Cat Girl Nuku Nuku Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ HailStorm ❯ Chapter 5

Inspired by Jonathan Ford's story "Who's your Daddy?"
http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/dark_phoneix/index.html
ht tp://tannim.anifics.com/Daddy/Daddy.html

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Chapter 5

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Disclaimer

I do not own Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, or Cultural Cat Girl. Characters, names, and places used without permission.

Acknowledgements

The original idea behind Who's Your Daddy and Hailstorm is courtesy of Rift120, from the Delphi Boards.

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Scholastic Collisions

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Yellow with black squares.... It's a fairly unique design for a bandana. Who are you, Hibiki Ryoga? Why can I find no sound trace of your trail? Ami twirled the bandana in her hands absently, pondering on the meaning of her father's adversary.

"Ami?" Hearing her name called, Ami looked up to find Luna staring up at her intently.

"I'm sorry, Luna. What did you say?" she asked. Looking around the room, Ami found that most eyes were now focused on her. Well, most eyes. Usagi lay on her bed eating a snack and intently reading from her manga collection.

Today Ami and the other Senshi were studying at Usagi's house, hoping that by holding their session there, their leader might have enough incentive to study hard enough to pass next week's exam in Geometry. Though Minako went to a different school, her class had a test on similar material on the same day Ami, Makoto and Usagi's class did, so she joined them in studying. Getting Usagi to study was a task nearing the impossible, especially because their class took a test in History earlier during the school day, and Usagi did not want to study right after a test.

Though Ami knew she passed the History test, she did not feel very confident about her standings in the class. Certainly only 6 hours of study time during the week before the test was not enough to cover the entire material.

Somehow, Luna managed to convince them to engage in a hybrid Senshi-Study meeting, and one of the most recent unanswered questions managed to come up yet again: Who was the man that had helped them out in the fight inside the cake shop?

Of course, Ami knew the answer to the question, but telling the other Senshi about her father was not high on her 'To-Do' list.

"I noticed you haven't said a word since we started our meeting, and I wanted to know if your computer found anything on that man," Luna said.

Ami shook her head to denote she hadn't. In truth, she hadn't even checked.

Luna took a few steps closer to her, and the black cat tilted her head. "Is there something on your mind, Ami? I notice you have an item in your hands, is that the reason you seem so distressed?"

"Nani? No, it's nothing, it's not important." Ami turned away from Luna and absently tightened the cloth into a ball within her fist.

Usagi had chosen that time to pay attention, and slyly said, "I know what Ami-chan's hiding. She's got a boy's bandana, probably from her new boyfriend." Her friend and leader leaned closer and whispered, "Who's it from? Was it from Ken-chan? or did Nisawa-san give it to you? Did you sneak off to see Uruwa and not tell us?"

"Aa!" Leaning back in a vain attempt to get away from her friend's pressing, embarrassing questions, Ami crawled back a few feet to get some distance. She blushed and stuttered her reply. "Nan- b-boyfriend? N-No. This isn't from a boyfriend-"

"I knew it!" Usagi shouted triumphantly, pointing dramatically. "Ami-chan has a boyfriend. What's he like? How long have you been going out? Come to think of it, why haven't I noticed before..."

Ami sighed, knowing now for sure they would get no more studying done. She pocketed the bandana and promptly forgot about it for the rest of the night.

*********************

Ami walked home with Makoto and Minako, quietly reflecting on the recent events of the past few weeks. Today was Sunday, and she had not seen her father since he drove her home a week ago. Ami didn't know if his disappearance was a good thing. His recently frequent appearances, though often sudden and without warning, at first had disconcerted her, but now that she'd met and spoken with her father for some time, Ami could no longer regard her first impression of him as true.

They were walking down one of the lesser used downtown streets when a girl, older than Ami by at least one, maybe two years, jumped down from the sign she'd been sitting on and blocked their path. She paused only momentarily to catch her balance, then turned and leapt at Ami, shouting, "An opening!".

