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 is in a foreign language, the language will be specified.
CHAPTER 31: HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION #2
AT SEVENTEEN
JUNE 30, 1987
Happy Birthday, Ikuko Tsukino said, as her daughter Usagi came downstairs for breakfast.
Thanks mom, Usagi said.
Breakfast is almost ready, Ikuko said. Since it's your birthday, I'm making your favorite, biscuits and gravy, with bacon, eggs, and hash browns.
That sounds delicious, Usagi Tsukino said.
"Happy birthday, sis," Shingo Tsukino said as he came down.
"Thanks, little bro," Usagi said.
Anyways, Ikuko said, Breakfast is ready. Usagi, since you're the birthday girl, you get to go first.
Thanks, mom, Usagi said, getting her plate. She had eggs cooked over easy, with bacon, hash browns, biscuits, and gravy. She put some ketchup on her hash browns, and poured herself a glass of milk, to which she added some Ovaltine, to make chocolate milk. Ikuko then gave Shingo a plate, with the same, except his eggs were over medium. He put some ketchup on his hash browns, and made himself a glass of milk with Ovaltine.
Meanwhile, at John's house, he had just got up, and took a quick shower. He got dressed, wearing a gray T-shirt with the cover of Rock and Roll Over on the front, orange jams shorts, white socks, and white canvas Chuck Taylor high tops. He went downstairs, followed closely by Armstrong, his guardian kitten. He made Armstrong a bowl of Kitten Chow mixed with cream, and gave him fresh water in his water bowl. After feeding his kitten, he made himself breakfast. His mom had bought a dozen donuts that morning, so he put a couple brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts in the toaster, and when they finished toasting, he put butter on them, and made himself a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles in peach yogurt, and a glass of milk with Ovaltine. After breakfast, he went upstairs and got dressed. He put on a pair of blue jeans shorts, a black T-shirt with the cover of Ace Frehley's latest album(Frehley's Comet) on the front, white socks, and white canvas Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. Once he was dressed, he put a small gold hoop earring in the piercing in his left ear. "You going to work again?" Armstrong asked.
"I work Monday through Thursday," John said.
"If you're still going to school, why do you work?" Armstrong asked.
"I like having spending money," John said. "Besides, I need money to keep my car running. I need to put gas in it every once in a while, and even though I know how to change my own oil, I need to buy oil and an oil filter every once in a while. There's also the occasional tune-up, and I'll have to get the tires and belts replaced every once in a while."
"Why do you have to replace the tires and belts?" Armstrong asked.
"Normal wear and tear," John said. "Tires and belts aren't made to last forever, the thing is, you replace them before they completely wear out."
"I think I understand," Armstrong said.
"Good," John said. "Anyways, you ready to go?"
"You're taking me to work with you?" Armstrong asked.
"Why not?" John asked. "Colleen doesn't mind, and Molly likes playing with you."
"I like Molly," Armstrong said.
"How come I get the feeling there's something you aren't telling me?" John asked.
"I can't talk about it," Armstrong said. "I'm not allowed to tell you too much about your future. My mom said that learning too much could adversely affect the future."
"Makes sense," John said. "Can you at least tell me whether or not I keep my movie star good looks in my old age?"
"Can we please not talk about the future?" Armstrong asked.
"Sure," John said. "I don't really want to know too much anyways."
As John drove to work, Armstrong recalled a conversation he had with his Luna from the future the previous night.
"How are things back in 1987?" Future Luna asked.
"Pretty good, so far," Armstrong said. "Although I think I may have made a tactical error."
"What's that?" Future Luna asked.
"I shouldn't have let you and dad in 1987 know that I'm your son," Armstrong said. "The only excuse I have is that I was still a little disoriented from the trip through time. But I can tell you that when you first found out, your 1987 self was pretty uspet with dad. You slapped him silly."
"I was upset," Future Luna said. "As I recall my past self telling you, if I had a kitten, I would have known about it. Hearing a kitten call Artemis dad, and me knowing I never gave birth, I was upset. I never thought about the fact I had a crescent moon on my forehead, or that I was capable of human speech. I just thought that he's been with some alley cat or a stray, or something. I never stopped to think about the fact that Small Lady had already traveled back to 1987. I never even considered the possibility that you could be from the future."
"Anyways," Armstrong said, "1987 is a lot like how Gōrudenhōku described it. And I did get to meet that Molly he talks about sometimes. I know he doesn't talk about her much, but I get the idea he really loved her."
"He did love her," Future Luna said. "He loved her more than life itself. Her death broke his heart."
"What happened, anyways?" Armstrong said.
