"I wanna know," Minako loudly declared, "why it is that Ami gets psychic powers now."
Ami sighed and took her glasses off. "I keep telling you. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this." There was a brief pause as Ami considered this, then quickly stated, "And I'm not psychic."
"It's reasonable to consider," Raye said, crossing her eyes and narrowing her eyes in concentration. "I mean, I don't know why you're feeling it. We know I feel is because I am psychic and I'm sensitive to these things."
"Usagi feels it because she has the Silver Crystal," Makoto said, and everyone nodded. "I think that stands to reason."
"So Ami feels it because-"
"Because she's smart!" Usagi exclaimed, and everyone groaned, simultaneously face-palming.
"You moron!" Raye shouted, effectively getting up in her face. "That has nothing to do with it!"
"Well, how do you know it's not!" Usagi yelled back. "Nobody else is as smart as her, so maybe she's so smart she sees the future! That's what Ryo did!"
"First off, Ryo saw the future because of a Rainbow Crystal and had a monster from the Dark Kingdom inside him! And secondly, that doesn't explain how it happened before, idiot!" the priestess yelled, getting more and more angry at her less intelligent comrade. "And it doesn't account for the chest pain! And that's not how seeing the future works!"
Usagi was just opening her mouth to scream back, but Makoto quickly covered the enraged blonde's mouth with her hand. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. This whole situation's different. Usagi has never had reactions to dark energy either."
"Because she has the Silver Crystal," Minako stated, crossing her arms and nodding, pleased with herself. "I guess it just makes her more sensitive to these things."
"No, that doesn't explain why she didn't react to Pharaoh 90, or Chaos or the Doom Phantom," Ami said softly, putting her hand to her chin and thinking deeply for a moment. Tapping her pencil against the desk and taking a deep breath, she finally said, "We can make a few assumptions here. First off, for the time being, let's say Raye doesn't count."
"HA!" Usagi shouted, pointing her finger in the raven haired maiden's face. "You heard it. YOU don't count!"
"Usagi, please, just shut up," Makoto sighed, shaking her head.
"So…why don't I count?" Raye asked, and Ami put her glasses back on.
"You have had visions and feelings before. We can make the assumption that since Usagi and I are having reactions too, that this situation is different. So to examine what makes this different, we need to examine the different factors." She paused, exhaled quickly and continued with, "You're our constant. Later, you're going to be able to tell us what is new and what is the same as the visions you have had before. But first we need to find out why this is happening to us now."
Raye glared at Usagi, a triumphant look on her face, and slowly and with much care and deliberation, stuck out her tongue. Sensing the tremendous explosion that the high energy blond was about to indulge in, Ami quickly stated in an uncharasterically loud voice, "I think…" she trailed off, seeing their fearless leader calm down quickly, and in her typical quite voice said, "I think that we can assume that this is nothing like we have faced before, since the Silver Crystal is responding. I think it's also safe to assume that the Silver Crystal doesn't respond on it's own to just evil. It is clearly repelling something, but what? We're certainly dealing with something completely different from what we usually fight. Something here is clearly very different."
"Well, almost everything we ever fought was just a part of Chaos, right?" Usagi asked, and the two cats in the corner surveying the meeting suddenly perked up.
"Usagi, I am so pleased you remembered that!" Luna chirped, and the blond slouched against the wall, glaring at the cat.
"Oh, come on. What is this, some kind of joke…" the Moon Princess mumbled.
"That's actually a really good point," Makoto said. "We know this isn't Chaos, right?"
"We can't know that at this point," Ami said softly, tapping her finger against the table. "But I think that's most likely, yes."
"Wait, wait," Minako interrupted loudly, some of the girls cringing at the volume of the aspiring idol. "That explains Usagi. What about Ami?"
The blue haired girl opened her mouth to speak, but quickly stopped and remained silent, her fingers pressed against her lips as she thought.
"Do you think it's even evil?" Makoto asked, and Raye glared at her.
"Of course it's evil," she said harshly, rubbing her temples. "I don't think any of us would be reacting so badly if it were good. At the very least, it's a dark power, I know that."
"And would the Silver Crystal be responding so severely if it was good?" Minako asked, and for a minute, the room was silent.
"Maybe it's responding to an ally. Or someone who needs help," Usagi suggested.
"Or a great enemy," Raye reaffirmed, standing by her position.
"Could it be an equal? Like, a similar power level?" Makoto asked, and Minako's eyes lit up.
"But wasn't Chaos it's rival in power?" the blond asked, and her white cat lept up on to the table.
"No. If it were truly an equal, the Silver Crystal would not have been able to subdue him," Artemis asserted.
"Luna," Ami asked, and the speculating group fell silent. "Do all of us have crystals like Usagi? We have been in contact with more than just the Silver Crystal, so there are clearly others. I thought maybe we could be carriers as well. It could account for Makoto's strength, and Raye's psychic powers, and my intelligence, and Minako's…"
Minako's big, blue eyes were fixated on the little senshi of ice, large and shining with hopes and dreams, and Ami managed to squeak, "…Minako's…uh…persistence…"
The senshi of love was about to object, but Luna quickly interjected with, "I don't remember anything like that." She sighed, looking down at the table. "I'm sorry. If only I remembered everything from before…"
"No, it's not your fault," Ami said quickly. "It's just a theory anyway. If we have crystals, though, it could explain some of the reactions we have been having."
"So why don't Minako and I have reactions too?" Makoto asked, and Ami just shook her head.
"I don't know anything yet. Maybe the energy isn't emitting the sort of energy that would activate yours. Maybe you don't have them. Or maybe this has nothing to do with it. I don't know."
"The best thing we can do now is keep an eye on it," Raye stated, and the girls nodded in agreement. "And I'm worried about that boy from Ami's dream. Do you think you could recognize him if you saw him?"
Ami held her breath, a concerned look crossing her face. "I don't know. I think I might be able to. I'll…I'll look harder if I have it again."
"Pay as close attention as you can," Raye instructed, smiling in satisfaction. "And in the meantime, we'll all just keep alert."
"Yes. All we can do now is observe what is happening and learn all we can from what we see," Luna said, looking over her senshi. "In the meantime, though, we need to start training. We have been off for a while, and if we are going to be fighting again, we need to be ready. We may be having someone we must protect as well, so we need to be on the top of our game."
"Right," Artemis concurred. "We'll meet here same time tomorrow and we will get started. The city needs the senshi again, and this thing isn't going to know what hit it."