Ami took two steps backward, but moved too fast and tripped, falling to her rear. Makoto pushed the girl back while Minako stood in front of Ami in a defensive posture.

"Who are you? You can't just attack someone for no reason!" shouted Makoto. She and Minako both stood ready to attack, while Ami looked on at the three of them, stunned by the confrontation's occurrence.

"Two against one?" said the girl, whose name they still did not know. "That hardly seems fair. I'll leave you alone for now, but don't forget, Mizuno-san, I'll be back for you!" The girl ran off quickly, running across the street and turning the corner quickly.

"What in the world was that?" asked Makoto, puzzled by the girl's quick leave. Ami could not see Minako's face, but she still seemed tense.

"Sempai?" Ami asked reflectively. Was that really her?

"Ami, do you know her?" Minako asked her, bringing her out of her speculations.

"Hai," replied Ami. "But I really shouldn't talk about someone else like that. It's too embarrassing and personal!" Pausing momentarily, Ami continued walking, Minako and Makoto following her.

"That was Omiaki Yui, an upperclassman at my last Junior High. She was the smartest person in the school when I got there, and she liked to play sports and compete for the Gymnastics team. She always did really well, scoring the highest on the practice entrance exams. Everyone used to look up to her because of how well she did in scholastics and sports."

"Well, what happened?" asked Makoto. "Why'd she come after you?"

"Before I left, I decided to take one of the practice entrance exams. I wanted to find out how well I'd do if I were to take the actual test. I scored the highest on the exam, and everyone came to congratulate me."

"So Omiaki-san got angry because you did better than you, right?" asked Minako.

"No," said Ami. "Actually, Omiaki-sempai came and congratulated me on doing so well. She was amazed that anyone could get such a high score at my level. But after that, people stopped looking up at her because of her grades. They started making fun of her and saying that if a first year student could get a higher score, then Omiaki-sempai must not be so smart after all.

"She ignored them at first, but it hurt her, and after a while she resented my better score. She challenged me to a fight to see who was the better student." Ami said.

"Did you fight her?" asked Makoto. "I'll pound her if you want. I can take her."

"Iie, I told my mother what was going on and she went and talked to a few people at the school and the hospital. She found a job here and petitioned for my classes to be transferred over to Juban. I never thought I'd see Omiaki-sempai again."

"Don't worry about her, Ami-chan. If she comes back around here, I'll take her down, no problem. She won't be bothering you," Makoto said.

"Thanks, Mako-chan, but I can take care of it," said Ami. "Hey, I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" she asked, turning to walk toward her mother's apartment, then turning around and walking backward a few steps.

"'Kay, bai bai, Ami-chan!"

"Tomorrow, okay!"

"Bai bai, Mako-chan, Mina-chan. Don't forget to study."

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Ami's mother wasn't home when she opened the door to their apartment. Ami went ahead and placed her school books on the desk in her room, then sat down to read one. It was not long until she became drowsy, so after a shower, an change of clothes, and a small dinner consisting mostly of salad, Ami went to bed, wondering what the next few days would bring.

She woke up to her mother gently shaking her at what seemed only moments later, but by the look of her digital clock, Ami could see she had been asleep for a few hours, at least.

The time read 6 AM, a little earlier than her mother normally woke her now, but Ami had rested enough to wake herself up and prepare for another day of training. Her mother stopped her in the process of getting her training uniform.

"Dress up in some regular clothes," Atsuko said. "We're not training today. I want to show you something outside." Atsuko turned and left the room.

After dressing up in a dark blue blouse and black skirt, Ami followed her mother outside where she found her leaning against one of the walls of the compound, looking up at the dawning sky. The older woman had on a loose fitting red Chinese style shirt tied at the waist with a black belt. The shirt contrasted well against the black pants she wore, tied at her feet with string. Her dark hair hung back in a ponytail, unlike the usual single-bun hairstyle Ami was used to seeing her wear.

"You wanted to show me something, Mother?" Ami asked in approach.

