"Bet you can't catch me," sang a girl pulling away from the arm of a taller boy. She had long flowing black hair that ran down her back like a river and split in to two ponytails from about her waist to her ankles.
"What Axel wants, Axel gets," proclaimed the boy who as you can guess was a younger version of our ruthless master. This Axel had a fully haired head, short and brown, blue eyes and very handsome features to compliment him overall. He began to increase his speed pursuing the evasive girl who had escaped him. It wasn't hard for him to catch her, he was much sharper than she was but he decided to extend the game. He pretended to start diving for her in a last ditch attempt to regain his pray but she easily ducked and shimmied away from his clutches, laughing heartily with excitement.
Their fellow students looked on in dismay, whenever they played 'tag' it always ended up with someone been hurt. They made sure to keep their distance sufficiently as the couple accelerated towards the woodland area of their privileged school. The girl stuck her tongue out, showing superiority as she dodged yet another flailing attempt.
Axel abruptly came to a halt and stopped dead in his tracks. "I'd stop if I was you," he cautioned her sincerely.
"Oh, poor show Axel, I'm not going to fall for that one," she grinned and continued to head backwards without a care in the world.
"No, seriously you're going to…" A thwack was heard as the small frame of a teenage girl connected flush with the bark of a thick tree. "Collide with that tree." A shriek escaped her mouth as she grabbed the area of insetting pain. The boy jogged to her, panting a little from their escapades.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, it just stings a little. That's all."
"Someone shouldn't be such a klutz hmm?" The girl frowned at Axel's comment but the instant she saw his wide smile her expression dropped to a sigh. He offered her a hand to which she 'reluctantly' accepted.
"Remind me, why I put up with you?"
Pulling her to her feet he responded, "That's because you love me Tama." He pulled her close to him. "And I told you, I always get what I want." He planted a kiss on her lips to which she responded in turn embracing him alike. For them the world around them had stopped, all they could feel was the clam breeze fluttering by and the soft rustling of the autumn leaves, scrambling along the courtyard.
"Quite a show you're putting on for us here," came a sudden interruption. The couple paused in their preoccupation and motioned their heads towards the source of the distraction. What they saw made them quite disturbed. First they saw one of their tutors dressed in full lab gear, grey hairs and all present. Then behind him was a group of four girls and behind them was the school baseball team and behind them were two more tutors and behind them, well you get the picture. All were gawping at the teenage duo as though they were some kind of circus attraction, except the girls who were giggling between themselves.
The dyad abruptly parted as if touching each other was like putting your hand in to a white hot flame. They both peered at the floor feeling the rising heat and knowing that red was spreading rapidly from cheek to cheek.
"We're sorry Doc," they chorused in dismay and embarrassment.
"You needn't worry I was once young too you know. Let your youth shine through!" Advised Doc profoundly to the young couple. For some reason this acted as a signal for the girls behind him to jump out, strike some daft poses and point to the air saying "The love of youth is untouchable!"
Another silenced gripped the courtyard as everyone now starred blankly at the girls and an innocuous tumble weed rolled past (as they do). Still pointing the girls looked at each other than at those around them and back at each other. "Ha-ha…" They suddenly turned heel and sped off at the speed of light in only the way anime characters can. Everyone went back to what they were doing.
"You were once young Doc?" inquired Tama putting on a fake sense of astonishment. "That must have been like…" she began to count on her fingers "Nine hundred years ago!" Doc's face formed a grave frown as he poked the young adult playfully upon her forehead.
"Yes I was seventeen once young lady and no it wasn't nine flaming hundred years ago. And furthermore, I'll have you know I was considered quite the stud in my time," he announced with pride as he raised his nose and set off away from the pairing.
"Sure you were," retorted Tama unconvinced "But you'll never beat my Axel," grabbing her boyfriends arm as she said this just to emphasise her point. Doc just smiled as he continued on his path. 'Such energetic students that pair. And mischievous too. Svaltus school of young excellence lucky to have them.'
Tama continued to remonstrate to Doc's back as he faded in to the distance. Axel grabbed her by the waist and flung her up on his shoulder.
"What the f… Axel? What are you doing I wasn't finished with him yet." Moaned Tama disappointed she didn't get to complete her spar of pride.
"We're nearly late for class we've have to move quick." With that he began bounding through the sea of students entering the main doors using his girlfriend's legs as a battering ram for any unsuspecting victim who got in their pathway.
