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.
Reviews: Coming next chapter!
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"I'm going to kill you, Jekelai!"
"Tough words for such a young man... perhaps you should at least attack first before you start boasting."
Fueled by adrenaline and rage, Sammy rushed Jekelai and repeatedly swung his sword at his head and midsection. Sammy's blows came in faster than Jekelai had anticipated, and he quickly raised up his arms to block the swings. Using a powerful aura of magic around both of his arms, Jekelai blocked all of Sammy's attacks, then blasted him backward with a powerful beam of magical energy. Sammy flew back and hit the floor hard, crying out in pain.
"What's the matter, Sammy?" Jekelai asked mockingly, slowly walking over to the downed boy as he struggled to stand. "Ami's in danger... she could die at any second. You'd better hope Sparrow brings her back alive."
"When you die.... Ami and Sparrow will come back..." Sammy groaned, standing up. "I can't fail them! I have to destroy you!"
Sammy mightily swung his sword at Jekelai's head, but Jekelai easily blocked the slash with his finger.
"As long as I keep my energy up, Sammy, your sword can't hurt me," Jekelai said, smiling.
"Then I'll just have to wear you down!" Sammy shouted. He took several more swings at Jekelai, but each time his sword came forward, Jekelai blocked it, and each time he blocked it, it seemed more and more easy. Now, Sammy was beginning to get frustrated.
"Are you done?" Jekelai asked. "No? Too bad."
Before Sammy could swing his sword again, several large, sharp vines burst forth from the ground around Sammy. They intertwined and wrapped together, trapping Sammy in a small cage as the vines wrapped around a fixed point several feet above Sammy's head, sealing together. Sammy immediately began chopping at the bars of the vine cage with his sword, but he could do no damage to the thick vines trapping him.
"Perhaps you should see what is happening to your precious Ami," Jekelai said, opening up a small, portal just outside of Sammy's cage. Sammy desperately reached for it, but his reach extended merely inches short of the entrance of the portal. "This small portal leads to the same place my larger one did... and by the way, even if you could go in, it's far too small for you to fit in. Think of it as a... television, Sammy. Just watch... and enjoy the show."
---
Meanwhile, just outside of Ami's school, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus were desperately rushing toward the scene of the battle. They dashed inside the school and looked all around the halls, searching for any sign of Sammy.
"Sammy? Ami?" Sailor Moon cried out loudly. "Please, if you can hear me..."
"What happened here?" Sailor Mars gasped in horror, seeing several bodies of fallen students lying on the floor. "They... they're dead..."
"No!" Sailor Jupiter shouted in anguish, collapsing to the floor. "We got here too late..."
"Do you.... do you think Sammy and Ami are-" Sailor Venus began.
"NO!" Sailor Moon shouted, grabbing Sailor Venus firmly by the arms. "They're alive, I know it! They have to be! They.... they...."
As the reality of the situation began to sink in, tears began to stream down Sailor Moon's face, and down the faces of the other Senshi as well. Sailor Mars raised her wrist communicator to her lips and began to speak into it.
"Ami... come in... Ami, are you here? Ami?"
Sailor Mars turned to the others, a terrified look on her face.
"Nothing... just... just static," Sailor Mars sobbed. "Mercury is... something terrible must have happened!"
---
The first thing Sparrow noticed after the portal closed behind her were volcanoes... lots of volcanoes... and fire, and molten lava. The entire landscape around her was a burning field of fire, with only molten rock to stand on. Sparrow quickly floated above the rivers of flame to avoid having her feet burned by the deadly magma.
"What... what is this place?" Sparrow said solemnly, looking all around. "Sailor Mercury, where are you? SAILOR MERCURY!"
Though Sparrow screamed at the top of her lungs, Sailor Mercury was nowhere to be seen. The most noticeable landscape amongst the fields of flame was a gigantic volcano, by far the tallest that Sparrow could see. It was nearly ten miles high, and a large plume of smoke was floating upward from its huge crater.
