DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon and its characters are not owned by me, blah blah blah, and other legal junk.
Author's Note: This fanfic is a direct sequel to Looking Up To You, a Sammy/Ami romance fanfic that I wrote about a year ago. It's still on my profile, so I recommend that if you haven't read Looking Up To You, it would be best to stop, don't pass GO, don't collect $200, and go immediately to my profile to check it out. Otherwise, you'll be kinda confused.
Second Author's Note: This fanfic takes place after Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. (Serena, Ami, Rei, and Mina are 17. Lita is 18. Sammy is 14. Darien is older than all of them.) Also, if you're confused about some of the Senshi's attacks, that's because they got a whole set of new ones in Looking Up To You. So like I said, go check it out.
---
The winter snow fell in light flurries, just outside of the classroom window. Inside, an eighth-grade boy sat at his desk, staring at the clock and chewing on the eraser of his pencil, waiting for the bell.
"And can anyone tell me what the derivative of the limit function is in this equation? How about you, Sammy? You've been pretty quiet today, do you know?"
The boy stopped chewing on his eraser and looked up at the teacher, Miss Haruna. Sammy liked Miss Haruna, probably because of all the funny stories she told Sammy about his sister Serena, when she was in this class three years ago.
"Um..." said Sammy, struggling to find the answer to the problem that he hadn't even been paying attention to. "Well, you see, the answer is-"
The bell rang, rescuing Sammy from embarrassment. He leaned back in his chair, heaved a sigh of relief, and picked up his backpack from the floor. As the students filed out of the classroom, Miss Haruna questioned him again.
"Sammy, did you know the answer to that problem?" she asked, a smile on her face. Sammy knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Sorry, Miss Haruna... I was daydreaming," Sammy said, embarrassment starting to form in his voice.
"It's alright, Sammy," Miss Haruna said. "As long as you do well on that test tomorrow... you're doing a lot better in this class than your sister ever did, but don't tell her I said that... she really was a nice girl, she just-"
"Didn't apply herself?" Sammy said, finishing Miss Haruna's sentence for her. "Yeah, that's my sister for ya. Well, I'd better head out... see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, Sammy!" Miss Haruna said, waving to Sammy as he left the room. "And don't forget to study!"
Sammy stepped out of the room and entered into the frantic rat race of students as they crowded the halls in their daily exodus from the junior high school. As he strolled toward his locker, which was just down the hall, he was approached by a boy about his height, wearing the same neatly-pressed black school uniform as he was. It was Sammy's friend Rick, and today, he had urgent news.
"Sammy!" Rick shouted as he approached his friend. "Are you going to the arcade after school?"
"Well, no, not really," Sammy said, smiling. "Actually, I was going to go down to the park to help Ami and all of her friends set up for the Winter Festival this weekend."
"Well, you know that high score that you set on Battle Armada, that's really high and has been up for practically a year? Well, yesterday, somebody came to the arcade and completely thrashed your record!"
"What?" Sammy replied in a stunned tone. "You mean the record I had of 3,650,000,000 points, gone?"
"Thrashed," Rick said. "The dude scored eleven billion points. Completely wiped your score out, man..."
"I'll have to go to the arcade and reclaim my record, but... not today, Rick," Sammy said as he reached his locker and began cramming various items into his backpack, as well as taking a black winter coat out of the locker and putting it on. "I really want to help Ami today... sorry."
"Eh, that's okay," Rick said, smiling. "You know, Mika wants to take me to the Winter Festival, too. She's supposed to be crafting some sort of ice sculpture, but she won't let me know what it is. Supposed to be some kinda surprise, I guess!"
"That sounds pretty cool," Sammy said. "How's Mika doing, anyway? I didn't see her today..."
"Well, that's the problem," Rick replied, frowning. "Mika called me up this morning and said that she had a cold... I don't know if she'll be better in time for the festival or not, I mean, it's in three days, isn't it? I got her a get-well soon card and some balloons, though. That might cheer her up!"
