Flash Flood

Ami struggled getting to her locker as Usagi and Minako assisted her. Ami's sight began to slowly come back thanks to Mamoru's help, but she still could not see clearly. She began wearing her glasses again but they only helped her in some small amount. The glasses, at least, provided her a reasonable excuse to explain her poor eye sight to others, claiming she lost her contacts and her prescription was not up to date. She could make out shapes and could walk to and from home in her familiar neighborhood, but she struggled with obstacles like reading the classroom board without squinting.

Her first few days before going back to school were difficult to say the least. Her friends would have to escort her to school so she wouldn't get hurt. And after explaining her condition to her teachers, with a few altered details, she'd be temporary seated near the front of her classes to help see the class board better.

It was the first day her friends brought her homework, where she felt the sting of her impairment. The group gathered for a study session at Ami's house, but only Makoto and Usagi could make it. When Ami started to read her textbook for one of her classes, she found the words difficult to read. She started losing her place and had to reread every time she lost her place.

"Oh, no," Ami said lightly.

"What's wrong," Usagi asked.

"It's nothing," Ami said reopening her textbook, "I just lost my place."

Ami opened the book back up and tried to find her page. Her friends started to notice as Ami began to put more force in turning each page as she searched.

"Ami…" Makoto started to speak, with concern in her voice.

"It's fine," Ami said with an initially polite tone, though it seemed to carry a subtle hint of agitation. She turned the page lightly, "I found it."

Ami went back to reading while Usagi and Makoto, still concerned, went back to their work.

Asteroid

"I can't believe that baron moon use to house life," Stratus said, looking at the scans of the virtual kingdom.

"Sailor Moon has to have some connection to it," Cirrus said, looking at the images.

"And the others? Might it be the other planets might have supported life too?"

"Maybe, but I discovered something of my own," Cirrus said, waving her hands over the screen, revealing an image of a cold wasteland.

"I used my magic to scry for areas with negative residue, and it revealed two locations on the planet. One was the ruins of a school called Mugen Academy. However, I couldn't risk exposure investigating it. Currently, it's under construction from some corporation. The other was an old cavern at Earth's northern pole. I searched the area, and I saw an entire structure buried beneath the ice."

"Was it occupied?"

"No, it seemed to be abandoned for a few years now, but clearly someone was using it. Every block in its structure is still radiating excess negative energy. I couldn't find the source so I assume it's gone-"

"Meaning in a few more decades, the whole thing will vanish as well."

"Yes, but I have only just broken ground. Perhaps the former residents encountered our friends from Tokyo. Maybe we will find out why the former occupants are no longer here, or perhaps they left some treasures behind we could use. At least once we finish excavating the place top to bottom, we can syphon off the remaining negative energy from it."

"Well, I must say that even though the Senshi robbed me of a good amount of negative energy from last fight, they seem to provide high quality negativity," Stratus said, observing some of the energy he gathered in the prior mission. The dark energy in the container seemed to have more of a spark of light in it, like stars in the night sky, than the usual energy. "Perhaps with more energy like this, I could create something that could rival those Senshi and their powers."

"Well, first thing's first," Cirrus said, "We still need more energy, and your little stunt has given me some inspiration."

Cirrus pulled out a small totem of a monkey from a cabinet. She tossed it into her bubbling cauldron and whispered an incantation in the dark language and the cauldron released a cloud of smoke, and the idol appeared in her hand.

"I should get to work," she said, vanishing.

Status took some of the negative energy he gained from the Senshi and put it under the microscope, "Now, what to do with you?"

Earth

Ami completed another lap before finally getting out of the pool. She enjoyed weekly swim sessions because they made her feel relaxed. She never felt more at peace than when she was in the water, which she needed now more than ever.

It started earlier that day when the Senshi began to hear reports of people beginning to become inflicted with a disease that affected their senses. When Ami and Minako went to the hospital, they heard conversations about the victims. Apparently they victims said (or in some cases, wrote) that they were in a park where they saw some creature that looked like a monkey. The monkey zapped them and they slowly began to lose one of three senses: sight, hearing, or speech in a matter of a few hours.

"We should see if we can find this creature," Ami said.

"Ami," Minako called to her, "You know you aren't feeling up to it, I can take Makoto or Usagi to investigate."

Ami took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "Minako, I am fine. And more importantly, I'm a Senshi. I can't sit on the side lines while innocent people are getting hurt."

"You sure," Minako asked.

"Yes," Ami said, in a little harsher tone than she intended, "Now let's go."

Ami charged out before Minako could say anything else.

They contacted the others, telling them that they would look around the park. They searched the area, with Ami still struggling, but made out a shape in one of the trees. The figure jumped from the branch, heading deeper into the wooded area.

"Minako," Ami called out, "I think I saw something."

"Are you sure," Minako asked.

"I'm…pretty sure," Ami said, sounding somewhat doubtful of her observation, "I don't know what it was, but I'm sure I saw it more through there."

