Visit the NEW WEB SITE for The Saga of Mercury!
You can view two drawings by Anime artist Scortia and
download chapters in PDF format by visiting:
You can also view these chapters at:
and coming soon,
Chapters are also posted every two weeks
at the Sailor Moon newsgroup: news:alt.fan.sailor-moon
**********
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 Saga of Mercury
Chapter 25
The First Day
It was a cool and misty afternoon in the
park near the newly rebuilt Hikawa
Shrine, where Amy and Sasha had gathered
for an afternoon mother-and-daughter... or
should we say, future mother-and-future
daughter picnic.
Sasha was wearing a yellow shirt with red
horizontal stripes, and blue jeans with
suspenders. She was with Amy, in the same
blue dress and blue shoes that she wore
when she kissed Greg for the first time
(at the train station), carrying the
picnic basket.
The grass in the park was slightly wet,
dampened from the weather of the day.
Amy stopped walking and said, "This will
be a good spot, right under this tree."
Amy took out the large yellow blanket
that was in the picnic basket and spread
it out on the grass. Amy and Sasha then
sat down and relaxed.
"That was a lot of walking," said Sasha.
"Hope it was a good workout for you,"
said Amy. "I wanted to find the perfect
spot, anyway."
Amy took out the sandwiches that she and
Sasha had prepared earlier in the day.
While they were eating, Sasha asked,
"Whatever happened to Serena?"
"What about her? Oh, do you mean Darien's
proposal?" said Amy.
"Yes, did Serena give an answer? She was
sleeping from the moment he asked her."
Amy smiled. "I'm afraid she passed out
for the entire night, but I heard from
Raye that when she got up from bed this
morning, the first thing she said was
'yes!'"
"Great!" yelled Sasha. "So they'll wait
until Serena is done with school before
they get married, right?"
"Yes, that's the plan..."
Amy's face was frozen, her head fixed on
a thought.
"What it is, Amy?"
"Well... nothing..."
"Come on," said Sasha. "When my mom
looked like that, she was thinking of
something... which means you're thinking of
something!"
Amy was blushing.
"Oh... you're probably thinking that Greg
should ask you to marry him, right?"
"Oh, Sasha!" giggled Amy.
"It's true! It has to happen, or else I
wouldn't be here!"
Amy looked at Sasha. "You're right! Greg
and I do have to get married before you
become our daughter... which means that
soon, he has to..."
Amy then looked up into the sky. "Oh, the
times I've had with Greg..."
Sasha gave Amy another sandwich, which
she ate.
"I remember my mother telling me the
story of how you met."
Amy gulped down her bite before speaking.
"When, the time he temporarily moved into
my school a few years ago?"
"No, not that," said Sasha. "The OTHER
time."
Amy thought for a moment. "You don't
mean... on planet Mercury..."
"Yep, do you remember?"
Amy smiled, then thought again. "I'd have
to think about it... Greg still has his
rainbow crystal powers, so if I were to
ask him then he'd tell me," said Amy.
"But he's at a job interview..." said
Sasha. "Don't worry, I can help you
remember... It was during the Silver
Millenium, you were in your room..."
***************************************
Princess Amy was in her room in the high
tower of her palace on the planet
Mercury.
It was a very busy day for her. She had
just passed her latest sailor scout exam
along with the princesses from the other
planets. After all, if she wanted to
become the Sailor Scout of her planet,
she had to train hard at it. It wasn't
easy, but she did everything perfectly.
And the good news was, there was only one
more test to go before she'd become a
fully certified sailor soldier.
One... BIG test.
Amy was lying on her large double king-
sized bed, ready to fall asleep. She
wanted to forget the word "big."
YAWN went the princess. I'm pooped, she
said to herself. I'm just going to write
in my diary and then take a nap...
Being the smartest of all of the
princesses, Amy already had plotted out
in her head what she was going to write.
She was going to write about her
performance in today's exam, how her
princess friends felt, and how they fared
as well.
Knock-knock went the door.
"Come in!" said Amy.
Opening the tall door from the upper
hallway.. was King Francis, the father of
Princess Amy.
"Hello, Amy, how did you do?"
"I passed the exam, dad," she said.
"That's my daughter," said the king. "I...
I've been hiding something from you...
actually, your mom and I... for the past
few weeks...
Amy looked at her father with a puzzled
look.
"A surprise," he said.
Amy jumped out of her bed.
"Surprise?"
"Yep, and it's out front, with the castle
herald, if you want to take a look."
