DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon and its characters are not owned by me, blah blah blah, and other legal junk. Sparrow Migoto is owned by my friend Christina, and used with her permission.
Author's Note: This fanfic is a direct sequel to Looking Up To You, a Sammy/Ami romance fanfic that I wrote about a year ago. It's still on my profile, so I recommend that if you haven't read Looking Up To You, it would be best to stop, don't pass GO, don't collect $200, and go immediately to my profile to check it out. Otherwise, you'll be kinda confused.
Second Author's Note: This fanfic takes place after Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. (Serena, Ami, Rei, and Mina are 17. Lita is 18. Sammy is 14. Darien is older than all of them.) Also, if you're confused about some of the Senshi's attacks, that's because they got a whole set of new ones in Looking Up To You. So like I said, go check it out.
---
The four Senshi and Sparrow courageously faced down the huge flame monster, diverting its attention from the students in the hall, who were now fleeing in terror.
"We'd better beat this thing quick, before someone gets hurt!" Sailor Moon said, and the other Senshi nodded. Just then, the monster opened up its gigantic mouth and spat a giant fireball, which headed forward, straight for the Senshi.
"I'll handle this!" Sailor Mars shouted, leaping in front of the fireball. "Mars Flaming Cannon!"
Several fireballs shot out of the cannon and met the monster's fireball, nullifying it and creating a large explosion that knocked Sailor Mars to her knees. Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, and Sparrow quickly rushed to her side.
"Sailor Mars, are you-" Sailor Jupiter began before Sailor Mars quickly stood up.
"Guys, I'm fine..." Sailor Mars groaned, smiling at the others. "We need to take this thing out..."
The monster roared, and then spat another fireball at the Senshi. This time, it was Sparrow who dealt with the monster's attack, leaping in front of the fireball and smashing it away with one mighty swing of her sword. The fireball rebounded back toward the monster, hitting it right between the eyes and stunning it long enough for Sailor Moon to prepare a final strike.
"Moon... Blessed... Salvation!"
The powerful waves of magic energy quickly obliterated the flame monster, and the Senshi breathed a sigh of relief. Sparrow smirked and re-sheathed her sword.
"It was no sweat, really," Sparrow said.
"That monster could've hurt someone," Sailor Venus replied, groaning at Sparrow. "We got it pretty quick this time, but next time we should probably destroy it faster..."
"True," Sparrow said. "And I can sense other monsters in the building..."
"Let's hurry!" Sailor Moon shouted.
---
Meanwhile, inside the school's cafeteria, Neihiliam was causing chaos and terror in her tireless search for Ami. After taunting Sammy, she'd quickly teleported to Serena's school, not knowing that Ami had left just a short while earlier.
"Where is the girl, Ami Mizuno?" Neihiliam shouted to a group of students she'd cornered inside the now-wrecked cafeteria.
"We don't know!" replied one of the girls in the group, trembling in fear.
"That's not a good enough answer!" Neihiliam shouted back, pointing her arm at the group of trembling students. "Looks like I'll just have to..."
Suddenly, a long, golden chain looped around Neihiliam's arm, quickly spinning her around. Holding the chain was Sailor Venus, standing with Sparrow and the Senshi. As Neihiliam was distracted, the group of students quickly fled from the cafeteria, and Neihiliam growled in rage.
"How dare you interfere!" Neihiliam shouted.
"How dare you attack innocent people!" Sailor Venus replied. "Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
The chain grew longer, and looped around Neihiliam entirely, pinning her arms to her chest. With a loud shriek, Neihiliam's power aura expanded, shattering the chains that were binding her body.
"You think you can beat me that easily?" Neihiliam shouted. "Where's Ami Mizuno? Tell me right now!"
"Ami's not here, so your search is fruitless!" Sailor Moon shouted. "And in the name of the Moon, we'll punish you!"
"That's right!" Sparrow shouted. "And you're not going to like the way I punish..."
"I don't have time to deal with you fools!" Neihiliam shouted. "I came here to find Ami, so if she's not here, I'll just go back to Sammy's school and kill his pathetic friends! You Sailor Fools can deal with all the rest of the monsters I've planted here. Goodbye, Sailor Senshi!"