Minako tried to hide her skepticism and decided to go with Ami into the woods. Not willing to take chances, they two girls transformed into Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus. They suddenly heard movement coming from the branches and they looked around.

"Can you scan the area," Venus said to Mercury.

"Sure, I'll try," Mercury said. She was about to activate her computer but paused. Her heart began to race rapidly and she flashed back to the fight at the power plant and she just stood there in place, frozen in fear.

"Mercury?" Venus asked in worry.

They heard a shout in the wind and Venus pushed Mercury and herself out of the way of and incoming fireball. The Senshi looked over to see Cirrus with her white-gloved palm smoking from her attack.

"Seriously, can't you guys take a vacation for once and let me have this one," the commander said.

"Cirrus, what are you doing," Venus demanded.

"I saw this quaint park and decided to meditate for some self-reflection," she answered in a sardonic tone.

"You attacked those people," Mercury said, "You stole their senses."

"Of course. You, of all people, should know that helpless feeling when you lose one of your senses. I even had a delay in the effect so they could believe it was caused by some disease that could be treated, adding a dose of false hopes."

"You won't get away with this," Venus said, moving to her fighting stance with Mercury preparing as well.

"Well, since you're here," Cirrus said. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the monkey totem. She threw it into the air and whispered a spell, causing the totem to glow and expand, creating a creature with black fur and a baboon face with a tail and carried a large blunt mace.

"Get them," Cirrus commanded and the creature attacked jumped forward lunged at them. Its mace hit the ground between them as they jumped out of the way. The creature sent a blast out of its mouth.

They were able to jump out of the way and quickly tried to prepare for the next strike. The monkey ran at them in a zig zag speed, making difficult for Mercury to catch a solid glimpse at it, especially with her vision still recovering. She unleashed a flow of ice water, but the creature already moved to a new position. She was about to unleash a second attack, but the creature close enough to her to deliver a good punch…if Venus had not pushed her out of the way. With the speed it ran, the impact was enough to send her flying off her feet.

"Venus," Mercury said, looking at her injured companion. She went to check on her friend, and the creature almost struck at her.

"Mars Phoenix Strike," Mars shouted, sending her attack at the creature. He jumped out of the way before it could hit him

"Stop," Sailor Moon and the other Senshi said, arriving on the field.

Cirrus groaned loudly in annoyance and then zapped the monkey. It shrank down and was teleported back into her hand as a totem.

"I'll see you guys later," she said before vanishing.

"Sailor Venus," Sailor Moon said, as they went to check on their friend. Mercury backed away, scared and feeling guilt that Venus needed to save her. She saw Venus come to, but without making eye contact, Mercury ran away, ignoring the shouts from her friends.

Ami sat on the pool's edge, looking into the water. After a few hours, she went to check on Minako, who said she was fine. While Ami was relieved, she also felt bad that Minako felt she had to protect her. And Ami partially agreed with her. She hated this feeling of being helpless. She was terrified of using her own computer because of one stupid hack and she was starting to be more of a burden for her friends than a companion. She no longer trusted her senses and she knew that Mamoru was draining his strength when he was barely healing her. She needed to help her friends, but she needed to help herself as well. She dropped into the water again and allowed herself to sink to the bottom. The feeling of peace began to return to her as she enjoyed the silence of the water and the beauty of the light patterns being created from the water.

She remembered her time when she and the other Senshi regained their memories of their past lives. She remembered being from Mercury and she remembered the rigorous training she went through to become a protector for Princess Serenity. All that work and now she was the one that others needed to protect.

Ami opened her eyes and remembered something else about her heritage. She remembered how they were skilled in powers over water. They could manipulate water, not just as an attack, but to use water for other skills including healing. She decided to give it a shot, and relaxed as she looked to the surface, focusing on her desire to help her friends. She felt the soreness in her eyes begin to subside. Finally, feeling out of breath, she swam to the surface and gasped in the air. She swam out of the pool and began to dry herself off. She realized after drying herself off, that her eyes were no longer sore. She looked around and no longer saw blurry sights but everything perfectly in twenty-twenty vision. She laughed at it and looked at herself in the reflecting water of the pool. She knew that somehow, tapping into this new ability had changed her. She was stronger now.

There were still many unanswered questions: Who this enemy was? How advanced could they be to hack her computer? What could they possibly want?

But for now, she was just glad she no longer felt helpless. She was her again, only better, stronger, and ready to fight again.

Her communicator went off, with Venus and Mars alerting the team to another attack in the park. Ami gathered her gear and got ready for battle.

Park

Sailor Mars and Venus jumped out of the way as another blast from the demon monkey narrowly hit her. The monkey moved quickly at them and threw tons of swings at them. Cirrus watched from a distance as she began gathering negative energy from a small group of people she had attacked earlier; each either blinded, deafened, or muted. Since the previous fight, Cirrus decided that with the Senshi on her heels, she should drop the delayed effect of the attack. So when she appeared in the park, and summoned her creature, he began stealing others' senses. Sailor Moon and Jupiter arrived to help, but Cirrus jumped down.