"The sky is beautiful, isn't it, Ami? My father used to wake me up and show me the sky when it dawned. Well, actually, he woke me up to train me, but we were always up before dawn and he never sparred with me until after the sun rose. Such a beautiful thing, the birth of a new day."

Ami walked up to Atsuko, then turned to lean against the wall next to her. "Yes, it is beautiful. Is this why you brought me out here?"

Atsuko placed an arm around her shoulder, then said, "Kind of. I've been wondering for some time now, and I wanted to ask you this. What's it like to fight those monsters?"

"Fight?" The word came as mostly reactionary. She hadn't even paused to think before saying it.

"Hai, when you fight as a Senshi," Atsuko replied. Ami paused a few moments to give herself time to think of a good way to answer.

"It's very difficult at times," Ami said. "We've fought many monsters, and we've come close to losing at times."

"What do you do when you fight them?" her mother asked.

"The SaliorSenshi are made up of five of us, each named for our respective planet," Ami said. "I'm SailorMercury, and despite Mercury being so close to the Sun, I mostly use magical attacks made up of ice and water."

"It always returns to water, then," Atsuko mumbled, puzzling Ami momentarily. The older woman looked at her briefly, then said, "I'm sorry. Continue, please."

"Well, umm, SailorVenus is another of the Senshi. She fights using her Venus Crescent Beam and Venus Love Me Chain. I'm not really sure what her attacks are composed of, but they seem to be physical in nature. And then there's SailorMars, many of her attacks are aligned with fire. Then there's SailorJupiter, she has power over elemental lightning magic. Our leader is SailorMoon. She fights with the love and understanding she holds for everyone in her heart's depths."

Atsuko glanced at her daughter briefly, and Ami grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny. The older woman then said, "When you fight those monsters, Ami, what is it that you fight for?"

Ami thought for a few moments before replying, "The Senshi fight for love and justice. We fight for other people's happiness and to keep the world safe."

Atsuko smiled sadly and removed her arm, crossing both her arms in front of her. "I used to fight monsters, too, before you were born. I fought for fame and recognition, for respect and to help other people. I used to get into a lot of trouble, too, but I never regret a moment of it."

Ami looked up at her mother, a quizzical expression on her face. "Are you saying... Are you saying that I should fight not just for others... but for myself?" she asked.

"Something like that. Just.... Whenever you're off fighting, always remember what you're fighting for. I fought a long battle full of many hardships not too long ago because I believed in you and what you stood for in my life. You're a senshi now, a soldier, so you need to know what you believe in and fight for what that stands for in your life."

Smiling, Ami said, "I guess that hardship's not over, yet, is it?" Atsuko grinned in return.

"No, I guess it's not, is it?" Atsuko replied. "You've still got a long time to go before you head out for college. Speaking of which, you should probably go inside and get ready for school. You've got a long day ahead of you, don't you? Here, a kiss before you go."

Atsuko pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. After giving her mother a kiss on the cheek, Ami went inside to prepare for her day.

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The walk from Minato-ku was usually a quiet affair, as Ami usually arrived to school before her other friends did. Today, though, Ami found herself walking with Kensuke when he walked by her on his way to the train station.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" she asked him. Kensuke carried a fairly large travel pack and looked ready to travel for days in the wilderness.

"I'm tracking someone down," he replied. "There's a legendary martial artist who lives in Japan, his name is Saotome Ranma. He was at the Martial Arts Computer Repair competition, but he disappeared before I could catch him. I was so close, last time, too!"

"Saotome Ranma? You know my father?" Ami stopped in the sidewalk and looked to Kensuke, unsure of what to say.

"What?" exclaimed Kensuke, surprised by the revelation. "Saotome-san... He's your father?" Surprised that she had been thinking aloud, Ami nodded in the affirmative, keeping her gaze focused on Kensuke's expression.

Kensuke grimaced, flinching away from her view. "I'm sorry, Ami, but I must fight you on behalf of the honor of my family," he said softly. "I must find Saotome Ranma and bring justice to him at any cost!"

Ami's eyes widened as she watched Kensuke prepare to lunge at her. When he did move, his motion abruptly halted, brought to rest by a hand grasped tightly to the back of his shirt.

