "Anybody with a good set of eyes could point out how built he is for his age."
"Uh-huh..." ChibiUsa's almost malicious grin didn't falter despite the lame explanation. She lowered her finger, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "...I ask you about the builds of the male guardsmen all the time, and you never seem to have the time of day to take a glance at them...it's always the color of their hair or something dumb like that."
"I'm not interested," Hotaru protested, her irritation returning. "I'm a soldier first, not--"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." ChibiUsa trailed off, enjoying the sight of Hotaru squirming about uncomfortably. She'd never been confident when it came to the opposite sex; it was one facet of her personality that ChibiUsa found plain baffling. However, one of the rare secrets that ChibiUsa did know about Hotaru's interests - something that even the over-inquisitive Minako and Makoto didn't know - was that she was a sucker for an athletic build. Hearing her talk about Gohan in such a manner... "Well, I hope you're up for a little competition."
"Excuse me??" Hotaru asked nervously as the elevator slid to a gentle stop at the foot of the hub. Gohan was patiently waiting for them, doing a small bit of shadow-boxing by the elevator entrance to warm himself up. ChibiUsa passed her one last glance.
"We'll see who gets to be the teacher's pet after this is over with," She smirked toward her as the doors slid open. Gohan glanced over toward the pair, smiling warmly. "We're ready!"
"Alright..." Gohan turned his back, cracking his neck. "Do that...thing, that you do, and we'll be good to go."
ChibiUsa smirked in minor embarrassment at the nervous comment. The first morning of practice, she'd completely forgotten that she hadn't had the pleasure of morphing into her Sailor Soldier form in front of members of the opposite sex, disregarding her father, of course. The in-between state of the flashy metamorphosis - specifically, the momentary lack of clothing - had frozen Gohan in place for several moments that first day. Since then, she'd promised to be more careful, tempting as it was to tease him about it.
"Moon Crystal Power!"
"The Earth research materials you requested, sir," The voice of his personal servant made the general jump slightly - as with most of his personal internal strategy sessions, he'd been so enraptured in his thoughts and theories that he hadn't even heard the aide entering his chambers. Quickly clearing his throat, Damos nodded gratefully to the robed man and took a small data-chip from his outstretched hand. The servant spun around and exited the chamber without a further utterance.
Damos gazed into the transparent object thoughtfully. As was customary before every campaign, Damos had sent down a number of information gatherers, photographers, and other such spies to perform some background checks into Earth's history, specifically in technological and military evolution. Preliminary reports about the planet's checkered war history could've entertained Damos for hours, but now he'd requested the compilation had been meant to make good on his time travel theory regarding the human queen's new hires. Such theories were good to have, but facts were the supreme commander's best friends.
He slipped the chip into a tiny slit in the back of his scouter, effectively plugging it into the Primary Information Net and spilling its data onto the dark-colored screen. As Damos surveyed the initial readout, he breathed a bit heavily, running a hand through his thick black hair and blinking to keep his drooping eyes focused.
Sixteen thousand separate files...Earth's been a busy planet.
Considering the lesser war histories of many of the more ancient planets that Damos's army had conquered in the past, the humans of Earth had seemingly nothing better to do than battle with each other or against potential invaders over the past centuries. Perhaps that explained the unusual idealism of benevolence and tranquility from the captive Earth queen – after spending so long mired in the trenches, perhaps the human race had been looking to forge a new destiny in this Crystal Tokyo kingdom, an admirable effort. Bad timing, but admirable nonetheless.
Cross-checking the dates of the earliest material sent him back nearly two thousand five hundred years in Earth's timeline. If these warriors were pulled from the past eras of Earth, he hoped that they fell somewhere in that historical range.
"Initiate search program," He said. The scouter dutifully complied.
"Subject..." Damos mulled it over for a second. "...Saiyan."
The search program began running, text flashing across his scouter's screen at a rate too fast for even his sharp eyes. Damos huffed indignantly as the words he didn't want to see materialized at last - no matches found.
"Very well...subject...Namek."
After another sprint through the mass of text, the same result was returned. He cursed mildly; how could such phenomenal beings slip through the annals of Earth history, no matter how eccentric their timeline was? As he rested his mind on the conundrum, an alternative route occurred to him - even he had lost track of some of the various technical names denoted to all of the races serving in his army; could Earth historians have followed the same course?
"Subject..." Damos considered his options before running through another futile search. Simpler terms such as 'monkey' or 'green' certainly wouldn't do. Then Damos remembered from Infernia's photos that two of the warriors had shared a noteworthy similarity between them - lightweight orange gi with an identical insignia, perhaps of a particular army of their era...doubtful with Earth's track record of employing technology over superhuman attributes. But the report from the surviving commander of the massacre days earlier had indicated strong reliance on martial arts from all of the mystery warriors...
It was worth a go.
"Subject: martial arts schools."
Another lightning-fast search produced the exact opposite of his previous attempts: a list totaling in the early thousands. Damos cancelled the search before it was completed, deciding to expedite the process. He refined the search to include only school emblems, hoping for a match to the one that the two mercenaries were wearing.
The list was just as expansive as before, but it would at least save him the trouble of reading through the life stories of every grand master involved with every school. Sighing, he began to scroll down the list, checking the symbols as he went.
Despite the tedious process, Damos did find himself enjoying the mystery and chase of these new threats. It was a rarity in his profession, especially with how carefully he proceeded in all of his conquests, when such ugly little nuisances reared their heads out of the clear blue sky. As much as they'd slammed the door on a quick victory for his forces, Damos would enjoy hunting these shadows down and blotting them out. It would only add to his confidence after the capture of Earth was complete. The involvement of the strange fighters in the destruction of the command post just outside the humans' western garrisons only further condemned them – Damos had already boosted the bounties on their heads and despite their power, there were still only seven of them.
With as many reserves as his army still had, at the very least, Damos would still be able to drown the super-fighters in wave after wave of ferocious, profit-hungry mercenaries, including the members of his elite Horde if necessary.
It took nearly a half hour to pick his way through the list, but as his large eyes were beginning to droop again from boredom, he shot up in his seat - he'd finally hit pay dirt. While a few of the other symbols had been maybes, this one left no doubt in his mind.
"New search, subject: Kamesennin School of Martial Arts."
A single result was returned - while information within the file was sparse, all Damos was concerned with was the era in which the school was in operation. After frantically scouring the text for exact numbers, a grin of pure satisfaction appeared on his chiseled jaw and a triumphant laugh escaped his throat: the school had run for quite some time until the last grand master - listed in the file as Roshi among other aliases - passed away...over a thousand years ago. Unless the two mercenaries had an affinity for centuries-old traditions - and Damos was willing to bet that they didn't - they had been brought forward from that era somehow...and now things were beginning to fall into place: the dates also corresponded to the last days of the planet Vegeta, thus explaining the appearance of the Saiyan prince, and while the Namekians were fledglings at that point in history, they were a long way away from dying out.
So the clever queen decides to use time travel to bring in reinforcements...gutsy and unpredictable. Perhaps she's more than just a gold-hearted seraph after all...
Strangely, a generous portion of the file was focused on the school's involvement with a martial arts tournament, in which they held quite a few championships or at least high-ranking finishes. Following up on his recent string of good luck, he ran a new search program, wondering if perhaps there was a connection between those two Kamesennin fighters and the rest of their band.
"Subject: Tenkaichi Budokai."
Sure enough, more results came back, not as many as the prior searches, but a significant amount. Damos narrowed the search to include only entries related to the Kamesennin School of Martial Arts. He would see if good karma was still on his side...
He wasn't far into the first entry when his scouter began to beep again. He rolled his eyes with annoyance – whatever it was had better have been important.
"This is the general," He spoke flatly into the scouter's transmitter. "What is it?"
"General, this is Special Operations Com-One. Sorry to bother you, sir, but we've received a report from the ground forces that you might want to hear."
Damos shook his head as he swallowed back some frustration – this had been why he'd posted one of his trusted Horde members in command of the ground forces, so various little nuisances and oversights could be corrected without interfering with his matters within the fleet.
"Without sounding repugnant, Com-One, couldn't this message have come through to Bortyx at the Landing Zone?"
"The senior ground staff has been notified of this as well, sir, and they requested that you also be informed."
"Very well then, what is it?" Damos leaned back in his chair – if Bortyx had deemed this necessary, it couldn't have been a mere calculation error. "But make it quick."
"The Trisgammans, sir," The officer's words made Damos bolt back upright immediately. "All three of their scouter's bio-signatures have completely vanished off of our radars."
"Details," Damos demanded, his tone suddenly urgent.
"As per your request, they were transferred to surface patrol routes on the far eastern borders of the city, several dozen miles from the Siege Wall, section E-13. All of our logs indicate that their signals simply blinked out near the crimson anomaly recently discovered in the area."
"Have search parties been deployed to ascertain their status?" Damos snapped once again. Zebus and his two brethren had been part of a species that Damos had always kept on a short leash, mainly because it was his own army that had led the slaughter of the Trisgammans decades ago. The remaining three that now served him had been barely more grown than larvae when Damos had retrieved them off the surface before the insect race was completely wiped out. Like many other scant species that served in his army, he'd taken them under his wing and enhanced them with his gene therapy, raising them as full-fledged warriors, the last of their kind with the benefits of permanent longevity to serve as immortal memorials of their race so long as they weren't killed in battle. It wasn't a philanthropic gesture so much as the showcasing of a trophy for his conquest of the Trisgamman race; he'd carved the last of their kind into more perfect specimens of warriors than their backwoods, primordial culture ever could've produced – with proper training, their unique skills had proven to be among the most useful of all the conquered species under his banner.
However, their education and upbringing under his rule hadn't subverted them in the way it had for other acquisitions. Trisgammans inherently distrusted other races – being unofficially labeled as second-class muscle by the general population of his army as a result of their conquered status didn't help matters – and with the public knowledge of the general's hand in the destruction of their homeworld, Damos had become fairly certain that they would butcher him in his sleep if given the slightest chance...with the fiery temperament of Zebus especially, muddling with the army's conquest efforts wouldn't be far out of reach. With the recent setbacks in their current campaign, he couldn't help but feel nervous about possibly another variable in the equation.
"Yes, a team was dispatched to the anomaly site at once. When they arrived, they discovered the anomaly's research team and their assigned escorts slaughtered. There was no immediate indication that it had been the work of the Trisgammans, but a number of the team was definitely killed by ki-based attacks.
Dammit... That explanation opened a potential world of possibilities as to what happened to the insect soldiers. It would be easy to write them off as the insurgent murderers, but to do so would be inefficient, illogical, and impractical with the enemy side now possessing warriors with similar techniques and training that could've easily been the perpetrators. Still, the bugs were in the area...he wondered if the enigmatic anomaly had anything to do with their disappearance?
"Any suspicious activity from the crimson object?" He demanded.
"Not at present – the recovered data logs from the dead technicians didn't reveal anything of importance."
Damos didn't reply with a command at first, mulling over the best courses of action to take. It was unlikely that they had defected to the human side – if natural Trisgamman tendencies against other races wouldn't stop them, Damos wouldn't have imagined that the humans would've taken them in with open arms. No, if anything, they'd simply gone AWOL, but for what reason, Damos couldn't guess at.
"Transmit this to Bortyx: re-deploy search parties, armed heavily," Damos finally decreed. "Cover all known search perimeters to which they were assigned. Fan out at command's discretion. If you find them, bring them in alive if possible."
"Of course, general, Com-One out."
Damos killed the link; he was tempted to tear out the scouter's communication circuitry to ensure his privacy, but the inhibitions of his position forbade such recklessness. He wasn't incredibly worried about the misconduct – disobedience in the best case scenario or outright mutiny at the most extreme – of three of his soldiers, though as he settled back into reading up on his army's newest opponents, his mind momentarily drifted to the deal he struck a while back, one that should've kept them in line; he hoped it hadn't been forgotten.
"I gotcha this time...!!!" Sailor Jupiter was the most persistent out of all of them in the fight to capture Lord Kaio's precious pet. While the four remaining Sailor Soldiers had taken a small break from the chase, the thunder soldier was still hard at work, looking to catch the monkey more out of personal pride than anything else. Sailor Pluto had to admit that despite Sailor Jupiter's finest efforts, it was quite amusing to watch Bubbles deftly darting away from her grasp with apparent ease.
Her latest attempt was proceeding as dismally as her others - through clenched teeth and with an almost homicidal glare, Sailor Jupiter made another quick dive at Bubbles. The monkey seemed nonchalant about her approach, dodging off to the left just as Jupiter was in arms reach of him. The momentum mixed with the intense gravity caused Jupiter to flatten out onto the grass once again, her face buried in the mud.
"She'll be the first," Sailor Venus noted, massaging her calves as she continued breathing somewhat heavily; she'd been the last of them to finally take a break from the chase.
"The first to catch him?" Mercury asked, adjusting her back against the rugged trunk of the nearby tree.
"No, the first to go insane trying," Venus quipped as Jupiter painfully pulled herself up to her knees. The entire front of her uniform was covered in a cake of mud and grass, and not a spot on her face was showing clean skin. As she swore loudly and slammed her fists onto the soft earth, Sailor Pluto was inclined to agree with Sailor Venus's assessment, though if their lack of progress continued, they would be soon to join her.
It had been difficult to keep track of time since their training had begun; there had been no nightfall, no change in the atmosphere whatsoever to indicate that time was flowing in a mortal sense. Hours had seemingly gone by, but Sailor Pluto's intuition told her that they were beginning to stretch into days. At first, she thought that Lord Kaio had been bluffing when he'd informed them of his previous students needing weeks to capture Bubbles, but given their snail-speed progress, that figure was now looking more believable.
We must keep trying - if we can't master these skills by the time we're brought back...
She allowed herself to drop down onto the soft earth beneath a lofty oak tree. Her tall, thin legs and considerable height advantage gave her a high center of gravity, making physical adjustment to the atmosphere almost impossible for her. Instead of allowing her frustration to burst out from beneath her skin, she'd taken an alternate route to strengthening herself in this environment – through mental exercises and meditation. While the Inners slugged onward through the phantom gravity, she'd allowed her mind to soak in every aspect of the atmosphere, using her power to attempt to bend and twist it to her liking. Such exercises had toughened her body somewhat – a break from her training to move about and stretch her legs had proved a significantly easier task than before, though still not easy enough. She was still probably nowhere near ready to attempt capturing Bubbles, and she was not about to make a vain endeavor and make a fool out of herself in front of the others. She would know when she was ready, her mind and powers would tell her.
