After returning from the past, Emerald decided that it was time to relax. And what better way to relax than a good, long soak in the bathtub.
“This body of mine is so beautiful,” she sighed as raised one leg out of the perfumed water and stretched lazily, then lowered her leg back into the water. “Prince Diamond-sama loves jasmine, so I will cover my entire body with its scent….”
“Emerald, you sure seem relaxed,” Saffire remarked as he appeared a short distance away from the foot of her bathtub.
She quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest as she frowned at his abrupt and unexpected entrance. “Saffire! Don’t you know it’s rude to walk in on a woman bathing?”
“There is no time for that,” he replied urgently. “We must hurry and complete the Black Gate as soon as possible. Then we can send in the power of the Black Crystal and destroy the Juuban district of Tokyo.
“But here you are taking a bath,” he muttered. “I find it rather appalling.”
As soon as Saffire finished speaking, Emerald began to laugh. “As I am bathing, things are already in motion,” she informed him. “There is no point in lecturing me on this.”
He blinked in surprise. “What?”
Emerald smirked. “The next negative point is the Eisai cram school in the Juuban district.”
When Saffire left, Emerald quickly threw on a bathrobe and teleported back to the past over the building where the Eisai cram school was held. As she hovered over the roof of the building, she raised her fan overhead and summoned another Dark Henge into being. She swiped downward with her fan and the green crystal statuette shot down toward the roof, where it struck the negative point and created a large column of dark energy which surged up into the evening sky from the spot the Dark Henge struck.
Directly underneath the roof where the Dark Henge sat, a wave of darkness swiftly washed over the room, filling it with a heavy mental pressure which lashed at the students minds, including Umino’s, who was one of the students.
“Droid Giwak, come forth!” Emerald commanded as she thrust her hands forward.
From within the dark column, an insect-like Droid appeared, complete with a pair of antennae on top of her head.
“Look,” Emerald said as she laughed. “The dark power is slowly getting stronger. By tomorrow evening, the Dark Henge will be fully grown. Until then, you must guard this point.”
The Droid bowed acknowledgement of her orders.
A deathly, piercing scream of horror shattered the morning air, but amazingly enough, the windows of Juuban Junior High survived yet again.
Of course, they survived every other scream Usagi had ever made when finding out she had failed yet another test.
A crowd had gathered for the usual posting of the results of the various exams each class had taken. Usagi’s desolate expression brightened as she noticed a familiar name in a familiar spot.
“Ami-chan, you’re amazing!” she exclaimed. “You’re ranked first again in the latest test results!”
“After all, Mizuno-san is a genius,” Naru added.
“That’s not true,” Ami replied modestly. “It just turned out that I studied all the right material.”
“Always the modest one,” Ryoku said as he joined the group and looked up at the posted grades. “But, whether she’s a genius or not, you can’t deny that Ami-chan is a highly intelligent girl.
“So, what did I get?” he asked as he checked the board.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know already,” Usagi said with a grin as she pointed to the number two slot.
“It always seems that way, doesn’t it?” Naru said to Usagi. “She comes in first and he comes in just a little bit behind her in second place.”
“Oh…. Well, I guess that’s another one just short of perfect,” he said with a shrug and a half-grin directed at Ami as he moved to stand next to her. “At this rate, I’ll never make it past Ami-chan. I guess I’ll have to settle for being second-best.”
“Stop joking around, Ryo-kun,” she replied with a small laugh. “You know if you actually tried a little bit harder, I think you could score higher than me.”
His half-grin widened a little more. “So you say,” he said with a noncommittal shrug.
“Mizuno-san is always ranked first,” one girl commented snidely to a couple of her friends in a tone meant to be overheard.
“She’s so serious about her studies,” another added in the same tone of voice.
“You might want to take it easy, or you’ll be labeled a nerd,” a third added mockingly.
Ami’s expression turned upset, while Usagi and Naru frowned angrily. Ryoku took a step closer to her and gently touched her hand with his as he glared hard at the three girls.
“How rude!” Naru exclaimed angrily.
