Chapter 6

Girls' Music

In the AST medical ward, Mana slowly awoke from unconsciousness, after her fierce brawl with Kurumi Tokisaki, the Nightmare Spirit, even though Sora asked for her help in ensuring that no harm would come to his friends. Suddenly, Sephiroth appeared.

"Good to see you, Mana," he said to her.

"Why are you here?" Mana asked in shock at seeing the One-Winged Angel.

"You are in this facility after I spirited you away, during Sora's clash with Kurumi, codenamed Nightmare. That is the reason for your own survival. However, the Empire has a new mission from the higher ups for you," remarked Sephiroth.

Mana wasn't sure why, until some people in dark suits appeared. Meanwhile, Shido and the others were now talking about the upcoming contest, which was all women, even though Sora knew that Miku would be there, along with her bodyguards.

"Better be ready for anything, guys. Besides, whatever instrument you wanna play is the best fit for you, like guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, piano, percussion, brass, woodwinds, strings, anything that'd probably tickle Tohka's curiosity," smirked Ruby.

"I think Ruby might be onto something, Tohka," added Shido.

It turned out the instrument she spoke of was none other than the tambourine. It made her feel truly happy. Origami however, would be lead singer, after everyone heard her sing. She returned to AST headquarters where Martini arrived in the locker room.

"Captain Kusakabe, I would be cautious when dealing with Miku Izayoi, since she's more interested in playing with you, rather than fighting. But I must warn you of one of her bodyguards, Boadicea. She may start ravaging your squad if you dared to harm her. By the 23rd of September, you and your squad will mount a defense around Tengu Square. After that, the Empire will deploy reinforcements led by Kurai, with Admiral Azrael Izunia of his new flagship, the Gabranth, named in honor of the former Judge Gabranth, Noah Fon Ronsenberg, preparing to launch fighter squadrons below, along with heavy soldiers. Once that is done, both Shido Itsuka and Tohka Yatogami will be in our hands. Make doubly sure that you do not fail this mission, and Origami, you will complete this mission, or suffer an immediate penalty for your failure," she said.

As if to prove her point, A shadow Heartless emerged nearby, and was immediately struck down by her sword.

"Let that Heartless be a permanent reminder, that it will be you in its place if both Shido and Tohka aren't captured. It's either the Empire's way, or death, Tobiichi. You would do well to remember it," Martini spoke, then stormed off with Ryouko following after her.

Origami was now feeling conflicted, but the next day, the festival began, and several students and people were now attending it in Tengu Square. Among them were Sora and the Warriors of Light. However, inside the building, Shido, Tohka, Kaguya, Yuzuru, Ai, Mai, and Mii were wearing maid outfits, although the others kept out of it as best they could. Of course, knowing Cloud, he was still disgruntled about seeing Shido in women's clothing after his experience wearing one, so that he could save Tifa Lockhart from Don Corneo's grip.

"Sad thing is, Origami might've slept in, or she's got an even bigger assignment, which in Mii's words is beyond lame," Yohko said.

"Definitely beyond lame," agreed Mii.

"Well, we'd better get rolling. Still, even though I'm wearing this monkey suit, or tuxedo, with a pair of black Converse sneakers, I'm gonna do a little exploring for a bit. Oh, and Shiori, best of luck to you. I have a feeling you'll need it, big time," Kenton said.

As he left, the group now began exploring, while most of the male members of the Warriors of Light would be doubly cautious, so as not to be seen by Miku. Of course, Kurumi was there, but was not devouring anyone's time, until she snuck away. Suddenly, Miku arrived with some of the other students from her school.

"Bingo. Right on cue, and now I'm out of here," the dark hunter murmured and slunk away, carefully checking his watch on the heavily modified vortex manipulator he was wearing.

"Good morning, Shiori, how are you today?" Miku asked the disguised Shido.

Shido was mildly annoyed by her, but he knew he had to play the part of Shiori for a while longer. She was contemplating what to do, when Boadicea arrived.

"Now, now, Miku, let's not be hasty. Perhaps its best if some of your colleagues explore for a bit, before the big show today," she said to her.