Neihiliam disappeared in a bright green flash of light, leaving the Senshi and Sparrow alone in the cafeteria.
"Did you hear that?" Sailor Moon asked, her face flush with worry. "She's going after Sammy.... he's in really big trouble!'
"What do we do?" Sailor Mars asked.
"We've gotta destroy all the monsters here, and then get to Sammy's school, quick!" Sailor Moon shouted. "Sammy's life depends on it..."
"Should I teleport to Sammy's school and try to find him?" Sparrow asked. "It'll take a lot of energy since it's such a specific place, but..."
"Please, find Sammy and protect him..." Sailor Moon said, clutching Sparrow's hand. "Don't let my brother get hurt...."
Sparrow nodded, and then teleported away, just like Neihiliam had done.
"I hope she gets to Sammy soon," Sailor Jupiter said. Suddenly, a loud, piercing scream from just outside the room immediately caught the Senshi's attention. Without hesitating for a second, they rushed outside to find the source of the scream.
---
Meanwhile, back at Sammy's school, Sammy was having troubles of his own. He charged at one of the creatures, but as he brought his sword down on its crystalline skin, he found that his powerful slash had only made a tiny crack in its surface. That was enough, however, to make the creature extremely angry at Sammy. It turned around and smacked Sammy hard across the chest, sending him flying across the hallway and into the wall. He hit the wall hard, its impact sending a stabbing pain shooting through Sammy's back.
"Hurts...." was all Sammy could say as he slid against the wall, and the creature turned its attention on another student, a female about Sammy's age. It smacked her across the chest in the same way it had done to Sammy, knocking her to the ground with a loud cry of anguish.
"Please... please don't hurt me!" shouted the girl, tears starting to come to her eyes. Sammy saw the tears, and began to stand up, his hand intensely gripping the hilt of his katana.
"Don't.... hurt her..." Sammy said quietly, his teeth clenched. The creature hovered over the girl, its powerful arm poised above her head and ready to strike the killing blow. The girl cried even harder, and that's when Sammy felt another pain, shooting through his body. It was the familiar pain of the Dark Crystal, and his hand took on an eerie, black glow. With a loud war cry, he rushed the creature and brought his blade down across the creature's back. This time, the blow was incredibly effective, shattering the creature like glass, its fractured shards disappearing as they flew out from where the creature had once stood. Sammy gently picked the trembling girl up from the ground, and as he did, she embraced him tightly, her arms firmly around his chest.
"Thank you.... whoever you are.... you saved my life!" the girl cried. But as Sammy hugged the girl, he noticed that the other creatures had stopped what they were doing upon seeing Sammy destroy one of their kind. They rushed Sammy from all directions, and Sammy stopped hugging the girl and rushed into the crowd of creatures, sweeping his katana out in a half-circle. The slash struck the first wave of monsters, but its effects spread to all of them, and with one slash, the hordes were decimated, their crystalline remains disintegrating in seconds. Sammy gasped, amazed with what he'd done. The girl gasped as well, slowly backed away from Sammy, and then ran down the hall. Some of the other students who had been attacked by the monsters began cheering Sammy as he sheathed his sword, and Sammy simply blushed and let the cheers wash over him.
"I'm just glad everyone's alright... for now, anyway... I wonder where that weird lady ran off to..."
Just then, a loud roar from down the hall sounded, causing everyone who had been standing around cheering to flee in the other direction, turning the corner toward one of the school's emergency exits. Loud alarms began blaring, and Sammy gasped, running toward the direction of the roar.
"That's coming from Miss Haruna's room!" Sammy shouted. "I've gotta get there in time!"
But as Sammy ran down the hall, a hand reached out from one of the bathrooms. The hand went over Sammy's mouth, and he was quickly pulled into the bathroom. Then, the bathroom door was shut behind him.
---
The scream that the Senshi were pursuing came from the mouth of one of Serena's friends, currently in the clutches of a large, purple, octopus-like monster. Its tentacles had just ensnared two students, one of them male, and one of them female. The Senshi immediately recognized who they were.
"It's Molly and Melvin!" Sailor Moon shouted, watching her two friends furiously struggle to escape the constricting tentacles. "You let them go right now!"
