"What silly excuse for not doing your homework are you going to give me today, Serena?"

"N... none Miss H, really," the blond teenager said as she handed the tall teacher her homework.

Miss Haruna sighed. I think I'm getting a headache. "First Molly is late for class and then Serena actually did your homework? What kind of a day is this?" she asked herself. She handed Serena the papers, looked at her sternly, and said, "Serena, I want you to do it over again. This time, get a few of the answers right and make sure it's legible."

Serena turned red and nodded. She definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed, sheesh...

Molly and Serena sat under at tree, chatting during lunch. Molly yawned. "My mom had a two for one sale at the jewelry store last night and I had to help," she complained. "I'm bushed. My alarm clock went off for an hour before I woke up."

"I'm sorry you got detention, Mol, if Miss H wasn't so steamed at me, she might have let you off with a warning."

"That's okay, Serena," said Molly with a smile. "If I come up with any good excuses, I'll let you know."

Just as Serena was about to tell her a priceless one, Melvin came up from behind the tree.

"Hey Molly, Serena, want to know the answer to this morning's bonus question on the math quiz?"

Both girls looked at each other and groaned.

"Go away, Melvin!!" they shouted in unison.

"Fine. I won't tell you. Statistics show that she puts the same question on fourteen percent of her quizzes. You might have scored an extra percent with that answer."

"Gee," said Serena sarcastically. "I think I might have got a 49% then. That'll really help me." Both girls giggled.

"Where's Amy?" asked Melvin. "Maybe she would appreciate my information."

They watched the nerd stalk away in search of Amy. "Hey, where is Amy anyway?" asked Molly. "She usually eats lunch with us."

"I don't know," said Serena. She was glad Amy wasn't here. She couldn't gang up on her anymore for not paying attention at the Scout meeting. "Maybe she's building a new computer program or something brainy like that."

"Who knows..." said Molly, stuffing a large piece of chocolate chip muffin into her mouth.

Serena tried not to fall asleep, but she was quickly losing the battle. History is SO boring! she whined to herself. Why should we have to learn about a bunch of old dead people anyway? She stifled a yawn with her hand and tried again to figure out what the teacher was talking about.

"Now class, on Friday we discussed the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Who can tell the names of his three ships?"

Melvin raised his hand waving wildly in his excitement. "I know. In alphabetical order they are, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria," he said with pride. Pushing his wide glasses back onto his nose, he continued, "I studied their structure on the Internet last night. Did you know that those three ships were made out of..."

The entire class groaned. "That's enough, Melvin," commanded Miss Haruna. "Thank you for answering correctly yet again." Miss Haruna sighed and sat down on her desk.

Dork! Serena was able to comment to herself before she succumbed to the overwhelming need to sleep. She leaned her forehead down on her arms, and began to doze at her desk. Soon, the sound of her snoring was echoing through the room.

Miss Haruna's eyes narrowed and she stalked over to her sleeping student. Why can't you stay awake for five minutes? she asked herself before shouting, "SERENA!" Serena sat up as straight as an arrow in her seat, her eyes glazed from her brief nap. The blond teenager looked up at her teacher in horror. "Since you're so relaxed, you won't mind telling all of us what year Christopher Columbus sailed the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria."

All eyes were on Serena. Miss Haruna towered menacingly over her with her hands on her hips. "Umm, ah..." she muttered, wondering what to do. I forgot to do that homework this weekend... OH NO! Miss H is going to cream me. "1969?" asked Serena, smiling towards her infuriated teacher.

"Serena! That was part of your reading assignment this weekend!" The tall teacher walked back to the front of the class and suddenly spun around. "Since you neglected your reading, I'm going to help you out. I want a complete essay on the voyages of Christopher Columbus, in full essay form, with an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, with footnotes and a biography." Serena groaned and a few students snickered.

The bell rang signaling the end of class for the day. Serena gathered up her stuff, threw it into her bookbag, and headed quickly for the door. But she wasn't quick enough.

"And Serena," said Miss H, stopping the ponytailed girl in her tracks, "I want that essay on my desk tomorrow morning!"

After a long afternoon with a spelling quiz and a boring history lesson about Christopher Columbus, Serena said good-bye to Molly as she left for detention. That felt way weird... she mused, twirling a lock of long blond hair around her finger. It's usually me that has to go to detention. What a weird day this is.