Amy was about to run to the window to
see...
"No, no, no you don't, come with me,
please," said Francis.
Amy was still puzzled as her father
walked her out of the room, and down the
grand staircase, to the castle entrance.
Soon, Amy and her father were standing in
front of the closed gate.
"Do you want to open the door?" asked
King Francis.
"All right," said Amy.
Amy opened the door.
In the promenade outside the castle, Amy
could see the black-tie herald speaking
casually to a uniformed navy soldier. She
then looked all around.
"Where is it," she asked.
"Right there," said Francis, pointing to
the soldier. "Gregory, here she is!"
The soldier then stood at attention in
front of the king and her daughter.
Amy didn't know what to say... and before
she knew it she was standing face to face
with the soldier.
Francis turned to the herald. "Michael?"
The herald then announced the guest.
"Your highness," the herald announced,
"This is Gregory, the youngest captain of
the naval forces of Mercury. He is
expected to be promoted to vice admiral
within the week, as he has been assigned
by your mother and father, the King and
Queen, to protect and defend you from any
entity that may pose a threat to our
planet."
"What?" said Amy.
"You, and all of us, may refer to Gregory
as the Mercury Knight," said the Herald.
"He will be given this title at the same
promotion ceremony."
Captain Gregory removed his hat, then
took Princess Amy's hand and kissed it.
"May I say," he said, "it is a high honor
to finally meet you."
Princess Amy responded by speaking as
fast as a horse racing announcer: "Uh... hi
there Gregory.. er, Mercury Knight, knight
to meet you, uh... I mean, NICE to meet you
too, I really don't need a protector, I
can defend myself because I am a Sailor
Scout, now, I have to go now."
"Go?" asked Gregory, chuckling. "First,
'now I have to go now' isn't a proper way
to end a sentence. And second, with all
due respect, Princess, we just met!"
"And you're not a Sailor Scout yet," said
King Francis. "Are you all right?"
"Uh... uh... I promised to go see Serena on
the moon... bye!" the Princess said,
running back into the castle.
"Amy! What are you doing? Come back here
right this minute!"
Normally the princess would respond at
once to whatever her mother and father
asked her to do.
But not this time.
After a moment, King Francis had thought
of something.
"Well, she's always been shy around young
men... she claims she doesn't have time to
deal with suitors."
"I see," said Gregory.
"But your majesty," said Michael, the
herald, "You don't have much time left on
Mercury... your health is failing..."
"Come, now!" said Gregory to the herald.
"How can you speak to the king like
that?"
"No, no, Gregory, it's true..." said the
king. "I'm.. I'm getting old.. he's right,
I DON'T have much time left. I.. have to
remind myself of that each and every
day."
"Let's not worry about your health right
now," said Gregory. "Let's worry about
Princess Amy. Is it like her to skip out
like that?"
"When meeting young men, yes, but not
with anyone else," said the king. "You'd
better stay here talking to Michael some
more, while I try to go upstairs to talk
to her."
"Yes, sir," said Gregory.
As the king was walking back into the
castle, Gregory asked the herald, "I
wonder what she's all scared about."
The king turned back to Gregory for a
moment. "She's afraid she'll fall in love
with you," he said before walking in.
Gregory looked at Michael. "I see," he
said with a smile. "Well from the start
I'll have to be strictly business.
Besides it isn't really my intention to
have any romantic interest..."
"Ah, you're not like the others then,"
said Michael.
"Others?"
"Yes, sir," said Michael. "Such as
Captain James on the planet Venus,
Lieutenant Chadwick on Mars, Defense
Officer Kenneth on Jupiter, and Prince
Darien on Earth."
"They... they are the protectors of the
princesses of their respective planets,
except for Darien who is the protector of
the moon princess, Serena, right?"
"Correct," said Michael. "And each of
those princesses have fallen in love with
their protectors."
"But what about Amy? According to the
king, she's not like the others in that
way," said Gregory.
"Keep in mind, sir, that since she is the
only child, eventually she will have to
take over as the Queen of Mercury... and by
the decree of our ancestors, she must
have a king."
"Yeah, well I honestly don't think it'll
be me," said Gregory.
"Don't count yourself out," said Michael.
"You never know..."
A computer alarm from outside the castle
interrupted Michael.
CODE THREE SIX ONE... HIGH ALERT, went the
computer. Loud, blaring alarms could then
be heard throughout the immediate area.
"361, that's a Negaverse attack! We've
got to secure the castle!" said Michael.