"Sailor Moon, hurry!" Molly shouted. "I.... I can't breathe!"
"It's.... it's too tight!" Melvin yelled, his arms and chest being tightly squeezed by the monster's tentacles. Sailor Jupiter ran at the monster, ready to strike.
"Sailor Moon said... let them go!" Sailor Jupiter yelled. "Jupiter Axe of Lightning!"
Sailor Jupiter swung her axe at the monster's eight tentacles, slicing off four. One of them contained Melvin, and as it fell to the ground, it released its grip on the bespectacled boy. The monster was then zapped by a powerful blast of lightning. It was knocked back, but it still had Molly tightly in its clutches. Melvin gasped in horror.
"You've gotta save Molly!" Melvin shouted in his shrill, high-pitched, geeky voice. "Hurry!"
"Keep your pants on, kid," Sailor Venus said, pointing the shaft of a large, golden arrow right between the monster's eyes. "Venus Arrow of Beauty!"
The arrow rushed at the monster and slammed into its forehead, piercing it and creating a large wound. The arrow's aim was perfect, and the monster quickly disintegrating, dropping Molly right into Melvin's arms. The girl's eyes were closed, and her breathing was slow and shallow. Melvin immediately set Molly down onto the ground and began gently brushing his hand through her hair.
"Molly..." he said softly, "are you okay? Please, please be alright..."
The Senshi watched in worry, and for a few agonizingly long seconds, Molly's eyes remained closed. But then, they slowly fluttered open, and the Senshi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness," Melvin said, intensely relieved. "Molly, are you alright?"
"I... I think so," Molly replied sweetly. "Melvin, did you..."
"Melvin caught you when you fell from the monster's grip," Sailor Venus said. "If he hadn't caught you, you might've been really hurt!"
"It was you guys who saved her," Melvin said. "I just-"
"Oh, don't be so modest!" Sailor Mars replied, smiling.
"You were really heroic, Melvin," Molly said. "Thank you..."
"I'm glad we saved them, but if we don't take care of the rest of the monsters, someone else might get hurt!" Sailor Moon thought. "I just hope Sammy's okay..."
---
Slowly, the hand slid away from Sammy's mouth, and he turned around to see who had grabbed him. Sitting beside him were Rick and Mika, both of whom looked extremely worried.
"Sammy, this is all your fault!" Rick said. "These monsters are here because of you, aren't they?"
"Rick, please..." Mika said, gently gripping Rick's hand.
"Look, I'm really sorry..... I put everyone in this school in danger," Sammy said sadly.
"No, you didn't... those vicious monsters did," Mika said. "None of this is your fault... right, Rick?"
Rick sighed.
"Sammy, a big, huge monster came into our classroom and completely trashed the place!" Rick shouted. "It was a giant turtle, and it shot lightning out of its mouth. We almost got hit!"
"Is everyone in your class okay?" Sammy asked. Mika nodded.
"They all escaped out the windows, but before we could follow them, the monster got in front of us and almost zapped us," Mika said. "So we ran in here..."
Another loud roar sounded from outside, even closer to the bathroom. Sammy, Rick, and Mika began trembling.
"Guys, I think that thing was in Miss Haruna's room too," Sammy whispered. "I hope it didn't hurt any of my friends... and I'm glad you guys are okay."
"What are we gonna do?" Rick asked. "Are the Sailor Senshi here?"
"I think my sis is still at school," Sammy replied. "I'm just glad they're not in any danger..."
---
But the Senshi were in danger, still busily fighting to purge all of the deadly attackers from their school. Finally, after several tough battles, they'd destroyed all of the creatures but one, a human-like man with short, black hair and a red cape.
"He sort of looks like Darien," Sailor Moon commented. "Except for the fact that he's pure evil..."
"My name is Sekuta, not Darien.... now die, Sailor Senshi!" the man shouted, throwing several small spherical objects at the four Senshi. As they neared the Senshi, they exploded, creating small fireballs and shockwaves that knocked all of the Senshi to their knees except for Sailor Moon, who stood against the blasts and shielded her face with her arms.
"What a powerful attack..." Sailor Moon groaned. "This guy is the toughest yet..."
