Super Saiyans Emerge
Frieza laughed as Jeice attempted to rape Eclipse and Zarbon tried to crush Vegeta under his foot. Kakarot, who had been kicked into a box of crates, was badly hurt. His arm was broke and his tail cut in different places. The two Saiya-jins, Vegeta and Kakarot, had formed an unbreakable bond between each other that no one could destroy. When Vegeta felt his best friend and kindred spirit go down, a massive anger swelled inside of him, that no year and a half child should dream about having, rose to the surface.
"Carrot!" Vegeta wasn't able to say Kakarot yet and had called him carrot since he learned how to form words. When he didn't hear an answer and somehow felt his friend really weak, he quit crying and glared at Zarbon. "YOU HURT CARROT!" Vegeta's hair flashed gold, his eyes turning green as his hand caught the foot coming down and started pushing it up.
Frieza wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't watching this with his own eyes. Vegeta was badly hurt with broken ribs, but it didn't seem to faze him as he screamed throwing Zarbon back into the glass window behind him. Vegeta wasn't even aware he was attacking, but he went after Zarbon and started hitting him everywhere he could think of.
"Bad man! You hurt my friend! You hurt Carrot!" Vegeta was crying as he gave Zarbon the beating of his life and didn't see Bardock come running up and yank him off.
Shadow Moon who had been walking around the castle, heard heavy crying and went to investigate. She was infuriated as she saw a female Saiya-jin down, some Red freak pushing her dress up.
Jeice laughed at the feeble attempts of Eclipse to break free, but he pressed down on her tail with his knee, bringing out a scream of pain from her. He wasn't paying attention to the fight behind him as Vegeta started pushing Zarbon back. "I figured you would have resisted more than this. Must mean you really want it."
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. You know, it's not polite to pick on someone weaker than yourself. Why don't you fight a real woman."
Jeice smirked. "Don't worry love, I'll have plenty left over for you, so stand back and wait your turn."
He didn't see it coming as his hair was yanked up and pulled to face a very pissed off woman. "Let me rephrase that. Fighting me is not an option if you wish to live." With lightning speed, her boot connected with his face, breaking his nose and sending him crashing into Zarbon as he tried to get back up. Shadow Moon was about to fly through the window when a pink tail snapped around her neck and shoved her down on the ground and pressed his other foot down on her rib cage.
Pain shot through her body, but she gritted her teeth, refusing to show this freak her weakness. "It's not polite to interrupt people and their business. If you want entertainment, than I would be more than happy to give it to you."
"I'm sure I wouldn't be interested in the entertainment you think you could provide," Shadow Moon smirked. Fury shot through Frieza's face as his tail swung around and broke her jaw.
"Learn your place woman!" His foot pressed harder and Shadow Moon tried hard to break free from him crushing her, but it was impossible as she felt a rib press into her lungs, making her sink into a darkness.
'What a way to go down. Beaten by a lizard.' Before she passed out, she saw something green flash by and yank on Frieza's tail and throw him through several walls.
Kakarot was limp, as Bardock gently pushed him face up and there was barely a pulse in him. 'He's just a child! They weren't even expecting to be attacked.' As he looked at the odd angle of his son's arm and the rough breathing coming from him, an unspeakable rage filled Bardock's heart as he gently placed his son next to Vegeta and stood up and turned around. He saw Eclipse down and some green person standing protectively over a woman in a sailor uniform.
Walking over to Eclipse he knelt down and noticed that she was barely conscious, her tail broken in several places and her lip swollen from Jeice beating her several times to get her to be quiet. "Your majesty?" Bardock pushed her hair back and she opened her eyes.
"Don't let them hurt my son..., my friend." Her head rolled to the side and he gasped, praying that she was still alive. The woman by her side wasn't much better as he saw something sticking out of her side and wondered where she had come from. Looking up at the figure standing over her, he had to admit this was a strange creature.
Shadow Moon opened her eyes, struggling to stay awake and coughed up blood. She saw Bardock looking at her and Piccolo standing over her. "Do me... a favor... Kick that damn lizard's ass for me..." She coughed up more blood, and sank back into blackness as Bardock snarled in fury.
"Fr...ie..za...!" Piccolo didn't have to know who this Saiya-jin was; he resembled and acted like his son. He had never actually seen the transformation take place at the beginning and had to admit, it was something to be afraid of. He reminded himself, to never make a Saiya-jin angry. "They were defenseless!"
Frieza had made his way back into the hallway and sneered at the angry Saiya-jin and the three hurt people on the floor. "What's the matter? They should have been paying attention and the law states in the universe that the strong survive and the weak die."
Vegeta was sitting next to his friend, crying. He had never done anything without Kakarot and he could feel him hurting. "That bad lizard made that mean man hurt you. I will make him pay!" Vegeta powered up more and flew at Frieza, trying to hit him, but because he was smaller, Frieza was able to avoid him with some difficulty.
Tiring out quickly, Vegeta was soon so slow that Frieza could deflect about any blow. "Here monkey! Let me show you how it's done." With a severe blow, Vegeta went flying into Zarbon, unconscious and in a comma. Bardock screamed in fury.
"YOU WILL PAY!" Bardock's anger pushed him into Super Saiya-jin and Piccolo smirked. "You have that straight," Shadow Moon said, slowly pushing herself back up.