A beeping in Axel's room was heard causing him to snap back to reality. 'Not long Tama and you shall be back with me, where you belong.' He pressed a button attached to his black cloak. He always wore this so as to cover his body. The grand doors behind him sprung to life, parting to allow the disturber access. "Do come in Kitler, what can I assist you with?" From behind the door appeared what looked like an average size man. But his shadow alone told a different story as you could see two jagged pointy area appearing over the top of his head. They were most certainly the ears of a cat attached to the body of a human. A deep brown moustache stretched across his face and he was present in some kind of military attire.
"Status report – sir," announced Kitler raising his right arm to his forehead.
"Proceed."
"While our last mission was a great success, we suffered several hundred casualties. The depth of the army is not as great as it was before. It will take some weeks before we will fully be prepared for the ambush – sir."
"Time is not a problem; we are not on the same tight schedule as before. Have Aalto create strong more durable host creatures this time before sending them to Galaxia."
"What was wrong…" Kitler suddenly held his tongue as he realised who he was questioning. Axel seriously disliked the questioning of those below him.
"Because I believe we have been followed by the beings we encountered on our last mission. Do you remember how much damage your commanding achieved to inflict upon them?" Kitler growled quietly at the cheap shot his leader had just taken. Never once in the hundred and fifty years of time travelling had they failed to cause so much as a scratch upon an enemy. It had always been the most exciting part of the mission for Kitler, watching the enemy rive in pain, squirming helplessly as his army paraded over them like the dirt they were. "Nonetheless I want a test specimen sent out this evening to find out what we face this time. And if m suspicions were right."
"Very well, it shall be done – sir." He raised his right hand and saluted once again before tuning to exit.
Back on earth the sailor senshi were gathered in the area where the incident had taken place earlier. Many of the abandoned vehicles wee slowly been towed away with police assistance, while the girls searched the area from top to bottom for any clues.
"Find anything?" asked Sailor Mars as all members began to arrive at their agreed meeting point (the car with a nice print of Gohan's body ;).
"Not a thing," answered Moon dejectedly.
"Likewise…" replied Venus and Jupiter in lingo. Everyone sighed in unison, worried about the new threat they were preparing to face. What sort of enemy appeared then disappeared after causing property damage. Was it trying to scare humans to death or something?
"Guys… where's Ami?" Everyone abruptly snapped out of there hopeless thoughts at the words Jupiter had just exclaimed. They needn't have worried though as just at that moment the water senshi appeared hand in hand with a little girl. She was feverishly wiping her eyes trying to freeze the onslaught of tears effortlessly flowing.
"Ami, what did you do to that child!" asked an astonished Sailormoon, clearly not thinking about what she just said. Mars swiftly brought a slap to the back of her leaders head. "Owwiiee…"
"As if Ami would make anyone cry you dummy."
"Oh yeah! How thoughtless of me," began Sailormoon still rubbing her head. "Sorry Ami," she apologised gingerly. Ami just giggled in response at her instinctive friend, she knew she meant no harm.
"This little girls name is Levi; she unfortunately got separated from her mother during the fracas." The girls all 'awed' collectively at what Ami had just told them.
"You poor little thing, come and have a big Sailor V hug," advised Minako sticking her arms out wide. The little girl smiled as much as she could in her current state and quickly ran in to the arms of the Senshi of love.
"Has she been here all this time?" inquired Jupiter to her blue haired. Ami nodded in response.
"Then she'll know exactly what happened," declared Mars. Once again Ami nodded before moving towards the now trio of playing girls.
"Levi, can you recall what happened here?"
As the young girl relayed her story the senshi listened intently. They were most frightened by the mention of the huge 'bomb' which their new foe had protected.
"What if it wasn't a bomb though," suggested Sailormoon.
"It was big, round and the thing didn't want it to contact with the car. What else could it possibly be?" queried an astute Jupiter.
"What if it was a ship, which held something it wanted to protect dearly?"
Venus laughed out loud at the outrageous suggestion "This isn't a manga Sailormoon," she corrected patting her friend on her shoulder.
"She right you know," chirped in Mars adding more insult to injury.
"Actually girls… we don't know what it is, either suggestion could be right or wrong." Ami had once again done what she did best and actually thought about the bigger picture, rather than getting caught up with the crowd. The girls had nothing to say in response to that Ami was completely right. Until they found the object in question any number of possibilities was open. By this point it was getting quite late, Sailor V opted to help young Levi reunite with her mother, while Usagi and Rei headed back to Makoto's place to try out a new recipe she'd created.