"What I am about to tell you, you can never tell anyone, not even my younger self," Future Luna said. "Now you know that John and Molly are best friends, and you showed up just a little over a week after she became his girlfriend. A few years from when you are now, they get married. After a few years, she gets pregnant with their first child. Unfortunately, there were complications during childbirth. The doctors did all they could."
If Armstrong could see his mother, he would see that she was crying. "They couldn't at least save the baby?" he asked.
"No," Future Luna said. "John was never the same after. All this time, no matter what, he seemed to bounce back, but this was the one thing that he could never completely bounce back from. Losing Molly and their daughter was probably the closest anything or anybody ever came to erasing his smile. This happened about a year before you and your sister were born."
"What about Dinah?" Armstrong asked. "John seems pretty happy with her."
"He is," Future Luna said. "I like to think Molly sent her to him, she knew he would be happy with her."
"He definitely is," Armstrong said.
"There is one important reason you can never tell him about Molly," Future Luna said.
"It may adversely affect the future?" Armstrong
"Right," Future Luna said. "The last thing we want to do is adversely affect the future. Apparently, revealing your true identity to your father and myself in 1987 didn't adversely affect the future, but I'd rather we not take any more chances."
"I hear you, mom," Armstrong said. "And I'm sorry I revealed myself to you and dad."
"You were disoriented," Future Luna said.
"Only when I told dad," Armstrong said. "I told you on purpose because you were upset with dad, you thought he was two-timing you. I figured if you knew the truth, you wouldn't be upset with dad."
"True," Future Luna said.
As John arrived at work, Molly was there to let him in the store, as they weren't open yet. "Hey, how come he gets in?" a customer complained.
"He works here," Molly said.
"Morning, Molly," John said, giving her a kiss.
"Morning, John," Molly said. "Morning, Armstrong."
"Meow," Armstrong said.
"Hi John, hi Armstrong," Colleen said, coming out from the back office.
"Hi Colleen," John said.
"Meow," Armstrong said.
"Mind if I take Armstrong in the back for a bit?" Colleen asked. "I have a carton of cream for him."
"Sure," John said. "I need to prepare for work, anyways."
"You are aware that both Molly and I are aware you can speak," Colleen said in the back office, while she was pouring him a saucer of cream.
"I know," Armstrong said. "You also know my parents are capable of human speech as well. There was someone outside, and I was afraid he might hear me."
"Good thinking," Colleen said. "But you don't have to worry about revealing John's secret identity. He was forced to go public with it about a month ago."
"He mentioned something like that," Armstrong said.
"Anyways, I have to go open up. You know where the litterbox is. Feel free to walk around. It's good to have a cat around here again."
"You had a cat before?" Armstrong asked.
"When I first opened up back in 1983," Colleen said, "I had a cat named Cleo. She was a black and white tuxedo cat. She used to walk around whenever she wasn't taking a catnap. Of course, it seemed like she was almost always taking a catnap. Anyways, she was an older cat, I had her for a year and a half when I first found out I was pregnant with Molly. She passed away about a year ago, it was her time. I just never got around to getting rid of her things, I wanted to hold on to it, maybe one of these days, I'd get another cat."
A couple minutes later, the store opened. As the store opened, John put Frehley's Comet by Ace Frehley on the store turntable. As Colleen unlocked the door, the customer waiting outside came in. He looked through the selection, and picked up a couple albums. He got the Joshua Tree by U2, Love an Adventure by Pseudo Echo, Bad Animals by Heart, and Priest...Live! by Judas Priest, along with the 45 of "Who's that Girl?" by Madonna. "What's that playing?' the customer asked. "It sounds a little like KISS."
"Frehley's Comet," John said.
"You mean, as in Ace Frehley?" the cusotmer asked. "No wonder it sounds like KISS. I think I'll get that one as well."
"You don't mind running and getting him a copy of Frehley's Comet, do you?" John asked.
"Sure," Molly said.
Molly went back and found the album, and brought it up to the counter, where John rang it up. "That's $49.20," John said.
"Not too bad," the customer said.
The customer gave John a $50 bill, John totaled it, bagged the customer's order, and gave him his records, his receipt, and his change. "Thank you, come again," John said.
"Best concert I ever saw was KISS," the customer said, noticing John's shirt. "I've seen them a few times. Saw them for the first time in 75, on the Dressed to Kill Tour, in Long Beach. Saw them both shows at the Forum on the Alive! Tour, the Anaheim show on the Destroyer tour, all 3 shows at the Forum on the Love Gun Tour, the Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Diego shows on the Dynasty Tour, the Irvine show on the Creatures of the Night Tour, and the Las Vegas and Los Angeles shows on the Asylum Tour. But hands down, the best concert I ever saw was on the Destroyer Tour, at the Big A."