As they watched Jupiter struggle to her feet and tighten her legs once again - she was the only one out of them who had gotten to the point of being able to keep up a short sprint in these conditions - Sailor Pluto noticed Sailor Mars returning from the illustrious palace of Lord Kaio. She was looking as weary and beat-up as the rest of them, but the crust of bread in one hand and the water container in the other offered the explanation for her absence.
"Any luck?" She asked as she rejoined the group.
Seated nearby and still panting heavily from her latest run at Bubbles, Mercury offered a pessimistic shake of her head, while Venus attempted to smile about it, wiping beads of sweat away from her eyes.
"To her credit, she did come...sort of close," She offered in Jupiter's defense. "The little ape's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve - this might not even be the fastest he can move."
Sailor Mars groaned aloud, chomping the rest of her bread and downing the remaining bit of water in the container. Tossing the implement aside, she tensed herself, setting her eyes on the curious-looking monkey.
"Okay, let me give this a shot!" She power-walked forward, the strain of the gravity still apparent as she moved. Mars had her teeth clenched and her eyes set firmly - perhaps, Pluto imagined, she would have better luck; for all her brashness, Jupiter had not been totally focused on catching the monkey toward the end of her run; she'd been more set on killing him instead.
"I don't know..." Mercury shook her head again, her voice exiting a dried throat as Bubbles ducked under Sailor Mars's legs to avoid a quick grab. "...Do you guys really think this'll do us any good in the long run?"
"Training under these conditions can greatly multiply our speed," Sailor Pluto replied, offering a previously-attained water container to Sailor Mercury, who gladly accepted. "Compared to the alien troops, we were somewhat slower, even against the larger ones."
Mercury gulped down the fluid almost greedily then restrained herself, staring at Pluto with embarrassment. A reassuring smile from the time guardian set Mercury's mind at greater ease.
"I'll agree with you..." She wiped a bit of water away from her lower lip. "...I found that out the hard way."
As they watched, Mars tried to perform a quick one-eighty to snag Bubbles from behind, but the maneuver mixed with the gravity produced an undesired result - Mars swiveled around unsteadily before tumbling onto the ground.
"Well, if anybody asks how we got the power upgrade, we don't have to tell them," Venus remarked. "Because there's no way I'm going to be known as the Sailor Soldier whose strength came from chasing a dim-witted, bugged-up little chimp."
Sailor Pluto concurred - telling Hotaru and ChibiUsa, or even Haruka and Michiru for that matter that she'd gone through such an absurd form of training would stick to her for the rest of her existence. No amount of power was worth the potential embarrassment.
It had taken only an hour to complete an entire thirty-lap run around the perimeter of Crystal Tokyo Palace; to the weary Sailor Saturn, it had seemed like nearly an eternity. If there had been one constant from her former life in the Old Era and the present day in Crystal Tokyo, it was that she couldn't stomach high-intensity cardiovascular activity of any kind. She'd always wished to conquer that weakness; her smaller body had always refused to cooperate with her.
Between the war and Gohan's new training regiment, her tenacity was certainly being put to the test. As she stood along the sidelines of the sparring ring, she was still attempting to catch her breath as she gulped down a large amount of water. ChibiMoon had been the first to volunteer in sparring practice with Gohan, giving her a few precious minutes to get herself together.
Whatever doesn't kill me...makes me stronger...I hope...
Truth be told, she had performed a bit better than she'd anticipated. On the very first day of training, she'd barely managed to complete the initial twenty laps, but she'd somehow managed ten additional ones only days after. While her legs were nearly rubbery and her lungs were crying for relief, she took pride in the fact that she was improving.
ChibiMoon and Gohan had been throwing punches and kicks for several minutes; the Saiyan was obviously pulling his shots, but even without putting forth an effort, he was still ducking and weaving away from the princess's attacks and throwing back his own with impressive amounts of speed and precision.
Gohan was backtracking along the edge of the circular mat, ChibiMoon fast in pursuit. He put his arms up to block an incoming spin-kick, catching the princess's foot and throwing her backward. ChibiMoon was quick to recover, throwing her weight back and springing back up as her hands hit the floor.
"Not bad," Gohan's eyes were lit with an eager intensity as sweat dripped down his round cheeks. "You sure you're as new at this as you said?"
ChibiMoon stood at the ready.
"I've learned from the best," She replied. "You're the one holding back anyway."
Gohan formed a small glowing ball of energy in his hand, and ChibiMoon suddenly tightened up.
"Suit yourself," He smiled and lobbed the bright yellow orb toward her, the energy illuminating the dim chamber. "Catch!"
ChibiMoon was quick on her feet, dodging to the right as the brilliant sphere burst in the air next to her. She appeared confident momentarily, but when Gohan gathered two more energy balls - one on each hand - her trepidation returned.
Sailor Saturn shook her head as Gohan launched the projectiles in her direction. In a brief panic, the princess fled across the ring, the energy detonating in two minor sizzling motions as they hit the ground. As Sailor ChibiMoon attempted to put some distance between Gohan and herself, the boy extended both arms, proceeding to release a volley of minor energy blasts in her direction.
In a small instant, ChibiMoon's tenuous concentration was shattered as the bright waves of heat closed in on her. One after another they began to explode in small bursts all around her as she feverishly ducked and scrambled away from them, crying out in fright.
"You can't dodge forever; go on the offensive!" Gohan's voice rang in over the small explosions. Finally, in her frantic spree, the princess tripped over one of her feet and tumbled onto the ground, directly in the path of one of Gohan's energy attacks. Saturn gasped in horror - there was no time for a Silence Wall, and she was too far to be pulled to safety before the blast struck.
As the princess threw her arms in front of her in a desperate effort to save herself, Saturn felt Gohan's energies shifting incredibly rapidly, and as she blinked her eyes, the Saiyan had somehow zipped in front of ChibiMoon, thrusting his arm out to deflect the offending energy blast away from the princess in the nick of time.
Saturn breathed heavily in relief, wiping her moist brow. At the very least, he hadn't run the risk of allowing the princess to get hit by the energy orb, though the speed necessary to catch the quick blast had to be phenomenal.
Remember, he's reckless, not weak.
Gohan was relieved himself, bending down to help Sailor ChibiMoon to her feet.
"You okay?"
ChibiMoon's breathing was quick, and her heart was racing, but she managed a small nod.
"Sorry for the close call, but that's what can happen if you just dodge the blasts. Trust me, it's happened to me before."
"Well, what else is there?" ChibiMoon croaked out with skepticism. "I can't just block those things with my bare arms, I'd be roasted alive!"
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," Gohan continued, passing a glance toward Sailor Saturn to indicate that he wanted to share the information with her as well. "In a field of those enemy fighters, ki blasts can be coming at you from all directions; all it takes is one little slip, and, well..."
ChibiMoon nodded in agreement; Saturn folded her arms and listened closely.
"And...as you've seen, some ki attacks are too big to dodge; then, you've got no choice but to block with your body, weather the attack."
"You've got to be kidding me..." ChibiMoon was incredulous, backing away. "...I've seen their laser beams cut through solid walls. You're telling me I can defend against fire with just my skin??"
"You've seen me do it, haven't you?" Gohan expressed the comment with cheery optimism.
"Yeah, well...that's you, and you're a bit ahead of us..."
"Hey..." Gohan saw the challenge overwhelming the young girl, though Saturn couldn't fault her. The impact of the alien army's ki techniques had been one of the primary reasons they'd taken such control of the war; the energy had proven immune to defense by any type of material or mechanism within the Crystal Tokyo military.
After pondering a few moments longer, Gohan's eyes lit up.
"Sailor Saturn's Silence Wall...yeah, that's it!"
Gohan sauntered over toward Saturn, who blinked inquisitively at him. What kind of simplistic ingenuity had he devised?
"That Silence Wall...it blocked all of those missiles in the casino, and it deflected back the energy that was inside of them, right?"
"Well, yes...I've been able to neutralize heavier arsenal than--"
"Okay!" Gohan beamed. "Ki defense is kinda difficult to describe...it's sorta like your Silence Wall attack. You use your own ki energy...or your magic powers, or both, in your cases, to defend against an incoming blast. If your defense is good enough, it cancels the attack out."
"But how? None of us knows how to summon up that 'chi' energy, or whatever you call it," ChibiMoon protested. "And second--" She folded her arms in annoyance. "It's not magic."
"Heh, sorry...well...the mag--, err... special energies you guys have might just work for now," Gohan summoned up another ball of energy, this one smaller than his previous attempts. "Princess, I want you to try and use your powers as a shield against this attack. If I'm right, you should be able to deflect it or at least neutralize it."
"And if you're wrong?" Saturn objected, stepping between Gohan and Sailor ChibiMoon. "You saw what nearly happened last time."
"This has barely got the punch of a bee sting," Gohan informed her. "If it doesn't work, it'll just be a tiny prick."
Saturn reluctantly nodded, stepping back and allowing Gohan room to work. Sailor ChibiMoon seemed a bit frightened even at the little yellow marble of energy.
"Ready?" Gohan raised his hand, preparing to launch the tiny missile at the princess. ChibiMoon swallowed hard, crossing her arms in an X in front of her and steeling herself. "Here goes..."
As Sailor Saturn held her breath, Gohan launched the orb from his palm toward the princess. The tiny sphere flew at good speed as Sailor Saturn felt the princess's energies growing, focusing her power onto her outstretched forearms. Within only a few seconds, the attack struck.
A small puff of smoke resulted from the impact, momentarily obscuring the princess from view. As it wafted away from her, Gohan and Saturn smiled at each other with satisfaction - despite ChibiMoon being frozen in position from her fear, not a mark was left on her, her gloved arms perfectly intact.
"Princess?" Saturn said. ChibiMoon still didn't move. "Umm...princess."
The girl's eyes gradually lifted open, her limbs still motionless. As she dropped her arms and felt up and down her entire frame, she finally breathed a sigh of both relief and triumph as she saw that she was undamaged.
"All right! That was too easy!!" She whooped as she pumped one victorious fist into the air. "If that's all it took..."
"Why don't we try a couple of bigger ones?" Gohan formed another pair of ki orbs in his hands, these roughly twice as big as the previous one. "Like I said, that last one was as about as powerful as a bee sting. The ones out there...are a bit tougher."
"Oh...right..." ChibiMoon grumbled. "I knew that..."
"Think fast!" Gohan was quick on the trigger, volleying the ki orbs toward the princess. As Saturn dove out of the ring, the princess was forced to act quickly, readying herself for another defense.
It wasn't that Haruka didn't trust her junior comrade to carry out the orders given to her - despite the incident in Le Fin, Sailor Saturn performed flawlessly when given direct orders. As she watched the training session from the upper balcony of the Alpha Battalion's training arena, she was simply curious as to how Gohan planned on passing on his alleged skills to the princess and Sailor Saturn. Thus far, she had been intrigued - it seemed that Gohan's energy techniques and their own mystical powers weren't completely unrelated to each other.
She was pleased with the physical aspects of the exercises; between the princess's lethargic attitude about maintaining her power - she hadn't graced the training areas since her return from Old Era Tokyo - and Hotaru's inherent frailties, such rigorous practice could only benefit their endurance in battle. She supposed she owed Gohan that much, at least.
But she wasn't about to swell the boy's ego by telling him so. Confidence was definitely not something he was lacking.
The past few days had left her without much else to do other than help supervise the squads; Tenshinhan, Krillin, and Yamcha had been coordinating with the battalion commanders to arrange practice sessions for ki warfare, and many of the enemy advances had abruptly halted, presumably after the vicious counterattack within the basements of Le Fin. The enemy had seemed uncertain as to how to respond to the sudden show of force from their opposition. Just as the group had predicted in the early planning sessions, they'd won themselves some breathing room for the time being. At the very least, now the enemy knew there was fight left in the human race, and they wouldn't be taking anymore wild chances like the western garrison ambush.
A mixed blessing, but Haruka would take what she could get. All they could do for the moment was to consolidate their forces here and retain a strong guard.
"You look lonely," A voice from her left said, cutting off her thoughts. Haruka glanced nearby - Tenshinhan had slipped into the upper levels of the barracks unnoticed. He proceeded across the metal floor, leaning on the railing next to her. "Something on your mind?"
"There's always something on my mind," Haruka answered as she continued to observe Gohan and the princess sparring in the ring below them. "Especially in times like this."
"The dutiful soldier," Tenshinhan glanced down at the ring, nodding his head as the princess bounced a ki blast back toward Gohan. "I would hope our efforts are winning your approval as commander..."
Haruka shot him a quick glance.
"...somewhat, at least," Tenshinhan finished.
"Don't take it so personally," Haruka continued, returning her focus to the match. "Trust has been something our group has earned over our history. There's always been a nameless face within our midst throughout our worst crises, always an unknown entity."
"How have these strangers turned out?"
Haruka chose not to reply - most of the encounters with unknown forces, such as her first encounter with Sailor Moon and the Inner Soldiers as well as the introduction of Hotaru as Sailor Saturn, had turned out remarkably well in the very end, but not before difficult turmoil and traveling practically to Death's door.
She peered across the way to the balconies on the other side. A few off-duty guardsmen from Alpha Battalion were passing by, on their way to a routine work-out most likely, and they stopped momentarily after seeing the two of them. While saluting Sailor Uranus, they passed a few indecipherable comments to each other along with some confident nods before continuing on their way.
"If it comforts you," Haruka said as the troopers disappeared into the next room. "Stories about you are beginning to circulate through the ranks. They respect you most out of your entire group."
"Me?" Tenshinhan seemed taken aback by the comment, shaking his head with trepidation. "I mean...I've done nothing that stands out above the others."
"Enough with the false modesty," Haruka snapped. "You're confident, experienced, you have the power to harness the Sun's energy, and you're the voice of the new 'saviors' of this kingdom. Who wouldn't be impressed?"
Tenshinhan tried to force a small bashful laugh.
"Figured it was just the eye," He motioned to the third ocular organ on his bare forehead. Even Haruka felt somewhat uncomfortable as she stared into it; while Tenshinhan seemed to be as human as she was, the eyeball certainly made him appear more alien from every one of his comrades save possibly the doll-like Chaozu and Piccolo, of course. It seemed less like an eye and more like an invading window into her mind. The fact that it didn't pulse or twitch like an eye should have only made it more disturbing.
"It probably helps," Haruka dryly commented. "Where are your associates?"
"Vegeta left early this morning, haven't heard from him since. Chaozu's visiting with some of the refugees...Yamcha and Krillin are with the Beta Battalion commanders. Their first training session got underway about half an hour ago."