"What are you doing back up?" Piccolo asked her. "I thought you were dying."
"I can't die. I'm immortal and even when I get hurt to the point of death, I will heal back quickly. I think it's time to kick some Lizard ass."
"NO!" snarled Bardock. "This fight doesn't concern you. He attacked my race and I will finish him off myself. You are not from this time and this fight will be fought by us, unless you have no other choice but to interfere."
Shadow Moon started to protest, but Piccolo touched her arm and shook his head. "It wouldn't do you any good to talk him out of this. If he's anywhere like his son, then he'll be stubborn and only turn his anger on you if you try."
"I don't go by your rules." Shadow Moon walked over to the children and looked them over. "We need to get all three of them to Hotaru."
"Why?"
"She can heal them." She gently picked up Kakarot in one arm while she took Vegeta in the other. Piccolo put one arm under Eclipse's knee, while supporting her head in the crook of his shoulder and made sure they hid in the corners where no one would think that they harmed these three. Considering they were strangers, they would be killed on sight, questions asked later.
"Do you think he can handle that Ice-jin on his own?"
"Yes. I'm not messing with an angry Saiya-jin."
Bardock circled Frieza. The ice-jin had never seen a transformation like the one he just saw, but judging from the feral look in the monkey's eyes, this was one mess he should not have tangled with. "I can see your race is powerful. My offer still stands about joining my army."
"No way! You're afraid of us now that you've seen we can take out your elite soldiers; especially by a one-year old. How pathetic are your soldiers anyway? Wait, there only as incompetent as their leader is, so that makes you stupid and weak."
"I'll show you weak monkey!" Frieza lashed out at Bardock who caught his fist in one hand and crushed it till there was nothing left but shattered bones.
"You're doing a great job! I think I missed that stunt the first time. Want to try it again, or would you like me to show you how a real fighter punches." Frieza was terrified as he stepped back away from Bardock. Even if he were to transform, he couldn't beat the Saiya-jin at his current level.
"Look, I made a mistake, isn't there some way we can talk about this?"
Bardock tapped his chin with his finger, his tail patting his thigh. "Let me think... No way in hell! You attacked the queen," punch in the ribs, "you are responsible for breaking my son's arm and tail and almost killed him," kick to the back, "and you hit the Saiya-jin heir to the throne!" Bardock took his tail and began slapping Frieza over and over again in the face as his hands punched him to the point that Frieza didn't have a rib cage left.
"Please, have mercy on me..."
Bardock lifted Frieza's chin and made him stare into the eyes of terror itself. "Let me tell you something about Saiya-jins. There is no mercy for the enemy." Placing his palm in front of Frieza's face, he blasted him until all that was left, were ashes on the carpet. Zarbon and Jeice were still moving and tried to make a weak run for it, when a tail snatched Jeice by the neck and a ki blast hit Zarbon in the back.
"Where were you going? As I recall, you were going to do something to the queen weren't you? Let me show you what a good time is." Bardock grabbed Jeice by the foot with his tail and began flipping him back and forth on the head and face until his head snapped, the skull crushed.
In a desperate attempt to get away, Zarbon blasted Bardock in the face, but only received a sneer and cold laugh. "What was that? I think it almost tickled." With a swift round house, Zarbon figured out what it was like to be headless.
Several guards came running, followed by King Vegeta when everyone crashed into each other as they stared at a site that was scarier than Frieza. Bardock stood over the headless Zarbon and the crushed Jeice, coated in blood and a look of victory on his face. He turned to look at King Vegeta in the eye, flipping his tail as he did so. 'Don't have to worry about Frieza anymore.'
Bardock followed the scent of his son and Vegeta to make sure that they were being taken care of. He still didn't know who those strangers were and he was in no mood to play. "Your majesty, you better come with me, your mate was badly hurt."
King Vegeta followed after his general and body guard, not knowing what to say.
Mirai Artemis was in the middle of licking Luna's fur and snuggling against her, when she screamed and vanished out of sight. "Luna!" He looked all around for her, but there was no sign that she had ever existed and his heart broke at that moment. "No... What happened?" Tears pricked at his eyes, as he stood in numb shock, knowing something had killed her, but what he didn't know or understand.
Pluto heard Artemis yell and came up to the devastated feline and picked him up. His entire body was trembling as she pulled him close to her body, to keep him warm. "Artemis?"
"Pluto..." he sobbed. "I just got her back!"
"What are you talking about?" Pluto was really scared now, staring at they hysterical cat.
"She's gone! Luna's gone! I was licking her fur when she screamed and vanished!" Artemis buried his head into Pluto's neck and cried. She ran out of the room she was in and looked at Vegeta.
"What woman?"
"Do you have a communications link with the moon kingdom?"
"Yes, why?"
"Luna's dead!"
"What?" Everyone shouted.
"Artemis said she screamed and vanished into thin air. That tells me something happened to her past self."
Vegeta was about to lead the way, when Piccolo and Shadow Moon came in carrying an unconscious Eclipse and baby Kakarot and Vegeta. "What the hell happened?" He roared running to his mother.
"Frieza," Piccolo stated. Vegeta's furry mounted like Bardock's did and almost went Super Saiya-jin when Bardock came in the door glaring at Piccolo and Shadow Moon.