Sekuta rushed at Sailor Moon and kicked her across the face, sending her flying back to join the other Senshi on the ground.
"Sailor Moon!"
Sailor Moon tumbled on the hard linoleum of the hall's floors and came to a rest behind Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus, who were just beginning to stand up.
"I've had just about enough of you!" Sailor Mars shouted, tossing one of her new and improved Ofuda Scrolls at Sekuta, who responded by tossing another round of explosive spheres. One of the spheres hit and blew up the scroll, while the rest of them slammed into the Senshi, knocking them down again.
"Bastard!" Sailor Jupiter shouted, rising to her feet. "You'll pay for that..."
Sailor Jupiter lunged at Sekuta, lightning axe in hand. She took several swings at him, but he dodged every one of them, ducking, leaping, and flashing out of the way with his incredible speed. Then, he pointed his arm at Sailor Jupiter and fired a large, flashing red net that washed over Sailor Jupiter's body and slammed into the wall, pinning her against it.
"Dammit!" Sailor Jupiter shouted, struggling to break free of the net. "That's not fair!"
Sailor Venus pointed her golden bow at Sekuta and fired a hail of arrows at him. Suddenly, the arrows stopped in place, just a few feet away from Sekuta's body. Sailor Venus gasped as Sekuta reached out and grabbed one of the arrows, holding it in his hand and looking down at it, inspecting it for a few seconds, and then dropped it to the ground. Then, he looked up at the other arrows, and they fell to the ground as well, disintegrating as they did. Sailor Venus gasped and stepped back, a look of fear and shock on her face. Sekuta pointed his arm at Sailor Venus' chest and fired a laserlike beam from his finger, hitting her and dropping her to the ground in an instant. Sailor Moon gasped in horror, while Sekuta smirked and chuckled.
"Neihiliam said you guys would be tough... what happened?" Sekuta asked. "Did all the other fights wear you out?"
Sailor Moon kneeled down over Sailor Venus' unconscious form, looking at the smoldering wound left on her chest by Sekuta's blast. A tear streaked down her face.
"Sailor Venus... no..." Sailor Moon sobbed. "You... you killed her!"
"Bitch had it coming," Sekuta said casually. "I mean, did you see all those arrows she fired at me? I could've been killed!"
Sailor Moon looked up at Sekuta, an expression of rage on her face. Her eyes narrowed, and she slowly brought her henshin stick up to her chest. It began to glow. Sailor Mars, who was just starting to get up from Sekuta's last attack, gasped as she realized what was about to happen.
"The Sword of the Moon..."
Sure enough, Sailor Moon's henshin stick began to transform, into the glistening, jeweled blade that had destroyed Ceyra and Yeika. Sekuta's eyebrows raised, and his arrogant smirk turned into a worried frown.
"This can't be good," Sekuta thought.
---
Meanwhile, Sammy, Rick, and Mika had decided to leave the safety of the bathroom and make a run for Miss Haruna's classroom. As they reached it, the large, turtle-like beast that Rick and Mika had spoken of lumbered out of the room through a large, wide hole it had created. It stood almost six feet tall, and was about the same distance wide, with four large legs that were as wide around as large tree-trunks. Sammy, Rick, and Mika stepped back from the large monster as it slowly walked toward them, its large neck craned down and its piercing gaze meeting their own.
"Oh my God, Sammy, Rick.... we have to run," Mika said, her voice trembling.
"No, I've got to beat this thing and see if Miss Haruna is okay!" Sammy shouted, unsheathing his katana. "You two should probably run...."
"We're not leaving without you!" Mika shouted. Rick turned toward her, even more scared than she was.
"We're... not?" Rick asked.
"Sammy's our best friend, Rick!" Mika said angrily. "No matter what, we have to stick by his side... and we have to help him beat this thing!"
"Please... you guys would only be a burden," Sammy said, as kindly as he could. "I... I don't want to see you hurt again...."
"No.... no, Sammy, we're not leaving!" Rick shouted with renewed determination. "I'd rather be a dead duck than a live chicken anyway... and you are my best friend, so..."
"We're staying with you until the end, Sammy!" Mika said.
