Chapter 9:

A/N: Well, I don't know who's still reading this or even if this installment will be read but thanks in advance to those who will stumble across this old story and a special thank you to those who have waited this long for me to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm really sorry for not updating is SO long. Things got complicated and so did college, bleh, but now that that's over with, here's the update for:

I Can Do Better!:

Chapter 9:

As Roxette's laughter dwindled she noticed that Atreyu was being pensive and was curious as to what was going through his mind, but thought that it could be addressed at a later time, since she hadn't seen Mimi in a good while and wanted to enjoy the visit.

"Hey Rox, I'll be there in a bit," said Atreyu as he went back down the hall to the front door.

"Okay…" replied Roxette while still wondering what Atreyu could be thinking that would make him look bothered.

Atreyu walked back outside the doorway and got out his cell phone and dialed a few numbers rapidly and put the phone against his ear.

"'ello!"

"Hey Ricky, I have a question for you, real quick though."

"Alright, does it involve some research though?"

"Heh, trying to tell me something?"

"No, no, I was just curious if you were going to check up on a person based on the way your tone of voice sounded. That's all."

"Oh, heh, that obvious, huh?" asked Atreyu whil looking around to make sure no one would be around to hear his conversation.

"Well, I-"

Atreyu had cut Ricky off, "I need you to look up a guy for me, by the name of… Crap, hold on real quick Ricky."

"Great Atreyu, first you cut me off and now you put me on hold," replied Ricky with a hint of amusement and sarcasm in his voice.

Roxette was drinking a nice chilled Coke when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She put down the glass and opened her cell phone to see that she had gotten a message from Atreyu.

Uh, lol, can you find out Tai's full name for me? Or at least his last name, please!

Roxette laughed, and looked around to see Mimi staring at Tai, since he still looked dazed and confused. "Hey, Mimi what's your boyfriend's name again?"

Mimi smiled and put down her glass of ice tea, and glanced at Tai, "His name is Taichi Yagami, but we all just call him Tai."

"Oh, okay, just wondering," replied Roxette with a smile and when Mimi went back to making sure that Tai was okay, she got out her phone and quickly typed a response to Atreyu.

"Oh, well that's good to hear about the kids Ricky, but how's- hey, so back to that guy, his name is Taichi Yagami. Can you check if he's been entered into the competition because he looks really familiar, but I just can't seem to place where I've seen him."

"Sure thing, just give me a sec."

"'Kay," replied Atreyu as he heard a barrage of clicking noises coming from Ricky's end of the line.

After a while the clicking stopped and he could could've sworn he heard Ricky mumble something along the lines of, "oh God," and he heard a familiar song being played in the distance but it seemed more like a new rendition of it-- a cover.

"Atreyu, you are not going to believe this!" Spoke Ricky while trying not to laugh.

"What's up?" asked Atreyu with curiosity.

"Well, that guy was entered into the competition, but with a band that has other guys as well, and they are… Uh, how should I put this…in drag."

"What the hell? Are you serious??" Atreyu erupted into laughter and managed to ask Ricky for a picture.

"Hey Mimi how do you know them?" asked Tai after a while of silence.

"Oh, well, Atreyu and Roxette are best friends and went to high school together, they're only twenty five, and Atreyu was in a choir that I was also in, and through him I met Roxette, and things just went on from there. Atreyu had always wanted to be in a Happy Hardcore group, and Roxette ended up starting one, and she became the lead singer and he became backup vocals and the band's bassist because Roxette is the lead guitar. They do covers, and don't make CD's because they are performers, and only have concerts. They are awesome! They mainly tour in Europe, but they still keep in touch. They did have another band member but things didn't work out so well, and Atreyu ended up firing the him. They picked up Hikaru because he's close to Atreyu, they're like brothers, and he's really good with electronics, so he's the D.J."

Roxette just glowed with pride at how Mimi was describing them, and was proud of the hard work they had done, and as she was reeling in the moment, she heard Atreyu walk in the door and saw that he was wiping his eyes. She looked at him curiously, and he just shook his head and sat next to her on the couch.

"Wow, that's really cool, but who are they? Like, what's their band name." asked Tai.

"Tai, oh my God sweetie, you've heard of them, I swear, you just probably didn't know their names since you haven't been to their concerts."