"She... she must be up there," Sparrow said, looking up at the smoking volcano and feeling a slight twinge of fear as a huge rumbling began just beneath her feet. "The entire planet is shaking apart! I have to hurry!"
With incredible speed, Sparrow flew up the volcano's surface, sure that Sailor Mercury was somewhere near the top.
---
The small portal before Sammy's eyes snapped shut, and he immediately flared with rage.
"You sent her to a volcano?" Sammy shouted.
"Not just any volcano, Sammy... I sent her to one of my pocket dimensions... my favorite one, in fact. I also sent a powerful and deadly mercenary to deal with Sparrow, should she actually reach your beloved Ami... they'll both be dying, very soon."
"How... how... HOW DARE YOU!" Sammy shouted, his anger growing in intensity with every second, as it was fueled by the fear that Sammy was feeling for Ami's life. "You're nothing but a pathetic coward, Jekelai! You knew that Sparrow could beat you, so you sent her after Ami so you could get me alone... and kill them both without me interfering!"
"Whatever you say, Sammy," Jekelai said, pointing his arm at the cage around Sammy. "Maybe I should shut you up..."
Jekelai fired a tiny ball of energy into the cage. It slammed into Sammy's chest and knocked him to the ground.
"I... I won't let you hurt Ami... I won't... I won't..."
Jekelai fired another energy ball into the cage, but this time, Sammy was ready. He leapt to his feet and smashed the blade of his sword into the energy ball, knocking it out of the cage and sending it flying up and into the sky through the demolished roof of the gym. Sammy's energy aura began to grow again, and then, with a loud scream, burst outward, shattering the bars of the cage and causing Jekelai to recoil in shock.
"The Dark Crystal... its power is intensifying within Sammy... it's about to come out, I know it!"
Sammy rushed at Jekelai and slashed at his face, as the sword and Sammy's entire body took on an intense black glow. Jekelai raised his arm to block the slash, and Sammy's sword slashed into it, creating a large, bloody gash that stunned Jekelai even more. Now, Sammy was on the offensive. He lunged forward with a punch to Jekelai's cheek that sent Jekelai tumbling back, and nearly falling to the ground.
"I've had enough of you!" Jekelai shouted as Sammy prepared to strike him again. "Take THIS!"
Jekelai pointed his arm at Sammy, and a powerful, cyclonic burst of wind rushed upward from the floor and swept Sammy up into the sky before disappearing and rudely dropping him to the ground with incredible force. Sammy put out his arms to brace himself from the fall, and landed hard on them, rolling over onto his back. His sword had been knocked from his hands by the cyclone, and was lying several feet away from Sammy. Sammy crawled over and put his fingers around the hilt, and then slowly climbed to his feet.
"Sammy!" shouted Sailor Moon, rushing into the room followed by Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. "Oh dear... he's hurt really, really badly..."
"Sammy, are you alright?" Sailor Jupiter shouted.
"And where's Sailor Mercury?" Sailor Venus asked. "We-"
"No!" Jekelai shouted, sneering at the Senshi in contempt. "You will not interfere!"
Jekelai extended both of his arms outward, and large, sweeping, purple energy panels encircled the interior of the gym, creating a circular ring about forty feet in diameter, forming a magical energy barrier that blocked out the Senshi, who were forced to stand on the outside and observe the ongoing fight.
"Now that they're out of the way," Jekelai said, "we-"
"Can finish this," Sammy said coldly, his energy aura beginning to flare up again. "My body hurts so much... the Dark Crystal has a hold over me, it's giving me all of this power... I can feel it..."
Sammy ripped off his white sweater, revealing a slightly bruised and burned chest and two moderately bruised arms, damaged by the fall Sammy had just taken. He continued to wear his blue jeans, though they had sustained several rips and tears, and a stream of blood could be seen trickling down from one of his knees. Jekelai looked at the injuries he'd caused and smiled in approval.
"Let's stop all of this talking now and begin fighting again," Jekelai said. "Now that the Senshi can't interfere, you won't have to worry about me killing them... yet."