"Thanks, guys..." Sammy said softly, beginning to get choked up. Suddenly, the turtle opened its large mouth and fired a stream of lightning at the three teenagers. Instinctively, Sammy held up his sword. "Crap, this is the end..."
But incredibly, the lightning didn't hit Sammy, Rick, or Mika at all. Instead, all of the lightning hit Sammy's sword, which was now glowing with an intense, black glow. The lightning was absorbed into the sword, until the turtle's attack stopped, and the sword now pulsated blue, the same color as the stream of lightning.
"Sammy... your sword... it absorbed the lightning!" Mika shouted in amazement.
"That was cool!" Rick cheered. "Now go kick his ass!"
Sammy nodded and rushed at the turtle, ready to cut it down with his sword like he'd done earlier to the crystalline creatures. But before he could, the turtle lifted up and stomped its powerful foot, sending out a wave of seismic energy that blasted Sammy right off his feet, knocking him to the ground. The katana flew out of his hands, and the gathered energy flew out of the blade and back into the turtle's mouth. Sammy scrambled to grab his katana, but was stopped when the turtle stomped its foot on Sammy's back. The boy let out a loud scream, and then fell limp, seemingly passed out. Rick and Mika gasped.
"No, Sammy!" Mika shouted.
Rick's eyes quickly fixated on Sammy's katana, a few short feet away from the turtle.
"Mika, I'm going to save Sammy like he saved us," Rick said, pointing at the sword.
"Be careful!" Mika shouted fearfully. Rick nodded at her, and then ran for the sword. But as the turtle lifted up its foot and stomped down again, another wave of seismic energy swept under Rick's feet, knocking him to the ground. He slammed into the ground next to the katana and cried out painfully as his foot landed at an awkward angle.
"Argh!" Rick shouted, clutching his ankle in agony. "My ankle... I think it's sprained!"
The turtle stepped over Sammy and began plodding toward Rick, who had seemingly forgotten about Sammy's katana. With a rush of adrenaline, Mika climbed up the turtle's leg and onto his back, reaching out and covering the turtle's eyes with her hands just before it would have stopped on Rick, who was still writhing in agony on the ground. That gave Rick enough time to grab Sammy's katana, rush forward, and slash across the turtle's leg, causing it to roar out in pain. Then, Rick ran over and grabbed Sammy, gently shaking him awake.
"Sammy, Sammy, are you okay?" Rick asked as his friend slowly began to wake up. "Sammy..."
Sammy sat up and looked around, his friend's face being the first thing he saw. Sammy smiled, and Rick smiled back, wrapping his arms around his friend's chest.
"Sammy, I thought you got killed or something!" Rick said, dropping Sammy's katana and hugging him tightly. "Oh geez, I'm really sorry about everything I said, I-"
Mika's scream quickly alerted the boys to their friend being flung into the wall as the turtle thrashed, tossing Mika off of its back. Mika hit the wall with a painful-sounding thud and slowly slid downward, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she fainted.
"MIKA!" Rick shouted, ignoring the pain in his ankle rushing to his fallen girlfriend's side and cradling her in his arms. "Mika...."
"That.... that does it!" Sammy shouted, picking up his katana and running out in front of the turtle monster as it turned toward Rick and Mika. "I'm not letting any of you sick freaks hurt my friends anymore! Prepare to die!"
---
"I'm not scared of your pathetic sword, Sailor Moon...." Sekuta said, menacingly walking toward the angry Moon Senshi. "You'll still die just the same as all of your pathetic friends!"
"This will be over quickly," Sailor Moon said coldly, walking toward Sekuta. She quickly swung her blade, but Sekuta easily blocked the slash with his finger, chuckling as Sailor Moon gasped in shock.
"Is that all?" Sekuta asked. "Really now, you'll have to do better than that!"
Sekuta pointed his arm at Sailor Moon and blasted her backwards with a huge wave of energy. Sailor Moon began to use her balance, but quickly skidded to a stop just a few feet back from where she had stood.
"This isn't over," Sailor Moon said. "I haven't even started!"
Sailor Moon rushed at Sekuta and slashed at him again, but instead of blocking the attack, Sekuta ducked under the slash and headbutted into Sailor Moon's chest, knocking her back again.