"My first test as Mercury Knight comes
this fast, eh?" said Gregory. "All right.
I'm going up to protect the princess.
What are you going to do?"
"Run to battle stations and boost the
deflector shield," said Michael.
"Ok," said Gregory, running into the
castle.
Meanwhile, Amy was in her room when the
alarms began to sound in her room. She
quickly ran up and pressed the "silent"
button to stop the alarms.
Immediately, the doors in her room were
locked automatically, and steel plates
began to stretch down from the ceiling
and over the windows.
Princess Amy was now inside her room -- by
herself. Just in case, she could use the
red emergency phone to call central
command, where her mother and father
would be during high alerts.
Until she became a Sailor Scout, this
would be the same routine every time High
or Severe alerts were issued.
She would be locked in her room.
The only way she'd be outside her room
would be if the alert was Low or Medium,
or if it was Critical... in the latter case
she'd then be with her mother and father
in Central Command.
It was the perfect opportunity, in her
opinion, to start her diary entry. She
had it all figured out... she could not
believe that a young man was ordered to
protect her... and she was going to tell
her diary how much she disliked it.
Suddenly, the door to her room creaked
open, and she heard a knock.
"Excuse me, Princess? This is Gregory,
uh.. I have my orders to protect you now..
may I come in?"
Amy was about to say no... but then
realized that her mother and father had
chosen a protector in the best interests
of their only child, and the future ruler
of Mercury.
"Come in," she said.
The soon to be Mercury Knight made his
way into Amy's room and closed the door...
which then locked on its own again.
"I guess... they taught you how to get in
here," said Amy.
"You mean override the computers, yes,"
said Gregory. "I was reluctant to learn
that at first, since that would equal an
invasion of privacy, but then I learned
it was a security request from your
mother and father."
"I see," said Amy.
Gregory kept in his head the fact that he
wanted to keep his relationship with the
princess strictly business, no fooling
around...
Until he looked at Amy, wearing her blue
gown, more carefully...
"I have to say, not only are you smart,
but you are..."
Amy cut him off. "They told you I was
smart?"
"They did... so hey, that's one thing in
common! You're smart and so am I. I guess
that's how I moved up in the ranks in
such a small amount of time," said
Gregory.
Amy thought for a moment.
"All right," she said with a smile, "if
you're really smart, then try this...
"There are 375 freshmen, 293 sophomores,
187 juniors, & 126 seniors in the high
school. One student will randomly be
chosen to receive an award. What percent
chance is there that it will be a
junior?"
Gregory smiled. "Good one," he said. "But
it's too easy, take the number of juniors
divided by the number of students, then
multiply by 100 to get a percentage. So...
that'd be... 19 percent!"
Amy shot right back... "How many weeks have
156 hours in them?"
To which Greg immediately responded, "All
of the weeks have 156 hours!"
When Amy heard that, she asked some more
baffling questions. Gregory got all of
those questions correct.
She froze for a moment... and did something
very rare...
"Amy... are... are you blushing?"
Amy tried to keep a straight face.
Gregory walked a bit closer to her.
"You ARE blushing Amy, I can see it."
Amy couldn't control herself.
In the middle of a high state of alert
throughout the entire castle...
Princess Amy was laughing.
Gregory smiled and laughed along. "What?
What did I do?"
"I'm having fun!"
"Fun?" laughed Gregory, before
straightening himself up. "Well we can't
have too much fun if we're in high alert
status..."
Amy started to settle down, too. "Yes,
but for the most part nowadays, when
there's an alert, it's..."
FALSE ALARM, ALERT TERMINATED blared the
computers from inside Amy's room.
Immediately afterwards, the metal doors
covering the windows began to retract.
"... A false alarm?" said Gregory,
finishing her sentence.
Amy let out a huge sigh...
The red phone began to beep seconds
later.
"I think that's for you... my beautiful
princess," said Gregory.
Amy stared at Gregory for a few moments
after he said "my beautiful princess."
And Gregory was staring back at her. What
did I just say, he thought.
"Uh... thank you," said Amy, who in a
flinch, curtsied to Gregory before going
toward the phone.
Gregory stood in astonishment as Amy
answered the phone.
"Hello father... yes I'm fine, thanks... yes,
he's right here with me... all right...
goodbye, father."
"It was my papa," said Amy to Gregory.
"He's confirmed it was a false alarm, and
that the castle is safe."
"Well all right then..." said Gregory. "In
that case, there's no reason for me to be
here any longer... I'll... I'll be in touch..."
