Kaiya: Oh, ooops ::Smacks herself in back of her head:: Guess I wasn't paying attention* Anyways, I hope this chapter is ok! Thanks for pointing that out, and thanks for your review!
Shadow Fox2: Thanks for your review!
DevilWench: Thanks for reviewing!
minimerc: Thanks for your review!
Tenshi-Hotaru: Thankyou for a nice long review! Right now, I'm gonna say Anna knows she's hiding sonething, but doesn't know what. Yes, Aiko, Anna, Ami. Well, I came up with Aiko without considering Ami, and then I needed a name for James's mom, and Anna came to mind before I noticed. Thanks for your review!
Chapter 6
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Last time:
"I do have a lot to tell you, but we can't talk in front of the cab driver. You can however, try to figure this out for me," she said, handing him the paper.
---
"A fortune," he asked, reading it over.
"Doesn't sound much like one. It's from the Burger Place, but since when do they give out stuff like this? I eat there all the time, and we've never recieved anything like that before," Ami explained. Quatre nodded and read it again, as they walked down the steps.
-Those you trust can lead you wrong, and those you don't could be your salvation. Trust those you trust, although watching what's going on around you, trust those you don't. Think twice before giving an answer-
"I don't know Ami. I believe it sounds almost like a warning. Strange," he said mostly to himself. Ami nodded.
"But what does trust have to do with anything at the moment," she asked. Quatre frowned, and he was silent. He opened up the door to the taxi for her. She slid in, and he went after her. The ride was silent. Once they arrived, Quatre spoke up, just before she opened the door to the hall.
"Ami, do you think Julliana was able to attack everyone because I trusted so much that I let her in the estate," he asked. Ami paused. That had come out of nowhere.
"No."
"How are you sure? Maybe this has something to do with it. Some kind of warning against trusting the way I did," he said. Ami shook her head.
"It's wonderful that you have so much faith in people Quatre," she said, kissing his cheek.
"If you didn't trust people the way you did, I never would have met you, right?" He had to agree to that. Nodding, he opened the door for them to walk inside. She gave a small smile and walked in, him following. They found seat near the front. The show was a musical. It had a lot of comedy. The black haired little girl stood on the stage and had just started her little dance when the door flew open. A whisper spread through the crowd, and a shadowed figure stood in the doorway. The person stepped into the auditorium. He wore a suit and a hat that was tipped, hiding most of their face. Everyone turned back to the stage.
Ami couldn't help feeling a little on edge after the person entered the room. She and her friends had a keen ability to sense these things, not nearly as much as Rei, but whenever something wasn't right, or when something was about to happen, Ami always had this bad feeling. It made her feel a bit ill, kind of like she could sense the evil approaching. Ami turned to look at the newcomer. She frowned when the person removed their hat. Andrew? He gave a small smile and turned to look at the stage.
"Are you alright," whispered Quatre.
"Yes, it's just.." Ami's voice faded as the main character stepped onto the stage to sing a solo, and everyone's attention was focused on the stage.
Ami still couldn't shake the feeling, even when the show was over and the room started to empty. She looked back at where Andrew was, to find he wasn't there anymore. He was speaking with the main actress, probably congratulating her. Ami and Quatre turned to leave. They were out the door and in the main hall when there were several screams. Ami and Quatre spun around and raced back in. Everyone was lying on the ground, not moving. There bodies had a black glow around them, and on the stage stood a youma holding a black orb in her hand. The energy from everyone flowed into the orb
Making sure everyone besides the youma in the room was unconsious, Ami transformed. The youma was so absorbed in the energy flow, that it didn't notice.
"Here, call my friends for help," she said, handing him her communicater. Quatre stepped out the door and to the right, where he could watch and not risk being killed while he called for help.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" The orb the youma was holding shattered, and everyone's energy returned to them. They fled from the room, nearly trampling Quatre in their hurry. Mercury stood facing the youma, which seemed to be building in anger. A smile suddenly appeared on the youma's face, causing Mercury to frown. Before she knew it, something had her around the neck from behind. Mercury took a better look at the youma in front of her. It was a light green. The arm of the youma that had her around the neck was a dark green.
"Glad you met my counter part, scout. My master did say you would interfere. And you lost us the energy we collected," the youma said, her voice growing dark. The one holding her tightened it's grip. Mercury felt her eyes water.
"Mercury!" She heard Quatre call. She felt the hands griping her neck loosen as Quatre rammed into the youma, knocking it off of it's feet. Mercury jumped up and grabbed Quatre before the youma killed him. They backed up against the wall, both youma approaching.