---
After two minutes of nonstop flying at an extremely rapid pace, Sparrow reached the top of the volcano. There, suspended by glowing chains of energy above a huge, smoking crater, was Sailor Mercury, dangling from her wrists above a gigantic lake of smoldering lava, hundreds of feet below. As Sparrow flew in to get a closer look, she realized that the Senshi of Water was unconscious, obviously from the heavy injuries that Jekelai had inflicted.
"Don't worry, Ami... I'll get you down from there..."
"Touch any one of those chains and they disappear... she'll be dumped right into the lava!" shouted a high-pitched male voice from behind Sparrow. Sparrow turned around and was face to face with a tall, red-haired man, floating just a few feet in front of her. He had a dastardly sneer on his face, and his arms were crossed in front of his chest.
"Why did you tell me that?" Sparrow asked. "If you want her dead anyway..."
"Because I'd rather torture her when she's alive than kill her when she's unconscious!" shouted the man, laughing loudly. Sparrow frowned.
"So you're a sadistic psycho... I see," Sparrow said. "And so I'm going to have to fight you to get Ami back, am I right?"
"Bingo," the man said. "Now you're catching on. I'm Kerigulus, one of Jekelai's most powerful mercenaries, and-"
"You're going to kill me and Ami, and report back to Jekelai," Sparrow said sarcastically. "Well, it's not going to happen today."
---
As Sammy and Jekelai resumed their battle, the four Senshi languished outside, desperate to assist in the fight.
"We have to get in there and save Sammy!" Sailor Moon shouted, still crying profusely. "He's my only brother, and I can't let him die! I can't!"
"There's nothing we can do, Sailor Moon," Sailor Mars said, a look of sadness on her face. "I know Sammy needs us, but... we're going to have to wait for an opportunity..."
"What if he DIES before then?" Sailor Moon screamed.
Sailor Moon collapsed to her knees, overwhelmed by hopelessness and grief. Inside the purple barrier, Sammy ran at Jekelai again, sword in hand.
"I managed to cut him last time!" Sammy thought. "So I know he's starting to wear down, or I'm getting stronger... one of the two... don't worry, Ami! I promise I'll beat Jekelai for you!"
Jekelai didn't move, even as Sammy began to run quicker and quicker. But as Sammy got just three feet away from Jekelai, a black energy dome appeared around him, stopping him in his tracks. Jekelai took a step away from the dome and waved his arm, causing the dome to explode in a huge flash of energy.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sailor Moon screamed, running into the purple barrier and being blasted backward by its powerful magic, slamming into the wall behind her and slumping against it. Ignoring her pain, she rose to her feet and tried to run at the pulsating barrier again, but was restrained by all three Sailor Senshi, who held her back despite her immense struggles to get away.
"It's... no good... Sailor Moon!" Sailor Jupiter shouted. "The barrier is... too powerful..."
"LET ME GO!" Sailor Moon screamed. "MY BROTHER IS IN THERE, AND-"
"Is perfectly fine, Serena."
"What?" Jekelai roared, looking at the spot where the dome had been. The explosion had created a small crater, but Sammy was nearly unharmed by the attack, walking out of the crater with only minor cuts and burns from the powerful attack. The aura of dark energy around his body was now extremely prominent, and it was clear that the Dark Crystal's power had shielded him from the attack. Sailor Moon smiled at Sammy, and then fainted in the Senshi's arms. Sammy turned back to Jekelai and frowned.
"You made my sister faint... I can't forgive you for that, Jekelai," Sammy said angrily.
"She shouldn't have rushed my barrier," Jekelai replied. "She should know better than that. Actually, she should be dead."
---
Kerigulus flew at Sparrow, ready to strike. Though he was powerful, he was very naive, and Jekelai hadn't informed him of the extent of Sparrow's powers. Kerigulus finally reached Sparrow and formed two large, glowing energy sabers, one in each hand. He brutally slashed at Sparrow with the sabers, but only one of the slashes made contact, making a small slash across Sparrow's cheek. Sparrow grimaced at the slash and replied by punching Kerigulus hard in the face, sending him plummeting down toward the burning lava in the volcano. Just before he reached the lava, he came to a stop, and swiped his hand across his forehead, a look of fear on his face.