As Atreyu looked up and saw the intrigued look on Tai's face and couldn't help but start laughing, and Roxette stepped on Atreyu's foot and he tried to stop but couldn't and eventually calmed down when he saw Roxette and Mimi giving him a glare as he was making Tai feel uncomfortable.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just laughing about…a joke, heh, yeah a joke a friend told me a little while ago," apologized Atreyu while smiling sheepishly.

"Well, Tai, Atreyu and Roxette are Digital Heart Beat, and Hikaru is their D.J.; D.J. True Light."

Hikaru, Roxette, and Atreyu smiled brightly at hearing their names being introduced, especially seeing Tai gawk at who the people that had sent him in a daze were who Mimi was saying they were. He felt like a total idiot for not figuring it out earlier, but had a big grin on his face.

"Oh my God!! You guys rock! I've been trying to get one of your tickets, but they're like two-hundred and fifty dollars each! Not to mention the plane tickets, and then souvenirs, and spending the night there, since your concerts are late and all. I've been dying to see you guys!!" yelled Tai excitedly.

"Aww, Atreyu, give this hottie some tickets!" said Roxette while nudging Atreyu.

Atreyu smiled, "Don't worry, we'll give you some bro."

Roxette and Hikaru smiled, as Tai had the biggest smile they had ever seen. Hikaru kept looking around and observing Mimi and Tai, and then noticed that Mimi had what looked like an arcade in the back of her house.

"Is that an arcade?"

Since this was the first time Hikaru had spoken, the group got quiet, and Mimi blinked and then spoke, "Yeah, we do."

"Do you have DDR?"

"Yeah…"

Hikaru stood up, "Can I go play?"

"Sure, why don't we all go to the arcade for a bit?" asked Mimi while giggling at how random and straight forward Hikaru was being when he hadn't talked at all before.

Daisuke had been asking around for the luxurious vehicles that he had seen earlier and they said that they saw Mimi following them, so Dai ended up pulling into the circular drive way where he saw the vehicles that he had been hunting down all day. As Dai made his way to the front door he couldn't help but gawk at the vehicles and had an idea who was driving them earlier. He carefully opened the door, and heard the loud music of Dance Dance Revolution, as he walked further into Mimi's home.

"I knew it! I knew it!" yelled Dai as his assumptions as to whom the vehicles belonged to had now been confirmed. Atreyu had barely been able to convince Roxette to play, just for fun, and then to be startled by Dai's yelling disturbed her more than the others.

"Dai, what are you doing here? Not that you're not welcome, but you didn't even call or knock." Said Mimi with her hands on her hips.

"Whoa, de ja vu," spoke Dai while shaking his head. "Well, when I saw those vehicles I knew something was going to happen, and I asked around town, and then they said that they were seen heading in the high school's direction. So I went there and found T.K. going to a meeting and I briefly found out who the stars are. So I went to and looked up their names and sure enough I found D.J. True Light and Digital Heart Beat."

Tai, Mimi, Roxette, and Hikaru, just blinked in astonishment of what Dai had just said, which meant that they either had a stalker or one really devoted boy who wanted to be in on every thing that was going on. Either way, they were a bit disturbed.

"Oooh! Since we're here, let's play Guitar Hero!" yelled Daisuke in enthusiasm as he was eyeing the arcade room.

Mimi's look of bewilderment, changed to one of annoyance. "No, Daisuke, we don't stand a chance with Roxette here. Don't forget that she's their lead guitarist."

"Sorry," replied Dai as Atreyu and Roxette got off the DDR stage.

"Well, now that we're here, might as well get down to business, and discuss the events that will play out tomorrow." Said Hikaru.

"Well, from what I got out of it, you fighting with that asshole Mr. Artat and T.K., I'd say that the Talent Show will still go on. Even though I tried to buy out the slots of the competitors, and then from there, Sora and I will have our performances, and the winners of the Talent Show will determine the winner, and then you three will perform." Answered Mimi to the band.

"Well, that sounds about right, but how long do we have to allow this whole thing to plays out?" asked Roxette.

"No clue," answered Mimi while noticing that Daisuke had not left her home yet.

"Dai, I love you and all, but this performance is VERY important to me and I think you already know too much, so could you please leave?"

"What? Why?" asked Daisuke while pouting.

"Please Dai… If you don't go, it won't be a surprise." Said Mimi while batting her eyelashes at him.

"Alright, alright, I'll go." And with that Daisuke left and closed the door behind him. Mimi peeked through one of the curtains to make sure that he did leave and once he passed the entrance gate, she closed it electronically with the remote that she had and went back to the group.

