Makoto had carried the injured Ami back to her apartment to recover. To cover her absence, Ami called her mother and told her she was spending the night at a friend's house. Mrs. Anderson relented in this case, because she was pleased to see that her daughter had finally made a friend. As the two girls were settling down, Luna came in through an open window.
"Artemis told me you'd be here.", the celestial cal Guardian began. "What happened at the fight?"
"Well to start with," Mako began "We managed to break the Dark Kingdom's hold over Mercury."
"That's excellent news.", Luna replied. "But we probably could have avoided this mess if I wasn't suffering from amnesia."
"And then it got really weird.", the Brunette continued. "Mercury somehow called upon this weird light and then she destroyed a Youma by freezing it."
"I don't know what it was either.", Ami chimed in, speaking for the first time in a few minutes. "I just felt this desire to see that monster stopped before she could do anymore harm. Then I just felt the power coming to me, giving me the strength I needed to make that happen.
"I think I remember something like that.", Luna said in response. "If a Sailor Guardian expressed a strong enough desire, then they could call upon more energy and receive what you would call "an upgrade"."
"Could this happen more than once."
"I don't know for sure.", was all that the cat had to say. "I do recall stories of some reaching a level of power known as "Eternal Sailor" form, but it was a generation prior to my time. Not nearly long enough ago for me to be schooled on…"
Then Makoto had a realisation. "Oh god, I'm supposed to start at my new school tomorrow. I need to get to sleep."
Elsewhere, Nephrite and Kunzite had met at a restaurant for a discussion.
"Oh dear.", the silver haired man said. "It appears that for all your wealth, you couldn't make us a reservation.
Nephrite went over to a table for two and threw the occupants on the floor. "There's been a cancellation.", he said sarcastically. After the two men had sat down, Nephrite asked the question that was on his mind. "What did you call me here to talk about?"
"This is purely a business matter.", Kunzite replied. "With Zoisite dead and Jadeite MIA, we're the only ones left who can deal with Beryl's demands."
"By that, I take it you mean gathering energy, recovering the shadow warriors and dealing with the Sailors.", Nephrite retorted. "It's probably going to get worse now that Mercury has, as the humans say, pulled a heel-face turn."
"It gets worse.", Kunzite interrupted. "Mercury managed to progress to level 2 of her Sailor power. How long before the others reach the same level of power. We need to awaken the Shadow Warriors before they do, so we can locate and destroy the Princess Serena."
"You have nothing to worry about, my friend.", Nephrite said pulling a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. "I've located another crystal carrier, in the city for a few more days." He put the paper down. It was a photograph of a woman, in her mid-20's with brown hair.
"She's a looker.", Kunzite said before straightening his composure. "Where did you get this picture?"
"Let's just say I have a friend at a circus with a very good camera.", was Nephrite's reply. "I've predicted she'll be in the park tomorrow. That's when I'll get her."
The next day, Makoto had a very good start to her new school. As it turned out, Ami had been going to the same school she was starting at since just before the half-term break. As such, she had a guide to help her around the school.
To start off, the bluenette gave out some basic information on the various pupils. "The boy with the glasses that make his eyes like like spirals is Gurio Umino, the second smartest person in this class, besides me of course. The girl with the brown hair talking to him is Naru Osaka, daughter of the jewellery shop's owner." As she went to indicate her next target, Ami paused. Said target was a blonde girl, with unusually long ponytails, who seemed to be in a huff.
"I'm guessing something's not normal with that girl.", Mako suggested.
"You'd be correct.", her friend replied. "That's Usagi Tsukino, the ultimate example of the dumb blonde stereotype. She's not usually this glum, even after most of her poor test scores."
The girl Usagi had heard them talking and came over to them. "Do you really want to know what's wrong with me?", she asked.
"Kind of.", the other two girls said in response.
"Well ok then.", the blonde sighed. "My parents were out last night, having a celebration of the fact that a lot of the crazy stuff that's been plaguing the city has stopped."
Mako winked to Ami, knowing that they were both partially responsible for the end of it.
"But then this jerk comes along", Usagi continued "and pushes them off their table, so he can have a meeting with his boyfriend or something."
"That's a slightly homophobic interpretation.", was Ami's reply.
"Well, based on the description my dad provided, they obviously weren't business partners.", was all Usagi had to say. "Anyway, I'm not sure how to get over it, especially since I'm seeing a friend this afternoon."
"A friend?"
"Yeah. Her name's Reika Nakishimura. We met through the guy at the juice bar at the crown. She's a bit of a role model."
Ami was slightly concerned about what the blonde had just said. "Well excuse us Usagi, but I think we should be sitting down now.", she said dragging Mako away. Once they were out of earshot, Mako decided to let loose.
"What are you doing?", she hissed quietly.
"That name she said. "Reika Nakishimura". I know it."
"How?", her friend replied.
"When I was working for Queen Beryl, she had me go over some stolen medical records to search for people who matched the crystal carriers. Her name was one of them."
"So what do we do?"
"After school, we follow her and see if one of the Shittenou attacks her. If that happens, we leap in and intercept." With that settled, Ami ushered her friend to sit down as the class began.
And that's the debut of the eponymous character for this franchise.
and a little note about the competition. Someone pointed out in a PM that I've put the answer on another website with the chapter. While I will let it slide since this is the first time I've had such a competition, I'm introducing a new rule that means that anyone who does something similar isn't allowed to enter. That's all I wanted to say.