Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Saga of Mercury ❯ A Visit Back Home ( Chapter 14 )

The Saga of Mercury

Chapter 14

"A Visit Back Home"

Written by Jose I. Ramos

Portions based on "Mercury Knight stories" by Ryuuen No Miko

"Sailor Moon" and all related characters are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, TOEI Animation and other agencies.

Storyline © 2002 Jose I. Ramos

PDF conversion services provided by Fast PDF, LLC

DISCLAIMER

As usual, "Sailor Moon" and all related characters are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, TOEI Animation and other agencies.

The Saga of Mercury story is copyrighted by me, however content in some chapters is based on the Mercury Knight Stories as described in the Chapter 1 Introduction.

"IRON CHEF" is a registered trademark of Fujisankei Communications Group / Fuji Television. The author of The Saga of Mercury does not challenge the rights to this and related marks.

Please feel free to write a critique or send your comments to HRFANNY@AOL.COM with the subject line, in all caps, SAGA OF MERCURY. If you do not do this then the filter will block your e-mail.

Chapter 14 - A Visit Back Home

"I tell you, I can't tell which of you two cleans up better around here," said Grandpa Hino.

Raye and Chad were going at it in a cleaning contest. This contest, which Raye challenged Chad to, was to see who could clean the Hikawa Shrine in the shortest amount of time, without leaving a mess.

Raye cleaned the east wing, while Chad cleaned the west wing.

Grandpa looked at both areas, and found them to be spotless.

"I really can't tell who won this one! It's a coin toss… but I… really don't feel like tossing coins right now… Oh, well!"

Raye and Chad then turned their heads toward each other, each holding their broom. They were about 15 feet apart from each other, on their side of the Shrine. They stared down each other like enemies.

"I can beat you a second time, if you'd like," said Raye.

"You're on!" replied Chad.

Without hesitation, the two started off to re-sweep their side of the shrine… this time both inside and outside.

When thirty minutes passed, Grandpa came out again to inspect.

"Nope, they all look clean to me!"

Then Grandpa said, "This is boring… HEY! Those schoolgirls are coming off the bus! I'll just trot on over to see if they want to buy some charms…"

Inside a high school gymnasium, the cooking contest was about to begin. The high school generously donated the time inside the gym, and decorated the gym to give it a unique style. Two bleachers were set up for everyone to see the action. And the competitors were…

Lita and Ken.

A partisan crowd gathered for the contest, with Lita's family and friends on one set of bleachers, and Ken's party on the other side of the bleachers.

Lita bid welcome to all in attendance. "Welcome, everyone! You're about to witness the biggest rear whipping that anyone has ever seen!"

Ken countered, "That's right folks, I'm going to beat Lita!"

"Wrong, you loser!" snapped Lita.

"Ok, ok, let's just start our cooking, won't we? Folks, we're gonna make this like Iron Chef. We're going to have one hour to cook some things with cherries. Then we'll choose four judges, two from each side. The person with the higher score wins! And the loser… well, let's not worry about the loser…"

"Ready, sneeze ball? GO!" yelled Lita.

The crowds cheered as Lita and Ken went at it.

When the hour was up, Lita and Ken had created three dishes each. Two of Lita's friends and two of Ken's relatives were chosen to taste and judge the items. When it was all over, Lita and Ken selected a neutral security guard, who was on duty in the gym, to announce the results.

"All right: The results are: Judge 1, 20-18, for Lita. Judge 2, 19-16, for Ken. Judge 3, 20-18, for Lita. Judge 4, 19-18, for Ken."

"Well," scoffed Lita, "Looks like the scoring is split, 2-2, so we'll add up the points."

"All right," said the guard. "It comes out to… uh… 74 points for Lita, and… ah… 74 points for Ken! It's a tie, guys."

Both sides cheered wildly. Lita and Ken looked visibly upset, thinking to themselves, how could I lose? How could the result be a split decision?

Lita and Ken looked at each other and stared each other down with evil looks, while the audience rose on their feet, recognizing them for their superb cooking.

Inside a college gymnasium down the street, Bob, a volleyball referee visiting from America, had his hands full.

Jamie's volleyball match, thanks to intense pressure from someone with long, flowing blond hair, turned into a duel with Mina.

Mina had invited five of her school friends (not one of them another Sailor Scout) to challenge Jamie, and five of his friends (not one of them other Knights).

It was the fifth game, and it looked like everyone, including the referee, was getting tired. Except of course, for Jamie and Mina. They wanted to continue until the very end.

Mina's team took the first two games, 40-38 and 35-33. Jamie's team then rallied back to win the next two games, 48-46 and 37-35. As the scores from the previous games indicate, the action was fierce, intense, and very close. The same thing went for the fifth game, where the score was now 20-20. Both teams were past the 15-point requirement to win.

Mina squatted a huge ball down and over to the ground, for a 21-20 point lead. At that point, Bob blew the whistle, crossed his arms in front of him, and yelled "Game over!"