Usagi moved toward Ami and stood next to her opposite of Ryoku with one hand raised as if she was about to put her hand on Ami’s shoulder. “It’s hard being smart, isn’t it? Don’t let them bother you, Ami-chan.”
“Thanks, but I’m already used to it,” she replied in a cheery tone that sounded almost forced. Ryoku merely looked at Ami, then nodded understandingly.
“Used to it?” Usagi asked, not really believing it. “And I’m used to getting bad marks…,” she remarked and sweatdropped.
“I found this cheat sheet in Mizuno’s desk!” someone announced behind them.
“What?” Ryoku growled as he and the others turned to see who had spoken. “Umino?” he exclaimed in shock when he noticed who was holding the slip of paper.
“Mizuno cheated on the last exam!” one of the boys who had gathered around Umino declared.
“How low!” a girl added.
“It’s probably how she’s been able to keep her title all this time!” Umino proclaimed. His statement was met with hushed murmuring.
Usagi’s and Naru’s expressions were livid, while Ryoku’s expression was cold enough to freeze the air around him. Ami’s expression was growing more and more despondent with each accusation.
“He dares?” Ryoku muttered in a voice so quiet that the others almost missed it. Without another word, he started stalking furiously toward the group.
“Ryo-kun…,” Usagi interrupted as she quickly caught his arm, keeping him from going any further. “You’re not going to kill him or something, are you?”
“I knew she couldn’t get good grades like that,” another boy added. “After all, she’s been hanging around with Usagi.”
“That’s right,” a third boy agreed. “The evidence is in Usagi’s grades!”
Usagi winced at the cold remark and grimaced. “Never mind, Ryo-kun,” she said as she let go of his arm.
“Hey, Tsukino, you hang out with Mizuno all the time, don’t you?” the second boy asked. “It’s pretty strange how Mizuno gets top grades and you’re at the very bottom.”
“It’s not strange at all!” Usagi replied. “Ami-chan is just very smart!”
“That’s right!” Naru added. “If anything is strange, it’s you guys!” She then turned her gaze to Umino. “Umino, you’re not yourself today.”
“You’re going to take the side of a cheater?” Umino shouted.
“What do you have to say?” the whole group demanded as they began to advance, but halted as Ryoku took one step forward and stood between Ami and the group, glaring furiously.
“I have had about enough of this,” he said with a fierce scowl. “You are all lacking in manners, which I find very insulting. I do not believe that lie you are all spouting about Ami-chan being a cheater. Despite that piece of paper which you claim to have found in her desk, I have yet to see any further proof of your foul implications.”
“And what about you, Kino?” the third boy shouted as he pointed directly at him.
Ryoku stepped forward, grabbed the boy by his shirt collar and yanked him forward so that he was staring him dead in the eye from five centimeters away. “What about me?” he asked in a low, threatening voice.
“You… you wouldn’t dare, Kino,” the boy replied with a bit of false bravado. “There are more of us than there is of you.”
“But to you, it does matter,” he growled, pointedly tightening his grip on the boy’s collar. The boy swallowed audibly.
“Ryo-chan!” Makoto shouted as she ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s enough.” Ryoku’s eyes narrowed before he shoved the boy back among the group.
“So, both Kino siblings are on the side of the cheater, Mizuno?” the second boy demanded as he stepped forward and grabbed Makoto’s collar, just as Ryoku did to the other boy.
Makoto’s and Ryoku’s expressions were similar mirrors of ire. “You’ve been warned…,” they said in perfect unison before the two went on the offensive. Makoto grabbed the hand that held onto her collar and flung the offender over her shoulder, sending the boy flying through the air and crashing into the ground a few feet away.
Ryoku, however, was more ruthless in his retribution. One jab to the throat to drop their defenses, followed by a punch to the gut to make them double over, then a quick elbow smash to the back of the neck to drop them to the floor. Quick, efficient, and merciless.
Usagi and Naru stared in shock at how harshly Ryoku took out the two boys. “Ryo-kun…,” she began, but he turned around and held up a hand, cutting her off.
“They’ll be fine,” he told them. “I only used enough force to knock them out for a while, even though I was sorely tempted to do much worse.”