"Nope, you will not get in the way this time," Cirrus said.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution"

Cirrus raised a hand at the attack, said a spell, and a bunch of bright, needle-shaped projectiles flew from her fingers. The needles hit all the electrical leaf blasts, causing them to explode on impact. Cirrus's hands emitted a dark aura, before she vanished.

The Senshi looked around and suddenly a dark beam struck Jupiter, knocking her away.

"Jupiter," Sailor Moon shouted. She wanted to check on her friend but she knew Cirrus was still somewhere on the battlefield.

"Sailor Moon," someone shouted. Sailor Moon turned to see Sailor Mercury ready.

"Mercury, be careful. Cirrus is here somewhere."

Before Mercury could respond, she felt an impact that pushed her to the ground.

"Mercury!"

"I'm okay," she said, not wanting her friend to let her guard down. Mercury looked around and saw nothing. She did, however, know one way she could find the assailant. She was about to touch her earring, but she again flashed back to the factory. She shook with fear of events repeating themselves, but then saw something glow near Sailor Moon. Mustering up her courage, she activated her goggles and scanned the area. She saw Sailor Moon and the glowing object was a dagger in Cirrus's hands, preparing to kill Sailor Moon.

"I guess you're not so important after all," Cirrus said.

"Sailor Moon! Behind you," Mercury shouted. Sailor Moon quickly turned around and gave a good upward kick to Cirrus. Cirrus appeared and fell, as her dagger disintegrated.

"How dare you," Cirrus said, trying to catch her breath, watching as Sailor Mercury stood side-by-side with Sailor Moon. Cirrus unleashed another dark blast but Mercury formed an aquatic bubble around herself and her friend stopping the attack.

Cirrus turned to her minion, "Stop playing and finish them," she shouted as Mars and Venus were exhausted from the fight. The yokai's hands grew steal sharp finger nails and began another attack. Mercury saw Venus and Mars about to be hit by the yokai and she summoned up her energy within herself, remembering what she learned as water and dew from the grass gathered around her.

"Mercury Prism Deluge," she shouted unleashing a blast of water which bending the light gave its appearance a multi-color hue. The water struckCirrus as she was pushed away. She was pushed out of the initial force, while the yokai was hit full force as he began to be consumed in the prismic water. The creature growled, but as the last of it was submerged, there was no longer any trace of it as the water diminished.

"What?" Cirrus said looking at the scene in disbelief. She growled, but looked at her hand as it started vanishing and reappearing. She saw the Senshi together and teleported away before they could get her.

"Mercury, that was amazing," Sailor Moon said.

"Yeah. Way to go."

"Nice work."

"Thanks guys," Mercury said, "And my sight is completely healed."

"It is? How?" Sailor Venus asked.

"I'll explain it later. Right now we should see to these people."

The Senshi nodded and turned back into their civilian forms before checking to see if the victims were alright. It seemed that once the yokai died, all the damage it did was undone.

Later

"So everything is good," Naru asked, being the fifth person in school today to comment on Ami's recovery.

"Yep, everything is up to date," Ami said.

"That's good. So I'll see you in class later," she said, leaving Usagi and Ami behind.

"I'm sure that they'll stop pestering you soon," Usagi said with a grin.

"Sure," Ami responded, "Hey, Usagi. I do want to apologize."

"What do you mean? Apologize about what?"

"I admit that when you wanted to do things on your own to protect us, I thought you were being a little selfish. But seeing how I became the one everyone was protecting, I can understand where you were coming from. You didn't want others to risk their life for you. I understand that now."

"It's alright. We just have to be sure to look out for one another."

"And we will. We will protect this planet, and stop these guys, together."

"Yeah, together."

Asteroid

"I can't believe it," Cirrus said, angrily, as her hand began to vanish and reappear. She gently touched her finger on the surface of the black liquid in her cauldron. Within seconds her hand stopped fading and remained solid.

"They're getting stronger," Stratus said, "And they were already a nuisance to begin with. Even when we think we've made progress, we're set two steps back."

"What are you complaining. You hacked their systems and blinded one of them."

"I was also trying to syphon information from the system as well. But apparently the data I thought I collected is encrypted. And, of course, it also found a way to delete itself if anyone tried to read it off a foreign machine other than that girl's computer."

"So hack them again."

"I tried, but the girl must have created a firewall, blocking my access."

"You two have been here for a few weeks and this is how you spend your time," a voice said. The two generals turned around and saw a man dress in a business suit. He carried a decorative cane which he used while walking to the commanders.

"What are you doing here?" Cirrus said.

"Just thought my comrades-in-arms might need some assistance," said the third general, Atlas.

Wow, it's been a full year since the last update. Sorry about that. My life's been a little hectic for a while. I hope this makes up for it. I know it's not perfect, and I'll probably fix it later but I thought you guys deserved this. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed it.