And now, to the vast delight of the reader, an Author's Note: How fabulous. Three reviews. I'm glad that a few people like it, although, being the selfish and introverted cynic that I am, I'm writing this "masterpiece" purely for my own pleasure. Insert a Vegeta-like smirk Let it also be known that I am often a bit on the sarcastic side. Maybe a few of you will catch hints of it in the story. Hmm, while I'm actually on the topic of the story, I should make a few notes on it. Firstly, Gohan has not stopped training. This, however, does not make him the arrogant jerk he tends to become in many other fics with this similar modification. He's still the naïve, nerdy Gohan we all love (or at least I love…). Secondly, I noticed that DB and DBZ have a lot of Chinese culture influence in them, which is why it is mentioned in this chapter. Thirdly (and finally), I know the story might get a bit cliché, so I have one word for you: deal.
Oh yeah, I don't think there will be any SM in this chapter besides Pluto. But have no fear; there will be plenty of it later, as the majority of the story will be taking place in the SM universe.
Henceforth, the disclaimer: Je n'en possède rien.
And, without further hesitation:
Chapter Two: Seemingly Endless Preparations
Piccolo awoke from his meditative trance with a start. His keen senses had detected an odd energy coming from the lookout. The being's ki was not particularly high, at most only about twice that of an untrained human (which wasn't saying much), but Piccolo was puzzled with another type of energy he felt from the being: one with which he was not familiar. He immediately blasted off towards the lookout, hoping to discover the source of his confusion.
At Capsule Corp, a similar scene occurred. Vegeta froze in his training upon sensing this new energy. However, in his moment of distraction, he was struck by two vicious ki blasts from Trunks and Goten, who were training with him in the Gravity Room. Vegeta recovered and stood up, growling a quick "Stay here, brats," to the boys. He exited the GR with an agitated expression marring his face and immediately took to the sky. The young demi-saiyans merely shrugged their shoulders and resumed sparring with each other.
Another being, a certain Gohan Son, to be exact, would have felt the arrival of Sailor Pluto as well, had he not been temporarily distracted by a wild, raving frying pan slamming into his skull, which was shortly followed by a verbal assault from his mother about the importance of his studies.
Upon reaching the lookout, Piccolo was shocked to see a graceful woman standing with Dende, although he did not let the expression show. Instead, he simply cocked a bit of skin on his forehead where an eyebrow would have been, should he have had one, and spoke calmly and seriously to her.
"Who are you, and what is this energy I sense from you?"
She gave him a nod of acknowledgement and was about to respond when she was rudely interrupted:
"And what on this kami-forsaken mudball is that atrocious apparel you are wearing!"
Vegeta was standing on the ledge of the lookout with his arms crossed smugly over his chest and an expression of clear annoyance and disgust on his face.
Pluto could not suppress her anger at his disrespect. "How dare you insult the attire of the Sailor Soldiers! We are the defenders of the Earth in our dimension!"
Vegeta's face blanked momentarily as his mind slowly began to register what she had just said. "You mean you...you…fight…in that?" He paused, then suddenly erupted into a fit of hysterics, while Dende and Piccolo both shifted uncomfortably at the scene he was causing. Pluto's face began to grow red with rage.
"How, in all of HFIL, could anyone possibly fight in something like that, woman!" Vegeta gasped out in between fits and howls of laughter.
Dende, seeing Pluto's fists clenching, decided to take the opportunity to end Vegeta's moment of mirth. "Ok, enough. We don't have time for you to verbally harass her right now, Vegeta." Dende shot him a quick glare. "Here's the condensed version of what's going on: her universe is in danger and they needed a fighter to help out, so I've, uh, volunteered Gohan to go and aid the girls."
"Oh, that's all?" Vegeta scowled. How boring. "In that case I'm going back to train." A quick thought, though, turned his scowl into a smirk and his eyes landed on Pluto. "I hope you have a hard head," he told her, "because I can only imagine what Kakarrot's harpy mate will do when you try to take her brat away." He chuckled softly to himself for a moment, then blasted off in the direction of Capsule Corp.
"I, as well, have no wish to be there when Chi-Chi goes berserk. You're on your own, Dende." Piccolo stated stonily before walking off to another part of the lookout to continue his interrupted meditation session.
Chi-Chi was startled from her cooking by a light knocking on the door. That's odd, she thought. We almost never get visitors out here in the mountains. She quickly wiped off her hands and rushed to open the door.
Gohan, who had also heard the knocking, put down his Organic Chemistry textbook, pushed all thoughts of alkenes, alkynes, and benzene rings from his mind, and left his room to see who was at the door. He was startled, as was his mother, when the door opened to reveal Dende and a tall, green-haired girl in a miniskirt.