“Mako-chan, Ryo-kun, please stop this,” Ami pleaded.
The three girls stared at her in disbelief, while Ryoku frowned almost imperceptibly. “But, those guys started it!” Usagi insisted.
“These guys are accusing you of cheating!” Makoto added, pointing down at the three boys lying unconsciously on the floor.
“It’s okay,” Ami told them. “I know I’m innocent.”
“Ami-chan, I believe you!” Usagi stated emphatically.
“As do I, Ami-chan,” Ryoku added with a small nod of his head. Naru nodded her agreement.
“Thank you,” Ami said gratefully, then frowned suddenly. “What upsets me the most is that I couldn’t get a perfect score because I missed one question!”
Usagi, Makoto, and Naru all sweatdropped while Ryoku let out a small chuckle.
“Figures…,” he murmured softly to himself.
As Usagi, Makoto, and Ryoku walked home from school, they all kept glancing over at Ami, who was behaving as if the confrontation from earlier wasn’t affecting her. Finally, Makoto decided that she couldn’t take it anymore and broke the silence.
“I just can’t let Umino and the others say things like that about you,” she told Ami.
“The others aren’t usually like that, though,” Usagi added.
“It’s strange, though,” Ryoku said pensively. “They’ve all stared acting differently ever since they started going to the Eisai cram school….”
While they continued to walk home, Chibiusa ran up to up with Luna following after her. “Is it true that Ami-chan cheated?” she asked concernedly. “I just heard about it from a boy with huge glasses.”
Instantly, the four jerked back in surprise, thinking of the same person.
Umino.
“How horrible!” Usagi shouted angrily as she swung her bookbag around as if she was swinging it at Umino. “I’m gonna get that little….”
“I’ll twist his body like a rag…,” Makoto exclaimed as she clenched her right hand into a tight fist.
“I am going to snap his neck…,” Ryoku said in a calm, icy voice as he frowned.
“Usagi-chan, Mako-chan, Ryo-kun, it’s okay,” Ami said as she smiled appreciatively. “As long as my friends trust me, that’s good enough for me.” With that, she turned and started to run off without another word.
Usagi, Makoto, Ryoku, Chibiusa, and Luna all stared after Ami with deep concern. “She must’ve really been hurt…,” Makoto said, breaking the silence.
“Poor Ami-chan…,” Usagi said quietly.
Ryoku quietly started to walk in the same direction that Ami ran moments before.
“Ryo-kun! Where’re you going?” Luna called after him, but he didn’t bother to reply or show any sign that he even heard her. He turned the same corner that Ami did and continued walking out of their sight.
Ami continued to walk down the street while staring forlornly at the ground. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate that her friends believed in her; it was just that no one else seemed to. They just didn’t seem to understand that.
“There’s Mizuno, the cheater,” one of the boys from earlier said to two girls who were also there when Umino accused her of cheating. It was the same boy who made the comments about Usagi and who grabbed at Makoto’s collar.
She just walked past without even glancing in their direction.
“She’s the one who cheated to get good grades,” one of the girls added.
“What a cheater,” the second girl said in a tone meant to be overheard. “Cheater….”
Ami grimaced and started to run as the word started to haunt her. “Cheater….” She continued to run until she was out of sight of the group, then ducked into a small alley and leaned against one of the buildings.
As the group stared after Ami as she ran out of sight, they heard the sound of someone clearing his throat from behind them. When they turned around, they all flinched when they saw that Ryoku was standing behind them with an implacable expression on his face. As he noticed their reactions, his countenance grew harder.
“Did you three say something you should not have?” he asked as he glared at them. The three nervously stepped away from him, turned, and ran away, leaving him to scowl at their retreating forms with his arms crossed over his chest.
Ryoku glanced at the small alley where he saw Ami run into. He thought about going in and talking to her, but he decided to wait outside instead. She would could out when ready.
“It’s horrible…,” Ami murmured as she sank down against the wall to where she was almost sitting on her heels with her hands on the sides of her head. “Horrible…,” she repeated, her voice on the edge of tears.