Miku nodded, then with her powers, told the others to have a bit of fun in the festival. Shido knew that power all too well, since Kenton warned him that it was very much like Kevin Kilgrave's power of control. But then the unexpected happened. Miku asked Shido to join her on a date. The first thing they did was share crepes with each other, which Miku did find delicious, and hoped to have some with Tohka later on. Kotori of course had to warn him not to say hateful things, or else it would damage their chances of sealing her powers. The two of them continued their date, even with Martini watching from the shadows, so that she could observe what was going on.

"This girl seems familiar," she said to herself.

Of course the two of them decided to taste each other's crepes. They continued their date when they came to a ring toss, which Shido did find difficult to perform, when he decided that the cat would be perfect for Miku. She tried her best, but failed.

"Hey, sorry for butting in, but I was wondering if I could help you guys," Minako said to them.

"Why of course you can, Miss… Um… Who are you?" Miku replied.

"Minako Aino. I'm a friend of Miss Itsuka," she explained briefly.

"Well, by all means, be our guest, Minako," smirked the idol, even though she would use her powers to control her.

"Oh, with pleasure, Miku!" grinned the Goddess of Love, and she managed to get it on the first try, impressing Miku.

"Which prize, ma'am?" asked the vendor.

"Oh, just the cat please, thank you," replied MInako.

The vendor gave it to her, then she then passed it to the mature looking bluette.

"Here you are, Shiori," she said to Shido, passing it to him.

"I'm a little surprised, Miku. That was…" he said, but trailed off.

"Uh, I'll just leave you guys alone, then," Minako said quickly.

"But of course, Minako. By all means, please go about your business," replied Miku, and she beckoned her in as lady-like a manner as she could..

But as Minako left, she leaned in towards Shido's ear.

"Don't do anything stupid like blow your cover," she hissed, and rushed away.

Shido nodded, then explained that he was a bit at ease with how Minako agreed to help win them a prize, even though she was intruding, but mildly annoyed by the usage of her powers. Of course, knowing him, he was a bit put off by how Minako gained a fiery determination in her eyes, which seemed to echo Usagi's when she was feeling up for a little challenge with video games.

"Oh, I know that Minako's a smart girl, but I do know that her determination is rather admirable, so in a way fueling her motivation was kind of my way of letting her know that I appreciate her sentiment. You should know that I think very highly of you though, so it's not something you need to worry about," explained Miku.

"Yeah, very like you, Miku. Even though you're a bloodthirsty feminazi," Kenton said from a safe distance.

"Oi, don't use that word. How would you feel if Rose, Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane, or anyone else called you something that you hate like scumbag?" a voice came from nearby.

It sounded very British, and sure enough, there was someone that Sora and everyone else knew almost too well. It was the Doctor, the rogue Time Lord of Gallifrey, wearing that blue suit with rust red pinstripes, a blue shirt, a red floral tie, maroon colored converse shoes, red socks, and a long brown coat that reached his ankles with blue linen inside. Above, Reeve was feeling too perplexed.

"Being the plaything of another does sound rather disturbing to say the least," said Reeve.

"Then you should know, I'm definitely going to beat you, 'cause someone needs to teach you what being human's all about," Shido declared.

"You're saying some very strange things," remarked Miku.

"It's not something you need to worry about, but don't underestimate us. If you think that everything's just gonna go your way, then you're in for a very big surprise," he explained.

"Oh, then why don't we test it and find out?" she asked.

She turned away with a coy smile, just as Kenton and the Doctor walked off so that she wouldn't spot them. The idol was anticipating the arrival on stage for the big show on that day.

"Tenoh Festival, is it? Oh, I really would like to visit a festival, if anyone was willing to join me in the Tardis, Kenton," said the Doctor.

"Yeah, well, I do have a couple of friends you'd be happy to meet, they're gonna be gathering in the Green Room after the announcement has been made," replied the dark hunter.

They entered, and the Doctor soon met all of Kenton's friends, along with some very new ones.

"Hello, My name's the Doctor, nice to meet you," he greeted them.

"Doctor!" greeted Sora, feeling surprised.