Gregory started to turn for the door.
"W... wait!" said Amy. "You... have to
leave?"
Gregory turned back to Amy. "Yep, if
there's no danger, the only times that I
am with you are whenever you leave the
castle. Or if you specifically ask for
me, but I don't think you'd do that...
otherwise, I myself go back to central
command."
"That's an awful shame... I was just
getting to know you..." said Amy, looking
down at her blue carpeting.
"Don't worry, there will be other times
for us to meet, I'm very sure about that.
Perhaps I can have a word with your
father about it."
"Well," said Amy, looking back up, "if
you think that will help, then go ahead..."
"All right then," said Gregory, bowing to
the princess. "Until next time, your
highness."
"Till then," said Amy.
Gregory then got to the door... then turned
his head back.
"Do you play chess?"
"Chess?" said Amy. "Of course! I'm the
champion chess player in the entire moon
kingdom."
"That's right," said Gregory. "Perhaps
next time we meet we can play?"
Amy smiled. "Sure!"
Gregory bowed his head to the princess...
and left the room.
Outside the main hallway, Gregory leaned
back against the wall and took a deep
breath.
Inside her room, Amy collapsed onto the
bed... and took a deep breath.
We certainly are into a lot of common
things, Gregory thought to himself. Could
Michael be right? Could this really turn
into something?
Amy wasted no time going straight to her
diary. She began to write to her diary
about a wonderful person that she had
met.
After ten minutes had passed, Gregory was
ready to enter Central Command, when...
"Captain Gregory," said the front desk
officer, "the princess requests your
presence in her room."
"She... but I just came from there," said
Gregory.
"I think it's princess' prerogative, if
she wants you, you have to go," said the
officer. "She said something about chess,
by the way."
Gregory thought... and smiled. "Thanks," he
said to the officer, before turning
around and heading back to Amy's room.
***************************************
"He came back to your room and you
offered to play chess with him," said
Sasha. "He accepted, and you played to a
draw."
"That's right," said Amy, her eyes shut,
head held high, as the memories of the
past flowed through her mind. "I can
remember the wonderful times we had..."
Eyes closed, Amy could hear the voices
from that moment...
* Greg was very handsome *, said a voice in
her head.
"Gregory was very handsome," said Amy.
* I've had feelings about him ever since we
played chess... *
"I've had feelings about him ever since
we played chess," said Amy.
* He eventually told me that I was
beautiful... *
"Greg told me later that I was
beautiful," said Amy.
Sasha was snickering.
* I have lovely blue hair... *
"I have lovely blue hair," said Amy.
* I am going to take off my shirt... *
"I am going to take off... YAAAAH!"
Amy yelped out a big yelp when she
discovered that Greg was right behind
her.
Sasha and Greg laughed out loud.
Amy's eyes were wide open, her heart
having skipped several heartbeats.
Amy then grabbed Greg's head and brought
it close to hers, so that they were
seeing eye to eye.
"You sneak!" said Amy.
"Sneak, what are you talking about?" said
Greg. "After all, I've been behind you
ever since you guys were talking about
code 361!"
Amy had a huge sweatdrop on her head, her
head bowed slightly to the ground. "I
don't know how I ever let myself get
carried away like that..."
"Those were some of your fondest memories
of the Silver Millenium," said Greg. "I
have some memories of my own as well... I
can tell you about it on the way back
home. How were your meals?"
"We had some nice mother-daughter time
together, if you want to call it that,"
said Amy.
"For a moment, helping Amy with the story
felt like a return to the 31st century,"
said Sasha. "How was your job search,
Greg?"
"I've narrowed it down to a few of my
favorites," said Greg. "I'm very pleased
with the results..."
Greg's blue cell phone began to light up
and sound.
He took out the cell and looked at the
caller ID.
"Some guy named Darien," said Greg with a
smile.
Amy and Sasha laughed as Greg answered
the phone.
But they stopped when they saw Greg's
smile wiped away from his face.
"When did this happen? ... Is he.. Oh, no..
I'm with Amy and Sasha in the park... Ok...
Shinjuku hospital? We'll be right there..."
"What happened?" asked Amy.
"Bad news... We have to take an emergency
detour," said Greg.
"What's at the hospital?" asked Sasha.
Greg took a deep breath... and spoke in a
low tone.
"More like who... It's Ken. He's in bad
shape..."
Amy gasped and covered her mouth.
Sasha's eyes wanted some more
information.
