, SAILOR MOON: 1987
ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY KNOWS WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY NEXT, SOMETHING ABOUT HOW NAOKO TAKEUCHI, AND NOT ME, CREATED SAILOR MOON, AND HOW I DO OWN WHAT I DID CREATE, AND HOW THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO THE WORK OF NAOKO TAKEUCHI.
EPISODE 34: MIDAS FLAME
THE OFFICE OF DR. NAOKO MIZUNO MD
BRADFORD MEDICAL PLAZA, PLACENTIA, CALIFORNIA
MAY 1, 1987 3:30 PM
John McCoy, by his own admission, would rather be in school than a doctor's office. However, he was here, in Dr. Mizuno's office, having a follow-up appointment, after having his tonsils removed by Dr. Mizuno 2 weeks earlier. The examination went well, Dr. Mizuno gave him a clean bill of health. Since his appointment was after school, he didn't need a note to excuse his absence, but she did give him a note anyways. However, the note she gave him wasn't to excuse him from school, but to clear him to go back to work, effective the following Monday.
After his appointment with Dr. Mizuno, John went to Cavern Music, where he had an after school job as a guitar teacher(and occasionally helped on the sales floor or register). "I'm cleared to come back, effective Monday," John said, handing Dianne Hansen, the owner, the note his doctor gave him.
"I'll let your students know," Dianne said.
"Hey John," Mina Webb said, as she came in. "How you doing?"
"Got a clean bill of health," John said. "I come back to work Monday."
"That's good," Mina said. "Anyways, if you're up to it, we have rehearsal tomorrow morning."
"What time?" John asked.
"Around 9:00," Mina said.
"I'll be there," John said.
The next morning, John arrived at Cavern Music at 8:45. When he got there, Mina was there, as was Rae Hinowski. Molly Hogan arrived a few minutes later, just as Dianne arrived to let them into the store, where they went to their usual rehearsal room. John, Rae, and Molly plugged their guitars in(John had a Gibson Les Paul, Rae a Vox Phantom VI, Molly a Gibson Thunderbird bass), and began tuning, while Mina tuned her guitar, an Ovation acoustic/electric(an acoustic guitar that could be plugged into an amplifier instead of using an external microphone). As they tuned their instruments, Darien Shields arrived, and removed his jacket. "I'm good to go whenever you're ready," Darien said, sitting behind his drum kit.
"Aren't we missing someone?" John asked.
"Not really," Mina said.
"Chris quit the band a few days ago," Rae said. "As well as broke up with me."
"What happened?" John asked.
"His stepmother got religion," Molly said.
"And now that she's on the straight and narrow," Darien said, "she's taken it upon herself to save him from Hell. What that entails is she got rid of everything of his that she feels is Satanic. She threw out all his records, got rid of all the posters on his wall, she even burned all his comic books, she says they're nothing but tools of the devil. She even forbade him from having any contact with his friends, she thinks we're all in league with Satan. I mean, I've been his best friend longer than either of us remember, but suddenly, I'm the devil incarnate. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with your beliefs, just when people think it's their duty to force their beliefs on others. Way I see it, if you don't like what's on channel 5, change the channel or turn the TV off. And I may be an atheist, but I don't care if you go to church, I'd rather sleep in and read the Sunday paper."
"Anyways," Rae said, "since he's gone, I'll be taking over on rhythm guitar full time, so I would like to go over a few songs today."
"Great," John said.
"I know the songs we played last time I subbed for him," Rae said. "And he's been teaching me a few others. He kind of had an idea his stepmother would force him out of the band, so he tried to prepare me to take over."
The band went through a few songs they had done before, in order for Rae to learn her parts, and went through a few new songs. They were also trying to get John back into the swing of things, as he hadn't played for a couple weeks, and to get Darien used to singing lead, since he would be handling a few more lead vocals with Chris out of the band. The band went through a few new songs, namely "Rock Lobster" by B-52's, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" by Beastie Boys, and "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightingale.
They rehearsed until around 12:30, and went to Ruby's for lunch. After lunch, John was approached by Victoria Hunt. "I need to talk to you," Victoria said, leading John to a secluded area of the shopping center.
"What is this about?" John asked.