"Oh, I see you've got a lot of girls by your side, Sora, and several more, but I also know that you suffered a lot during some of the battles, and you're a bit more like me than I realized," said the Doctor.

Sora nodded, then introduced the Doctor to all of his friends, including the spirits by Shido's side.

"Tohka Yatogami, eh? And what of the others?" he asked.

"Uh, you know, they're pretty busy, including Origami. She's got a lot of work to do," replied VesVes.

"Vessity, VesVes. Hello," the Doctor said to the beast tamer.

Suddenly, Shido got some horrible news. Miku had toyed with Ai, Mai, and MIi's heads, just as Sephiroth did with Cloud's.

"That Miku's probably a lot more of an oddity than I realized, seeing as she's also a spirit," said the Doctor.

"You're right. If Tohka and Shido can't perform on the show, that means they're automatically disqualified, because she's playing dirty," replied Kirito.

"Uhh… I'm probably gonna say that she's worse than the Zygons of Zygor," he replied.

He called the Tardis to his side, then stepped into the control room.

"Kotori, it's the Doctor. Bad news. Miku's been messing with the heads of a lot of people. I think its best, and I can't believe the words are coming out of my mouth, we'll need some big guns for this mission to have her powers sealed by Shido, otherwise the whole thing's kaput," he explained.

"Wait, Doctor? Doctor who?" questioned Kyouhei.

"He prefers to be called the DOCTOR!" snapped Kotori, decking him in the nether region, making him writhe until he was dragged into his quarters.

Miku and her bandmates had finished their performance, until the lights went dead, just as she was about to start her next song. It did make Shido surprised, despite the idea that Kotori had agreed to use the big guns, as the Doctor suggested. Suddenly…

"Shaddai El Chal!" Miku said, and her body was now engulfed in light.

To everyone's shock, she was now back in her astral dress, or spirit armor, depending on what you'd call it.

"Hope you're ready for some fun, 'cause the real show's about to begin," she said to the audience.

Then she began to sing to the crowd, and the lights began pulsing to her performance, and the crowd immediately began cheering her on.

"Wow, she's good," admitted Minako.

"Ugh, delete Minako's last comment, Yui," groaned Kirito, only to get clonked on the head by Lisbeth.

"Hey, don't be hating on Miku's singing, Kirito," hissed the blacksmith of Team KRYYSSTAAL.

When she finished her song, Monochrome Dream, everyone cheered, but some were a bit put off by what was happening.

"That was incredible!" Tohka said over the cheering.

"Yeah, it sure was, Tohka. But we gotta use this crisis and turn it into a golden opportunity. Just one suggestion, you tell Shido that he has no right to quit that easily, as long as he knows he's got all of us with him," Kenton replied.

"That's exactly what I would outright say to Shido, buddy," agreed Kaguya.

"Acknowledgement: Giving up is only meant for rookies, but you're not a rookie, as Sora would say to you," added Yuzuru.

Unknown to them, the soldiers of both the AST and DEM were now on the prowl, which led to an all out red alert with the RGRO and Ratatoskr.

"Damn! The Empire's lookin' for trouble!" snapped Cid.

Suddenly, a laser beam struck down a bandersnatch, and the troops saw that it was Origami, coming to assist in an unexpected fashion. She was back in her White Licorice battle suit, which began to work for her. Jessica Bailey was enraged. She ordered her squad to engage Origami in battle, until heavy reinforcements came in the form of the RGRO.

"Think you're gonna take Tohka and Shido captive!? You better think again!" cried Yuffie.

Origami nodded in agreement, then fired several missiles at the soldiers after entrapping them, one by one, with the kunoichi on her hoverboard cutting them down with her shuriken.

"Heads up!" she said, and knocked one down to the ground.

Bailey was growing even more desperate, until she heard Ryouko's voice on the other line.

"FIRE!" cried Reeve, and the whole firefight from above began, until two imperial dreadnoughts arrived on the battlefield.

The battle was now growing even more intense than before from outside, but inside the arena, Kotori quickly contacted Reine of the situation, leading to her asking Yoshino to stay put for a while longer. The young spirit and her puppet chose to remain behind, as they wanted to wait for Shido and the others to perform on the stage. Meanwhile, Shido, despite his unease, asked the others if they'd be fine on the stage. Thankfully, Kaguya and Yuzuru were pretty proficient on bass and drums, but still Tohka was excited about the tambourine.

