Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Saga of Mercury ❯ Andrew Finds Out ( Chapter 16 )

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.

The names of racetracks and racecar drivers listed in this chapter are affiliated with the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The author does not challenge the rights to the names and likenesses of the drivers, track names and other 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 16 - Andrew Finds Out

In the Game Center Crown, Mina was up to her normal post-school routine.

Andrew, who was behind the counter serving Jamie a chocolate shake, had a gut feeling…

"Mina's been playing that new racecar game every single day after school," said Andrew.

Jamie glanced back. "So she's that good, eh?"

Andrew replied, "Yep. I have a feeling that any minute now, she's going to break the…"

"YAHOO!" went a loud shout from the area of the racecar game. "I broke the record at Dover!"

"That's seven of them now in the last ten days," replied Andrew.

"Where's Dover?" asked Jamie.

"Dover's a raceway in the United States. Mina has broken the record with that game at Dover now, at uh… Indianapolis, Pike's Peak, Talladega, Daytona, and a few others."

Mina ran up to hug Jamie. "I did it again! I did it again! DOVER IS MINE!" She looked at Andrew. "Andrew, Andrew…"

Andrew silenced the excited Mina with a chocolate shake, which she quickly jugged down in one swipe.

"So, uh…" started Jamie, "… now what?"

Mina gave Jamie a peck on the cheek. "DARLINGTON!" she cried before running back to deposit the coins to start again.

Jamie had a sweatdrop on his head. It was the first time he ever saw Mina play in the Game Center, and he thought to himself, Mina does ALL THIS in her spare time?

Jamie tried to turn his attention back to Andrew.

"So, uh…" Jamie started. "What have you been doing with yourself lately? I mean…"

"JEFF GORDON," yelled Mina from across the aisle, "KISS MY…"

Jamie covered his ears so he wouldn't hear the next word.

"Wow… uh, well, nothing much has been going on lately. I'm trying to find some other girlfriend… Alyssa and I ended our relationship a couple of days ago… I'll admit I was thinking about Mina… but YOU'VE got her! I mean, you, Jamie, getting someone as beautiful as her! I'm proud of you? How DID you do it?"

Jamie thought for a moment to try to find the right words, remembering that it was through a letter that he received at his school's gym one day, to realizing that he was the Venus Knight, that he realized that he actually had feelings for Mina… not bad feelings like he had before… but other feelings… from deep inside.

"I guess I just bumped into her… and the rest was history," replied Jamie.

"THAT simple, eh?" said Andrew. "Well whatever you did, it sure worked... Say, have you ever tried to challenge her at the racecar game, or some of the other games around here? Others have tried to match what she's done, but nobody's been able to go as far as she has."

"Who, me?" said Jamie. "Eh, not really, I mean, I'm into athletics, but not the kind where you move a joystick or a wheel and rapidly press buttons or move the gearshift…"

"Hey, Jamie, you're the man. I'm gonna give you a free play the next time Mina starts up."

"No, Andrew, you don't…"

"I insist, Jamie! I wanna see how well you do."

Jamie sighed, and agreed. "Thank you very much!"

Meanwhile, back in the Negaverse…

"OOOOOH!" said a disgruntled Sorinya through her teeth. "I can't count how many of my monsters the Sailor Scouts have sent down the drain! OH, I'M SO FURIOUS! AAAHH! So be it! I'm so angry, I'll do whatever the heck I want now! I'll take my rage out on the whole world! Amy Mizuno CAN WAIT FOR LATER!!!"

"YES!" screamed Mina. "Two in a row, and the records just keep on falling!"

She then noticed someone familiar sit in the other seat next to her.

"And how are we today?" said Jamie.

"Oh Jamie, I'm so ecstatic! I'm gonna take on Watkins Glen now!"

"Mind if I… challenge you?" asked Jamie.

Mina responded with bulging eyes. "Jamie… YOU? You want to challenge the all, powerful, ME, in a driving race?"

Jamie locked eyes with Mina, and said in a low tone, "If you don't mind, my princess…"

Mina blushed slightly, then moved to her confident voice, "well, if you don't mind a thrashing… sure, why not?"

