Obligatory copyright disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and relative characters are intellectual property of their respective owners. I'm using them without permission, but this is only a no-profit Fan fiction.
Edit: My heartfelt thanks to Angel-Rias for Beta-reading the chapter!
Chapter three: Creature comforts
"What's that? Did you hear it?" Usagi stopped crying, her hairs standing up straight from fear.
Minako tried to take a look at the beast out of the window, failing due to the deep darkness. "An animal of some kind... maybe as hungry as we are. Lucky us, we are safe here, on the third floor!"
"Minako, beware! Don't stick yourself out of the window! You are against the light!" shouted Ami, trying to catch her friend and yank her back.
A great dark shape jumped more than twenty feet up from the square floor, smashing against the concrete wall of the building. Huge claws scraped at the window, trying to support the enormous weight of the beast. A hideous, fanged snout snapped at Minako, missing her barely!
She fell backwards over Ami. "Eek! Stay away from me!" She took a burning stick from the bonfire, throwing it towards the slavering muzzle.
The beast bit again, this time chewing on the improvised torch, completely ignoring the fire! The five girls could not believe their eyes. Usagi was terrified. "It guzzled a burning stick! It will find the way in and eat us whole!"
Makoto, acting from instinct, threw herself at the head of the creature, holding it with her arms in a vice-like grip, trying to keep its mouth closed. The beast, pushing with its hind legs, managed to partially squeeze into the room, freeing its forepaws. It started to claw at Makoto's back. The girl grunted in pain, without releasing her grip.
Usagi, looking at the long bloody gashes the beast was carving in her friend's back joined the fight. "No! Leave Makoto alone!" She grabbed one of the claws, trying with all her might to keep it down. Minako, having regained her footing, launched herself at the other paw, immobilizing it in the same way.
After a few moments, Rei and Ami rushed to aid them. The five girls wrestled with the beast for a long time. Then, screaming out loud, Makoto managed to snap the neck of the beast. It relaxed in death, falling into the square below.
"Mako-chan!" Crying, Usagi supported her friend, about to fall down. "Ami-chan, she is horribly wounded!"
The four girls tried to help, her blood staining their clothes. Then a dry voice startled them. "It's just a flesh wound. Don't chicken out, kiddos!" the Runner was looking at them with utter calm.
"How can you say that? You... cold hearted..." Usagi was very angry and scared for her friend's life. She wanted to punch the uncaring woman.
Trying to administer first aid, Ami found out the Runner was right. "Usagi-chan! She's right! Look at the wounds; they are not serious at all! But then, where's all this blood..."
Makoto opened her eyes, smiling. "Yeah, I'm fine; you aren't wounded, aren't you?" She asked them while Ami tore a blanket to bandage her.
The four girls nodded, they were fine. "Oh, I'm relieved. By the way, it was awesome! We must do it again!" She told them grinning, with conviction, savoring the shocked expressions of her friends.
"You must be joking!" Rei told her, aghast.
"Not at all. It felt incredible, struggling with that beast bare handed. I felt... more alive. Next time... I want to face one alone. It wasn't fair five to one..." She stopped talking, clearly surprised by her feelings. "What am I saying? I would have died without your help!" She added embarrassed.
"It's this body's instincts, kiddo. Saiyans must be natural warriors. I felt I should not intervene in your fight, so I kept to myself and only reduced your wounds with Karma after the duel. And yes, before you ask, I can do that." Jean told them, grinning.
Usagi stuck her tongue out at her. "How convenient! Can you manage to conjure up food with your skill?"
"Maybe. We'll never know without trying." She closed her eyes, concentrating. The five girls looked at her with growing expectations. "Nope! Sorry, no food!" she replied suddenly
"Agh, you..! Why..." Usagi started complaining, but the woman stopped her. "We may cook that beast though. What do you think? I'm hungry too."