"I've only seen them once," John said. "I saw the Anaheim show on the Dynasty Tour. I would have also gone to the Los Angeles show the next night, but my mom told me I had to choose one or the other, since they were both on school nights. I chose Anaheim because it was closer. However, I did go backstage, and got to meet them."
"How did you manage that?" the customer asked.
"My mom," John said. "It was 3 weeks before my tenth birthday, we sat in the front row. She even got us backstage passes, and I got to meet them."
As if on cue, Caryn Frehley, John's mom, came into the store. "Hi John," Caryn said.
"Hi mom," John said. "We were just talking about you."
"Your son just told me you took him to a KISS concert on a school night back when he was 9," the customer said. "In my book, that makes you a cool mom."
"Thanks," Caryn said. "Did he tell you where we sat?"
"He said front row," the customer said.
"I don't suppose he mentioned anything about meeting them," Caryn said. "Or that Ace Frehley's my cousin."
"He said something about meeting them," the customer said. "He didn't say Ace Frehley's your cousin."
"Well, he is," Caryn said. "Anyways, John, I just wanted to remind you about Usagi's surprise party tonight. I stopped and picked you up lunch at the sandwich shop, I got you a ham, pepperoni, and bacon sandwich with extra bacon, some Cajun Spice Ruffles, a couple oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and a bottle of Mister Pibb."
"Thanks, mom," John said. "Don't forget to you're bringing Mina, Ami, Molly, and I to the party."
"Why am I driving all of you, anyways?" Caryn asked. "I thought all four of you had cars."
"It's a surprise party," John said. "If Usagi saw her friends' cars parked by her house, it kind of would ruin the surprise."
"That does make sense," the customer said. "I mean, if I were 17, and my parents were throwing me a surprise party, seeing their cars out front would draw suspicion."
"Which is why I thought it would be better to have everyone's parents give them a ride," John said. "She doesn't see a bunch of cars, she doesn't get suspicious."
"Wait a second," the customer said. "You're not John McCoy, are you?"
"Guilty as charged," John said.
"Butter my butt and call me a biscuit," the customer said. "You're Golden Hawk. Last Friday, I was at the McDonald's in Buena Park with my daughter when those guys tried to knock over the place, and took everyone hostage. Believe you me, my little girl was scared shitless, and I don't mind telling you, I was pretty scared myself. We were there for over an hour, and I didn't think my little girl and I would ever see my wife again. Next thing anyone knows, you show up, somehow disarm the bad guys before anyone knew what was happening, take the leader out with one punch, and talk the rest of the gunmen into peacefully surrendering. Now what did you call that knockout punch again?"
"The old Rock-a-bye-Baby," John said, making a fist with his right hand, and punching his left palm. To be honest, even though I like to work out at the Boxing Club, I abhor violence unless necessary. Of course, when I work with Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Soldiers, we go up against the kind of threats that pretty much require going in with guns blazing. But when I go up against your garden variety street thug, purse snatcher, bank robber, or whatnot, I try to defuse the situation without using violence. I guess you can call me the Gandhi of Superheroes, although I prefer the term Suburban Vigilante. Fortunately, my powers allow me to disarm the bad guys before they know what's happening. You've seen that firsthand."
"Why do you become a Superhero if you abhor violence?" the customer asked.
"To set an example," John said. "To show that violence isn't always the answer. To me, being a hero means taking the high road, to be the better man. To show that a hero is more than just busting heads. I mean, I tell the bad guys I'll kick their asses, but to tell you the truth, I'd much rather talk my way out of it. But don't get me wrong, the bad guy starts shit, you can bet your ass I'll finish it. And wanna know something funny about the whole incident at McDonalds?"
"What?" Roy asked.
"The guy I knocked out," John said, "turns out his last name is Hatfield. And of course, mine is McCoy."
"I do remember learning in history class about some bad blood between the McCoys and the Hatfields," the customer said.
"Yeah," John said.
"Anyways," the customer said, "I think I've wasted enough of your time. It's been nice talking to you, and it's an honor to meet you. My name's Roy Hollis, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Roy," John said.
Roy took his purchases, and left the store. "I heard what you two were talking about," Colleen said. "I watched the news report on Friday afternoon. I saw the whole thing, you coming out, saying the bad guys surrendered, and nobody got hurt."
"The one guy I had to hit regained consciousness in the ambulance," John said. "He made it known he wasn't going to go quietly, so I had to take him out. You could say I made an example of him, but sometimes, you have to do what you have to do."
