Chapter 14

Just as Luna suspected, something was not right about the alarm clock. While Usagi slept, the clock emitted an unusual light while ticking. And the light gave off evil vibes. Her suspicions grew more intense when she saw Usagi panic about oversleeping when it was actually two and a half hours before she was supposed to. The blonde girl was rushing around frantically like a madwoman. Luna thought the girl was acting so ridiculously.

"Darn it! I should have set my alarm clock to wake me up at an earlier time!" she hissed, pulling on her socks. "Getting that alarm clock was pointless because even that isn't enough to save me from detention."

The charcoal colored feline guardian wanted to say "That's one of the most intelligent things you've said so far for the day" at that last sentence, but all she said was," Usagi, you've woken up much more earlier than usual."

"No I didn't! I overslept!" the girl argued, quickly putting on her slip on shoes. "I should never have pressed that snooze button."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh brother," she muttered. "This girl seems to be in a major daze." Of course, that was nothing new but she seemed worse than usual. The little "time warp" was definitely influencing her.

Usagi ignored Luna's murmurings and hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Luna rolled her eyes again. What was it going to take to make the girl get a hold of herself? She realized that it must be the clock. Now she knew she was not insane to harbor such a dislike toward the clock. As soon as Usagi left, she would get rid of the wretched thing, as well as have Ami analyze it. She had just the thing that would aid her with that task.

The klutzy blonde teen came out of the bathroom and raced down the stairs, like a chicken with its head cut off. She noticed that her parents were the only ones up at the moment, but was too busy wallowing in her panic to think much of it. She could hear the sounds of sizzling..which meant that her parents were making breakfast.

'Sorry, Mom and Dad. It looks like I will miss your wonderful breakfast this morning.'

"Good morning, Mom and Dad. Gotta go!" she said, bolting out the door.

The two grownups was shocked by the voice as she had been downstairs unannounced. They wondered what was the rush that day. She at least took something with her, but she left without eating breakfast. Ikuko just shrugged and continued preparing the breakfast.

Usagi sprinted to school as fast as she could. By the time she got there, she remembered that she, Ami and Naru were supposed to go together. She was in such a hurry that it completely slipped her mind. She hopped that they wouldn't be too angry with her for that. 'Oh well,' the 14 year old thought. 'Too late for that now. They will just have to meet me here.'

Nephrite was at the hospital for the appointment. Having to do it so early was a real pain in the rear, but it would be worth it to not have to be part of the madhouse he visualized. He was skeptical and wary of certain hospital equipment because he couldn't be positive that he wouldn't be turned into a biology experiment of some sort, and he didn't really care for that. They were mere earthlings, after all. But this was supposedly flu season, and he heard how nasty influenza could be, so he was sucking it up.

'This shouldn't take too long.' At least he hoped that it wouldn't. Inside had a stench of...cigarette smoke? Or it could have been something spilled that the workers forgot to clean up. Either way, it was overbearing. Something that the dark general couldn't handle for long. The sooner he was through with this, the better. Just as he was thinking about how nauseating it was and all of the other negative effects it would have on his health, he heard his name—disguise name—being called.

"Masato Sanjouin?" a young woman asked.

'It's about time,'thought Nephrite. Patience was not exactly a virtue with him, and under the circumstances, it was a bit shorter than usual. He got up and walked into the emergency room. He just wanted to get this over with.

A female doctor was waiting for him.

"Okay, Mr. Sanjouin. Please have a seat," she said, smiling.

So the mortal woman was smiling, big deal. It wasn't enough to make the young man completely trust her. He did as he was told, and waited as patiently as he could. He had to admit, it was rather interesting to see how this experience would go. The doctor came out with an extra long needle. Okay, not that long—but longer than he was accustomed to. Certainly not a part of his contract. In fact, the dark haired shitennou was freaked out just by looking at it.

'This human cannot be serious. You mean to tell me that shots are given with THAT? Do I look like an animal that needs a dissection?'

The sight of the needle frightened Nephrite so badly that he blanched and wanted to faint—or back away—whatever came first. But he was a stronger man than that, so he was going to go through with it. After all, he made it through worse experiences than this one.

