Greg tossed in his sleep. Not that he knew. In his mind's eye were visions of fire and death. An obscene army moved through the land, destroying, killing, savaging all in its path. Their Generals were monsters in truth, all but impervious to ordinary weapons. They laughed as energy streamed from their fingers, tearing stone and flesh alike.
A familiar face came. A girl in a blue uniform that matched her eyes, a glittering diadem about her brows. The monsters struck her down and moved on. Soon all Earth would lie under their yoke. They roared in triumph and he roared with them.
He was one of their Generals.
SEARCH FOR THE MOON PRINCESS
Episode Two: Nightmares
"Oh, what am I to do now?" The voice that came from the alley was tired and dejected. "I've failed my mission as Guardian; I have not been able to find the Moon Princess."
The voice sighed. "I can not find the Scouts, either. They are too well hidden in their new bodies. Beryl is free again; her Generals are already on Earth doing their evil. Without the power of the Scouts..." The voice broke off, unwilling to complete the thought.
There was silence again. The wind blew softly, shifting a few scraps of paper about. No one left the alley. No one but a forlorn, tired-looking black cat.
"I understand there have been several students sent home with unusual cases of extreme fatigue," Amy said.
"Are you feeling a little tired?" The school nurse asked in reply. "You don't look tired to me. But I can see how you might feel pressured to stay up to the academic standard you've set for yourself."
She turned to her desk and began writing something. "Now, if you like, I can speak to your mother for you. I know how some of these 'Examination Mamas' can be."
Amy bit back on a growing frustration. "I feel just fine, Mrs. Fujiwara. I am worried about the other students." Getting her mother involved was the last thing she wanted.
"Everyone knows school can be hard. And it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. All this bustle, bustle, to place high in the exams and get into the best schools."
Amy wondered if anyone actually listened any more. "I'm sorry I troubled you," she said. So much for getting help...
Amy got her lunch, and a book to study over it, out of her desk. She walked, less briskly than usual, through the hallways. By the time she got to the courtyard the groups had already formed, chatter and giggling loud about them.
"There goes the Girl Genius," someone said, not meaning to be overheard.
"Stuck-up, isn't she?"
"Yeah, what a dweeb!"
Amy kept her back straight, her face forward. She found a seat on a brick planter in one of the quieter corners. She unwrapped the box lunch her mother had packed for her. Two tears fell on the lacquered surface.
This is absurd, she sniffled to herself. I can't believe I'm so upset.
It wasn't just the comments of the other girls. Juuban was in trouble. Already grades were slipping, and soon their standing would fall as well. People were being hurt. She'd heard, through that school grapevine that reached even an unpopular student, of a student's collapse so total they were rushed to Emergency.
And she couldn't tell anyone. Wouldn't be able to make them listen even if she tried. And whatever she did, whatever path events took, her own life-plan would suffer. She could feel Medical School admission, and her future as a doctor, slipping through her fingers like a puddle of mercury.
"Hey, are you the new student?" a cheery voice interrupted.
"Wha...?" Amy looked up from her misery.
That blond girl, the one with the incredible pigtails, was standing there beaming at her. "I'm Serena," the girl said. "Mind if we share lunch?"
"Sure," Amy said. "There's lots of room."
The girl dropped down beside her, and turned, her smile open and friendly. "They said you were stuck up, but I didn't believe them. I thought you might just be lonely, in a new school and all."
"Thanks." Amy smiled, herself. She couldn't help it; the girl's good humor was so infectious. "My name's Amy."
"I'm Serena. Oh, did I already say that? Say, what did you get for lunch? Nice lunch box!"
Amy took off the lid. "My mother packed this. I've got rice, and pickled radish, and two sweet rolls..."
The blond girl's stomach gurgled. "Ah, heh, heh," she held one hand to her head, "I guess I forgot mine, and..."
Amy laughed. "I'm not hungry today." She passed Serena box and chopsticks. In a moment rice was flying. "Hungry?" Amy asked, brushing a loose grain or two from her hair.
"Uh-huh!" Serena mumbled. "Hey Amy, you want to go to the arcade after school? They have the new Sailor V game. And Andrew -- he's the guy that runs the place after school -- he is really cute. A real hunkmeister. No, wait; forget I mentioned him! He's mine!"
Amy laughed again. It felt good to laugh after all this time. She felt the tightness in her chest finally starting to ease. "I'd love to," she told Serena. "But I have cram school tonight." She wrinkled her brow. "What is a 'Sailor V?'"
The blond girl was eager to explain. "She's a hero, see? Fighting evil in a sailor-suit! Some people say she isn't real, but I'm sure she really, really is!"
We could use someone like that around here, Amy thought. She looked fondly at her new friend. Someone has to do something, she thought. Someone has to defend innocents like Serena and that girl in the hallway.
"I'd love to, Serena," Amy said slowly. "But there's something I have to do first."
Amy opened the door of Crystal Academy with an unusual reluctance. I like learning, she thought. But what is cram school, really, but memorizing just for a test? Okay, so studying to the test is the Japanese way. But doesn't that foster rote answers, not real thought?
Miss Ada was sitting on the edge of her desk, legs crossed, eyes bright with excitement. "I have very good news for you, students!" she said. "Version 2.0 of our special learning software is now out. And you people get to use it before anyone else!"
She gestured to the box on her desk. "We have trial copies for all your brothers and sisters to experience. And do you have a friend who's failing at school? Or a classmate who just needs a little more help? Why, we'll give them a trial copy as well. We'd be happy to have them sign up with us!"
Amy held up the new disk. There was an almost palpable aura about the thing. An aura of pure evil. The danger she had sensed before never felt so real...or so near.
"Our software has been pre-loaded on your PC's," Miss Ada announced. "So boot up those computers and get to it!"