"I'm afraid you two will just have to make up for the energy we lost," one said, raising her hand. The other smiled and took a step towards them. Mercury looked around. No where to go.
She raised her arm to attack.
"Move again Mercury, and your boyfriend here will be bleeding all over the pretty ceramic floor," the first threatened, turning her arm into a sword. Mercury stopped. Her eyes whized around the auditorium, trying to figure a way out. She forced herself not to smile as she came up with plan. She faked a relieved look.
"The sailor scouts!" She cried, smiling and pointing. Both the youma turned, giving Mercury a chance to attack.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" The youma froze, and she and Quatre sprinted past them. However the youma broke out of their ice too quickly. They attacked them, and Quatre fell backwards into the rows of chairs. Mercury managed to keep her balance for only a moment before one youma threw a globe that exploded at her feet. She screamed as the globe covered her in the same black the others had been covered in, electrifying her and draining her energy. She lost her footing and fell backwards, toppling over the ledge and falling near Quatre past several rows of seats. She could barely make out the youma in front of her holding an orb, similar to the one that she had held before.
"Amazing, we're receiving more energy than we got from the whole crowd tonight," one said, snatching the globe. Quatre struggled to his feet. He ran over to Mercury and tried to touch her arm, but gasped when he tried. Mercury's eyes were closed tight as she struggled to get off he chair she was sideways on, the arm rest digging into her back.
"Jupiter oak evolution!" The youma dropped the orb, but it didn't break. It rolled down the isle and bounced down the carpeted steps. Quatre ran for it, trying to break it. The senshi started fighting with the two youma, and Neptune ran down the steps to where Mercury lay. Taking one look at her, Neptune frowned and ran for the orb. However, the orb seemed to have a mind of it's own, as it steared away from the two. When it got close enough, the two would make a mad dive for it, but it would stear away. Neptune prepared to make an attack, but the lighter green youma pointed at it, and it flew into her palm. Everyone rushed at the same youma, but the youma was prepared. She blasted them away, and threw the orb into the air, where it promptly dissapeared. As soon as it did, the black glow around Mercury faded, and she was able to move.
"What did you do," asked Mars.
"I sent the energy back to our base so that you couldn't smash it and give it back," it snarled. Uranus shook her head. She destroyed one of the youma in one blow, Venus and Mars taking out the second one. Mercury stood up, walking up the steps towards her friends, Quatre and Neptune at her heels.
"You ok?" She nodded.
"Yeah, thanks everyone," she replied. Everyone detransformed, and the other 4 pilots ran into the room.
"That was cool," said Duo.
"When did you guys all get here," Ami asked.
"Well, you know Heero was with me Ames," Mako said.
"Duo and I were at the movies," Minako said.
"Trowa and I were together as well," Setsuna said. Everyone turned to look at Rei.
"He was at my class, that's all!"
"Rei, I thought your class ended at 4:00," Minako said. Rei frowned at her.
"Me and Mamo-chan were together as well. Then when Quatre called us, we all met up along the way," explained Usagi. Ami nodded.
"Alright, I'll have to take my leave. goodbye Trowa, everyone," Setsuna said, walking through a portal that appeared out of nowhere. Everyone followed, and soon only Quatre and Ami were left in the auditorium.
"Are you sure you're ok," Quatre asked.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," Ami admitted. She placed her hand on her back shoulder. That had been bothering her, but couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"Well then I think we'll take a taxi home, instead of walking," he said, taking her hand as they walked towards the door. She nodded.
"Do we ever get to have a normal date," he asked, as he opened the door. Ami shrugged.
"I don't know. I think this date had a little too much excitement," she said. Quatre called a taxi over, and they got in. The ride back was silent, and Quatre payed the man before Ami had a chance to. Once they got out, Ami asked Quatre what had been on her mind.
"How are you getting all this Japanese money," she asked.
"Setsuna wanted to give us a lot, but I refused, so she just traded. I gave her the money from my world, and she gave me the money I needed to be spending here," he said. She approached the door.
"You coming up?"
"No thanks. You didn't notice last time, but James was staring at me the whole time, like he was silently interogating me," Quatre said. She laughed.
"Alright then. Goodnight," she said.
"Goodnight," Quatre said, politely kising her on the cheek. When he was sure nobody was looking, he teleported away. Ami shook her head, smiling, and went inside. Apparently, the youma had taken just a bit too much energy, and Ami had a hard time with the steps. She was only on the first few steps when a stabbing pain hit her shoulder and she fell back against the wall. She heard a noise from the basement. She walked over and looked from the top of the steps.
"Hello," she called. No answer. She was about to turn to head upstairs, when another jolt of pain hit her shoulder again. She got the same feeling she had when the youma had earlier thrown the orb at her feet.