"And you're not there?"
"Yamcha insisted. Said he could handle it." Tenshinhan sighed with a bit of concern in his voice. "He probably wanted to teach them his own style, a smash-mouth type of approach."
"Fine by me," Haruka replied, picking at her fingernails. "That's more of my own way. I'm more concerned with planning our next moves against the enemy."
"Which will be?"
Haruka took a breath; Tenshinhan's eagerness was commendable.
"I will speak to the king and Captain Benson soon about this, but I'll share it with you," She began. "The stalemate has given our forces time to pull themselves together...it has sped up the withdrawal of many of our outlying squads back to safer ground here."
"You plan on making a stand here?" Tenshinhan wondered.
"Our losses have been catastrophic, especially before your arrival. Refortifying our position here while we have the chance is more of a priority. The enemy is simply frozen for the moment; they're far from executing a retreat. We consolidate ourselves here, and we'll stand more of a chance of halting an enemy advance."
"That poses a lot of risk..." The tall warrior commented, musing the situation with great effort.
Haruka turned to him, a sudden thought popping into her head.
"Well, you tell me," She declared.
"Tell you?"
"Yes, you seem to have some idea of battle tactics," She shrugged a bit as she saw Tenshinhan's face tighten up with slight apprehension. "What strategy would you suggest?"
"Well..." Tenshinhan faltered a bit, scratching his bald temple in hasty thought. "Let's see...ah...I don't have experience in the military, but I think this might work to explain my thoughts."
Haruka silently nodded, inviting him to continue.
"Years back, I was in the finals of a huge martial arts tournament, against Gohan's father when he was much younger. It was my toughest match yet...and I wound up winning out. Some of it was luck, but the rest was my approach."
Haruka glanced down at the duo in the ring, seeing Gohan on an aggressive offensive as the princess was struggling to block his punches and kicks and retaliate with her own. She nodded a bit – ChibiUsa was at least being more forceful.
"If it is like father, like son, then I would assume he was as unorthodox in his style."
"Very much; Son Goku was tough to predict - one moment you'd have him against the ropes, the next he'd be unloading on you. These aliens are similar - they're dangerous if you give them room to be."
Haruka cocked her head to the side, listening thoughtfully.
"At times, he completely poured it on against me, and I could only get some breathing room by fighting back in the same style; it kept him in check until he started to wear down. But if I hung back in the ring, if I took too much time to recover myself, he'd be right there, back on me like a rabid wolf, and I'd have nowhere to run."
It was an interesting comparison - the Outer Soldier commander had to give some credit to the insight.
"You believe we should still maintain some ground within the city," She concluded. "Despite our lack of manpower."
"If they sense us pulling out of the war zone completely, we'll lose the edge; it'll give them a chance to get their bearings back, and they'll be carrying more of a grudge to boot when they return."
"In any other case, I'd agree," Haruka shook her head, returning her gaze to the match. Sailor Saturn had stepped in to replace the princess, who was seated on the sidelines, frazzled and visibly exhausted. "But our options are limited - this place is still a viable target for them considering our waning troops. We need more physical momentum than simply killing a few hundred of their troops, as bad as that sounds."
"It does..." Tenshinhan begrudgingly agreed. "But I don't understand one thing...you said this invasion is only a few weeks old, right?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well...I remember there being a lot more people on Earth than what you're letting on. Why haven't any other countries come to help you guys out? You are the capital of the world now, right?"
Haruka took a deep breath; it was a logical conclusion, but unfortunately an incorrect one.
"A lot has happened to change this planet since your days." Haruka conceded. "The Cataclysm that changed Earth into its present state took a generous portion of the population with it. I doubt the remaining human race has more than a million members..."
"Mmm..." Tenshinhan solemnly replied. "This city is all there was?"
"Mostly, but we did establish a few more minor provinces beyond this place: New Yokohama to the west, far to the north we were recently settling a rebuilt city of Niigata, even further southwest, construction had begun on a new city of Osaka. In all honesty, we've been too busy fighting for our lives since this kingdom was raised to even bother with expansion."
"Sounds like a new feudal age..." He commented lightly, drawing a small chuckle from Haruka. "No type of military force in those places?"
"That's the catch," Haruka continued. "There is - days after we were first struck, we called for reinforcements from the garrisons placed at New Yokohama and Niigata, but the enemy was prepared for that as well."
"They cut them off before they got here?"
"In a way - from what we've been able to determine, they've erected considerable defensive outposts around the perimeter of the city. We've also lost a great deal of our communications during the fighting, so it's been impossible to contact any reinforcements beyond the borders of the city. For all we know, they were all cut down when they first reached us..."
"For all you know, eh...?" Tenshinhan was running his hands together, nodding slowly. "Maybe we should find out for certain?"
Haruka's glance darted toward him in surprise; she hadn't expected that response.
"Excuse me?"
"You said it yourself - we need more troops to press any kind of counter-attack," Tenshinhan offered, sounding serious but optimistic. "It would be a great surprise to bring in several hundred more men and train them in ki warfare."
"Don't you think we've already tried?" Haruka snapped at his presumptuousness. "In the early days of the war, we attempted raids in several smaller locations to break a way out, but we were repulsed each time. It's not worth the risk!"
"All it might take is little creativity..." Tenshinhan suggested with a confident smile. "...And a little help from some friends. We'll help you find a way through!"
Haruka sighed heavily, stepping away from Tenshinhan in a huff. So that's what it would've come to - once again supplementing their cause with the powers of the mighty Z Warriors. She still detested the very idea - the more that time went on, the more it seemed that they were slowly transitioning this war into the hands of these outsiders...
"Wait," Tenshinhan stopped her movement. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound arrogant - it was only a suggestion."
Haruka turned back, silent but still thoughtful.
"Besides," He stated in a gentler tone. "I wouldn't think of acting on such an idea without the approval and assistance of the commander. I'd rather you come out there with us to help break through their lines, and I think you would relish the chance."
She breathed out, sauntering toward a nearby exit.
"You know, you really are something else," She finally said. "Many of your teammates are brash, reckless, almost uncouth, and yet, here you are, the calm, organized mediator."
"Don't separate them too much from me," The muscular three-eyed man shook his head in relief at the release of her tension. "They are still my friends. What would your other comrades say of you?"
Haruka couldn't help but smile as she thought about the Inner Soldiers. It had been a while since they'd come to mind - so much had happened that she'd barely gotten a moment to pay them their respects - despite their supposed return to life, they'd still deserved to be sent off to the land of the Dead in proper fashion. Now that she thought about them, she realized that she did miss them, missed their youthful charm and sisterly closeness. Much of the more jovial spirit of the palace had departed along with them.
"The opposite," She opened the door, passing one last glance to Tenshinhan. "They're the mediators among us."
This ludicrous exercise had gone on long enough.
Sailor Venus peeled herself off of the ground after another unsuccessful attempt at capturing Lord Kaio's pet. Her entire body was throbbing under the strain of the extreme gravitational forces pressing down on it, and it only added more impact when each of them crashed onto the ground.
She sat up, her teeth clenched and her boiling point nearing. To their credit, after several long, excruciating days of this repetitive nonsense, benefits were beginning to show themselves. Venus had realized some time ago that over the course of her own particular chase that she was having increased ease at sitting up on the grassy field, the agility once so familiar to her honed body beginning to return. While Bubbles was still able to deftly dodge their clumsy swipes, they had begun to keep pace with him, their intrepid power-walking evolving into jogging and further growing into full sprinting. She and Jupiter were currently leading the charge, their persistence in their task nearly dogged. Even the wizened Sailor Pluto seemed impressed from her resting place under a nearby tree.
Bubbles was watching as the blonde Inner Soldier leader stumbled up onto her feet; instead of fleeing from his pursuer, he was grunting and hopping from side-to-side. Venus seethed beneath her exterior - was she being mocked by a three-foot chimpanzee, a mere animal...?
"You...are...so...mine!!!" Frustration breaking through, Venus made a desperation lunge at Bubbles as he continued his ill-advised taunting. She flew toward the tiny creature at great speed, and for moment, she could actually see the individual hairs on the ape's body, her gloved arms so close to his pudgy hide that she could practically feel the prickly fibers.
But in one quick instant, it was gone - Venus's hands found nothing but open air and again she crashed onto the hard ground, skidding for several feet and doing a number on her knees in the process.
"Uggh..." Glancing up, Venus growled as she saw that Bubbles had retreated about twenty yards and had cheerfully resumed his taunting. The determined girl pulled herself up again, albeit much slower than before. Her legs were burning from the landing, and she had to take in several deep breaths of air before she could exert herself any more. "All this...just for a freaking...monkey..."
It seemed so unjust that this was to be the fate of Earth's greatest deceased champions - playing tag with an ape wasn't exactly what Venus had in mind for her destiny beyond the living world. If Artemis were there to watch her, he'd be having a ball at her expense...
Just like that Tridyx did, right? Come on, stop dreaming for a minute...
It was a difficult request for her body to handle, but it was true - the giant mammoth of a fighter had not only killed them, but he'd thoroughly enjoyed himself in the process, making it look easy...that had seemed to happen a lot during Venus's tenure among the Inner Soldiers. It hadn't been the first time they'd died under her command...
Seeing the faint sneer on Bubbles's face resurrected the memories of Tridyx to Venus and she felt energy returning to her, the dark recollection fueling her aching limbs.
"One more time!" She bolted forward.
"How long has it been now?" Sailor Mars wheezed as she glanced down at a bloody scrape on her elbow. "I think she's going for a record among us."
"An hour and a half," Mercury casually replied as she was still glancing through her visor - she'd been silently studying several figures on the device for the better part of a half hour. "She's close to Jupiter's hour and forty-two minutes."
Jupiter was seated nearby, favoring her sore knees. The skin at the kneecaps had been worn away from repeated crashes against the ground, and they were still in the process of scabbing over.
"Dammit...why in the hell are we even feeling sore if we're dead...?" She complained loudly. "I feel like I've run over fifty marathons with weights on my back..."
"We're still bodily in some form, remember?" Sailor Pluto dutifully explained. "While we certainly can't die again, we'll have to deal with physical infirmities with as much resolve as we did in life. Our minds are too used to registering pain among our bodily organs to adapt so rapidly."
"Well, aren't you the whiz over there," Jupiter grumbled, extending her legs and performing some stretches to loosen her muscles. "How come you seem to know so much about this place, Setsuna? You looked awfully nervous when Lord Enma was saying how many times you've been here."
The older woman laughed lightly for reasons the rest of them could only guess at.
"That, Makoto, is a complicated matter," Pluto leaned back against the tree, closing her eyes. She seemed awfully complacent, almost too much for Mars's liking considering that she'd only taken one initial run at Bubbles before seating herself in front of the tall oak. As far as Mars could tell, she'd done nothing but meditate since then, and while that was good as a relaxation and contemplation exercise, what possible benefit could it serve in this arduous task?
Mars stood up, readying herself for another go at Bubbles as she attempted to recall that particular feeling of calm that came with her meditation. Her old temple sanctuary and her sacred fire pit seemed like such a long way from Lord Kaio's estate. Despite the tranquility of this place, this Heaven, she still couldn't bring herself to feel nearly as comfortable as she was while she was reading the flames. Perhaps, had she not been doing this training for a return to life, a spiritual existence of studying the inner workings of the cosmos would've been her reward.
It'll have to wait until I die again...
"Care to join me, Ami?" She offered toward the blue-haired water soldier; at first, Sailor Mercury seemed too absorbed in her study to even notice the question, but she soon deactivated the device, rising up. "What were you looking at?"
"I was just attempting to discern some type of weakness in Bubbles's form," she replied. "Don't get your hopes up - I couldn't even attain a proper reading on his body. I don't even know if the laws of physics and nature completely apply to this place anyway..."
"You'd probably get the same thing if you scanned any of us," Mars remarked as her counterpart deactivated the visor. "We're definitely different now, even if we're still within bodies...'"
"I was actually following up on that more than I was scanning Bubbles after a while," She admitted, reaching up with her arms and craning her back around. "The energy within our current forms is astounding...not like anything I've ever seen before, very potent, perhaps even more than our enemies' power. I feel I may owe you an apology for all those years of spiritual devotion."
Mars lightly jabbed her in the shoulder.
"We can't all be perfect," She teased. "But let's follow that up later; Venus looks like she can use a hand in there."
Mercury concurred, hurrying behind Mars toward their target. She kept good pace with the fire soldier, which was a pleasing sight. Mercury had been the one who'd struggled most in the early hours of the training, needing the most rest periods in between attempts. While Mars had lightly ragged on her to keep the levity in the atmosphere, Mercury never was one to be outdone if she could help it.
The two reached Sailor Venus, who'd once again sprawled herself on the ground in a futile dive at Bubbles. The cheetah-like monkey had seemingly disregarded her completely; he was wandering around and picking at various flowers in the tall grass.
Mars bent down quickly, lifting her up.
"You okay down there, champ?"
Venus groggily lifted her dirt-covered face up with hazy eyes and nearly malicious scowl. Mercury chuckled a bit at her comrade's frustration.
"When I catch him...I...am going...to kick...his...ass..."
"Hang on," Mercury helped Venus up to her feet and motioned for Jupiter to hurry over to them. Having finished her warm-ups, she readily did so. "I think we've been going about this all wrong."
"How else would you suggest we catch that little critter?" Mars wondered as she eyed up the suddenly lethargic monkey.
"I say it's time we devised a little strategy," Sailor Mercury said with a radiant tone. "We've still got our powers, right? Why not use them?"
"Boy, would I love to..." Venus seethed, fire burning beneath her eyelids. "I'd Crescent Beam Shower him straight down to Hell if I could..."
"That's not exactly what I meant..." Mercury replied. "I have an idea..."
It's about time.
Vegeta had been shadowing the squad of commandos for nearly two hours before they finally arrived at their destination. The distance could've been traversed in much less time, but the paranoid troopers had consistently doubled back and swept the area with their scouters to ensure their steps had not been traced. Vegeta could admire such prudence, but constantly diving for cover on the ground and masking his battle power just in the nick of time had provided a true test for his short supply of patience.
The aerial brigade had landed at a site of the city that had been almost completely flattened. Many of the buildings that had once prominently stood here had been completely stripped to their foundations save for several hollowed out, battered structures that overlooked the very borders of Crystal Tokyo. On a hunch, Vegeta allowed himself to fall back out of detection range, soaring up above the structures to see that he had indeed reached the edge of the ruined metropolis. The lines of remaining buildings were the only remnants of a human presence before wide highways swept out of the city, stretching across a mountainous, nearly barren plain before disappearing over the hazy horizon. He snuffed, the silent arid plains in stark contrast to the lush planet he and Nappa had landed on all those months back. Whether the desolation was perpetrated by Damos's army remained to be seen, but Vegeta also considered that it was the result of the alleged Cataclysm that had nearly wiped humanity away from the corporeal Universe.