Ami-chan, I believe you! Usagi had told her.
As do I, Ami-chan, Ryoku had also told her.
Ami straightened herself and smiled. “Usagi-chan…. Ryo-kun….” She picked up her bookbag and started out of the alley.
“Feeling better?” Ryoku asked as she passed by him on her way out of the alley.
She whirled around to see him leaning lazily against the wall of the building she had leaned against, with his hands folded behind his head and his right foot resting against the wall. As soon as she turned in his direction, he pushed himself away from the building and started walking toward her.
“Ryo-kun… how long…?” she began.
“Long enough,” he answered, cutting her off gently. “I knew you’d eventually get over it. I’m glad to see you’re all right.”
“Thank you, Ryo-kun,” she said as she gave him a small smile. Her smile faded as her gaze shifted over to a flyer taped to a nearby lamppost.
“What…?” he began as he turned to see what had caught her attention.
It’s strange, though…, she remembered him saying earlier as she stared at the flyer. They’ve all stared acting differently ever since they started going to the Eisai cram school.…
All the people spreading the rumors are from the Eisai cram school…, she realized, then turned and ran off, leaving a perplexed Ryoku to stare after her.
It was almost evening when Ami reached the building where the Eisai cram school was held. The building looked empty, but at least the doors weren’t locked. They slid open silently as she walked into the building.
She walked down the hallway, glancing into each of the rooms as she passed by. None of them seemed to be occupied. When she came to the room at the end of the hall, she noticed that it seemed to be a little darker than the others for some reason. Not only that, but she began to feel something… ominous… as well.
A quick twist of the doorknob showed that the room was unlocked. She slowly opened the door and cautiously glanced inside.
And inside, she saw darkness.
She flung the door wide open and stared at the floating black mists hanging in the air inside the classroom. “What is this dark power?” she exclaimed as her expression turned stern.
Before she could say anything else, or take another step inside or out, the pressure of the dark power began to lash out at her mind. Meanwhile, the Droid Giwak slowly floated down outside the building in order to peer inside the classroom that was no longer empty.
Now that the dark power was attacking her, her instincts caused her to grab her transformation wand and raise it overhead.
“Mercury star power, make up!”
“What?” Giwak said after watching Mercury transform. “I see…. So, this girl is one of the Sailor Soldiers?”
“Where are you?” Mercury demanded loudly. “I know you’re with Emerald. Where are you hiding?”
After receiving nothing but silence for a reply, she brought out her communicator and contacted everyone at once.
“Everyone, come to the Eisai cram school at once!” she called out urgently. “It’s teeming with dark power!”
“What?” Usagi exclaimed. Only Chibiusa and Luna were with her, since Makoto’s home was in a different direction than hers. “Dark power at the Eisai cram school?!?”
Luna turned toward the cram school and glanced at Usagi over her shoulder. “Let’s go, Usagi-chan!” she said and ran off with Usagi and Chibiusa following.
Dark power at Eisai…, Ryoku thought as he ran toward the cram school. So, that’s where she went. Damn… I knew I should’ve gone after her when she ran off.…
“I’ll kill her,” Giwak muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest, then flung them apart. A pack of duplicates of her suddenly appeared around her. She then thrust her arms forward, commanding the duplicates to attack. At once, all of them disappeared, leaving the original to watch from outside the building.
Mercury almost jumped when the first pair of duplicates appeared, followed by the others, two at a time. As soon as the last pair appeared, all of the duplicates surged forth to attack the lone Sailor Scout.
“Shabon spray freezing!” she shouted, flinging a spray of bubbles that froze all of the duplicates on contact and encased them in a thick layer of ice. They disappeared a second later.
“Why you little…!” Giwak seethed and created more duplicates, then sent them after Mercury.
“What is this?” Mercury gasped as more duplicates appeared overhead behind her and attacked.
“Double shabon spray freezing!” she shouted, sending a double blast of her freezing bubbles at the duplicates. Once again, they were frozen solid and disappeared. However, more suddenly appeared right after the last ones were destroyed.
I see…, she realized. So, it’s only an illusion. I have to find the real one and destroy her.
