<ddegruyl@infinet.com>                            "Mercury Switch"
                           by Devin de Gruyl
                    (The insert-something-here Kid)

                                 Part 6

---

	The others had stepped outside momentarily, probably so they could plan 
some strategy.  Lita, however, had opted to stay behind with me in the "fire 
room," as I thought of it, so she could talk to me.

	She looked at me as if uncertain of what to say.  "Hey, listen, uh... 
Devon, is it?"

	"Darren," I corrected her, then grinned.  "Relax, there isn't a way to 
screw up my name that I haven't heard before..."

	"Yeah, Darren," she said.  "Listen... I, uh, I don't usually say this 
very often, but... I'm sorry.  For what happened back in Rei's room, I mean - 
for almost choking you out?"

	"Well..."  A phantom twinge of pain tickled my neck.  "*I* forgive you, 
but my *neck* may not be speaking to you for a while..."

	Lita smiled.  (<She's cute when she does that,> I noted inwardly.  <She 
should try it more often...>)  "Of course... that isn't exactly *your* neck, is 
it?"

	"Nope, it's just a loaner... but if we don't hurry, it *will* be mine; 
and I don't think you want that.  For starters, I snore..."

	She laughed at that... and the laughing went on a bit longer than a 
lousy joke like that really deserved.  "Hey, c'mon now," I said.  "It *couldn't* 
have been that funny, could it?"

	"No, not really," she replied, "but it's... well, what you're saying, 
and who it *looks* like is saying it... I know better - well, *now* I do, anyway 
- but it still doesn't match up!"

	"Hmm... I gather Ami isn't exactly the life of the party?"

	Lita paused.  "Er... she can't hear me, right?  I mean, I know *you* can 
sort of hear her, but..."

	"I don't think so, no.  The impression I'm getting is that, however 
she's 'talking' to me, it's a one-way street."

	"Ah."  Lita "ahem"ed self-consciously.  "God knows, I don't want to say 
anything bad about Ami, because she's my friend and I love her dearly.  It's 
just... well, she just... *sometimes*, I just wish that... she could just... 
*lighten up* a little, y'know?"

	"How so?"

	"Well... and again, I'm not saying this to bring her down... but she 
takes herself so darned *seriously* all the time, ever since I've known her... 
always with her nose stuck in a book, worrying herself to death over this or 
that exam coming up...  Not that that's *bad*, of course!  But one of these 
days, I'm scared that she'll get up from those books, take a look around her, 
and realize she's missed out on what should be the best years of her life..."

	"Either that, or wake up one morning with a Montana-sized ulcer, from 
the sound of it," I agreed.  

	"Something like that, yeah...  Sometimes, I wonder if she really even 
knows how much I ca -- how much we worry about her," she corrected herself 
hastily.  "But then, I guess she can't hear me... can she?"

	"No," I said.  "Guess you'll just have to wait till this is over to tell 
her yourself..."

	"Yeah... I'll tell her - when I see her," she smiled.

	"That's the spirit!" I said... but then, I suddenly got hit by a wave of 
reality.  After all, we were both assuming that this whole mess turned out OK... 
there were still any number of ways to screw it all up.  And if we did...

	If we did, Ami really *would* miss out on the best years of her life... 
and not merely because she had studied them away.

	I looked down at my... her... feet.  "...That is, if you ever *get* that 
chance..."  

	"I will."  Lita's face suddenly grew hard again - this was, I realized, 
the same Lita that had chased off that bully, the same Lita that had confronted 
me in Rei's bedroom.  Her voice, too, was dripping with determination; it was as 
if she could somehow sense my sudden apprehension, and was trying to turn it 
into something more positive.  "We're gonna get her back, and we're gonna get 
you back to your body.  That, I can *promise* you."

	I nodded.  "By now, I know better than to argue with you."

	She turned to face me, and although her tone did not change, her eyes 
had softened a little, and there was now a hint of a smile on her face.  "You're 
a smart man, Darren McCormick.  A VERY smart man."