"Who are you two and why is there a bunch of strangers in these quarters all of a sudden?" Bardock took one look at the white cat in Pluto's arms and growled taking a step towards her.
"Father," Kakarot warned. "They're not here to hurt anyone. Something's wrong and they're going to tell us what it is."
"Yeah something's wrong. The queen is badly injured and so are the two children. These two appear out of nowhere and Usagi's cat is crying as if someone hurt him."
Hotaru came running up to the three unconscious people and blanched. 'Usagi!' she cried telepathically.
'Hotaru?' she asked.
'I know you have a lot of things you're trying to deal with at the moment, but I need your help out here. Vegeta isn't dead and we'll explain that later. Baby Geta and Kakarot are almost dead and Eclipse isn't much better. I can't help them on my own."
'I'm coming Hotaru.' Usagi opened the door and came up beside Hotaru and growled at the damage on the little ones. "Who did this?" Fury was mounting in Usagi, surprising her brother and Bardock. She seldom got mad about anything, but obviously this had pushed her over the edge.
"He's dead," Bardock stated simply.
Usagi placed her hands over Kakarot, while Hotaru was heeling Vegeta. The injuries were bad and it took almost all their energy to fully heal them back to normal. They sagged against each other, paling, but they had one more person to heal if they didn't want her to die. A gentle hand rested on both their shoulders as someone neither of them recognized stepped down beside them and closed her eyes.
The brown stone on her forehead began to glow as she pulled forth her power of healing. It didn't require much energy from her to help Eclipse and she smiled as the Saiya-jin queen opened her eyes. Fear flashed in her eyes as she sat up, expecting to see Jeice above her. "What... Where am I?"
Raven gently pushed her back down and told her to rest for a minute. "Safe." Eclipse looked over to see her mate leaning against the wall and shame crossed her face as she tried to turn away from his piercing gaze. He was able to pick up her thoughts easily and snarled, wanting to bring Jeice back and tear him to shreds himself. Stooping over, he gently picked up his mate and looked at Bardock who had not calmed. A lot of anger was still inside of him and it may take him a few hours to get over Frieza's men hurting his son and baby Vegeta.
For the first time, Usagi noticed Artemis crying loudly, trying to burying himself inside of Pluto. She looked to find Luna and couldn't see or feel her anywhere. 'What?' She drove her senses further and found something a lot more disturbing than Luna being gone. "No!" She screamed jumping to her feet trembling. "NO, NO, NO!" Before Kakarot could get to Usagi, she disappeared completely and gasped in terror.
"Usagi!" he cried out.
"Kakarot calm down. She's not dead. I can still sense her," Vegeta told him to keep him from going ballistic.
"Where is she then?"
"On the moon. Don't ask me how, but she did instant transmission." Not wasting any time, he yanked Vegeta by the arm, and vanished after his mate.
Shadow Moon and Raven looked at the group as if they were completely mad. "And they thought my brother was a lunatic," Shadow Moon snorted.
Artemis, after not hearing the enemy for some time, poked his head out from underneath the bed. His ears were laid flat to his head, as he dared to venture out further. When the enemy didn't strike, he decided that the coast was clear and looked at the damage in front of him. Luna was lying on her side, burned in several places. Tears welled inside of Artemis as he crawled up to her and nudged her head to see if there was any movement at all. The way it thudded heavily back to the floor, he knew she was gone. "Luna..." he cried. The next site to greet him, made his stomach nearly lurch, but he crawled over to her anyway. Queen Selinity was against the wall, laying face first on the floor. Her eyes were wide open and you could see the great deal of pain she suffered before she died. "Selinity... What happened?" With nowhere to go, and nothing left to do, Artemis laid his head down on Selinity's neck and fell into a numb sleep. It was either that, or go completely insane.
Serenity had woken up underneath the bed and crawled out from under the bed and didn't understand why the cat and her mommy weren't moving. She was now seven months old and was just learning how to stand. Her first words were mommy and Ry, short for Ryouga. "Ma...ma..." she called out to Selinity. The poor child thought that her mother was sleeping and crawled up to her and curled against her and Artemis. It didn't take long for her silver tail or golden hair to be stained in red blood as she fell into a sleep. Her head was still hurting from the bump that she got from hitting the floor and her body was trying to recover.
Neither of them saw Usagi materialize beside them, but it was a good thing as she collapsed to her knees going into a deep shock. Her mother had died in the battle of Beryl and that hurt a lot, but nothing prepared her for what she saw here. Luna was dead; her mother was lying on the floor with her insides torn out, Artemis and her baby self were curled against her, asleep. She reached out a trembling hand, and touched the dead cat. "Luna...," she squeaked. "Please, don't be dead." Picking up the cat, she straightened out what fur she had left and brought her to her cheek. "I never even told you that I wanted to see you again. I've been so stupid and blinded by my petty feelings against words that shouldn't have mattered. Come back to me, and I'll never leave you again." Her body was shaking as the tears streamed down her face.
Artemis heard crying and quickly woke up thinking that Serenity was being hurt, but the sight in front of him took him completely by surprise. "Who are you?" The person turned to look at him and he gasped as he saw the silver crescent moon on her forehead, silver eyes and silver hair that came to the floor easily around her feet. She had forgotten to braid it before leaving her room and it was turning the color of red, by lying in the pools of blood.
"Artemis... You're not hurt?"
