The episode opens with Ami busily reading her e-mail and responding to it. Luna is curled up on the bed. "My first day at my new school is tomorrow, Luna," Ami said. "I'm really excited. I hope I like it there." "I bet you'll make lots of friends," Luna said. "I hope so...I seem to have a hard time making friends..." She sighed. "Well, the important thing is you have to make time to have friends." "Mother says that too, but I never seem to be able to find any extra time...and now I have sailor business to do also...I've only managed to squeeze in three chapters of Hume this week." She sighed. I'll never finish Hume by Friday at this rate. "I'm sure you'll find a way, Ami. You're a very smart girl. Put that brain to work on relationships and you'll have no trouble at all." "You really think so?" "I know so!" Ami smiled. Maybe I won't have to be alone all the time anymore...well, I haven't really been alone since I met Luna. She hugged Luna, who purred. *************************************************************************** Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Mercury # 5 Will Ami make some new friends? The Scary Brainwashing Cram School! Translated by Jenny "Tex" Borchelt from the BSSM Anime Comic #2 adapted to story format by John Walter Biles **************************************************************************** Later that night, we see Luna at the Crown Game Center. The doors swing open for her and she heads for one of the games, which flickers to life. The Sailor V game speaks, "Greetings, Kitty. Please give password." "Kitty wants a Rainbow Brite Dolly." "Kitty eats vanilla with prunes by moonlight," the game replied. "Kitty never runs from a real fight." "ID identified. Greetings, Luna." "Hello, Central Control." "Have you found any more sailors?" "Not yet." Luna sighed. "We fear the enemy may be sending more youmas soon. Be on the look out. However, we do have one piece of good news." "What is it?" "The international price of catnip has fallen by 10%." Luna facefaulted. ************************************************************************** We see a lot of girls at Juuban looking up at a test score sheet. Ami is one of them, so are Naru, Usagi, and their friends. Ami looks over and sees them, then recognizes Naru and Usagi. Hey, I know those two..well, Sailor Mercury knows them. She glanced and saw her own score was at the top of the list. Naru was about halfway down, while Usagi was pretty low on the list. She saw Naru and Usagi and some geeky looking guy, who also looked vaguely familiar talking with two other girls. One of them looked over at her for a moment, then glanced away when she realized Ami was looking. Use my brain, Luna said, Ami thought. She closed her eyes for a moment. Don't be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just be friendly. She walked over to them and said, "Hi, I'm Mizuno Ami! Nice to meet you!" They all stared at her in shock for a moment. She filled the silence with words. "You must be Osaka Naru. Your mother runs OSA-P, right?" Naru blinked and smiled. "Yeah! We've been running that store all my life." "Do you think you could help me pick out something nice this afternoon? I've got to get my mother a present...I came by a few days ago, but there were unconscious people everywhere and some superhero fighting a monster..." "Sure, I'd love to. Mom's taught me all about gems and jewelry making and stuff. She wants me to run the store one day. I just love crystals and gems...all kinds. I always do well when we do geology in science class too." Umino said, "Hi, I'm Umino Gurio! Nice to meet you! Did you really get kicked out your last school?" Ami blinked. "We decided to move, so I switched schools." Soon everyone started introducing themselves. Ami smiled. Maybe things would really be different here. **************************************************************************** Ami, Naru, and Usagi walked out of the school together, heading for OSA-P. "So then Sailor Mercury kicked the youma and it died! It was really amazing!" Ami smiled as Naru demonstrated the kick, almost falling down in the process. If you only knew, Naru... Usagi shrieked as a black cat leaped onto her shoulders, then over to Ami. Ami shook a finger at Luna. "Don't scare Usagi like that, Luna." Usagi blinked. "Hey, I've seen that cat before!" Luna simply purred. Something about that blond girl...the fog swirled around Luna's brain and she dismissed the thought. "It's so cute! I wish I had a pretty black kitty like that." "Luna's been a good friend to me since I met her. Would you like to hold her?" "Thanks!" Usagi hugged Luna, who purred instinctively. Well, she does seem to be a nice girl, Luna thought. I'm glad Ami's made some friends. **************************************************************************** Soon they reached OSA-P, and Naru started showing Ami around. After a few minutes, Ami checked her watch. "I've got to get to my new cram school! I almost forgot!" She bolted, not noticing a small computer disk that fell out of her school bag, or the fact that she had just left Luna with Usagi. Usagi yelled, "Hey, what about Luna?" "I can keep her until tomorrow if we have to, Usagi," Naru said. Usagi looked down. "Hey, she forgot her disk." She read the label. "Crystal Disk Seminar Disk #345. If found, return to Crystal Disk Seminar Cram School, 456 Takeuchi Way." "I guess we ought to