"Really now, what does it take to kill you?" Sekuta shouted in frustration. "Looks like I'll have to get rid of that sword...."
"Get rid... of this..." came a weak voice from behind Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon turned around and saw Sailor Venus, who looked barely able to stand. She had her bow pointed right at Sekuta's chest.
"Sailor Venus, you're alive?" Sailor Moon gasped. Sailor Venus fired off the arrow, but Sekuta easily caught it, stopping the attack in its tracks. He smiled at Sailor Venus, and then pointed his finger at her head.
"Looks like you had one attack left," Sekuta taunted. "But I've got plenty more where this one came from... and now you're going to die for good this time!"
Suddenly, a large, sharp object protruded from Sekuta's chest from behind. He gasped, and looked down at the blade of the Sword of the Moon, sticking out from his chest. That was the last thing he saw before his world permanently went black.
"Thanks, Sailor Venus," Sailor Moon said, giving Sailor Venus a thumbs-up as her sword turned back into its normal, henshin-stick form. "I'm... I'm so glad you're alive!"
"It's a miracle!" Sailor Jupiter said as the netting which had held her to the wall disappeared. "I'm glad you're alive too..."
"Yeah, I'm hanging in there," Sailor Venus said, her hand over the wound on her chest. "Gonna need some healing though... at least a bit anyway..."
"Well, at least that guy is dead for good," Sailor Mars said. "And I can't feel any evil forces anymore... we've liberated the school!"
"Now let's go find Sammy!" Sailor Moon said.
---
Sammy swung his katana at the turtle's neck, barely missing as the turtle quickly swung its head away and fired another blast of lightning at Sammy, Rick, and Mika. Again, Sammy held out his sword to block the attack... but this time, nothing happened. The black glow that had surrounded Sammy's sword before was nowhere to be found, and Sammy, Rick, and Mika were blasted with the powerful lightning attack, knocking both Sammy and Rick to the ground next to their already unconscious friend Mika.
"Mika!" Rick shouted, crawling back over to his friend and protectively cradling her in his arms, ignoring his own pain. "Sammy, we've gotta do something!"
Sammy weakly crawled to his feet and stabbed at the monster's neck. This time, he made contact, but his sword failed to pierce the creature's hard skin, making only a tiny nick that drew a small amount of crimson blood from the deadly creature. This tiny cut infuriated the monster, and it reared up on its hind legs, then stomped both of his feet onto the ground at once, creating a huge seismic wave that blasted all three friends back into the wall. Now, both Rick and Mika were knocked out, and only Sammy remained conscious, struggling to stand up once more as his pained body became covered with bruises.
"Got to... protect... my friends..." Sammy groaned, pointing his katana at the powerful creature. "Got to.... got to.... argh..."
Sammy fell to the ground. It was extremely painful for Sammy to stand, and he lowered his sword, tears coming to his eyes as he slowly became resigned to his fate.
"I.... I failed... I couldn't protect my friends... I couldn't even protect myself," Sammy thought sadly. "Rick... Mika... forgive me..."
"Yaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Out of nowhere, Sparrow appeared and leapt up and onto the creature's back in an incredible display of agility. Sammy's eyes lit up with hope.
"Sparrow...." Sammy groaned as Sparrow turned toward him and his friends.
"You guys are banged up pretty bad," Sparrow said. "And I promised your sister I wouldn't let you get hurt... well, at least you won't get killed! Not while I'm around! Take THIS!"
With a powerful stab, Sparrow thrust the sword deep through the creature's shell and into its back. Then, the creature disappeared in a bright flash of light, killed in one hit by Sparrow's lethal attack. She landed on the ground, sheathed her sword, and quickly ran up to Sammy and his friends.
"Don't worry," Sparrow said, pointing her arm at Sammy, Rick, and Mika. "I'll have you healed in a jiffy..."
A warm, pink pulse of energy emanated from Sparrow's hand, healing all the bruises and wounds from the bodies of the three battered friends. Slowly, Rick and Mika began to wake up.
"Where... are we?" Rick asked, looking around. "Are we dead?"
"I don't think so," Mika said softly. "We're still in the school!"