Ami's vision grew blurry, and she couldn't hear anything around her. She reached for the handle to steady herself, knowing what was coming next, but missed. She passed out right there, falling on the steps towards the darkened basement.
---------
Aiko was worried. She checked her watch. 11:45. Ami had promiced she'd be home by 10:00, and she wasn't the irresponsible type. Grabbing Ami's phonebook, she looked for the one name she recognized. Tskino.
The phone rang about three times before a sleepy voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Is this Usagi," Aiko asked.
"Yes. Miss Mizuno? Why're you calling this late at night," asked Usagi, her voice going from tired to curious.
"Ami promiced me she'd be back around 10:00, and she's still not home. James and I looked around a bit for her, but with no such luck. Do you know where she is," asked Aiko worriedly. Careful not to say anything to worry Miss Mizuno more, Usagi spoke.
"Um...don't worry about a thing Miss Mizuno. I'll bet she's fine. Infact I'll call the temple right now, alright?"
"Um..alright dear. Please alert me if you find her," she said, saying goodbye and hanging up.
Usagi sat up and quickly got dressed. Luna meowed from where she lay.
"What's wrong Usagi?"
"According to Miss Mizuno, Ami's not back yet. And Quatre called everyone at the temple to let us know that he had dropped Ami off at her door and it was time that his friends left," Usagi explained. Luna's ears perked up and she stood, suddenly alert.
Usagi opened up her communicater and called Ami, but recieved no response.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to head over to Ami's apartment, and pick up Makoto since she's on my way. Something wierd is going on, and I'm going to find out what," Usagi said, slipping on he sneakers and opening up her window. Luna jumped on her shoulder, and Usagi climbd into the big tree by her window, closing it after her since they had the air condition on. She ran down the street and towards Makoto's house.
Running up the steps of the building, she was about to knock on the door when she remembered she could accidently wake up Mako's mom. She went back down and thre a rock at the window she thought was Mako's. An old woman opened up the window and yelled at her. Usagi tried again once the woman was gone, and Mako opened up her window, wearing an oversized t-shirt and cotton shorts.
"Get dressed and come down here," she called, not too loudly. Mako nodded. One minute later she was downstairs. Her hair was in a messy pony tail, and she had on a pair of jeans, the same t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. Usagi nodded and started explaining as they ran, and Mako nodded and sped up her pace. Luna nodded at Usagi. They were about a quarter of the way there when Usagi stopped to take a deep breath.
"We're too slow on foot. Even if we were transformed it would still take forever. Ami might be in trouble!" Mako nodded, and Usagi looked around.
"Mamoru! He lives about a block from here. He can give us a ride. He's not working tomorrow anyways," Usagi said, taking off down the other street. Mako and Luna looked at each other and ran aftr her, Luna jumping on Mako's shoulder. Usagi opened up her communcater as she ran, and paused when she connected with Mamoru.
"Usagi? What's going on?" Mamoru asked. Usagi took a deep breath and told him. He nodded and told them to stay where they were, he'd meet them at the street sign in a couple of minutes. True to his word, Mamoru did. They hopped into the car. In less than 10 minutes, they were there. Mamoru parked the car and they got out and approached the door. Usagi opened it and peeked inside the darkened building. Her footsteps suddenly sounded very loud. She slowed her pace. Mamoru put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. She relaxed.
"According to Quatre, he had dropped her off and watched her open the door and enter before he dissapeared," said Usagi. Everyone nodded. They went up the steps, looking around. By the time they reached the fourth floor, Ami's apartment, Mamoru had stopped them.
"Ami wouldn't have gone past here, even if she was running from something. She would know better than to get cornered on the roof. Let's head down and try outside or something," he reasoned. They agreed. Makoto was about to open the door and head outside once they got down when Usagi stopped her.
"We uh- haven't checked down there yet. Um..go ahead, I'll be the lookout," she said, giving Makoto a light push towards the even darker basement steps. Mako glared and turned to them, and Mamoru took Usagi's hand and also went down the steps.
Makoto, the first to go down, took a step onto the hard cement floor. She picked up her other foot and moved to step, but her foot didn't hit the ground and she tripped over something with a scream.
"DAMN KIDS! STOP PLAYING AROUND! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP," a guy from the first floor above them called from his door, slamming it angrilly. Makoto tryed to regulate her breathing, but was failing.
"Makoto, what's wrong," Usagi whispered fearfully. It was so dark they couldn't even see each other. Makoto reached down and touched what she had tripped over, gasping and stopping herself from screaming again.