Suddenly, she saw students running in the schoolyard. "Hey," she asked a passing classmate, "what's going on?"

The girl stopped for a moment. She clutched Serena's shoulders with emotion. "You have to get out of here, Serena!" Fear was clear in her large brown eyes. She looked as if she was about to cry. "There's a monster in the schoolyard."

"A monster?" she uttered out loud.

"Yeah, and Sailor Mars and Mercury are here fighting it." She let go of Serena's shoulders and began to run quickly. "Hurry Serena, you have to get away!"

Serena ran outside into the schoolyard to find Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury battling the ugliest monster she had ever seen. "Yuck!" Serena spat. "They could at least make them prettier!"

The monster was female. She had long green colored hair that was curly and looked like steel wool. Man that thing looks like she put a finger in a light socket... Her skin was leathery and red with totally black, large, round eyes. The bikini top and bottoms she was wearing were made out of lime colored vinyl. Great, yet another fashion freak from the Negaverse! The monster opened her mouth wide, revealing long, spiky, greening teeth and shot fire at the two Sailor Scouts.

Luna found Serena peeking from around a clump of bushes. "Serena!" she called up to the blond teenager.

"Oh hi Luna..." she said in a sad voice. "Are they really that mad at me that they'd want to fight without me?" The water works began as Serena began to wail.

Luna stepped back so that she would not get wet. "Serena, look at me!" the black cat commanded. Serena stopped in mid-wail and looked down. There, at her feet, was her communicator. She bent down, picked it up, and then put it into the pocket of her blue skirt.

"Oh, I guess I forgot it this morning," she said with an embarrassed chuckle. One more thing for Rei to scream at me about. Great going Serena. Can't you get anything right today? she asked herself in frustration.

A ball of fire whizzed by above them. Serena ducked out of harm's way and Luna moved away from the protection of the bushes to check out how Mercury and Mars were faring. Luna gasped as she saw that Mercury was down, probably winded, and she noticed Mars beginning her attack. "Serena!" Luna growled in her familiar English accent, "Transform now!" she commanded.

"Ya all right, Luna!" said Serena with a groan of effort. She stood back, straightened up, and shouted, "Moon Prism Power!"

The monster laughed in glee. She was about to finish off the haughtily little Sailor girl in front of her. This is going to be fun. Jadeite will be so pleased! Before she could act, she heard a voice behind her and turned with a scream of rage to see who would dare interrupt her.

"The schoolyard is a place for kids to relax and play, how dare you interrupt their fun!" The Sailor Scout of the Moon stood before the monster in her typical pose and pointed a gloved finger at the monster. "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice!" She continued despite the monster's groan. "In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"Go ahead and try," sneered her red skinned enemy. "Hopefully, your moves are better than your pathetic speech!"

"You're such a meatball head!" shouted Mars in irritation. "Don't you answer your communicator?"

Just at that moment, the monster laughed. "I am Pyro-Head," she said in a husky voice. "Feel my fire!" She opened her foul mouth wide and began to spew fire in all directions.

Sailor Moon dodged a couple of fireballs by launching herself towards the ground and rolling out of the way. Mars leaned to the right calmly, waited as a fireball blazed by then shouted, "Mars Fire Ignite!"

Her attack was countered by a new set of fireballs launched by the monster. Sailor Moon barely missed being burned. Seeing this, Luna shouted, "Sailor Moon, DO something!"

Mercury came to as this was taking place, she cringed as a fireball came a little too close to her. I have to help the Sailor Scouts. Despite the dizziness in her head, she stood up shakily and shouted, "Mercury Bubbles Blast!!" A thick fog appeared, concealing the Sailor Scouts.

"Do it NOW Sailor Moon!" shouted Mars.

"Right!" Sailor Moon agreed quickly. She jumped to her feet, plucked the tiara from her forehead, aimed it at Pyro-Head, and said, "Moon Tiara Magic!"

The tiara magically turned into a lethal discus that flew straight towards the Negaverse monster's head. The monster saw it coming and raised her knotted, leathery hands to protect herself. She did so too late. The discus made contact with its target and reduced Pyro-Head to a pile of moon dust.

"All right!" Sailor Moon shouted in victory.

"You could've come a little earlier, don't you think!" began Mars.

