SAILOR MOON: 1987
THIS IS THE PART WHERE I TELL YOU THAT I DID NOT CREATE SAILOR MOON, SHE WAS CREATED BY NAOKO TAKEUCHI, AND I DON'T OWN ANYTHING IN THIS STORY I DIDN'T CREATE, AND THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE VERSION OF NAOKO TAKEUCHI'S CREATION, WHICH IS SET IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN THE 1980s.
EPISODE 16: CONTROLLING THE BEAST WITHIN
ORANGEFAIR PLAZA, FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA
JANUARY 2, 1987 11:25 AM
John McCoy got up onstage, and tuned his guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Custom, in black. The guitar was a birthday present from his mother's cousin, who just happened to be one of his idols, Ace Frehley, the first lead guitarist from the band KISS. He had just over 90 minutes until his band, Rainy Day Man, would begin playing the first of 3 sets of music. Tuning was easy for him, he quickly got his guitar tuned, and put it back on its stand. "Mind watching Luna for me?" Usagi Tsukino, John's girlfriend, asked. "I thought I would run over to Ruby's and pick up something to eat. Want me to grab you something?"
"Double bacon cheeseburger, extra bacon," John said. "Fries, onion rings, and an orange cream milkshake."
"Your usual," Usagi said.
""Get yourself something on me," John said, taking a $20 bill out of his wallet, and giving it to Usagi. "And also get an extra side of bacon, for Luna."
"Got it," Usagi said.
"Why are you so good to me?" Luna asked.
"Because you're my girlfriend's cat," John said. "And even though I've only known you a short time, and you're a cat, I love you."
"And I love all of you," Luna said. "At times, I see you and the girls as my kittens."
"Meow," John said.
"Meow to you, John McCoy," Luna said.
"I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me," John said.
"Why do you say that?" Luna asked.
"Let's see," John said. "Ever since I started teaming up with the girls, I've seen stuff that would count as capital violations of the laws of reality. I mean, my powers notwithstanding, all the stuff the girls can do, everything we've fought, me being turned into Red Tail, and the fact I regularly have conversations with my girlfriend's cat, it's all starting to seem normal."
"If it makes you feel any better," Luna said, "Usagi's used to the fact I can speak now."
"So I'm not going crazy," John said.
"To be perfectly honest," Luna said, "I'd be concerned if it didn't worry you that all that happened the last few weeks was starting to seem normal."
"Yeah," John said. "Anyways, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"I'm listening," Luna said.
"Red Tail," John said.
"That beast controlled you," Luna said. "I know you could have harmed the girls, and Tuxedo Mask risked his life to help you, but it wasn't your fault, it was the fact you were born with one of the Rainbow Crystals."
"That does explain where my powers came from," John said. "All this time, I assumed my powers were completely unrelated to the Moon Kingdom."
"So did I," Luna said. "I never even thought about the Seven Great Beasts, and never imagined you were the host of one of them."
"At least we managed to keep at least one of the Rainbow Crystals from the Dark Kingdom," John said, as Usagi returned with his lunch.
"Got you some extra bacon for Luna," Usagi said.
"Good," Luna said. "I kind of like bacon better when it's not taken off a burger, with mayonnaise or ketchup on it."
"And I also like a little extra bacon on my burger anyways," John said, giving Luna a slice of bacon.
John ate his burger, along with fries, onion rings, and shake, as well as giving bacon to Luna. As he was eating, Mina Webb and Rae Hinowski came to the stage, with a couple sandwiches from the deli in Orangefair Plaza. "Hey Luna," Mina said, "You like pastrami? They put a little too much on my sandwich."
"Maybe just a tiny bit," Luna said. "No offense, but I may ask Usagi not to bring me whenever you guys play."
"Why's that?" Rae asked.
"You feed me too much," Luna said. "If I'm not careful, I'll wind up getting fatter than Rhett Butler."
"Now there's a large pussycat," John said.
"If you don't mind," Luna said, "just give me a couple strips of bacon, and put the rest on your burger if you want."
"You want me to get fat instead of you?" John asked.
"Did someone say bacon?" Rae asked.
"I got extra bacon for Luna," John said.