Sammy saw the balloons in Rick's left hand, and the card in Rick's right, and smiled.
"I'm sure your presents will do just the trick!" Sammy said. "Well, I'd best get going... Ami's school lets out in like, ten minutes from now, and I want to meet her there so I can walk with her to the park. See you later! And tell Mika I said get well soon, alright?"
"Will do, Sammy!" Rick said as Sammy left the school and turned left on the sidewalk next to the road, toward Ami's school, while Rick headed right, toward the arcade. "And try to make it to the arcade soon, alright?"
As Sammy walked down the sidewalk, the snowflakes falling into and blowing out of his short, brown hair, he passed his house, and smiled as he dodged a snowball chucked at him by his sister Serena, standing in the front yard.
"What are you doing, Sammy?" Serena asked as Sammy walked past the house. "House is this way, kiddo."
Even though Sammy had found out about his sister's identity as Sailor Moon just six short months ago, he still thought of her as the same old obnoxious meatball-head who still tormented him fairly often. He had a lot more respect for her as the heroine that she was, but he hid it well, as he turned back toward his sister.
"I'm going to Ami's school, and then we're going to the park to help decorate for the Winter Festival. Why aren't you at the park helping, Serena?"
"Well, for your information, I've got a date with destiny in a half-hour from now. Actually, it's just a date with Darien. We're going to see the new movie, and I'm going to help the girls set up for the festival tomorrow, okay?" Serena replied. "Oh, and Sammy, one more thing."
"Yeah, sis?" Sammy said. "What?"
A snowball flew into Sammy's face, faster than he could react. As the snow slid off of his face and down the front of his coat, he let out an annoyed grunt.
"That's so immature, sis," Sammy said, turning away from her and walking back down the sidewalk, toward Ami's school, as Serena laughed uncontrollably behind him. "Seventeen, and still throwing snowballs. You're nothing but a big baby."
---
Serena was mature, Sammy knew that for a fact. Otherwise, she couldn't lead a group like the Sailor Senshi... and without maturity, she definitely couldn't be a good leader of his friend, Ami. No, Ami was more than a friend to Sammy... they were lovers now. Sammy knew it, Ami knew it, and for the past six months, neither of them had ever been happier. They saw each other practically every day, and went out together as much as they could, almost as much as Serena and Darien did. They regularly spent a good deal of time studying with each other (with Ami helping Sammy out quite a bit on his school subjects). Sammy had even gotten into chess, so that he could follow Ami to her day-long chess tournaments. He wasn't really that bad, but not nearly as good as Ami was... still, there were other things that Sammy was good at. Video games, for example. Ami was good as well, but not quite as good as Sammy was. She had the brains, but not the reaction time... that was just one aspect of their relationship, little competitions, silly things like that. Chess, computer games, ping-pong, who could hold their breath the longest underwater, who could hold their breath the longest kissing...
"Well, this is it, Ami's school," Sammy said, finally reaching the large school building, Greater Juuban High School For The Gifted.
Ami went to a separate high school than her friends did, at least for the latter part of the day. She spent the first half of the day at high school with Serena, Rei, Lita, and Mina, taking several of her required courses, and then coming to this special school for the more advanced courses. It let out ten minutes after Sammy's middle school did, and thirty minutes after Serena's high school, so both Sammy and Ami's friends had to wait a little while for her to finish school before they could see her. Still, the walk from Sammy's school to Ami's took about seven minutes for Sammy, so once Sammy got there, he wouldn't have to wait very long to see Ami's beautiful face. That's the physical feature he liked most about her, her face, especially her beautiful, angelic blue eyes. Next was her blue hair, followed by her legs, and then, well... Sammy didn't pay much attention to Ami's chest. First of all, it wasn't very robust anyway, and secondly, he wasn't that kind of guy... he loved Ami for her kindness most of all. She'd been kind to him when she first met him, kind to him since that day on the beach, kind to him when she saved his life, kind to her friends, kind to his friends, and just kind to people in general, even if they made fun of her intelligence... that's what he liked second most about Ami.