"I...tripped...someone...look!" Makoto was shaken up after realizing it was a person not moving on the floor and she couldn't even finish her sentence. Usagi and Mamoru carefully stepped down the stairs and to where Makoto sat on her bottom.
"It's a person!" Makoto whispered fiercly. Mamoru reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature flashlight, although nobody but he could tell, and pointed it at Makoto, making sure she was alright. Then he directed the flash light at the person on the ground, causing Usagi to gasp.
"Ami!" She reached out to grab her friend, and pulled back.
"Is it just me or does it look like she's glowing black? Oh! Her energy," she said.
"Well then a youma must be around somewhere," whispered Makoto. Mamoru nodded and looked around, but could find nothing.
"Strange," he said. Makoto took the flash light from him and reached for the light switch. There was only one light switch on that side, and it lit very dimly. But it was good enough to see what was going on.
"No wonder Miss Mizuno and Mr. James couldn't see Ami, they didn't think to check the darkened basement on their way out the door," Usagi said. Makoto looked at Ami. Something on her shoulder glowed blue for a moment. She rubbed her eyes, and looked again. Again it glowed.
"Usagi, Mamoru, look at this," she said. The two approached. Reaching out, Makoto touched the spot on Ami's shoulder and pulled a small gem off. As soon as she removed it, the black glow around Ami dissapeared. Makoto tried to break it, but it wasn't breaking. She threw it on the ground. Nothing. Moving arund the basement, she found a sharp metal bar. Setting the gem on the floor, she smashed it with the metal bar. It shattered, and Ami's energy returned to her. Mako shielded her eyes as a bright glow emmited from the shards. She backed up when a youma appeared.
"No! Foolish girl, you lost our energy! You will pay with yours!" The youma was the same one Uranus had thought she had destroyed earlier. Makoto, Usagi, and Mamoru all transformed. The youma attacked, but they were ready. Makoto used her 'Supreme Thunder' attack, and Usagi used a quieter, less explosive attack, her tiara, as Tux. Mask threw roses at the youma every time it tried to attack. The youma turned into dust.
"That was one of our quieter battles," Jupiter said, detransforming. The other two followed and they rushed over to Ami, who was just starting to wake up.
"What happened?"
"You fell down the steps and.." Usagi paused, trying to think of a way to describe what had happened.
"Oh right. My shoulder hurt and then I heard a sound down here, so I walked over to check it out, and that's all I remember," said Ami. Usagi nodded. Makoto explained the rest to Ami.
"Wow, I really don't know what to say. Thanks guys. I really appreciate what you did," Ami said. Usagi smiled and helped Ami up, when she noticed something.
"Oh no Ami! Your forehead," Usagi said, pointing. There was a large gash where Ami's head had undoubtably hit the steps. Ami reached out to touch it, and found that most of it was dry blood. She frowned.
"What time is it?"
"Half past twelve."
"My mom is gonna kill me," Ami said with a groan.
"Don't worry, we'll think of something," Usagi said, helping Ami up. They walked up the steps and kncoked on the door. When Aiko answered it, she dragged them all inside and closed the door.
"Ami Mizuno, do you know how much you had James and I worried. Everyone had already gone to sleep and- oh, your forehead! What happened honey?"
"I'm sorry mom, I-," Ami was cut off as her mother wrapped her in a crushing hug, startling her.
"I'm just glad you're ok. We weren't even allowed to call the police because we have to wait twelve hours before a person is considered missing!"
"We think Ami tripped and fell down the steps of the basement," Usagi said right away. Ami nodded.
"Me and my two left feet." Her mother looked horrified.
"We've been complaining about those steps for years now, and they still have done nothing about it! How did you all know, how did you get here so fast?"
"I got Makoto and Mamoru gave us a ride. We just guessed, and we were right," Usagi said.
"Well, thankyou! It was very nice of you to leave your home's so very late. Usagi, Makoto, I assume your mothers know?" They both nodded quickly. Aiko nodded.
"Alright Ami, I'll patch that up for you. As for you three, you better get home and get some sleep I-" AIko was cut off. James dropped the news paper he was holding and rushed over to hug Ami.
"You drove us crazy with worry, you know that," he said, seperating and holding her shoulders. She nodded.
"I'm sorry James." He smiled.
"That's alright Ami. I only drove all over Tokyo looking for you," he joked, leading her to sit down so he could grab the first aid kit. The three left.
"That's nice that Ami has a family that cares now," Usagi noted.
"Something is still bothering me though," Mamoru said. They both frowned at him.
"What?"
"Supposedly, Ami heard someone in the basement, or she wouldn't have walked over to those steps. It wasn't the youma, that was locked in the gem on her shoulder. It was someone, or something else." Makoto frowned.