“Damn you, Sailor Mercury,” Giwak fumed. “She’s tougher than I thought.” A cruel grin slid across her face. “Then, I’ll make you kill your friends….”
As suddenly as the new duplicates appeared, they just as suddenly disappeared. “They disappeared? What’s going on?” Mercury said staring in perplexity.
Outside, Giwak laughed malevolently. “Sailor Mercury, I will make you kill the other Sailor Soldiers.
“Now, come Sailor Soldiers,” she said, laughing as her antennae twitched slightly.
Almost as if on command, Sailor Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Knight all burst into the classroom with Artemis right on their heels.
“What a strong power!” Artemis exclaimed.
“Be careful,” Mercury warned. “The enemy should be very close by.”
“What happened here?” Jupiter asked as she glanced around.
“The enemy must be targeting the Eisai cram school for their new plan,” she explained.
“That’s why Umino-kun and the others turned strange,” Knight reasoned. “They were affected by the dark power.”
“So, that’s why,” Jupiter said.
“That’s unforgivable!” Mars added fiercely.
“So, Sailor Soldiers, you have come,” Giwak said with a smirk. “There is one missing, but I will let Mercury kill you now.
“Visual hallucination!” she shouted as her antennae uncurled and bent at the ends. The bent tips began to glow with a pale blue color, then shot a single beam of light at Mercury’s head, causing her to become unbalanced from the attack.
“Mercury!” Knight cried out and rushed to her side while the others watched with concern.
As she slowly began to regain her balance and composure, she turned to look at the others who, for some reason, were now staring mockingly at her.
“Oh, look at this,” Mars said laughingly. “Now that I’ve had a close look at you, Sailor Mercury, that battle costume looks horrible on you.”
Mercury blinked in surprise, but smiled as she gave Mars a hurt look. “Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”
“She’s always studying, so she’s got no fashion sense whatsoever,” Jupiter remarked as she folded her arms.
“Even you, Jupiter?” she asked faintly.
“I mean, I can’t stand people who brag about how smart they are!” Venus declared as she thrust an accusing finger at her.
“I never bragged at all,” she replied apologetically. “But, if that’s how you feel, I’m sorry.”
“There’s no use in playing the innocent girl,” Mars snapped.
Mercury put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes. It’s a lie! They wouldn’t say such things about me.…
“Hate those you insult you!” Giwak said, mentally goading her along. “Destroy them!”
“Mercury, come to your senses!” Venus exclaimed worriedly as Jupiter took a step forward.
“Mercury, are you all right?” Knight asked as she quickly moved in front of her and put his hands on her arms.
When she felt someone put their hands on her arms, she warily opened her eyes and lowered her hands as she looked into Sailor Knight’s eyes.
And those same eyes were glaring hatefully at her.
“Mercury, you cheater.”
Usagi, Chibiusa, and Luna all halted suddenly as their destination came into view. On the roof of the building, the Dark Henge had grown to a height easily over ten meters tall.
“The Dark Henge!” Usagi exclaimed as she spotted the enormous growing statue.
“There’s the Droid!” Luna shouted as she spotted Giwak hovering near the classroom window.
Usagi wasted no time raising her brooch over her head. “Moon crystal power, make up!” Within moments, the transformation was complete.
“Now, Sailor Mercury, kill those who speak ill of you!” Giwak commanded as she watched from outside.
“Hold it!”
“What?” she said as she whirled from the window to see who had challenged her. “You’re….”
“I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon!”
“Finally, the sixth one has arrived,” Giwak stated with a smirk.
“You’ve surrounded the Eisai cram school with dark power, making the students spread false rumors and plant evil thoughts into the minds of the innocent,” Sailor Moon declared. “This can’t be forgiven!”
Giwak merely smirked again and laughed quietly to herself.
“On behalf of the Moon, I’ll punish you!” Sailor Moon finished.
“How cheeky,” the Droid laughed. “Auditory hallucination!” she shouted as her antennae uncurled and bent at the ends.
“Sailor Moon, watch out!” Luna warned.