After just a minute or two, Sammy could her the bell from Ami's school building, and a large group of young men and women began pouring out of the entrance. The students weren't nearly as chaotic in leaving Ami's school as they were in Sammy's, that was for sure. Well, after all, they were smart...
"Ami?" Sammy said, standing in the front lawn of the school and watching the crowd for any sign of his blue-haired angel. "Ami, where are-"
And then, he saw her, in the middle of the crowd. Their eyes met immediately, and Ami waved at Sammy, smiling happily. She walked over to the lawn to greet him. When Sammy and Ami first met, three years ago, she was at least six inches taller than he was. When they'd fallen in love, six months ago, they were about the same height. Now, Sammy was three inches taller than Ami, and looking at the couple, you couldn't tell that the short, blue-haired girl was two-and-a-half years older than her boyfriend was. A lot of Ami's classmates, most of them at Serena's high school, knew that Ami was going out with an eighth-grader. Some of them harangued her about it, but many were understanding, and in fact, encouraging of the young couple. Ami had made several new friends at both of her schools, mostly through Serena, indirectly by Sammy prodding his sister to help Ami get more popular, thinking it would make his girlfriend happier. It did, as Ami now had a slightly more light-hearted, carefree outlook on life, thanks in part to her relationship with Sammy. But inside, she was still the same studious girl as she always was. Just one a bit more willing to have some fun.
"Sammy, I'm glad you came!" Ami said, greeting him with a hug. "So, are you ready to go down to the park and help set up the Winter Festival with us?"
"Yeah, I am!" Sammy said excitedly. "Bad news, though. Serena's going on a date with Darien... she won't be able to make it today."
"She already told us, Sammy," Ami said. "Don't worry. Lita, Rei, and Mina are going to be there, plus several other kids from school."
"That's always good," Sammy said. "I don't think we can set up this whole thing by ourselves!"
"It's a big festival," Ami said, giggling slightly. "I'm glad I volunteered to help... events like this really help to raise the spirit of the community. Plus, it's a beautiful winter day! It's just a little bit cold...."
Ami wore a small, cream-colored woolen cap on her head, and a stylish-looking winter coat of the same color. A red scarf was tied around her neck, and there were light blue mittens on her hands.
"Well, I guess we'd better get going, then!" Ami said. "I'm ready to go if you are, Sammy."
"Then let's do it!" Sammy replied. He and Ami walked back onto the sidewalk and headed down to the nearby park.
---
The Winter Festival was being held in a large clearing, surrounded by trees. Several of the trees had already been decorated with flashing lights for the occasion, shining through the snow that had caked onto the trees. About fifty picnic tables were also set up, but the decorations for them had yet to be placed. Also, there were no banners placed around the clearing. Those would have to be set up before the festival could begin.
"Hey, guys!" Rei shouted as Sammy and Ami walked into the clearing. Counting Rei, Mina, and Lita, there were nine students in all in the clearing, six girls and three boys. All of them were high-schoolers, with Sammy in middle school being the only exception. Lita and Mina turned from the picnic table that they had just began to decorate and waved at Sammy and Ami.
"So, you've already started..." Sammy said, looking around. "Who did the trees?"
"Those were already done by the park staff," said one of the male students, wrapping a bright red ribbon around the trunk of one of the trees. "They said that they'll probably be around to help sometime later on."
"The festival's supposed to raise money for the homeless this winter, Sammy," Ami said seriously. "A lot of people are going hungry this winter, and so the proceeds from the festival will go toward helping food get out to homeless shelters around Juuban."
"I see," Sammy replied, walking over to Lita, who was carrying a large box. "What's that?"
