Chapter 3: Sailor Mercury
The morning after the first battle….
The gravity room was notably absent on this particular morning. No devices going off, no computers and alarms buzzing and beeping. The one who would occupy the gravity room this time of the morning decided to go to the rooftop. Gohan sat on the flat rooftop in a meditative pose. A white aura was surrounding the boy as he decided to do a mental training session. The night before weighed on his mind and so he went up to collect his thoughts.
Part of Gohan thought that he made a mistake that could've cost Sailor Moon her life. Thankfully, at least to him, she found a way to disable the monster and finish the fight. The boy was glad that he didn't have to leave the other young girl an orphan as killing was something to be done only when necessary for him. The boy told himself mentally that he had to anticipate the movements of the monster more if he was to help Sailor Moon going forward. As he meditated, he couldn't help but hear a voice in his head.
Gohan broke from his meditative state for a moment. His eyes opened and he saw that he was not alone. A figure stood in front of him, about his height with short dark hair and eyes of blue. The saiyan thought that the figure was overly dressed in his black uniform that wouldn't look out of place at a military ceremony. Gohan stood up and gazed at the young man, who simply had a neutral look on him. The twosome simply looked at each other as if they were trying to see what the other was thinking.
"Find the crystal, find the Sailor Guardians and you will find your answers," the mysterious figure told Gohan in what the saiyan though was the exact same voice he heard last night. Gohan smirked at the man. He couldn't believe that a voice in his head stood in front of him.
"So you're the one. You could at least tell me your name," Gohan told the man.
"My name is part of the quest. You will figure it out," the man told him before he disappeared as if he was a wisp of air. The saiyan took a deep breath, silently called the voice a curse word involving the anus, and went back into his meditative pose. He knew then he needed to train his mind if he were to solve this dilemma. The white aura zapped a couple of moths as they got too close, but Gohan did not break his pose again until the sun started to rise.
A few days pass since the incident, with no crazy happenings due to dark magic. Gohan had encountered the bun headed girl several times since then however, the two of them going from awkward, to more and more friendly fare with the two finally introducing themselves the last time they talked. Usagi came to the realization that Gohan wasn't a jerk, and Gohan realized that just because she had that one 30 she wasn't stupid.
On this day, the bun headed girl saw Gohan talk to one of her classmates. She couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about, since she was rather nosy at times. Several of her friends joined her, mainly to gawk at the guy and talk about the girl.
"That's Ami Mizuno. She's the smartest girl in our grade," Naru, the Bulma fangirl and daughter of the jewelry store owner that was rescued.
"I hear she's kind of stuck up. The girl flaunts her smarts all the time," a black haired girl named Yumiko said.
" She scores perfect on everything all the time, especially on the mock exam the other day," a short boy with glasses on they called Umino said.
"She'll never get a boyfriend that way," a girl with shoulder length black hair named Kuri.
"I don't know, she's talking to that spiky haired high school boy," pointing out a curly haired chubby girl named Mio.
"Oh you mean him. I saw him talking to Dr. Bulma the other day," Naru pointed out.
Usagi was looking on at Gohan and Ami talking. She couldn't help but wonder about a couple of things. Ami helping her with exams filled Usagi with gleeful excitement, but a part of her also was curious about whether the blue haired girl and the spiky haired acquaintance were romantically involved. Hearing the name of Dr. Bulma associated with him however, shook her focus on those thoughts and caused her to pay closer attention to her friends.
"Who's Dr. Bulma?" Usagi wound up asking them. All of her group were shocked that Usagi never heard of this woman. The three young women and Umino started telling her many facts and rumors about the famous CEO of Capsule Corp. Usagi then actually recalled that she knew of her, but didn't say anything as she noticed Gohan break away from Ami. The boy went by the group and stopped when Usagi and him saw each other. The boy went to the group and smiled at Usagi, who couldn't help but smile back.
"Hello Usagi," Gohan said.
"Hello Gohan," Usagi said, a slight bit of red appearing on her face. The girls of the group decided to listen intently, while Umino froze. Before Gohan could get a word out however, Sharpner came toward the group from another direction. Usagi became surprised while Gohan kept a neutral expression.