"That was a close one," Kerigulus thought. "What's wrong with Jekelai, sending me here? I'm no fire elemental... this kinda stuff was Pyretta's job, dammit!"
"So, you like to play around fire, but you're scared to get burned?" Sparrow taunted. "Well then, you won't like this..."
Sparrow pointed her arms down at Kerigulus and fired a scorching beam of flame at him. Kerigulus screamed and flew just out of the beam's path, as it hit the lava and made a huge explosion of fire. Some of the lava tossed upward from the explosion barely missed hitting Sailor Mercury, who was still dangling unconsciously above the smoldering crater.
"Dammit, I have to be careful..." Sparrow said quietly. Kerigulus floated up to Sparrow and laughed.
"That's right you'd better be careful... you wouldn't want to barbecue poor Sailor Mercury, would you? What would Sammy think?"
"I've had just about enough of you, Kerigulus," Sparrow said. She began to glow with a brilliant white light, and Kerigulus had to cover his eyes for several seconds.
"What's she doing?" he shouted. "That light is far too bright to-"
When the light disappeared from Sparrow's form, she looked almost exactly the same, except that she had slightly longer hair, and now sported two large, prominent fangs where her front teeth used to be.
"What the heck?" Kerigulus said, confused by Sparrow's transformation. "What did you-"
"Did Jekelai ever tell you I was a shapeshifter?"
"Yes, but-"
Suddenly, Kerigulus was cut off, as Sparrow teleported behind him and sank her powerful fangs into his neck. The mercenary went pale, and then fainted, his drained body plummeting to the lava below and burning to cinders. Sparrow detransformed and licked her lips, cleaning Kerigulus' blood from her mouth.
"Guess Jekelai didn't tell him I could become a vampire. Well, it's too late for him, isn't it?"
Suddenly, another loud rumbling shook the ground below Sparrow, and plumes of lava shot forth from the crater, one of the plumes narrowly missing Sailor Mercury. Sparrow knew that she had to act fast.
"I've gotta get Ami out of here!"
Sparrow flew over to the chains around Sailor Mercury's wrists and tugged at them as hard as she could. Sure enough, they disappeared, sending the unconscious Senshi plummeting. With incredible speed, Sparrow flew down and caught Sailor Mercury in her arms, protectively clutching her as she flew up out of the now-erupting volcano. As the large volcano erupted, the other volcanoes began to erupt as well, and the sky was filled with lava and deadly, poisonous gas.
"I'd better teleport," Sparrow thought to herself. "Unnh... those last couple of battles and that transformation really wore me out... I hope I have enough strength left..."
---
Sammy came at Jekelai again, who formed a large, glowing energy sword in his right hand to parry Sammy's slashes. The two warriors swung at each other, and the swords clashed, sending off a large energy shockwave that made a loud booming noise as it slammed into Jekelai's purple barrier.
"That's the sword you killed Neihiliam with," Sammy said.
"And saved your pathetic friend's life," Jekelai replied. "I'm beginning to think that was a mistake!"
The two swords clashed again, creating another large shockwave. Jekelai leapt back, into the air, and pointed his arm at Sammy.
"I tire of this!" Jekelai shouted. "Ami should be dead by now... where is that CRYSTAL?"
Before Sammy could move, a huge bolt of black lightning fell from the sky and slammed into Sammy, sending him immediately to his knees. The lightning continued to shock Sammy, and he began to scream out in pain, his energy aura the only thing saving him from certain death. He gripped the handle of his sword and slowly tried to stand, but the power of the lightning was too much for Sammy to handle, and he fell to his knees again. Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus gasped as the powerful lightning bolt surged through Sammy, and by now, all three of them were in tears. Jekelai began to laugh mercilessly as Sammy futilely struggled to stand.
"You... won't beat me... you won't... hurt Ami!!!" Sammy shouted, before screaming again as the lightning bolt intensified further.