	"I know a lot of teachers back home who'd beg to differ," I replied with 
a chuckle.  "And as for the 'man' part... well, let's hold off on that one for a 
bit, OK?"

	She laughed, I laughed, and together we stepped out to face... whatever 
waited for us.

---

	I still had problems accepting that a talking CAT, of all things, was 
the "mastermind" of this outfit... to say nothing of TWO talking cats.  I 
quickly discovered, however, that if I avoided direct eye contact with the two 
feline bodies as they moved about, I could almost pretend someone else was 
speaking, which somehow made things easier on me.

	"It's now six-thirty," the female of the tandem, Luna, was saying now.  
"If what this Maiyra told you is true, that means you've got less than 90 
minutes to find this warehouse, locate Darren's body, and seperate his soul from 
Ami's."

	The white male - Artemis - nodded his agreement.  "And don't forget - 
she's almost definitely set you girls up.  You'll have to be ready to deal with 
almost *anything* once you *do* find this place..."

	That didn't exactly fill me with confidence.  "'Anything' meaning, you 
don't have Clue One about what we're up against, right?"

	"Um..." Luna stopped to look directly at me - which meant that I had to 
turn my gaze somewhere else (the nearest convenient target: a leaf blowing 
across the walkway).  "...Actually, to tell the truth... no."

	"Perfect," I sighed.  "*Just* perfect."

	"Just how are we supposed to even *find* this warehouse anyway?" Rei 
wanted to know.  "There's like fifty of them down that way - even if we split 
up, we wouldn't have time to search them all!"

	"Couldn't we just use the computer to track her location?" Serena asked.

	Rei gave her such a sharp glare that I could almost see laser beams 
shooting out of her eyes.  "You mean, AMI'S computer?!  The one only SHE knows 
how to use?"

	"Oh..."  Serena looked downcast.  "Sorry... force of habit."

	"Uh, I hate to interrupt here," I said, raising my hand, "but we're 
wasting time we don't really have to waste..."

	Lita nodded, stepped forward.  "He's right!  Or... *she's* right, or... 
something..."  She looked at me quizically.  "...Just what *are* you supposed to 
be, anyway?"

	"At the moment, impatient!"

	"Well, *whatever*... the longer we stand here arguing, the less time we 
have to set this whole thing right again!"

	"Well..."  Serena gave me that "eternally caring" look again.  "If 
you're sure we can't talk you out of coming, Ami..."

	"It's Darren, please... and no, you can't.  I didn't choose to be in 
this - but now that I am, I'm in it for the duration."

	"Are you sure?  Because if anything happens to you..."

	"Just tell me how this stupid thing's supposed to work," I said, holding 
that odd pen in my hand.

	"We'll show you," Serena said, her eyes suddenly shifting back into 
"leader" mode.  "Everyone... let's do it!"

	"Right!" the others said in unison.

	Serena removed a brooch (or whatever those things are called) from her 
uniform and held it above her head.  "Moon Crystal Power..."

	Beside me, Lita took a pen much like the one I had in my hand and thrust 
it into the air.  "Jupiter Star Power..."

	Mina did likewise.  "Venus Star Power..."

	And so did Rei.  "Mars Star Power..."

	"...MAKE UP!!!", they all said together.

	Suddenly, I was surrounded by four flashes of blindingly-bright light.  
Instinctively, I shielded my eyes, but even sqeezed-shut eyelids weren't quite 
enough to keep me from becoming temporarily flash-blind, as if a thousand 
cameras had just gone off all around me, all at once.

	It lasted less than three seconds, maybe not even two.  When it was 
over, I blinked several times to clear my vision... and even though I had 
mentally prepared myself for what to expect, I thought I was still seeing 
afterimages.

	Where Serena and the others had stood... I was now staring at the same 
four girls that I had seen back in the comic-book store, in that model.  The 
female warriors that the guy had called the "Sailor Senshi."

	That crashing sound you just heard was the rulebook getting tossed right 
out the window.
	
	".........." was all I could say.

	"Your turn now," Lita - no, Sailor Jupiter - said to me.