Expressions of delight, followed by gurgling from their stomachs were their answer. They pushed the dead beast into the first floor of the building. Using shards of metal salvaged from the wreckage they gutted and skinned the animal.
Makoto and the Runner were the only ones of the group with experience in the matter. They directed their companions in the gory task, which was completed without complaint, given their hunger. Sometime later the beast was roasting over a huge bonfire. A tantalizing smell made their mouth water in anticipation.
"Oh, I can't wait to eat. Such a good smell! Maybe it was a Grokk, what do you think Ami?" asked Usagi, barely restraining herself to bite the still cooking meat.
"It's possible. The ledger you found does not describe them, though. I hope it is edible... oh I've never been so hungry in my entire life!" The smart girl replied, hunger in her voice. She licked her lips, in anticipation of the feast.
"Me too!" added Minako. "I could eat all of it alone!"
"Don't you dare! Don't even dream of it! I must eat something or I will bite you!" growled Rei menacingly.
"Show some restraint, kiddos! It's almost ready." Jean told them.
Makoto, being a almost-professional cook, managed to contain herself despite sharing her friend's feelings. She poked at the enormous roasted body with a wooden stick. "It's ready girls! I'll divide it into portions, there's enough for everyone!" She cut the roasted meat, handing the scalding juicy pieces to her friends.
Soon enough, the steady noise of ravenous eating was the only sound in the building. For more than two hours the six women methodically consumed the enormous meal. Only when they had picked the bones clean they finally allowed themselves to speak.
"Oh, I can't believe I ate so much! We'll have abdominal cramps!" whispered Ami astounded by her lack of restraint.
"Let me tell you, Ami-chan. I'm a professional glutton and I can assure you, you can take it! Me, I'm still a bit hungry!" Usagi told her.
"Me too!" Minako chirped. "I could have eaten all of it alone!"
Rei scolded her, smiling. "We know! You told us earlier. You greedy girl!"
"Man, what a meal! Next time, we try to find some veggies. We can't go on with meat only!" Makoto said wisely.
A huge belch startled them. The girls looked at one another, then they all sweat dropped staring at the Jean. "What? Couldn't I appreciate the meal as well?" She replied, unfazed. A general laugh followed.
"Now... while we rest I want to ask you something. I told you my name, Jean. I think is only fair you tell me yours. I know you are the Sailor Senshi. But I cannot call you Sailor this or Sailor that. Mind me, I already know them, you called each other by name all this time, but I like formal presentations. I assure you I won't sell them to the press anytime soon." She told them hinting at their present situation.
Usagi raised her hand. "I'm Sailor that! And she is Sailor those!" She said looking at Rei. "I'm Sailor this!" added Minako.
"My name is Mizuno Ami, nice to meet you." Ami bowed toward Jean after sitting formally on her knees.
"My name is Jean J. Walker. Nice to meet you too." The woman replied exactly in the same manner.
"Oh, Ami, you damper!" whined Usagi, then she added maliciously; "I'm Tsukino Usagi, not very nice to meet you!"
"Usagi! What rudeness!" Rei slapped her on the head. This started a tongue duel that kept them occupied for some time. "'My name is Hino Rei, nice to meet you!" she added after Usagi lost the duel biting her tongue.
Makoto and Minako also presented themselves, the woman replying formally each time.
Ami, after the presentations were finished, smiled at the woman. "Jean-san, can you tell us how do you plan to send us back to our world? We left out the question before, as you were too tired, but now..."
"Yep, I get it. Listen up kids." She replied. "I can't dimthread at will. I must defeat a Void and gather up his energies. If we ended up here it means there is a Void to stop. So as soon as I defeat it, the sooner we can dimthread out. Cannot be sure 100% that I'll be able to return you to your world, but I can try. Barring that, I'll try to reach the Runner's base. My Sensei can return you for sure. And the good thing is you will return the same instant you left, thanks to the quantum resynchronization of the alternate universes."