"These are the banners that we're going to put up around the park, Sammy," Lita said. "They'll direct the people to all of the games and stuff that we're going to have!"
"I wanted to do a bikini dunk tank, but Rei thinks it's going to be too cold," Mina said. "I tried to tell her that if you wrap a towel around yourself and stand next to a space heater, you'll warm up, but-"
"There is absolutely no way that I am getting into a bikini and letting myself be dunked into freezing water when it's already twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and snowing two inches a day!" Rei yelled.
"Well, we use a hot tub," Mina said. "The water's nice and warm in there..."
"Guys, I really don't think a bikini dunk tank is a very good idea," Ami said. "I was thinking more along the lines of a ring toss, something where kids can win a goldfish to take home with them...."
"I used to have a goldfish," Sammy said, pulling a banner out of Lita's box and stringing it out between a couple of snow-covered trees. "It died, though. I think Serena killed it."
"Now Sammy, you know your sister wouldn't do something like that," Ami said, setting down a snowman-decorated tablecloth on one of the picnic tables.
"You're probably right, Ami... I was pretty sad when my fish died, though, but I was six years old then..."
"Did you get a new one?" Lita asked. "I've never had a goldfish, but I know that if I had one and that it died, I'd probably want to get a new one to fill in the gap..."
"No, I haven't had a pet after that," Sammy said, sighing. "I kinda liked that cat Serena had, though... Luna was its name, right? I wonder where it went off to..."
Sammy had never been told about Luna's secret. After the Senshi defeated Galaxia, the two soldiers, Luna and Artemis, returned to Crystal Tokyo to serve at Neo-Queen Serenity's side, along with their daughter Diana. Although the cats' counsel would have probably been useful during the Senshi and Sammy's war against the Darkspawn six months ago, they hadn't returned since they first left. Sammy never found out that they had anything to do with the Sailor Senshi, and none of the Senshi had really even bothered to tell him.
"My cat Artemis disappeared about the same time, Sammy," Mina said. "I bet they just ran off to make kittens... they really did make a cute kitty couple, don't you think?"
"Eh, sure, I guess so," Sammy said, perplexed. "I still think Ami and me make the best couple, though..."
"How are the placemats going, you guys?" Rei asked, turning toward Ami, who was busy decorating another table. "How about you, Ami?"
"I've done six so far!" Ami said, looking back toward Sammy. "Sammy?"
Sammy was still sitting at the first table Ami had decorated, his head bowed. He was daydreaming again...
"Sammy, are you okay?" Ami said in a concerned tone, walking over to Sammy and looking into his eyes. "Sammy?"
"Oh, sorry about that!" Sammy said, smiling. "I guess my brain must have dozed off a bit there, huh? I should probably start helping out a bit more...I'll get back to work right away!"
"Just go at your own pace, okay?" Ami said understandingly. "If you're a bit cold, maybe you should borrow my scarf..."
Ami removed the scarf from her neck and handed it to Sammy. He smiled, and as he got a closer look, he couldn't help but sniff the scarf slightly as it was held up to his face.
"It's got Ami's smell... so nice..."
Sammy thought, a floral scent emanating from the scarf, probably from the tiny amount of perfume that Ami was wearing. "No, that's okay, I'm fine...""Well, I'll let you borrow the scarf anyway, okay? You're not bundled up nearly as well as I am, I don't want you catching cold..."
Ami handed the scarf to Sammy, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then walked back over to continue decorating tables. Sammy took the scarf and tied it around his forehead, warming him slightly. Then, he took some banners and ribbons from Lita's box and resumed decorating the trees.
"Thank you... sometimes, you're a little bit
too kind... but that's why I love you so much, Ami..."---
After about an hour and a half of work, the clearing had been pretty well-decorated. The tablecloths and placemats were all on the picnic tables, and many of the banners and ribbons had been strung up, including two large 'Welcome To The Juuban Winter Festival!' signs, one for each entrance to the clearing.