"Kensuke, what do you think you're doing?" asked the woman who had stopped him.

"Kuonji-san! What are you doing here?" Kensuke replied.

"I was just asking you the same thing," the older woman retorted. "Now, what are you doing attacking this nice young girl?"

Kensuke growled lowly before speaking. "I was searching for Saotome Ranma before I ran into Mizuno-sempai. She said Saotome-san is her father, so I was going to fight her."

"He's her father?" Kuonji-san said with a sharp intake of breath. The woman's eyes focused sharply on Ami's own, and she could not help but feel she had seen this person before. Wasn't she the woman with my mother at the competition?

Kuonji-san frowned, and Ami assumed the woman held a contemplative mood about her. Her eyes softened some, and she released Kensuke and looked briefly between them. The woman focused on her again.

"Sorry about this, ahh... Mino-san?" Kuonji said with a bow.

"Mizuno Ami," Kensuke said, speaking up for her.

"Yes... Sorry about this, Mizuno-san. Kenchan has not learned all his manners properly and still lacks some of the more important lessons in socializing properly with others." Kuonji-san said, beginning again.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Kensuke shouted in reply.

Kuonji-san ignored him, continuing her apology. "Kensuke is a little over-enthusiastic about martial arts, a trait that can be attributed to myself and his mother. I'll make sure he doesn't try to start another fight with you."

"Oh, my." Ami felt her face turn pink with embarrassment. "It's alright, Kuonji-san. I mean, nothing happened, we weren't fighting.... We weren't going to fight, um...." Not knowing how to continue, Ami tried changing the subject. "What are you doing here, Kuonji-san? I'm afraid my mother's not going to be home until after dark tonight. I mean, ah..."

Kuonji-san had turned away from her to look at Kensuke for a moment, but she turned quickly to face her after her statement, the woman's eyes focusing sharply on her, searching for some answer. The woman spoke carefully in reply. "As a matter of fact, I did come here in search of someone. I think it can wait, though. I have to get Kensuke home first so he doesn't miss the entire school day. Do you know where I could find Saotome-san? I needed to give him something."

Her embarrassment ebbing, Ami nodded in the negative and said, "Iie, I don't know where he'd be. I don't actually see him very often. Is it important? I could ask my mother where he is, I think she keeps in touch with him."

"No," Kuonji-san said, speaking clearly. "That's alright, I'll come back another day. Come on, Kensuke."

Kensuke looked at her once more, then turned and followed Kuonji-san, absently saying, "Hai, sensei, I'm on my way."

Ami watched them long enough to see them reach the intersection on their way back to the station, then turned and continued walking to school.

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Less than two hours had passed since she arrived at school, and already Ami could tell it would be a bad day. The final scores of the latest practice entrance exams were in, this time for preparing students to enter the prestigious Shubun High School near Minato-ku, the apartments where she and her mother lived. Some students would be awed by her scores, and congratulate her and ask her how she could get such high scores, and most students would be so absorbed in their own scores they wouldn't register the name with the top score until after she'd gone back to class. Even still, there were those groups of people who would notice her score and ridicule and accuse her because of them. All she could do was ignore them.

Well, that's how it always was before. Today, though, the entire school seemed to be out to get her.

The day actually started out fine, though Ami thought that more than a few people were accidentally bumping into her in the halls. The stares she was getting from her peers did nothing to alleviate the dark premonition looming in the darkness of her mind. The whole situation seemed ready to blow itself out of proportion. By the end of the day, Ami thought her classmates might be mad at her.

It all started with the simple fact that the teachers were withholding the students' scores so they could more efficiently teach their classes. The tension built over the latent time, yet the teachers refused to release the scores during lunch hour.

Ten minutes before last hour ended, the scores for Ami's grade level was released. People flooded the halls to reach the bulletin board and find their grades. Being one of the first out of their class, Ami reached the board quickly and looked up her grade. Not long after, Umino appeared from the classroom, clutching a paper tightly in his hand.