	Ser -- Sailor Moon -- nodded.  "I've got my fingers crossed..."

	Now I was *really* scared.  This was no longer a joke - this was for 
REAL.  Everything the guy in the store said... it was true.  ALL of it was true.  
Somehow, not even the talking cats or Maiyra's little "visit" were enough to 
drive it home to me.  THIS was.

	The Sailor Senshi were for real... and, at least for now, *I* was one of 
them.

	Gulping hard, I stared at the pen in my hand... then, slowly, raised it 
into the air, as I'd seen the others do.  "I'm gonna feel awfully silly if this 
doesn't work..." I joked uneasily - as scared to death as I now was, I still 
wanted to put the others at ease.

	It wasn't difficult to pull the correct words out of my "Ami" mind - she 
was practically screaming them to me.  Briefly, I wondered why she would be so 
anxious for me to do this - with the warning Rei had given to me earlier, she 
could very well have just winked out of existence as soon as I went through with 
this transformation.

	I said, as loudly as I dared:  "Mercury Sta--"

	Suddenly, another thought hit me.  <Hold it!  ...*I* could be the one 
who just... goes *POOF*!  These could be my last words - and they're *silly* 
words at that!>

	The rational part of my mind disagreed.  <Only one way to find out, 
isn't there?>

	There was, at that.  

	"Mercury Star Power... Make Up," I finished, very softly.

	And then, the world dissolved around me...

---

	This next part is very strange, and I'm not even sure how much if it was 
real, or how much was the product of a delusional mind.  Bear with me as I try 
to explain what happened as soon as I said those words:

	I was everywhere and nowhere, everything and nothing, alive and dead, 
all at the same time.

	It was quite a rush, I must admit.

	Dimly, I noted that the pen in my hand had dissloved into water.  In 
fact, I seemed to be surrounded on all sides by water; I could see bubbles all 
around, and tiny droplets tickled my face as a gentle wind blew them towards me.

	Gradually, the droplets turned into rain.  Then, the rain turned into a 
downpour.  Then, the downpour turned into an open fire hydrant...  Likewise, the 
wind picked up in both speed and intensity, eventually getting strong enough to 
blow all the clothes right off my body.

	The next thing I knew, a tidal wave rose up and, before I could react, 
slammed right into me.

	I thought I was dead at this point.  Obviously, I was wrong - as I'm 
here to tell the story.  After the wave came over me, I felt that some of the 
water had gathered around my torso.  Suddenly, that water shimmered, "pulled" 
itself taut, and almost snapped itself into place on me.  The glow faded, 
revealing... a uniform.

	A Sailor Senshi uniform.

	Sailor Mercury's uniform.

	*My* uniform.

	But that wasn't all of it, either.  No sooner had the tidal wave crashed 
into me, than I was literally bombarded by memories.  Memories of people and 
things I never experienced:

	<Arriving for the first day at my new school.  Standing alone in the 
hallway between classes - alone, because nobody wanted anything to do with the 
new kid, the smart kid, the stuck-up snobby kid who thinks she's too good for 
everyone else.  Loneliness.>

	<Finally, some hope.  A girl defends me when everyone else is making 
fun.  Meeting me after school, walking with me.  We go to an arcade together.  
Her name is Serena - Serena Usagi Tsukino.  She is the first friend I ever made 
here.>

	<My study session after school.  All the students around me pass out at 
their computer stations.  The teacher turns into a monster, siezes me, tries to 
turn me into a zombie.  Fails.  Serena's cat.  Tosses me a pen.  I use it, 
transform.  With my help, Serena defeats the monster.  My destiny has been 
found.>

	They were Ami's memories.  As I went through this "transformation" 
thing, I realized that I was suddenly getting all of Ami's memories.