He shrugged – better luck next time.
Not wanting to remain out in the open for too much longer, the Saiyan prince zipped down to Earth, keeping low and scuttling as quickly as possible behind one of the remaining buildings. He didn't remain there for very long – he could sense innumerable battle powers within the edifice along with voices from a few grunts who were casually conversing a few stories above him, their bulky legs dangling over the side where thick panes of glass used to be. All it would've taken was one casual glance, and he'd be facing an entire legion of enemy troops. An invigorating idea, but still too chancy – before he let temptation get the best of him, Vegeta was moving.
Much of the area was open, and as Vegeta rounded the corner of the occupied structure and found himself in the middle of the expansive highway that led out of the city, he risked a quick burst of energy to zip across the road and behind a cache of stacked supply crates. He dove down, ready to power up to defend himself if any alerts were sounded, but as seconds stretched into minutes without movement or mobilization from the enemy sentries, Vegeta let out his breath. He was almost disappointed that they didn't find him – testing himself against such overwhelming odds gave him goose bumps, but his logical end kept informing that the risk was too high. The last fate he wanted to endure was capture or death at the hands of trash.
Finally, he stood up, peering out over the sealed crates and examining his surroundings. As he basked in the enemy fortifications, he found his interest piquing as the seconds ticked by. Several meters past the base of the remaining buildings, the enemies had constructed their own countermeasures against outside opposition – long, deep trenches lined both sides of the highway, each of them filled enemy marksmen and what appeared to be high-powered gun embankments. Tilting his head upward, Vegeta finally caught a glimpse of the sides of the occupied buildings that faced the open countryside – similar to the trenches, gun embankments had been erected on the rooftops, and the floors were crawling with enemy snipers, their gun barrels slightly more elongated and their helmets containing more bulky circuitry than most normal enemy marksmen – likely, it was tracking and aiming equipment. Most of the crystalline windows of the levels had been shattered, which opened up the entire breadth of the building's floors for the gunmen to take advantage of. Depending on their equipment, they'd have perfect shots at any enemies approaching the city from the plains.
Vegeta nodded – the Siege Wall certainly did live up to its name. As the humans of this era didn't possess aerial capacity by any means, he gathered that Damos had ringed the entire border of the city with these check-points, smothering the native Crystal Tokyo people on the inside and excluding them from whatever human forces remained outside.
But the most prominent implements of the enemy defenses were smack in the middle of the road, three of them occupying the space that could fit twice as many normal human ground vehicles. Vegeta cracked a sneer at the thickly armored husks of the behemoth-like tanks, their illuminant treads and headlamps lighting up the roadways in the early hours. The long, tubular barrels were ominously still; they pointed directly out to the distant foggy horizon of the highway, almost daring opposition to reveal themselves.
Weapons of war...how quaint of you Damos...and how foolish... Vegeta shook his head in mock revulsion, quite amused at the use of such outdated machinery from a warlord who commanded an innumerable and undying army. While tanks were quite useful against more conventional weaponry like bombs and bullets, against superior ki-trained warriors such as himself, they were nothing more than gigantic iron coffins. Of all the backwood worlds he'd conquered during his tenure under Frieza's planet-trade empire, Vegeta had particularly reveled in picking apart entire regiments of snail-like tanks without so much as breaking a sweat.
Still, the humans had hardly presented themselves as opponents of Vegeta's caliber – he supposed that the use of lower-grade weaponry was at the very least a show of efficiency (and arrogance, to a lesser degree) by the good warlord.
Vegeta's amusements faltered slightly as he began to see movement among the gunmen in the trenches. Their small battle powers began a steady rise and fall within Vegeta's mind as they commenced firing on some kind of perceived threat out on the open horizon. Needle-thin but slightly concentrated bolts of ki energy burst out of their weapons, sailing off out of Vegeta's sight. Whether or not they found their marks was beyond him for the moment, but as the left-most tank's barrel began a slow and steady adjustment toward the supposed enemy targets, Vegeta began to imagine that it wouldn't matter if they were successful in a few moments.
Suddenly, as Vegeta's ears begun to pick up the whirring of gears and circuitry within the steel beast, something curious also pricked his senses – a rising battle power...from the tank, a mere machine? Almost too interested for his own good, Vegeta allowed his head to remain in open view as a brilliant gold cone of energy materialized on the rim of the tank's barrel. Before Vegeta could even register in his mind that it wasn't dislodging an ordinary artillery shell but pure ki energy, the tank released its charge the sparking bolt of power rocketing toward the killing zone with great speed.
An impressive display resulted, as the massive energy blast erupted on the surface, bulging outward in a dome of blazing, all-consuming fire. It probably would've been forceful enough to nearly level the nearby high-rise buildings if that had been what they were aiming for. A minor chorus of cheers resounded from the troops within the trenches and the occupied structures, reminding Vegeta of his exposure to wandering eyes and forcing back behind cover.
For once, I retract my commentary... Damos had proven to be more of a technological mastermind than Vegeta had given him credit for. While small, ki-powered gunpacks had been around and firmly established within the lower ranks of Frieza's army in his home era, at that point in history, it had been technologically impossible for any type of war machine to generate such large quantities of energy without the circuitry overloading. He knew that fact well – Frieza had been conducting such research and experimentation only months before his ill-fated journey to Namek...
The modification suddenly made Damos's tanks a force to be dealt with, especially to the low-class humans. It also brought back the slight mention of ki-powered missiles that Kakarotto's son had claimed the enemy had used in the casino brawl; he was willing to bet that the artificial gun emplacements ran on similar power. Vegeta hadn't thought it possible, but it seemed that Damos had done what even Vegeta's former master had been unable to do and brought weapons of war back to the point of usefulness. With such massive quantities of ki energy flowing through their circuitry, Vegeta realized that eventually they would have to deal with their power in battle...and their range and accuracy was nothing to balk at, either...
In other words, it was a weapon worth dissecting and analyzing for a weakness now, before it became a problem. If all of the larger weapons ran from similar power sources, he could exploit the same weaknesses from them.
The tanks and the soldiers around them had returned to their resting positions after the alleged sighting of enemy approach, and while their cannons could vaporize lesser forces at range, they still proved futile against a covert assassin. And what every tank needed was a pair of hands behind the controls.
Remaining low to the ground, Vegeta crept along the stacks of provisions, keeping his senses open in case an unwelcome face appeared. He moved on the balls of his feet to avoid making too much noise on the gravel and debris-covered sidewalk, and as he reached the edge of the layered rows of crates, he was roughly fifteen yards away from the right-most tank. Quickly scanning the large metallic surface, he spotted a circular hatch atop the monstrous weapon, likely sealed from the inside to prevent what he was about to attempt.
Just as before, he utilized a quick burst of speed to put himself from the edge of the crates to the back right tread of the tank in an instant. He held his breath just as before, waiting for a nearby scouter to detect his power burst, but the trenches remained oblivious, and the snipers continued their leisurely conversing – he allowed himself a sneer; perhaps he'd missed his calling as an assassin. Vegeta was finding that sneaking through the lion's den was a welcome breath of fresh air from simply strolling in and eradicating everything. After all, any brainless, half-witted ogre (again, some of Frieza's past bodyguards came to mind) could obliterate everything from without with blunt force, but it took a certain greater, more refined skill to infiltrate and dismember a target from within. And while he knew he was far more ingenious and opportunistic than his past charges, proving it against a massive force was entertaining at the very least.
Without wasting precious seconds, Vegeta bounded onto the immobile tread of the sleekly polished machine and scurried over to the protruding hatch. He assumed a prone position, taking a quick glance around – his white body armor helped him blend into the tank's lightly-painted frame, perhaps granting him the necessary extra seconds to complete his clandestine endeavor.
He tugged a bit on the hatch – as he rightly suspected, it was sealed rather tightly – not a problem.
The next part was a risk, and he couldn't deny it – overzealousness now could cost him big. Calming himself, Vegeta formulated a tiny flame of ki on the tip of one gloved finger. Like a blowtorch, he began to cut around the outer edge of the hatchway in an attempt to melt right through the hinges. However, as he drew the ki torch across the surface, he felt a scowl coming over him – the energy hadn't left a scratch on the sleek material!
Ki-proof armoring...?! Dammit, you've got to be joking!! That's not even--
Weapons fire from the nearby trenches nearly forced him upright until he realized that the marksmen weren't firing at him – they were again sniping at the horizon, and again, the barrel of the left-most tank was moving, acquiring a target area near the previous one.
The devilish smile returned to Vegeta as another cunning plan crossed his mind. As the tank's barrel began to charge energy, Vegeta raised his own energy level at the same time, keeping in sync with the growing cone. He stepped back and chanced standing low, waiting for the right moment and bracing himself for possible backwash of ki energy from the tank's discharge.
As the fiery bolt was launched from the sleek barrel, Vegeta brought down a pair of energized fists that crushed the metal hatch, the sudden shriek of metal masked by the dispersion of the left-most tank's energy bolt. Quickly surveying his work, he grinned maliciously – he'd succeeded in crushing the hatch inward, dislodging its hinges from the main body of the tank. Before the massive upsurge in ki could vanish completely, Vegeta tore the once-sturdy hatch open and slipped inside the belly of the iron mammoth, dropping down a small shaft and into the cramped, dimly-lit cockpit.
The two grunts manning the tank were rising up, obviously sensing an intruder as the morning light spilled into their vessel, but were still too slow to act. The closest one swung at him as soon as his feet hit the floor; Vegeta deftly ducked the punch and buried his fist into the attacker's gut, hearing the satisfying crunch of bone beneath his light armor.
The second was a bit smarter, reaching for his scouter to undoubtedly alert his comrades. Vegeta ended that particular thought with a swift elbow that nearly shattered the soldier's jaw. A quick twist and snap of his neck put him down onto the deckplates, and his stunned and sputtering comrade immediately followed suit in similar fashion. Vegeta dusted his hands, casually cracking his warm knuckles. No shots fired, not so much a sound aside from the breaking of bones and the pained grunting of his enemies.
He took a quick glance around at the complex webs of circuitry within the armored belly of the tank, but there was nothing apparent as to what made the mechanical behemoth tick...
He suddenly laughed to himself, amazed at his sudden short-sightedness. If it ran on ki power, he could probably sense wherever it was emanating from.
Sure enough, a quick scan with his mind sent him hurrying to the rear, where branches of thickly coated wiring were spidering out from a thickly-armored cubic device imbedded in the very back of the tank. A significant power source was inside the frame, too tempting for Vegeta to resist.
Almost too quickly for caution's sake, he reignited his miniscule ki torch on his finger, melting away the thick screws lining the outer rim of the front panel – thankfully, they weren't made of the same material that had somehow resisted his energy torch on the tank's entry hatch.
Illuminant gold light instantly filled the cramped cockpit as Vegeta removed the panel, so much so that the prince nearly had to shield his eyes to keep from being blinded. Using his gloved hand as a shield, Vegeta managed to gaze in utter amazement at the levitating gold orb inside the chamber.
A pure ball of ki energy...stabilized and feeding this entire tank with energy... This was technology that Frieza would've been salivating over back in their home time period – just as Vegeta could've pumped minute amounts of ki into his energy torch at practically no cost to his battle power, Damos had somehow been able to generate a stable, seemingly self-sustaining ki orb for use as a massive power outlet in his war machines.
One tiny ball...with the prodding of the right technology, it was able to produce energy blasts that these lesser rats could only dream of. And it eliminated added fuel costs that came with even Frieza's ships and energy-needy facilities. It was quite literally the perfect source of power.
As his eyes adjusted to the dazzling light, Vegeta noticed that the metal exterior hadn't been the only layering protecting the ki orb. Within the cubic frame, the energy orb was sealed in a transparent casing with tubes and wiring branching out, connecting to their heavily coated counterparts that fed power into the tank's circuits.
This was too great a find to simply pass up – Vegeta instinctively reached for the glass-like casing, eager to rip the prized treasure from its pedestal. He hesitated only briefly – for the first time, he was dealing with a technology that he didn't particularly understand and that carried potentially harmful consequences if handled incorrectly.
He cautiously reached for the inner casing, and while he expected the surface to be at nearly molten temperatures, his fingers eventually touched the transparent surface, and it was uncharacteristically cool.
Before he could second-guess himself further – and bracing himself for the energy to spiral out of control once it was disturbed – he gripped the case tightly and with a swift twist of his arm, he jerked the ki orb from its resting place, the simultaneous snapping of the tubes and wires filling the tank with a virulent hissing noise.
But nothing catastrophic occurred – no explosions, no alarms, nothing. As Vegeta cradled the cylindrical casing in his arm, the ki orb was pulsing silently, unaware of the disconnection to the machine that once housed it.
However, as he expected, the glowing circuitry within the tank's interior began to fade, the humming machinery slowing to a complete stop. As the interior lights darkened, Vegeta hurried back to the hatch, knowing full well that he couldn't hide his prize from the scouters of the oblivious sentries. Glancing down at the marvelous ki orb, he shook his head in revulsion at what he knew he'd have to do with it – he could make no use of such power on his own, and his only other options was to turn it over to the humans; if they could comprehend the ingenuity of this new resource at their disposal, they'd consider it a gift from the gods. At the moment, it didn't make any sense to leave such advanced technology for just Damos to utilize, and his logic pointed out to him that with the delivery of such a prize, the elites of the Silver Millennium would owe him yet another debt, a status well-worth savoring.
Of course, when this was all over, he'd want to return to their home era with this little gem – if for nothing else than a souvenir, but at the very most, as a treasure that would help light his future...to conquest.
There wasn't much left of the ragged human convoy that had slipped within their scouters' range. As Aerial Commander and Horde member Jinryx surveyed the smoking crater, only a few badly charred remains of the human forces remained to mourn. He nodded with satisfaction – he was not accustomed to commanding the ground-based forces that by far dominated the garrisons assigned to the Siege Wall of Crystal Tokyo, but he was pleased that the accuracy and cohesiveness of the tank divisions and their special operations support teams were nearly as flawless as his personal aerial squadron, the Seeker-killers. While he was secretly a bit annoyed that they had jumped the gun so quickly – they could've easily vaporized a person of high authority in the enemy government, someone they could've made use of against the remaining humans – at least they'd gotten the job done.