"Look, I found this in Ami's desk! It's a cheat sheet with all the answers to yesterday's test!" shouted Umino to the crowd. An uproar arose from the multitude as her peers questioned her morality and the validity of her scores.

"I knew it! No one that smart would hang around Usagi," she heard from a boy standing near Umino. Too embarrassed to turn around and face the speaker, Ami stayed quiet and hoped the commotion would be over soon.

"Hey, that's not true!" shouted Usagi-chan, who came with Naru so they could read their grades together. "There's no one I know smarter than Ami-chan. She wouldn't cheat on an exam!"

"Umino, what are you doing!" shouted Naru, pulling on Umino's arm to try and lower it. "Why are you doing this? You know Ami wouldn't cheat!"

"What's the trouble?" asked Makoto, who likely jogged over from the other side of the field when she saw the commotion stirring.

"Get out of my way!" shouted one of the boys at Makoto, shoving her to enforce his point.

"You wanna go somewhere?" Makoto shouted back in his face. She picked him up by his collar and threw him over her shoulder.

"Please, don't fight, Mako-chan! You could get in trouble! Come on, minna, let's just leave." Ami didn't like the direction the situation seemed headed toward. Grabbing Usagi and Makoto's hands, she pulled them out of the crowd to go home.

Safely away from the school, Ami let go of Usagi and Makoto and continued to walk home.

"Hey, Ami, why didn't you let me fight them? You shouldn't let them spread rumors like that!" shouted Makoto, still angry over what happened.

"It's okay, Makoto. I don't want you to get in trouble for fighting again," she said. "I don't have a problem with it. I can't believe I missed a question, after studying for the test so hard!" Ami smiled to reassure them.

"You still shouldn't let them talk about you like that," Makoto said. "Even if it doesn't bother you, it bothers me that people are talking about you that way. Right Usagi?"

"Yeah, I totally agree. You're really smart, Ami-chan. Don't let people put you down like that, it's not fair to you."

"Thank you, Usagi-chan, Mako-chan," Ami said, and her smile felt genuine.

"Everyone!" a young voice shouted at them from a distance.

"Chibi-Usa!" shouted Usagi, turning and waving at her. Chibi-Usagi ran toward them, a small book bag strapped to her back and Luna-P following her in the air.

"Everyone," Chibi-Usa said when she came nearer. "I heard a rumor today and I couldn't believe it! Is it true that you cheated on your practice exam, Ami-san?"

"What? Where did you hear such a thing, Chibi-Usa?" Usagi asked her.

"Who told you that?" Makoto asked forcefully.

"Don't worry about it, everyone. It's not true, Chibi-Usa. Someone is just trying to make trouble for me at school." Ami looked away, then said, "I'll see you all tomorrow, I need to get home soon. Mother might be getting home early today."

She ran off quickly, hoping no one could see how upset she felt.

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After jogging a few blocks down the street, Ami slowed down before turning the corner. There were a lot of students walking down the path, and suspicion told her they had been expecting her and waited for her appearance.

Walking a ways down the street, Ami tried not to listen to what they were saying. All of it seemed centered around the posted grades, and much of the gossip included the authenticity of her score.

"Did you hear about the false scores?"

"Seems everyone's getting top scores all of a sudden."

"... and if she's such a smart girl, what's she doing with those losers?"

"I don't believe a word of it. The only ones defending her are her friends, and they don't even have a third of her score!"

"... cheater! I can't believe I never saw it before."

Finally, she had enough of what they had to say, and she turned quickly into an alley when no one was watching her.

A figure jumped across from the rooftop of a nearby building to watch her from above.

All the tension of the disastrous school day and the unfair treatment for her grades settled upon her mind then. Leaning against the building, she let herself drop to the floor, taking enough care that her uniform didn't scrape against the wall as she fell.

"...." How could this have happened? Why is it happening all over again? Ami clutched her knees close to her, sobbing deeply but as quietly as she could manage. The accusations of her peers hurt her deeply, and reminded her of a previous incident that had been very similar.

