A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I didn't create Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi did. I just created this particular version of the characters. I don't own anything except for original characters, and my storyline.

CHAPTER 9: ASTANAYAX

JUNE 20, 1986

MCDONALD'S, PLACENTIA, CALIFORNIA

3:00 PM

"This would be a better job without the customers," Molly Baker said, as she and Usagi Tsukino went downstairs to the break room with their post-shift lunches.

"Tell me about it," Usagi Tsukino said. "I had some old woman yell at me earlier, she ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese, and got upset because it had onions on it. I offered to have them make her a new one, but she never said she didn't want onions on it. She said she didn't have to tell me she didn't want onions, I should have already known, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her in here."

"You talking about Dolores?" Scott Carter said, as he came down to the break room, with a caramel sundae and a cup of orange drink. "She always pulls some kind of bullshit like expecting you to know her special order. She seems to think the saying "The customer is always right" means she can yell at us for anything. If I ran this place, I would ban customers like her, who think it's their God-given right to treat us like shit. I mean, none of us makes nearly enough to have to put up with the abuse we put up with."

"Most customers are pretty cool," Usagi said.

"True," Scott said.

Meanwhile, at Cavern Records, Jerry Logue was just getting off from work. Now that school was out, he was working a summer schedule, working 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday, with weekends off. He didn't mind, it wasn't like he planned on spending a whole lot of time at the beach anyways. If he had to be honest, he would have rather gone to Disneyland, anyways. But, he was making money, and if you saw him when he cashed his paycheck every week, you'd hear him not complain. Speaking of payday, since it was Friday, it was payday. Just as he was about to leave, his boss gave him his paycheck. Once he had his check in hand, he went to Mitsubishi Bank, across the street from the McDonald's where Usagi and Molly worked. He went into the bank, and filled out a deposit slip. He got in line, and when it was his turn, he was helped by Carol, one of his mom's friends from back when the both of them worked at the La Mirada branch several years earlier. In fact, Carol had began accompanying Jerry and his mom to California Angels games the previous season, and had gone to several games already that season, including a couple nights earlier, when Don Sutton got his 300th career win at the Major League level. "Hi Carol," Jerry said.

"Hi Jerry," Carol said. "How's work?"

"Not too bad," Jerry said. "I'll be making a bit more money now that it's summer, and I'll be able to work more hours."

"That's good," Carol said, as she processed his check. She gave him a deposit slip for what he deposited, along with the money he asked for.

Once Jerry deposited his check and got money back, he got back on his motorcycle and rode home. When he got home, his cousin Mina McCoy was there. "How was work?" Mina asked.

"Not bad," Jerry said. "Some kid came in looking for something by the Doors. A couple girls came by asking when the new Madonna album comes out. And some punk band dropped off some fliers for an upcoming show, which, by the way, will be all-ages."

That's cool," Mina said. "By the way, your dad and Bonnie want us to meet them at 5:30 at Reno's Pizza."

"Great," Jerry said. "I kind of wanted pizza tonight anyways."

"Debbie's coming," Mina said.

"My dad's going to pick her up," Jerry said.

"You're not picking her up?" Mina asked.

"No room," Jerry said. "My bike only seats 2, and I'm already taking you. Besides, Debbie doesn't exactly like motorcycles. My dad used to have a bike, one time when Debbie was 4, he took her for a ride, and they nearly got in an accident. Ever since then, she's been afraid to ride on a motorcycle."

"I don't blame her," Mina said.

"Anyways," Jerry said, "I'm glad to be off for the weekend."

"I might be getting a job here pretty soon," Mina said.

"Let me guess," Jerry said. "Bagging groceries at Alpha Beta."

"How'd you know?" Mina asked.

"My dad knows the manager," Jerry said. "He was going to talk to the manager about me working there bagging groceries. He even brought home a job application for me to fill out. However, by the time he let me know he would talk to the manager, I'd already gotten the job at Cavern Records. He says there's more of a future at Alpha Beta, but frankly, I'm not looking to make a career out of working in a grocery store."