"So Gohan, talking to the children?" Sharpner questioned. Usagi huffed at being called a child by the long haired older teen and was about to give him a piece of his mind.
"I've ran into this girl often Sharpner. She and I talk lots," Gohan pointed out, which halted Usagi's fury for a moment.
"Well if you talk to these kids long enough, you won't make it to school," Sharpner pointed out.
"Who are you calling a kid!" shouted Usagi.
"You and your friends," Sharpner pointed out as he was clearly annoyed by the bunhead.
"Hey we ain't kids!," Naru threw in beside her best friend.
"No, no...you are more like brats!" Sharpner said as he started laughing. The girls were fuming, about to give Sharpner a piece of their minds. However they wouldn't get the chance as Gohan cleared his throat.
"That's quite enough Sharpner," Gohan simply said.
"What do you mean?" the blond teen boy blurted out.
"I mean if you stand and argue with these girls, we'll be late for school," Gohan pointed out with a grin, the irony not lost on Sharpner. The boy just huffed and then followed young Mr. Son to the high school. Not before Usagi managed to get in a small taunt with her tongue and the underside of her right eye. Sharpner growled at her as he walked off, but thinking that ultimately escalating the situation would be fruitless and a waste of time.
Meanwhile, as the junior high girls and Umino walked to school, Usagi was pelted with questions about Gohan. She tried her best to either answer or deflect them. Among those questions were comments about the attractiveness of the two boys, which irked Umino a fair amount. Though the girls seemingly didn't care about what the nerdy boy in the huge glasses felt as they chatted away and walked toward school.
After a couple of minutes, Sharpner and Gohan met Erasa and Videl. Walking in the path to the school, the two females noticed that the blond man was still slightly bummed out for some reason. Gohan knew why of course, but he wasn't going to tell. The two girls knew that if Gohan wanted to be tight lipped then not even a metaphorical version of the Jaws of Life could get him to tell any kind of gossip.
Videl had something that tugged on her mind. The thought was something that she saw Gohan do a few minutes earlier. She couldn't find the words to say though, which was unusual for the young daughter of the World Martial Arts Champion. The saiyan was an enigma to her to say the least, as almost all people were awestruck when they found out her identity.
"Hey Gohan, what about that blue-haired girl?" Erasa asked for her friend since she had no problem speaking. Videl huffed a little at said friend as a result.
"Oh you mean Ami, she's Goten's babysitter sometimes," Gohan pointed out.
"Speaking of your little brother, is he home-schooled like you were?" Videl asked almost instantaneously.
"Actually, after a couple of mistakes on the schools part, we were able to get Goten enrolled into Juban Elementary three days into the school year," Gohan pointed out, "say doesn't your dad live in Roppungi?"
"Yeah, but he met my mom here in Juban," Videl replied.
"Well you dad has a lot of stroke as they say," Erasa pointed out. Videl stopped in her tracks. The young black haired girl took a deep breath and decided to speak her mind.
"I wish someone would take him down a peg," Videl blurted out, causing the group to stop instantly.
"Videl.." Sharpner managed to get out before she continued.
"I mean it Sharpner, I just wish my dad would get taken down a little. The bragging, the constant adulation, the fans, the parties, all of it," Videl said as she was close to crying. Erasa walked to her friend as if either of the guys tried to do the same thing they would get chewed out.
"I'm sorry Videl..." Erasa apologized. Videl took a deep breath and stopped a single tear from coming out.
"It's ok Erasa, let's just go to school," Videl smiled as an attempt to cover her frustration. The group didn't enquire further as they walked the rest of the way to school. Gohan felt a tinge of remorse, after all he did allow Mr. Satan to claim the victory.
Unbeknownst to the group however, a certain black-purple cat with a crescent moon on her forehead was watching from a near by tree. The cat pondered at the group, especially the one in the group called Gohan. Thoughts of the Cell Games crossed the cats mind upon hearing that name. Luna however, had to shake these thoughts out of her mind as she left the scene. She had to investigate a lead into a potential new Sailor Guardian after all.