Sailor Moon wasn't able to counter that accusation. Behind her, she heard the sounds of an explosion and turned to see her school on fire. The windows shattered from the force of the blast, and the Sailor Scouts ducked from the intensity of the heat and the spray of broken glass and debris.

Sailor Moon jumped to her feet and began to run towards the flaming building. She was stopped by Mars and Mercury as they tackled her to the ground.

"Let me go!" yelled Sailor Moon as she struggled to break their firm hold on her. "Let me go NOW!"

"Sailor Moon, you're brain dead!" hissed Mars. "You can't go in there. You'll be killed."

"But I have to!" cried Sailor Moon, shoving off Mars. "I have to go in there. MOLLY'S IN THERE! I have to save her!" Tears ran down her face as she watched parts of the building collapse before her eyes. "OH Molly, I hope you got away..."

Mercury put an arm around her friend, and felt the tears run down her face too. "There's nothing you can do for her now," she whispered as the blond teenager cried. "We can only wait and hope that she made it out safely."

"You'd better reverse your transformation," reminded Luna. I hope Molly is all right. "Here come the police and the fire department!"

They quickly transformed back into their regular forms and watched as police, the fire department, and the media converged on the sight. The police pushed all bystanders back to a safe distance. Amy and Rei had to drag Serena away as she screamed for her friend.

"Molly!!! Molly!!" she screamed, wide eyed. She turned to Amy, grasped her by the shoulders, and whispered, "It's all my fault... If I'd have just remembered my communicator this morning..." She lunged towards the burning building once again. "Molly!!" she screamed.

A reporter from the local television station began to describe the scene to a waiting camera.

"I am here at Crossroads Junior High, the scene of a devastating fire..." Serena heard this and turned towards the voice. "...the cause of which is still unknown at this time."

Serena looked to Rei than Amy and began to sob in sorrow. "It's all my fault..." she muttered again and again, her entire body shaking in shock. "I could have saved her."

"It is unknown how many people were in the building at the time of the explosion, though school officials have confirmed that a class of students in detention may have been caught in the unexpected blaze."

Serena's body slumped suddenly to the ground. Amy and Rei caught their friend and lowered her unconscious form so that she would not hurt herself. Suddenly, Serena's parents appeared.

"Oh my poor baby!" cried her mother.

"Let's get her home," said her father.

Serena woke slowly. She could hear whispering, but couldn't make out the words. Opening her eyes, she looked around with blurry vision. She was lying in her bed. There was no light in the room, except for the small desklamp. She could barely make out her mother standing in the doorway with Amy's mother. The light from the hallway was bright, hurting her eyes.

"Thank you for coming. I was so worried about Serena."

Amy's mother nodded in understanding. "It wasn't a problem at all. Amy told me that Serena reacted badly to the accident at the school."

"And how is Amy reacting to the tragedy?" Serena heard her mother ask.

"I haven't told her yet. She was so worried about Serena. But I know my daughter. She has probably hacked her way into the police and fire departments' databases by now. I'm sure she knows."

Knows what? asked Serena, not fully remembering the day's events. What's going on here? Why is SHE here?

Amy's mother looked over and noticed Serena. "Oh she's awake now. Make sure she gets plenty of rest. And if anything else happens, feel free to call me again. I'll leave you two alone now."

Serena's mother walked over to her daughter and sat down on the bed next to her. She brushed Serena's blond hair out of her face and smiled kindly down at her.

"Mom, what happened? Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember, dear? There was a fire at your school."

Serena jumped at the mention of the fire. Oh yeah, I remember now. We were fighting a Negaverse monster. I finished it off and then the building exploded... Tears suddenly pooled in her large blue eyes. "The reporter said that the kids in detention were caught." Serena pulled herself onto her knees, ignoring the throbbing in her head. "Mom, what happened to Molly? Is she okay? Did you hear that they rescued her." She clutched at the shoulder straps of her mom's apron with shaking hands. "Come on Mom, TELL ME!" she sobbed.

Her mother's eyes filled with tears and Serena understood the answer. She began to shake her head, tears rolled off her face and dripped into her lap. "No," she whispered, stunned. This can't be. Not my Molly... Oh MOLLY! "NO!!!!" she screamed suddenly. And then her mind was claimed by the darkness of exhaustion.