"He's been hit by a car," said Greg.
You can view two drawings by Anime artist Scortia and
download chapters in PDF format by visiting:
You can also view these chapters at:
and coming soon,
Chapters are also posted every two weeks
at the Sailor Moon newsgroup: news:alt.fan.sailor-moon
**********
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 Saga of Mercury
Chapter 25
The First Day
It was a cool and misty afternoon in the
park near the newly rebuilt Hikawa
Shrine, where Amy and Sasha had gathered
for an afternoon mother-and-daughter... or
should we say, future mother-and-future
daughter picnic.
Sasha was wearing a yellow shirt with red
horizontal stripes, and blue jeans with
suspenders. She was with Amy, in the same
blue dress and blue shoes that she wore
when she kissed Greg for the first time
(at the train station), carrying the
picnic basket.
The grass in the park was slightly wet,
dampened from the weather of the day.
Amy stopped walking and said, "This will
be a good spot, right under this tree."
Amy took out the large yellow blanket
that was in the picnic basket and spread
it out on the grass. Amy and Sasha then
sat down and relaxed.
"That was a lot of walking," said Sasha.
"Hope it was a good workout for you,"
said Amy. "I wanted to find the perfect
spot, anyway."
Amy took out the sandwiches that she and
Sasha had prepared earlier in the day.
While they were eating, Sasha asked,
"Whatever happened to Serena?"
"What about her? Oh, do you mean Darien's
proposal?" said Amy.
"Yes, did Serena give an answer? She was
sleeping from the moment he asked her."
Amy smiled. "I'm afraid she passed out
for the entire night, but I heard from
Raye that when she got up from bed this
morning, the first thing she said was
'yes!'"
"Great!" yelled Sasha. "So they'll wait
until Serena is done with school before
they get married, right?"
"Yes, that's the plan..."
Amy's face was frozen, her head fixed on
a thought.
"What it is, Amy?"
"Well... nothing..."
"Come on," said Sasha. "When my mom
looked like that, she was thinking of
something... which means you're thinking of
something!"
Amy was blushing.
"Oh... you're probably thinking that Greg
should ask you to marry him, right?"
"Oh, Sasha!" giggled Amy.
"It's true! It has to happen, or else I
wouldn't be here!"
Amy looked at Sasha. "You're right! Greg
and I do have to get married before you
become our daughter... which means that
soon, he has to..."
Amy then looked up into the sky. "Oh, the
times I've had with Greg..."
Sasha gave Amy another sandwich, which
she ate.
"I remember my mother telling me the
story of how you met."
Amy gulped down her bite before speaking.
"When, the time he temporarily moved into
my school a few years ago?"
"No, not that," said Sasha. "The OTHER
time."
Amy thought for a moment. "You don't
mean... on planet Mercury..."
"Yep, do you remember?"
Amy smiled, then thought again. "I'd have
to think about it... Greg still has his
rainbow crystal powers, so if I were to
ask him then he'd tell me," said Amy.
"But he's at a job interview..." said
Sasha. "Don't worry, I can help you
remember... It was during the Silver
Millenium, you were in your room..."
***************************************
Princess Amy was in her room in the high
tower of her palace on the planet
Mercury.
It was a very busy day for her. She had
just passed her latest sailor scout exam
along with the princesses from the other
planets. After all, if she wanted to
become the Sailor Scout of her planet,
she had to train hard at it. It wasn't
easy, but she did everything perfectly.
And the good news was, there was only one
more test to go before she'd become a
fully certified sailor soldier.
One... BIG test.
Amy was lying on her large double king-
sized bed, ready to fall asleep. She
wanted to forget the word "big."
YAWN went the princess. I'm pooped, she
said to herself. I'm just going to write
in my diary and then take a nap...
Being the smartest of all of the
princesses, Amy already had plotted out
in her head what she was going to write.
She was going to write about her
performance in today's exam, how her
princess friends felt, and how they fared
as well.
Knock-knock went the door.
"Come in!" said Amy.
Opening the tall door from the upper
hallway.. was King Francis, the father of
Princess Amy.
"Hello, Amy, how did you do?"
"I passed the exam, dad," she said.
"That's my daughter," said the king. "I...
I've been hiding something from you...
actually, your mom and I... for the past
few weeks...
Amy looked at her father with a puzzled
look.
"A surprise," he said.
Amy jumped out of her bed.
"Surprise?"
"Yep, and it's out front, with the castle
herald, if you want to take a look."
Amy was about to run to the window to
see...