The school day passed as per normal and Gohan made his way to the shop. The boy was about to go to his family's living quarters when a blond woman shouted for his attention. The young woman looked to be not much older than the half-saiyan himself as she walked up to the counter. Gohan looked at the delivery tag and it was addressed to the Fruits Parlor Crown. The boy asked if he could change first, to which the young woman nodded. She took the bags back for the moment and placed them in the fridge until Gohan returned. Ten minutes later, the boy returned wearing tan pants, and a black shirt and hat with his mom and Krillen's logo for the business. The logo was a simple C and a K with white shapes of a pig, cow, lamb and a deer.
"The cafe specifically requested that you deliver this, by the way, your mom wants you to use the new delivery bike" The woman pointed out as she handed the bags and the capsule to Gohan.
"Thanks 18," the delivery boy replied before he tipped his hat. Gohan exited the shop and mashed the top of the capsule. What appeared out of the smoke was a special motorized bike with a mini commercial fridge attached. The meat went into the little fridge and was locked inside as Gohan put in the key and turned it. The boy rode that motorized bike to the Fruits Parlor Crown.
The bike made it there without incident. Gohan stopped in front of the arcade, took the meat out and put the bike back into it's capsule. Up the steps the saiyan went, before he went to the building above the arcade. One of the waitresses recognized the half-saiyan, but decided to go to a customer's table first and place a tray of two desserts. She did a quick bow to the patron and her child before making her way to the delivery boy with a smile on her face.
"Ah Unazuki, good to see you," Gohan told the girl.
"Good to see you too Gohan, here to bring another delivery," Unazuki replied.
"Yep, some ground beef, around the 80/20 range," Gohan replied.
"Oh you are a life saver Gohan! Our meat supplier cut us again. We're glad to have your mother's shop," the red headed waitress said with a smile. Gohan started to go to the kitchen, causing the waitress to pout.
"Leaving so soon," she said in mock sadness.
"Well if I don't get this here soon, your dad might kill me," Gohan explained. Before she could use any more antics onto him, Gohan went into the kitchen and handed the delivery to one of the cooks. The cook looked it over and nodded in approval. A grinning waitress awaited him on his exit. Before she could say anything more however, one of the patrons was finished with his food and she decided that she should get back to work. A sigh couldn't help but escape the delivery boy as he went out the door and down the stairs.
Gohan stopped as he saw a familiar face inside the Game Center Crown. The image of young Motoki Furihara was watching two girls, to which were also recognizable to the young saiyan. The boy decided to go inside to talk to his friend from the high school.
Several teens gathered around the Sailor V machine as Ami continued to play the game. The young girl was concentrating hard as her score continued to climb, mesmerizing Usagi beside her to the point neither noticed the gathering teens, Motoki, or Gohan. The saiyan went over to his friend, who snapped out of his stare at Ami's skill, to greet the boy with a surprised expression.
"Damn it Son, you scared me!" Motoki exclaimed.
"Heh, sorry, I guess I've always been a quiet walker," Gohan explained sheepishly.
"Quiet, you could be a ninja for all I know," Motoki complemented.
"What's all the commotion over there?" Gohan asked.
"That girl. She's getting a higher and higher score on the Sailor V game...Whoa Gohan, how did you get those guns," Motoki answered and then changed topic with his surprised feeling.
" I don't have any weapons with me," Gohan pointed out. Motoki groaned and grabbed his arm. The boy was surprised when he felt the arm was hard while the saiyan was relaxed. Gohan had gotten the hint and gently took his friends hand off of his appendage.
"I do a lot of training after school," Gohan pointed out.
"I can see that. Maybe I need to go to the gym more often," Motoki said.
Usagi wound up moving her head away from the still playing Ami to see young Mr. Furihara and his friend Mr. Son. The girl also noticed that Gohan was wearing a t-shirt that showed off some of his physique. The blond bun-head couldn't help but move her eyes back and forth between Gohan's muscles and the rising score of her new friend.
Ami finally beaten the game , her score in the 900,000 range. The bluenette looked over and saw the people who watched her play. A prize dropped out of the slot at the bottom. The girl grabbed the prize and saw that it was a rather ornate looking blue pen with a gold cap.