"Oh yeah, if things do start going south, I'm your lead vocalist. So believe me when I say that improvising is actually a good thing, rather than a bad thing, thanks to what Sora told me before our inevitable clash with Sailor Galaxia, may her heart rest in peace," assured Minako.

"Oh, yeah. I remember now why Sora said that he had no choice but to kill her after Chaos transformed her into Omega, after she purified her heart of darkness, thus paving the way for the God of Discord to merge with him, draw out Vanitas, and become the ultimate evil, Chaos Vanitas. But, I also know that Sailor Moon was able to erase the God of Discord from within, giving birth to his Divine Harmony form," replied Tohka.

This made the four of them relieved, until the lights clicked on. Shido was nervous, but a slight nod from the Goddess of Love, still dressed as Sailor Venus, assured him that everything would be alright. However, outside of the arena, the battle between the two factions was growing more intense. Two students thought they were seeing fireworks, rather than a battle. However on the stage, Minako had an idea come to mind.

"We're gonna do a song that I think most of you may not have heard before, and it's none other than the one a very special someone suggested to me, and it's called Otherworld!" she announced to the crowd.

The crowd went wild, and soon, they all began playing, with Yumi on Keyboards, Shido on Lead Guitar, Yuzuru on Bass, Kyrie also on keyboards, and Sora, now in his Shinobi Soul, and transformed into a girl using the Sexy Jutsu, even though he found it somewhat revolting, but after finding a cute maid outfit to wear, he was now playing second guitar, while Kaguya banged on the drums, and Tokha played tambourine.

(Well guys, hope you don't mind the hardcore side of things, but play the Black Mages version of Otherworld Ft. Kazco Hamano, from Final Fantasy 10 for this musical moment)

The sound seemed strange to Miku as she watched from a distance. Something in her mind made her begin to think that there was something familiar about Sora and Shido, but she couldn't figure out why, until Minako began to sing, not through lip syncing but with her own voice, and the crowd waved their glow sticks.

"Go now if you want it

Another world awaits you

Don't you give up on it

You bite the hand that feeds you

All alone, cold fields you wander

Memories of it cloud your sight

Fills your dreams disturbs your slumber

Lost your way, a fallen knight

Hold now, aim is steady

Another world awaits you

One thousand years, you ready?

The otherworld it takes you

Go into the sand and the dust and the sky

Go now, there's no better plan than to do or to die

Free me, pray to the faith in the face of the light

Feed me, fill me with sin and get ready to fight"

Sora suddenly jumped forward, and then began to play a solo on his guitar, as the lights flashed about on the stage, and the crowd began cheering him on, as Minako danced by his side. He did interact with the other musicians of course.

"Dah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Dah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,

Dah, nah, nah!"

The band continued to play while the battle raged outside of the arena as Jessica Bailey grew even more furious, but Sora knew that this was to help Shido seal Miku's powers if they were to win.

"Hope dies and you wander

The otherworld it makes you

Dreams they rip asunder

The otherworld it hates you

All alone, cold fields you wander

Memories of it cloud your sight

Fills your dreams disturbs your slumber

Lost your way, a fallen knight

Free now ride up on it

Up to the heights it takes you

Go now if you want it

Another world awaits you

Yeah, yeah, ah!

Another, another world awaits you, AH!"

When the song was over, the crowd cheered, and Tohka saw that Minako really did have a powerful voice that could easily rival both Weiss and Miku's when they sang. But from outside, Jessica was growing even more furious, as she ordered all the imperials to exterminate Origami, while Azrael stood atop the arena roof, watching with a proud smile.

"Origami Tobiichi. In time, you will soon learn the horrible truth of what really happened to your mother and father," he murmured, then stalked away through the dark corridor.

He dared not come near Miku, or appear before her, as she would start to have many more questions burning in her mind, which would make her explode with rage if she saw him. Jessica, however, was now truly out of her mind, as she and the other soldiers surrounded her completely, and even swore that she would not escape alive.