"No, no, no you don't, come with me,
please," said Francis.
Amy was still puzzled as her father
walked her out of the room, and down the
grand staircase, to the castle entrance.
Soon, Amy and her father were standing in
front of the closed gate.
"Do you want to open the door?" asked
King Francis.
"All right," said Amy.
Amy opened the door.
In the promenade outside the castle, Amy
could see the black-tie herald speaking
casually to a uniformed navy soldier. She
then looked all around.
"Where is it," she asked.
"Right there," said Francis, pointing to
the soldier. "Gregory, here she is!"
The soldier then stood at attention in
front of the king and her daughter.
Amy didn't know what to say... and before
she knew it she was standing face to face
with the soldier.
Francis turned to the herald. "Michael?"
The herald then announced the guest.
"Your highness," the herald announced,
"This is Gregory, the youngest captain of
the naval forces of Mercury. He is
expected to be promoted to vice admiral
within the week, as he has been assigned
by your mother and father, the King and
Queen, to protect and defend you from any
entity that may pose a threat to our
planet."
"What?" said Amy.
"You, and all of us, may refer to Gregory
as the Mercury Knight," said the Herald.
"He will be given this title at the same
promotion ceremony."
Captain Gregory removed his hat, then
took Princess Amy's hand and kissed it.
"May I say," he said, "it is a high honor
to finally meet you."
Princess Amy responded by speaking as
fast as a horse racing announcer: "Uh... hi
there Gregory.. er, Mercury Knight, knight
to meet you, uh... I mean, NICE to meet you
too, I really don't need a protector, I
can defend myself because I am a Sailor
Scout, now, I have to go now."
"Go?" asked Gregory, chuckling. "First,
'now I have to go now' isn't a proper way
to end a sentence. And second, with all
due respect, Princess, we just met!"
"And you're not a Sailor Scout yet," said
King Francis. "Are you all right?"
"Uh... uh... I promised to go see Serena on
the moon... bye!" the Princess said,
running back into the castle.
"Amy! What are you doing? Come back here
right this minute!"
Normally the princess would respond at
once to whatever her mother and father
asked her to do.
But not this time.
After a moment, King Francis had thought
of something.
"Well, she's always been shy around young
men... she claims she doesn't have time to
deal with suitors."
"I see," said Gregory.
"But your majesty," said Michael, the
herald, "You don't have much time left on
Mercury... your health is failing..."
"Come, now!" said Gregory to the herald.
"How can you speak to the king like
that?"
"No, no, Gregory, it's true..." said the
king. "I'm.. I'm getting old.. he's right,
I DON'T have much time left. I.. have to
remind myself of that each and every
day."
"Let's not worry about your health right
now," said Gregory. "Let's worry about
Princess Amy. Is it like her to skip out
like that?"
"When meeting young men, yes, but not
with anyone else," said the king. "You'd
better stay here talking to Michael some
more, while I try to go upstairs to talk
to her."
"Yes, sir," said Gregory.
As the king was walking back into the
castle, Gregory asked the herald, "I
wonder what she's all scared about."
The king turned back to Gregory for a
moment. "She's afraid she'll fall in love
with you," he said before walking in.
Gregory looked at Michael. "I see," he
said with a smile. "Well from the start
I'll have to be strictly business.
Besides it isn't really my intention to
have any romantic interest..."
"Ah, you're not like the others then,"
said Michael.
"Others?"
"Yes, sir," said Michael. "Such as
Captain James on the planet Venus,
Lieutenant Chadwick on Mars, Defense
Officer Kenneth on Jupiter, and Prince
Darien on Earth."
"They... they are the protectors of the
princesses of their respective planets,
except for Darien who is the protector of
the moon princess, Serena, right?"
"Correct," said Michael. "And each of
those princesses have fallen in love with
their protectors."
"But what about Amy? According to the
king, she's not like the others in that
way," said Gregory.
"Keep in mind, sir, that since she is the
only child, eventually she will have to
take over as the Queen of Mercury... and by
the decree of our ancestors, she must
have a king."
"Yeah, well I honestly don't think it'll
be me," said Gregory.
"Don't count yourself out," said Michael.
"You never know..."
A computer alarm from outside the castle
interrupted Michael.
CODE THREE SIX ONE... HIGH ALERT, went the
computer. Loud, blaring alarms could then
be heard throughout the immediate area.
"361, that's a Negaverse attack! We've
got to secure the castle!" said Michael.