"Wow, a pretty pen," Ami said as she stood up and smiled. Usagi whined in response and shook the machine, much to Motoki's chagrin and Gohan's confusion. A gold pen with a red cap came out for the impatient little bun-head.
"Can I keep it?" Usagi questioned Motoki, who really didn't know how to answer. The girl then looked over at her smiling friend and made a passing comment about how pretty she was when she smiled. This shocked the young girl genius at first, but decided to smile just a bit more at the compliment.
Ami then looked at the time. She saw that the clock read 4:15 and remembered something that she found important.
"I've got to go to cram school!" Ami said out of her mental revelation. The young woman apologized to Usagi and then left the machine. She passed by Gohan and couldn't help but smile a little as she noticed him and yet really didn't have time to talk to him. The saiyan snapped out of his confused state as Ami left. Gohan looked over and saw Usagi glaring at him. Before anything was said, the girl simply huffed at the saiyan before she left, though she was still blushing at the mental image of him with his t-shirt.
The next day Gohan walked into school. The boy couldn't help but noticed that fliers were all over the place about something called 'The Crystal Seminar.' Everyone at school talked about the cram school and how it offered a new high school program. A woman with short brown hair went around and handed out small pamphlets with enthusiasm. The woman then laid eyes on Gohan and made her way straight to him, bypassing several other students.
"Hello, you must be Gohan Son. The top student of Juban High's freshmen class," the woman pointed out.
"Well I would like to think so," Gohan said before something caught his attention. Gohan couldn't help but feel a small spark of Dark Energy from the woman as she handed him the pamphlet. The boy took the paper, but made a mental note to investigate the place.
"If you want to keep your place as top student, I do suggest you attend Mr. Son," the woman told him. Gohan simply nodded, which put a big smile on her face as she walked away to the next group of students.
Videl looked at the pamphlet with Gohan and noticed many of the prices. She knew that his mom's shop was doing well, but even she knew that it would be hard for even someone like that to afford it. Gohan then took a picture of the price with his phone and sent it to Bulma, with the message 'there's something strange about this.' Gohan got a text back saying 'not to worry, i'll pay for it. Hope you find out what it is.' The saiyan then went to class, him wanting to find out if his hunch was correct.
Gohan went to the Crystal Seminar. The energy of the place, at least to him, felt off. An unseen aura of darkness could be felt as the saiyan entered the building. Many of the junior high students walked around listlessly, since they were exposed to the program more often. On the other hand, the high school students did not know what to think of the situation. The same woman with short, brown hair that approached the saiyan during the day announced that all high schoolers were to follow her.
Videl ran up to Gohan, as she too was talked into this cram school by the same woman. The young girl noticed as many of the strange things that were happening as he did. She did work for the police sometimes and that does help with her skills of observation.
"Gohan, you noticed how many of the students acted?" Videl whispered.
"Yeah, but Videl, let's try to not look suspicious," Gohan whispered back to Videl. Videl went to protest, but Gohan put a finger on his lips. The hint was taken and the twosome followed the guide into the classroom. The people being treated to this seminar took their respective seats. The older woman with short brown hair went to her desk and grabbed around twenty disks. Each disk had the title of "Crystal Disk," on the cover. The boy took a deep breath and gave himself a moment to focus. In his mind, he was about to test those mental training sessions he would have with his friend Piccolo from time to time, as well as his own that he would do more often. Gohan turned on the computer, opened the tray and placed the disk inside, preparing for the worst.
The program loaded up and onto the screen. At first it was just a bunch of very complex math problems, to which most of the students were confused. Gohan however started solving them as if they were child's play, but still kept himself alert. Videl also began solving the equations, but at a slower pace than her male friend.
A message tried to imprint itself into Gohan's mind. Gohan felt the dark energy become more intense and concentrated on not letting it go inside his brain. A voice tried to soothe Gohan and assure him that studying is the most important thing that he should do, but he had heard that from his mother too many times.
"What is your true purpose?" Gohan whispered to himself as he went into the command prompt of the computer and typed away line after line of code into the terminal. The program tried to fight back, but did not know the computer skills of its foe. The screen all of the sudden went pink with a misty background and a big diamond like shape in the center.