"Lately, nothing seems to make sense."
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? Review!
Shadow Fox2: Thanks for your review!
DevilWench: Thanks for reviewing!
minimerc: Thanks for your review!
Tenshi-Hotaru: Thankyou for a nice long review! Right now, I'm gonna say Anna knows she's hiding sonething, but doesn't know what. Yes, Aiko, Anna, Ami. Well, I came up with Aiko without considering Ami, and then I needed a name for James's mom, and Anna came to mind before I noticed. Thanks for your review!
Chapter 6
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Last time:
"I do have a lot to tell you, but we can't talk in front of the cab driver. You can however, try to figure this out for me," she said, handing him the paper.
---
"A fortune," he asked, reading it over.
"Doesn't sound much like one. It's from the Burger Place, but since when do they give out stuff like this? I eat there all the time, and we've never recieved anything like that before," Ami explained. Quatre nodded and read it again, as they walked down the steps.
-Those you trust can lead you wrong, and those you don't could be your salvation. Trust those you trust, although watching what's going on around you, trust those you don't. Think twice before giving an answer-
"I don't know Ami. I believe it sounds almost like a warning. Strange," he said mostly to himself. Ami nodded.
"But what does trust have to do with anything at the moment," she asked. Quatre frowned, and he was silent. He opened up the door to the taxi for her. She slid in, and he went after her. The ride was silent. Once they arrived, Quatre spoke up, just before she opened the door to the hall.
"Ami, do you think Julliana was able to attack everyone because I trusted so much that I let her in the estate," he asked. Ami paused. That had come out of nowhere.
"No."
"How are you sure? Maybe this has something to do with it. Some kind of warning against trusting the way I did," he said. Ami shook her head.
"It's wonderful that you have so much faith in people Quatre," she said, kissing his cheek.
"If you didn't trust people the way you did, I never would have met you, right?" He had to agree to that. Nodding, he opened the door for them to walk inside. She gave a small smile and walked in, him following. They found seat near the front. The show was a musical. It had a lot of comedy. The black haired little girl stood on the stage and had just started her little dance when the door flew open. A whisper spread through the crowd, and a shadowed figure stood in the doorway. The person stepped into the auditorium. He wore a suit and a hat that was tipped, hiding most of their face. Everyone turned back to the stage.
Ami couldn't help feeling a little on edge after the person entered the room. She and her friends had a keen ability to sense these things, not nearly as much as Rei, but whenever something wasn't right, or when something was about to happen, Ami always had this bad feeling. It made her feel a bit ill, kind of like she could sense the evil approaching. Ami turned to look at the newcomer. She frowned when the person removed their hat. Andrew? He gave a small smile and turned to look at the stage.
"Are you alright," whispered Quatre.
"Yes, it's just.." Ami's voice faded as the main character stepped onto the stage to sing a solo, and everyone's attention was focused on the stage.
Ami still couldn't shake the feeling, even when the show was over and the room started to empty. She looked back at where Andrew was, to find he wasn't there anymore. He was speaking with the main actress, probably congratulating her. Ami and Quatre turned to leave. They were out the door and in the main hall when there were several screams. Ami and Quatre spun around and raced back in. Everyone was lying on the ground, not moving. There bodies had a black glow around them, and on the stage stood a youma holding a black orb in her hand. The energy from everyone flowed into the orb
Making sure everyone besides the youma in the room was unconsious, Ami transformed. The youma was so absorbed in the energy flow, that it didn't notice.
"Here, call my friends for help," she said, handing him her communicater. Quatre stepped out the door and to the right, where he could watch and not risk being killed while he called for help.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" The orb the youma was holding shattered, and everyone's energy returned to them. They fled from the room, nearly trampling Quatre in their hurry. Mercury stood facing the youma, which seemed to be building in anger. A smile suddenly appeared on the youma's face, causing Mercury to frown. Before she knew it, something had her around the neck from behind. Mercury took a better look at the youma in front of her. It was a light green. The arm of the youma that had her around the neck was a dark green.
"Glad you met my counter part, scout. My master did say you would interfere. And you lost us the energy we collected," the youma said, her voice growing dark. The one holding her tightened it's grip. Mercury felt her eyes water.
"Mercury!" She heard Quatre call. She felt the hands griping her neck loosen as Quatre rammed into the youma, knocking it off of it's feet. Mercury jumped up and grabbed Quatre before the youma killed him. They backed up against the wall, both youma approaching.
"I'm afraid you two will just have to make up for the energy we lost," one said, raising her hand. The other smiled and took a step towards them. Mercury looked around. No where to go.