"My first test as Mercury Knight comes
this fast, eh?" said Gregory. "All right.
I'm going up to protect the princess.
What are you going to do?"
"Run to battle stations and boost the
deflector shield," said Michael.
"Ok," said Gregory, running into the
castle.
Meanwhile, Amy was in her room when the
alarms began to sound in her room. She
quickly ran up and pressed the "silent"
button to stop the alarms.
Immediately, the doors in her room were
locked automatically, and steel plates
began to stretch down from the ceiling
and over the windows.
Princess Amy was now inside her room -- by
herself. Just in case, she could use the
red emergency phone to call central
command, where her mother and father
would be during high alerts.
Until she became a Sailor Scout, this
would be the same routine every time High
or Severe alerts were issued.
She would be locked in her room.
The only way she'd be outside her room
would be if the alert was Low or Medium,
or if it was Critical... in the latter case
she'd then be with her mother and father
in Central Command.
It was the perfect opportunity, in her
opinion, to start her diary entry. She
had it all figured out... she could not
believe that a young man was ordered to
protect her... and she was going to tell
her diary how much she disliked it.
Suddenly, the door to her room creaked
open, and she heard a knock.
"Excuse me, Princess? This is Gregory,
uh.. I have my orders to protect you now..
may I come in?"
Amy was about to say no... but then
realized that her mother and father had
chosen a protector in the best interests
of their only child, and the future ruler
of Mercury.
"Come in," she said.
The soon to be Mercury Knight made his
way into Amy's room and closed the door...
which then locked on its own again.
"I guess... they taught you how to get in
here," said Amy.
"You mean override the computers, yes,"
said Gregory. "I was reluctant to learn
that at first, since that would equal an
invasion of privacy, but then I learned
it was a security request from your
mother and father."
"I see," said Amy.
Gregory kept in his head the fact that he
wanted to keep his relationship with the
princess strictly business, no fooling
around...
Until he looked at Amy, wearing her blue
gown, more carefully...
"I have to say, not only are you smart,
but you are..."
Amy cut him off. "They told you I was
smart?"
"They did... so hey, that's one thing in
common! You're smart and so am I. I guess
that's how I moved up in the ranks in
such a small amount of time," said
Gregory.
Amy thought for a moment.
"All right," she said with a smile, "if
you're really smart, then try this...
"There are 375 freshmen, 293 sophomores,
187 juniors, & 126 seniors in the high
school. One student will randomly be
chosen to receive an award. What percent
chance is there that it will be a
junior?"
Gregory smiled. "Good one," he said. "But
it's too easy, take the number of juniors
divided by the number of students, then
multiply by 100 to get a percentage. So...
that'd be... 19 percent!"
Amy shot right back... "How many weeks have
156 hours in them?"
To which Greg immediately responded, "All
of the weeks have 156 hours!"
When Amy heard that, she asked some more
baffling questions. Gregory got all of
those questions correct.
She froze for a moment... and did something
very rare...
"Amy... are... are you blushing?"
Amy tried to keep a straight face.
Gregory walked a bit closer to her.
"You ARE blushing Amy, I can see it."
Amy couldn't control herself.
In the middle of a high state of alert
throughout the entire castle...
Princess Amy was laughing.
Gregory smiled and laughed along. "What?
What did I do?"
"I'm having fun!"
"Fun?" laughed Gregory, before
straightening himself up. "Well we can't
have too much fun if we're in high alert
status..."
Amy started to settle down, too. "Yes,
but for the most part nowadays, when
there's an alert, it's..."
FALSE ALARM, ALERT TERMINATED blared the
computers from inside Amy's room.
Immediately afterwards, the metal doors
covering the windows began to retract.
"... A false alarm?" said Gregory,
finishing her sentence.
Amy let out a huge sigh...
The red phone began to beep seconds
later.
"I think that's for you... my beautiful
princess," said Gregory.
Amy stared at Gregory for a few moments
after he said "my beautiful princess."
And Gregory was staring back at her. What
did I just say, he thought.
"Uh... thank you," said Amy, who in a
flinch, curtsied to Gregory before going
toward the phone.
Gregory stood in astonishment as Amy
answered the phone.
"Hello father... yes I'm fine, thanks... yes,
he's right here with me... all right...
goodbye, father."
"It was my papa," said Amy to Gregory.
"He's confirmed it was a false alarm, and
that the castle is safe."
"Well all right then..." said Gregory. "In
that case, there's no reason for me to be
here any longer... I'll... I'll be in touch..."