"No. I hid before he could get to me. Luna was trying to pull Ryouga to safety, but the attacker caught her."
"Ryouga? I don't know him."
"I don't know if I should tell you anything, because I don't know you."
"Selinity didn't tell you about me or how the baby was born?"
"No. Luna and I have often wondered about how she became pregnant, but she would give us a stern look and walk away saying it was none of our business."
"I'm Princess Serenity from the future. Being here was a complete accident and Selinity agreed to have me so that I could be born. Without a lot of us, the future will cease to exist. Now, who is Ryouga? Is he my brother?"
"No, but you might as well be brother and sister. Ryouga is Pluto's son. She became pregnant by a Saiya-jin name Paragus, who is still roaming the universe. He's been here since you were about three months old, and is about five himself."
"Pluto had a son? I didn't know about that. Where is he Artemis?"
"I think the enemy has him. Serenity was knocked out and I couldn't afford to leave her on her own."
Kakarot and Vegeta flashed in front of Usagi, making Artemis jump back startled and hissed at the two Saiya-jins. He quickly took a protective stance over Serenity, warning them to keep back. Usagi looked at the cat with pain filled eyes, that he couldn't even imagine the depth of. "Artemis, don't fear these two. They're not here to hurt you, but to help."
The two Saiya-jins were about to give Usagi a lecture on disappearing without them first when the words died on their tongues. The sight that greeted them was enough to even make them blanch. "Usagi," Kakarot asked, "Are you alright?"
The laugh that came to her throat, concerned Vegeta and Kakarot. First Rei, then Vegeta, now her mother and Luna. "Funny that you should ask. Sure, I'm fine. Considering that I watched Rei have a hand shoved through her chest and out her back, had to stand on Vegeta-sai while Vegeta blew himself up and the planet we were on. Then, I find out he's back to life, to have Luna vanish because she's dead here, and my mother is lying on the floor with a hole in her back! All in all, I say I'm great!"
"Usagi, we can fix this."
"Fix it, how? Sure we can bring her back to life, but it doesn't erase the damage done. Why is it that every time I think we're going to have a peaceful moment or a good life, something like this happens? Frieza, the shadow demon you didn't destroy, and now this! And on top of it all, Beryl is still coming and my mother's already dead! My whole life has been centered on fighting and it won't stop. All of this is senseless and has no logic too it. Why did he do this? Why, why, why?"
Vegeta pulled her up and hugged her close as her body trembled against him. At first she tensed, still not believing he was alive, but his scent and strong arms around her, told her that he was definitely not dead. Gently, prying the cat from her fingers, he rested his chin on her head and tried to calm her down. Kakarot let Vegeta take care of this, while he walked up the sleeping child and picked her up. Other than the bump on her head, she looked fine. "I'll be right back Vegeta. I'm going to take Serenity to her father along with Artemis."
Kakarot disappeared and was back in a matter of minutes as he looked around the room to see if he could find clues on who did this. Vegeta was holding his sister in a tight embrace, trying to give her what little comfort he had. "Let's go home, Rena."
"No. We have something we have to do first. Ryouga's missing and we have to get him back."
"Who is Ryouga?" Kakarot asked.
"The child of Pluto and Paragus in this time line." Usagi seemed to be calming down, but Kakarot knew better. She was doing her best to keep her emotions from getting the better of her, but it was only a matter of time, before she totally broke down and let it take control. 'Then you don't know me very well Kakarot.' Her eyes turned to face him and what he saw put a twinge of fear for anyone that she was really angry at. 'I've been dealing with this kind of pain since I was fourteen-years-old. I don't know, watching your friends die more than once and now all this, you kind of get use to it. I say let's go find the bastard that did this and now! I'm not going back home until we do.'
"Al right. Do you want any of your friends here?"
"No! I know you two can handle yourselves, but the scouts are not as powerful as my mother was, and I refuse to have another one die! Never! I will not become Sailor Cosmos if it means their deaths."
"Rena," Vegeta asked curious. "How do you know I didn't kill the shadow demon?"
"Because after I felt you die, I still felt his presence moving through space. I'm not going to worry about him right now. He's not the one that did this. I can still feel the presence of this monster and he went to Earth."
Kakarot looked at her curiously, "You can feel him?"
"Yes," she growled. "He's twisted with pure evil and bent on seeking revenge on the both of you. How do you know this person?"
"Can you give us a description on what he looks like?" Vegeta asked.
Usagi closed her eyes and brought forth her telepathic abilities that she didn't like using unless she had no other choice. "He's tall, has tan skin, shoulder length black hair and blue eyes. His smile is evil and he's killing people on Earth for the hell of it. He has a red bandana around his neck, a tan suede jacket and a black shirt underneath that."
"Do you know what he's calling himself now? We know him as Android 17."
"Juuana and he's ready to show you how much stronger he has become over the years. Are we done with this? I'm not in the mood to socialize all day."
"We're done. If you're ready to go, then I'll take you to Earth," Kakarot gave in. He could just take her back to Vegeta, but her pride wouldn't allow that, nor would she forgive him for such a stunt.
"One more thing." She walked up to her dead mother and brushed her fallen hair from her face and smiled sadly. "Mother, I'm sorry. I will make things right again, but you have to hang in there until we take care of a few things." The crystal was still around her mother's neck and Usagi gently took it off, to make sure it didn't fall in the wrong hands. Rightfully it belonged to Serenity of the past and Usagi would give it to her, if they couldn't bring her mother back to life."
