A LEGAL NOTICE BEFORE WE BEGIN: Naoko Takeuchi created Sailor Moon, this is only an alternate universe version of characters and stories she created. I don't own shit here except for what I created. While El Dorado is a real high school located in Placentia, California, their school colors are black and gold, and their athletic teams are the Golden Hawks, the El Dorado High School represented in this story is a fictitious version of said educational institution.
SAILOR MOON: 1987
EL DORADO HIGH SCHOOL, PLACENTIA, CALIFORNIA
NOVEMBER 21, 1986 7:20 AM
"You are in desperate need of a hug right about now," Usagi Tsukino said, as she saw her friend John McCoy sitting on a bench, lost in his thoughts.
"I don't know if it will make me feel any better," John said, "but go ahead."
"What's wrong?" Usagi asked, as she hugged John.
"My mom got the results of her blood test yesterday," John said. "Hodgkin's disease."
"Oh man," Usagi said, hugging John tighter. "Cancer."
"She's lucky they caught it when they did," John said. "The doctor doesn't guarantee anything, but he says the fact they found it early gives her a fighting chance. Anyways, she has an appointment today with an oncologist."
"Listen," Usagi said "If there's anything you need, I'm here for you. A hug, someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, a blowjob."
"What was that last one?" John asked, laughing.
"I knew that would get a laugh out of you," Usagi said.
CHAPTER 2: MERCURY RISING
"Anyways," Usagi said, "Jake, do you work today?"
"Just until 8," John said.
"Good," Usagi said. "Tonight, after you get off work, we're going to Ruby's. Burgers, fries, and shakes, my treat, and I won't take no for an answer."
"If you insist," John said.
Meanwhile, in the other dimension, a man in a military style uniform was standing in front of a cauldron. "Arise, my pet," he said.
"You're trying that again?" another man, wearing a similar styled uniform, said. "The last time, you failed. Our leader doesn't tolerate failure."
"Last time, I didn't anticipate Earth having guardians," the first figure said. "This time, I'm prepared for opposition."
"I hope for your sake you're right," the second man said. "Our leader may not be as forgiving this time if you fail."
"I will not fail this time," the first man said. "But there is value in failure."
"How can failure have value?" the second man asked.
"A wise warrior once said the greatest teacher is failure," the first man said. "And in failure, you can learn about your foe, their strengths and weaknesses. Your biggest weakness, Nephrite, is you don't have patience."
"Our leader expects results, Jaedite," Nephrite said.
"And she will get them," Jaedite said. "It may take some time, though."
"Our leader doesn't have all the time in the world," Nephrite said.
"No she doesn't," a third man said.
"Kunzite agrees with me," Nephrite said.
"I agree with Jaedite," a fourth man said. "Total victory requires patience. And sometimes, you have to lose a few battles in order to win the war.."
"Malachite speaks the truth," Jaedite said.
4:45 PM, ORANGEFAIR PLAZA, FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA
Luna had been stretching her legs in the trees in Orangefair Plaza. She had leaped from one tree to another, but misjudged the distance. She landed on the head of a teenaged girl, who appeared to be about 15 years old. The girl was petite, standing about 5'1", with slim frame, bluish-black hair cropped just above the shoulders, and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a pink twinset with short sleeves, pink skirt worn just below the knees, black nylons, and black ballet flats, and she was wearing wire rim glasses with round lenses, similar to the ones worn by John Lennon. She had a guitar case, which held an inexpensive acoustic guitar(which was strung for a left handed player). "Sorry, kitty," the girl said. "You might be pretending to be a lioness, stalking her prey on the Serengeti, but I'm unfortunately not an antelope or gazelle."
"Meow," Luna said.
As the girl was talking to Luna, Usagi ran up to her. "I'm sorry if my cat hurt you," Usagi said.
"Your cat didn't hurt me," the girl said. "What's her name?"
"Luna," Usagi said. "And my name is Usagi. Usagi Tsukino."