	Sailor Mercury's powers:  <Mercury Bubbles... Ice Storm... Shine Aqua 
Illusion...>

	Her implements:  <The Mercury Computer... the visor...>

	Fond memories:  <Greg... my grandfather... Single-handedly facing down 
the Evil Endymion... helping Birdie reject the path of evil... walking away from 
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because my friends were more important to 
me...>

	And not-so-fond memories:  <Being unable to tell Greg my true feelings 
for him... Molly in hysterics as Nephrite dies in her arms... a Droid tricking 
me into believing my friends had all turned against me... the final battle 
against Queen Beryl at the North Pole, where...>

	<...where...>

	<...where...>

	<...where what?>

	I felt a frown creep onto my face.  This didn't seem right.  There was a 
rather significant gap in Ami's memory here... a very definite missing piece.  
One minute, I got the sensation of travel, of flight... followed by a very 
vague, *very* quick impression of snow and ice... and then, "I" was on some sort 
of movie set, having "my" memory restored by Luna.  It just didn't make sense, 
this way.  Was this an example of of "creative editing" resulting from a blow to 
the head, causing partial amnesia, or...

	I was thrown off the beaten track by a random Ami-thought... something 
about Lita.  A rather surprising revelation about Ami's feelings towards her 
hotheaded friend.

	Put simply, I couldn't believe what I was "seeing."

	But before I could make sense out of any of that, I felt myself being 
pulled back into the real world...

---

	The first thing I knew, I was still alive.

	The second thing I knew, I was still *me*.

	The third thing I knew, I was still in Ami's body.

	One thing I did NOT know... "How... how long...?"

	"...did that take?" I heard Artemis's voice.  "No time at all, really."

	"As far as the world's concerned, the transformation occurs instantly," 
Luna added.

	"But it worked - at least, it *looks* like it worked," Lita commented.  
"Take a look at yourself..."

	I did just that.  I was now clad in the same type of costume as the 
others - white leotard, blue miniskirt and collar, knee boots (also blue), 
elbow-length gloves (with blue padding on the elbows), and a large sky-blue bow 
in the front, held in place by a - you guessed it - blue "button".

	<Un-dirty-word-believable,> I thought.  "...wow..." is what I actually 
said.  "Very... *BLUE*, isn't it?"

	"Definitely your color," laughed Mina - <No, "Venus">, I feet myself 
being corrected.  <Always the Sailor name when transformed...>

	Sailor Moon looked concerned.  "How do you feel?"

	"Actually... pretty darned good.  Like I could take on the world!"  It 
was true.  After going through that surreal experience, I suddenly felt better 
than I ever have in my entire life.  A strength like I'd never known existed 
before was flowing through my body.  <So this is what it feels like to be a 
superhero...>

	"Are you sure you can..."

	"Hey - I don't know how it happened, but when I did that, I guess Ami 
'told' me everything I needed to know about how her powers work.  I'm as ready 
for this as I'll ever be..."

	"Great - that's just great," Mars said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  
"I hate to be a killjoy, but we *still* don't know how we're gonna find where 
Maiyra's hiding..."

	"I think I can handle that," I told her.  "I also learned how to use 
Ami's computer..."

	To prove it, I pulled the computer - the device I had at first thought 
of as the palmtop organizer - out of Ami's "pocket space" (a neat little trick 
indeed; all I had to do was *think* about the thing, and it appeared in my hand) 
flipped it open, and started entering some data - a physical description of my 
"regular" body.  After that, I put it into "scan" mode, telling it to search a 
50-mile radius for anything that fit the description I just fed into it.  After 
a few moments, the computer beeped, and pinpointed a location on a map.

	<Can't believe that *worked*...>  "Got it!" I yelled triumphantly.  
"It's an old dockyard, along the south side of the bay!"

	"I don't believe it," was all Mars could say.  "I just... don't... 
believe it!  There's no WAY he could've learned how to use it that fast... Their 
souls must have *merged* when he transformed; that's the *only* explanation..."

	"Who *cares* how it happened - we know where to start looking now!"  
Sailor Moon ran over to me and gave me a hug - a very tight one.  "I *knew* you 
could do it, Ami!  I just *knew* it!"

	<Why does this girl keep calling me "Ami"?!  She KNOWS I'm not her!>  
"Uhm... thanks..." I managed to get out.  "...if you don't mind... you're 
breaking my ribs..."