Kakarot gently wrapped his arms and tail around her waist, with Vegeta placing his hand on his shoulder and disappeared to go back to Earth.
Juuana was in the middle of a destroyed city, laughing at all the dead people and the havoc it caused across the globe. These people were so primitive and cowardly that he almost thought it shameful to even be degrading himself to picking on such inferior creatures. Ryouga had cried for so long, that Juuana knocked him out and threw him in a closet somewhere so he wouldn't have to hear him when he woke up. 'Blasted kid. If I didn't need him, I would kill him. Would have prefered to have the moon brat though. If I had her, Kakarot and Vegeta would be so easy to manipulate.'
'Oh really,' came a feminine voice in his mind. 'I'm coming for you. You messed up by allowing my past self to live. If I get my hands on you,' she growled, 'What you did to my mother is going to seem like child's play.'
'Who are you?'
'The future daughter of the woman you just murdered! I will never... never... forgive you for this! No amount of pleading can ever make me see good in you after what you just did.' The voice left his mind, but he felt a bit apprehensive about someone that could communicate through a mind link.
"Maybe I underestimated the power of the moon princess. No matter, what can she be capable of? She's not even a Saiya-jin and from what I can remember of even the Saiya-jin, Vegeta had a hard time beating my sister. I'm more powerful than a Super Saiya-jin even if they did get stronger." The baby had started screaming again and Juuana growled in anger. He was about to go in and save himself a headache by just taking the child out, when a blast came from inside the closet. Out came two men, a woman and the child. Vegeta was the one carrying the child while the other two advanced on him in a snarl. "How? I never saw you come in here or felt you approach!"
Kakarot stepped away from his mate, who lost her temper the minute they appeared into the closet and saw Ryouga on the floor covered in dust and spider webs. He had a bruise on his neck from where Juuana had hit him and this was enough to set off even Kakarot. "You locked him in a closet?" Usagi yelled. "How could you? He could have smothered to death." Her anger was mounting as she stepped forward, tail smashing into the door behind her and shattering it.
Juuana's eyes widened in surprise. "You're a Saiya-jin? I never saw you with a tail last time we met."
"That's because I didn't have one. It grew back in the regeneration tank after you attacked us. I'm half- Saiya-jin and my brother is Prince Vegeta himself."
"What? I knew you were close to him and Kakarot, but not that close. I knew I should have grabbed you back on the moon."
"No, you should have killed me. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Usagi's rage caused a huge aura of silver, gold and a hint of red to flare around her. Her head was down as the two Saiya-jins and Juuana watched her change. Vegeta was speechless. He never imagined a Lunarian would be able to become a Super Saiya-jin because they lacked the rage and the need to kill anyone.
'Usa,' Kakarot whispered in her mind.
'Leave me alone Kakarot. I'm not going to calm down after what he's done. Get Ryouga out of here.'
'You're not doing this alone!'
'I don't need your help, now leave!' Her shout of anger was enough to shock him and make him take a step back, but he knew she was lashing out.
'No!' Kakarot met her challenge by changing into a Super Saiya-jin himself and looked deep into her eyes. 'If you want me to leave, then make me. You're my mate and mates fight together!' Vegeta didn't want to be left out of the fight, but he did have a child in his hands that he needed to get out of the way first. With Juuana focusing on Kakarot and Usagi, he was able to easily take cover and find a safe place to hide him without any blasts accidentally hitting him.
When he got back, he saw Kakarot and Usagi still glaring at each other. 'Usagi,' Vegeta yelled. 'Kakarot is not the one you need to be angry with. He's only doing what he's supposed to do. I'm not leaving either and if you don't like it, tough. You may be a Super Saiya-jin, but you're still nowhere close to a level five. There's no way you can win the argument if he puts his foot down about something. Believe me; I've tried a number of times.'
Juuana was tired of playing with these jokers and launched a stream of electricity at them, trapping Usagi and Vegeta together. "You remember this don't you Usagi? It hurt badly last time if I remember correctly." Kakarot growled in anger, but Juuana laughed. "I wouldn't move Kakarot! I have enough voltage on them, that they'll live, but you make one more step towards me and I'll magnify it so much that they'll be fried monkeys in two seconds."
Usagi screamed, but she ignored it as she saw her mother laying on the ground lifeless, and poor Luna no longer able to be Artemis's mate. He waited so long to be with her again and she vanished the second they got together. 'No!' Juuana blanched at the amount of pressure she put on him. Her eyes were flashes of silver and gold that swirled together in a combination of the lunarian calm side clashing with her Saiya-jin side. At the moment, her Saiya-jin side was winning and that was uncharted territory for her as she gave into a blind rage that engulfed the electricity confining both her and her brother's bodies. 'You will not use us to manipulate my mate! Your quarrel may have been with Kakarot and Vegeta in the past, but it's with me now. Fight me instead of hiding behind me like a coward!'
"Quit doing that!" Juuana screamed. "How the hell are you in my mind you freak?"