"That's Japanese, right?" the girl asked.
"Yeah," Usagi said. "Yeah, I know, I don't look Japanese. That's because I'm not. I was born to a 16 year old girl who died in childbirth, and adopted when I was 6 months old by a young Japanese American couple."
"And my name is Ami Andersen," Ami said. " Anyways, I'm glad to have ran into you, I was hoping you would help me. I'm looking for Cavern Music, I was told it was in this center."
"I know exactly where it is," Usagi said. "My boyfriend works there. Sort-of boyfriend, that is. He's a boy, he's my friend, and he has told me he loves me, and not in that "you're like a sister to me" way. I mean, we have gone on a few dates, but we're not officially dating, even though neither of us have dated anyone else. Anyways, I'm getting off track here. I'll take you there."
"Thank you," Ami said, as she and Usagi walked. "I'm kind of new here in town. I just moved here from Seattle last week, I live near Tuffree Junior High."
"That means we'll probably be going to the same school," Usagi said. "That is, if you're going to El Dorado."
"I start there on Monday," Ami said.
"Anyways, we're here," Usagi said, as she and Ami arrived at Cavern Music. They went in, where John was working the counter.
"Good afternoon," John said.
"Hi John," Usagi said.
"Hi Usagi," John said. "Hi Usagi's friend."
"Ami," Ami said. "Ami Andersen."
"You two here for a social visit?" John asked.
"I was helping Ami find this place," Usagi said.
"My mom signed me up for guitar lessons here," Ami said. "My name is Ami Andersen."
"Oh yes," John said. "My 5:00. You're a few minutes early. I'll be with you in a few minutes."
"Okay," Ami said.
"You ready?" John asked.
"Sure," Ami said.
"Go ahead in the back, room 3," John said, "I'll be there momentarily."
"Okay," Ami said.
A minute after Ami entered the room, John came in, carrying a Gibson Les Paul in black. He plugged the guitar into a small amplifier in the room and turned it on. "Rule number one is I don't expect you to play like this for a while, so relax," John said, playing the guitar solo from "Deuce" by KISS. "Anyways, let's begin."
John showed Ami basics, like how the frets were numbered, how to read sheet music, how to finger the frets, and even showed her how to play a simple chord. They spent the hour playing basics, He even showed her how to re-string a guitar. "Playing guitar doesn't seem that difficult," Ami said. "But it takes some effort on my part."
"You might also want to remember to keep your fingernails cut short," John said. "Polishing them is okay, just don't get acrylics or grow them too long, especially on your right hand, since you play left handed. Speaking of which, we do sell left handed guitars, and the store has a trade-in program, which can save you a little money."
"I'll keep that in mind," Ami said.
"And next week, can you come in at 11?" John asked, "since there's no school."
"I think I can make it," Ami said.
After her lesson, Ami met up with Usagi outside the store, and the two of them went to the arcade. "Wanna head to the arcade for a bit?" Usagi asked. "John gets off work at 8, I'm treating him to dinner at Ruby's afterwards. Since I have a couple hours to kill, I think I'm going to play some games."
"Hi Usagi," Andy, the arcade attendant, said, when Usagi and Ami entered, Luna on Usagi's shoulders. "Oh hi, kitty," he added, when he saw Luna. "Haven't seen you around in a few days."
"You know Luna?" Usagi asked.
"That's what I used to call her," Andy said. "She used to hang out here every so often, but I haven't seen her in a few days."
"My parents adopted her for me a couple days ago," Usagi said. "I stopped some boys from mistreating her, and she just followed me home. My mom says I didn't adopt her, she adopted me."
In one corner of the arcade was a claw game, where people attempted to win prizes. Something compelled Ami to play it, and on her first token, she won a pen, that had a disc on top of the cap, with the symbol for Mercury on it. "Wow, you're pretty good," Usagi said. "First time, you win a prize."
"I call it beginner's luck," Ami said. "I've never actually played one of these games before. Besides, I was trying for those bracelets behind them."