"Mr. Sanjouin? Are you all right? You seem out of it," said the doctor, looking concerned.

'Darn it! This human could see through my fear.'

Nephrite quickly pulled himself together. He wanted to give a sarcastic remark, but he knew better.

"It's nothing," he replied.

The truth was that he was scared to death of getting a shot. But he would not give the doctor the satisfaction of seeing his fear; he thought that she would laugh at him. Though come to think of it, it was rather pathetic for his nineteen(estimated ) years. Which was why he wasn't going to make a scene. He held back a chuckle, thinking of how Zoisite would have reacted if he were the one getting the shot. The effeminate sakura shitennou was even more wary of certain human objects than he was. Knowing his jelly-fish like spine, the tawny-haired king would have run out of there, screaming. He could be such a wuss at times.

The middle aged doctor had her doubts about that, since it didn't look like nothing. But she wasn't going to press it any further. "All right. If you say so," she said. She then told him to stretch his arm out on the desk. Nephrite did as he was told, then closed his eyes. He did not wish to watch this woman prick him with a needle.

'I hope I don't regret this,' he thought. She dismissed what he just did, and pricked his bicep area with the needle. He winced a bit, and that was all. It barely hurt him, but he felt something trickling slightly. Blood. Now he didn't think that was so smart of her to do. She had the nerve to make him bleed and then would be frightened by his green blood.

But not this human. Though a tad unsettled, she felt that its color didn't matter to her. She disinfected the area and placed a circular band-aid on it. Nephrite opened his eyes. The terrible ordeal was over. All he saw was an unusual bandage. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He was glad to have made it through the experience without suffering a heart attack or dying of shock, but it wasn't something that he wanted to repeat. Not too often, anyway.

"There. All done," she said."You may leave now."

Nephrite was glad to hear that. He had enough of the horrid stench in the office. Aside from this doctor making him bleed that tiny drop, she did an exceptional job. And she seemed to know how to provide good service to her patients. He paid her a large tip, and left.

Ami was walking over to Usagi's house to go and pick her up. As she walked, she enjoyed the singing of the birds and the cool and gentle breeze. 'Wow, it is such a beautiful day today.' She enjoyed walking to school on days like these. She was especially looking forward to walking to school with Usagi. She hoped that the slightly flaky girl was ready, that the clock helped her with her tardiness at all. She was almost there when she saw someone coming towards her. The person got closer and closer. It was Naru, coming from the direction of the Tsukino's. She wondered what was going on. Wasn't she supposed to be waiting there?

"Good morning, Naru," the blue haired girl said.

"Morning," answered the red-head.

"What's the matter? Why aren't you waiting for Usagi?"

"Her mom said that she left an hour ago," Naru informed her.

Ami was surprised to hear that. It was just now time to be heading for school. Leaving an hour early certainly didn't sound like Usagi, even if she had woke up on time. She had a hunch that the enemy had a hand in it, but she didn't want Naru to know about it, so she settled for, "I see."

The frizzy red haired girl seemed to have read Ami's facial expression. "I know. That is unlike her. I wonder what is going on..."

"Well, no time to worry about it now. We'd better leave now if we want to be early."

"Right." The two girls walked to school together. Ami had to admit, she enjoyed walking with Naru as well. This gave her an opportunity to get to know the girl better, which was something that she wanted. Naru seemed very friendly. They chatted about how great a friend the ditzy blonde was on along the way.

In the classroom, Usagi was sitting at her desk. At the moment there was no one else there but Umino. She didn't care much for that. All Umino was doing was trying to talk to her about stuff she found boring. She wished she had brought some manga with her so she could read while she waited. That would be a good way to keep the nerd out of her hair.

'Man, I should never have left home so early.' Then she got an idea. She decided to take a nap. Surely the irritating boy wouldn't bug her while she was sleeping, if he knew what was good for him.

"Usagi, check out this new computer program I found," said the brown haired boy, turning the laptop around so that the monitor was facing the blonde girl.