'What's the matter? Can't handle a lunarian's ability to see your mind, see your soul, even your worst nightmares. You're afraid of Cell and how he snuck behind you. You want to find Dr. Gero, but that lab isn't created yet. You're afraid of Kakarot and Vegeta because they had the power to defeat you in the past, but you made a wish to the dragon to become more powerful than a Super Saiya-jin. You might be on the power level of a Super Saiya-jin 2, but you can't beat two that are Super Saiya-jin 5 and one that's on the level of a Super Saiya-jin and has the power of the lunarians and marsians with her.' Despite the electricity that ripped at her skin, she walked forward, never breaking eye contact with Juuana. 'I have a present for you.' Usagi raised her hands in the air, and began to concentrate on all three of the powers inside of her. "Lunar Flame Gun!" With a combination of her brother's attack, moon power and a mars fire ball, Usagi threw it at Juuana and hit him against the chest.
Unlike most attacks, this one entered his body so he couldn't deflect it and attacked from the inside out. Juuana screamed as he felt his circuitry frying, but he wasn't out of the game yet. "If I'm going to die, then all of you are coming with me. He dropped the electricity around them and rushed Usagi against the wall. Grabbing her tail and her throat, he began to call forth the bomb that was inside of him, he replaced himself. Chuckles. "I hope you can outrun a nuclear bomb, but this girl won't." He was so busy laughing that he never saw it coming behind him, until a sharp object ripped through his back, tearing him in half. Circuitry sparked as Juuana twitched. "What... happened?"
A dark sinister laugh came from the shadow forming around them. "I can't let you take out my adversaries. Especially the one I need to thank for freeing me off that planet." The shadow turned to Usagi. 'I'll be back, and tell Shadow Moon, I'm coming for her and she can't avoid me forever.' Erebus pulled what was left of 17 into the shadows and you could here his feeble screaming before it disappeared completely.
The Saiya-jins were about to go when they saw Usagi heading for the dark sections where the shadow had gone and was about to jump in when Kakarot read her intentions and yelled. "NO!" He tackled Usagi to the ground and never thought she would snarl at him. Her tail tried to grab his neck, but he quickly slammed it down on the floor and pinned her entire body. "You're not going after him!"
With inhuman strength she thrusted upwards and threw Kakarot off of her, only to have Vegeta to come up behind her and put her into a hammer lock with her arms above her head and his hands firmly settled on the back of her neck. "Let go! He killed Rei, and he's going to pay for it!" They didn't know where she was getting the energy from, but she pushed her feet against the wall and shoved, causing them to fly back and into a wall. He would have lost her, if Kakarot hadn't grabbed her ankles while Vegeta held on to her arms. "You idiots! Why won't you help me fight him?"
"No! We don't know enough about him, to be going blindly in there!"
"I'm not afraid of some stupid shadow. I beat all my other enemies, he shouldn't be any different!" Kakarot never thought he would do this, but he came back and punched Usagi hard enough to knock her out, allowing her body to go limp and to stop fighting them.
"She's going to hate me for that."
"I would too if I didn't know why you did it. Grab her, so we can get Ryouga and leave."
Vegeta went to the mine shaft he had placed Ryouga and picked him up. Kakarot quickly teleported them off Planet Earth and kept a constant grip on Usagi to make sure she didn't go anywhere. "Vegeta, do you think she could have disappeared into the shadows?"
"I don't know and I wouldn't be surprised if she could. The moon is strange and I remember Selinity telling me once that there were two sides of it that can be awakened. Selinity suppressed that side mostly, but she did say that if she allowed it to come to the surface, especially during a new moon, they could go into the darker parts of the moon that would normally kill them. It's a lunarian secret that she only told me because I was Serenity's brother."
They arrived back in the room with everyone looking at them and the unconscious Usagi in Kakarot's arms. Haruka came up and nearly had an explosion when she saw the big black bruise on her cheek. "Where's the guy that did this? I'm going to kill him for touching my koneko-chan (kitten)!"
"I did it and before you jump on me, know that I did it to save her life. She tried to jump in the shadows after the enemy we fought on the planet Vegeta destroyed." Kakarot kept a death grip on Usagi's body, so that when she woke up, she wouldn't have a chance to bolt from him. "I think I'll see you guys later."
Raven came up to Kakarot and placed a hand on his cheek. "She's just dealing with her pain the best way she knows how. As a fighter, you can't allow your feelings to bring you down because others will die for it. That's what she believes and still does, despite her anguish."
"I know, but she's going to drive me insane in the process."
"She's the moon princess, isn't she?"
"Yes."
"Funny, always thought that the one to protect her was suppose to have the golden crystal with him."
Shadow Moon came up to Kakarot to look into his eyes and smirked. "He may not have the golden crystal, but he has enough power to compensate for it. Curious though, if you don't have it, then who does?"
Piccolo, who had been standing behind Endymion, felt him tense at the mention of the golden crystal. He leaned closer and whispered, "You have it don't you? Why are you not her mate then?" A blush crossed his cheeks, but he refused to answer anything and walked away from him.
Raven turned to Endymion and he didn't like all the stares he was receiving all of a sudden. "Forget it! I'm not telling you three anything. Usagi and I may not be together any longer, but that doesn't mean I'm letting any of you get the golden crystal to harm us with either."
"So you were with her?" Raven asked. "I like to know what happened to change that destiny. Not that it was a bad thing, but normally paths don't change so easily."