"YAY!" Mina's team yelled. "We won! We won! We won!" Mina proceeded to strut in style to the net to face Jamie.

"Loser!" she yelled, sticking out her tongue.

But Jamie just stood there, smiling joyfully.

Bob blew the whistle and said, "Hold it! I'm saying Game Over because you took up so much time playing, the time rented out for the gym has run out! And since you're supposed to win by a two-point margin, nobody wins! It's a draw!"

Mina's eyes went wide open. She pushed her tongue back into her mouth and pleaded with Bob. "Come on, Sir, just one more?"

"Sorry, I have to stick to the time limits," Bob responded. "Do you want to pay the 65,000 yen for the extra time?

A sweatdrop appeared on Mina's face, as she turned back to Jamie, who was still smiling an evil smile.

"Guess what, Darien," Greg said on the telephone. "Amy has just challenged me to a round of chess at her house."

"So Amy finally wants to, ahem, `Settle it', eh?" responded Darien.

"Well whatever she's thinking, I'm ready to see if I can spring the trap that will make her take her ring," said Greg. "But the only thing is, I have to play the best chess that I can. This chess game… will be the most important game of my life."

Greg rang the doorbell to the Mizuno household.

It took a minute for someone to answer.

Opening the door was a cranky Amy who looked like she just got out of the bed, still in her pajamas, her blue hair a dirty and smelly mess.

"Oh, come in," grumbled Amy.

"All right," said Greg. "You want to wash up before we start?"

"Wash up? I vowed as soon as you got here to get started," she said, walking toward her living room, where the chessboard was already set.

"Let's start, now," she said.

Greg thought, and then said, "Very well."

Greg had the Scout Ring of Sailor Mercury tucked neatly in his shirt pocket, waiting… and hoping… for the right moment.

Amy started right out of the gate, taking four of Greg's pieces in the first seven moves… including his queen. But Greg came right back to take Amy's queen and a few other pieces.

90 minutes passed. The intensity of the game grew, and grew, and grew… until the only two pieces left on the chessboard were Amy's king… and Greg's king.

"Stalemate," said Greg.

Amy looked at her king, then at Greg, then at the pieces that she took from Greg, then at Greg again. "I challenge you to another round," said Amy, "and this time I'll win!"

"Uh…" thought Greg, "I accept, but before we start, I want to understand something about the king…"

"Understand something, YOU?" shouted Amy. "Oh, what is it?" she grumbled.

"Well, what if your king was here," said Greg, placing Amy's king into the corner. "And someone, like my pawn… let's pretend that this is a pawn…" he said, taking out the ring, "was two squares diagonal, would the king be able to capture it?" He placed the ring two squares away diagonally from the King.

"What a pathetic excuse for a pawn, a RING!" said Amy. "And besides, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO ASK THIS? YOU SHOULD KNOW THE ANSWER! If it's my turn, I'd move my king one square across, like this. You have no choice but to move your ring… I mean, your pawn, up one square, since that's the only piece you have left besides your king who is on the other side of the board."

Greg moved the ring up one square.

Amy continued, "And then I capture your pawn, and your pawn is all…"

Amy picked up the ring, pretending it was Greg's pawn… and stopped in the middle of her sentence. A sudden jolt of energy was beginning to rush through her, and her eyes bulged open. She flipped the ring back into Greg's hand, but that didn't stop it.

A ray of light began to shine from all around the ring, and out of the sapphires. The bright light began to circle all around Amy, and her messy hair began to blow back in a gusty wind.

Greg saw all of this, and thought to himself, it worked!

But Greg failed to notice something at first… something strange was happening to his Mercury Dagger. It took him a moment before he realized it, and took the dagger out of his front pocket.

Both Amy and Greg were blown by the hard wind gusts. The wind was so powerful they had to shut and squint their eyes.

When it was all over, they opened their eyes.

They weren't in Amy's living room anymore… but the place where they were looked very familiar, with a large brightness coming from one part of the sky.

Greg thought for a second, and then he realized where they were.

They were on their home planet.

Mercury.

He then looked at Amy, who instead of being in smelly pajamas and doffed in stinky hair, was instead in a beautiful white and blue gown that went down, almost touching the ground. Her hair was combed and styled perfectly - it seemed as if the bright light from the Sun made it sparkle. Glowing on her forehead was the symbol of Mercury.

She had transformed into the Princess of Mercury.

He looked at the princess, shining beautifully, standing right in front of him, and then looked at himself, realizing that he was in his Mercury Knight uniform, holding his sword. He could feel a cool sensation on his head, that of the Mercury symbol.

"Greg…" said a smiling Princess Amy quietly.

"Amy…" said Mercury Knight in return. "How do you feel?"

"I… I…"

She paused and looked around. A tear as clear as ice flowed freely from her left eye, as the memories of the planet Mercury - once her home - flooded back to her.

