Chapter 6

The week passed very quickly. Ami found the matches were getting harder every day, but she continued to win. Nothing odd had happened since Sailor Kotanam had told her about wanting the Silver Crystal. It was Friday now, the second last day of competition. Ami and Ky were both playing in the semifinals.
"Checkmate." The young Canadian she was playing grinned.
"Good job Ami," she said.
"Thanks."
"Good luck at the Finals tomorrow." She shook Ami's hand. "I bet you'll win." Ami felt her cheeks grow hot.

"I'm not that good," she protested. The girl laughed.

"Sure you are," she replied, as she headed off. "I'll see you at the winner's circle."
"Bye!" called Ami as the girl disappeared out the door.

Ami wandered up to the spectator's area, and watched Ky play her adversary. Ami had heard that Ky's opponent was a "queen grabber". Sure enough, Ky did not have her queen. She did, however, seem to have control over the board.
"Checkmate," Ky said. The boy she was playing frowned.
"But I had your queen!" he protested. Ami smiled to herself. The queen, though easily the most powerful piece, was not the most important piece. Ky had trapped the boy with knights and pawns, no small feat. She knew what she was doing.
Ami went down to congratulate her friend. The room filled with a thick smoke. Ami staggered around. The smoke burned her lungs and stung her eyes. She sat down.
"Princess, we know you are here," said the familiar voice of the Earth Guardian.
"Come out," chimed a second male voice. Ami managed to escape into a nearby bathroom as people fled.
"Mercury Crystal Power!"
Ami returned to the smoke-filled room.
"Mercury bubbles blast!" Her bubbles forced the smoke away. Two Guardians stood in the center of the room. No one else seemed to be there.
"You again?" sighed the Guardian of Earth. "Fire, take her down."
"With pleasure," the other Guardian replied. He swept back his red cape and pulled out a large gun. He aimed it at Ami.
"You nightmares will be ours!" cried the Guardian of Fire. He fired the gun. A long, thin beam of black energy shot out, and hit Ami in the chest. She cried out in pain, and fell to the ground, darkness surrounding her.


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She swore heavily. She was too late. Sailor Mercury had been hit!
"Fire I am sorry to see you here."
"Don't be," he sneered. She frowned. The real Daniel was kind and gentle. "You will join us soon enough, or you will die."
"You forget, I am an Elite Senshi." She readied her staff. She could not use her Kotanam Gate now. They were too close to Mercury.
She blocked an attack as the Guardian of Fire unleashed Hibroy's powerful gun. The beam bounced off her staff as she brought it up to defend herself.
"Sailor Kotanam, you will not escape this time," the Guardian of Earth said.
"I don't want to hurt either of you, but you are not leaving me any choice."
"You cannot hide on this planet forever. Soon our Master will come and use the nightmares of all who dwell on this pathetic planet to build his empire."
"I will kill you if I must. This is the last time I give you a chance to keep fighting."
"Fighting? Why would we fight our master? He has given us incredible power."
She had accomplished what she had set out to do. She had stalled them long enough for Mercury to regain her senses.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" The two Guardians were frozen in place instantly.
"You alright, Mercury?"
"Fine," the other senshi replied. "Get rid of them. Though, I must say your way isn't working too well."
She smiled. The other senshi had a very valid point.
"Kotanam Gate!" The two Guardians, her former friends, disappeared in a swirling column of light. She closed her eyes. She hated this. She just had to get the Silver Crystal. . . .
Mercury was suddenly beside her.
"What did they do to me?" she demanded.
"Nothing, actually. If you had not been protected they would have taken control of your nightmares and of your body."
"My nightmares?" the other senshi repeated. "What good would they do?"
"Your nightmares keep you in reality. Otherwise your dreams would be so beautiful that you'd never want to leave. People would sleep their lives away. Dreams and nightmares must always be in balance, so the more beautiful a person's dream the more horrific their nightmares, thus the more powerful." Mercury blinked.
"And if you lose your nightmares?"
"You lose control of your body. Hibroy takes it over, giving it one of his nightmares, from which there is no awakening without help. Your spirit is trapped, and your body does Hibroy's will." Mercury shuddered.
"That's terrible," she whispered.
"You'll help me?" The other senshi paused, and finally shook her head.
"I won't try and stop you, unless you make a move against the Moon Princess. Then you and I will face off." She gave a helpless shrug.
"You can't win."
"You'd be surprised," Mercury replied with a little smile. "We'd best get out of here. Good luck, Kotanam. You'll need it." She disappeared out the door.
"I don't put faith in luck."