Serena and Molly were dancing slowly around the stage, dancing to a classic Japanese song in front of everyone. It was enough to make Serena's stomach turn, but of course, good old Molly was there to convince her it would be okay.
"Hope they'll be impressed?" Molly mouthed, grinning.
"Of course...!~" Serena mouthed back, sweat dropping.
It was the Cultural Festival at Crossroads Junior High School, and the best friend duo Molly Baker and Serena Tsukino had been chosen to perform for the school's festival, not only dancing, but singing too.
"Yo ga! Ko na...!" Molly sang, fluently. She then joined hands with Serena, before looking towards the audience.
"Hai hai!" two words repeated throughout the song.
Already, Serena could fell sweat dripping down her forehead but continued anyway. Molly seemed to be enjoying herself quite a lot and her not doing the same would be quite the annoying contrast.
Lita, a member of the audience, folded her arms as she said to Michelle, "They're great aren't they?"
"You bet, what did you expect from them?"
"Nothing less." Lita smiled over at her friend, who gave a nervous grin back. She was with Melvin, Michelle Ruff and Jane. Amy had been unable to attend, due to her being quite ill these past few days and being left to her bed. It was definitely a strange occurrence to say the least. It was just so sudden.
Eventually, Molly and Serena bowed before returning to the audience. "Was that good, guys?" Molly asked, a smile on her face.
"You bet! That was great, you two." Lita complimented. Serena fist bumped her friends, before noticing something.
Molly's eyes. She seemed to have marks under them, like she was exhausted, she seemed to slouch a bit as she stood, looking quite dizzy. Serena's eyes filled with worry, "Molly?" the blonde-haired girl asked, grabbing her shoulders to hold her up. "What's the matter...?"
"I-I-I-I'm..." Molly yawned, her head dropping downwards. "F-f-fine..." she yawned again, before going limp, her knees shaking before she completely dropped.
"Molly!" yelled Serena, keeping her friend steady. "Somebody help!"
Panic rose within the school audience, only for their teacher, Miss Haruna to run over, kneeling down. "We're getting the hospital this time...this...this isn't the first time someone's been dropping from exhaustion this week."
Serena looked at Lita, and in what felt like a moment, they knew what had happened. Or so they thought.
Running behind the school (all students had been told to go home and that the festival had been cancelled), Serena looked at Lita, saying, "Lita; it's another one of them! Come on, we gotta go get Raye, Amy and Mina...!"
"Amy's sick right now...wait, you don't think-"
"You'd be correct." said a voice, monotone.
"So! You've been draining energy from people here, haven't you?" Lita said, only to yell, "Jupiter...Crystal...Power!" and soon enough, Lita had become Sailor Jupiter.
"Crisis Power!"
The stranger simply said nothing, before opening a dark portal. "I needn't fight you now...but you may want to see if your friend hasn't fallen into her own abyss."
"What do you mean!?" Sailor Moon asked, pointing at the hooded male.
"Mercury."
A brown-haired male suddenly dashed past, like a dart, just as the hooded male exited through a portal coloured purple, dark...creepy.
An ambulance was outside, carrying Molly away. At least they knew she'd be alright, but even so, Sailor Moon still looked back to make sure she was okay. Nodding, she quickened her pace as she ran down alongside Sailor Jupiter down the icy and cold backstreets, all the while hoping they weren't too late.
Greg's breaths got faster and faster as he dashed down the busy streets, desperately trying to get to Amy's house. He had overheard what the guy had said, the one from a different world, someone who had wanted to hurt Amy and possibly all of her friends. He finally got to her door, knocking rapidly. He breathed out, only to see it was unlocked. He had predicted the future, that this silver-haired youth would appear and try to trap Amy in an abyss of nightmares.
But Greg wasn't going to let that happen.
He knocked repeatedly, good. The door was shut. He saw in the windows, okay, nobody there. He heard a groan from inside, the blue-haired girl opening the door, letting out a yawn. "G-Greg...?"
"Amy. You need to come with me, listen; there's this guy who wants to trap you in a nightmare, that's why I woke you up."
Amy went wide-eyed, before nodding. "Alright...since...since you already know about...you know, I might as well do it here. Mercury...Crystal...Power...!"
Soon enough, the girl was transformed. She ran a hand through her hair. "Thanks for telling me, Greg." she smiled at him.
"Hey, I couldn't leave you like that." Greg took her hand. "Come on, let's go-"
"Not so-"
"Back off!" Mercury yelled, taking out her lyre, made out of water. "You go, Greg. I'll make sure this creep bleaches his roots!"
"But-"
Mercury pushed him out the way, just as a portal opened itself underneath her feet. She landed properly. "Right; that's it. I don't know who you are, or why you've been interfering with my dreams...but it stops here!"
"Hm. Very well." the figure mumbled, before summoning a key-like sword.
Mercury felt a sudden impulse, not to attack automatically. Rather, put a barrier around herself. "For love and intellect, I am a sailor-suited pretty soldier: Sailor Mercury! In the name of Mercury, soak your head in water and reflect on yourself!"
"Shine...Snow...Illusion!" she called, illusions of herself appearing. Mercury jumped up high as her illusions did the rest, before yelling, "Mercury...Aqua...Rhapsody!"
Her water made the mark it needed, but it didn't turn out the way she wanted. Mercury found herself frozen in place at one point, before being repeatedly hit by balls of darkness, illusions of her opponent coming at her with full force.
With gritted teeth, the blue-themed soldier got to her feet, kicking briefly before rolling to the side. Something was wrong with her chest - purple stuff. "Not time to focus on that now!" she thought. It was as if she'd done this before, but failed the first time.
She couldn't have been any more right.
Mercury realized something - she saw her opponent use darkness, briefly showing Greg lying on the ground. She felt worry sink in a bit...but knew what to do. She smiled a bit, if not sadly. "I know what you're trying to do. Shatter my own heart, trap me in an abyss. Well, you may shatter my heart - but an abyss will not be where I'll be going!-"
She had that smile on her face the whole time after.
Even after being knocked to the ground, falling through a portal of darkness, but in mid-way, it transformed into one of light. She was in a different place, one her enemy hadn't expected her to go to.
The Sleeping Realm.