"Queen Metallia is your soverign. You must give your energy to her. You must serve her. Search for the Ginzhouishou. You must deliver the Silver Crystal," the computer said. Most of the students, including Videl, were reciting this message. Gohan however, decided to grab his computer tower, rip off the wires and use the tower as a hammer onto the screen. The teacher heard this utter destruction and stormed over to the saiyan.
"Mr. Son! You will pay for that computer!" shouted the teacher.
"Well I can't pay a business that doesn't exist," Gohan replied before darting over, putting the hypnotized Videl over his shoulder and smashing her tower with a backfist. The girl slumped over his shoulder into unconsciousness. Gohan placed her in his chair while the teacher fumed.
"So you won't serve our queen! Then you will be dealt with!" the teacher said as she morphed into a hideous monster with a red axe like arm. Gohan took it as time to transform into Tuxedo Mask since most of the class was under the spell and Videl was still out of it. The now transformed Gohan faced the monster ready for battle.
"You will wish you followed our hallowed Master," screeched the creature. The tuxedo saiyan however had other ideas. Gohan took a page out of his ally Vegeta's book and closed the distance quickly. Before the creature could even react, Gohan punched the monster so hard that it shattered before turning into ash.
"No human ki," Gohan simply said. The computers were still running though, stealing energy from the unsuspecting students. Seeing this, Tuxedo Mask took it upon himself to dart to each tower, and punch a hole through them. As each tower was forcibly taken offline, each student fell into unconsciousness. Not sooner than he did that, he saw Sailor Moon open the door.
"What's going on here?" Moon shouted at Tuxedo Mask.
"This place, it's some sort of weird energy trap!" Gohan replied.
"How do we know you're not behind this!" shouted the little cat beside her. Gohan however had an answer. The boy first pointed to the ash pile on the floor, then zoomed over to his station and pointed to the mangled terminal
"Would the enemy do that to their computers," was Tuxedo Mask's simple reply. Luna and Sailor Moon seemed satisfied for the moment. As Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask looked at each other for a moment, the one in the suit remembered something.
"We need to save the Junior High students," Gohan said. Sailor Moon nodded and the two of them exited the classroom to make their way to their destination.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask went down the hall. However, a group of about 40 students came out to meet them from various classrooms. The hypnotized students charged at the twosome, however Gohan moved in front of Sailor Moon and put his hand out front. The saiyan did a sudden shout, which caused a ki push that knocked back most of the group. Luna used this time to dart out and run fast as a cat can run up to the next floor.
The Sailor Guardian of the Moon couldn't help but admire Tuxedo Mask as he was able to clear the various crowds that had gotten in their way. Gohan continued to move more people and knock out what he needed to as they made their way to the classroom. A glow radiated from the windows of the room as the last of the students came out of that room to attack. The group was small so Gohan waited until they got close. Sailor Moon took in a breath, ready to scream them away when Tuxedo Mask wrapped his arm around her and told her to hold on. Moon grabbed onto him and Gohan shot past the group in rapid speed. After a few seconds, all the pressure point shot registered onto the little group all at once before they dropped into unconsciousness.
Gohan let go of Sailor Moon, who was still holding on. The girl looked up and couldn't help but blush as she held on to him. The saiyan looked at the girl and part of him didn't mind that she was holding onto him like this. The mission had to take precedence however as Gohan looked into the eyes of the young woman.
"Sailor Moon, you can let go now," Gohan told her.
"Ok," Moon said as she pouted somewhat playfully. She did comply and the two of them entered the classroom.
The twosome entered the room and saw two figures facing off. One was a monster with green skin and long red nails, ready to attack the other figure. The monster's opponent however, looked like she was ready for the creature. A young woman, in a fuku similar to Sailor Moon's, stood up to the monster and seemingly not showing an ounce of fear. Usagi saw this and stepped in front of Gohan, which confused the young saiyan a bit.
"Hey Monster! Who are you to take advantage of young students like this!" shouted Moon. The monster took its eye off of the other woman.
"Oh another Sailor Brat!" shouted the monster.
"A brat! I'm no brat! I'm the Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice!" Sailor Moon proclaimed as she went into poses. Gohan couldn't help but think about certain minions of a galactic tyrant named Freeza as she did that.