Yet these students had no previous record for creating mischief. Ami knew they were not being honest, yet she also knew that Umino did not normally have the capacity to boldly lie and humiliate another student. Slowly, Ami's sobs died down as her analytical mind took over and she carefully analyzed what she considered to be a unique situation at Juban Junior High.

Most of the students who are accusing me of cheating go to the same new cram school that just opened up. Is it possible that Esmeraude is using that as a dark energy source? thought Ami.

Standing up and reaching into her bag for a handkerchief in her school bag, Ami dried her tears as best she could and dusted off her uniform some before running in the direction of the new cram school.

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"Hello? .... Is this the Kaminari School? .... Is anyone inside?"

Ami wearily entered the Kaminari School of Learning, , unsure of what she may find inside. The rooms were dark, and despite the Open sign on the door, Ami could not see anyone inside. Pausing for a moment of thought, Ami decided that transforming and calling the other Senshi may be the safer course of action for the duration of her inspection.

Pressing a button on her communicator, Ami waited for the device to chirp its readiness before leaving her message. "Everyone, I'm at the Kaminari School of Learning. I think Esmeraude may be using it to spread Dark Power. Please, get here as soon as you can." Allowing the device to go silent, Ami stepped inside and walked through the corridors, looking through the classrooms.

Inside the third room to her left, Ami found two droids that appeared identical to each other. Stepping forward, Ami struck a pose and shouted, "You, there! I am the Sailor Mercury! For using a school to spread evil thoughts and corrupt people's minds, I will punish you!"

Fro a brief moment, Ami thought she heard a noise behind her, maybe even the sound of footsteps walking down the hall, but she ignored it, having previously determined no other person had entered the building before her. Instead, she refocused her attention on the droids before her.

The droids grinned and stepped forward, then quickly rushed toward her. I must defeat them. What can I use? Perusing quickly through her current arsenal of magical attacks, Ami settled on her Shabon Spray.

With a shout of "Shabon Spray Freezing!" a torrential blast of water streamed forth from SailorMercury's outstretched hands, colliding heavily with the two droids. When the attack was over and the water dissipated, the droids were gone. Ami took a few steps forward, but more droids began appearing, drifting upward through the floor. Backing up, Ami is unsure of how to proceed until a possible improvisation comes to her in the form of an idea.

If I bend the magic, I may be able to set off two Shabon Sprays at once. They may not be powerful enough to stop them, but I could hit more. Maybe... No, I need to separate the streams of magic into each of my hands. Like this...

Facing the oncoming droids with increasing determination, SailorMercury outstretched her hands once more, pointing each at the droids but so the attack would cover more area. "Double Shabon Spray Freezing!" she yelled, releasing the attack with a ferocity that overcame the greater number of droids in the room.

A few droids were still left in the room, but they suddenly vanished, momentarily leaving her seeing an afterimage of ethereal quality. The droids.... They weren't real. Then where is the real one?

Jupiter, Mars, and Venus entered the room just then, and SailorMercury turned quickly to meet them, surprised by their entrance.

"Where are they?" asked SailorJupiter as soon as she entered the room.

"Be careful," SailorMercury said. "This place is full of Dark Power, and the droid has very special powers. It may return at any time, so watch for it."

"Thank goodness you're safe, Mercury," said SailorVenus. "It must not be too powerful if you were able to drive it off by yourself."

Ami bristled at the implied insult, but kept quiet. She knew what the girl meant to say. The droids had recently become very powerful, and quiet often teamwork became the key to defeating any single instance of them.

"Yeah, you are pretty weak on your own, Mercury," said SailorJupiter.

"N-Nani?" Ami turned to her in shock, hurt by the statement.

"I mean, I've never seen you take a youma or droid down on your own, or even severely hurt one. Venus is right, you're lucky you could survive a battle without us."

"What do you mean?" Ami asked, unwilling to believe this conversation was even taking place. Denial set into her deeply, and she turned to Rei, the only Senshi in the room who had not spoken yet.