Dende was the first to break the awkward silence that ensued. "Chi-Chi, this is Sailor Pluto. Her universe is danger, and I thought that she might be able to borrow Gohan for a while. Without his help, her dimension's Earth is at risk of being destroyed."
"You WHAT!" Chi-Chi screeched, throwing a horrified glance at the scantily-clad woman. "You're not taking my baby anywhere!"
Dende's eyes widened in terror as Chi-Chi whipped out the infamous frying pan and began swinging it at Dende's head. Dende dodged wildly while shouting, "Please, Chi-Chi! Please calm down! We can talk about this like civilized people, can't we!"
Pluto, meanwhile, backed away and watched the unfolding scene in a state of shock. What kind of dimension is this!
Fortunately though, Dende was rescued. His savior was Gohan, of all people. The very person he wanted to torture by sending him to a dimension to fight with girls in miniskirts.
"Mom! Stop!" he shouted. "He said her universe was in danger! Surely you don't want millions of innocents to suffer!"
The frying pan froze only two inches from Dende's unprotected skull. "You have a point, Gohan," she stated pitilessly, her narrowed eyes never leaving Dende. "But why does my son have to go? Why not a different fighter? Like Vegeta!"
With that statement, Pluto dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes. "Please! No! Anyone but him!"
Gohan smiled and laughed innocently at Pluto's reaction. "I can see you've already met him!"
Pluto nodded vigorously; the fear was evident in her paled face.
"You see, Chi-Chi," Dende went on, taking the moment to continue his plea. "Someone with a lot of ki has found a way out of HFIL. The Sailor Scouts of her dimension don't use ki, so the planet basically has no defense. For all we know, the HFIL escapee could be incredibly powerful, someone that only Gohan could beat, since he is the strongest warrior in the universe…like, uh, Garlic Jr. for instance!" The predicament had been exaggerated a bit, but Chi-Chi seemed to be falling for it.
After a moment's consideration, she lowered the pan and, through clenched teeth, she warily said, "Alright. I'll allow him to go. But – if anything happens to my little boy, I'll hold you responsible, Dende."
She then turned to Gohan, who was beaming with excitement about the new adventure, and shouted, "Well! Don't just stand there! Go get packed! You'll need clothes, extra capsules, senzu beans, money, ALL your study materials, and food."
As Gohan hurried to his room to gather his belongings, Sailor Pluto put in a few words: "Food can be easily provided Mrs. Son. There's no need to worry about your son getting insufficient nutrition."
Chi-Chi just smirked at this. Too bad I won't be there to laugh at the expression on her face when she witnesses a Saiyan's eating habits for the first time.
"Also," Pluto continued, "He'll need a fighting disguise of sorts. All the Sailor Scouts have them, and I doubt they'll reveal their identities to him, so he should have the same choice on whether or not to reveal himself to them. And he may want to keep his powers in check when not in costume. The only flying people my dimension has ever seen have all been evil."
Gohan, with his superb Saiyan ears, had heard Pluto's advice as he made his way back into the living room, now carrying a capsule case and a small shoulder bag. "Ok, will do," he stated upon emerging from the hall.
Pluto silently contemplated the strange powers that the fighters in this dimension seemed to have, but her thoughts were cut off by Chi-Chi's voice.
"If he needs a disguise, we should go to Capsule Corp. Bulma will be able to think of something efficient, and I need to pick up Goten soon anyway."
Pluto stared in wonder at the yellow, dome-shaped building that appeared in front of her a moment later, after Gohan had used his father's instant transmission technique to teleport them there. Chi-Chi had rung the doorbell and they were all waiting, a bit impatiently, for someone to answer the door.
The door violently swung open to reveal none other than Vegeta, the last person Pluto was hoping to see. As she face-faulted in horror, he smirked widely; he was obviously pleased with the effect he seemed to have on her. He then marched back into the house and bellowed, "Second brat of Kakarrot! You're banshee mother is here to take you away!"
"Actually, Vegeta, we needed to talk to Bulma first," Gohan mentioned casually before being rammed to the ground by two blurs.
Pluto was roused from the stupor that resulted in seeing Vegeta again by the sudden crash of Gohan landing flat on his back on the floor with two small children on top of him.
"Brother!" the black-haired one screamed. "Trunks and I both learned something new! It's a surprise and I really, really, really want to show you!" Goten grinned as he and his purple-haired friend jumped up and down on top of Gohan.