"Aren't you coming Ami," asked a dismayed Sailormoon. "How can you miss out on Makoto's food? It's always gorgeous!" The tall green senshi blushed heavily in the background at the last statement.
"I would love to," replied Mercury sincerely "But I have to go to the library. I'm really sorry Makoto."
"It's not a problem," assured Jupiter as each party took off in their respective direction.
Concurrently at distance not too far away but far enough to be obscured from the human eye sat a house which one would almost think suddenly just popped up out of nowhere.
"Out cold!" reverberated the cries of a concerned mother through the house. Gohan had set up the communicator to Bulma upon a desk and she was now staring at her son's unconscious body lying helpless on a sofa. "I'm just glad you both arrived there safe," panted the shocked Bulma. "We knew you were been attacked, we saw the whole thing take place."
"He'll be fine in a few hours Bulma," assured Gohan slowly wiping a wet cloth along his friend's forehead.
"I know I know…" acknowledged Bulma still trying to calm herself down. She grabbed a glass of water besides her taking a great gulp in turn before setting it back down. "What do you plan to do in the meantime?" Gohan debated with himself for a moment looking first to Trunks then to Bulma.
"While were here, were going to need a cover. I was thinking of heading to the library to do some research on where we are. And knowing how Trunks isn't the greatest fan of studying I thought maybe you could keep an eye on him while I'm gone?"
"Sure thing Gohan, I'll watch him like a hawk." She smiled and waved in response as the elder Saiyan exited the capsule come house and took off towards the city. By now the sun was steadily etching its head away from Tokyo as the transition from day to night was taking place. Gohan made sure he dropped from the sky and reverted to walking, so as to not cause anymore mishaps like what had taken place earlier. He noticed several tow-trucks moving what generally appeared to be totally functional cars. 'Did I cause all this mess?' He pondered as he watched several more abandoned cars pass before him. Nevertheless he had something to attend to and spotted a sign that caught his attention directing him towards the public library.
Not so far ahead from Gohan walked a young blue haired girl dressed in her school uniform. As she travelled towards her destination she noticed a homeless man sat lonely next to a box. 'How awful. The poor old man.' She pulled out some spare change and dropped it in to the box beside him giving him an earnest smile. Immediately he grabbed the edge of her skirt and pulled her towards him. Ami fell down to her knees on the grassy verge and on to the old tramp. She shrieked as she felt his rough rugged face impact with her cheek. 'Oh my god… I'm alone and at this time the streets bound to be empty.' She could smell rotten alcohol escape his breath and crawl its way up her nostrils. She tried to push him away but he simple tightened his grip, caging the teen in his hold.
Ami caught sight of a sudden foot flying inches from her eyes landing directly in the kisser of her molester. She fell back unbalanced and spotted a boy who couldn't be much older than herself. He held an expression of disgust and if it wasn't for this Ami would have been laughing subconsciously at the unusual attire.
"That's no way to treat someone who's just shown you generosity, is it?" thundered an angered Gohan glaring at the man. The tramp now grinned at Gohan as he wiped the falling blood from his face.
"Did nothing wrong my boy," he lied "Simply thanking the young lady." Abruptly the tramp picked up an emptied vodka bottle and hurled it towards Gohan. Gohan stuck a finger towards the flying object breaking it in to a thousand pieces on contact. The tramp had begun to scamper away and Gohan was hot on his trail, or would have been had an arm not stopped him in his tracks.
"It's ok, don't bring yourself down to his level," advised Ami noticing her saviours urge to make haste. 'Wow what incredibly muscular forearms he has.' She quickly shook that thought from her mind. Gohan turned in her direction and on instinct realising what she was doing Ami dropped her arms to her side. She then bowed courteously and thanked Gohan for saving her.
"Don't mention it, I heard you squeal from behind. Stopping that pervert was the least I could do." Ami smiled 'What a considerate guy!'
"What's your name?" asked Ami politely.
"I'm Son Gohan, and yourself?"
"Mizuno Ami pleased to meet you." Continuing she asked "Is there anything I could do to repay you?" as she now felt she was now in debt to the boy.
"Well… if you have the time, I'm really trying to find the library."
"Really, I was just heading there myself, I can…" Ami paused momentarily. "Take you there," she concluded almost in a whisper at this point. Gohan looked at her somewhat bewildered but brushed it off as nothing.
"Umm, thanks… thanks very much. At least I know I'm not putting you out of your way," added Gohan with a smile.
"Yes, just the two of us… it's just on the following street," directed Ami speeding off from a startled Gohan. He set off in what would be considered a human jog to match the quickening pace of Ami. She had her chin jammed in to her chest and her eyes were roaming side to side.