She raised her arm to attack.
"Move again Mercury, and your boyfriend here will be bleeding all over the pretty ceramic floor," the first threatened, turning her arm into a sword. Mercury stopped. Her eyes whized around the auditorium, trying to figure a way out. She forced herself not to smile as she came up with plan. She faked a relieved look.
"The sailor scouts!" She cried, smiling and pointing. Both the youma turned, giving Mercury a chance to attack.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" The youma froze, and she and Quatre sprinted past them. However the youma broke out of their ice too quickly. They attacked them, and Quatre fell backwards into the rows of chairs. Mercury managed to keep her balance for only a moment before one youma threw a globe that exploded at her feet. She screamed as the globe covered her in the same black the others had been covered in, electrifying her and draining her energy. She lost her footing and fell backwards, toppling over the ledge and falling near Quatre past several rows of seats. She could barely make out the youma in front of her holding an orb, similar to the one that she had held before.
"Amazing, we're receiving more energy than we got from the whole crowd tonight," one said, snatching the globe. Quatre struggled to his feet. He ran over to Mercury and tried to touch her arm, but gasped when he tried. Mercury's eyes were closed tight as she struggled to get off he chair she was sideways on, the arm rest digging into her back.
"Jupiter oak evolution!" The youma dropped the orb, but it didn't break. It rolled down the isle and bounced down the carpeted steps. Quatre ran for it, trying to break it. The senshi started fighting with the two youma, and Neptune ran down the steps to where Mercury lay. Taking one look at her, Neptune frowned and ran for the orb. However, the orb seemed to have a mind of it's own, as it steared away from the two. When it got close enough, the two would make a mad dive for it, but it would stear away. Neptune prepared to make an attack, but the lighter green youma pointed at it, and it flew into her palm. Everyone rushed at the same youma, but the youma was prepared. She blasted them away, and threw the orb into the air, where it promptly dissapeared. As soon as it did, the black glow around Mercury faded, and she was able to move.
"What did you do," asked Mars.
"I sent the energy back to our base so that you couldn't smash it and give it back," it snarled. Uranus shook her head. She destroyed one of the youma in one blow, Venus and Mars taking out the second one. Mercury stood up, walking up the steps towards her friends, Quatre and Neptune at her heels.
"You ok?" She nodded.
"Yeah, thanks everyone," she replied. Everyone detransformed, and the other 4 pilots ran into the room.
"That was cool," said Duo.
"When did you guys all get here," Ami asked.
"Well, you know Heero was with me Ames," Mako said.
"Duo and I were at the movies," Minako said.
"Trowa and I were together as well," Setsuna said. Everyone turned to look at Rei.
"He was at my class, that's all!"
"Rei, I thought your class ended at 4:00," Minako said. Rei frowned at her.
"Me and Mamo-chan were together as well. Then when Quatre called us, we all met up along the way," explained Usagi. Ami nodded.
"Alright, I'll have to take my leave. goodbye Trowa, everyone," Setsuna said, walking through a portal that appeared out of nowhere. Everyone followed, and soon only Quatre and Ami were left in the auditorium.
"Are you sure you're ok," Quatre asked.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," Ami admitted. She placed her hand on her back shoulder. That had been bothering her, but couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"Well then I think we'll take a taxi home, instead of walking," he said, taking her hand as they walked towards the door. She nodded.
"Do we ever get to have a normal date," he asked, as he opened the door. Ami shrugged.
"I don't know. I think this date had a little too much excitement," she said. Quatre called a taxi over, and they got in. The ride back was silent, and Quatre payed the man before Ami had a chance to. Once they got out, Ami asked Quatre what had been on her mind.
"How are you getting all this Japanese money," she asked.
"Setsuna wanted to give us a lot, but I refused, so she just traded. I gave her the money from my world, and she gave me the money I needed to be spending here," he said. She approached the door.
"You coming up?"
"No thanks. You didn't notice last time, but James was staring at me the whole time, like he was silently interogating me," Quatre said. She laughed.
"Alright then. Goodnight," she said.
"Goodnight," Quatre said, politely kising her on the cheek. When he was sure nobody was looking, he teleported away. Ami shook her head, smiling, and went inside. Apparently, the youma had taken just a bit too much energy, and Ami had a hard time with the steps. She was only on the first few steps when a stabbing pain hit her shoulder and she fell back against the wall. She heard a noise from the basement. She walked over and looked from the top of the steps.
"Hello," she called. No answer. She was about to turn to head upstairs, when another jolt of pain hit her shoulder again. She got the same feeling she had when the youma had earlier thrown the orb at her feet.