"I think you know what we mean, Ami!" shouted SailorMars heatedly. "You're weak, much too weak to be an effective fighter. You think you're really pretty and try to act so cute, and you're always flaunting your grades! News flash! You're not all that pretty, Ami. And you can't even stop studying!"

"A-Artemis?" she asked tentatively.

"The Senshi were right, Ami. I can't believe you brought us all the way out here to blame everything on a cram school instructor inflicted with Dark Power! That's no real excuse for being found out by Umino." Artemis stared at her intently.

"Why are you all doing this?" she questioned, fearing the answer. An impulsive force drove her down and back onto the floor, leaving Ami with the sensation of having been punched hard in the gut. I must... destroy those who threaten me.... Never let them find a weakness....

"Why don't you just shut up?" shouted SailorMars. "I don't want to hear your petty excuses! Just accept you were wrong and we can all go home!"

"Oh look, she's going to cry," SailorVenus said in a lilting voice. "Are we making you cry? Oh, you're such a baby!"

"Listen, tramp. I don't care if you cheated or not. You tell me what's going on and give me one good reason for bringing us here or I'm going to beat you right now!" yelled SailorJupiter, advancing on Ami and getting threatening her with a fist raised before her.

"No! Away from me! Stay back!" She crawled backward on her hands, then pushed herself up and through her friends, turning back around to face them when she stood in the doorway.

"What the hell-?" said Mars.

"Oh, what now?" Venus mused loudly.

"Ami, think before you start acting-" Artemis began saying. Makoto cut him off before he could finish.

"What do you think you're doing? You think you'll be safe by running away? Get back here!"

"No-!" Ami began, halting, sobbing. She felt tears running down her face. "IIAN! I won't let you.... Shine... Aqua..."

"Oh, shit, I think she's going to attack!" shouted SailorVenus. Carrying Artemis on one shoulder, the Senshi of Venus quickly turned around and headed to where SailorMars had opened a window and was already climbing outside. SailorJupiter hastily followed after her, and the three of them narrowly avoided Ami's attack.

*********************

Ami took a moment to calm herself after the incident of attacking her friends, then walked to the window. Looking outside, she saw the Senshi looking up at her and heard their taunting.

"You nasty girl! Did you actually think you could hurt me with that? You're pathetic!" shouted SailorVenus.

"When I get a hold on you, I'm going to flame broil you! Let's see if you like a Burning Mandala as much as you like your Shining Aqua Illusion!" shouted SailorMars.

"Hah! Pathetic! What a weak, lame attack! Let's see you come down here and try that again. My Thunder Dragon can take on your water blast any day!"

"Soldiers are supposed to fight evil, not cheat and attack their friends! For love and justice, I am SailorMoon! And you're going down, scum!" shouted SailorMoon. Even Usagi, thought Ami. Could it be that I'm just hallucinating? Is it the Dark Power? Why does it seem so real?

"Oh, I just love when friends turn on each other!" spoke another voice, and for a moment Ami could not identify it. That was the droid speaking. Where is it?

Jumping over the window sill, SailorMercury landed on the ground outside and looked around her. All four of the other Senshi were there, and so was the droid, another duplicate like the ones she'd fought earlier. SailorMoon hurried over to her, waving the Cutie Moon Rod menacingly. "SailorMercury! Don't think you're going to get off easily for attacking the others! I'm going to clobber you for that!"

Backing up when SailorMoon approached, Mercury flinched and pushed the girl away, sending her tumbling to the ground. She watched carefully as SailorMoon stood up and spoke again, but the words no longer seemed to match her face. The droid must be doing this to me. Could it be attuning itself to me and controlling what I perceive?

"No..." she whispered, confusing SailorMoon with her statement. Ami prepared her attack, watching the droid so she could be sure to get a clear shot and hit it.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" SailorMercury shouted, hitting the unsuspecting droid full-force with her attack, and staggering it.

"You can't trick me so easily!" shouted SailorMercury. "The power of our friendship is much too powerful for you to overcome. The Senshi would never turn on me like that, and I know they all believe in me. SailorMoon! Finish it off, quickly!"