As the remainder of his squad scoured the remnants of the second crater created by their tanks, Jinryx's icy blue eyes caught a glimpse of the twisted, molten-hot remains of a human sword half-buried in the sand. He reached his black gauntlet down and lifted the chunk of slag from its resting place to confirm his suspicions. He nodded with an equally neutral face as he dropped the mangled weapon back to the grainy soil. Good, they had at least been military targets, as he'd expected. The small body count and small traces of mangled equipment indicated that it had probably been nothing more than a scouting crew that became too overconfident of their stealth or overzealous to gather information of the enemy garrisons.
"Anything useful here?" He pushed his long black hair out of his eyes as he turned toward his lieutenant. Treyos was a thin, nearly gaunt soldier, almost resembling the frail technicians and lab-rats aboard the general's private science ship, the Demonic. But what he lacked in brute strength, he compensated with his computer-like precision in battle. His skills as an aerial sniper and cool-headedness had propelled him to his current esteemed rank.
Treyos clicked off his scouter, his violet scales gleaming in the early morning sun.
"More rabble," He dryly reported. "If there was anything, the ground forces blasted it to atoms."
"Just as well!" A portlier sergeant guffawed from a short distance away, causing both Jinryx and Treyos to frown – for all of his skill in the air squadron, Dren's guttural, spit-laden ranting was what kept him bogged down in the rankings, whether or not the corpulent sergeant realized it. "Less of a mess for us to clean up."
"Could you please take the others to examine the second crater?" Jinryx declared. Dren – ever lost in his blissful boisterous ignorance – was happy to comply, trotting away and ordering a few of the lesser-ranking foot soldiers with him.
The remaining Seeker-killer members plodded around the massive kill-zone for a few more minutes in silence, until finally Treyos deactivated his scouter and turned to his commander, speaking lowly.
"I recently heard of the Forty-Third Squadron's downfall in the massacre recently," He dryly said. "Not a single one of them survived."
"Idle talk doesn't suit you," Jinryx replied, folding his arms.
"Had we been on active duty within that sector," Treyos continued. "We would've been able to respond easily and possibly retake the ground. And half of the squads wouldn't have been shell-shocked into freezing their positions until the causes were determined."
"Your point, lieutenant?" Jinryx's patience was greater than most of his contemporaries, especially his fellow Horde members. The recently-deceased Tridyx and his mentor Parvyx sprang to mind as those who would've responded to Treyos's droning with a ki blast to the throat.
"With respect, sir," Treyos breathed. "All of our placements in recent conquest campaigns, including the operations on this planet, have been away from the heart of combat – lighter air support teams have been given front-line assignments while we normally partake in siege-based work or scavenging. Even now, we are spread thin as the only aerial reconnaissance battalion spread over the entire border of the city. I have found it...irrational, almost unbecoming of General Damos not to utilize his finest aerial brigade to his full advantage."
The words had come quickly, perhaps because Treyos had feared offending his commander with such a disgruntled proclamation. Jinryx, however, simply breathed out slowly. He was expecting such words from his closer officers eventually; what Treyos had said was true, and he knew why.
"I do understand your concern, lieutenant..." He began. "But tell me this – what have many of the front-line squadrons been responsible for?"
Treyos thought for a moment, and then he responded simply.
"Seek-and-destroy primarily. Any targets spotted from their positions are to be instantly incinerated, no questions asked. Others, such as the ill-fated Forty-Third Squadron, are left as general support and back-up to the--"
"Yes, thank you, lieutenant," He cut off Treyos's dictionary-like response; at times, the well-learned second could be too analytical. "These, of course, aren't entirely military targets."
Treyos slowly nodded his head in understanding.
"You are still standing behind your creed of not engaging non-hostiles?" He ventured, drawing a nod from his superior. "It is commendable, sir. I had believed that the general had talked you out of such methods months ago."
Jinryx could remember that decidedly one-sided conversation he'd had with General Damos within the confines of his personal suite. In short form, he'd basically been lectured and yelled at by the general after Jinryx's refusal to execute a group of civilians on one of their previous campaigns. Such actions of benevolence, Damos had said, didn't inspire confidence of the Horde's members among the lower divisions, and if such confidence in Damos and his closest officers as efficient and effective hunters – after all, usual orders from their clients concerning conquest on a planetary scale often came with orders to wipe out all life, not simply the armed contingents – wavered in the slightest, their reputation and subsequently their profits were in danger of taking a hit. Jinryx had sworn up and down to carry himself 'more properly' from that point forward...
But still he hadn't been able to bring himself from assigning his squad to the tasks that would've required assault on the nonmilitary populace of their targeted worlds. After all, wild animals could rent and slaughter a defenseless critter with a quick splash of blood and a brief scream from the victim, and Jinryx's Seeker-killers were above such barbarism and berserker-like behavior; elite hunters sought after elite and worthy targets, or at least enemies that could and were willing to defend themselves. While he gladly performed exceedingly well in the hunting of such armed opponents – so well, in fact, that it was probably the sole reason that Damos had allowed him to remain within the elite ranks of the Horde – shedding the blood of noncombatants, even when absolutely necessary, was uncouth and far beneath what skilled hunters such as his Seeker-killers were capable of.
Hence, defending the captured settlements from what would most likely be military interference from without was far more satisfying and worthy of his forces. Let his barbaric comrades like Tridyx and Parvyx do the more dishonorable deeds that accompanied their trade.
On the heels of Treyos's last statement came another as Jinryx hadn't responded to him.
"Then the refugees that were attempting to escape the city...they were not taken under the general's instruction? You ordered their capture on your own?"
Jinryx nodded simply, prompting Treyos to nod approvingly at the gutsy maneuver.
"We will not soil ourselves with innocent blood," The Seeker-killer commander declared. "Once operations have concluded, they will be turned over to Bortyx; he will decide their fate."
Not that there was any question as to what that particular fate would be, but it would be on Bortyx's hands, not his.
Treyos looked ready to say something else when the scouters of both soldiers resounded with the eruption of an energy signature back near the tank lines. An alert status had been invoked on the surrounding area.
"An intruder!!" Dren barked from nearby; he ordered his entire troupe away from the crater and back toward the city. "More it, you fools, double-time!!"
The battle power displayed on Jinryx's black-tinted scouter brought an excited grin to his face. The numbers were shooting past seventy thousand and still climbing rapidly; that sort of battle power could've only been produced by the seven mystery warriors that had been primarily responsible for the massacre days previous, and from what he could make out over the garbled radio traffic, he was on the retreat, blasting away from the Siege Wall at an impressive speed.
Impressive, but not superior.
"Stay with Dren, lieutenant," He ordered to Treyos.
"You're the only one among us who could counter such energy," Treyos yielded as Jinryx lifted himself into the air. "If you require assistance, I will take the remainder of the squad in for back-up."
"Thank you, but I don't think it will be necessary," Jinryx rocketed away from the rest of his soldiers, pushing himself forward at his normal rate of speed. Within seconds, he was back to the support lines, where he noticed that one of the tanks had been turned nearly inside-out by a massive force; it was split open and smoldering in the middle of the roadway like a dissected corpse, its insides spilled everywhere. The energy taken to tear apart the metal beast had also been sufficient to uproot the nearby tanks, nearly sending them crashing into the buildings on either side of them. The snipers and foot soldiers were still scrambling about, attempting to scour the wreckage and ascertain what had happened, but the gargantuan fighter that had somehow taken them by surprise was not readily apparent – he was still retreating northward, unhindered.
Jinryx pushed more energy into his body, lifting himself above the buildings to avoid potential crash-landings at such high speeds. While the intruder was quick, perhaps quicker than most of his squadmates at top speed, Jinryx's speed was unparalleled among his contemporaries; sure enough, within minutes, he had the culprit in sight; his scouter handily pointed him out as Jinryx closed the gap. That was fortunate – he was garbed in similar attire as he was, except that his body armor was a pearl-white and he donned a jumpsuit beneath it. He could've easily passed for a high-ranking officer had he so wished.
The scouter's viewscreen also reported the expected – this was one of the humans' mystery mercenaries. He chuckled to himself; what a thrill this would be. One-on-one combat with a similarly powerful opponent was a true gift with which he was rarely presented. He'd obviously won all previous encounters, but no matter how close it had been, it sparked exhilaration in him that even he couldn't describe.
He arced left, almost pulling alongside the renegade, and in a last push, he jolted forward and cut sharply to the right, screeching to a dead stop directly in front of his target.
The armored fighter halted just as quickly, a bit surprised that Jinryx had caught up with him. In one crooked arm, he held a power core, obviously retrieved from the disemboweled tank. The iron glare on his narrow face gave no indication that he wished to return it. Jinryx folded his arms, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
"Greetings..." He simply said.
"You sure this is going to work?" Mars sounded unusually intrepid, though Sailor Venus could hardly fault her – every other strategy they'd run through to combat the frustrating combination of the extreme gravity and the cheetah-like ape had bombed out up until now. She does suppose that superior numbers would improve their odds, but failure now meant cannon-balling back down in the basement of morale.
"At this point," Jupiter cracked her knuckles together as she wiped away a fresh drop of blood that was seeping through from a knick above her eyebrow. "I'm willing to do anything to wipe that sneer off that little monkey's face."
Venus was just as ready, stretching her legs and taking a few deep breaths as she eyed up Bubbles, who'd seemingly forgotten about his would-be challengers. He was trotting around carefree, curiously examining the flower patches that dotted the meadow.
"Didn't you say you'd get Pluto to help us out here?" Venus asked Mars.
The raven-haired priestess gave an exasperated shake of her head.
"No good; she told me that she wasn't moving until she was absolutely certain that she would be able to catch him. Until then, all she's doing is sitting there and meditating."
"Meditate?" Jupiter cast a confused glance back toward the time soldier. Sure enough, she was still at her position against the trunk of the thick oak tree, legs crossed and arms slightly extended. Her scarlet eyes were shut, as motionless as the rest of her. "How in the world is that going to help anything?!"
"Well, we could be going about this all wrong…" Venus wondered aloud as she eyed the enigmatic Sailor Pluto. "What do you think, Rei – can just meditating and that other sort of mental mumbo-jumbo give us strength faster than the direct approach? Because if it can, I'll gladly take a snooze and wake up with a goddess's power…"
Mars nearly scowled in her direction.
"It's not as simple as that! I can't feel much of a mantra within her…" Mars studied the statue-like Sailor Pluto with a bit of reticence. "I don't know what she's thinking, but unless she knows something I don't, mental exercises won't do the trick to overcome this…"
"Don't tell me…" Venus leaned over and elbowed Sailor Mars lightly in her arm. "You tried it already?"
Sailor Mars growled back at her, prompting Venus to chuckle a bit.
"Let's just get this over with…" She snapped, stepping away from the rest of the group. Within a small copse of trees a short distance away from Bubbles, Sailor Mercury was waiting somewhere within the maze of oak trunks for the signal – once Mars lit up the sky with her Fire Soul attack to get the monkey's attention, Mercury would come in with Shabon Spray, effectively rendering the field a foggy maze. Venus smirked as Sailor Mars brought her gloved fingers to a point and formed a tiny fireball at the tips. With any luck, the diversionary tactics would disorient Bubbles long enough for at least one of them to make the winning grab.
But, as Sailor Venus awaited the execution of their plan, something was amiss as Sailor Mars summoned up her usual ball of fire for the Fire Soul attack. Normally, she would be able to sprout a healthy-sized fireball in a matter of seconds, but Venus was surprised to see a considerable amount of strain on the face of Sailor Mars, and the tiny fireball she had summoned dissipated as she let out a gasp of air. She nearly dropped her stance, panting heavily.
Jupiter and Venus hurried over to her.
"It's alright..." Mars shook her head. "It's just this gravity, makes it more difficult to keep my fireballs together..."
Venus frowned – yet another weight added to the crushing pile on their backs. At first, she hadn't imagined that the phantom force enveloping the planet would inhibit their innate powers. In the back of her mind, thinking back to how Lord Kaio had claimed to have studied up on everything about them, she wondered if this was by design.
If the plump cosmic huckster was still around, she was certain that he'd be readily pointing out with a wicked grin whether or not she was correct. He thankfully had excluded himself as much as possible from their current training, only setting out from the grounds of his majestic palace to offer them food every so often, usually after a particularly rigorous capture effort. Whatever he was doing within the halls of his estate, Venus was still certain that he was keeping track of their progress somehow. At least, she hoped he was – it would be all the more satisfying when they finally caught his obnoxious pet.
"Okay...I think I've got it this time..." Mars had steeled herself, tensing her arms and legs as she conjured up another fireball at the tips of her fingers, She had better luck with this one, stretching it to its usual size. "Hope Mercury's prepared for this..."
Jupiter and Venus readied themselves – once Sailor Mercury carried out her part of the plan, they would have to act quickly before Bubbles's had recovered his wits. Sailor Venus allowed a cocky grin to cross her face – if nothing else, they could still at least outsmart the chubby little ape.
Mars released the Fire Soul attack, the flaming comet arcing upward directly above Bubbles's head before Sailor Mars mentally commanded it to disperse. She instantly fell out of her attack stance as the air around them suddenly grew moist and chilly. Venus braced herself to move – Sailor Mercury had released a Shabon Spray attack as Bubbles's beady eyes quickly darted around. The area was almost instantly coated in a curtain-like fog; they couldn't see Bubbles very well, but he had to know he'd been caught in a trap and was likely bewildered at this new methodology from his opponents. There would never be a better time to capture him.
"Where, Mars?" Venus demanded beneath her breath. "Where is he?"
"Straight ahead," She could sense his spirit, or so she'd told Venus and Jupiter before this attempt. Mars had been proud of how effectively she could analyze their current 'dead' forms as well as those of their hosts since their arrival in the after-world. She'd been communicating with such forces in the living world with enough ease; being in the very source of those celestial powers had added an entire dimension to her mind powers. With her eyes tightly closed, she seemed to be studying the ape's movements beyond the thick veil of mist. "He'd looking in all directions. He can't sense us…I'm sure of it!"
All three Sailor Soldiers seized the chance and bolted forward through the dense chill of the fog toward what they thought be potential pay-dirt.
But as they continued pitching forward, they realized grimly that they'd already passed whatever location Bubbles had been standing in only moments previous. As Venus's heels crunched on the flowers he'd been sniffing, the realization was confirmed. She swore to herself – where had the crafty ape disappeared to this time?
"Mars, where is he??" Jupiter snapped, her eyes darting in all directions in a vain search for their target. "Dammit…we were so close…!!"