Ami's vision grew blurry, and she couldn't hear anything around her. She reached for the handle to steady herself, knowing what was coming next, but missed. She passed out right there, falling on the steps towards the darkened basement.
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Aiko was worried. She checked her watch. 11:45. Ami had promiced she'd be home by 10:00, and she wasn't the irresponsible type. Grabbing Ami's phonebook, she looked for the one name she recognized. Tskino.
The phone rang about three times before a sleepy voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Is this Usagi," Aiko asked.
"Yes. Miss Mizuno? Why're you calling this late at night," asked Usagi, her voice going from tired to curious.
"Ami promiced me she'd be back around 10:00, and she's still not home. James and I looked around a bit for her, but with no such luck. Do you know where she is," asked Aiko worriedly. Careful not to say anything to worry Miss Mizuno more, Usagi spoke.
"Um...don't worry about a thing Miss Mizuno. I'll bet she's fine. Infact I'll call the temple right now, alright?"
"Um..alright dear. Please alert me if you find her," she said, saying goodbye and hanging up.
Usagi sat up and quickly got dressed. Luna meowed from where she lay.
"What's wrong Usagi?"
"According to Miss Mizuno, Ami's not back yet. And Quatre called everyone at the temple to let us know that he had dropped Ami off at her door and it was time that his friends left," Usagi explained. Luna's ears perked up and she stood, suddenly alert.
Usagi opened up her communicater and called Ami, but recieved no response.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to head over to Ami's apartment, and pick up Makoto since she's on my way. Something wierd is going on, and I'm going to find out what," Usagi said, slipping on he sneakers and opening up her window. Luna jumped on her shoulder, and Usagi climbd into the big tree by her window, closing it after her since they had the air condition on. She ran down the street and towards Makoto's house.
Running up the steps of the building, she was about to knock on the door when she remembered she could accidently wake up Mako's mom. She went back down and thre a rock at the window she thought was Mako's. An old woman opened up the window and yelled at her. Usagi tried again once the woman was gone, and Mako opened up her window, wearing an oversized t-shirt and cotton shorts.
"Get dressed and come down here," she called, not too loudly. Mako nodded. One minute later she was downstairs. Her hair was in a messy pony tail, and she had on a pair of jeans, the same t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. Usagi nodded and started explaining as they ran, and Mako nodded and sped up her pace. Luna nodded at Usagi. They were about a quarter of the way there when Usagi stopped to take a deep breath.
"We're too slow on foot. Even if we were transformed it would still take forever. Ami might be in trouble!" Mako nodded, and Usagi looked around.
"Mamoru! He lives about a block from here. He can give us a ride. He's not working tomorrow anyways," Usagi said, taking off down the other street. Mako and Luna looked at each other and ran aftr her, Luna jumping on Mako's shoulder. Usagi opened up her communcater as she ran, and paused when she connected with Mamoru.
"Usagi? What's going on?" Mamoru asked. Usagi took a deep breath and told him. He nodded and told them to stay where they were, he'd meet them at the street sign in a couple of minutes. True to his word, Mamoru did. They hopped into the car. In less than 10 minutes, they were there. Mamoru parked the car and they got out and approached the door. Usagi opened it and peeked inside the darkened building. Her footsteps suddenly sounded very loud. She slowed her pace. Mamoru put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. She relaxed.
"According to Quatre, he had dropped her off and watched her open the door and enter before he dissapeared," said Usagi. Everyone nodded. They went up the steps, looking around. By the time they reached the fourth floor, Ami's apartment, Mamoru had stopped them.
"Ami wouldn't have gone past here, even if she was running from something. She would know better than to get cornered on the roof. Let's head down and try outside or something," he reasoned. They agreed. Makoto was about to open the door and head outside once they got down when Usagi stopped her.
"We uh- haven't checked down there yet. Um..go ahead, I'll be the lookout," she said, giving Makoto a light push towards the even darker basement steps. Mako glared and turned to them, and Mamoru took Usagi's hand and also went down the steps.
Makoto, the first to go down, took a step onto the hard cement floor. She picked up her other foot and moved to step, but her foot didn't hit the ground and she tripped over something with a scream.
"DAMN KIDS! STOP PLAYING AROUND! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP," a guy from the first floor above them called from his door, slamming it angrilly. Makoto tryed to regulate her breathing, but was failing.
"Makoto, what's wrong," Usagi whispered fearfully. It was so dark they couldn't even see each other. Makoto reached down and touched what she had tripped over, gasping and stopping herself from screaming again.
"I...tripped...someone...look!" Makoto was shaken up after realizing it was a person not moving on the floor and she couldn't even finish her sentence. Usagi and Mamoru carefully stepped down the stairs and to where Makoto sat on her bottom.
