Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Looking Up To You ❯ Party, Presents, and Plots! ( Chapter 1 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters, blah, blah, blah.

NOTE: This story takes place after Sailor Stars, however, I haven't seen Sailor Stars, so forgive me if I miss a plot point or two.

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It was a bright, summer day in Juuban, and at the Tsukino household, a celebration was taking place.

"Happy birthday, Sammy!" yelled the group of Sammy's friends and family standing around the large kitchen table at which Sammy was seated, in front of a birthday cake with fourteen candles on it.

"You're 14 years old today, little guy!" Sammy's mother said. "How do you feel?"

"I feel great!" Sammy said cheerfully. "Thank you, everyone!"

Standing around the table were Sammy's mother and father, as well as his big sister, Serena. Rei, Mina, Lita, Darien, and several of Sammy's friends from school were also there… as well a 16-year-old girl with blue hair, named Ami Mizuno.

"Happy birthday, Sammy!" Ami said. "I'm sure this is a very special time for you!"

"I'm glad you could be here, Ami!" Sammy said. He took a large breath and blew out the candles on his cake. "Okay, I want presents!"

"Ah, ah, ah, Sammy," Serena said, flicking him on the nose. "You have to eat your cake and ice cream first!"

"Serena!" Sammy's mother scolded. "If Sammy wants his presents now, he can have them! It's his birthday!"

"Yeah, Serena," Rei said in her usual angry tone. "Give the kid a break. Remember how you were at that age."

Sammy laughed.

"Thanks! I'm going to open this big one first!" Sammy said, opening a present from one of his friends from school, whose name was Rick. "I hope it's cool!"

Sammy ripped open the wrapping paper on the package.

"Oh wow!" Sammy said. "Pro Series Diesector!"

"Pro what?" Serena said, perplexed.

Sammy placed the box on its side and read the wording on it.

"Pro Series Diesector, as seen on Battlebots. Season 2.0 champ and Seasons 3.0 and 4.0 semi-finalist! Its powerful clamp can hold any bots in its mighty grasp! Diesector's the coolest bot of them all!" Sammy said.

"I was gonna get you the Toro one," Rick said, "but I knew how much you liked Diesector. I'm glad you like it!"

"It looks kind of scary," Ami said.

"Don't worry, it's a lot smaller than the real Diesector!" Sammy said. "It's like 3 or 4 pounds. Plus, you have to put the parts together first! Just like building a real Battlebot!"

Sammy took another package from the pile. This time, the box was much smaller.

"This one's from Ami!" Serena said.

"I hope you enjoy it," Ami said. "Actually, Serena told me what to buy you… I don't really know what you like! If you want, you can take it back if you don't like-"

"That's okay, Ami!" Sammy said, tearing the wrapping paper on the package. "I wouldn't return anything you got me!"

"I wonder what it is," Lita said.

"Shh!" Serena said, putting her finger to her lips. "He's opening it!"

Sammy took the last of the wrapping paper off the package.

"Oh wow!" Sammy said jubilantly. "I don't believe it! Spoils of War IV: Tournament Edition!"

"Is it alright?" Ami asked. "Did I get you the wrong-"

"No, this is exactly what I wanted!" Sammy said. "Oh, thank you!"

"What's that game about, anyway?" Mina asked.

"It's only the coolest and most popular computer game EVER!" one of Sammy's friends said. "Man, I'd give anything to have it!"

"Well, like I said, Serena was the one who suggested it," Ami said.

"Don't be so modest, Ami," Serena said. "You gave me the 7000 yen it took to buy it!"

"Sammy, would you like to open your next present now?" Sammy's father asked.

"Well, I'd kinda like to play my new game…" Sammy said. "I mean, if it's okay with everybody else here…"

"Play it!" another one of Sammy's friends said. "I wanna see you play it!"

"Yeah!" Sammy's other friends said.

"Can I play it?" Sammy asked his parents. "Can I? Huh?"

"Now now, Sammy," Sammy's father said. "Let's not be rude to the other guests…"

"But they want to see me play it!" Sammy protested.

"Maybe you should wait until after opening your other presents," Ami said. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to play it afterwards!"

Sammy looked at Ami.

"Well, alright…" Sammy said. "If Ami wants me to…"

"Aw," Rick said. "I wanna see you play!"

Sammy gloomily began to open his other presents. Seeing the slightly dejected look on Sammy's face, Ami frowned. She turned to Serena.