"I know all about you," Victoria said. "I know you're actually the superhero named Golden Hawk. I know you have the ability to tap into an alien dimension named Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogeryhwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, but you prefer to call it Hammerspace. I know tapping into that dimension gives you enhanced strength, speed, and agility, and gives you the abilities of flight, teleportation, and the ability to fire energy blasts, which you prefer to channel through your tonfas, using them as laser blasters. I also know you possess a staff you can transform into any weapon you can think of. I also know you use Hammerspace as sort of a storage unit, and you also use the dimension for teleportation, by entering the dimension, and opening a portal to your destination. I also know you have these powers as a side effect of having been the host of the Yellow Rainbow Crystal, as well as the Great Beast it once contained, a beast you call Red Tail, and that you have full control over Red Tail. Your abilities first manifested themselves around the time you graduated junior high, and you spent a year and a half honing them, and you first became Golden Hawk the tail end of 1985. I know all this because I've been observing you from afar for a few years. I sensed you were the person I was looking for, and after meeting you in person, I know I made the right choice."
"Right choice for what?" John asked.
"To be given this," Victoria said. She gave John a gold chain, which held a gold medallion, which was in the shape of a flame. "This is the Midas Flame. It will give you greater powers than you can imagine."
"If you know I'm a superhero, you should know I have a pretty vivid imagination when it comes to superpowers," John said.
"But this will give you even greater powers than that," Victoria said. Once you activate the Midas Flame, for one hour, you will have unlimited power. For that hour, you will literally become a god. But before you accept my gift, I must give you one warning. You will be able to safely use it at least once. When you accept it, you will be allotted a certain number of uses, after you use them up, the next time you activate it, you will die. You will never know how many uses you have. It could be one, it could be a thousand, but you can safely use it at least once. And when you do use it, once your hour expires, you will be unable to use it for 24 hours. But during that hour you will have all the power in the universe, in spades."
"Cool beans," John said. "For one hour, I'll be all powerful, I can do just about anything I can think of. Only limitations is it only lasts an hour, I can't use it afterwards for another 24 hours, and once I use up all my allotted uses, next time I use it, I'll die. I think I know why the limitations are there."
"Why do you think the limitations are there?" Victoria asked.
"Lord Byron was quoted as saying "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely."," John said. "The limitations you mentioned sound to me like failsafe measures, to insure that I don't become too powerful."
"Your assumption is correct," Victoria said. "The limitations were put in place to prevent any one user from becoming too powerful, and using the power for personal gain. But I have looked into your heart, I know you would only use the power in the direst emergency, and would use it sparingly."
"I'm tempted to reject this gift," John said.
"You would reject the promise of unlimited power?" Victoria asked.
"I'd like to reiterate what Lord Byron said," John said. "He said "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.", and I'm afraid that even with the limitations in place, that much power would corrupt me. However, if I ever needed to stop Doomsday or an Apocalypse, having that much power may come in handy. Anyways, even with all the shit I've seen since casting my lot with Sailor Moon and her friends, I find this a little hard to believe. I know your attitude has changed 180 degrees since you volunteered at the Mission instead of spending Spring Break in juvie for breaking into my car and stealing my Explorer, but I still see you as a spoiled rich girl."
"Will this convince you I'm not just blowing smoke out of my ass?" Victoria asked, as she transformed from a blonde haired, blue eyed teenage girl wearing a yellow halter neck dress and tan sandals to a two headed woman(he head on her right having blonde hair and blue eyes, the head on her left with dark brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a red strapless leotard and white knee high stiletto heeled boots, and white wings grew out of her back. "My real name is Kaolinite," she said, with both heads in unison.
"Holy shit," John said.
"I expected that reaction to my true form," Kaolinite said, with both heads in unison.
"It's just that I'm not used to seeing..." John said.
"A woman with two heads?" the head on Kaolinite's left said, to which the head on her right added "You probably never expected me to have two heads."
"Pretty much," John said. "It's like the two of you are Siamese twins or something."
"But we're not twins," the head on Kaolinite's right said, the head on her left adding "We are one person, who has two heads."
"I thought you were talking to Victoria Hunt," Mina said, as she came to where John and Kaolinite were talking.
"But I am the one you knew as Victoria Hunt," Kaolinite said, with both heads simultaneously. "That was merely a disguise I used while I completed my mission."
"Mission?" Mina asked.
"This," John said, showing Mina the amulet that held the Midas Flame.
"I had to find someone who was worthy to possess the Midas Flame," Kaolinite's left head said. "I found that person in John McCoy," her right head added.
"But why disguise yourself as a spoiled rich girl from Beverly Hills?" Mina asked.
"Well durr," Kaolinite said, transforming back into Victoria Hunt, "a two headed woman with wings would stand out a bit more than I would like."
"Makes sense to me," Mina said. "A spoiled rich girl who wears designer clothes and drives a brand new BMW 325i may stand out, at least in this part of Orange County, but nowhere near as much as a two headed woman, with or without wings."
