Shattered Ice: Super Sailor Mercury

Chapter 53

Galaxia sat on her throne, watching the events via a magic generated view screen. She sat with one leg crossed over the other, her golden hair held back by her circlet, and her golden armored top and skirt gleaming.

She was moderately amused by this 'Best Student in Tokyo' event. All these fools testing themselves against each other, just so that her people could take the winners' crystals for her. It was so funny, really.

"Hmm," Galaxia flickered the images of the winners so far.

Frustratingly, the Sailor Soldiers all had a kind of disguise magic that protected them from identification. Despite them having seen Mercury, her allies and the Starlights, they still couldn't recognize them in their civilian forms. It was all very vexing.

"Lead Crow," she said, summoning an image of the Sailor Animate.

"Mistress Galaxia!" Lead Crow bowed slightly.

"How goes the contest?" Galaxia asked.

"Quite well. We're trying to winnow out the smart but dull types in all categories, of course. That will takes some time," Lead Crow said.

"We must find the brightest lights, that hold the crystals we need," Galaxia agreed. Flatly she added, "Do not fail me."

"Yes, Mistress," Lead Crow promised before Galaxia sent her image away.

Galaxia watched the contests, frowning slightly. The blue haired girl in the academic contests... something about her bothered her. But why?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lead Crow shimmered, then her consciousness was returned to the control room they were watching from.

"Do we all HAVE to watch? I'm BORED," Heavy Metal Papillon complained, the taller woman dressed in a suit.

"We need to be here if the local Sailors appear," Sailor Tin Nyanko reminded her, the catgirl frowning as she studied the screens.

"Trouble?" Jadite asked.

"That Naru girl you mentioned has advanced through the first round," Nyanko observed. "Could be she's a starseed carrier."

"So we kidnap her out of the crowd and zap her!" Aluminum Siren suggested cheerfully.

"That'd disrupt the whole event, which is on live TV," Lead Crow sighed.

"Oh," Siren looked sheepish, "oops."

Heavy Metal Papillon rolled her eyes at how bubble headed the woman could be. It was hard to believe she had killed her planetary guardian to earn a place at Galaxia's side.

Lead Crow saw that and scowled at Heavy Metal Papillon.

Heavy Metal Papillon just smirked back.

Jadite just ignored the drama as he asked, "So, what do we do now?"

Lead Crow nodded slightly, "There are already students who are showing exceptional ability. We watch for them, keep track of them, and when this is over grab them."

"And the winners, if they aren't them," Aluminum Siren added brightly, "just in case."

"If we need a distraction, I've gathered quite a few former Negaverse monsters," Nyanko said, "I've got them in a dimensional pocket. I can release them wherever."

Jadite gave her an appalled look. "Those are notoriously unstable," he pointed out.

"For YOU maybe," Nyanko sniffed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Setsuna watched the goings on, maintaining her usual cool look. Inside, she had to admit to being impressed a bit. Galaxy TV had set up a track field, multiple athletic events, multiple quiz contests and even age divided beauty contests. It should have been a chaotic mess, but they were keeping things on track.

Haruka had been in two races so far, and had won both. Ami had done a quiz and, surprisingly, a public speaking event, both of which she handled. Michiru had squeaked by a local beauty queen, but she was still in this, as were Taiki and Seiya.

A broadcaster was doing a special interview of the two Three Lights, apparently arranged by their manager. If she was being uncharitable, she'd wonder of their promoter had actually arranged for the two to be here for the added publicity...

"Excuse me," a voice drew Setsuna's attention.

The reddish-brown haired teacher smiled a bit shyly, and Setsuna recognized her instantly. Haruna Sakurada had been Sailor Moon's teacher, and Setsuna had researched her back when she had been checking into everyone around Usagi Tsukino. Of course, events ultimately made all that investigation pointless.

"I'm Haruna Sakurada, pleased to meet you," the woman bowed slightly, also mentioning what school she was with.

"Setsuna Meiou," she introduced herself, also giving her school.

Haruna pushed her hair back, then surprisingly boldly asked her, "You are here with Miss Mizuno, correct?"

"I am," Setsuna admitted.

"I sort of knew her, before... everything happened," Haruna admitted a bit sadly then asked. "Is she all right, now?"

Setsuna heard a odd mix of grief, regret and other emotions in Haruna's voice. She wondered if she had known Usagi was Sailor Moon... the school certainly had been in the middle of a lot of events related to her. And her friends, of course.

"She's... well, she's better," Setsuna decided to answer.

Haruna nodded slightly, "I understand." A bit sheepishly she continued, "One of my students here was a friend of Usagi's, and she's a bit upset that Ami just went and left us. I'm not sure if that will be an issue."

Setsuna sighed, "Well, we'll see..."

Haruna brightened as she saw a figure running by. "Oooh, that's one of the Three Lights! Can I get an autograph?" she exclaimed.

"Oy...," Setsuna groaned.

Several of the other teachers also looked unimpressed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Gurio Umino was standing near Naru, also in the Juuban Municipal Junior High team. He had been eliminated earlier, so now he was just giving moral support.

"You can do it!" Umino cheered.

Naru gave him a look, "Don't tell me you threw the test."

Umico looked wounded, "I'd never."

Naru decided not to argue the point. "I've got Mizuno-san in the next round," she noted, "so I'll probably get eliminated too."

"You're a top student," Umico said loyally, "you can do this?"

"I'm good, from a lot of studying," Naru pointed out, "but she's a natural genius." She scowled, "Plus there's Taiki Kou to consider."

"Well, you've made it through two rounds already. That's impressive too," Umico added.

"That Ryou Urawa was scary," Naru muttered, referring to her top opponent last time, "It's like he could see the future..."

"There there..." Umico pattered her arm.

Also on a break between challenges, Ami Mizuno debated heading over to Naru and Umico. The question was, would she be welcomed?

"Ami!" an excited voice called.

"Ryou," Ami nodded to the young man. They had met back during the quest for the Silver Moon crystal, but hadn't kept up after that.

Ryou Urawa bowed slightly, "I'm so sorry."

"Eh?" Ami started, then realized what he meant. He had forseen the other's deaths.

"I tried to contact you by phone, even attempted to get into Tokyo physically, but things kept going wrong," Ryou said quietly.

"I'm certain you tried," Ami reassured him, even as she had very mixed feelings. She had wondered if there were future events you couldn't change...

Ryou added somewhat grimly, "You probably already know this, but there's something bad that's going to hit Tokyo. I don't know exactly when, but it's big and it's connected to here, Galaxy Broadcasting."

"We knew," Ami conceded, "but it's nice to have confirmation..."

"Group 1-F, time for your next contest. Group 1-F..." a coordinator called.

"That's me, wish me luck," Ami sighed as she headed off.

"Luck!" Greg called as she left.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, that's Haruna Sakurada who was Usagi's teacher in season one. And Ryou Urawa was also in season one, 'Greg' in the dub, who had minor abilities to see the future.

Ok, I was gonna do Ami talking to Naru, but may do it next chapter...