The class moved almost as one, powering up the desktop PC's, turning to the monitors. Miss Ada's eyes gleamed. Unseen by any but Amy, a vicious little smile came to Miss Ada's lips.
Amy started her computer, too. But not from the hard disk. She started from a special floppy she had prepared at Juuban's AV lab earlier that day. The simplified operating system she had created was good for only one thing -- to help her crack the Crystal Academy software and discover what they were really up to.
All about her, monitors came to life. They came to life in shifting, hypnotic patterns that played across the faces of the students, catching their eyes, and drawing their attention deeper and deeper into the screens. A low tone began from within the machines, slowly growing in volume as it rose in pitch.
As Amy watched in dawning horror the other students froze in place, trapped by the displays before them. A pale light was forming about each student, seemingly drawn from their bodies; a light that whirled and fragmented and was sucked into the waiting screens.
The sound rose higher, shivering into the back of the skull. A student gasped and slumped in his seat. Another fell, slowly, still caught in the evil glare.
"Clever, clever girl!" Miss Ada said. "You haven't been using your disk at all, have you! The hypnotic commands should have sapped your will to resist long ago."
"I don't need a disk to study!" Amy said. "I do just fine on my own!"
"Oh, I think they deserve a second look. Don't you?" She spun Amy around and pulled her out of her chair. Amy struggled but Miss Ada had her throat in one hand.
Amy felt herself being dragged, then thrown down into another chair violently enough to dislodge the student there. The hypnotic screen glared at her. Amy winced and tried to turn aside. Miss Ada forced her gaze towards the screen.
"Look at it, brat! I said, look at it!" Miss Ada was losing her composure. She shoved Amy's face against the computer screen, rubbed her cheek against the glass.
Amy felt whatever it was sucking at her, trying to take her life force. "I...can't...let it...win!" Amy struggled, resisting the pull with all her will.
"Resistance is futile, little girl. No human has the strength to resist the power of the Negaverse!"
Amy hung on, somehow, grimly determined not to give up no matter what. "You're...wrong!" she gasped.
Unseen by anyone in the glare that filled the room, a curious symbol began to glow on the forehead of the struggling girl. It glowed from within with a pure white light very different from the evil energies about it.
"You can not be resisting," Miss Ada snarled. "You are human, humans can not resist, therefore you are not." Her hand tightened about the girl's throat. "Perhaps you need a little more persuasion...my arm!"
Miss Ada screamed. And Amy was free! She threw herself back. Miss Ada was glaring at a small black cat that crouched hissing on the floor before her. She was holding one arm, and blood dripped from several long scratches.
Amy gasped, fighting to regain her breath. The room around her was lit with unholy light and yet another student slipped from her seat to fall in a boneless heap on the floor.
Miss Ada was starting to change. Her outlines blurred. Quick circuitry patterns lit across her in fitful ambers and reds. She grew in height and her skin took on a metallic sheen.
"Resistance is irrelevant. Cats are irrelevant. The Negaverse will soon control all."
There was a new fire in Amy's eyes. "Wanna bet?"
The robot shifted. Punch cards shot out of slots in its body. Amy threw herself to one side. The things were like razors! The sleeve of her school uniform was slashed in a dozen places. Behind where she had been, a supplies cabinet came apart in a shrieking of sliced-open steel.
The cat dived for cover, too. Their eyes met for a moment as they crouched behind their respective desks. This is no ordinary cat, Amy thought.
"Your behavior is illogical," ADA bit out in a vocoder voice.
Amy stopped crawling. "You're right," she said. She popped her head up from behind the teacher's desk, ready to dodge another wave of punch cards.
"There is more to thought than logic," she told ADA. "Just as there is more to learning than memorization."
ADA was faster than she thought. Treads whined and the robot shot down the center of the room towards Amy.
Amy spoke quickly. "I used to live in Fukushima," she said. "It is so small they only have one manicurist. In fact, Naoko does the nails of everyone who does not do their own."
"So?" ADA was coming around the desk. "Manicurists are irrelevant." A metallic arm raised, then began whistling down towards the girl's head.
"Who does her nails?" Amy asked.
The arm stopped, just touching her hair. Amy ducked away as ADA spun around. ADA kept spinning, though, making a complete turn every second. "If Naoko does her nails, then she is one who does her own, that Naoko does not serve. But if she does not do her own, then only Naoko can do her nails. Who would be herself, and who she does not serve..."
Amy spared her only a glance. She had a paper clip in her hand, now, and even as she unfolded it she took a long slide across the floor. She slammed into the wall, adding more bruises to the scrapes and cuts. Then she jammed the heavy-duty paper clip into the wall outlet.
The short-circuit knocked her back. Every light in the room went dead and the computers died a sudden death. Even as the emergency lights clicked on Amy could see the glow of life-force gathering back into the bodies it belonged to.
"ADA!" she said. "My friend Serena is a terrible liar. In fact, she told me so herself. 'Amy,' she said, 'everything that I say is a lie.'"
The robot screeched in agony. Smoke was coming from it. "What is that thing?" A student stood on shaky legs.
"Trouble," Greg said. "Come on; we've got to evacuate the building."
"Gotcha." The student staggered over to another, shook him awake. Then they both moved on to the next desks. Greg came over to Amy and helped her to her feet.
"Thank you for saving everyone," he said. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry about how I acted, before."
Amy grabbed her books. Then she grabbed her hacker disk. On the way out the door she tripped the fire alarm for the building. The last she saw of ADA it was spinning like a top, belching smoke and wreathed with blue-white sparks.
They made it out of the building before the explosion. Well, Amy thought, it always worked for Captain Kirk!
Next -- Greg's secret revealed, more Serena and the first appearance of Tuxedo Mask! Stay right there, and I'll show you!