"It's a person!" Makoto whispered fiercly. Mamoru reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature flashlight, although nobody but he could tell, and pointed it at Makoto, making sure she was alright. Then he directed the flash light at the person on the ground, causing Usagi to gasp.
"Ami!" She reached out to grab her friend, and pulled back.
"Is it just me or does it look like she's glowing black? Oh! Her energy," she said.
"Well then a youma must be around somewhere," whispered Makoto. Mamoru nodded and looked around, but could find nothing.
"Strange," he said. Makoto took the flash light from him and reached for the light switch. There was only one light switch on that side, and it lit very dimly. But it was good enough to see what was going on.
"No wonder Miss Mizuno and Mr. James couldn't see Ami, they didn't think to check the darkened basement on their way out the door," Usagi said. Makoto looked at Ami. Something on her shoulder glowed blue for a moment. She rubbed her eyes, and looked again. Again it glowed.
"Usagi, Mamoru, look at this," she said. The two approached. Reaching out, Makoto touched the spot on Ami's shoulder and pulled a small gem off. As soon as she removed it, the black glow around Ami dissapeared. Makoto tried to break it, but it wasn't breaking. She threw it on the ground. Nothing. Moving arund the basement, she found a sharp metal bar. Setting the gem on the floor, she smashed it with the metal bar. It shattered, and Ami's energy returned to her. Mako shielded her eyes as a bright glow emmited from the shards. She backed up when a youma appeared.
"No! Foolish girl, you lost our energy! You will pay with yours!" The youma was the same one Uranus had thought she had destroyed earlier. Makoto, Usagi, and Mamoru all transformed. The youma attacked, but they were ready. Makoto used her 'Supreme Thunder' attack, and Usagi used a quieter, less explosive attack, her tiara, as Tux. Mask threw roses at the youma every time it tried to attack. The youma turned into dust.
"That was one of our quieter battles," Jupiter said, detransforming. The other two followed and they rushed over to Ami, who was just starting to wake up.
"What happened?"
"You fell down the steps and.." Usagi paused, trying to think of a way to describe what had happened.
"Oh right. My shoulder hurt and then I heard a sound down here, so I walked over to check it out, and that's all I remember," said Ami. Usagi nodded. Makoto explained the rest to Ami.
"Wow, I really don't know what to say. Thanks guys. I really appreciate what you did," Ami said. Usagi smiled and helped Ami up, when she noticed something.
"Oh no Ami! Your forehead," Usagi said, pointing. There was a large gash where Ami's head had undoubtably hit the steps. Ami reached out to touch it, and found that most of it was dry blood. She frowned.
"What time is it?"
"Half past twelve."
"My mom is gonna kill me," Ami said with a groan.
"Don't worry, we'll think of something," Usagi said, helping Ami up. They walked up the steps and kncoked on the door. When Aiko answered it, she dragged them all inside and closed the door.
"Ami Mizuno, do you know how much you had James and I worried. Everyone had already gone to sleep and- oh, your forehead! What happened honey?"
"I'm sorry mom, I-," Ami was cut off as her mother wrapped her in a crushing hug, startling her.
"I'm just glad you're ok. We weren't even allowed to call the police because we have to wait twelve hours before a person is considered missing!"
"We think Ami tripped and fell down the steps of the basement," Usagi said right away. Ami nodded.
"Me and my two left feet." Her mother looked horrified.
"We've been complaining about those steps for years now, and they still have done nothing about it! How did you all know, how did you get here so fast?"
"I got Makoto and Mamoru gave us a ride. We just guessed, and we were right," Usagi said.
"Well, thankyou! It was very nice of you to leave your home's so very late. Usagi, Makoto, I assume your mothers know?" They both nodded quickly. Aiko nodded.
"Alright Ami, I'll patch that up for you. As for you three, you better get home and get some sleep I-" AIko was cut off. James dropped the news paper he was holding and rushed over to hug Ami.
"You drove us crazy with worry, you know that," he said, seperating and holding her shoulders. She nodded.
"I'm sorry James." He smiled.
"That's alright Ami. I only drove all over Tokyo looking for you," he joked, leading her to sit down so he could grab the first aid kit. The three left.
"That's nice that Ami has a family that cares now," Usagi noted.
"Something is still bothering me though," Mamoru said. They both frowned at him.
"What?"
"Supposedly, Ami heard someone in the basement, or she wouldn't have walked over to those steps. It wasn't the youma, that was locked in the gem on her shoulder. It was someone, or something else." Makoto frowned.
"Lately, nothing seems to make sense."
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