make sure she gets her disk, Naru." "Can you take it, Usagi? I've got to make sure Luna gets fed and everything." Usagi nodded. "I don't want to go home and tell Mom about my grades, anyway." ************************************************************************** Ami sprinted into class and sat down at her terminal. This was only her second time at her new cram school and she wanted to make a good impression. She dug into her bag, then realized the disk was gone. For a moment, she froze in panic. That disk was valuable. Well, I'll just have to improvise, she thought. I hope they don't kick me out. She sighed. The teacher said, "Everyone put in your disks and go to work." Ami sighed and hoped the teacher wouldn't notice she didn't have hers with her. It made her head hurt yesterday anyway. ************************************************************************** Usagi ran in the door of the cram school, clutching the disk. "Ami? Are you here? You dropped your disk." The teacher smiled. "Ahh, a new student!" Usagi blinked. "No, I'm just here to..." Before she quite understood what was happening, the teacher hustled Usagi over to a cubicle and sat her down, putting her to work despite her protests. Ami got up and came over. "Usagi, you brought my disk! Thanks!" The teacher stared at her, making Ami uncomfortable. "You gave her your disk?" "I...uh..it was an accident...I mean...I..." Ami wilted under the steely gaze. Suddenly the door flew open and Luna bolted in, looking around the room. There was the sound of running footsteps in the hallway behind her. "Luna, what are you doing here?" Ami asked, then remembered that Luna shouldn't talk in front of others. Luna bolted over to Ami and leaped up onto her shoulder, then whispered in her ear, "This place is full of evil energy!" Ami blinked as Naru ran in the door. "Luna, come back," she yelled. "Oh, hi, Ami," Naru said. The teacher frowned. "No pets allowed." Luna hissed at the teacher. She sensed great evil. Naru came over. "Come on Luna, I'll take care of you while Ami studies." Usagi looked around at the other students. "Why is everyone so zoned out?" She saw all the other students were just mindlessly typing and staring at their screens. Ami looked around and saw that too. This must be some sort of Dark Kingdom trap! She handed Luna to Usagi and Naru. "Can you take care of Luna until I finish here?" She was a little too late. The teacher said, "No one is going anywhere! We need your ENERGY!" This youma had never been much for subterfuge anyway. Naru screamed. Usagi blinked. "You what?" The youma transformed and grabbed Usagi and Naru, turning them to face the now active computer screen Usagi was sitting at. They began to zone out. Ami backed up. The Youma shouted, "Don't let her get away." The other students rose to their feet and began to close in on Ami. She slowly backed up. Wait, I don't have to run, she realized. She saw her two friends starting to faint and grew more determined. The power was starting to rise in her. It was time for action. "MERCURY POWER, MAKE UP!" she shouted. The now familiar transformation rushed over her. She let it guide her through the motions, emerging in her usual pose. "I am the beautiful Sailor Senshi, Sailor Mercury! Students work hard to learn, and I won't let you corrupt their efforts to expand their minds! I will punish you in the name of the planet Mercury!" The youma laughed. "So the little Sailor Brat has shown up, eh?" She tossed Usagi and Naru aside. "Destroy her!" The zombies closed in. Too late. "SHABON SPRAY!" The power came through her, flowing out in a great cloud of fog. The zombies collapsed as the chill finished them off. She touched her earring and activated her visor. She soon spotted the youma. She pulled out her computer and began analyzing it for weakpoints. The youma tromped around in the dark. "Question 1, the genius Newton's question. Why did the apple fall from the tree?" That was easy. "Gravity." The youma snarled, then said, "Explain gravity in fifty words or less." Instinctively, Mercury answered again. "Gravity is the force of attraction between two masses, proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. It is the result of the bending of space by any mass extant in it." The youma snarled. "So smart are you? Question Three: Conjugate this sentence. This is a pen." The computer finished its analysis. The youma's weakpoint was its back right shoulderblade. She slipped behind the youma and concentrated as Luna had taught her. "SHABON SPRAY--FOCUSED!" A stream of water fired as the bubbles merged into a thin continuous stream that packed a heavy punch. The beam struck the youma in the shoulder blade and it howled, crumbling into dust. "You never said which language, anyway." Mercury said, then went to go check on her friends. **************************************************************************** Usagi, Naru, Luna, and Ami sat in the Crown Cafe, eating ice cream. "So this Sailor Mercury person saved you again? I wish I hadn't missed her." Ami said. "Yeah! She was great! She can save me anytime! We're really lucky we've got a heroine like that in this town," Naru said. "I'm just disappointed that dreamy Tuxedo Mask didn't show up again," Usagi said. "How am I ever going to get a date with him if I never see him again?" Naru and Ami laughed. "Hey, what's so funny?" Usagi said. They were laughing too hard to answer.