"Sparrow came and rescued us!" Sammy said, standing up and smiling at Sparrow. Rick and Mika stood up as well, and embraced for several seconds, extremely happy to be alive, and happy that their friends were alive as well.
"Thank you, Sparrow...." Rick said as he slowly pulled away from Mika's hug. "You... you saved us again..."
"You're really incredible!" Mika said, and Sparrow simply giggled.
"I'm just glad I found you before it was too late," Sparrow said. "Now we should probably get out of here..."
Suddenly, Sparrow groaned, and she put her hand to her forehead.
"Sparrow, what's wrong?" Sammy asked.
"Guess I'm still a little weak after battling Jekelai... and healing you guys... and fixing your burned house."
"You WHAT?" Sammy asked, his eyes widening. "You... you..."
Sparrow looked up at Sammy and nodded.
"I restored your house and everything in it to its normal condition," Sparrow said.
"Oh my gosh, Sparrow, I.... I don't know what to say!" Sammy said, his voice beaming with happiness. "Oh... oh.... thank you so much!"
Sammy ran toward Sparrow and began to hug her, but she gently nudged him away.
"That's... quite alright, Sammy, I know you're really happy," Sparrow said, smiling. "Like I said, I'm just happy you and your friends are alright... and it's a good thing these creeps didn't go after Ami's school."
"True, true," Sammy said. "But they went after my sister's.... is she okay? And wait, Ami wasn't at Serena's school?"
"Your sister's fine, and yeah, Ami went to her gifted school before the monsters came," Sparrow said.
"So... I guess everything's turned out alright then!" Rick said, smiling. Mika nodded.
"We should probably leave and see if everyone else got out safely," Mika said. "They've probably all gone home by now."
"Sparrow... you take Rick and Mika back home, okay?" Sammy asked. "I'm gonna go check on Miss Haruna... that turtle thing was in her classroom!"
"Okay, Sammy," Sparrow said. Then, she turned to Rick and Mika. "I'm not sure if I have enough strength to teleport, so I'll just walk home with you guys, okay?"
Rick and Mika nodded.
"Bye, Sammy!" Rick said. "See you in school tomorrow, okay?"
Mika giggled.
"Um... I don't think they're gonna have school tomorrow," Mika said. "Bye, Sammy!"
Sammy ran into Miss Haruna's classroom, but breathed a loud sigh of relief when he saw his teacher crouching under her desk with Mei-Lin, unharmed.
"Sammy, is that you?" Miss Haruna asked, climbing out from under her desk with Mei-Lin. "I'm glad you're alright... I thought that monster might've-"
"It's been taken care of!" Sammy said, smiling. "You see, Sparrow showed up, and-"
"Sparrow... is she... one of the Sailor Senshi?" Mei-Lin asked.
"Uh... yeah!" Sammy said, nodding. "That's probably all they need to know..."
"Well, I'm glad you're okay, Sammy..." Miss Haruna said, walking over toward the large hole that was now the entrance of the classroom.
"I'm glad you're okay too, Miss Haruna," Sammy said. "I'll see you, um... the next time we have school!"
Miss Haruna nodded.
"I wonder why all those monsters attacked us, though..." Miss Haruna said softly. Sammy gulped, and began to wonder if he should tell the truth.
"If I tell her the monsters attacked because of me, I could get kicked out of school!" Sammy thought. "But maybe I deserve to be kicked out of school... it IS my fault that all these monsters attacked, after all... oh, I don't know what to do!"
"Probably because weird monsters like that are attracted to kids," Mei-Lin said. "Those creepy monsters always want to put poor innocent children in danger! It's a good thing that Sailor, um.... Sparrow, wasn't it, Sammy?"
Sammy nodded.
"Sailor Sparrow was here to save the day!" Mei-Lin said, finishing her sentence. "I just hope nobody was hurt..."
Miss Haruna nodded.
"Well, you two should probably be headed home... we've all had a rough day," Miss Haruna said tiredly. "Goodbye, and I'm glad both of you are safe!"
Sammy and Mei-Lin waved as Miss Haruna walked down the hall and turned a corner, out of their sight.
"I guess we should probably go home," Mei-Lin said. Sammy nodded. "But, um... Sammy?"