Gregory started to turn for the door.
"W... wait!" said Amy. "You... have to
leave?"
Gregory turned back to Amy. "Yep, if
there's no danger, the only times that I
am with you are whenever you leave the
castle. Or if you specifically ask for
me, but I don't think you'd do that...
otherwise, I myself go back to central
command."
"That's an awful shame... I was just
getting to know you..." said Amy, looking
down at her blue carpeting.
"Don't worry, there will be other times
for us to meet, I'm very sure about that.
Perhaps I can have a word with your
father about it."
"Well," said Amy, looking back up, "if
you think that will help, then go ahead..."
"All right then," said Gregory, bowing to
the princess. "Until next time, your
highness."
"Till then," said Amy.
Gregory then got to the door... then turned
his head back.
"Do you play chess?"
"Chess?" said Amy. "Of course! I'm the
champion chess player in the entire moon
kingdom."
"That's right," said Gregory. "Perhaps
next time we meet we can play?"
Amy smiled. "Sure!"
Gregory bowed his head to the princess...
and left the room.
Outside the main hallway, Gregory leaned
back against the wall and took a deep
breath.
Inside her room, Amy collapsed onto the
bed... and took a deep breath.
We certainly are into a lot of common
things, Gregory thought to himself. Could
Michael be right? Could this really turn
into something?
Amy wasted no time going straight to her
diary. She began to write to her diary
about a wonderful person that she had
met.
After ten minutes had passed, Gregory was
ready to enter Central Command, when...
"Captain Gregory," said the front desk
officer, "the princess requests your
presence in her room."
"She... but I just came from there," said
Gregory.
"I think it's princess' prerogative, if
she wants you, you have to go," said the
officer. "She said something about chess,
by the way."
Gregory thought... and smiled. "Thanks," he
said to the officer, before turning
around and heading back to Amy's room.
***************************************
"He came back to your room and you
offered to play chess with him," said
Sasha. "He accepted, and you played to a
draw."
"That's right," said Amy, her eyes shut,
head held high, as the memories of the
past flowed through her mind. "I can
remember the wonderful times we had..."
Eyes closed, Amy could hear the voices
from that moment...
* Greg was very handsome *, said a voice in
her head.
"Gregory was very handsome," said Amy.
* I've had feelings about him ever since we
played chess... *
"I've had feelings about him ever since
we played chess," said Amy.
* He eventually told me that I was
beautiful... *
"Greg told me later that I was
beautiful," said Amy.
Sasha was snickering.
* I have lovely blue hair... *
"I have lovely blue hair," said Amy.
* I am going to take off my shirt... *
"I am going to take off... YAAAAH!"
Amy yelped out a big yelp when she
discovered that Greg was right behind
her.
Sasha and Greg laughed out loud.
Amy's eyes were wide open, her heart
having skipped several heartbeats.
Amy then grabbed Greg's head and brought
it close to hers, so that they were
seeing eye to eye.
"You sneak!" said Amy.
"Sneak, what are you talking about?" said
Greg. "After all, I've been behind you
ever since you guys were talking about
code 361!"
Amy had a huge sweatdrop on her head, her
head bowed slightly to the ground. "I
don't know how I ever let myself get
carried away like that..."
"Those were some of your fondest memories
of the Silver Millenium," said Greg. "I
have some memories of my own as well... I
can tell you about it on the way back
home. How were your meals?"
"We had some nice mother-daughter time
together, if you want to call it that,"
said Amy.
"For a moment, helping Amy with the story
felt like a return to the 31st century,"
said Sasha. "How was your job search,
Greg?"
"I've narrowed it down to a few of my
favorites," said Greg. "I'm very pleased
with the results..."
Greg's blue cell phone began to light up
and sound.
He took out the cell and looked at the
caller ID.
"Some guy named Darien," said Greg with a
smile.
Amy and Sasha laughed as Greg answered
the phone.
But they stopped when they saw Greg's
smile wiped away from his face.
"When did this happen? ... Is he.. Oh, no..
I'm with Amy and Sasha in the park... Ok...
Shinjuku hospital? We'll be right there..."
"What happened?" asked Amy.
"Bad news... We have to take an emergency
detour," said Greg.
"What's at the hospital?" asked Sasha.
Greg took a deep breath... and spoke in a
low tone.
"More like who... It's Ken. He's in bad
shape..."
Amy gasped and covered her mouth.
Sasha's eyes wanted some more
information.
"He's been hit by a car," said Greg.