I don't own Sailor Moon, nor did I create it. Naoko Takeuchi created Sailor Moon, this is just my alternate universe version, a sort of "If I created Sailor Moon" story...

Note: Any dialogue written like this, unless another language is specified, is in Japanese. Furthermore, any dialogue in Japanese will use Japanese naming convention, which puts family(last) name first, followed by given name. Also, in this version, Beryl has two heads, and unless specified, speaks with both heads simultaneously.

CHAPTER 12: THE LAST STAND OF DARIEN SHIELDS

NOVEMBER 30, 1986

John McCoy woke up to the phone ringing. "Hello," he said, answering the phone.

"Hey John," Jimmy Stone said. "Rehearsal's canceled today, and every week for the foreseeable future."

"What happened?" John asked.

"We kind of broke up," Jimmy said. "Actually, Chris and Rae quit, "I got kicked out."

"You can't get kicked out without a vote," John said. "That's one of the band rules."

"You remember the one rule that says you can get kicked out without a vote for breaking, right?" Jimmy asked. "Anyways, Chris caught me smoking weed out behind Marlboro Country Friday afternoon."

"And you did sign the rules," John said. "Rule #1, No drugs, violation this rule means immediate removal from the band, no vote necessary. Sorry, dude, you knew the consequences, but you did it anyways. I have to side with Chris on this one. Anyways, speaking of Chris, what about him and Rae?"

"Apparently, Rae said that both she and Chris got physically ill at the thought of playing with you," Jimmy said. "They said it was something you did to Usagi Tsukino, which I don't get. I mean, you and Usagi have been best friends since kindergarten. Rae said she and Chris talked to Usagi, she was pretty shaken up, she was crying, but neither of them would elaborate to me. I was hoping you would tell me what exactly you did to Usagi to get her that upset."

"I'll let you know when I find out," John said.

John went back to his room, and was about to put Rock and Roll Over on his turntable, when he heard a cat meowing in front of his window. He went to the window, and saw Artemis. "Aren't you going to let me in?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know," John said. "I'm afraid Mina sent you here to turn human and punch me in the face."

"Mina doesn't even know I'm here," Artemis said. "I just wanted to see if you're okay.

"I will be, eventually," John said.

"But Mina's royally pissed at you right now," Artemis said, "and so are Ami and Makoto."

"So are Usagi, Luna, and Rae," John said. "But nobody will tell me why. I'm hoping you would shed some light on it."

"Mina won't tell me," Artemis said. "She said you know what you did."

"Great," John said. "I have a bunch of girls who hate me, and I have no idea why."

That afternoon, around lunchtime, John went to lunch at a sandwich shop near his house. Since the place wasn't that far from his house, and it was a nice day, he walked instead of driving, so he had his Walkman with him. Just as it was almost his turn to order, Molly Hogan came up to him. "You mad at me or something?" Molly asked. "I said hi to you when you walked in, you just ignored me."

"Sorry, Brooklyn" John said, taking off his headphones. "I had these on."

"You weren't ignoring me," Molly said. "You just didn't hear me."

"I thought you'd be mad at me," John said.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Molly asked.

"All my other female friends are," John said. "At least Usagi, Ami, Rae, Makoto, and Mina."

"Oh that," Molly said. "Usagi called me last night, and told me I should be angry with you, but wouldn't go into detail. And I'm not the one to get angry with someone just because one of my best friends says so. I need a reason to be angry with someone."

"I have a feeling you'd be pissed if Usagi actually told you why she was angry with me," John said.

John and Molly got their food and sat down. John got a grilled ham, bacon, and pineapple with provolone on a potato roll, with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes, along with BBQ flavor Ruffles, an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and a large Cherry Coke, while Molly got a turkey sub with Swiss cheese, with mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles, along with crunchy Cheetos, a peanut butter cookie, and large Mister Pibb. They sat and ate, talking. As they were eating, Usagi Tsukino came in, and seeing John with Molly, saw red. "What the fuck are you doing?" Usagi asked.

"Having lunch with a friend," Molly said. "What does it look like?"

"As for you," she said, pointing at John, "How dare you show your face around here after what you did."

"My aunt owns this place, remember?" John said.

"What did John do, anyways?" Molly asked.

"He knows," Usagi said. "Ask him,"

"I have no idea what I did," John said. "One minute, I'm about to enjoy both a bowl of beans and cornbread and the Saturday Night Social Club, next thing I know, I find out that Usagi's mad at me for something I supposedly did, but she won't tell me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get a to-go box, I suddenly lost my appetite."

John went up to the counter, and got a to-go box and bag for the rest of his sandwich(he ate just under half), and another bag of BBQ Ruffles, as well as a refill on his drink, and left. "I hope you're satisfied," Molly said, as she went to the counter to get a to-go box and bag for herself, as well as a refill on her drink. "I don't think I've ever seen John this upset before. What exactly did he do, anyways?"