SailorMoon nodded quickly, taking the opportunity to prepare her attack on the droid.

"Moon Princess Halation!" In a series of maneuvers which involved much circular movement via the twisting and turning of her arms, SailorMoon completed her attack and exterminated the droid.

"You did a wonderful job today, Senshi," said Tuxedo Kamen. "You won today because of your trust and belief in friendship. I admire your faith in each other." Turning where he stood, Tuxedo Kamen walked away from them, presumably on his way home.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Ami said. "I was infected by the Dark Power, I didn't believe in you all. I heard what the droid wanted me to hear, and because of my weakness, I almost hurt you guys."

"Don't say that, Mercury! We won because you trusted in our friendship, and you attacked the droid. Love and Justice still persevered in the end!"

Ami smiled for Usagi. She tried so hard to keep everyone happy. One thought persisted in Ami's mind, though. Persevered?

*********************

Yui watched as Mizuno Ami passed by her location on the way home. Yui had followed Ami home from school, and also followed her into the cram school, where the other girl transformed into SailorMercury. It was disappointing that she had not also been able to catch the identities of the other Senshi, but dying in a monster battle would not help her revenge in the least bit.

"So Mizuno's really SailorMercury. I can use this to my advantage. She won't run away or call her friends for help if she knows her identity is on the line. Next time, Ami, I'll fight you for sure!" Yui cackled loudly into the night as she hopped away on the rooftops.

*********************

"Okay, now that you've learned that, we're going to go back to the sparring exercises. Remember what you learned about defending yourself, and I want to see you perform each attack I taught you at least once on me before we're through. Any questions before we begin?"

Ami looked at her mother, a somewhat blank look on her face. Ami had just arrived home from school, only to find her mother had also arrived home, and wished to continue her training since they both had time. Having mostly overcome the overemotional state she had been after leaving the cram school. Ami agreed, hoping it would completely take her mind off the earlier battle between herself and her friends. She was curious about one aspect of her training, though.

"Mother," Ami began. "Sensei, why aren't you sending me to the gym anymore? The first few weeks you started training me, we went over to Tateko's Weightlifting Gym and spent a few hours exercising, at least every other day. But now, we don't go anymore."

"The weightlifting? You could keep doing it if you want to. I just wanted to see how strong you are and how long you could endure. Those are very important aspects that would help me if I'm going to train you quickly and correctly."

"Oh," Ami said, not understanding how that would really help at all.

"Anything else, Ami-chan? We need to finish quickly if you want to get to your study session on time. Remember, you have to use each attack on me at least once."

"Hai, sensei. I'm ready now," Ami said.

"Good-"

"-But, don't I need to learn the names of the attacks? What they are?" Ami asked, curiously.(1)

"What? You mean you don't know what a palm strike is? A spin kick? An arm bar?"

Ami shook her head slowly, indicating her lack of recognition in regard to the various attacks Atsuko had named off. Of course she knew what a palm strike was, but the other terms were still more or less new to her.

"Oh, boy. This is going to take a while," Atsuko mumbled, arms crossed and head facing the floor. She looked up and said, "Hey, don't worry about it now. I'll teach you about all that stuff later, okay? For now, you just need to know how to attack and defend, and what you're capable of in a fight. Ready?"

Pushing her concerns to the side, Ami readied herself and nodded to her foster mother. The older woman rushed forward in a straight attack on her being, and Ami quickly dodged to the side and pushed her mother's arm to the side to translate the woman's kinetic energy in another direction. The rest of the night flew by quickly.

*********************

Author's Notes:

(1)All right, I have to admit this now. Better than waiting until later. I have no viable writing experience when it comes to writing fighting scenes, so in order to disguise my own inexperience, and since this fic is primarily told in Ami's first- and third-person perspective, I have depicted Ami much as I am myself - inexperienced, possibly even incapable of describing battle.

Thanks go to my current prereader, TerraEpon.

C&C welcome at laqjr_200@hotmail.com