	She released me, and I gasped for air.  "I'm just glad... you're on MY 
side..." I said between lungfuls.

	Thankfully, she waited until I'd regained my breath before encouraging 
me to "Lead the way, Ami!"

	"You got it!", I said.

	The five of us sprinted out of the shrine - giving me my first 
opportunity to experience the difference Ami's Sailor Mercury form made in her 
body.  I felt myself able to run faster and farther than a normal person should 
be able to - especially one of Ami's smallish size and build.

	<This is going to be a breeze,> I thought.  ...Except for one thing.

	As soon as we had hit street level, I stopped, and looked behind me.  
The others, sensing something was amiss, also stopped.

	"What's wrong?" asked Sailor Moon.

	"Well... um..." I stammered.  "...don't quite know how to say it... 
but..."

	"But what?"

	I felt my cheeks burn, and an embarassed smile formed on my face.  
"...Somebody's gonna have to show me how to get there."

	The collective groan was so loud, it could probably be heard all the way 
back to Connecticut...

---

End of Part 6.

Author's Notes:

This is NOT what I had envisioned for this part of the story.  Originally, most 
of this was going to be a very quick scene to end Part 5, which would have ended 
with Darren saying Ami's transformation phrase.  Literally, "Mercury Star Power, 
Make Up!" was going to be the final line of the chapter.

But then, on a lark (and also to get SOMEthing going on this fic again), I 
decided to add a scene between Darren and Lita - as it is their relationship, in 
case you haven't noticed yet, that is one of the key elements of this story.  As 
I was writing it, however, an idea struck me...

But therein lies a story in and of itself.

You see, there's always been one thing that has kept me a SM fan through it all 
- cancellation, negativity, stigmas, and what-have-you.  It's been the fact that 
my two favorite characters in this series - Ami and Lita - are that way because 
they reflect, in microcosm, just about every friendship I've ever had, with 
members of both sexes.  Ami is, of course, me - the shy, awkward one, never much 
good at physical stuff but making up for it with my brains - while Lita appears 
as an amalgamation of all my past friends - street-smart, physically strong, 
always with a zest for living life to the fullest.  In other words, everything I 
was *not*.

That started to take over when I wrote that scene, especially when Lita 
expressed her concern about Ami taking herself too seriously.  That was always 
something my friends worried about me - one in particular, a girl I was very 
close to in high school.  We were never boyfriend and girlfriend, of course... 
but we were "tight" for a while, and she taught me more about life, and the 
importance of being myself, than I had ever learned before.

When I "met" Lita for the first time, three years ago, I recognized that friend 
right away.

By the time the dub got around to the episode "Tuxedo Unmasked", and that great 
scene where Lita talks Ami into admitting her true feelings for her "kinda, 
sorta" boyfriend, Greg... that settled it.  That was almost *verbatim* the kind 
of thing my high-school friend would have said to me, in the same situation.

That's why those two characters are my favorites.

And that's why I had Lita express those concerns in that scene, which ended up 
being about twice as long as I originally intended.

Sadly, I have long since lost touch with the friend Lita reminds me of... but 
if, somehow, she is reading these words... I want her to know that I still 
treasure the time I spent with her, and hope that she takes my little "tribute" 
to her in the spirit it was intended... as a personal reminder of a very special 
time in my life.

And on that note, I must depart.  Look for Part 7, coming just as soon as I can 
write it.

Legal Eagles Take Note:  Sailor Moon is TM and Copyright (C) 1992 Naoko Takeuchi 
/ Kodansha / Toei Animation / Bandai.  English Language Adaptation is Copyright 
(C) 1997 DIC Productions, L.P.  Any product names mentioned herein are TM and 
Copyright (C) their respective owners.  All rights reserved.  No claim of 
ownership, expressed or implied, is made in the use of these trademarked names, 
characters, and likenesses.  The character of Darren McCormick and this 
story, however, are my creations.

- Devin de Gruyl
  December 1998