"Well, I'd say we did pretty well today," Rei said. "What do you guys think?"
"I'm glad we were able to get all this stuff done today," said one of the female students who'd come out to help. "Setting up the games and stuff will probably be the hard part..."
"Well, this place does look really nice now!" Ami remarked. "Everyone here should be very proud of themselves!"
"I agree," Lita said, smiling.
"Give yourselves a pat on the back!" said one of the male students, a boy who had worked with Sammy in setting up the two large banners. "Same time tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah," Mina said. "Hey guys, if I rent the dunk tank, we can't get our money back, so we'd have to set it up, right?"
"If you rent the dunk tank, you're going to be the only girl getting dunked," Rei said. "So you'd better wear at least ten layers of clothes over that bikini that you're planning to wear."
"It wouldn't work, anyway," Mina said, smiling. "Nobody's mean enough to send a cutie like me plummeting into the frigid depths!"
"Well, goodbye, everyone!" Ami said, turning toward Sammy. "Are you ready to go back home now?"
"Yeah," Sammy said, smiling. "I'd ask if we could stop off somewhere for supper, but I've really gotta cram for a big math test tomorrow..."
"Me too," Ami said. "Actually, it's a history essay I have to write. One thousand words... and plus, I have to study for a physics exam. How about we go out after decorating here tomorrow? Does that sound good?"
"Alright, Ami! Tomorrow it is, then!" Sammy said, a big smile crossing his face.
---
Sammy and Ami walked back together to Sammy's house, and before Sammy stepped inside, he untied Ami's scarf from around his forehead and handed it to her.
"You let me borrow this, remember?" Sammy asked. "Thanks, Ami..."
Ami smiled, and then shook her head gently.
"That's okay, Sammy... you keep it! I noticed that you don't have a scarf, so I'm giving this one to you... I can buy a new one that's not very expensive," Ami said. "It's cold season, and-"
"Hee, you sound like my mom, Ami..." Sammy said, jokingly, of course. "But thank you, Ami... you're right, I don't have a scarf, and I probably should. It's been pretty cold lately... thank you."
Sammy and Ami leaned in, and exchanged a brief kiss on the lips, their faces warming from the blood that rushed through their bodies during the kiss. Then, Ami smiled at Sammy, and slowly walked away, back toward the sidewalk. Sammy sniffed the scarf again, then walked into his house and closed the door behind him. He set his backpack down by the door and took off his coat, rubbing his hands together as the warm air in the house quickly returned heat to his body.
"Sammy, is that you?" asked Sammy's mother as she stepped into the room, wearing oven mitts. "How did it go today?"
"Good, mom," Sammy said, smiling. He tied the scarf that Ami had given him around his neck. "We got most of the area already decorated, so all that's really left is to set up the games and stuff."
"And how was Ami?" Sammy's mother asked.
"Ami was wonderful, mom, like always! She even gave me this scarf..." Sammy pointed to the scarf around his neck. "I tried to give it back to her, but she told me to keep it because I didn't have one..."
"Well, that was nice of her," Sammy's mother said.
"Maybe I should get her something nice, too," Sammy said. He'd spent a great deal of money on a gift for Ami at her 17th birthday, a beautiful heart-shaped pendant decorated with a small blue sapphire. She always wore the pendant around her neck, and she said that it would always remind her of Sammy, and that's why she'd cherish it forever. "You know, like a pair of earmuffs or something... maybe some new snowboots... I'll have to think about it."
"I'm sure you'll decide on something nice to give her, Sammy. We're going to have mashed potatoes and gravy tonight, so I hope you're hungry!"
"Don't worry, mom, I am!" Sammy said. "Where's dad?"
"He's in the living room, watching a basketball game," Sammy's mother replied. "You should probably go tell him you're home."
---
That night, after supper, Sammy studied his math textbooks for three hours, until he was too tired to do it anymore. He took Ami's scarf off and set it down on his desk, next to his textbooks. Then, he took off his clothes, put on a pair of pajamas, and slid into bed.