"If she doesn't want it," Rae said, "I'll take it. I got a turkey sandwich, I was going to get bacon on it anyways, but forgot to ask for it."
"Be my guest," John said, grabbing a couple slices for Luna, and giving the rest to Rae.
After they ate, John, Mina, and Rae went to change into their stage outfits. John wore tight fitting blue jeans, a black sleeveless T-shirt with a picture of the cover of Destroyer by KISS, and black Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. Mina wore a long sleeved red top worn off the shoulders, skintight blue jeans worn tucked into knee high brown leather boots, and a brown belt. Rae wore a white shirt with sleeves cut halfway betwen the elbow and wrist, skintight black jeans, and red Converse Chuck Taylor high tops. As they got back to the stage, Chris Forney, Molly Hogan, and Darien Shields came in their outfits. Chris wore a white dress shirt with band collar, black leather sports coat, black jeans, and black leather high top sneakers with a Velcro strap around the ankle. Darien wore blue jeans, a red checkered flannel shirt worn unbuttoned(and with sleeves rolled up) over a gray T-shirt, and white low cut Vans slip-on sneakers. And Molly wore a sleeveless red turtleneck and Capri length skintight blue jeans (she performed barefoot, although she did wear black thongs to the stage).
"Good afternoon," John said, as the band was ready to begin. "We're Rainy Day Man, and we're about to play you some rock and roll, but before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to thank Cavern Music for providing us with gear, and to Crown Palace Arcade and Ruby's for sponsoring us today. And before we begin, I'd like to introduce the members of the band. First, on keyboard and vocals, Mina Webb. On vocals, bass, and guitar, Mina's best friend in the whole world, Rae Hinowski. On bass guitar, vocals, and keyboards, Mina Hogan. On drums, Darien Shields. On guitar and vocals, Chris Forney."
"On guitar, bass, talkbox, and vocals," Chris said, "John McCoy. And on John's shoulders is our mascot, Miss Luna Pussycat."
"Chris Forney's going to sing our first number," John said. "It was a hit a few years ago for Rod Stewart, but we think Chris does a pretty good job with it."
Darien counted down, and the band played "Young Turks", with Chris on vocals, followed by "Burning Love", "Waterloo"(Molly on keyboards, John on bass, Mina and Rae on vocals), "Too Shy", "Godzilla", "I Love Rock & Roll"(Rae on vocals), "Magic"(Olivia Newton-John version, Molly on keyboard, Rae on bass, Mina on vocals), "Firehouse", "Broken Wings"(Chris on vocals), "Open my Eyes", "Goodbye to You"(Molly on vocals), "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"(Rae on vocals and guitar), and "The Oath", finishing the first set with "Walk Like an Egyptian"(Rae, Molly, and Mina each singing a verse, Rae and Mina on guitar, John on keyboard, Chris shaking a tambourine).
"Hey guys," Dianne Hansen said, after the band finished their first set. "Good set there. I was talking to some of the other shopkeepers in the plaza, they like the music, and it seems that business does sort of pick up whenever you guys play. What I'm getting at is, we have a permanent Saturday afternoon gig up for grabs, if you want it."
"Of course we want it," Chris said.
"Definitely," John said.
"And of course, you too, kitty," Dianne said, petting Luna. "You're part of the band, too, even if all you do is sit on John's shoulders."
"Meow," Luna said.
"And the occasional meow," Dianne said. "Anyways, I take it you guys are willing to be the house band for the Plaza?"
"Let's put it to a vote," John said. "All those in favor?"
"Aye," Chris said.
"Yes," Mina said.
"I agree with my best friend," Rae said, putting an arm around Mina's shoulders. "Yeah."
"Count me in," Darien said.
"That's a great big ten-four," Molly said.
"I guess that makes it unanimous," John said.
"Great," Dianne said. "I just have a few things, though. First off, I kind of liked this first set you did today, cutting down on the harder stuff. I don't mind the occasional metal song, but not everybody who shops here is a headbanger. And whenever you do a KISS song, it's okay to mention the name of the band. John, you don't have to refer to them as your mom's cousin's old band, although I don't mind if you mention that your mom's cousin is Ace Frehley. And another thing, if you want to toss in the occasional original song, go ahead. Just let me know ahead of time, and let me see the lyrics first, make sure there's nothing objectionable."