Sailor Mars had resumed her blind stance, her forefingers outstretched and searching through the thick mist like a radar sensor.
"He panicked…ran off…" She absently murmured. "He's close…the energy is hazy through the fog…"
Venus realized that they were drifting away from each other during their harried search – she could barely see Mars and Venus's forms through the mist, and she hardly possessed the innate sense for spiritual energy that Sailor Mars had...
Suddenly, a movement from up ahead caught her gaze. A small form had just slipped away through the veiled screen of mist. Venus cracked her knuckles, crouching low and proceeding forward. What was the old expression, 'hide in plain view?' At least, she thought it was. Somehow, Bubbles had evaded Mars's senses and had concealed himself close by, hoping they'd stumble right past them.
As if she'd be outsmarted by a mere animal.
Sailor Venus proceeded cautiously along, keeping herself from crunching down on any twigs or flowers and breathing lowly to avoid attracting attention from the panicky monkey.
Minutes passed as she edged ever closer to the shadowy form nearby – it kept just out of her view, its size and shape masked by Mercury's Shabon Spray attack. She didn't hear Jupiter or Mars anymore, nor did she hear their movements through the field, but she didn't have time to return for them – calling for them might blow her cover, and besides, she couldn't imagine how infuriated they would be once she emerged from the mist as the first to capture the skittering Bubbles. She'd never let them live it down.
Suddenly, as tense, silent seconds passed, a loud crashing noise from the nearby northwest sent the vague apparition scurrying forward, out of her view.
Dammit!! No, you don't!! The others must've spotted him first and bungled the capture attempt – she wouldn't be so clumsy!
She dashed forward at full sprint through the fog, desperate to salvage the failed attempt by her comrades. If she was lucky, he'd be retreating toward her in his frenzy, waltzing practically right into her arms.
The cloudy shape appeared in her vision again, a squat, frozen form directly in her path; she grinned devilishly to herself – this was it, he was hers! Venus dove forward arms outstretched toward the dumpy form, certain victory only inches away…
…only to find her eager hands meeting the upper back of Sailor Jupiter; Venus's momentum propelled her face-first into her comrade's shoulder blades. Both girls shrieked, pitching forward and crashing in a heap on top of two other crumpled forms.
The misty world suddenly began to fade, the clouds dissipating into the spring air as the temperature rose to its normal state once more. As the sky above her spun, Venus realized that the Shabon Spray had dispersed more quickly than normal. Perhaps it had been the same detriment to Sailor Mars's Fire soul attack, the gravity interference…
…or perhaps it was because all three of them were piled on top of Sailor Mercury, nearly crushing her into soil.
As Venus rolled off of the pile and a fresh wave of pain rushed to her skull, the scenario became so clear to her: the loud crashing had been Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury – the two on the bottom of the pile-up – 'finding' each other, each presuming the other to be Bubbles. Jupiter had checked on them at the worst possible time; hence the two of them being on top.
As the bright pink sky continued to spin all around her, an all-too-familiar form stood over her, blinking its tiny black eyes in confusion at her predicament. Her senses jumbled in the crash, Venus barely had the wits to register Bubbles as he began poking at her forehead with her chubby finger. That brought her back to coherent thought more rapidly; she swatted at the offending appendage with a guttural roar emerging from her throat. Bubbles naturally turned tail and bolted before she could make a grab for him, sprinting at an even faster pace to the distant horizon.
Sailor Venus pulled herself to her feet, fuming as she eyed the lucky monkey with a deathgaze – this wasn't over yet.
Within the expansive gymnasium on the main ground of Beta Squadron's training barracks, Yamcha was beginning to lose what tenuous amount of patience he did have with the struggling human commanders. He squatted down, running his hands through his dark spiked hair as another of the battalion's officers ignited a ki sphere that promptly exploded in his hand, and were it not for his uniform, he would've likely contracted moderate burns. Elsewhere, as Krillin volleyed a few tiny ki orbs in the direction of several other ready soldiers, they still proved too timid for the exercise, a few of them diving to the side while the rest - at least eager to attempt mastery of ki defense - completely misread the angle of the incoming projectiles, and the minute rays stung them in the knees or grazed their arms as they attempted to block them.
While Yamcha understood their inexperience and aversion to this particular style of fighting, this was becoming overly tedious. This shouldn't have been so complicated - he and Krillin had been clear in explaining the physics behind the ki manipulation; brash and foolish as most thought Yamcha to be, it hadn't taken him this long to grasp even the basics when he was a novice.
After several minutes more of similar disappointments, Yamcha finally reached his limit. With a loud whistle that resonated throughout the chamber, he called the attention of the dozen practicing officers on the floor. They dragged themselves over, most of themselves looking bewildered and ragged from the latest experience.
"Alright, I think that's enough for today," Yamcha tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice but found that he wasn't successful, and his students seemed to realize it, a few looking indignant and others lowering their eyes in frustration. "We'll try another crack at this tomorrow - start fresh."
He and Krillin dismissed the officers with a few more words of optimism, but Yamcha's miniature friend was far more enthusiastic than he was.
"Better progress than the last few days put together," Krillin nodded his head hopefully. "I'd say a week or so more and they should be ready to pass this on to their men."
"Aren't you Mr. Optimism," Yamcha stretched his stiff neck, massaging a particularly tight tendon in his right shoulder. "It's amazing these guys are military men - I figured that after thousands of years, we'd have come up with something, anything better than playing with swords..."
Krillin rolled his eyes, not so much in frustration but in grudging agreement.
"These guys have been raised in fighting differently than we have," He said. "Put them in an organized tactical line or in a team effort, and they might teach us a thing or two."
"Yeah, line them up and the aliens'll knock 'em down like a shooting gallery," While Yamcha certainly didn't profess being a grand master in terms of the Kamesennin style of martial arts, he thought his expertise would provide the hapless Crystal Tokyo fighters with more of an edge than what they were getting. After all, Gohan was performing swimmingly with Saturn and ChibiMoon, and they were kids for crying out loud...
Krillin was glancing up at him with concern, obviously disturbed by the sudden burst of negativity from the normally robust brawler. Yamcha attempted to cast the doom-and-gloom aura away.
"Hey, I said we'd whip these boys into shape, and we will! It's just not as smooth a ride as I was hoping for at first, okay?"
Krillin seemed more disturbed by the snap out of his friend.
"I didn't say we wouldn't! It's just...maybe we should ask for some help. Ten and Chaozu aren't doing anything, you know..."
"You saying we can't do this alone?" Yamcha bit once again.
"I'm saying we shouldn't have to!" Krillin was on the defensive and clearly uncomfortable in being so, especially with someone his considered a close friend. "Ten's got a lot of experience; we could speed up the process--"
Yamcha snuffed again, rolling his eyes.
"You wanna start kissing his ass, too, huh?" He snorted. "Geez, Piccolo gives him a couple kind words and suddenly he's the whole show around here..."
"Hey, wait a minute..." Krillin's discomfort suddenly grew into near-hostility over the stinging remarks. "You know I didn't mean that! He's hardly got a big head about all this, and you know it!"
In his mind, Yamcha acknowledged that as such, which was one reason he was so agitated. Of course Tenshinhan wasn't arrogant or boastful about his current standing as acting leader of the group - he probably couldn't even fathom the concept of 'ego.' No matter what, he always maintained that perfect balance between cocky and confident, allowing just enough pride to appear as a flawless fighter, a purposeful master of his trade.
Such had been the manner in which Crystal Tokyo's military had begun to treat him over the past days, much to Yamcha's increasing annoyance. Captain Benson had delivered personal update reports for the Z Warriors straight to him, the guards had begun to offer him respected salutes whenever they passed by - hell, after his well-timed Solar Flare in the enemy ambush against the western garrisons, he'd even been looked upon as a warrior of the Sun by some of the superstitious civilians, which was definitely stretching things in Yamcha's mind. He almost wished that Tenshinhan would develop a slight ego after obtaining his vaunted status so as to have an excuse for his rage, but no such doing - Ten was still acting as the humble mediator, the voice of reason...
"Don't tell me that you of all people are jealous," Krillin's levity had returned upon seeing Yamcha's scornful gaze. He gave his friend a hardy slap on the back. "Relax, these guys here take you seriously enough. We're still considered the superhuman freaks here, remember? They'll come around."
Yamcha snorted again, Krillin's laughter not elevating his mood - the bald monk's words were truthful, but whereas Tenshinhan was considered a righteous savior, a godsend in the most extreme sense, Yamcha had easily sensed the lack of similar repute from his recent trainees, most of which were far ahead in years compared to him. In fact, he could probably attest such ill sentiment as a reason for their lack of progress - they viewed him as a child, a mutant thug that saw their fight for survival as nothing but a gigantic melee, a wondrous and never-ending free-for-all. While the thought of cracking so many skulls had been quite an appealing bonus for coming to Crystal Tokyo – he had defended Earth in the past before and died once doing so. To graciously take on that burden again and not even get a sliver of respect or gratitude because of youth and a more robust demeanor...
No sooner had Yamcha finished ruminating than the object of his frustration appeared at the entrance to the gym. Tenshinhan passed Krillin and Yamcha some friendly waves as he approached. As Yamcha seethed internally at the various salutes being passed toward Tenshinhan by the departing commanders, Krillin nudged him forward.
"Hey, forget about it today; I'm up for some food!"
Yamcha took a breath and buried his negativity for the time being. He gave Tenshinhan a reprisal wave as he got closer, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for blustering so sharply in front of Krillin. He wondered if Tenshinhan's acute hearing had caught any of their conspicuous shouting. From the broad smile on the muscular fighter's face, Yamcha doubted it.
"Any luck with the Beta Squadron commanders?" He wondered.
Krillin gave a shaky, semi-confident shrug.
"It's a work in progress...we're starting to manage though! They've gotten formation of ki energy down, it's just a matter of controlling it and defending against enemy ki blasts..."
"Glad to hear it," Tenshinhan nodded proudly. "Gohan, the princess, and Sailor Saturn were about to demonstrate some of their newfound skills to the king in the Alpha Battalion's barracks. I'm kinda curious to see how they've been doing. Care to join me?"
Both Kamesennin students readily agreed; Yamcha himself was curious as to how much progress had been made with Gohan's rigorous training methods - stolen off of his past regiments with Piccolo, no doubt. He'd been there the first day when he'd driven both Sailor Soldiers to the point of exhaustion, but according to all accounts, they were fast learners and were making noticeable progress in a matter of days.
The stinging guilt swept away from him as Tenshinhan offered to lead the way. He supposed that he should've been grateful that at least one of their numbers had bonded with their allies so quickly over the past days - even if Yamcha couldn't share personal glory, it did increase their chances of coexisting with the Crystal Tokyo military until the conflict was over.
But his remorse didn't alter his goal - Tenshinhan's godlike-status or not, by the time this was over, he would garner the respect he deserved.
"She looks quite nervous," Captain Benson quietly said to the king as Endymion observed his daughter's warm-up exercises. "Hasn't she shown off any of her improved techniques to you since she began her training? She usually can't wait to show you a new piece of jewelry two seconds after she gets it."
Endymion shook his head almost casually toward Benson, the formalities faltering between them - he considered the captain more of a confidant than a military commander, though he'd performed more than his share of duties within the Special Forces since its inception after the wars with the Black Moon. As a soldier, Royce Benson had always found his way into the company of the royal family during his duties, and during that time, he'd become almost as much a friend to Endymion and Serenity as the Sailor Soldiers.
"I've asked her to keep the demonstrations for special occasions; I'd rather that she develop on her own than with me holding her hand and correcting her."
"Her mother wouldn't approve of that strategy," He jokingly said as Endymion noticed a partial contingent of the Z Warriors entering the gymnasium from the far side. All of them, in fact, except of course for Vegeta, who'd been left to his own devices over recent days. That had caused some concern among the commanders, especially Sailor Uranus in particular, but Endymion's logic had been to simply point the Saiyan's belligerent energies in the direction of the alien troops and their alleged leader, who had seemingly earned a special place within the Vegeta's cross-hairs.
He turned back to the captain.
"Can we still afford to keep them here as teachers for the moment?"
Benson's expression grew darker.
"Not for much longer, I'm afraid. The enemy had resumed strikes at our outlying squads as they're falling back to the palace. I think that shock from the Le Fin attack has finally worn off and they'll be hitting us hard again on a regular basis."
Endymion nodded grimly, the news not surprising but disheartening nonetheless. The overhauling of their Special Forces and the resuscitation of the Sailor Soldiers promised significant results, but they were still very much works-in-progress, and they would continue until the Piccolo and Neptune returned with the Dragonballs to revive the Inner Soldiers and Sailor Pluto.
"And there's still no consensus of the battalion commanders on which course of action would be wisest to follow?" Endymion inquired. He'd of course been present for deliberations between his higher commanders when Tenshinhan and his top remaining Sailor Soldier commander had introduced their particular strategies for the upcoming stages of the war. Even he had to admit that the three-eyed sentinel's plan for striking at the suffocating barrier around the city was dubious at best – no amount of Special Forces would be able to supplement such a massive strike without severe casualties, but the same could be said if Sailor Uranus's suggestion of continual withdrawal from the city. If the enemy forces caught wind of a total retreat, they could easily surge up and cut off fleeing units and gain further ground on the palace. Benson's pessimistic gaze told the king his response, and Endymion felt his neck tightening – they wouldn't be able to wait for promised reinforcements from the afterlife for much longer.
"We'll discuss this later; it looks like they're ready," Endymion motioned for the captain to join him alongside the circular ring. The Z Warriors paid both of them greeting as they stepped closer.
"I've got to congratulate all of you. The reports I've heard regarding your methods are remarkable, to say the least," The king said to his allies, though he maintained a bit of a serious demeanor.
Tenshinhan seemed to notice the solemnity, his cool smile hardening into concern almost instantly.
"What's the problem?"
Endymion nearly chuckled - just like Piccolo, nothing escaped his watchful eyes.
"We'll all talk later..." Endymion noticed Benson excusing himself, hurrying over to the western edge of the gymnasium in the direction of a few uniformed Special Forces soldiers. "...For now, accept my gratitude for your efforts."
Usagi passed her father an excited expression as passed closer - the supervision of the army hadn't left Endymion with a lot of time to visit his daughter in between her training sessions, but as he observed her, he did notice that Gohan's regiment had produced noticeable results. She stood a bit straighter, moved a bit quicker, and she appeared less delicate and more hardened than before. If they survived this war, he decided that he would insist that she keep up such rigorous practice, if nothing else than to keep her healthy and active.