"He didn't do anything," Usagi said.

"You're mad at him for no reason?" Molly asked.

"Not exactly," Usagi said. "I'm not really mad at him at all, and neither are Ami, Rae, Koto, or Mina. We're just playing a joke on John, that's all."

"That's a cruel joke to play on someone!" Molly screamed, holding in every urge in her body to either throw her leftovers at Usagi or slap the taste out of her mouth. "Did you see John when he left, he almost seemed on the verge of tears."

When John got home, Ami Mizuno was in her front yard, practicing a kata on the front lawn. When John walked up the driveway to his house, she couldn't help but notice he looked like a condemned man being walked to the gallows. She tried to talk to him, but he ignored her, mainly because the sound of Anthrax coming through his headphones drowned her voice out. He went to his room, and finished his sandwich and soda, saving the chips and cookie for later. He put a tape in his tape deck, one he made of "downer" songs, songs he liked, which fit his mood at the moment. He listened to several songs, mainly, "Weekend in New England" by Barry Manilow, "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word," by Elton John, "All Those Years Ago" by George Harrison, "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon, "Patches" by Clarence Carter, and "Hearts" by Marty Balin, among other songs. While he listened, he sat on the edge of his bed, with his back to the door. In the middle of "Hearts", someone came into the room, and turned the tape off. I was listening to that, John said.

How did you know it was me? Ami Mizuno asked.

That's my little secret, John said. What are you doing here, anyways? I thought you and the other girls were mad at me for something. And unless you're here to tell me exactly what you're mad at me for, would you please leave?

"Usagi hasn't figured out what we're mad at you for," Luna said, coming in through the open window. "Rae's the one who came up with the idea to take advantage of that thing you men complain about, how us women expect you to be able to read our minds. She said we don't really have to come up with a reason to be mad at you, we just have to say you know what you did."

We were just playing a little joke on you, Ami said.

"Well, it went a little too far," John said.

"That's what Molly said right after you left the sandwich shop," Usagi said, as she came into the room, and sat next to John on the bed.

"To be honest," Mina Aino said, as she, Rae Hino, and Makoto Kino came into the room, "we didn't think you would take it like this."

"Why did you think of playing a joke on me like that?" John asked.

"You can call it a hazing," Usagi said. "We realized we hadn't officially welcomed you to the team yet."

"Well, that was a real fucked up way to welcome me," John said. Why don't you do something like come into my room while I'm sleeping and paint my toenails or something?"

"If it means anything," Luna said, "I'm sorry I slapped you last night. I just had to make it look like I was as upset as Usagi supposedly was."

"And on behalf of all of us," Usagi said, "I'm sorry we did this to you."

"Did any of you take my feelings into consideration?" John asked.

"If it means anything," Artemis said, as he came in through the open window, "Mina wasn't all that crazy about the idea."

"Wait a second," John said. "You knew about this too?"

"Would it help if I said I only found out after the fact?" Artemis asked.

"It's still a fucked up way to welcome me to the team," John said, turning around to face everyone else in the room. "I already feel like an outsider as it is."

"Don't ever say that again," Makoto said.

"What she said," Luna said. "You may not have gotten your powers from the same place the girls did, but you have put your ass on the line for them several times."

"Yeah," Mina said, sitting next to John on the edge of the bed, and putting an arm around his shoulders. "Who else do we know who jumps into battle against 200 demons with only a laser sword?"

"Is that all I am to any of you?" John asked. "Hired muscle?"

"That's not true, and you know it," Usagi said. "You and I have been friends since kindergarten."

"I play guitar in your band," Rae said.

"So that was a load of bull Jimmy called me about this morning about the band breaking up?" John asked.

"Not all of it," Rae said. "Chris did catch him blazing up behind Marlboro Country, and kicked him out of the band."

"Anyways," Usagi said, "After I talked to Molly, I realized we might have went a bit far. Do you accept our apology?"

"Sure," John said. "I can't think of anyone I would rather risk my life at the side of than you girls."

I don't know about any of you, Ami said, But I think a group hug would be appropriate right now.

"Good idea," John said.

"But I wanted to us to take turns giving him blow jobs," Usagi said, pouting.

"That would be a better idea," John said, laughing, "if I thought for a second you were actually serious. I don't know why, but I always find it funny when Usagi offers me a BJ."

"Will you still think it's funny when I actually make good on that offer?" Usagi asked.

"You're actually going to do it one of these days?" John asked.

"Only time will tell," Usagi said.

"Anyways," John said, "as much as I would love to get a few BJ's right now, I don't feel like taking my pants off, and my mom's downstairs. Let's just stick with Ami's idea, and everyone gather for an old fashioned group hug."