The bent tips began to glow with a pale blue color, then shot a single beam of light at Sailor Moon’s head, just like they did to Mercury.
“What?” she gasped as she glanced around. Nothing happened? She took a direct hit, but… nothing? Not even pain?
“Sailor Moon, you’re a failure.”
She flinched at those words.
“Stupid, flat-chested girl, always rushing into things.”
Her eyes widened as she crossed her arms over her breasts. Tears started to slowly form in her eyes.
“So jumpy and clumsy.”
“You’re the worst.”
Her head bowed forward into her hands as her body started to quiver with what seemed to be silent sobbing. Giwak’s smirk stretched into a full, toothy grin.
“So what?” Sailor Moon suddenly shouted as she thrust her arms upward and glared at the Droid. “So, I’m a stupid failure and a flat-chested klutz!”
Giwak started at the sudden change in Sailor Moon and stared incomprehensibly at her.
“I’m used to having bad things said about me!” she retorted with her hands on her hips.
The Droid boggled in complete and utter confusion. “What kind of personality does she have?” she muttered.
“Is that a compliment?” Sailor Moon replied with a huge smile.
“Very well, then,” she growled as she glared at Sailor Moon and prepared to attack. “How about this?”
Just like with Mercury, several duplicates appeared around Giwak, then vanished, only to reappear around Sailor Moon. One appeared above her and kicked her in the back, sending her flying through the air and landing a few feet away, face first.
“Ouch….”
Just as Sailor Moon was lifting her head up off the ground, another one of the duplicates was dropping out of the sky with her foot extended, aiming her kick for Sailor Moon’s head just out of her field of vision. At the speed she was going, Sailor Moon wouldn’t have much time to react, even if she had seen her.
“Sailor Moon!” Luna warned as she and Chibiusa watched fearfully. Sailor Moon looked up and saw the duplicate Giwak coming down at her, but by then, she knew it was too late to avoid the attack.
Just before the attack could connect, a rose flashed through the air mere centimeters before the duplicate, causing her to jerk back suddenly and halt her attack as the rose struck the cement and stuck at an angle.
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama!” Sailor Moon shouted in relief as she and the Giwaks all glanced up toward the source of the rose attack.
“You’ve planted the Dark Henge in a place where students come to study for their high school entrance exam, in order to lure the hearts and minds of the students toward evil,” Tuxedo Kamen denounced from on top of the building next to the cram school as he folded his arms disdainfully. “You evil Droid. It cannot be forgiven. Now you’ll have to fight me.”
“Stay out of my way!” Giwak warned as she made her duplicates attack him instead of Sailor Moon.
He swiftly drew his cane and prepared for the first attack. The duplicates charged at him, one by one, but he swung his cane at each of them like a sword, causing them to jump back in order to avoid the attack. As he was busy with the duplicates, one of them managed to appear behind him and kick him in the back, knocking him off the roof. Another Giwak, appeared in front of him and punched him in the face, knocking him back onto the roof, but a third kicked him right back off of the roof and let him plummet straight to the ground where he hit with a loud thud and a painful grunt as his body bounced almost a foot before lying still.
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama!” Sailor Moon gasped anxiously as she ran to his side and knelt down to see how badly he was hurt. She saw that he was in a lot of pain, which worried her to no end.
“Observe, while Sailor Mercury kills the other Sailor Soldiers,” Giwak said as she turned back toward the others still inside the classroom. “Visual hallucination, power up!” Once again, her antennae uncurled and bent at the ends, causing Mercury to jerk back as she delivered another blow to her psyche.
“Mercury!” Jupiter gasped as she watched her friend wrenched herself out of Knight’s hands and backed away one step.
“What’s wrong?” Venus asked.
“Mercury, are you all right?” Knight asked as he tentatively raised one hand toward her.
Mercury lifted her head and looked up at her boyfriend, her eyes wide with utter disbelief.
“Sailor Mercury…,” Knight said heartlessly as he pointed a cold, accusing finger at her. “No…. Mizuno Ami, you cheated.”
She winced as tears threatened to flow forth from her eyes. Out of all the hurtful, severe accusations from her friends, this one hurt the most.