"Anyways," Victoria said, transforming back to Kaolinite, "Now that I have entrusted the Midas Flame to John, I must return to my home world."
"Someplace where everyone has two heads," John said.
"No," Kaolinite said with the head on her right. "Only females," the head on her left added, as she disappeared in a flash of white light.
"Call the rest of the girls," John said. "Sailor Soldier meeting."
"About what?" Rae asked, as she and Molly arrived.
"I'll let you know," John said. "Just meet up back at HQ ASAP."
"This is Big Bird," John said into his communicator. "Calling Bugs Bunny, Space Needle, Sparky, Cotton Candy, Gato Blanco, and Bad Luck Charm. Meet me, Red Bow, Marvin, and Brooklyn at HQ, a-sap."
"This is Lobo the Oracle," Gregory Wolf said, over their communicators.
"This is Red Bow," Mina said, into her communicator.
"Something told me you were having a Sailor Soldier meeting, and that same little voice told me I should be there," Gregory said.
"Have him come in," John said to Mina.
"Lobo the Oracle, this is Red Bow," Mina said, over her communicator. "Big Bird says you're invited."
"You mean Gōrudenhōku?" Gregory asked.
"Gōrudenhōku is just my CB handle," John said. "Over the communicators, I'm Big Bird. Anyways, we're having a Sailor Soldiers meeting, and since you're helping us out behind the scenes, I wanted to bring you in officially."
"The mother-in-law unit behind Rae Hinowski's house, correct?" Gregory asked. "I know where that is, I'll meet you there shortly."
A few minutes later, everyone, including Gregory, was at Sailor Soldier HQ. "I bet you're all wondering why I called this meeting," John said.
"I have an idea," Gregory said.
"What's he doing here?" Mary Ann Kino asked, gesturing towards Gregory.
"You know Gregory Wolf," Ami Andersen said. "He's my boyfriend, and he's been helping us a bit behind the scenes for a while."
"I was one of the Seven Great Beasts," Gregory said. "Somehow, being the host of one of the Beasts left me with precognitive abilities. I've been using them to help the Sailor Soldiers and Golden Hawk behind the scenes."
"Right," John said. "And even though all he does is let us know about stuff going down before it does, that has been a big help. He even helped us defeat Metalia."
"How did he do that?" Ami asked.
"Somehow, Metalia and I managed to briefly link our minds," Gregory said. "I managed to break the link before she knew about it, but I did manage to learn her Achilles heel, so to speak."
"He told me her weak spot," John said.
"And he was able to communicate that to me," Usagi said. "Although I never knew how he knew about it."
"Anyways," John said, "I wanted to bring him in officially, instead of just working with us behind the scenes. With his precognitive abilities, he can see things before they go down. He can have us where the shit is before it hits the fan. Gregory, let Luna see your watch for a second."
"Okay," Gregory said, taking his Timex digital watch off, and placing it on the table in front of Luna. "If you're bringing me in officially, it would make sense you would turn my watch into a communicator."
"Exactly," Luna said, placing her paw on Gregory's watch. "Now you don't have to use your CB radio, you can communicate with the rest of the team directly."
"Which could come in handy," Gregory said. "But bringing me in isn't the only reason you're having a meeting now. It has something to do with the fact Victoria Hunt gave John the Midas Flame. I knew about it when she first showed up, but she asked me to not say anything. But to be honest, I never saw the fact she was really a two headed Angel coming."
"So you're not infallible," John said. "None of us are. At least, not unless I use the Midas Flame, in which case I'll literally be a god. That's how powerful I'll be. However, it does come with some limitations, which are meant to keep me from becoming too powerful. Which is why I'm going to put it away for the time being, until such time I'll really need it."
"What are you going to do with it?" Usagi Tsukino asked.
"This," John said, as the amulet disappeared. "I put it in Hammerspace until Armageddon, the Apocalypse, or some other extinction level threat comes along. But when it does, I hope I can take care of it quickly, since I only have an hour."
"I'm sure you can take care of anything in an hour if you have the powers of a god," Usagi said.
"You're being awfully quiet," Rae said to Chibi-Usa. "I don't need Gregory's precognitive powers to sense you know something, being from the future and all."
"I can't talk about it," Chibi-Usa said. "And I'd like to leave it at that. Let's just say there are things those of you who were actually born some time before 1987 shouldn't know about."
"Say no more," John said. "Knowing too much about the future could be a bad thing. Unless, of course, you are from the future."
UNTIL NEXT TIME...
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