"Oh no, I think I made Sammy's friends mad at him," Ami said. "What should I do?"

"Don't worry, Ami!" Lita said. "If Sammy started playing that game, he'd be playing all day! He wouldn't get to eat cake, or open his other presents!"

"Maybe you're right," Ami said. "But he looks awfully sad."

"Did you notice the way he looked at you, Ami?" Rei asked. "You know, when you suggested that he should wait to play the game you gave him?"

"Yeah, Ami," Serena said. "He kind of looked like he had a crush on you!"

Ami blushed.

"Oh, Serena, stop that!" Ami said, giggling slightly. "I mean, he's almost three years younger than me! Really!"

Sammy looked over at Ami with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Oh my!" Ami said, burying her face in her hands. Sammy turned back to open the rest of his presents.

---

After the presents were opened and the cake and ice cream were eaten, all of Sammy's friends, except for Rick, had left. Serena, Rei, Lita, and Mina were all up in Serena's room, while Ami had stayed to help Rick and Sammy stack up the presents Sammy had gotten.

"So, Sammy," Ami said. "You and your friend Rick seem to get along pretty well!"

"Sammy's my lab partner in chemistry," Rick said. "He's kind of clumsy! I remember one time when he spilled this acid on his hand, and-"

"I remember when Rick burned his hand on a bunsen burner," Sammy said.

Ami giggled.

"Oh, I don't want to hear about all the times you guys hurt yourselves!" Ami said. "Serena and I were lab partners when we were in chemistry… she hurt herself a lot too!"

"Oh yeah, I remember this one time when Serena came home with her hand all wrapped up like a mummy!" Sammy said. "That was pretty funny!"

Sammy and Rick laughed.

"Hey Sammy, now that the party's over, can we play your computer game now?" Rick asked.

"Sure!" Sammy said, picking up the game. "Ami, you wanna watch?"

"Well, I guess so," Ami said. "It sounds like fun!"

Sammy, Ami, and Rick ran up to Sammy's room and raced over to the computer. Sammy took the game out of its box and put it in. The intro screen came up.

"Okay, this game is a war strategy game that you can play online!" Sammy said. "You can play with people all over the world!"

"Wow," Ami said, amazed. "I knew there were games like that, but I didn't know you played them, Sammy!"

"Yep, I do!" Sammy said. "A few months ago, I reached the quarterfinals of the official SoW III online championships! I was ranked #3 in the whole country of Japan!"

"Sammy's the best Spoils of War player I know!" Rick said. "Of course, I'm almost as good as he is. Not quite, but-"

"I'm in a game already!" Sammy said, pointing at the screen. "Look!"

Ami and Rick gazed at the screen. Sammy's troops, a large tank battalion and several infantry soldiers, were currently marching across the "field". They were engaged in combat with a group of large battle planes and a huge spherical war machine.

"Uh oh," Sammy said. "The big sphere is a Deathball. Watch it charge its cannon."

Ami gasped as the sphere began to glow with energy.

"Uh oh," Ami said. "I hope it doesn't fire!"

"Sammy's got two turns to get his troops out of the way! If he tries to destroy the Deathball, it'll blow up all of his tanks!" Rick said.

"That's horrible!" Ami gasped. "What are you going to do, Sammy?"

Suddenly, Serena, Rei, Lita, and Mina walked into the room.

"What'cha guys doin'?" Serena asked.

"Ugh, is that Spoils of War IV?" Rei asked. "My boyfriend Chad is so into that game."

"Well, duh, it's SoW IV," Sammy said. "You saw me get it a few hours ago. What's your boyfriend's screen name? Maybe I'm playing him right now."

"It's BallerMauler63," Rei said.

Sammy peered at the screen, spotting his opponent's name.

"Well, what do ya know?" Sammy said. "It is Chad."

"Yeah, I thought as much, seeing that big ball on the screen and all," Rei said. "He loves to build those things. When he plays, he loves to talk about his 'big balls'. He never stops. He always says that he's gonna use his big balls to crush his opponents. He never stops talking about his big balls."

Rick chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Serena asked.

"Big balls," Rick chuckled.

"Yeah, well, I've only got one turn to stop one of the balls from destroying my tanks!" Sammy said. "I've already spent my action points on attacking his cavalry, and-"

"Maybe if you do this," Ami said, taking the mouse in her hands and moving it to Sammy's Troop Creation icon. "You still have a few creation points left, so-"

Ami clicked on the field in front of the Deathball, creating two large, golem-like men in front of the ball.