"We were going to do an original song next set," Rae said, handing Dianne a sheet of paper with typewritten lyrics on it. "Something I wrote a few months ago, but have never performed in front of an audience. Funny thing, when I wrote it, the only person in the band I knew was Mina, but the song's called Rainy Day Man."
"We only used that name because all the other names we wanted to use were already taken," John said.
"And what names did you want to use, anyways?" Mina asked.
"Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Fleetwood Mac, Cream, KISS, Van Halen, Chicago, Boston, 10cc, Orleans, and Run DMC," John said.
"Seriously," Mina said.
"Actually," Darien said, "Rainy Day Man was the only name we could all agree on."
"Makes sense," Rae said.
"Hey John," Chris said, as John was about to go sit down and have a Gatorade. "I want to ask you something, about your friend Ami.(which he pronounced "Amy") I was wondering if she ever asked you anything about me."
"First off," John said, "Her name's pronounced "Ah-me", not Amy. Not a real big deal, but correctly pronouncing her name is something that girls do notice. Second of all, I don't think she's ever asked me about you. But if she does, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to tell her you're interested?"
"Sure," Chris said. "Give her my phone number."
After a break, the band went back onstage, to start their second set, the first song being "Sugar Sugar", followed by "I Only Want to be With You"(Rae on bass, Molly on vocals), "Dancing Queen"(Rae and Mina on vocals), "New York Groove", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"(Chris on vocals), and "Sweet City Woman"(John on banjo), after which Rae took to the mic to address the crowd.
"You'll have to excuse me," Rae said, as she strapped on an acoustic guitar, and plugged it into her amp. "I'm a little nervous, I've never played any of my own songs live in front of an audience before. That is, unless you consider Mina Webb's cat an audience. Anyways, this is something I wrote last summer, before I met anyone in the band besides Mina. The fact I wrote this before I met anyone in the band is funny, considering the title of the song. This is a little number I call "Rainy Day Man", and I hope you like it. The band played it, with Rae singing and playing acoustic guitar, and the audience was receptive.
"Rae Hinowski, everyone," John said, after the song ended. "I don't know about any of you, but I think she has a career as a songwriter."
The band continued on, playing "Drive"(Chris on vocals), 'Rock Me Gently", "Livin' On a Prayer"(John playing talkbox, Chris on vocals), "Rhiannon"(Mina on vocals, Molly on keyboard, Rae on bass), "I'm a Believer", and "We're an Amercan Band"(Chris on vocals), before ending the set with "You May Be Right"(with Mina playing the saxophone solo).
"Awesome set, guys," John said, after they finished, and got off the stage.
"I know this is only our second set with this lineup," Darien said, "but we're really starting to gel."
"Damn straight," Chris said. "Mina and Rae are the final pieces of the puzzle."
Between the last 2 sets, John and Luna sat in a secluded area. John had a small bottle of water, he poured some in a little bowl for Luna, and had a bottle of orange Gatorade for himself. Just as he sat down, Ami Andersen came by, carrying a paper plate, with a couple slices of pepperoni pizza on it. "Usagi and I got pizza," Ami said. "We thought you might like some."
"Thanks," John said.
"And don't think we forgot about you, Luna," Ami said, opening a tin of anchovies.
"Thanks, Ami," Luna said. "It's been a while since I've had anchovies."
"Hey John," Ami said, "Think I can talk to you for a second?"
"Sure," John said. "What's up?"
"Your friend Chris," Ami said. "The other guitar player in your band, I kind of think he's cute."
"He asked me about you earlier," John said, writing something down on the back of a Cavern Music business card, and giving it to Ami.
"What's that?" Ami asked.
"Chris Forney's phone number," John said.
"Mind if I ask you a personal question," Ami asked.
"Go ahead," John said.
"What do you think of me?" Ami asked. "I don't want you to be polite, I want your honest opinion."
"To be perfectly honest," John said, "I think you're wise beyond your years, and probably the most diligent student I've ever had."
"You don't think I'm stuck up, or a smarty pants, or something like that?" Ami asked.
"You are quite intelligent," John said, "but I never thought of you as stuck up, or anything like that. Maybe a bit shy at first, but that comes with the territory when you move to a new town. But you have started coming out of your shell, I think being friends with Usagi definitely helped with that."