“You really cheated, didn’t you?” Venus demanded.
“You cheated,” Jupiter said stonily.
“Cheated,” Mars sneered.
Mercury put her hands over her ears and gritted her teeth. No. This isn’t right. This can’t be right. They couldn’t be doing this to her….
“Mercury!” Venus said as she took a step toward her.
“Come to your senses!” Mars said as she and Jupiter also took a step forward.
“Are you all right?” Jupiter asked.
“Please… answer us,” Knight pleaded as he took a step forward as well with his hand still extended toward her.
Mercury stared at her friends in horror. The girls were all advancing on her, denouncing her as a cheater and glaring at her with hate-filled eyes. The worst of it was that as they chanted their accusations, Knight just stood there, looming over her with disgust clearly written in his eyes.
Finally, he spoke.
“I cannot believe that I ever had feelings for you,” he sneered cruelly. “There is no way that I could ever care for a cheater like you.
“I hate you.”
That was the last straw.
“NO!!!” Mercury screamed out in mental anguish as she pushed through the other Scouts and whirled around to face them. Her eyes flicked from one to the other with the skittishness of paranoia. Sensing this, the other Scouts did what they thought was the best thing to do.
They fled.
“What’s going on?” Mars exclaimed as she slid open the window and jumped through to the ground below. Fortunately, they were on the first floor, so they didn’t have very far to drop.
“Calm down, Mercury!” Venus shouted as she followed Mars.
“Mercury, please…,” Knight called out as Jupiter dragged him to the window and unceremoniously shoved him out, causing him to land gracelessly on his backside while she jumped out as well with Artemis following right behind her.
“Somebody’s controlling her!” she reasoned as she grabbed Knight and dragged him after her.
Mercury stepped toward the window and stared outside at the others. All of them - the Scouts, Tuxedo Kamen, Chibiusa, Luna and Artemis - were all insulting her. Mocking her. Glaring spitefully at her.
“Cheater! Liar! To think we had ever trusted you!”
Venus…. Jupiter…. Mars….
Knight….
Sailor Moon….
“Sailor Mercury, hate all those who speak ill of you,” Giwak shouted. “Kill them!”
Mercury leaped out of the window and stood before the Scouts with a hard expression on her face.
“It is always a wonderful sight to see one friend kill another,” Giwak said and laughed.
“That stance…!” Mars gasped as Mercury raised her hands and rested both palms, side by side, down in the middle of her chest, just below her neck.
“Is she going to use her Shine Aqua Illusion against us?” Venus said worriedly.
“Mercury, get a hold of your senses!” Artemis entreated.
“Don’t let the illusions get to you!” Luna added.
“Mercury, stop it!” Sailor Moon pleaded as she pushed past Knight and rushed toward her with one hand stretched out toward her. Mercury coldly struck her against the shoulder, knocking her to the ground, then resumed her stance again.
“Don’t use it on us!” Artemis shouted, hoping to get through to her before it was too late.
“Please!” Chibiusa added fearfully. The others watched her anxiously.
“It’s a lie!” Sailor Moon declared as she stood up. “Sailor Mercury won’t fire at us! I believe in her!”
“That’s right,” Knight agreed as he stepped forward and stood beside Sailor Moon. “No matter who is controlling Sailor Mercury, she would never attack those who care for her and believe in her.”
Mercury twitched her arms for a second, but she brought them back over her chest. The other Scouts continued to watch apprehensively, but Sailor Moon and Knight both stared at Mercury with identical displays of trust and determination on their faces. They knew she wouldn’t hurt them. They had nothing to fear. She would break the hold the Droid had on her. She had to.
Giwak settled down to the ground a short distance to Mercury’s right, grinning expectantly. Mercury’s eyes flicked toward her for a moment, then returned back toward the Scouts.
“Now, Sailor Mercury…. Kill them!”
No one moved as they all waited for Mercury to make her move.
“Don’t forgive those who insulted you.”
“The one I can’t forgive is you!” Mercury shouted as she turned toward Giwak.