Jamie turned to his screen as Andrew came over to program the game and select the Watkins Glen track for both of them. "Good luck…" he said.

A small crowd had now gathered around the racing game. Mina was crouched down, eyebrows down, teeth clenched, ready to go, while Jamie was just relaxed, gently placing his hands on the wheel and his feet on the pedals. He wanted to make his princess feel proud… he was going to lose to her on purpose.

The loud, deep rumbling of the engines could be heard coming from the game's speakers, as Jamie and Mina each had their own first-person views of the Watkins Glen track. The announcer's voice came on… "3… 2… 1… GO!"

Mina and Jamie started on their way. At first, Mina drew clear from Jamie by several car lengths as they went into the right-handed turn. Jamie paced himself not too far from Mina as their cars went full speed up the hill. Mina ripped the throttle open on the straightaway, with Jamie trailing.

Mina braced herself as she put her foot on the brakes for the chicane, then made her way to the sweeping right-hander.

Andrew yelled to Jamie, "Come on Jamie! Get closer! Get closer to her! Don't do it like that!"

Jamie thought to himself as he entered the chicane, "Gee, this is fun!" He then realized that he was in low gear all this time… he had never moved himself up to high gear.

As soon as he cleared the sweeping turn, still quite a distance from Mina's car, Jamie shifted up to high gear. He exploded toward Mina's car.

Mina thought that she had this won… she'd beat her boyfriend, and knight, easily.

Her thoughts were dashed when Jamie's blue car streaked right by her on the left side.

Mina's eyes bulged yet again… she couldn't believe what she was seeing! She pushed both feet down on the gas pedal now, as the two of them started to really duke it out.

People were now starting to notice them. Everyone stopped whatever they were playing… everyone stopped ripping tickets out of the prize machines… to see Jamie and Mina slugging it out.

They were wheel-to-wheel - hood-to-hood - as they made their way around the last turn and toward the finish line.

"Come on, Mina! Don't let that guy beat you," said someone.

"Get her Jamie! You've almost got her!" yelled Andrew in encouragement.

By this point, Jamie's facial expressions were mirroring that of Mina… angry, teeth clenched, feeling as if they really were driving a professional stock car.

They crossed the finish line almost simultaneously, which drew a large "OOOHHHH!" from the crowd.

The official results were then posted on the screen.

Mina completed the lap in 1:46.490 seconds.

Jamie's time was 1:46.488.

Mina looked at Jamie with a shocked reaction. Everyone was cheering wildly around them.

"What just happened?" asked Jamie.

"What just happened!!!" replied Mina. "You won the race! You broke the record at the track! I don't know how you did it, but you did it! Congratu…"

Mina was trying to hug Jamie to congratulate him… but found her hands still stuck on the wheel. Jamie, several seconds later, found the same thing had happened to him.

"And now," said the announcer's voice in the game, "for our next race! The race to drain all of your energy!"

"Huh? What does that mean?" said Jamie.

Suddenly the screens in front of them started to pulse a steady purple.

Jamie and Mina tried to remove their grips from their steering wheels, but couldn't.

After a few seconds, everyone around them started to feel tired and sleepy.

Jamie said, "Hey guys, wake up, I…" until he realized he couldn't keep his eyelids open.

Soon, everyone was unconscious… including Mina, who had slumped her head on the wheel.

But Jamie and Andrew still found the strength to stay awake… barely.

Jamie thought of transforming then and there to try to fight off whoever… or whatever… was draining the energy away from everyone. But with his hands still on the steering wheel, how could he? He couldn't reach for his dagger and raise it over his head to transform.

So he just tried, with his last ounce of strength, to yell out his transformation words to see if that would do anything.

"VENUS KNIGHT… power…" he yelled before his head snapped back into an unconscious state.

Andrew was trying to stay up on his feet… and saw something glow in Jamie's front pocket. Andrew inched closer to get a good look… and saw a stream of bright, shining yellow stars begin to flow out of the pocket and surround Jamie.

Andrew then gasped at a sight to behold.

He just saw Jamie transform into Venus Knight.

"Venus… Knight…" said an exhausted Andrew.