Endymion scowled and walked up to Raven, not afraid of her. "I don't have to tell you anything about our personal lives. What happened between us, is between Usagi and myself. I refuse to be a jerk again, and I'm not going to ruin what little friendship we have left by talking to you about it." 'Besides, I don't need anyone rubbing it in that I'm alone either.' He looked at Michuru who hadn't left Haruka's side since they arrived back in the past, and sighed. 'I don't stand a chance at getting her.'
Haruka kept an eye on Endymion and noticed him glancing at Michuru almost every chance he got. 'So that's who she's in love with.' A smile crossed her lips as she thought of a way to get him to follow through with his heart. 'I may not like the idiot that much, but Michuru likes him, and he does seem to care about Usagi enough to know not to blab out certain personal information.' Endymion had pulled away from the group and sat by himself, wishing to remain out of the scrutiny of everyone's attention. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he was dragged by his cape out the door down the hall ways.
"You're too soft!" Haruka told him. "If you ever want to catch Michuru, then you're going to have to be a little more demanding and press the issue. She's too shy to come to you herself."
"What are you talking about? Michuru doesn't care about me. She loves you."
"Of course she loves me! Like a sister. Those feelings you're talking about doesn't exist between us any longer. Since we've been apart, both our feelings have gone off towards someone else."
Endymion looked at Haruka speechless. "You fell in love with someone other than Michuru? Does she know about this?"
"Of course she knows. She knew it before I did and told me to follow my heart. The only problem with that was, she was going to be a lone if I did what she asked. Do you want to know what she told me? She already loved someone, but wanted me to set her free."
Haruka drug him into a training room, where she knew they would get some privacy. Shoving him up against the wall, she came up so close that he nearly thought she was going to attack. "Michuru is more the submissive type than she would like to let on. I found that out in the beginning when we were just friends. Her shyness didn't allow her to seek out a boyfriend like most women and they had to come to her. However, most of them didn't want her because of her charm and intelligence. What do you want her for?"
"I... don't know what you're talking about." Endymion turned his head away from Haruka to have her snap it back.
"Yes you do. I'm not going to let you have her if you don't tell me why you like her and how you plan on taking care of her. She's still like family to me and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she's happy."
"I want her because she's intelligent, pretty and kind. We both like music, martial arts and fighting for something that may be way over our heads sometimes. Usagi and I didn't belong together, because she was already proving to be a lot stronger than I was and I couldn't even protect her. I felt bad about hurting her feelings, but that's in the past. Why am I even telling you this? I won't get her."
"Are you so sure?" Haruka easily stood as tall as Endymion and came behind him and whispered into his ear. "This is all you have to do. Come up behind her and rest your chin on her shoulder. If she tries to pull away, grab her waist and nibble on her ear. Talk to her, calm her, because she's like a mare that runs free and wild. If done the right way you can tame her, like the sea on a calm day. After you have her calmed down, turn her to face you and hold her head firmly in one hand, while the other circles to the small of her back and pulls her closer to you. Be gentle and she'll melt into you. However, don't get soft, because she may get scared and try to run. You have to convince her that being in your arms makes her feel like she's the only one in the world that can be looked at by you in that way." Haruka pulled back and came around to see that Endymion was so red, that you might think Mars skirt was fading. She started laughing when something dawned on her. "Oh lord. You're still a virgin and have no idea how to seduce a woman. Just keep in mind what I told you and you'll catch her. However," Haruka grabbed his cape and yanked him down hard, "if you hurt my Michi-chan, so help me, I'll have Turles hold you down, while I find a way to kill you slowly."
"Right, I won't hurt her, I promise."
Endymion and Haruka walked back into the room to find that everyone was settling in for the night somewhere in the room. Bardock had told them he would have guest quarters ready for them the next day, but not until then. Eclipse was with her mate, while they had baby Hotaru and Usagi with them. Bardock and Kalara were taking care of both Kakarot's twins and Broli with Raditz helping them. From the looks of it, they'll be taking care of the children for some time until they figured out what is going on and how to beat the enemy. Now that Frieza was gone, they had to focus on training Kakarot and Vegeta to defeat Dr. Gero on Earth when he came. Vegeta still had baby Ryouga in his grasp and demanded that his two daughters be brought to him as well. He refused to let anyone but himself take care of them.
Hotaru was about to go to her room when a hand lightly touched her arm and pulled her back. She turned to look at the person she had knocked out of the way, trying to get to Setsuna. Blushing she put a hand behind her head and giggled a little. "I'm sorry about throwing you earlier. You're not hurt are you?"
"No, not really, but can I speak with you?"
"Me? Why?"
"You're intriguing."
"Uhmmm, I better go to bed. Ruka and Geta won't like you getting this close."
"Why?"
"They're worried about boys taking advantage of me."
"I doubt you would let them do that if you didn't want them too. Look, all I want to do is talk."
"Al right. Seeing as how Turles has taken Ruka to his room and Vegeta is in his, then you can come in here and talk for a while. I don't want to be alone anyway." Hotaru, innocent as she was, let Ryouga in her room and shut the door behind her.
Ryouga walked around the room, awed at the size. Her bed could fit at least five people in it, yet she was the only one sleeping in it. He looked down at her waist and noticed that her tail was black unlike most of the full-blooded Saiya-jins who had brown tails with a tint of red in them. "What's your name?"