"I am Sailor Moon! And now in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" Moon completed, which caused Gohan to sweat drop a bit.
"And I am the Pretty Guardian of Love and Intelligence in a sailor suit Sailor Mercury! Douse yourself in water and repent!" the other guardian added to Sailor Moon's speech.
'It's official, I'm helping out a girl version of the Ginyu Force. Well at least they are the good guys,' Gohan thought as he stood at the ready. After the speeches Luna told Mercury to use an attack and shouted out the name.
"Shabon!" Mercury shouted as she formed a blue ball between her hands. She raised her hands up and put them in an x shape as the ball stayed between the said hands.
"Spray!" she shouted as she shot her hands down to her sides, causing bubbles to fire out and form a mist. The monster raised its claws for an attack, but before it could strike a thick fog formed. The creature couldn't help but feel the coldness of the mist as she searched for her target. The face of Sailor Mercury appeared out in front of her and out of instinct the monster charged. The monster was stopped mid swipe and could not follow through because it felt something counter grab the hand.
Mercury looked at the monster with utter disdain as she squeezed the monster. Pain shot through the creature as it writhe and wriggled in an attempt to free itself from her grip. The mist disappeared slowly, more and more the figure squeezing the hand appeared to change form. The figure was no longer the illusion of Sailor Mercury, but it was the form of Tuxedo Mask.
Gohan took this opportunity to throw a light kick to the creature's gut, causing it to double over in pain. The saiyan then let go of it's hand, reached into his cape and pulled out a cane. The saiyan raised the straight cane to his face and it became a black bo staff, loosing the white end it did have. The saiyan twirled the staff in front of his face and went into a wide stance, with the staff head pointed out at the front.
"Tuxedo Staff extend!" Gohan shouted as the weapon extended in a way that reminded him of his father's Nyoi Bo. The head drove it's way onto the creature and pushed it viciously into the wall, pinning it in place.
"Finish it Sailor Moon!" shouted Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mercury.
"Moon Tiara Boomerang!" Sailor Moon shouted as she took off her tiara and threw the glowing object like a small destructo disk. The attack hit the monster and turned it into ash since it was not a human turned into a monster.
Gohan returned the cane to normal size and the white end restored itself. The teen watched as Moon and Mercury ran to each other, seeing if the other was ok. Mercury finally let her fear to the surface as she also was relieved that the whole ordeal was over. He let the two of them talk and check on each other as a rose appeared in his hand. Before the boy could question how that happened, he felt it best to place the rose onto the ground and exit before the girls noticed.
Luna looked over to Gohan's spot and found the rose. She made a noise to get the girls attention and the two senshi spotted that very same rose. Moon ran up first and picked up the flower. She took in the scent as Ami watched. She walked up and tapped Moon on the shoulder and told her it was time to leave. Usagi nodded and the three left the scene.
'Tuxedo Mask is so romantic,' thought Usagi.
'What a strange calling card,' thought Ami as the two left the creepy cram school just as the students were waking up.
Usagi was in her room in her pink pj's covered in rabbits, along with Luna. The rose was laying on the counter and the girl couldn't help but freak out as she felt that the rose belonged in water. She ran downstairs and quickly found a flower vase that was not being occupied at the moment and ran back upstairs. The girl went into the bathroom and filled the vase halfway with water before placing it on the counter. Being a klutz however, she almost fell and bumped the table, which cause the vase to rock. The vase stabilized itself, much to the relief of the girl as she got her bearings.
The girl placed the rose that Tuxedo Mask left into the vase. She stared at it for what seemed like the longest time. The cat walked over to the girl and nudge her with her head a few times, which snapped Usagi out of her daydream like state.
"I believe it's time for bed," Luna said. Usagi went over and cut off the lights. The girl pulled back the covers and placed herself underneath as the cat went to the side of her and curled up into a circle. The two of them let sleep take them as the moonlight shined in the window. One thought was in the mind of the young Usagi as she drifted off into dreamland.
Who are you….Tuxedo Mask...
A/N: Ok that was the debut of Sailor Mercury, if you didn't notice already. Thank you for reading this story and giving it your favorites and follows. Please Read, Review, favorite, and follow.