Serena and two of her friends sat in the middle row of the sea of chairs that now filled the school hall. The "Welcome back from Holidays" assembly was in full swing – you could tell by the amounts of yawns and bored faces. The principal was on a rant about the school rules again.

Mina rested her head on her fist, his words going in one ear and out the other.

"We've had the same rules drilled into our heads for the past three years; we get it!" She complained.

Serena was leaning back on her chair snoring. Amy was sitting up straight, the only one alert in their trio. Raye wasn't at school; and Lita had disappeared on them.

Amy gave Serena a hard nudge in the ribs. "Wake up, Serena!"

She jumped forward in her chair and nearly face planted the back of the head of the boy in front of them.

Mr. Fletcher motioned for them to be quiet with his finger. Amy gave him an embarrassed smile. She whispered sideways through her teeth.

"Try and pay attention, Serena…"

"But it's so hard..." Serena complained, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah; how about we sleep, and you can tell us all about it when we wake up?" Mina suggested.

Amy rolled her eyes with a little amusement at the antics of the others, but didn't reply - the teachers around them were giving them dissatisfied looks. Beside her, she could already hear Serena's snores start up again.

Mina stared straight ahead blankly, not taking anything in. Briefly, she wondered where Lita had gone off to...then she felt her eyelids drooping... Boy, their principal sure knew how to bore a crowd.

Then it happened.

There was a huge crash. At first Mina thought it was something she'd imagined in her dreamy state, but there were cries of surprise from the other kids; the principal had jumped violently and was staring in terror to his left. The school hall's roof had caved in: cascading metal, wood beams, pipes and other building materials came crashing down to the polished floor.

Screams went up - the falling roof had tumbled down onto the stairs up to the stage, and on most of the front row seats. It was pure luck that there was only a pair of students sitting there instead of the normal amount - the two that were had had time to leap out of harm's way - as a beam had fallen a few metres in front of them before anything could fall on the seats. In shock, they had jumped backwards; it was that reaction that had saved their lives.

Amy made a muffled scream and Serena looked astonished.

They heard more yells and saw two figures running over the scattered chairs trying to get people out of the way. It was Raye and Lita - or Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter to everyone else - but the kids weren't moving too fast. They were paralysed with fear or crying in each other's arms. Some were even looking to the teachers for guidance; but the teachers looked as fearful as the kids did. This wasn't like a routine fire drill or anything they had practiced before; they had no training for "in case of cave-ins".

Amy and Mina shared a scared look: Serena still looked spooked. What worried them most was why the Scouts were needed for an accidental roof collapse.

Unless it wasn't an accident.

The sunlight streaming down from the hole in the roof was blocked out; everyone's attention was commanded skywards as purple smog started pouring down from the hole. The sun disappeared behind the smoke and that was the last anyone saw of it. Chaos ensued. Shrieks and yells sounded. Screams of "Terrorists!", "Assassins!" and "The Mafia!" went out. But only five girls in that building knew who it really was.

The principal threw himself to the ground, hands above his head and his normally perfect suit crumpled. The teachers started darting around in blind fear; half trying to organize the students, half just trying to save their own skin and hiding. Serena felt herself being shoved around by the frenzy of students - a huge monster of some sort was coming down from the ceiling - and riding on its back was an enemy the girls knew only too well.

Queen Beryl stood tall and proudly on the beast's hide, sneering down her nose at the scurrying children below her. Her penetrating glare swept the scene before her; her yellow eyes cruel and pitiless.

Serena felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and all of a sudden she was being pulled backwards. Her legs hit the chair backs and she fell behind them very ungracefully.

"Gah!"

"Quiet! They're looking for us!" Amy hissed. She was about to get back up again but Serena held her back.

"What? They don't know we're here! Amy!"

Amy shook her head. "We've got to hide."

She tried to pull Mina behind the seats too, but she was standing still and looking with hatred directly at the Queen. Queen Beryl's stare met Mina's fierce one and something sparked in her memory. There was something about that defiant little face.

"What gives you the right to terrorize this school?!" Mina shouted up. She stood in front of Amy, who was trying to pull her back.

Surprise crossed Queen Beryl's face, then a look of contempt.

"You dare address your future ruler in that manner?" She sneered. "Foolish Earth infidel - you should know how to properly greet your queen - or did not this school teach you this?"

"I don't care who you are! You are no queen of ours! Earth has a queen already - her name's Lizzie and she's a lot nicer than you!" Mina blurted back at her; not giving away the fact that she already knew a lot about Beryl.

"Silence you filthy pest!" Queen Beryl was insulted now. "I will rid you from my new kingdom!"

She swept up her staff and thrust it towards Mina; the beast followed the clear order and made a deep whining noise, firing a bright purple beam at Mina.

Mina jumped backwards just in the nick of time: Beryl didn't need to fire again. Serena and Amy crawled over to their friend hurriedly - the enemies' attention turning back to the other students - and to Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars, who thought their friend had fallen to the beast, and were now combining their strength against the monster.

"Mina! Mina! Are you alright?" Serena asked as Mina held her wrist.

"Yeah...I think I just jarred it..." she shook her hand out. Amy was right beside Serena.

"The Nega-verse has probably figured out that the Scouts live around here: they're trying to weed us out from local schools!" She said, the other two listening keenly. "You shouldn't have drawn attention to yourself Mina. It was foolish!"

Mina looked downcast, but Amy's expression had lightened.

"Foolish, but brave." Amy smiled.

Mina looked up and returned it.

Serena smiled too and got to her knees.

"I vote we bring the rest of the Scouts in on this," she said determinedly. "If it's the Sailor Scouts they want, it's the Sailor Scouts they'll get! We're covered here anyway; they won't see us transform."

The other two looked up at her.

Serena grinned. "Unless you want Mars and Jupiter to take all the credit, that is…?"

The others shared a wink, pulling out their sticks; they never left home without them. Trouble could arise anywhere, and this was another one of those times that proved it. Their three cries went unheard amongst the chaos around them.

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Moon Crystal Power!"

Within a minute, the five Sailor Scouts were together again.