"So what would you do if someone came in here with a gun and tried to rob this place?" Colleen asked.
"What I had to do to keep you and Molly safe," John said. "of course, seeing that it's you two, I would probably forget I generally abhor violence. You're like my second mother that doesn't share DNA with my actual mom, while Molly is my partner in crime, my Siamese twin from a different mother, my best friend, my soulmate. If someone tried to hurt either one of you, my mom, my aunt, Michelle, or Penelope, may God have mercy on their soul, because I sure won't. That also goes for the other girls. Usagi, Ami, Rae, Koto, or Mina."
Meanwhile, Ikuko decided to take Usagi for a girl's day out for her birthday. They started out by going to get their nails done. They both got French manicures, as well as pedicures. Ikuko got fuchsia polish on her toes, while Usagi got red. Next, they did some shopping, Usagi bought a couple outfits, and a pair of white leather sandals, then lunch. They went to Ruby's, a 40s themed diner in Fullerton. Usagi got a cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate shake, while Ikuko got a BLT with fries and an orange shake. After lunch, they went to catch a movie. They saw Roxanne, with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah, a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Steve Martin. After the movie, the two of them did girl things for a couple more hours.
While Usagi and Ikuko were having a girl's day out, Kenji and Shingo got everything ready for the surprise party they were throwing for Usagi. First, they went to a local bakery to pick up the cake. They got a sheet cake, a carrot cake(which, appropriate with the fact her name meant rabbit, was her favorite) with cream cheese frosting and filled with cream cheese frosting, and topped with chopped walnuts. They also ordered several pizzas, to be picked up later that evening, topped with pepperoni, sausage, and bacon. They then went to Alpha Beta, where they got plenty of sodas, in every flavor, as well as ice. Once they got home, Kenji put the sodas on ice in a large metal tub, while he and Shingo decorated the house. At the proper time, Kenji and Shingo went to pick up the pizzas.
Around that time, it was time for John to get off work, as Colleen let him take off a couple hours early for the party. John's drove Molly to his house, where his mom drove them, she also brought Ami Mizuno and Mina Aino, two other of Usagi's closest friends. They went to Usagi's house, along with Makoto Kino and Rae Hino. "I don't know why I'm driving you and Rae," Jessica Kino, Makoto's mom, said. "Don't both of you have cars?"
"Yeah," Makoto said. "But if Usagi sees them in front of her house, it's going to ruin the surprise."
"Makes sense," Jessica said.
A few minutes later, Everyone was at Usagi's house. Everyone, that is, except for Usagi and Ikuko. They were out, not too far from home, visiting with one of Ikuko's friends, who was playing cribbage with Usagi. After a while, Ikuko got a phone call from Kenji, saying everyone was there. "Usagi, we have to go home after this hand," Ikuko said.
"Okay," Usagi said. "I'm almost done anyways."
After they finished the hand, Ikuko and Usagi went home. Meanwhile, everyone, including Luna, Artemis, and Armstrong, were waiting for Ikuko and Usagi. "They're here," Shingo said, as he saw his mom's car pull into the driveway. "Everyone get into place."
Everyone hid behind something in the living room, as Shingo turned out the lights and hid. "How come the lights are out?" Usagi asked, when she and Ikuko opened the door.
When they were in the house, Ikuko turned on the lights, which was the signal for everyone. "Surprise!" everyone, human and feline, yelled, popping out from their hiding places. "Happy birthday, Usagi!"
"Oh my gosh!" Usagi squealed. "You all remembered!"
"I think I speak for everyone here," Mina said, "when I say of course we remember your birthday. You're like our best friend. We love you."
"You were the first friend I made when I moved to Placentia," John said.
After they surprised Usagi, everyone had pizza. Everyone had half a large pizza. After pizza, it was time for cake, Shingo turned the lights off, while Ikuko brought out the cake, a carrot cake filled with cream cheese frosting mixed with walnuts. She brought it out after lighting the candles, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday to You" to Usagi, and she blew out the candles. They then ate cake, followed by presents. Kenji and Ikuko got her a new stereo, which had a record player, cassette player, AM/FM radio, graphic equalizer, and CD player. Shingo got her a CD of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, which was Usagi's favorite band. John got her a copy of The Joshua Tree by U2, Molly got her a pair of sunglasses, Ami got her a copy of an album by some band from Japan, Rae got her a plush rabbit(Usagi collected rabbits, due to the fact the English translation of her name was rabbit), Makoto got her a miniskirt, and Mina got her a copy of It's Better to Travel by Swing Out Sister. After opening presents, Usagi hugged her friends, as the party came to an end.
À SUIVRE...