"Yes, Mei-Lin?" Sammy asked, turning toward his classmate. "Is there something you want to ask me?"
"Well...." Mei-Lin said, a red blush beginning to come to her cheeks. "You see, I... I know you like Ami and all, but... um... you see... I have a crush on you, Sammy!"
"Wha?" Sammy said, slightly taken aback. "Um, Mei-Lin... Ami and I are really in love, and-"
"I know, I know," Mei-Lin said, turning away from Sammy in embarrassment. "I shouldn't have told you... I just... I just wanted to get it out into the open, Sammy..."
"That's okay, Mei-Lin..." Sammy said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to be embarrassed about it... I'm sure you can find someone else that will like you, though... you're a nice girl, Mei-Lin."
"Thank you, Sammy," Mei-Lin said. "I... I think I will try to find someone else... thanks for not getting mad or anything..."
But before Sammy could reply, a tiny, green speck of light appeared between Sammy and Mei-Lin. Sammy gasped.
"Mei-Lin, look out!" Sammy shouted as the speck materialized into Neihiliam, who looked very angry.
"You... you and those Sailor witches killed all of my monsters! My BABIES!" Neihiliam shouted, pointing her arm at Sammy and blasting him into the wall with a powerful blast of magical energy.
"Argh!" Sammy shouted as his back hit the wall with incredible force. Mei-Lin turned and gasped.
"Sammy, no!" Mei-Lin shouted.
"And who's this?" Neihiliam asked upon seeing Mei-Lin, who began to tremble in fright. "Well, if you insist upon killing my creations, then I'll kill one of your friends!"
Neihiliam shot a glowing green ring from her hand, which wrapped around Mei-Lin, pinning her arms to her sides. Then, Neihiliam clamped her hand over Mei-Lin's mouth and slammed the girl back into the wall, holding her in the air and pinning her against the chalkboard at the same time.
"MEI-LIN!!!" Sammy shouted, standing up and holding his katana out in front of him. "Put her down right now, or-"
"Or what?" Neihiliam asked, swinging around and holding Mei-Lin out toward Sammy so that her back was facing him, still clamping her hand over the trembling girl's mouth. "No, Sammy, I think I'll kill her right now."
Neihiliam's other arm turned into a long, pointed blade, which she held up against Mei-Lin's chest. The girl thrashed about in the monster's grip, unable to do anything with the energy clamp around her arms, and all of her screams being muffled by Neihiliam's hand.
"I'LL RUN HER THROUGH, SAMMY!" Neihiliam shrieked.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sammy shouted in agony as he realized he was helpless to stop Neihiliam. But a split-second before Neihiliam would have skewered the helpless girl to death, the evil youma was skewered herself, on the tip of a glowing, golden energy blade. Neihiliam fell dead off of the tip of the blade and onto the ground in a pool of blood, her grip releasing from Mei-Lin's face and her clamp disappearing, freeing the girl's arms. As Neihiliam lay dead on the ground, and the sobbing and trembling Mei-Lin rushed into Sammy's arms, Sammy's eyes could only focus on the cold gaze of the person who'd done Neihiliam in and had inadvertently saved Mei-Lin's life. That person... was Jekelai.
"While it would have been fun to let your trembling friend die," Jekelai said, a smile on his face, "I cannot let any of Cestari's pathetic flunkies do the job that was originally assigned to me. Besides, you care little about the girl's life... the Dark Crystal would not have been extracted by killing her. Never send a youma to do a man's job."
"Mei-Lin... get out of here..." Sammy whispered to his still-sobbing friend.
"B-b-b-but... but the monsters will hurt me, and-"
"GO!" Sammy shouted, half-pushing Mei-Lin out of his arms. Mei-Lin stared at Sammy for a few seconds, and then ran out of the room in fright. Jekelai looked in the girl's direction, but then turned back to Sammy.
"I'd kill her, but it's not worth the energy," Jekelai said. "I've got another target in mind..."
"You won't hurt anyone, Jekelai," Sammy said, extending his katana. "I'll see to that."
---
I've been quite liberal with my use of the cliffies, haven't I? Welp, it looks like Sammy vs. Jekelai II is about to begin... or is it? What DOES Jekelai have in mind? Better read next chapter to find out!