"I will now show you the fate of your pathetic Ami!" Jekelai said, opening up the tiny portal again to display his fiery pocket dimension to Sammy. "WATCH AS SHE DIES!"
"NO!" Sammy cried out, tears streaming down his face as the lightning bolt pinned him on his knees to the floor. "Ami... I failed you..."
Sparrow dove out of the gate, protectively clutching Sailor Mercury in her arms. She slammed into the floor behind Sammy, and the portal disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. Jekelai couldn't believe his eyes, and as his attention turned to Sparrow and Sailor Mercury, the lightning bolt shocking Sammy disappeared, and Sammy was finally able to stand, the black energy aura still engulfing his heavily bruised body.
"Ami... I don't believe it!" Sammy shouted, running past Sparrow and wrapping his arms around Sailor Mercury's unconscious form. "Oh my gosh, Sparrow, you... you saved her... how can I ever-"
"Don't mention it," Sparrow said, smiling at Sammy, and then turning back toward Jekelai, her smile disappearing.
"You bitch!" Jekelai shouted, his teeth clenched in rage. "You ruined... you ruined EVERYTHING! I was seconds away from getting the Dark Crystal out of that child's weak little body, and-"
"And you didn't..." Sparrow said weakly, her voice starting to fade. "And now... I'm... I'm going to... destroy..."
Sparrow collapsed to the floor, unconscious. After a day of fighting, rebuilding, and rescuing, Sparrow could take no more. As she lay passed out on the floor, a victorious smile overtook Jekelai's face, and he began to walk menacingly toward Sammy and Sailor Mercury.
"Ami, please... please wake up..." Sammy sobbed. "Please tell me you're okay..."
But Sailor Mercury did not awaken, because unlike last time, she had barely any energy left. But though she was unconscious, she had the strength to smile, and she could hear Sammy's words, deep within her mind. She gave Sammy the tiniest of smiles, and that was all he needed.
"Ami... I love you," Sammy whispered, gently caressing his unconscious lover's face. "I'll protect you until we can get somewhere safe, okay?"
But Jekelai had other plans. With a powerful blow from the back of his arm, Jekelai knocked Sammy away from Sailor Mercury, and sent him flying, until he landed on his face just a few feet away from her unconscious body. He climbed up onto one knee and gasped as Jekelai stood over Sailor Mercury, an energy sword raised above her chest.
"Sailor Mercury, no!" Sailor Mars shouted, observing helplessly from outside the purple energy barrier. "We've got to do something!"
"Sailor Moon is still out," Sailor Jupiter said, kneeling over the Moon Senshi's body.
"There's gotta be a way to save Ami!" Sailor Venus yelled. "This is really bad..."
"That Dark Crystal has to come out now!" Jekelai said. Sammy tried to stand up, but intense pain forced him back onto one knee, and he realized that he was helpless to save Ami's life.
"AMI!"
From deep within Sammy's body, a huge amount of dark energy rushed, quickly engulfing Sammy's entire body, pain stabbing outward wherever the energy touched. But it didn't matter. All of the anguish in Sammy's heart and soul drowned out this new pain, and all that Sammy could feel was incredible power. His feet began to lift up off of the ground, and as Jekelai's sword plunged down toward Sailor Mercury's chest, Sammy hit Jekelai like a freight train. A pain that Jekelai had never felt before, not even at the hands of Sparrow, surged through his body, and Sammy charged forward, slamming Jekelai back into the purple energy barrier and shattering it, plunging him all the way back into the wall with incredible force. A huge explosion of energy lit up around Sammy and Jekelai, and then an intense silence fell over the gym as the dust began to settle. Sailor Mars immediately rushed to the center of the gym to check on Sailor Mercury and Sparrow, waving the other two Senshi on to the other side of the gym to check on Sammy.