"Are you feeling alright?" inquired a perplexed Gohan. This definitely wasn't normal behaviour.
"MY FACE, it's always this red. I err… I have an unusual illness… sometimes."
"I didn't mention your face though."
"I err… Know you didn't." As you can guess Ami's overall shyness mixed with the fact she was with the opposite sex walking down a public street was seriously getting to her. As the journey continued she barely heard a word from Gohan, far too concerned about the 'implications' of been spotted with the mystery man. She could only imagine to well what would happen if…
"AAA-MMM-III!" wailed an all too familiar voice from behind. The pairing stopped their advancement only inches before making it to 'salvation.' Ami slowly ground her teeth as she peered at the big sign saying LIBRARY which was no more than 5 metres away.
"Ami…" said a now panting odango haired teen grabbing hold of her friend for support. From behind her was an equally heavily panting Rei who wasn't quite in the same amount of stitches as Usagi. The tall thunder senshi seemed rather un-phased by the whole journey and had already set her eyes upon the unknown boy with Ami. "Ami, you told me you wanted to return this book you lent to me last week. So we came all the way here to make sure you got it," explained a dignified Usagi in her mind showing her deep her friendship was. There was a long silent pause and more than anything Usagi was shocked at the bad manners been displayed by her friend. As she looked closer having finally returned to normal breathing she realised Ami's head was eternally planted in her chest radiating a beet red. Out of her eye she finally caught sight of Gohan. First she looked from Gohan to Ami then back to Gohan then back to Ami again. Then pointing at Gohan she squealed in delight:
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING YOUR BOYFRIEND FROM US AMI?" Ami if possible, looked more embarrassed than before. While Gohan looked like he had been hit by an unsuspecting truck. 'Is that how their world work! If I save a girl I automatically become their boyfriend. THAT'S CRAZY!'
Usagi jumped up suddenly full of energy and placed herself between the 'couple.' She pulled both their heads in close to hers and began to let her imagination run wild – as usual.
"When's the marriage? When's the first child? What is it to be called? Can I be a bridesmaid?"
"I'll make the most beautiful food I've ever made just for this occasion," added Makoto stringing her arms around Ami's shoulders.
"We can make a start on planning too at the shrine right now," suggested Rei joining the now forming line of people. Gohan had by now adopted Ami's 'illness' and had his chin pressed deeply in to the white of his uniform. 'Please let me out of here!' Once the girls had finally calmed down Ami told them the truth of the story and how she was simply taking Gohan to the library at his request. Usagi had to be told at least 15 times before she finally got it through her head that her 'dream' wedding was not about to happen. They were all equally as shocked as well as impressed towards Gohan's heroic action, which warranted him a boy of respect from each of the other senshi present. Usagi in particular shook his hand for an extended period which almost caused loss of blood to the young Saiyan's hand.
"Are you a martial artist?" Question Makoto after the episode of thanking had finally taken a pause. She was pretty sure Gohan was from his impressive build.
"Yes I and my friend Trunks are both martial artists."
"YOU HAVE A FRIEND JUST LIKE YOU!" questioned the girls not taking notice of the obvious glee spreading from cheek to cheek.
"Mmm… Well yeah I guess so, he's a few years younger," answered an obviously confused Gohan. He scratched the back of his head profusely as the trio of girls in front of him had stars the size of saucers in their eyes and a shameless amount of dribble running down the side of their mouths. After again regaining their composure Makoto proceeded with her inquisition.
"What form do you study?"
"Ki-jutsu."
"I've never heard of it. Maybe you could teach me sometime. If that's ok with Ami, I don't want her to think I'm stealing her prince or anything." This caused everyone except Ami and Gohan to burst out laughing. Makoto cuddled her whimpering friend and assured Ami she was only playing.
Now it was Usagi's turn. "Where are you from?"
"Satan City," answered Gohan offhandedly. Now all four girls stood still and starred at him in a peculiar way. Gohan grabbed his mouth. What had he just done? He had really put his foot in it with that response. What if Satan city didn't exist here or what if it was a really bad place here. The main reason he had been going to the library had been blown right out the water. They were sure to know something was wrong, that he should not be here.
"Oh," exclaimed Usagi now pointing at him. "You're foreign."
"Don't point Usagi," advised Rei patting Usagi's arm back to her side like a mother would a little child.
"Yeah, yeah that's right," Gohan agreed thanking Kami his cover had been spared.