Venus Knight could start to feel a renewed, rejuvenated energy flow through his body. He started to focus all of his strength on his hands… putting pressure on the steering wheel… until the steering wheel crumpled into pieces.

Venus Knight - hands free - immediately went over to scoop Mina off of the wheel and away from the seat.

When that happened, the machine started to tremble and shake… then molded and morphed itself into a tall, ivory-looking male figure with dark pants, a dark suit, black hair, dark eyes, and an inverted moon symbol on his forehead.

Andrew couldn't believe his eyes… "What is this," he said to himself.

"In our next race, wearing a uniform with an orange sash, Venus Knight! And then there's me, Sporemico, the Champion of the Negaverse, who will certainly outrace and outlast the man from the second planet in the solar system! So start your engines, here we go!"

Venus Knight was trying to keep one eye on Sporemico, and another eye on a limp Mina.

"We'll take care of Mina for you…" said a familiar voice… "You've got to win this race!"

Venus Knight looked up to see seven figures stand at the doorway to the Game Center.

"You, Sp… Spock… Spom… Spick and Span, or, whatever… we won't let you go around and steal the energy from innocent bystanders! I am the defender of water and the planet Mercury! I AM MERCURY KNIGHT! And don't you forget about that!"

"And I am the Sailor-Suited Pretty Soldier of Intelligence, SAILOR MERCURY!"

"I am the Sailor-Suited Pretty Soldier of Fire, I AM SAILOR MARS!"

"And I be her man, MARS KNIGHT!"

"I represent the forces of thunder and lightning! SAILOR JUPITER!"

"So do I! I'm JUPITER KNIGHT!"

"I am Tuxedo Mask, friend of the Sailor Scouts!" said Tuxedo Mask, holding out a rose.

"I'm the soldier in training… and thanks to you, I couldn't finish up my spelling homework! I AM SAILOR MINI MOON!"

"You had spelling stuff? Oh… and for Love and Justice, I am the Sailor-Suited Pretty Soldier, SAILOR MOON! And in the name of the moon,"

"WE SHALL PUNISH YOU!" said everyone in unison.

"We'll wake up Mina," said Mercury Knight, "you take care of Sp… Spa… Spasimodo over there!"

"Right," responded Venus Knight.

Venus Knight then approached Sporemico and drew his sword. "All right, I'm gonna show you why I'll win this race!"

"We have a challenger!" said Sporemico in his funny voice. "Well why don't you go right ahead then?"

"Sure! VENUS LOVE BLADE CHARGE!" he yelled.

The Love Blade attack went right through Sporemico's chest.

"Wha?" said Venus Knight. "That didn't touch him."

"MARS FIRE BLADE CHARGE!"

Mars Knight tried his attack, but it, too, went through Sporemico's chest.

"You guys have fallen way behind," sad Sporemico, who sent a gust of wind from his hand, knocking the two knights on the floor.

Sailor Moon, Mars and Jupiter, and Jupiter Knight, quickly stepped up to take their place.

Meantime, Sailor Mercury, Mercury Knight, Sailor Mini Moon and Tuxedo Mask were tending to Mina.

"Wake up, Mina!" yelled Mini Moon.

"It's no use, we're giving her fresh air from outside, but it's not helping her at all," said Sailor Mercury.

"Is there anything we can do, Greg?" asked Tuxedo Mask.

Mercury Knight had a thought, and looked over at the soda bar.

"Give me a sec…" said Mercury Knight. He ran over to the area behind the bar and grabbed a large bowl, a peppershaker, and several hot spices. He dumped them all into the bowl and mixed them by hand. Then he took a whiff… the intensity of the smell almost knocked him down.

"I've seen something like this in an American movie with Michael J. Fox," said Mercury Knight. "Hold your noses, guys!"

Mercury Knight placed the bowl under Mina's nose. At the same time, he grabbed Mina's transformation stick that was protruding out of her pocket and placed it in her left hand.

"Mina! We need you!" yelled Mini Moon.

It took a few seconds, but Mina opened her eyes in a hurry, clenched her transformation stick, and stood up straight and tall. The four other members of the team smiled.

Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Mars Knight and Jupiter Knight were sprawled out on the floor, trying to get up. Sporemico had his arm wrapped around Venus Knight in a chokehold.