“What?!?” she gasped as she stared at her in complete shock. The others gaped as well, except for Knight, who was half-grinning widely with relief.
“I knew it,” he murmured under his breath.
“Shine aqua illusion!”
The attack struck Giwak directly in the face just before she managed to bring her hands up to protect her face. The stream of icy water froze her antennae in blocks of ice, which shattered under the pressure of the stream of water shooting past her head.
“You…!” Giwak growled as she flung her arms apart, shattering the sheet of ice that formed over her hands as she was protecting her face. “Why didn’t my hallucination attack work on you?”
“You’ll never understand that our hearts are bound by trust!” Mercury declared. The other Scouts grinned at that.
“Mercury…,” Sailor Moon murmured, touched by her speech.
“Damn…,” the Droid seethed.
“Now, Sailor Moon!” Mercury shouted at she glanced at her over her shoulder.
Sailor Moon nodded with a look of seriousness as she brought out her Moon Scepter. “Moon princess halation!” she shouted as she waved the scepter in front of her, firing a blast of white energy at Giwak. The attack stuck her shattering her skin to pieces, leaving only her figure in crystal, which disintegrated into a pile of powder. The jewel with the upside-down black crescent moon turned from a bright emerald green into a dull lifeless gray. All of the duplicates disappeared and the Dark Henge began to shrink as all the dark power escaped from it. The green statuette fell to the ground and shattered.
“Once again, you have managed to defeat the enemy,” Tuxedo Kamen stated as he rose to his feet. “Your friendship and its strength are admirable, as always. Farewell.”
With a flourish of his cape, he leapt away, leaving the Scouts, the cats, and Chibiusa to watch as he left.
“Giwak failed?” Emerald repeated as she covered herself for the second time. Honestly, couldn’t Saffire wait until she was finished bathing before barging in? She hoped this wouldn’t become a normal occurrence, or else she’d never be able to have a bath without getting interrupted.
“That’s why I told you not to relax too much in that tub of yours,” Saffire chided.
Emerald laughed. “I’ll find a new negative point easily enough,” she retorted casually, then frowned. “There is only one man who is allowed to see me bathe. Be gone!” she commanded as she splashed a wave of scented water at him imperiously. Without another word, he disappeared.
She laughed again, then slammed an angry fist into the water beside her. “I’ll get them next time….”
“Ami-chan, thank you for not falling for those illusions,” Usagi said after they had all changed back.
Ami smiled. “You believed in me about not cheating. No matter what happens, we’re bonded by a strong trust.”
The others smiled back and Ryoku nodded silently with a small half-smile.
“Ami-chan…,” Usagi said softly.
“What are you doing here?” Umino asked as he and the rest of the students attending the Eisai cram school walked up to them.
“Mizuno-san, you were in first place again,” one of the boys said. He was one of the ones who had been insulting her earlier. “That’s quite amazing.”
“Can you teach us some of your secrets on studying?” one of the girls asked. Just like the boy, she was one of the ones who had been insulting her earlier.
Ami began to blush. “There aren’t any tricks. Just study hard.”
While the others were all smiling at seeing Ami happy again, Usagi grimaced almost jealously. “What’s this?” she muttered irritably. “They were the ones who were spreading the rumors about Ami cheating.”
“It’s not their fault, Usagi-chan,” Makoto told her. “They were all under the spell of the dark power.”
“That’s right,” Rei added. “We should concentrate our efforts on the enemy.”
Usagi straightened up and nodded semi-reluctantly.
“Usagi-san, won’t you study with us?” Umino asked suddenly.
She jerked back at the mere mention of the word ‘study’ and flailed her arms about as if warding off the very idea. “I don’t wanna study!!!” she screeched and immediately took off running with the others staring after her with varied expressions ranging from amused to exasperated. “I hate studying! Hate it!!!”
Chibiusa and the two cats sweatdropped. “Usagi-chan’s really got a problem, here…,” Luna muttered in vexation as the others began to laugh at Usagi’s expense.
“No kidding,” Ryoku added wryly. “Well, that’s Usagi-chan for you, I suppose.”
“And that’s what worries us,” the two cats said in tired unison.