"Which country is that?" Gohan fell flat on his back 'Does this girl ever shut up' he thought to himself. As quick as he'd fallen down he shot back to his feet making the girls jump in fear.
"Move," he bellowed pushing them apart. He caught a rusty metal object which had come hurling in their direction. The edge of it was a flaming white which began to burn in to Gohan's flesh. His last choice was to release it behind him in to a tree which snapped in two and set on fire. The break snapped the group right down the middle causing a group containing Ami and Gohan where as the other girls were opposite on the opposite side. A huge shadow appeared shortly accompanied by the presence of a huge robot. It was at least the size of a hundred storey building. It had no face but otherwise was shaped like a human. Its metal encased body shimmered in the evening light clearly exposing the twin gaps where there should have been a chest.
The commotion outside had caused a scramble inside the library and its attendants were all fleeing out of the door in fear.
"Ami, Gohan get out of here," warned Rei from behind the barricade of fire. Ami caught on quickly, realising the girls wanted to transform. She grabbed Gohan's arm and tugged.
"Come on Gohan we need to go."
"But I need to help…," Gohan seized up with this line. He still didn't know how great the implications of the actions from earlier on were. Exposing his cover right here and now wasn't the greatest of ideas. He would have to lose Ami then turn super-saiyan to avoid suspicion. "Ok."
"Don't worry about those three. If they get in any trouble I guarantee the sailor senshi will help them," assured Ami thinking he wanted to go back to rescue the girls from their nasty predicament.
Gohan looked at Ami confused as they joined the scampering civilians. "Who are the Sailor senshi?"
"You haven't heard of them, well I guess since you are foreign. They protect Tokyo in the name of love and justice. They are Tokyo's superhero's you could say," smiling at this last comment. Not long after this Gohan felt rising ki levels erupt behind him. While they weren't particularly ground shaking, they were much greater than the average power levels he had experienced during his short time in this reality. The power levels were now directly in front of the position where he and Ami had just fled.
"Ami up over here," Gohan tugged her out of the street of civilian down a side street.
"Ahh, what are we doing Gohan?"
"Quickly, up here," Gohan began to climb a ladder on the side of a building leading up to its roof. He wanted first hand experience on the ki level's he'd just felt explode and also the monster. He pretty much knew that it was similar to the monster he and Trunks had fought when the time-travelling enemy had first appeared. He was not able to get a read from this monster so if things got out of hand he would intervene regardless of Ami's presence or not. He leapt to the very edge of the building and peered down at the heated battle that was ensuing.
"Gohan we really should…"
He raised a hand to Ami "Shush." This caused her to pause also and observe the action taking place between her friends and the monster. 'I hope you're all ok.'
The monster fired a bullet in the direction of Jupiter, who had to use her full spring to jump out of its direction. The bullet created a hollow dint in the curb and burnt through to the sewers below. So far they had been unable to land a single attack on their foe as it consistently barraged them with a salvo of bullets.
"This isn't working girls," noted Venus who had recently joined them. We need to come up with a strategy. "JUMP!" Another round began flying in their direction and they scattered and rolled to avoid impact.
"These bullets sure are nasty," whined Sailormoon in disapproval as she whipped her arm of the now seeping blood from a freshly opened cut.
Starting a run, Jupiter shouted, "Ill try to distract." She headed directly for the monster legs. And as if on cue it followed the decoy and began firing at its poor target. "Supreme thunder" she bellowed causing one of the bullets to explode close to the monsters head as it was now bent down firing from its chest. The other shards of bullets unfortunately connected with the ground, causing Makoto to take an uncomfortable ride and land roughly on her shoulder to the side. The monster how ever had taken its hands to its 'face' and was holding it while writhing in pain.
"Look on top its head. There's a crystal thing shinning there," pointed out Mars frantically.
"Let's aim for it," suggested Venus taking aim.
"You evil metal monster, who dare inflict fear among the innocent citizen's of peaceful Tokyo. I punish you in the name of the moon!" With that Moon and Mars also took aim. "Now girls," she commanded.
"Crescent beam!"
"Fire Soul!"
"Moon Tiara action!"
The three attacks struck simultaneously smashing the crystal on top the monsters head in to dust. In the process it also halted anymore movement from the tin man as it fell flat on it face creating a huge crater in the emptied street. A similar to that which Ami had described to the girls began to transcend up in the air. And once again Ami saw from the distance the bending of the atmosphere and the multicoloured light which was becoming all too familiar and uneasy.
End of that chapter hope you liked it. More next time -