"Mind if we join in?" Luna asked, as she and Artemis transformed into humans, Luna in the outfit she wore the day before, Artemis with white hair and green eyes, and wearing a white T-shirt, white jeans, and white leather high tops with a Vecro strap at each ankle.

"The more the merrier," Usagi said, as everyone got together for a group hug.

After a few seconds, Luna's communicator went off. "I hate to break this love fest up," she said, as she and Artemis transformed back to their feline forms, "but there's trouble at El Cento Park."

"If I knew where that is," Mina said.

"Same here," Ami said, in halting English.

"Don't forget," Artemis said, "Ami, Mina, and I aren't from around here."

"For that matter," Luna said, "neither am I."

"And I don't know where it is, either," Rae said.

"You ever go to the Corn Festival in La Habra?" Makoto asked.

"I go every year," Rae said. "Best corn on the West Coast."

"They hold the Corn Festival in El Centro Park," John said. "Transform, I'll meet you there."

"Pretty Moon Soldier, Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Mars Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Power, Make-Up!"

The girls, along with Artemis and Luna, teleported to El Centro Park in La Habra, where they were met by Golden Hawk. "Endymion's here," Golden Hawk said. "His scum gives off a rather unpleasant stench."

"What do you say we take him down once and for all?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I was about to suggest the same thing," Golden Hawk said, unsheathing his staff, and transforming it into the hilt of a laser sword. "Endymion!" he yelled. "Or, should I call you Darien Shields? Either way, you have besmirched the human race with your presence long enough!"

"Besmirched?" Endymion asked. "Did you actually say besmirched? Do you realize nobody has actually used that word for over 500 years?"

"I needed something stronger than pollute," Golden Hawk said. "But let's not have a discussion over words. You and me, right here, right now, to the death. Or are you too chickenshit to face me man to man?"

"I don't know who you are underneath that mask," Endymion said conjuring up a laser sword hilt, "but judging by the fact that thing in your hand looks like the hilt of a lightsaber, you've seen Star Wars."

"My favorite movie," Golden Hawk said. "And since I'm assuming you have too, I don't have to tell you how to use one."

"Simple," Endymion said, as he ignited his laser sword. The air crackled, as the hilt emitted a blood red blade. "I cut you down to size."

The air crackled as Golden Hawk ignited his sword, his blade was green. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he said.

"And who the fuck are you?" Endymion asked.

"I am the Heavy Metal Suburban Vigilante for the 1980s! I am Golden Hawk, and in the name of all that is wicked cool, I'll kick your ass!"

"Well I am the master of all that is evil and wicked! They call me Endymion, and in the name of my queen, I will destroy you!"

"Not if I kill you first," Golden Hawk said.

"I know this is a duel to the death," Endymion said, holding his sword out, "but I still think we should at least show a little decorum."

"No need to go about this like savages," Golden Hawk said, as the two of them crossed blades.

After their blades met, they held them together for a few seconds, and then Endymion struck at Golden Hawk, who was able to parry it. Golden Hawk then attacked, which Endymion was able to parry. The battle went back and forth, gaining intensity as the two kept fighting. There were others in the park, who watched from wherever they could find a decent vantage point. The fight quickly made its way from the middle of the park to one of the playgrounds, the one designed for younger children. Golden Hawk leaped onto one of the playsets, this one a bridge with steps at one end and a small slide at the other, quickly followed by Endymion. They found themselves at opposite ends of the bridge, and Endymion ran towards Golden Hawk, swinging his sword. Golden Hawk leaped in the air at the last second, doing a flip in midair, and twisting his body so he landed behind and facing Endymion. He took a swing, which Endymion was able to turn around and block. They went back and forth for several minutes, running through the playground, and nearby picnic area, occasionally jumping on and off of picnic tables. After nearly half an hour of intense combat, Golden Hawk was back on the bridge, while Endymion was standing on a picnic table. However, instead of rushing toward his opponent, Endymion threw his laser sword at Golden Hawk. The crimson bladed weapon of metal and light spun through the air at incredible speed and pinpoint accuracy, practically drooling over the prospect of cutting Golden Hawk in half like it was a buzzsaw, from its speed and distance between the two, it would take less than a second for Endymion's weapon to do its lethal duty. The laser sword was about to hit its mark, when, with equally impressive speed, Golden Hawk sidestepped the weapon, grabbing the hilt with his left hand. Golden Hawk stood there, with a laser sword in either hand, red blade in his left, green blade in his right. He deactivated both swords, and hooked both to his belt. He then unsheathed his tonfas, and as he leapt the distance between the bridge and the table Endymion was standing on, he channeled energy through the tonfas, sending Endymion to his knees. Standing in front of his defeated foes, he grabbed both laser swords, and activated them so that they were crossed right in front of Endymion's throat, one blade on either side of his neck. With a scissors-like motion, Golden Hawk decapitated Endymion, killing him. Deactivating both swords, he hooked the hilts to his belt, and picked up Endymion's headless corpse, holding it over his right shoulder. With his left hand, he picked up Endimyon's severed head by the hair, and walked both to a nearby dumpster. "Remember, kids, always throw your garbage into the proper receptacle," he said, tossing his head and body into separate dumpsters.