"Go, see if Sammy's okay!" Sailor Mars shouted, and the two Senshi nodded and rushed toward the huge cloud of smoke that had formed after the explosion. But before they even got to the pile of rubble made by the blast, which easily took out the half of Ami's school behind the gym, Sammy crawled out of the rubble himself, slowly inching his way toward the center of the gym... to Ami. The dark aura around his body had disappeared, and the only thought on his mind was getting to Ami, at any cost.
"Sammy, you shouldn't be crawling on the ground like that," Sailor Jupiter said. "You're badly hurt..."
"I don't care..." Sammy said, making his way along the heavily-damaged floor. "I want... to be... with Ami..."
Jekelai continued to lay at the bottom of the rubble pile, and as he started to climb out, an intense wave of pain overtook his body. He let out a weak, anguished growl, and then, with the last of his strength, teleported back to his palace, unseen by the Senshi.
"Sammy, you... you just kicked Jekelai's butt!" Sailor Venus said, unaware that Jekelai wasn't really dead. "One punch, you..."
But Sammy continued to ignore the Senshi. He crawled over to Sailor Mercury and then stopped next to her at a perpendicular angle to her body, his head next to hers. She opened her eyes for a few seconds and turned toward Sammy, who looked up at her and opened his eyes as wide as he could. For the first time that day, he could truly feel joy.
"I love you too, Sammy," she whispered, before fading once more into unconsciousness. Sammy leaned over her and gently kissed her on the lips. Then, he too fell away into blissful sleep.
"We'd better hurry and get them back to the shrine..." Sailor Mars said, looking at the other two Senshi. "I'll carry Sailor Moon..."
"I can carry two of them... Sammy and Ami," Sailor Jupiter said.
"And I guess that leaves me with Sparrow," Sailor Venus replied. "Well... I guess we'd better go then... we've got a long walk ahead of us..."
The three Senshi picked up their unconscious friends and slowly trudged out of the ruined school, hoping that the day of carnage was finally over.
---
Jekelai had one last stop to make before going back to his palace. He teleported to the roof of Crossroads Junior High, where Mikhail lay slumped against the wall, the only living being on the premises. Intensely weak and injured from his fight against Sammy, Jekelai slowly walked up to Mikhail and started to kick him to wake him up. But Mikhail was already awake, floating up away from Jekelai's half-hearted kick and then back down to the roof's surface, looking up into Jekelai's eyes.
"How did it go?" Mikhail asked. "Did you-"
"I was... this close..." Jekelai said, holding his fingers a fraction of an inch apart. "All that power... and the Dark Crystal still remains within the boy! I didn't extract it at all, but..."
"But what?" Mikhail asked, curiously.
"Can't you see?" Jekelai shouted, indicating his badly beaten body. "That Crystal... took nearly all of my strength with one mighty burst of energy... and yet... it refuses to come out!"
"Did you kill Ami?" Mikhail asked.
"No... and that's the problem," Jekelai said. "I've killed no one at all close to the boy. I've damaged and injured all of his friends, but I haven't been able to kill anyone, except for a few of Ami's pathetic classmates."
"That's too bad," Mikhail said slyly.
"How about you, Mikhail?" Jekelai asked. "Have you... gained the boy's trust?"
"Thanks to you, I'm his new best friends... his old ones won't speak to him," Mikhail said, a smile crossing his face.
"While I am recovering, this entire mission shifts to you, Mikhail," Jekelai said. "You will NOT fail me."
"I will not fail you, my lord," Mikhail said.
"Allow the boy a day to rest... the Crystal must be at full strength before it can be most effectively extracted," Jekelai said. "But tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow, make his pathetic life a living hell."
"I will do that and far more, my lord," Mikhail replied. "And then, the Crystal will be yours, my lord."
A portal appeared behind Jekelai.
"Do not fail me, Mikhail," Jekelai said. He stepped back, and the portal closed and disappeared, leaving Sammy's treacherous 'friend' Mikhail standing alone on the roof, as the cold winter winds began to whip around him.
---
Finally, an end to the day of bad guys attacking schools! What was that, three or four chapters? ^_^ Only six chapters remain, and trust me, they'll be intense! Very intensely intense! So please intensely review, okay?