"Oh that's good, whatever it means... But, may we rest now? I feel really tired." Usagi said yawning, with droopy eyes.
"We sleep in turns. Then tomorrow morning we try to search for directions. Anyone volunteering for first watch?" asked Jean.
They agreed to let Usagi sleep. No one trusted her as a sentinel, much to her annoyance. The night went by quietly until the secondary sun dawned, bathing the planet in cold red light.
"Why was I expecting the sun to be red? This planet is truly cliché!" sighed Minako in exasperation. Fortunately for them, the primary sun dawned shortly after, shining with warm gold light.
They divided into three groups of two for a thorough search of the ruins. After an hour, while looking under one of the wrecked vehicles, Ami called them. "Girls! I think I found a strange body! Come here!"
Gathering around the remains, they saw a tiny skeleton, no higher than three feet. It was clothed in a loose fitting uniform, torn and smeared in grime. It was unmistakably humanoid, if very small, and perfectly proportioned. It had a strange device fastened to the skull, right over the left ear, with a clear blue crystal over the left eye. A smashed rifle was left in its arms, clearly not functional.
"It seems very small. Probably to resist the gravity." said Ami examining the body.
"Uh? With gravity this high wouldn't it be crushed?" Minako asked her.
"Not necessarily. Muscle power varies accordingly to area, while mass varies with volume. A small body is actually stronger in proportion with height. This minimizes the energy requirement to stay alive. Saiyan bodies are tall and very strong but they need enormous amount of food to keep up. Remember our hunger. This one must be a Tsufuru. It's clearly a case of divergent evolution." Ami replied while carefully removing the device from the skull. "And this seems to be a sensor device, like my Mercury visor."
"The Tsufurus seem to be very advanced technically, while the Saiyans are primitive. But... can two different sentient species evolve on the same planet? Wouldn't they kill each other until only one remains?" Jean wondered by herself.
"Why must people always kill, maim or destroy? Maybe they coexisted peacefully." Usagi whispered, not really believing it.
"I don't think it is likely. See for yourself, this place is destroyed. The Tsufurus probably retreated after an attack. Ami, can you make something out of that device?" asked Makoto.
"Yes, I think it is not damaged, at least not completely. I'll try it." She told them while carefully cleaning the grime from the device.
"Yuck! Are you really wearing that thing on your ear?" wailed Usagi disgusted.
"We cannot be squeamish, not in our situation." She replied donning the device. Activating it, the machine beeped while little alien letters showed up on the screen. "I can read it, like Usagi with the ledger."
They all waited holding their breath in anticipation.
"It seems to detect life readings! It gives me only distance and quantity, but not strength. An error message keeps showing up when I try to do that. Maybe it is broken after all. I can't repair it here, but it will be sufficient to give us directions."
"And... where..." Rei interjected.
"There." She pointed at the wasteland, out of the destroyed fence. "We can follow that trail."
Realizing the limits of the device annoyed the Runner. "Great! It could be tracking a bee hive, for all we know!"
"Any direction is fine if we get out of this graveyard!" Usagi replied shivering. "We could gather up water, blankets and mattresses and start walking instead of jabbering until night. I want to reach civilization as soon as possible!"
Jean doubted the Tsufurus would welcome them, but there was always the possibility the Saiyans won the war. "OK, we start as soon as we are ready. Let's go."
Nodding, the girls packed up in no time, then they bravely walked through the fence, out into the wasteland.
Hours later they were still hiking, when Makoto broke their silent advance. "Something is following us. I'm picking up a faint smell since when the wind changed."
This prompted one full minute of sniffing form all the group. They still weren't accustomed to their finer senses.
"I smell it too." agreed Minako. "Seems similar to that beast's smell."
"Yummy! We may hunt and eat it too! Can we?" Usagi's stomach rumbled again.
"It's dangerous but, I'm so hungry again!" added Rei looking at her friends.