As Golden Hawk dumped the mortal remains of Darien Shields in a dumpster, a beam of energy came from nowhere, hitting him in the back. As the beam hit his body, Golden Hawk disappeared. "Golden Hawk!" Sailor Moon screamed, as she ran to where he once stood. "Golden Hawk," she said, falling to her knees, and crying.

"Don't mind me," Beryl said, with both heads in unison. "I'm just here to admire my handiwork. And it looked like I did a better job than I thought. I didn't just kill him, I disintegrated him."

"I am the Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice," Sailor Moon said matter of factly, as she got up and removed her tiara. "My name is Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, you two headed bitch, I'll punish you! Moon Tiara, Boomerang!" She threw her boomerang harder than she had ever thrown it before, it flew quick and accurate, hitting Beryl 2" below where her two necks met between her shoulders, killing her instantly.

"You may have won the battle," an otherworldly voice said from seemingly nowhere, "but you will lose the war."

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon asked.

"My name is unpronounceable by your primitive species," the voice said. "But you can call me Metalia."

"It's you who will lose," Sailor Moon said. "I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"If you're foolhardy enough to try," Metalia said, as a scroll appeared in Sailor Moon's hand, "I have provided you a map to find me. Study it, if you dare. You'll die anyways, but if you are brave enough to face me in my lair, I'll make sure your deaths are quick and painless."

A few minutes later, the girls and their feline companions were back in Rae's fallout shelter. "I can't believe John's dead," Usagi said, as she began crying once again.

"None of us can," Rae said, putting a comforting arm around Usagi's shoulders, and crying herself.

"Now I know how it feels to lose a kitten," Luna said.

"Don't cry for me," the voice of John McCoy said.

"John's death must have hit me harder than I thought," Usagi said. "I swear I just heard his voice."

"It's not just you," Ami said, in halting English. "I hear it too."

"Same here," Artemis said. "I'm willing to bet all nine of my lives all of us hear it."

"That's because you're all hearing my voice," John said, appearing in the shelter.

"John!" Usagi said, trying to hug him, and going right through him, as if he wasn't there.

"Sorry about that," John said, as he began to flicker. "I should have warned you, what you're seeing isn't really me."

"What exactly is it?" Rae asked.

"A hologram," John said. "I'm here in Hammerspace, I have a holographic transmitter, I had one installed here in the shelter."

"What happened?" Mina asked.

"I dont' know if any of you are aware of this," John said, "but my powers don't include super speed."

"Than how were you able to grab Endymion's laser sword when it was spinning that fast?" Makoto said. "I mean, if you hadn't timed it perfectly, you would have gotten your hand lopped off."

"Instead of having super speed," John said, "I have the power to slow time down. So when Endymion threw his laser sword, I just slowed time down, and at the last moment, grabbed his sword. Believe me, when you have time slowed down to a crawl, anything that requires precise timing becomes much easier. As for Beryl, I sensed her, and used my tonfas to absorb her attack, and at the last instant, teleported myself to Hammerspace. Basically, I wanted her to think she disintegrated me. And I apologize for not letting any of you know, but I was afraid that would tip my hand."

"So why are you still there?" Mina asked.

"Because slowing down time when I'm in anabolic mode takes too much out of me," John said. "I don't have enough energy at the moment to teleport back, let alone use my powers. The good news is, I just need a little relaxation to recharge my batteries, at least enough to teleport back."

I love you, Ami said, a tear running down her cheek.

"I know," John said, as the hologram faded out.

As the hologram faded out, Usagi unrolled the map, and spread it out on the table. "Finding her seems to be the easy part," Mina said, as they looked at it. "This map looks pretty simple and straightforward."

"Finding her is easy," Usagi said. "She obviously wants us to find her, that's why the map is so simple to read. But once we find her, destroying her is the hard part."

"I don't know how much easier this will make it to destroy her," Luna said, as she materialized a 5 foot high staff, topped with a crystal in the shape of a crescent moon, "but at least I can give you a weapon. Behold the Moon Staff."

"Thanks, Luna," Usagi said. "As John would say if he were here, time to get into character. Pretty Moon Soldier, Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Mars Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Power, Make-Up!"

À Suivre...