"Let me have a try," Usagi said, putting a token in the game. She managed to get the bracelets. Each bracelet had a charm on it similar to Usagi's transformation brooch. She opened the package they came in, and put one on, giving the other to Ami. "Here, I only need one of them."
"Thank you," Ami said, putting the bracelet on. "Nice. I just noticed something, the charm looks a lot like that brooch you're wearing."
"I noticed that, too," Usagi said. "I got the brooch out of here a few days ago, that's probably why."
"Ok," Ami said.
At that moment, the arcade went dark, except for the glow from the game screens. Everyone playing games started collapsing, falling to the ground. Joan, the manager of the arcade came out, saw what happened, and transformed into a demon. ""Pretty Soldier of the Moon, Make-Up!" Usagi said, holding her brooch up and touching the gem in the center, which caused her to transform into Sailor Moon.
"And who might you be?" the demon asked.
"I stand for love, I stand for peace, I stand for truth, justice, and the American way!" Sailor Moon said. "I am Sailor Moon, the Pretty Soldier of the Moon and guardian of the people of Earth, and in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"
The demon fired a bolt of energy at Ami. Sailor Moon tackled Ami to the ground to avoid the bolt of energy. When she did that, Luna saw, for a split second, the symbol for Mercury on Ami's forehead.
"Ami!" Luna said, "Hold the pen you won from the claw game up, and say "Mercury Power, Make-Up!" Do it now!"
"Did your cat just talk to me?" Ami asked.
"Just do what the nice pussycat says," Sailor Moon said. "I'll explain everything when we're not in danger!"
"Might as well," Ami said. She got up, and held her pen up. "Mercury Power, Make-Up!" she said, and was transformed. She now wore a costume similar to the one Sailor Moon wore, but with aquamarine collar, gloves, and boots, dark blue tights, neckerchief, and choker, dark blue stud earrings, a dark blue gem on her tiara, larger aquamarine gem as a clasp for her neckerchief, and her fingernails were polished aquamarine. She also had a dark blue tinted visor over her eyes, although it didn't affect her vision.
"Sailor Mercury is open for business!" Sailor Moon said.
"I guess that's as good a name as anything," Sailor Mercury said. "I stand with Sailor Moon, and stand for everything she stands for. I also stand for intelligence, and knowledge. I am Sailor Mercury, and in the name of Mercury, I shall wash the stain of evil from Earth!"
As the demon went in for an attack on Sailor Moon, Golden Hawk leaped up from behind a Paperboy machine, and delivered a flying enziguri kick to the back of the demon's head. "I stand for baseball, I stand for rock and roll, I stand for apple pie, I stand for Disneyland, and I stand with Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. They call me Golden Hawk, and in the name of all that is awesome and wicked cool, I'm going to kick your ass!"
"Mercury Aqua Mist!" Sailor Mercury said, as the demon went down.
"Sailor Moon, now!" Luna said.
"Right," Sailor Moon said, removing her tiara. "Moon Tiara, Boomerang!" she threw her tiara at the demon, destroying it.
"No harm, no foul," Golden Hawk said, removing a smoke pellet from a pouch on his belt. "And nobody got hurt, except for the bad guy. Anyways, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon's cat, time for me to make my exit." He tossed the pellet down at his feet, and was quickly enveloped by gold smoke. When the smoke cleared, he was gone.
"Who was that?" Sailor Mercury asked, as she transformed back to Ami Andersen, and everything went back to normal.
"He calls himself Golden Hawk," Luna said, as Sailor Moon transformed back to Usagi."
"That's Golden Hawk?" Ami asked. "I've heard of him before, but I just assumed he was nothing but a rumor, a myth, an urban legend."
"He's very real," Usagi said.
"More importantly," Luna said, "he's on our side."
"Even though we don't know who he is," Usagi said. "I bet he's cute underneath that mask he wears."
UNTIL NEXT TIME...
OUR NEXT CHAPTER: ROCKSHOW(VENUS & MARS)