"I figured you would have heard them mention it out there."
"I've heard a lot of things out there today and frankly none of it makes since. My mother is confusing and so is everyone around her. I do like the fighting aspect of it, but everything else I would really like to understand."
Hotaru sat on her bed with her knees underneath her, while watching Ryouga sit on the floor in front of the bed. "My name is Hotaru, but you can call me Taru since that's what everyone else calls me."
"Can I ask you something? Why does the girl in that tall Saiya-jins arms seem familiar to me somehow?"
"That may have to do with because you grew up with her on the moon for several years before it was destroyed and you were sent into the future to lead new lives. You'll get your memories back soon enough."
"So we've lived more than once?"
"Yes."
"Did I have a girlfriend during that time?"
A blush crept across Hotaru's face as she looked at the designs of her blankets. "I don't know, because I wasn't there."
"I don't think I had a girlfriend."
Ryouga was curling up on the carpet to fall asleep when Hotaru felt sorry for him. "Why are you sleeping down there?" His laughter at her innocent question caused her heart to skip a beat, but she ignored it as he looked at her with his black eyes. For a moment he had nothing to say and then he smirked with a teasing glint in his eyes.
"Where do you suggest I sleep? I don't have a bed and I doubt your brother or Haruka would like it very much if I asked to share yours."
Hotaru looked at him and then the big bed. She had a lot of pillows beside her and came up with a great idea. "Well, if you promise not to kick too hard, then you have the right side of the bed, while I take the left. You seem nice and I don't see what they're so worried about anyway. I feel sorry for you and I don't want you to hurt your neck by sleeping on that floor."
He could only stare at her innocent gaze and nature. 'How naive is she? Does she really understand what's she asking me to do?' "Uhhh... I better not. It keeps both of us out of trouble."
"What trouble? If you don't hurt me, then my brother and Ruka won't have to know about this. I'm insisting. Please don't sleep down there. Besides, I don't want anything to grab you." The shadows still scared Hotaru a great deal and she didn't want to admit that she wanted someone close in case they attacked again. Ryouga noticed the fear in her eyes as she stared at the shadows around her bed and her body trembled. He still didn't know what had happened here; no one had gotten around to explaining it yet, but from the way Hotaru looked, it had been a terrifying experience.
"Alright. If the pillows are between us, then there's no way I can bump into and kick you off by accident." Hotaru shouted with glee, but quickly covered her mouth afraid she might wake Vegeta.
"Cool. Let me get my nightgown on while you crawl into bed. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'll just take my shirt and pants off. I have a pair of boxer shorts underneath. Is that alright?"
"Sure." Hotaru ran into her closet and soon came out with a purple nightgown that made Ryouga's eyes widen and his jaw drop. He had to quickly turn away, a blush forming on his face. The gown only had two thin spaghetti straps, and lightly hugged her figure. She didn't even know how thin the material was as she crawled into the bed and turned on her side with her back against the pillows.
Ryouga was breathing hard and had to shut his eyes to get a control on his instincts. 'What is happening to me? I'm finding myself drawn to her and she has no Earthly idea how irresistible she is.' "I think I better go back into the other room and sleep." He didn't receive an answer as Hotaru was fast asleep with the sheets at her waist. Being decent for once, he pulled the sheets up to her neck and was about to walk out of the room, when he heard her whimper in her sleep and flip over to her other side.
"Rei!" She cried out in her sleep. "I'm sorry! No!" Curious he walked up to her and watched her face make different expressions as her nightmare became worse. "Stop! Don't hurt me!" Ryouga tried to shake her awake and finally succeeded when she bolted up and nearly screamed at the top of her lungs terrified. His hand covered her mouth, as his lips came to her ears.
"I don't mind you screaming, but can you at least wait until I leave. If Vegeta finds me in here with his sister, he's going to have my head. From what I've over heard from Trunks and Gohan, your brother has a temper that surpasses mine." He gently pulled his hand away from her mouth, but she was still tense as her whole body shook in fear. 'Man, she was only asleep for ten minutes.' Her body was soaked in sweat, causing the night gown to cling to her and her hair to stick to her forehead. "Are you ok? Look, I better go sleep out there so I don't get you in trouble."
"No!" Hotaru grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Please stay. You're so nice, and I don't want to be alone right now. The only two people that would understand what I'm going through is dealing with their own problems. Just wait until I fall back asleep. I'm so scared."
Ryouga knelt beside the bed and gently brushed her cheek. "Scared of what?"
"The shadows. Please, don't leave me alone with them. He's coming to take me away?"
"Who is?"
"His name is Erebus and he said that even the Goddess of Death won't stop him from claiming the universe." Hotaru tried not to cry, but the nightmare was so real that she couldn't help it as sobs took over her small frame. Ryouga's heart broke as he watched her cry. He climbed in beside her and let her cry against his chest. Eventually she was able to fall back asleep as he gently placed her back down, but as he tried to move off the bed, her body pressed firmly against his, her tail wrapping around his leg. Her hands were together in between them as her head came up to meet his chin. Every time he tried to get loose, she would whimper loudly, and decided to give up and let her have her way, so long as no one found out.
'This is going to be a long night and even worse tomorrow if anyone walks in here.' His well muscled arms, encircled her frame easily and held her against him as sleep over came him. 'She actually feels kind of good sleeping next to me.'