"Then we must split. Three of us will backtrack trying to move upwind, this way it will not detect them. Then they will shout to scare the beast towards those rocks." Jean pointed at a group of rocky formations, huddled close together. "We have to draw the beast in a narrow space, to limit its movements." She explained to the girls. "Usagi, Ami and Rei will be the first group. Makoto and Minako, being the fittest ones, will be with me in the attack group. We will kill it with our metal knives." She hinted at the metal shards they used to butcher the first beast. "Makoto managed to kill one barehanded, so with knives, even these junky ones, we should kill it fast. Questions?"
"One!" Usagi raised her hand. "Why I'm in the shouting group?"
"This should be obvious, you airhead!" Rei told at Usagi with a mocking tone. "You are always complaining loudly, so you should not have any problems scaring the beast with your acute, irritating cries!"
"I'm not irritating!"
"Yes, you are!"
"Blblblblblblb!" She stuck her tongue at Rei.
"Blblblblblblb to you!" Rei replied.
"Stop this, you idiots!" Jean scolded them. "If you have this much energy then start walking. Ami you lead the group, OK?"
"Yes Jean-san. Let's go Usagi-chan, Rei-chan. Try to move without making too much noise." The dependable girl started to move upwind, trying to execute the plan.
"Then let us go to the rocks! We will eat again in no time!" Minako was already walking towards the proposed ambush site. Makoto and Jean followed her.
They examined the site and choose a narrow passage to lie in wait. Sometime later they heard Usagi's high pitched shout and Rei's voice. Ami wasn't contributing much to the shouting but Makoto was sure without her the beast would have never been prodded in the right direction. However Ami was there, so after less than an hour they heard a heavy animal breathing hard while moving between the rocks. At the right moment Makoto shouted to the top of her lungs, jumping out of hiding, stabbing at the huge beast. Minako and Jean followed suit, and plunged their knives in the flanks of the unlucky animal.
The terrified beast tried to maneuver, to bite at them, but the space was too confined. It managed to swipe with its talons at the girls, without much success. It died in less than one minute of struggle.
"Wow, it was easy!" Makoto wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Now we cook it!"
"Yay! Food!" they heard Usagi, finally showing up. The golden primary sun was already sinking.
"I think this beast is not a real predator." Ami told them while they were cooking it.
"It has fangs and claws! How can it not be one?" replied Rei, puzzled.
"She's probably right." Jean was thinking the same thing. "Strong it may be, we are newbie hunters at best, and killed it in no time. Maybe it's some sort of farm beast gone wild."
"Sure, it tastes great!" Usagi was already licking her lips. "Dinner time!"
The group produced laborious eating noises for more than an hour. Then they made camp for the night.
"Saiyan bodies must have incredibly efficient digestion mechanisms. I have no problems with physical effort right after lunch. A human will be unable to move." Ami was still taking mental notes on their new physiology.
They agreed to take turns sleeping, again letting Usagi out of the count. She was thus the first to wake up. "OK, now I'm full of energy! Let's go girls!"
Rei nodded rubbing her eyes . "Usagi is right. We do not know when we will eat again. Better move on fast. Oh, my hair is a mess!"
"Mine too! But I'm not complaining!" Usagi told her while putting her hair up in the Odango style.
"Less talk, more walking kiddos!" Jean had short hair, so this was not a problem for her.
"Humph!" Usagi ignored her, aiding Minako combing. "You don't seem a woman at all!"
"Maybe I'm not..." replied Jean, smiling mischievously. "... sometimes."
Usagi heard the comment but decided against arguing with her, choosing instead to focus on her friend's hair combing.
When they were finally ready they started hiking again. Ami was still trying to make the best use of the malfunctioning sensor. "The readings indicate we are a lot closer to our target. One more day of marching will get us there."
As Ami predicted, the next day a huge city loomed in front of them. Built in an alien architectural style, it had white walls, towering buildings with rounded windows, and paved roads. There were no parks, no shops, no advertising signs, nothing but white fortress-like buildings. No cars or vehicles were visible, but a lot of flying beings moved fast in the sky, like bees in a hive. Most of them were black haired men and women wearing some sort of uniform.