Spotting a familiar figure near the ring, Endymion stepped away from the crowd and sauntered over to her.
"You know, you can inter-mingle with the rest of them; you have my official permission if that's what you're looking for," He smiled at Haruka, who returned an indifferent expression and no words. "You haven't exactly been very out in the open since Michiru left and Hotaru's gone with Gohan. It might not be a bad idea."
"Nothing personal, Your Majesty, but you make a better king than a psychologist," She joked slightly, eyeing Sailor Saturn on the sidelines. Much like Usagi, the Soldier of Death was noticeably hardened and boasting a more confident demeanor as she observed Gohan and the princess readying themselves in the ring.
"You seem proud of your daughter, at least," Endymion noted as Haruka smirked. "Who knows, she might be able to stand up to you hand-to-hand in a fight sooner or later with all the work she's doing while you're on the sidelines doing paperwork…"
"You're not going to change my mind about this," She said obstinately as she folded her arms. "I'm just here for moral support at the moment. I'll earn more strength in my own way--"
"Without the guidance of a Saiyan child, right?" Endymion intuitively remarked with an amused smile. Haruka's lips tightened as she looked away. "Oh, I suppose I can understand how you feel about him – he's naïve, reckless, headstrong, overly zealous in the pursuit of justice, quite unreliable, I'm sure...Didn't you once consider Serenity in a similar patronizing manner, in the Old Era?"
Haruka simply shook her head.
"She at the very least wasn't part of a barbaric race like the Saiyans when I first met her."
"But she did prove herself to you in the end," Endymion pointed out. "You're still not willing to admit that despite all of this – Gohan's deferment to our regulations, the enlightenment of our Special Forces to the enemy's fighting style, and the combined work of all the Z Warriors among the soldiers and civilians – that Gohan might be on our side?"
"No, sir."
Endymion turned away, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
"You're a very stubborn woman, Haruka."
"Yes, sir." She smirked back toward him.
"All right..." Gohan stretched his arms above his head, and then he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he prepared for his first opponent of the day. Sailor Saturn was beaming toward him at the other side of the ring, the Silence Glaive hanging loosely in her hands as she sized up her mentor. From the childish twinkling in Gohan's eyes that emerged whenever they entered into the sparring portion of the training, she was beginning to believe that he was more excited with the prospect of fighting an opponent than teaching and critiquing their progress.
Of course, Gohan was still holding back the lion's share of his power for the sake of encouraging such progress while still providing a formidable adversary that was comparable to the enemy soldiers they would face on the real battlefield. While she'd taken her share of bumps, bruises, and other minor injuries during the now days-long program, she's noticed that both her advancement along with Sailor ChibiMoon's had forced Gohan to crank up his reserves as well, and during previous bouts, she'd been able to begin maneuvering through his lightning-fast barrages and deflect his tougher energy attacks with greater quickness and without loss of much power on her end. Perhaps that had been another reason for the boy's teeming elation – now he had the chance to utilize more energy in the sparring without risk of harming his students or deterring their development.
She took in a heavy breath, spinning the glaive almost effortlessly above her head to the delight of the onlookers. It had never been a challenge to wield the weapon, but its metal frame now felt even more lightweight and maneuverable in her hands than ever before.
Gohan took up a fighting stance, smirking and beckoning her with a slight wag of his fingers. She was more than happy to oblige, rushing forward with the glaive pointed down and away – she'd learned not to rely on its length too easily when dealing with her teacher.
"I can still see you!" Gohan appeared to taunt her, but she knew it wasn't the case; he was observing her lack of sufficient speed, which they had drilled almost vociferously a few days before.
Saturn responded by energizing the area around her as she moved, using her innate power as well as minute energized ki to shift her form. She felt the still-peculiar twinging of her nerves, especially in her legs and arms as she felt herself sailing forward at an inhuman speed. While Gohan should've still been caught frozen in his defensive stance as she suddenly loomed over him, he was still quicker, vanishing in the same instant as she arrived with an upward swing of her glaive.
"Don't peek!" She heard a faint echo of his thoughts as she momentarily paused. Taking the cue, she felt the area around her with her senses, seeking what should've been a sudden upsurge in ki energy.
There!
She felt him lurching above the ring, and she was quick to bound up after him, the mixed ki energy and her Sailor Soldier power carrying her far off the ground.
This time, her glaive was ensnared as she tried a slash at Gohan's waist. The Saiyan hybrid's small but sturdy hands had grasped the high end of the glaive's shaft, the sharpened tip of the blade centimeters away from his exposed arms.
"Not bad…" He remarked, noticing that Saturn had clandestinely taken one hand off of the glaive. She thrust it toward Gohan, and she actually produced a decent sized ki orb that he barely managed to dodge. The energy ball singed the boy's thick shaggy hair before spiraling toward the rear wall, detonating just before impact. She received a few slight rounds of applause from the onlookers. In reality, formation of ki balls was somewhat easier than she'd anticipated – it wasn't as if she was unaccustomed to forming spherical energy projectiles already.
Gohan seized the opportunity, driving a knee into Sailor Saturn's sternum that sent her off-balance. Days before, that may've spelled the end, but she was quick to jerk back her glaive and use it to parry Gohan's sudden flurry of offense. Punches and kicks hit cold, impenetrable steel as the pair floated downward, exchanging blows and occasional balls of energy.
As the furious duel continued, Saturn heard Gohan's voice again.
"Still working out your frustrations from last time?" The tone was surprisingly jovial. They hadn't discussed Saturn's heated exchange with Gohan after the casino fight; why he would bring it up at such an inopportune time baffled her.
"You made a mistake!" She swung almost wildly, nearly decapitating at him without realizing it. Gohan managed a backflip that carried him away from her range. "Wouldn't you react that way if any of your friends were needlessly put in danger?"
She pushed herself forward again, wanting to maintain her persistence. Gohan launched a few preemptive ki blasts to halt her progress; Sailor Saturn dodged the first two and deflected the third away. A quick spin-kick grazed Gohan yet again, and as her momentum carried her body in a half-turn, Gohan snared her in a headlock and jammed his fist into the small of her back.
"I've been there before…" He quickly said almost directly into her ear. "…and I'm sorry about what happened in Le Fin."
After a few more shots into her kidneys, Saturn threw her weight forward, and the smaller fighter was pitched over her head. She bolted after him as he tumbled through the air as if he were weightless. She slammed him in his stomach with the butt of her glaive, and before he could recover, she generated a Silence Glaive Surprise attack. Gohan righted himself as the dark orb rocketed toward him, and he managed a ki defense as the attack erupted against him. He burst forth from the dispersed energy, looking a bit frazzled but carrying an approving smirk.
"Apology accepted," Sailor Saturn breathed out. "Tell me, Gohan, is that why you offered to train us? As penance for your mistake?"
"Partially," He admitted as he prepared himself again. Both combatants darted forward for another exchange of blows that again ended in a stalemate. "Besides, it's my way of helping out from my place on the sidelines."
"You mean, your way of protecting us?" She corrected him as she launched another Silence Glaive Surprise attack that Gohan was able to zip out of the way of. Saturn tracked his movement, crossing paths several yards away and dealing another series of attempted blows toward Gohan. "As per your creed?"
"Maybe," A quick unexpected kick dislodged the glaive from Saturn's grasp, and the two grappled arms in a slight power struggle. "Is there something wrong with watching out for friends?"
"If necessary, I can protect the princess just as well, even if it means the highest cost," She pushed forward, her taller frame giving her a slight advantage. "That's one of my primary purposes as a Sailor Soldier."
Gohan faltered slightly in his stance, and Saturn relented as she watched the confusion swirl on his face.
"To die?" He asked. "That's one of your primary purposes? That's what they told you to do?"
Both fighters had stopped pushing, as Saturn wasn't sure how to come back against the remark. She'd always known it to be that simple at its basic level, but nobody had really put it to her in that manner.
"As I said…if necessary; when I was reborn as Sailor Saturn and was taken in by Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, and Setsuna-mama, our mission was to safeguard the future princess, Serenity; now that she is queen, the Inners look after her while we protect the future of the kingdom, ChibiUsa," She told him. "But were I die in her service, it would be for someone I think of as a dear friend, not just a member of royalty. It would be as if I was doing it for Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama. Wouldn't you do the same for your friends, your family?"
"Well, yeah…but for you, it's different," He replied uneasily. "You just act as if it's a certainty; you're just waiting for the right moment when your life ends, just like that."
Saturn was bewildered by the assessment.
"I…I don't…"
"It's already happened a few times, or at least it could've," Gohan continued. "Mission or not, I mean, your family probably doesn't want you to make that type of sacrifice either. Wouldn't they all miss you if you were gone, even if you died saving ChibiUsa?"
Sailor Saturn found herself in a stunned silence; his sentiment echoed those that the Inner Soldiers and Serenity herself had held for the Outer Soldiers all along. But it was strange hearing it from an outsider, particularly one she hadn't known for very long.
But…it was a nice kind of strange.
"Bravo, bravo!!" Endymion was calling to them from the ground, and Saturn realized that she and Gohan had been simply floating there, arms still entangled for nearly a full minute, motionless. The group on the ground was applauding as well, evidently assuming they were done with their small exhibition. She quickly detached from him in embarrassment – she didn't want more ammunition for ChibiUsa to use against her later. "A very brilliant display! Both of you have performed splendidly!"
"We'd better get down," She suggested as she tried her best to pleasantly soak in the applause from the Z Warriors as well as Captain Benson and the king. She was also pleased to spot Haruka-papa a short distance from the ring, nodding with tremendous regard at her surrogate daughter. Saturn nearly found herself blushing; she normally didn't have this kind of positive reaction from this many people. "I'm sure the king is eager to see the princess in action as well."
Before Gohan could respond, she descended.
Chaozu opened the door to their suite, his tiny body demanding rest after a busy day. While he hadn't been out warring against the aliens, he had been mingling among the civilians of Crystal Tokyo, who'd been slightly improving in their spirits over the past days. While the official stories about their origins were still sketchy among the ragged survivors of the war, most only cared that they were able to take such a vicious fight to the monsters attempting to exterminate the human race.
As for Chaozu, he'd provided some much needed moral support to the huddled masses, especially to the human children, the ones most affected by the recent pillaging of their world. He'd showed off his telekinetic powers to a few audiences, given information to some of the more inquisitive families about the past era of Earth; he hated to say it, but at the moment he was acting as the group's cheerleader among their new allies. It wasn't a comfortable feeling, but with Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Krillin overseeing the training of the soldiers and Gohan off with the two Sailor Soldiers, he decided that his resources were better used elsewhere, and it would keep him from becoming overly bored.
Nevertheless, entertaining and informing for hours at a time had left him a bit drained. It also hadn't helped that he still needed to dodge around the question of the Sailor Soldiers who hadn't been seen since the attack of the three alien commanders. Apparently, such a long absence from the refugees was unusual for them - some paranoid citizens had even guessed at the grim fates that Endymion had been so desperate not to reveal to the tenuously emotional survivors. Chaozu hadn't let anything slip, but it was evident that the despite the presence of capable reinforcements, the people demanded the return of their champions to their midst. He wasn't sure how much longer they could keep their deaths a secret.
Removing his black knit cap, he strolled across the plush carpeting to the nearest sofa, levitating himself up and dropping softly onto the feather cushioning. He immersed himself in the plush furniture, his eyes slowly drifting out of focus...
...until a small whispering noise caught his attention. Chaozu sat upright, glancing around in bewilderment. He could've sworn he'd heard a light voice murmuring nearby.
"Taking a breather?" Krillin's sudden voice startled him; he'd entered the suite while Chaozu had nodded off. He chuckled to himself - perhaps he was beginning to absorb some of Sailor Uranus's paranoia. "I'm with you - being an instructor's a lot tougher than I thought."
Krillin strolled across the room, disappearing through the white door in the corner and into the bathroom.
Chaozu let out a deep breath and settled back down, yawning audibly as he closed his eyes again. But before he completely fell asleep, the voice came back again, joined this time by another. Chaozu couldn't make out any words, but he was positive that something or somebody nearby was whispering.
He sat up again, staring around the ornate room; nobody else had come in, and this time, the noise couldn't have been from Krillin.
After a brief few seconds more, he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, from beneath one of the beds. Chaozu tracked the scampering form, no higher than his waistline, across the room; he wasn't certain what it was until it passed in front of the bathroom door.
At that same instant, Krillin was strolling out leisurely, wiping his face with a towel and clearly not seeing the sudden intruder. Chaozu saw the monk stumble slightly as he passed into the suite, losing his balance and tumbling to the ground; at the same time, their ears were jarred by a shrill screech that came from the eavesdropper.
"Hey, that hurt!! Why don't you watch where you're walking!" A high-pitched voice complained. Chaozu froze – that certainly wasn't Krillin's voice; it was as light and airy as ChibiUsa's.
The bewildered monk's eyes shot over to whatever had tripped him up, astonishment prevalent on his round face. Chaozu hurried over; the tiny figure had dove under a stray pillow after Krillin had inadvertently trampled on it.
After spotting a pair of angered eyes glowering at them beneath the silk pillowcase, Chaozu found himself equally astonished as the feisty spy poked her head out from under the cushion: their 'guest' was a grey-furred kitten bearing a brilliant gold crescent moon on her forehead. And she was bearing a small but sharp set of teeth in their direction.
"Honestly, how could such tough guys like you be so clumsy?! Do you know how much my tail's going to sting for the next few days?!" She spat as Chaozu and Krillin exchanged muted glances. Being roughly ten centuries into the future, certainly they should've expected what they might've perceived as abnormalities in the general lifestyle of the future culture, but talking animals had never entered into Chaozu's consideration as something that was commonplace in Crystal Tokyo, let alone one with an attitude.
"It's…a housecat?" Krillin managed, standing up. That provoked the kitten even further – it hissed loudly at him, and Krillin recoiled.
"'Housecat?'" She snapped. "You nearly crush me to death, and all you can say is 'IT'S' a common housecat?! How rude! Didn't they teach you manners back in your time? I may be a cat, but I'm still part of royalty – the princess is my best friend, thus making me much more than just an ordinary 'housecat!'"
Chaozu blinked. With such a hot temper, he wasn't surprised that she was close with the princess; he almost felt compelled to prepare to defend himself with the way she was carrying on. Poor Krillin looked ready to fall apart where he stood – he never was good with dealing with tongue-lashings, at least according to Gohan.