"I hope I do well on that test tomorrow,"
Sammy thought, closing his eyes. "I sure studied hard enough... now I know... how Ami... feels..."Sammy's eyes were now closed. He was fast asleep.
---
"Ami? Ami?"
Sammy was in a dark, black, empty void. He could see everything around him, but all there was to see was darkness. Finally, a familiar figure appeared to him.
"Ami!"
She stood there, hundreds of feet away from Sammy. She appeared to be stumbling around, as if she couldn't see at all in the total darkness that surrounded her and Sammy. Sammy rushed to her side, terrified as Ami grew dimmer and dimmer, Sammy's own vision fading as well. Finally, when he was just a few feet away from Ami, his sight failed him completely, and the darkness completely blinded him.
"Ami, where are you?"
"Sammy?"
Sammy stumbled about, calling his lover's name. She called back to him, and though they could hear each other perfectly, neither could reach the other, although at times it seemed that they were only inches apart. Sammy was now sobbing, tears streaming down his face.
"Ami, please... please don't leave, please be okay!"
"Sammy, I'm right-"
And then, Ami was silenced. Her voice could be heard no more. Sammy thought, prayed that it was only his senses of hearing going as well, and that Ami was alright... but then, a sinister laugh shattered that hope as well.
"Sammy, I'm right here," called the new voice, a voice that sounded eerily familiar... it was a young male's voice, yelling out to Sammy, mocking him. "And Ami's gone forever."
Sammy turned toward the source of the voice, and what he saw horrified him.
"IT CAN'T BE!" Sammy shouted. "Please, not-"
---
As Sammy was having the terrible nightmare, just outside the house in the front yard, four figures were standing around, ready to attack.
"Now, remember, we are only here to kill the three. The mother, the father, and the boy. Do not touch the Moon Princess, do you understand?"
The man who had said this was tall, with a fairly slender build. He wore a tight-fitting black outfit with a bright red cape, and large, brown boots. His hair was short and blonde, and he had narrow green eyes that seemed to shimmer with a dark glow. Snow fell onto his black suit, which covered his chest, arms, and legs, keeping them immune from the cold. He had an imposing presence, and was clearly the leader of the group.
"Only the kid and the two adults, I hear ya!"
The other, small man jumped up and down, ready to carry out his dark mission. His skin was light blue, and his large mouth and tongue, as well as his big, dark red lips, gave him the appearance of an imp-like creature, complete with a small dagger in his hand. He was about a foot shorter than the blonde man, and he wore a similar outfit, except that his lacked a cape.
There were also two women in the group. They appeared to be twins, and they were strikingly beautiful, almost as tall as the blonde man. They had long, jet-black hair, and large eyes with red irises. They both wore long, flowing, gold-colored dresses, and though it seemed as if the dresses would expose the two women to the elements, they seemed as unaffected by the cold as their leader was. Completing their outfits were beautiful black gloves and matching high-heeled black boots. The one difference in appearance between the two girls was the difference in the large, strikingly flashy wings that were on their backs. One of them had the beautiful white-feathered wings of an angel, while the other possessed the black, scaly wings that a devil might possess. The two girls giggled as the small, impish man began to approach the house.
"You really think Nevin can pull this off?" asked the angel-winged girl, turning toward the tall, blonde man. "I mean, what if he wakes up you-know-who?"
"Hopefully, that won't happen," said the devil-winged girl. "Jekelai knows what he's doing."
"Girls, if Nevin fails, we're leaving, since we cannot be revealed to the Moon Princess just yet," said Jekelai, which was the name of the blonde man. "If she sees us, this entire mission may be lost."
Nevin turned the doorknob on the front door. Although he expected it to be locked, he chortled in delight when he discovered that it was not, and the door opened easily.
"They left the door unlocked," Nevin said, smirking. "Fatal mistake!"