"Sorry, guys, I had to get rid of Dai. He sings like a canary, and I can't have him ruining my plans." Said Mimi while crossing her arms.

"No, problem, we were just talking about the practice at the gym," replied Atreyu.

"The acoustics in the gym weren't that good, I mean, it is a gym after all." Commented the once quiet Hikaru.

"Well, I suppose I can get a performance stage here for tomorrow, but should we check to see if we can do that and not get into another fight with the school?" asked Atreyu.

"Atreyu, get over it, let's just perform this thing, I'm dying to hear Mimi perform and I could care less about what the school has to say, and if there is a problem they have to answer to us, and I don't let people walk all over me." Said Roxette while tossing her hair.

With a sigh Atreyu replied, "True, but the thing is that I don't want to get these kids in any more trouble. Especially that T.K. kid."

"True…" Roxette trailed off.

While Mimi was listening to the pop stars talk she realized that there might be a small problem with a part of her performance and would need some help. "Hey guys, I'm going to need a little bit of help in my performance. Well, by help I mean that I need help, helping someone." She said with a small smile.

Atreyu raised an eyebrow, Roxette blinked, and Hikaru just stared. Mimi blushed a bit at the embarrassment of getting the band confused. "I mean…"

Matt was tired, since he had been helping Sora plan out her performance and still dealing with the drama between her and Mimi that he, and the others, hoped would end soon. As Matt dried his hair after getting out of the shower, he walked over to his desktop computer and sat in his boxers as he logged onto his email account to see if there was any update in the Final Five selection for the I.B.M.C. This was very important to him, he worked hard on this song and the video, not to mention had to be Barbie for it. He clicked open his inbox folder to find a new email. His hopes were up and when he opened it, it read:

Congratulations on your music video making it into the second area of the competition. You should be very proud of yourself, and what you have accomplished so far. The video results will be posted tomorrow, and they will not be in any particular order, aside from the date that they were submitted. The results will also be posted on MTV and will be played at 4:10P.M. Eastern Time. Please make plans to watch or record this momentous occasion, just incase your video makes it to the Final Five. Right now our judges are still deliberating as to who will make the Final Five, as the selections are being judged to give every entry a fair chance. Stay tuned and best of luck, and thank you for entering the fifth Independent Band Music and Video Competition.

we wish you the best of luck

John Richardson

President of I.B.M.C

Matt sighed, this was it, tomorrow he'd know if his video was good enough to be played throughout the nation, and hoped that people would like his new rendition of Aqua's "Barbie Girl," and the new music video as well. Matt logged off his email account, and shut off his computer and was about to go to bed as his cell phone started ringing. He saw his brother's face on the screen.

"T.K.?" asked Matt aloud to no one in particular, but himself, as he reached over and picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Matt." Said T.K. somewhat depressed.

"Hey T.K., what's up?"

"Well, I got into a fight with Mr. Artat, and he ended up getting hit in the jaw by someone that was with Mimi. And when I went to the meeting to see what was going to happen, it turns out that a lot of people actually want to see Mimi and Sora duke it out, so they'd rather not perform, but instead would have their entry videos judged. We already selected the three judges that will be judging their performances, oh, and, that guy that hit Mr. Artat will be a guest performer, since they're a performing bang from Europe. Surprisingly, they didn't have British accents, or even a hint of it. So, yeah, I just called to let you know that you and Sora will perform before Mimi, as the pro-band, will be performing before either of you all. They will give you enough time to set up before you perform, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Wow," Matt laughed, "you got some drama of your own today, didn't you kiddo?"

"Yeah… I never thought that I'd end up caught in some of my own, but low and be hold…"

Matt could hear T.K. rolling his eyes. "Hang in there T.K., just one more year before all those asshole teachers can kiss your pale ass goodbye."

"Hey, I wouldn't be one to talk, you're the one that doesn't like to be in the sun too long!"

They both laughed, as the brothers didn't have a lot of time to spend with each other, but did their best to keep in touch with one another. Matt in his dad's condo, and T.K. in his mom's house, but Matt did make it a point to visit T.K. and his mom whenever he could.

"Well, that was it Matt, I just thought that I'd give you the heads up on the Talent Show situation and well I-"

"Well, since you gave me the situation on the Talent Show, I'll give you the heads up on the music video competition," spoke Matt with a smile cutting off T.K.