She then turned back to her knight, and said, "I… I've never felt better in my entire life."

Mercury Knight sheathed his sword. He put his hands on Princess Amy's shoulders, then after a moment, lifted his right hand and wiped Amy's tear away with his thumb. He asked her, "What are you thinking right now?"

"I… I'm very happy to be back," said Princess Amy, "and… I feel… clumsy and stupid…"

"Clumsy and stupid?"

"Yes," she replied, staring into her knight's brown eyes. "For calling you a twit and a klutz. I don't know what got into me."

Mercury Knight smiled and gazed into his princess' blue eyes. "It's not your fault. Sorinya was going after you and the others with a hypnotic sonic wave… I mean, a hypnotic wave… well, it's different from what happened to me in the pool the other day. This wave was more powerful, and it brainwashed most of you guys. But it didn't work on Tuxedo Mask because his roses had the special power to block the waves from hitting him."

"And you?" said the princess.

Mercury Knight promptly showed her his left ring finger. "Because of this ring."

Princess Amy got a good look at the ring, with the Mercury symbol and sapphires surrounding it.

"It's beautiful!" she said, lifting his hand to get a closer look at it.

"It's called a Scout Ring," said Mercury Knight. "There are eight of them that exist, two for each of the inner planets, excluding Earth. They never told you about this. There are two reasons why these rings exist. First, to protect any large attack like the hypnotic wave from affecting you. Second, to symbolize true love, friendship, affection and teamwork. Especially… when… both people from the same planet… are wearing one…"

With that, Mercury Knight opened up his left hand… to reveal Amy's Scout Ring.

The princess gazed at the ring for a moment. Then she looked at her knight.

"Thank you, my love…" she responded, taking the ring and starting to place it on her left ring finger.

Mercury Knight gently stopped her and took the ring away from her. "No, no… remember… this ring serves TWO purposes. Princess, if you'd allow me?"

Amy gasped, then smiled and blushed lightly, nodding her approval.

Mercury Knight placed the ring on the tip of Princess Amy's pinky finger… and as he pushed the ring gently forward, said, "for you, Amy, the Princess of Mercury… may this ring that I place on your finger help you to combat the strong evil forces that Sorinya, or anyone from the Negaverse, may throw at you… and may this ring symbolize… my… unending friendship, love, and affection to you. Whether our lives are short or long… whether we die in a hundred years or in the next minute… may you and I cherish this moment… forever."

Princess Amy was now uncontrollably shedding more tears from her eyes, as she chokingly responded: "I… I'm sorry if my words hurt you at all, even if I didn't mean it… but… I promise to you, right here, right now… that no matter what happens to us… I will always be with you. I will never let you go. I will be with you… forever… I… I love you, Gregory… Mercury Knight."

The two wrapped their arms around each other, and started to inch their heads closer.

"I love you, Princess Amy… Sailor Mercury."

They closed their eyes and kissed.

They kissed like they had never kissed before.

It was only the fourth time that they… well, you get the point.

Suddenly, a tremendous gust of wind surrounded them again.

When Greg and Amy opened their eyes, they found themselves de-transformed, embracing one another back inside Amy's living room. Amy found herself nice and clean, wearing a yellow dress skirt and a white blouse.

"I think… we're back!" said Amy.

Greg inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yep. That's one down… eight to go."

"The others are still under the spell?"

"I'm afraid so. Well, now that you're back in one piece… and on our side… we have to…"

Amy cut him off. "We have to play another chess game. Remember, you accepted my challenge!" she said smiling.

"Yes, yes, I did," said Greg, "but we have a bigger problem on our hands. We have to fix our friends up first."

Amy thought a moment. "You're right."

Greg gave Amy a quizzed look. "You sure your head is screwed on right?"

Amy chuckled and gave Greg a peck on the cheek.

Greg raised his eyebrows. "Well, that answers that… All right, let's call up Darien on the phone and see if we can pay him a visit to plot our strategy."

A quick call to Darien gave Greg the confirmation he needed.

"Let's head out, shall we?" asked Greg, extending his arm in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Yes, let's," said a smiling Amy, wrapping her arm around his. "As a matter of fact, I think I have an idea right now…"

Meanwhile, back in the Negaverse…

"Your highness," said Eagloria to Queen Sorinya, "It appears as if Sailor Mercury has been given the Scout Ring."

"Scout Ring!" said Sorinya in disbelief. "HOW DID THEY GET THEIR HANDS ON THOSE!! <sigh> Well, I'll worry about her in due course. As long as we have the others under the spell, we have to make sure they don't get the rings… I KNOW! I will turn all of them into one evil force… AGAINST Amy and Greg!! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!"

End of Chapter 14

I hope you enjoyed this touching little scene at the end.

Now, how will Greg and Amy get the scout rings to the others?

The answer comes in Chapter 15 of The Saga of Mercury.

The Saga of Mercury Chapter 14 - A Visit Back Home 2