"Be careful, Nevin," Jekelai said. "Get in, kill the three, and get out."
"You know, I never liked Nevin," said the angel-winged girl once the bluish imp man had gotten out of earshot. "I kinda hope Sailor Moon vaporizes him."
"Yeah, but if that happens, we fail the mission," said the devil-winged girl. "As much as a pain in the ass Nevin is, we've gotta hope he finishes this thing."
---
"Aaaah!" Sammy shouted, sitting up in his bed with sweat running down his face. "That... was a bad dream..."
Just then, Sammy heard a bumping noise coming from his parents' room. With a worried gasp, he got out of bed and listened for more.
"What's that?" Sammy said, perking his ears. "It's probably just one of them getting up to get water..."
But then, Sammy heard another noise... a sinister chuckle that definitely didn't belong to either of his parents. Quickly, Sammy walked over to his doorway and went outside to investigate. The door to his parents' room was open, and a wave of fear swept through Sammy's body.
"They don't leave their door open at night..."
Sammy thought, creeping toward the room. "Something's definitely up... I wish I had my sword, but I lost it six months ago fighting Lazuli..."As Sammy entered the room, he saw something that filled him with terror. Nevin was standing over his sleeping parents' bed, blasting them with a wave of thick, purple fog.
"This'll keep 'em asleep while I stab 'em to death!" Nevin said, laughing.
"Hey, you!" Sammy shouted. "Leave my parents alone!"
Nevin leapt off of the bed and walked over to Sammy.
"Ah, the kid. Well, I'd like to knock you out too, but I guess your death's just going to have to be painful. Sorry about that."
Nevin stabbed at Sammy, but he quickly jumped out of the way. As adrenaline began to rush through Sammy's body, he threw a kick at Nevin's head, but Nevin was ready, ducking under the kick and tackling Sammy hard to the ground. It had been a while since Sammy had last fought, and his skills had quickly gotten rusty. Sammy was doomed.
"Say goodnight, kid!" Nevin said tauntingly, holding the large dagger above Sammy's neck.
"Only my sis can help me now,"
Sammy thought. "Sere-"Nevin clamped his hand down over Sammy's mouth, muffling the boy's cries for his sister.
"Nice try, but we already know Sailor Moon lives here, kid. Yeah, that's right, we know your sister is Sailor Moon. That's why you have to di-"
"Mercury Ice Javelin!"
Nevin was cut off in mid-sentence. He let out a loud, painful gasp, then stumbled backward, dripping blood down the back of his leg. He dropped his knife and released his grip on Sammy, then turned around.
"Sailor... Mercury?" said both Sammy and Nevin at the same time. Sailor Mercury stood face-to-face with Nevin, towering at least a foot over the bluish imp, scowling angrily at him.
"I fight for love... and I fight for justice... and I fight for my friends," Sailor Mercury said. "How dare you try to harm the person I love... now either surrender, or fight!"
"I'll fight!" Nevin said, pointing his arms at Sailor Mercury. "I wasn't prepared to fight you, I was thinking that Sailor Moon would show up to protect her little brother!"
"Well, I guess she's a sounder sleeper than I thought..." Sammy said, running over to the side of his parents' bed to check on them. "Be careful, A... Sailor Mercury!"
Sammy was careful not to use Sailor Mercury's real name, so that these new villains, whoever they were, wouldn't learn Ami's secret as well as his sisters. He hadn't seen Ami as Sailor Mercury since Lazuli's defeat six months ago, and he wasn't used to seeing her again as the mighty superheroine.
"Take this!" Nevin shouted, firing out of his hands two large streams of sticky string. Before Sailor Mercury could react, the string wrapped tightly around her arms, and Nevin began to pull her in toward him.
"Sailor Mercury, no!" Sammy shouted.
"I'm alright..." Mercury said. "Mercury Ice Javelin!"