She pretended to yawn, as if to show how boring it was. "Shut it, Umino. I'm going to take a nap." She rested her head on the desk. She was about to close her eyes when she heard a couple of voices in the hall. She jerked her head up. 'Sounds like Naru and Ami..took them long enough.'

It looked like the nap wasn't so needed after all. At that moment, Ami and Naru walked in.

"Hi, you, two." she greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, Usagi," they replied.

"It's so good to see you. Umino here was being such an annoying git."

"Is that so?" asked Ami. She didn't know him too well, but she had to admit that she did find him a little unusual.

Naru sighed. "So what else is new?"

"Hey!" shouted Umino, getting a bit defensive. "I'm only looking out for the best interest of my favorite ladies. "

The pair of best friends were about to scold him some more when Ms. Haruna entered the class. She was surprised to see that Usagi was there so early. However, she also thought it was a refreshing change.

"Good morning, my favorite students," she said.

"Good morning Ms. Haruna," the handful of students chorused.

"I just want you all to know that classes will be canceled today as I have a lot of tasks to take care of before my dinner date tonight."

"WHAT?" everyone but Umino exclaimed. They couldn't believe that their teacher just said that.

"You mean to tell me that I woke up early for nothing?" the blonde whined. She didn't like that at all..she thought about what she could be doing.

The red-head teacher put her hand up for silence. " I am not finished." The talking ceased.

"So your homework will be to read Chapter 7 in your English textbooks, and study for tomorrow's algebra quiz. "

Usagi groaned..more studying. Something she equated with punishment and chores.

"That's all for now," said Ms. Haruna. With that, she left the classroom.

"Now what do we do?" Usagi moaned. She couldn't very well leave since she had other classes that were not taught by Ms. Haruna.

Ami decided to get to work on the reading assignment. Umino gave her an approving look.

"Hey Usagi, why don't you take a page out of Ami's book?" Naru suggested.

The flaxen haired girl made a face. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass." Studying would definitely make her want to sleep.

"Just a thought."

Umino was worried about his Science Club meeting. He didn't want to be late for that. He hoped that school would end on time.

"Oh boy," Usagi mumbled, "we're in for a very long day."

Her best friend agreed with her. "You can say that again."

After school that day, Ami was on her way home to do more studying. She hoped that what happened at school wouldn't occur again. She didn't like the idea of her classes being canceled unless there was a legitimate reason for it. Even though it gave her the chance to be ahead in her studies once more. Still, her feeling that something fishy was going on grew stronger. Ms. Haruna would have time to make preparations before her plans for that evening after school. Something was just not right about the time.

' I must speak with Luna about this,' the ice senshi thought. ' She would know how to approach the situation.' It so happened that she was in luck. She saw a familiar black cat heading her direction. And it had something strapped across its back. Something about it looked vaguely familiar. Once the cat got closer, she saw why. It was Luna. And she was carrying the cat shaped alarm clock.

"Hey there, Luna," she said brightly. She frowned slightly. "Isn't that Usagi's clock she bought yesterday?"

"Yes. I feel that something is not right about it. It seems to be giving off an evil force."

That made the blue haired girl more worried, even though she didn't suspect that the clock also had something to do with the weird things going on thus far. Yet it also made sense, considering how cheap it was..nearly free. Whether it was a sale or not, the discount was too good to be true.

"How do we find out if it is?" Ami wanted to know.

Luna seemingly smiled. "I'm glad you asked. She carefully rested the eccentric clock on the ground. She did a back flip and a very small computer appeared. Ami looked on in awe. This cat seemed to have all the necessary items that the senshi needed. She wondered where they came from.

"This mini-computer will be useful in analyzing data in battle."

"Oh." In that case, it would be a very useful tool indeed. The slightly bewildered girl picked up the computer and the clock. She took the back off of the clock. Sure enough, it was just as Luna had said. The clock began to glow, and a light zoomed passed Ami and flew into the sky. "What on earth? "

The feline guardian was horrified when she saw that. Her suspicions were confirmed that it was not an ordinary clock. She also figured out that Usagi was influenced by it when she woke up and left for school so early. "I knew it! That brand new store that the clock was purchased from is working for the enemy."