"Of course!" Sammy said. "Kamikaze Defense Warriors! How could I overlook that?"

The two Kamikaze men ran into the Deathball. It exploded in a large flash of light, but the only damage it did was blowing itself up as well as the Defense Warriors.

"I didn't think that would work," Ami said.

"Whoa, dude!" Rick said in amazement. "Do you play this?"

"Not at all," Ami said. "I study too much to have very much time for computer games… but I was flipping through the instruction booklet, and I saw the Kamikaze Defense Warriors listed in there, so-"

"Wow, you're really smart, Ami!" Sammy said. "Thank you!"

Two of Sammy's tanks rolled over the first lines of Chad's cavalry, crushing all of them and racking up hundreds of points.

"Yeah!" Lita said. "Get him!"

"My boyfriend hasn't lost in a long time," Rei said. "This'll be good for his ego!"

The game continued for a short while longer. The self-destruction of the first Deathball meant that Chad had wasted too many creation points to make any more Deathballs before Sammy's troops overwhelmed him. Sammy won the game easily.

"Alright!" Sammy said. "I got him!"

"I wonder how Chad feels right now!" Rei said. "I bet he's pretty mad!"

"Well, that was pretty fun!" Rick said. "I'll stop by tomorrow to play, okay, Sammy?"

"Alright!" Sammy said. "See ya later, Rick!"

Rick ran down the stairs and left the house.

"Well, I gotta go too, Serena," Mina said.

"Yeah, me too," Lita said.

"See ya later, meatball-head!" Rei said.

Rei, Lita, and Mina left the room.

"Hey, Rei!" Serena yelled, angry about being called 'meat-ball head'. "Come back here!"

Serena chased Rei down the stairs. Ami giggled at them.

"They always fight like that, but they really care about each other!" Ami said. "At least, I think they do."

Sammy laughed.

"Me and Serena fight like that too," Sammy said. "She calls me a little squirt! I'm taller than her now!"

Sammy got up and shook his fists.

"Sometimes, she makes me so mad…" Sammy growled.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean it," Ami said with a reassuring smile on her face. "Sometimes, brothers and sisters just fight. Of course, I'm an only child, so…"

"Serena did tell you what game I wanted, so I guess that's pretty nice," Sammy said. "But you paid for it, and you spent way more money on it than Serena did on her present. All she got me was a stupid 'Juuban Samurais' t-shirt."

Sammy smiled at Ami.

"Thank you very much for the game, Ami!" Sammy said. "You can stop by and play it anytime! You're really good at it!"

"Thank you for the offer," Ami said. "I just might do that!"

Ami got up and began to walk out of the room.

"Well, I have to be going now," Ami said. "Goodbye, and happy birthday, Sammy!"

Ami smiled softly at Sammy before turning to leave the room.

"Ami, wait," Sammy said. "Um, maybe tomorrow… um… maybe we could go get some ice cream! With you, and me, and Rick!"

"That would be wonderful, Sammy!" Ami said. "At about one o'clock, okay?"

"Alright!" Sammy said. "It'll be great!"

Ami smiled again. She turned and walked out of the room.

"Ami…" Sammy sighed.

---

Meanwhile, in a large castle floating in orbit around the Earth, evil was brewing. Inside the throne room of the castle, a man wearing a black robe was conversing with an invisible being.

"Tomorrow is the day…" the black-robed man said. "We shall begin the conquering of Earth by the forces of darkness."

"Scion, there may be a problem," said a loud, booming voice, which belonged to the evil, invisible being. "It seems that Earth is protected by heroines known as the 'Sailor Senshi'. These magical soldiers of light serve to protect the Earth from our dark forces. They will definitely present a problem."

"Do not worry, master," Scion said. "My henchmen and my army of deadly monsters of darkness are more than powerful enough to stop any sort of threat from these Senshi."

"Don't be foolish. Many have perished attempting to fight the Senshi. Do not blindly send pathetic monsters to stop them. That would just be a waste of time, effort, and forces. You must always be careful," the booming voice said.

"I understand," Scion said. "But I will find a way. Soon, the Earth will be blackened with the power of your darkness, master. Very soon."

TO BE CONTINUED

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Yeah, that chapter was probably slow, and the plot may seem cliché for now. But don't worry, the villains are just a backdrop for the real theme of the story, which you all should know by now! The action begins next chapter, I promise!