We signed our contracts and frequently drove up to Atlanta and back to produce songs. The girls came with us. It was pretty cool. I got to know the girls a little better. And Chris and Mina got a lot closer. They didn’t go on any dates because the chaperone wouldn’t allow it.
I learned Lana could cook very well. One time she prepared shrimp stir fry for everyone. It was awesome. Due to my braids coming down on all dies, she sometimes teased me by calling me “Jellyhead”. I thought it was lame but everyone else found it funny. She and I started to get along, actually. Mainly because I just rolled with her jokes and stopped going overboard with my retaliation. As long as everyone was smiling, I was good with it.
Amy was a lot smarter than I thought. And I already thought she was the brains of the group, her and Renny. Throughout the time they spent with us in Augusta, there were a few demon attacks on the Sailor Scouts, brought by some villain named Prince Diamond. It was pretty weird seeing a bunch of attractive girls fighting butt ugly freaks.
Since the Sailor Scouts were already known as the Sailor Scouts, us guys were simply referred to as G-Force. When people called for G-Force, they usually meant the guys. And when they called for Sailor Scouts, they meant the girls. And when it came to those monsters, us guys rarely got involved. The Scouts wanted us to stay out of it because it was too dangerous. Of course, Ken had to be restrained on more than one occasion.
Mina was sort of a cheerleader for Chris’s wrongdoings. Every time Chris did something bad, I mean so bad it was cruel, no one would laugh. But Mina would. She would laugh so hard that sometimes I thought she was faking it. She wasn’t. She had this stunning move that I saw her use on one demon. It’s called the Crescent V Shower.
She’d first power up her energy, then pointed out her index and middle finger together. Then all the sudden, hundreds of tiny golden hearts would spring out and spiral like a powerful whip at her disposal. I’ve had the pleasure of being accidentally hit by one of them. It wasn’t pleasant.
Serena had the power of the moon. Since the moon is closest to Earth, this potentially made her the most powerful. I’ve seen her use her special attacks to blow away cars and buses like they were toys. Everyone depended on her. She was their ace in the hole. No matter how many waves of monsters went up against the Sailor Scouts, as long as Sailor Moon was there, the monsters barely stood a chance.
Whoever said that power makes men evil, must not have had Serena in mind. In the eyes of many, she was the most irresponsible, undisciplined, disrespectful and scared girl they’d ever met. Every time Lana fixed dinner, she always had something to complain about it. Lana held her temper since she was the oldest and would probably do the most damage to her, but Rei wouldn’t.
Rei’s name was pronounced Ray, as in sun ray. It’s spelled like that because she was born in Toyko. Every time Lana cooked and Serena said something about it, it was Rei who would stand up to chastise Serena. The two of them would bicker like cats and dogs. Constantly. From day one, it seemed.
However, in songs, their voices blended in perfect harmony, into the most beautiful sound we’d ever heard. They’d often take whole verses together, just the two of them while the five would come in for a blended harmony during the chorus. But when they argued, it sounded like hell.
Rei had some very unusual, but fiery attacks, almost like a pyromaniac. She’d have these stickers reminiscent of some Japanese shrine. She planted one on me once when I tried to hold her back from attacking Serena. It stuck to my back and nearly put me into epileptic shock. It was like a scalding hot iron burning straight through my flesh. Serena didn’t even thank me. And it warned us G-Force guys to just stay out of their fights.
One time, I saw her sprint towards a demon, soar in the air while doing a corkscrew flip to plant one of those stickers on the demons back. Then once she jumped off, the sticker exploded like a bomb. Very unsettling.
We shot a music video for the first song we produced. The setting was in the very gym where I won my fight against Ryu. The video premiered on MTV on St. Patrick’s Day. So did the soundtrack album and the movie. We went to Atlanta for the premiere. For the first time, I felt famous. I took Rei and Lana as an escort, Chris took Mina, Ken took Serena and Ryu took Amy.
Of course, Chris had to have a little fun in front of a big audience. He had two water balloons in his pocket and was dying to hit Leonardo DiCaprio and his entourage. Leo recently did a super popular movie called “Titanic” and got mad props for it. Yep, the perfect target for Chris. Leo chased him. But Chris and Mina ran and escaped into the venue. I was happy for them. Mina looked like she was having the time of their life. And if it embarrassed Ryu, then more power to them. When he finally joined us at our seats, photographers got a picture of us. The shining jewel was Chris, a blue-eyed blond kid with the brightest joker smile they’d ever seen.
After the premiere and all the fan mail about our music video, Mr. B said it was time to go on tour. We were all excited about it. The Sailor Scouts were coming off strong with their hit, “Spice Up Your life”. Us guys followed up with the party jam, “We’ve Got it Going On.” When Chris and I told our mom and dad, they were reluctant about it. That was until Mr. B came along and told them it was going to be “bosanova!”
We started with a tour throughout Europe. Mr. B said it would be practice for America. In a way, he was kind of right. We totally screwed up our first concert. Chris was falling on his spins and we were nowhere near in sync with our cues and choreography. We all got carried away and did our own thing. It was sloppy. And right there on stage, Ken and I broke out into an impromptu dance contest that started to turn bitter if Amy hadn’t calmed us down.
When the Sailor Scouts performed, it was perfect. And Lana was mesmerizing. The girls were wearing matching sailor outfits but with their own colors. They were so beautiful. When they sang, my body was shake and I’d catch goosebumps. Especially with those high notes hit by Amy and Serena. Lana and Rei had the stronger, more assertive tones while Mina’s voice was smooth and silky. Man, they were awesome.
The night after our first performance, us boys had a little argument about what went wrong. I swear Ken and I were about to come to blows before Chris hit me upside the head with a pillow. Ken laughed. So I hit him with a pillow. Then Ken punched me so hard in the chest that I fell out of the chair. That’s when Chris and I flat out jumped him. Then Ryu got into it, then Amy, and eventually the rest of the Sailor Scouts.
We tore up that hotel room. Pillows and cushions and chairs were thrown to and fro. At some point in the fray, Lana found her way on top of me. I dreamt of that moment for months. She just laid on me and looked into my eyes as I did her. Then she shouted, “DREAM ON” and cracked me across the jaw with her signature right hook.
Yep…that would be one of many occasions when all of G-Force got together and went at it in an all-out brawl. Ken won most of the times, always emerging with hardly a scratch on that face of his. Then second would be Lana, knocking out everyone with haymakers. And as per usual, she always seemed to go after me. As soon as the chaos started, all I knew was that I could count on Lana seeking me out like a shark in the water.
As we continued our tour, we got a whole lot better faster. Our friendship and experiences grew too. We got our first paycheck on April the 14th. It was the amount of $22,000. It would have been $25,000 but the group was liable for damages caused by Chris’s pranks.
In fact, due to that, Chris actually got beat up by Sailor Moon several times. One reason was because Serena didn’t play when it came to her money. Another was because if Chris so much as laid a closed-fisted hand on her, he’d have to deal with Ken. And when it came to Serena, Ken was fearsome.
– Click to Continue Reading
Stage In The Sky 