"What exactly are you thinking of doing?" Mina asked.

"I plan on enlisting in the Navy after high school," Jerry said. "Maybe go to college on the GI Bill or ROTC scholarship. Either that, or go to film school. Heck, I may just join the Navy for a few years, and then go to film school on the GI Bill."

"Whatever works for you," Mina said.

At that moment, Jerry's communicator went off. "This is Big Bird," he said, answering it.

"Big Bird, this is Hello Kitty," Amy said. "Bugs Bunny just called a meeting at the Dugout. She, Cookie Monster, Wonder Woman, and I are already there."

"I'm here with Miss Piggy," Jerry said, "we'll be there in a few seconds. You want us to bring Walking Mousetrap?"

"Definitely," Amy said.

"Artemis, we have a meeting," Mina called.

"They want me there, too?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah," Jerry said. "Mina, grab Artemis and hang on to me. Oh, by the way, you might feel a sensation of being yanked in a couple seconds. Don't worry, it'll pass."

As Mina grabbed Artemis, and also grabbed on to Jerry, he teleported the 3 of them to the Dugout, which was their headquarters. "When you said you'd be a few seconds, I thought you were exaggerating."

"Teleportation is a very fast way to travel," Jerry said.

"I'll bet," Rae Hinkley said.

"Tell me about it," Mina said. "One second, I'm in my living room, in the blink of an eye, I'm here, 3 blocks away."

"I have a feeling this meeting isn't about teleportation," Jerry said, as he sat down in one of the bean bags on the floor.

"No, it's not," Usagi said. "I think it best to let them explain."

"Them?" Jerry asked.

"Yes, us," a pair of female voices said, their voices coming from the coffee table in the middle of the room. Jerry looked at the table, and noticed that it had what appeared to be a hologram projector from Star Wars on it. His suspicions were confirmed when it projected a 3 dimensional image of two women. The image only showed their heads and shoulders, both having bare shoulders, and the image rotated. One woman was white with chin length straight slightly wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, the other black with jet black hair in a short afro cut and brown eyes. As the image of the women rotated, they appeared to be joined to one another at the back, like Siamese twins. "We are Astanayax," they said, in unison.

"Why do I get this feeling I'm somehow connected to the two of you," Jerry said. "So to speak, that is."

"Because we are connected to you," both women said in unison.

But obviously not like how you two are connected to each other, Jerry thought to himself.

"A keen observation," both women said in unison. "We are what you on your planet would call Siamese twins."

"But that doesn't explain how you're connected to me," Jerry said.

"We are the ones who gave you your powers," both women said in unison. "Your ability to tap into an alien dimension was created by us and given to you in order to eliminate a threat to Earth."

"Morrigan le Fey," Jerry said. "Her and her son Draevyn."

"Correct," the women said in unison.

"That's who we're fighting as well," Usagi said. "My friends and I were given powers from a black cat named Luna. Everyone except for Mina here, she was given her powers by a white cat named Artemis."

"The emissaries from Mau," the women said in unison.

"Mau?" Usagi asked.

"Luna's and my home planet," Artemis said. "On Mau, felines are capable of human speech."

"How else do you explain the fact Artemis and I have the ability to speak?" Luna asked.

"We didn't exactly give you your powers," Luna said. "You already had them, I merely awoke them. Except for Mina, of course, her power was awoken by Artemis."

"When we first came to this planet," Artemis said, "Luna and I got separated."

"I wound up here in Southern California," Luna said.

"And I wound up in the northwest corner of Arkansas,": Artemis said.

"I was able to sense the presence of the Guardian Princesses of the Inner Solar System," Luna said. "Except of course, for the Guardian Princess of Venus."

"Who I just happened to cross paths with," Artemis said.

"I adopted Artemis from the shelter in Elkins a couple years ago," Mina said.

"And just before she left Arkansas," Artemis said, "I discovered Mina was the Guardian Princess of Venus."

"But that doesn't explain how I got my powers," Jerry said.

"We knew the Guardian Princesses

À SUIVRE...