Ami nodded. "I suppose you're right. We'd better investigate that store."

Luna knew that convincing Usagi about this was like pulling teeth, but neither she nor Ami could accomplish this without her. "We'd better let Usagi know of this."

"Right," said the blue haired girl, and went to the arcade to get her. Luna was right behind her. She would be there to back the genius up, just in case the obstinate girl refused to listen.

Ramua, in her human disguise, was in her "establishment", observing what was going on. She grinned evilly as she watched the drivers have accidents on the road as a result of the mad rush. She enjoyed chaos and anarchy very much. Not to mention how successful business had gone for her. The burgundy

haired woman was delighted that so many earthlings had walked into the trap. She thought it was both chivalrous and foolish of the humans to practically surrender their energy to Queen Metallia. They were so easily deceived.

'So many humans, so much energy...greed is good,' she thought. 'Master Jadeite will be so proud of me.' Just then, Jadeite appeared to see how things were going.

"I see that you have lured countless amounts of humans. Excellent work, Ramua. This will be enough to get rid of those 2 nosy senshi in one easy swoop."

Judging from that remark, she knew that the blonde man was pleased with her. "Why, thank you, Master Jadeite. It is an honor to serve you." Jadeite was about to reply that she was such an excellent youma when he heard footsteps in the "store." "It seems that we have an interruption. I'll leave that person in your hands." With that, he disappeared from the place.

In the mansion, Nephrite was in his planetarium. By then, he had recovered from that very unnerving episode at the hospital. As always, his youma were sympathetic towards him about it. He thoroughly appreciated their concerns. Speaking of which, he wondered what was going on with Jadeite's plan. He had never been so desperate to see the small fry of a general fail than he was right now. Far fetched as it sounded, he actually wanted the senshi to win this battle. Yes, he was rooting for the enemy. However, it was for his own selfish reasons. It would save him less inconvenience as well as show Jadeite how silly the plot was. He called upon the power of the stars to show him what was going on. An image of Sailor Moon giving one of her infamous speeches appeared. Only this time, she was accompanied by another senshi—a girl with short ocean blue hair.

'She appears so feeble...she'd better succeed.' The last thing he wanted to see was for those humans to be rushing around like idiots the next time he went to earth. Chances are that one of them would bump into him, and he might have to injure them if angry enough.

The star king watched as the purple haired youma lured the girls into following her if they had the guts to. The new senshi touched one of her earrings and a VR Visor appeared on her face. It appeared that she was keeping tabs on the youma's whereabouts. She was also typing on her mini supercomputer, then she pointed to where she and Moon would have to go to find Ramua. Nephrite was somewhat impressed by how bright this senshi seemed. Now Ramua's defeat was inevitable. The next few moments were rather disappointing for him, but at the same time he expected it. After all, the powers of the senshi were minuscule compared to the Dark Kingdom's abilities. And if the monster was so easy to defeat, the battle wouldn't be much fun to watch. Nephrite was thoroughly tickled when he saw the blonde senshi shrink in size. It was boring, watching the clock youma taunt the senshi. The higher ranked shitennou was getting slightly annoyed. ' All right, this is stupid,' he thought, scratching his head.

At that very moment, a red rose hit the clock. The chestnut haired dark general recognized it from the battle before Mercury made her appearance. Tuxedo Kamen.

'Well, senshi, it seems that you've got lucky again.' It also behooved him to be on the alert when it would be his turn to gather energy. He would have to watch out for this foolish masked man. While he was apathetic to seeing him this time, it won't be the case once he was in control. He despised meddlers.

It was thanks to Tuxedo Kamen's interference that the wimpy moon senshi and her sailor friend made a comeback. Nephrite watched as the blonde senshi took off her tiara and hurled it at the odious youma. She gave an ear-bleeding screech as she turned into dust.

'I never thought I'd say this, but good job,sailor senshi,' he thought. He could only imagine the diatribe that the younger king would have to endure by Beryl. The image dissipated , and the star general decided to see what his female minions were up to.