"And now, Venus Knight, I am about to take the checkered flag!" he said.

Sporemico squeezed even harder…

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

Sporemico felt a sharp pain in his arm, prompting him to let go of Venus Knight.

Venus Knight staggered his way over to Sailor Venus.

"Welcome back!" he said.

"Thank you, thank you," said a proud, smiling Sailor Venus. "Let me take the checkered flag for you!"

"Hold on a minute, if you fire at his chest, your attack will go right through and out," said Venus Knight.

"We can take care of that," said Mercury Knight. He and Sailor Mercury used their super computer visors to detect that Sporemico would be weakened by cold.

"MERCURY ICE BLADE CHARGE!"

"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!"

Their combined attacks froze Sporemico and made him shiver within the ice. "STOP! IT'S TOO… TOO… C… C… COLD!!!"

"Go, Sailor Venus!"

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

The Crescent Beam attack was trapped in the ice, and took multiple hits all around Sporemico.

Sailor Mini Moon decided to skip her way toward Sporemico and hit him with several hearts from her moon rod, using the Pink Sugar Heart Attack.

Sporemico then broke free from the ice, and appeared to grow bigger. Mini Moon ran away scared. "Now, come on, don't trip me like this! Now I'm gonna have to destroy all of you!"

"No… you… won't!" said a voice.

Andrew was struggling up to his feet. "You are hurting my friends…"

Mercury Knight looked toward Andrew. "Andrew… friends… does… does he know??" he said.

"I'm talking about Sailor Venus and Venus Knight, and everyone else," said Andrew. "They're my best friends! And I won't let you destroy them! TAKE THIS!" he said, turning a spinning roundhouse kick, hitting Sporemico squarely in the face.

"YAAAH!" was Sporemico's response.

Venus Knight looked in amazement. "I don't believe what I just saw," he said.

Tuxedo Mask was helping Sailor Moon back to her feet. "Finish him off, Sailor Moon!" he said.

Sailor Moon was wobbling back and forth in dizziness. "Uh…" said Sailor Moon wobbling to one side.

Tuxedo Mask held her steady. "You've got to finish him off, Sailor Moon!" he said again.

Sailor Moon stood up and said, "Right, gotcha!"

Sailor Moon twirled her moon rod and yelled "MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

Sporemico yelled in agony and burst into an opaque, white smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the racing game was back in place. It looked shiny and brand new, with all of the steering wheels and pedals in place.

The members of the sailor team then ran toward Andrew. Venus Knight and Sailor Venus went up to Andrew to thank him.

"You were awesome!" said Sailor Venus.

"And you think I'M the man??" said Venus Knight.

"Wow, I guess I really came in for you guys, eh?" said Andrew.

Andrew paused to look around. "Darien, you're Tuxedo Mask… Serena's Sailor Moon, and Amy and Greg and Raye and… wow, this is so awesome! My best friends are the sailor soldiers and the knights! But…" he said, changing to a serious tone of voice, "your secret is safe with me."

"I think we can trust you," replied Jupiter Knight.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," said Mars Knight.

"We've got a new friend of the sailor scouts!" said Mercury Knight.

"I know you will be a very strong and very important ally," said Sailor Mercury.

"Yeah, a nice guy like you is the perfect compliment for us," said Sailor Mars.

"Why don't… hey guys, everyone else is starting to wake up, you'd better get out of those clothes!" said Andrew.

The scouts and knights de-transformed as everyone else in the Game Center came to.

Andrew said to the de-transformed scouts, "Let's celebrate with snacks here, on me!"

"ALL RIGHT!" said Lita. "I'm hungry!"

"YUMMY, YUMMY!" said Rini. "One chocolate shake for me!"

"TEN FOR ME!" responded Serena.

Everyone fell over in disbelief with sweatdrops on their heads after hearing this comment. Except for Andrew and Greg…

Andrew went over to prepare the snacks… and Greg, well… he just reminded himself, this happens ALL the time.

Join us next time for the seventeenth chapter…

Good Grief! Seventeen already!

… of The Saga of Mercury.

The Saga of Mercury Chapter 16 - Andrew Finds Out 12