"Diana!" Another voice, this one also belonging to a woman, chided the kitten from a short distance behind the two. Chaozu and Krillin whirled around, spotting a full-grown cat neatly sitting close by. While sporting the same golden crescent moon on her brow as her smaller counterpart, her fur was a shiny hue of black, and red eyes gleaming with intelligence gazed out at them. The surprises kept growing for the Chaozu; how had they gotten into their suite? "I would think that we've taught you those same manners. Had you not been eavesdropping on them, perhaps your tail wouldn't have gotten stepped on."
Her voice was soothing, almost motherly, but Chaozu still eyed her with wariness – he began to wonder if this was some type of evolutionary trait among animals at this point on Earth, or perhaps they'd been able to talk all along and simply hadn't revealed it until recently. Either way, he couldn't help but observe the two cats with wonder.
While the kitten was defiantly silent, simply snuffing at the black cat's warning, the latter nimbly hopped onto the nearby bed, smiling at Chaozu and Krillin.
"I must apologize for the behavior of my daughter; she usually takes a liking to strangers and since your arrival, she's been quite interested in all of you."
Chaozu attempted to allay his awkward silence – she was being civil, and the least he could do was to not stare at her as if she were an alien. While she looked like a cat, Chaozu could sense an intelligent and benevolent spirit within her – she was definitely more 'human' than animal.
"Well, you know what they say about curiosity and cats…" He chuckled. "But who are you? And…why were you spying on us?"
"As I said, my daughter's overt curiosity is difficult to contain, especially with anything related to the Old Era," She replied. "As for myself, my name is Luna; I've acted as a guardian and advisor for the royalty of the Silver Millennium since the Old Era; and it's a pleasure, despite circumstances--" She passed an admonishing glance to the smaller kitten, who huffed indignantly again. "--it's a pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face."
Chaozu responded to the cordial greeting in kind, though Krillin was still stammering slightly when it came his turn. Exasperated, Diana bounded up from the ground, perching herself directly atop the monk's bald dome and passing an irritated expression toward him.
"Relax, it's not like we're going to bite you or anything," She said casually to him as Krillin winced uncomfortably. "You're in the presence of royalty, you know; you could at least be respectful."
"Sorry…" Krillin muttered as Chaozu fought to contain a small amount of laughter. "Um, could you please get down? Your claws are digging into my scalp…"
Luna directed Diana with a firm glance; the kitten rolled her eyes but leapt down, trotting over to her mother.
"And it was so comfortable up there," She whined. "Though I'd probably be freezing once the wind picked up…"
Chaozu couldn't help but burst out at that one, leaving Krillin grumbling and nearly glowering at him.
"Fine, I can take a hint…" He picked up his towel and marched toward the door. "I'm going for some food; I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Can I follow him?" Diana asked. "I still didn't get an apology from him for stepping on me."
Luna relented, more glad to get her out of her hair than anything. Diana briskly jogged toward the open door and disappeared through it, in pursuit of the grumpy Krillin.
She returned her gaze to Chaozu, studying him carefully.
"I've heard of you before now, of your work with the people," She laid down on the comforter, adjusting her back legs into a comfortable position. "I thank you for it; it hasn't been easy since the deaths of the others…"
Chaozu lifted himself into the air, levitating at eye level with Luna.
"You knew about that?"
"They didn't have to tell us," She said with a tone of deflation and sorrow easily apparent in her voice. "We felt them die, each of them. Few were closer to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus as I was, and Sailor Pluto was also close to the princess…"
Chaozu felt his hand almost automatically reaching for her when he stopped, retracting it in discomfiture; he'd been going to pet her, as he would a normal domestic animal that looked as dispirited as Luna at the moment. She seemed to notice the misstep, shaking it off with a gratified smile.
"Well, they'll be coming back, as soon as Piccolo and Neptune get back here with the Dragonballs."
"So I've heard…" She smiled. "I must also thank you for that, both as an advisor to the Court and on a personal level…but I still find it hard to believe that these 'Dragonballs' can do half as much as all of you claim. I don't call any of liars, but…"
"Understandable," Chaozu replied. "I'd be in the same position if I hadn't been brought back to life by the Dragonballs myself."
"You?" Luna stared at him with astonishment. "Sorry…we've heard the legend of your group; it's difficult to remember that you are as mortal as the rest of us."
Chaozu pondered that note, considering something.
"I can tell you more about us, if you'd like." He offered. "There's still a lot we don't know about this place…or about Earth's past, this Cataclysm, the Sailor Soldiers…we'd all be curious to know."
Luna yawned a bit, looking somewhat drowsy.
"I'm afraid I'm not much of a storyteller these days," She admitted. "Besides, I would think you'd be off to catch up with your friend before Diana torments him too badly."
"Krillin's a bit…inept sometimes, but he calms down eventually…" He laughed. "But I'd rather just relax right now, and a good story is just the way to do it for me; if you're up for it, I'd really like to hear about all of you. I can tell you more about the Dragonballs and the rest of us if you'd prefer."
Luna's spirit seemed rekindled at his interest, and she sat up a bit straighter, clearing her throat.
"If you insist," She began in earnest. "Our people actually go back beyond the Old Era, back to when our civilization existed on Earth's moon…"
As Luna's melodic voice divulged a tome's worth of details, Chaozu felt his body relaxing, his ears perking at attention as the great story unfolded.
Sailor Jupiter came limping painfully back toward the group, more tattered and worn out than ever. Lord Kaio had observed her progress with keen awareness as she'd gone through yet another round of chasing his pet monkey Bubbles around the fields. Despite her failure, he greeted the thunder soldier with a stout smile as she approached, dejection having replaced frustration hours ago.
"Dammit…" She panted. "So close…I could smell him…"
He offered her a water bottle as she passed by, which she didn't hesitate to snatch from him. She uncorked the lid and proceeded to down the entire container in nearly one gulp. Excess fluid dribbled down her chin and onto the grass, but she hardly cared. It rejuvenated her slightly; she stood up again, stretching out her stiff legs.
"Extraordinary!" He applauded her. "Your resolve touches me deeply; that, too, is a weapon to be feared!"
"But it doesn't get me any closer to that monkey…" She gasped. "He's too fast…"
"Ah, but have you noticed something now?" He pointed her toward Bubbles, who was now resting against the trunk of a tree. Jupiter squinted through the sun's glare to see that the little critter seemed equally exhausted, drawing in large gulps of air to replenish himself. "You've all got him scurrying like a madman! It won't be long!"
"How comforting…" Sailor Mars, in similar shape as her comrade, stumbled forward, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Weeks instead of months? Days instead of weeks?"
"Now, now; you said you'd keep your sense of humor throughout this excursion!" He chided her. "How can you expect to move as quickly as your enemy if you can't even keep up with a harmless monkey like Bubbles? You won't make it very far, I guarantee that!"
Mars nodded silently as she turned back toward Mercury and Venus, who'd taken to playing another game of virtual chess with Mercury's computer device in a small break from the action. Both had sustained their injuries and made their strides – Lord Kaio couldn't fault them too much for taking a short breather from the competition. But if it stretched too long, he'd be forced to give them a swift kick in the complacency to get them up and moving. They were closer than they believed – all they needed was a bit more time and a small burst of motivation…
"Then perhaps I'll give that motivation to them…" A soft voice said to him, taking Lord Kaio off-guard. He whirled around, spotting the ubiquitous Sailor Pluto sauntering toward him, fresh and without the bruises and lesions obtained by her comrades. Lord Kaio snuffed at her.
"Hey, no fair peeking," He scolded the woman. "You owe me a penny for that thought."
"I'll give you my two cents after I finish this test of yours," She said as she took the forefront of the group. The other four gazed at her with awe – she had been practically comatose against the tree for days, stopping her meditations only briefly to rest her weary mind. Lord Kaio had taken note of the approach to strengthen the body – it was peculiar, but original and perhaps just as effective and arduous as the physical rigors put forth by Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.
"But how?" Venus stood up, the chess game forgotten as she watched Sailor Pluto walk almost leisurely toward where the monkey was resting. "You only took one shot and you sat down for days…what makes you think…?"
Sailor Pluto calmly turned to her agitated friend and smiled confidently.
"I promise you, Minako, that my methodology required just as much silent concentration and devotion as yours; and believe me, hearing you cursing so loudly at Bubbles in recent days made my task far more challenging."
Venus fell back, shrugging her shoulders in disbelief as Sailor Pluto started forth and braced herself for a run at Bubbles, who had recovered enough to take notice of this new challenger and prepare himself.
"How?" Jupiter demanded. "How is she moving so gracefully after hibernating under the tree for so long? What does she know that I don't, dammit!"
Lord Kaio laughed aloud at the exasperation of the quartet; Mars noticed it, turning toward him.
"Do you know something we don't, master?"
"Come now, priestess of fire, I would think you'd catch on to her strategy before any of us!" He bellowed in a jovial tone. "She is a mistress of time itself, is she not? Couldn't you feel her disrupting the space around her with her power?"
"I suppose you could?" Jupiter snorted.
"Why, of course! A clever strategy used by one of my former students as well," He explained. "I could feel it from within my palace walls, the air rippling ever so slightly, almost like an unnoticeable breeze. That was her mind hard at work, stretching the gravity forces this way and that way – attempting to exude mental energy from every limb and digit!"
"Her mind was doing the work for her?" Venus gaped in disbelief.
"Essentially, and with her time-flexing muscles hard to work, she could do with her spirit what could be done with flesh and bone. It's not an easy process, but you know what they say – a healthy mind and a healthy body go hand in hand…"
He actually hadn't seen such mental focus since Piccolo's tenure under him all those years ago – the Namek had been nearly a statue as he'd sat cross-legged on his lawn, eyes sealed shut and emanating his power and emotion in thick waves, using them to twist and mold the molecules in the air to his likeness. Sailor Pluto's link to the very nature of Time gave her an even further edge – while she certainly couldn't significantly alter time's flow within her thoughts, he'd sensed her disrupting the immediate space around her, essentially slowing or speeding up time of the air particles around her to further augment the benefits of her meditation process – he supposed it would've been quite handy to slow time to the point where several hours worth of honing and preparation could be crammed into mere minutes in real-time…
"Look!!" Mercury cried. All of them gaped toward Sailor Pluto…only to find that she'd vanished from her spot on the open grass; they could still track Bubbles, who was fleeing at incredible speed across the meadow, so fast that the Sailor Soldiers had trouble keeping track of him.
"Where is she…?" No sooner had the befuddled Sailor Mars uttered those words than Sailor Pluto seemingly magically appeared in front of the frenzied monkey, who instantly scampered in the opposite direction, yelping and screeching all the way. The Inner Soldiers stared at the scene awestruck.
"How…" Venus began to stutter as the exchange continued between Pluto and Bubbles. The former disappeared from the spot she'd previously occupied and rematerialized to cut off the monkey again.
"…in…"
He bolted left, and Sailor Pluto actually stopped, watching as he skittered twenty yards away in a matter of a few seconds before racing after him again in the same instantaneous motion.
"…the…"
This time, she made a lunge for Bubbles, who simply charged around her to avoid the grab. He picked up the pace, zipping away at a speed that the four other onlookers strained to follow. However, Sailor Pluto seemed prepared, darting after him and matching his speed; seconds later, she closed the gap, and before Bubbles could react, he was jerked backward as Sailor Pluto snared his tail – had he not been dead, she may've torn his skeleton from his skin at that speed.
"…hell…???"
Sailor Pluto calmly took the monkey by the scruff of his neck and rejoined the group at a slow, leisurely pace, dropping the monkey off a short distance away from them. Lord Kaio beamed proudly at her, clapping his hands and guffawing loudly as the remaining four Sailor Soldiers stared with muted astonishment at the victorious Guardian of Time.
"Absolutely marvelous, Ms. Meioh!" Lord Kaio applauded her proudly. "Such fluidity and grace in your movements – you're a credit to your prestigious order!"
After a polite, reserved statement of appreciation from Sailor Pluto, Lord Kaio noticed the lack of movement from his other students, who seemingly couldn't believe what their eyes had shown them.
"Oh, don't be too discouraged, my friends!" He cackled. "Time is still on your side! Keep up the pace!"
His spirits rekindled, he hurried back to his estate, eager to plan the next phase of the training. If Sailor Pluto had mastered advanced speed, the others would follow shortly. He wanted to be ready to progress his new protégés immediately when the time came.
Sailor Pluto hadn't expected the catch to be so quick, but she'd known after finishing her latest bout of meditation and mental training that she was ready to tackle the speed test that Lord Kaio had presented. Much of what he said regarding the mental exercises was true, which provided for a more revered attitude for her toward the unique master – he certainly knew more about them than he was letting on.
She decided to continue her mental training, if to improve on her abilities a bit more while the others completed the test.
But as she passed through the Inners, she noticed their muted disbelief on what they'd just seen, and she could understand why as she observed their tattered uniforms, their bruised skin, and their scabbing cuts and gashes. They looked like they'd been through another war already, and here she was, clean and unspoiled. The thought had to mire them deeper into the abyss of hopelessness.
"My friends…" She began, shying away from their dispirited gazes. "Your work is not in vain…despite our differing styles…you are close."
Mercury, the least shaken out of the quartet, finally replied.
"You don't need to make us feel better, Setsuna," She told her. "We'll find our own way to--"
"That speed that I'm moving at…" She smiled, remembering those minor occasions when she lifted one eye open to observe them, to watch as they grew in their power and endurance. It had been slow and steady, but all it took was some revitalization and motivation to push them over the edge. "…You may not realize it when you watch each other, but it is nearly equal with my own."
The four didn't seem to believe that; Jupiter cracked a smirk while shaking her head in exhaustion.
"I promise," She reassured them. "And I don't break promises."
As Sailor Pluto walked away from them to resume her meditation beneath the firm oak tree, Jupiter turned incredulously to the others, speaking timidly after a brief silence.
"I don't…feel that much faster…do I?" She wondered.
"It is difficult to conceive of moving at such high rates of speed…" Mercury concurred. "But perhaps we have glorified it too much with our enemies, put it too high on the pedestal in terms of accomplishments."
"If a brutish Neanderthal like Tridyx could do it…" Mars reminded all of them. "We can't fall behind like that, at least I refuse to! Not to him!"
They all nodded toward each other, glancing back at Bubbles. He'd taken to wandering the fields again, no worse for wear since Pluto's harried capture of him. Jupiter bore her teeth in a malicious grin, feeling her lost strength and resolve returning to her. At the very least, Setsuna had shown that it could be done! The monkey wasn't some transparent illusion that could always evade their grasp. And if he was wearing down…
She rushed the field again, feeling particularly motivated.