A javelin formed in both of Mercury's hands, and with a quick twirl of the javelins, she freed her arms from the string's grasp, tossing Nevin back into the wall.
"Argh!" Nevin shouted as his back impacted the wall with a great amount of force. "You little-"
"Mercury... Aqua... Rhapsody!"
Mercury played a giant, shimmering blue harp, sending torrents of freezing water rushing straight at Nevin. The water slammed into the imp and disintegrated him almost instantly, surprising even Sailor Mercury.
"Wow," Mercury said, watching as Nevin was destroyed. "And after all this time, too... I still remember all of my powers..."
"I guess it comes back to you, just like riding a bike," Sammy said. "Well, my parents are both okay, I checked their pulses, they're both just sleeping a little bit deeper, thank goodness."
"Sammy, are you hurt?" Sailor Mercury asked, concerned about Sammy's safety. "I mean, that monster had you pinned on the ground..."
"He shouldn't have had me pinned, either," Sammy said bitterly. "I... I should've been able to take him... after fighting Alexis, and Scion, and Lazuli... oh, Ami, I'm so rusty, I-"
"It's alright, Sammy," Mercury said. "I'm just glad you're okay... and your parents are as well..."
"Thank you, Ami," Sammy said, wrapping his arms around his blue-haired savior. "But... how did you know to come here?"
"Well, about ten minutes ago, I saw a strange energy portal opening across the street from my house... I looked outside my window, and there were four people coming out of it, Sammy..."
"Wait, an energy portal? With four people coming out?" Sammy said, in disbelief. "That's not good news..."
"I transformed into Sailor Mercury and started following them... they led me all the way here, but they never once saw me," Mercury said. "When that blue creep came into your house, I followed him in, and-"
"Found me," Sammy said.
"What's going on in here?" Serena asked, stepping into the room and rubbing her eyes. She was wearing bright pink pajamas, with fluffy white bunny slippers on her feet. Naturally, she wasn't ready for a fight. "Sailor Mercury?"
"Serena, something really bad went down here," Mercury said. "Your parents and Sammy were just attacked..."
"WHAT?" Serena yelled in shock. Sammy and Serena's parents began to stir, but fell back asleep before they could open their eyes.
"Ami took out one of the people attacking, but there are apparently three bad guys still out there, right, Ami?" Sammy asked.
"That's right, Sammy," Sailor Mercury said. "But... I can't see them outside the window..."
"They're gone," Sammy said. "They probably went back through their portal..."
---
But they hadn't gone back. Instead, Jekelai and the two winged girls had retreated to the safety of a nearby rooftop.
"Nevin is dead," Jekelai said stoically. "I just felt his death."
"What?" asked the angel-winged girl. "But... how?"
"Did Sailor Moon wake up and kill him?" asked the devil-winged girl. "Man, that really sucks..."
"No," Jekelai said. "Sailor Mercury."
"Sailor... Mercury?" stammered the angel-winged girl, in disbelief. "But where did she come from?"
"She was following behind us the entire way to Sailor Moon's residence," Jekelai said. "I would have killed her if she were not integral to another part of this mission."
"Geez, so you knew she'd show up and ruin your plans, and you didn't stop her?" said the devil-winged girl, slightly angry. "Well, that's just dumb..."
"No, it's not," Jekelai said. "I did not expect her to show up, but what's done is done. Besides, I do not believe that we need to target Sailor Moon's family... not just yet, anyway. We will focus our efforts on capturing the Senshi instead. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus."
Jekelai waved his arm, causing a gate to appear in front of him.
"Ceyra, Yeika, come," Jekelai said, gesturing toward the gate. "We still have much to do."
---
So, the next story has begun! I bet you're wondering... what the heck are the new villains doing? Why did they attack Serena's family? What IS their plan, anyway, and why does it involve capturing the Senshi? All these questions will be revealed soon... boy, do I have a good story coming for you! ^_^ So, if you're enjoying the sequel so far, please review!