The girls stood in awe at the strange alien sight. "Not a Tsufuru in sight. I think the Saiyans won their freedom, right? And it resembles a bee-hive!" Minako commented wryly.
Right then, a group of flying beings landed heavily right in front of them. From their fierce looks they were Saiyans, three males and a female. All stronger looking than they were.
The two groups stared at each other for an instant, then one of the Saiyans started laughing! "Ha ha ha! Look at that trash, boys! Unbelievable! Where they come from?" Soon they all were laughing hard. "Look at their clothing! Those reservation rags! And they came walking! What a pain!"
"Hey! Watch your tongue, you freaks! We had to march through the wasteland to get here! We are tired and hungry, calling us trash is NOT the way to receive guests!" Rei was pissed by their reactions and yelled at them, before Jean could stop her.
The Saiyan woman, a girl in her twenties, walked face to face with Rei. "If I say you are trash, what you'll do 'bout it? Trash?"
"I'll..." Rei was about to answer when Ami interrupted her. "We acknowledge your superior strength and standing. Can you please tell us where we can find food and a place to rest? We are the last survivors of the Galangal tribe. Our parents were defeated by the Tsufuru and had to run to hide in the wasteland. Now they are dead and we were trying to avenge them." She used the notations learned reading the ledger to spin a believable tale.
Minako was impressed by her creativity. "Yeah! Tell us where we can find some Tsufurus to kill!" She added for dramatic tension. The other girls understood the situation and started to growl in fake hate.
"Eh? What? Ha ha ha ha ha!" The Saiyans laughed uncontrollably for a while.
"Oh, the best laugh in months, whew! You sure are funny trash! The Tsufurus were killed off decades ago! You are late. We thought the Galangals were all dead too. Turns out six were still alive." One of them managed to say between laughs.
"Hey, can't wait to tell this to the others, they'll like it. But first we kill this trash and be over with it!" said one of them.
"Eh? Kill us? Are you mad?" Usagi complained, staring at them.
"You're a disgrace to the Saiyan race. You're better dead, and you'll be soon!" The female warrior told them, grinning evilly.
"Wait, there's no need to..." Jean started to say but was interrupted by a slap from the female Saiyan. The strength of the blow threw her against a wall, where she collapsed stunned.
"Jean-san! You evil bastards!" shouted Makoto preparing to fight. Rei, Minako and Usagi were immediately at her side, while Ami hastened to aid Jean.
The Saiyan woman took a fighting position, while the others watched. She moved so fast the girls had no time to react, punching Makoto and Minako in the guts and downing them. She booed Usagi in the face, making her stumble backwards into Ami. They fell upon Jean in a pile of bodies and the Saiyaness kicked, smashing them upon the wall.
"Weaklings!" She spat, ready to slaughter them, when a cold voice stopped her!
"What are you doing here Nizuki?" A huge mustached Saiyan landed between them. Tall and strong, he dominated the other warriors with only a glance.
"C-Captain Nappa!" The woman snapped at attention. "Our scouters spotted these intruders approaching the city some time ago. We intercepted them and we were about to kill them, sir!"
"Why kill them? Aren't they Saiyans like us?" the man asked coldly.
"Yes sir! However, they admitted being Galangal tribe survivors. They are the shame of our race, sir!" Another warrior replied.
"Galangals? Ha ha ha ha! They are too young to be the same idiots that were defeated years ago. Must be their offspring. They look miserable to me, untrained rookies. Anyway, why kill them now, when we can have more fun? Let them fight in the training room."
The mighty warrior turned towards the terrified girls. "Look, women. It will be a waste to kill you now. Prove to me you are worthy of living and we will give you something to do. Or die trying, like a true Saiyan!"
All the warriors started laughing.