"You might not believe this," Ami said, "but Usagi is one of my first real friends. I didn't have a lot of friends when I lived in Seattle."
"You didn't?" John asked.
"I was," Ami said, "in a word, shy. Shyness and high intelligence don't exactly make one come off as very friendly. Sometimes, I get along a bit better with animals, especially cats. Cats don't care if you're intelligent, or if you're shy. Funny thing, though, I became friends with Usagi because of her cat."
"Oh that," Luna said. "I have a little confession about how you met Usagi."
"Don't tell me you pounced on me on purpose," Ami said.
"If you want to put it that way," Luna said. "Actually, I was trying to make it look like I misjudged the distance between two branches, but I was actually trying to land in front of you, not on your head."
"No harm done," Ami said. "But why me?"
"Because I wanted you to become friends with Usagi," Luna said. "For some reason, I had a feeling about you from the first time I observed you. Turns out those feelings were on the mark."
"Seems like you were instrumental in putting the whole team together," Ami said.
"All except me," John said.
"Golden Hawk was serendipity," Luna said. "He just happened to be there the first time Sailor Moon went into action, and has been a valuable member of the team, even if he does sometimes think of himself as a hired gun."
"And I have noticed he's started to take me under his wing," Ami said. "I know he's friends with all the girls, but it seems like I'm the only one he has taken under his wing."
"I don't really get that, either," Luna said. "I mean, he's Usagi's boyfriend, Mina and Rae are in his band, and he's quickly become friends with Mary Ann. But I don't understand his interest in you."
"I think I can explain it," John said. "It might be that I'm only her guitar teacher, but there is a student/teacher relationship between Ami and I, that was established before she learned I'm Golden Hawk, and I learned she's Sailor Mercury."
"Hey John," Mina said. "We go on for our last set in a few minutes."
"Be right there," John said.
"Guess that means I have to leave, too," Luna said."I am, after all, part of the band."
"We're back," Chris said into the mic, as the band began their final set of the day. "To kick off what will be our final set of the day, John's going to sing a little something from a little band from Texas. The band started the set with "Legs", followed by "Mama Can't Buy You Love"(Chris on vocal), "Borderline"(Rae on vocal), "Surrender", "Along Comes Mary", "True Colors"(Mina on vocal), "Dreams"(Fleetwood Mac version, Molly on vocal), "Talk to Me", "One Way Or Another"(Rae on vocal), "These Dreams"(Rae on vocal), "Hot Child in the City", "How to Pick up Girls"(Mina and Rae on vocal), and "Panama", finishing with "Rock and Roll all Nite".
After finishing the final set, and breaking down, the Sailor Soldiers had a quick meeting at their usual headquarters. "Since I have tomorrow off at Cavern," John said, "I was thinking of doing some SLS."
"In other words," Mary Ann Kino said, "You want to go out on patrol."
"We should all go out on patrol tomorrow," Usagi said. "Zoicite's on the loose, we have no idea where he'll strike next."
"That's what I was thinking," John said. "We've already found 3 of the Seven Great Beasts, there are 4 more out there. I've managed to store the Red, Blue, and Yellow Rainbow Crystals where Zoicite can't get them, but the more we can keep out of his hands, the better I'll feel."
That night, when John McCoy was asleep, he had a dream about Red Tail. He dreamed he was fighting Red Tail. They locked up, in a collar and elbow tie-up, like at the beginning of a professional wrestling match. The two of them fought with a fury John was unaware he was capable of, even in a dream. Red Tail tried many times to get John to submit, but John refused to. In fact, every time Red Tail tried to make John submit, it made John fight even harder. Finally, John managed to take Red Tail down, and put him in a rather brutal submission hold, which caused Red Tail to submit, tapping John on the shoulder. "You have conquered the beast within," Red Tail said, as John released his hold. "I no longer control you, but you now control me."
When John woke up, he was in Red Tail's body, but he was obviously in control. He instinctively changed himself back into John McCoy, as he heard Red Tail's parting words: "Use me wisely."
UNTIL NEXT TIME...
OUR NEXT EPISODE: SEVEN GREAT BEASTS #4:HE WHO SEES TOMORROW