Gohan gently pushed both the boys off and with a half-hearted smile said, "Not now squirt. We need to talk to Bulma, and then I have to leave for a while. You can show me whenI get back though. I can't wait to see!"
Goten's grin turned completely upside down as he listened to his brother. "You can't leave! I'll miss you too much!"
"Gohan's leaving? Where and why?" Bulma stated as she entered the room.
"He's going to protect an alternate dimension, and he needs, uh, a costume." Dende piped up from the doorway. He inwardly smirked as he thought about Bulma's fashion flubs of the past, particularly the outfit she wore on the trip to Namek.
"You mean like a superhero kind of thing?" Bulma asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. Suddenly her eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile. "I have a great idea! Then again, I always have great ideas… I'll be back in a few minutes. Make yourselves comfortable." She then headed off to her personal lab while everyone waited in anticipation. Everyone, that is, except Goten and Trunks.
In another part of the building, Goten was practically in tears. "Trunks, we won't get to show him our new technique before he leaves! And…and I don't even want him to go!"
"Goten, stop whining. I've got and idea." Trunks said, which immediately calmed the upset boy. "Since we can't show him in person, we can film ourselves and then leave it in his bag as a surprise. That way he'll still be amazed, but he'll also want to come home as soon as possible so he can watch us do it live!"
Both boys instantly began a frantic search for a video camera.
"Found it!" called Trunks froma corner of the room. "It looks kind of old, but I'm sure it will work fine. There's already a tape in here too. We'll record on the other side though, just in case my mom has something on the first side."
With that, the two boys began making a ten minute home movie.
Fifteen minutes later, Bulma re-entered the Capsule Corp living room carrying a small watch in her hands. She was followed a minute later by Trunks and Goten, who were carefully concealing a capsulated video. The two young boys took Gohan's seat, next to his bag and capsule case, while he stood up to retrieve the watch.
"What's this, Bulma?" He asked, evidently confused.
"Your costume," she stated simply. "Put it on, and go stand in front of a mirror while you press the green button." She then reached into her labcoat pocket and pulled out a capsule case. " And here are few more capsules you might find useful."
Gohan thanked her and did as he was told, planting himself in front of a large mirror.In a bright flash of white light, he was suddenly wearing a black body suit made of the same material that the Saiyan armor was made from. There wasalso a green gi over it, as well as white gloves, white Saiyan-style boots, and a red cape. On his head was a white bandanna to cover his hair and large, dark sunglasses to conceal his eyes.
"Whoa…" was all he could say before striking an eyesore of a pose that would have had the Ginyu Force rewarding him with a standing ovation. In fact, peering through the sliding glass door was Captain Ginyu himself, who, although eternally trapped in the body of a frog, found his eyes moistening as he gazed upon such a strikingly 'beautiful' pose.
The only people inside the building who didn't have to catch themselves from busting up with laughter were Vegeta, who was off training and Goten and Trunks, who promptly exclaimed, "Whoa! Cool!"
Gohan quickly pressed the button again to return to his normal clothing. He then turned to Bulma, beaming, and thanked her for the help.
"Well, now that that's over, you two had probably better get going," Dende reminded Pluto and Gohan, having been the first to regain his composure after the posing episode.
"Wait just a minute!" Chi-Chi instantly cut in, which startled everyone who had not yet recovered from theridiculous posing back into their normal states. "I want to be absolutely positive that my Gohan is sufficiently studying while he's there!"
"Mom, really, I promise-"
"Why don't you enroll him in high school while he's there?" Dende interrupted Gohan's reassurances to his mother withan idea that had suddenly flashed across his devious mind.
"That sounds good to me," Pluto agreed. "I'm sure you could easily pass off as a Chinese exchange student. Besides, it would give you a place to stay rather than having to live alone."
It was now Gohan's turn to be shocked. "WHAT! High school! I've never even been to any kind of school in my entire life!"
"It's a wonderful idea!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, much to everyone's surprise. "The social interaction will do you some good and…and maybe you'll even meet a girl! And then someday I'll be a grandmother!" She sighed and held her hands romantically over her heart.
The rest of the crowd again just gazed at yet another frightful scene, and Trunks could be heard whispering to his best friend: "What's wrong with your mom, Goten?"
After an awkward silence, Gohan, whose face was red with embarrassment, hesitantly said, "Well, uh, I guess we'd better get going…"
Pluto shook her head to end the daze that overcome her and replied, "Oh yeah. Certainly."
Stepping back from the crowd, she opened a large portal and watched as Gohan embraced his brother and mom tightly, whispering a quiet and sincere goodbye, then followed him into it as he smiled and waved.
"Bye everyone! I'll be back as soon as I can."