Chapter 7
Usagi Learns Her Lesson: Becoming a Star is Hard Work
Usagi was running as fast as she could to get to school on time, but she stopped to catch her breath when she noticed a poster of a young girl on the front door of a drugstore she was standing next to. She glanced at the text and read it carefully.
"Feeling exhausted? Try this energy booster," she said reading the text on the poster.
Usagi was curious.
"If Mikan can do it, then maybe I will," mused Usagi.
But then, Naru came running as fast as she could to get to school on time when she noticed Usagi. She bopped her on the head with her school bag, and continued running without a word.
"What was that for!?" demanded Usagi.
"Get moving, slow poke!" called Naru.
Once they had reached Miss Haruna's classroom, Usagi gingerly rubbed the back of her head, where Naru had bumped her.
"That really hurt," she said.
"But don't forget, that's what saved you from being late to class," replied Naru.
"She's got you there Usagi. You know what would happen if Miss Haruna found you arriving late," added Sora, who also arrived.
Suddenly, Umino raised a poster before them.
"I finally got the poster of Mikan Shiratori that I wanted," he said excitedly.
"Hold on Umino, you didn't just steal it from the drugstore, didn't you?" asked Usagi.
"No, of course not. I just ordered it over the internet. It's a series of tubes that connects people's computers. Anyway, I've got a bunch more, so I can sell it to you for cheap," replied Umino.
"Thanks but, we don't really need one," said Sora, making Naru smile at him.
"Did you know that Mikan Shiratori once attended Juban Middle School, just like us, and is now seventeen years old? She has appeared in eight commercials and each month she makes two million munny!" said Umino as he typed in a series of sequences on his laptop.
"Whoa, two million!? That's a lot!" gasped Usagi.
Sora nodded in agreement.
"I wonder how many pieces of shortcake I could buy with that," she said to Sora.
"If I remember right, Mikan was discovered right here in town," said one of her classmates.
"Boy, she sure is lucky," said another girl.
"Yeah, I wish I had better luck, so I could get discovered too," agreed Naru.
The two girls nodded as well.
"Those talent scouts must be blind if they keep on ignoring us!" said the first girl.
"To be honest, it's most likely they ignored you because they can see through you all too well," said Umino.
"What did you say?" asked the girls, as they glared at him.
But Sora shook his head in disappointment.
"I believe that the next girl to follow in Mikan's footsteps will be, Usagi Tsukino," Umino said sheepishly.
All three girls turned to face her, but Usagi slowly stood up from her desk.
"A star!? Yeah!" cheered Usagi, as Umino applauded her.
Outside of a studio building, Mikan was surrounded by many fans asking her to sign autographs. Nobody knew that Jadeite was watching them, disguised as a talent scout.
I can use this energy, he thought.
Then he walked slowly away from them, as more of Mikan's fans flocked to her side. In Usagi's house, Naru had a brilliant Idea that soon flew into her head.
"What? You want to sing together?" asked Usagi.
"Yeah, we'll charge right into the entertainment world!" replied Naru.
"Got it!" said Usagi.
She quickly raced off, picked up a tennis racket, and ran back to her.
"Let's do it!" she said determinedly.
"Uh, Usagi…" Sora said to her.
"Uh no, wrong. What we really need to do is promote ourselves with a song, and then we'll become even bigger stars than Mikan is," added Naru.
"So, when you say stars, you mean…' said Sora.
"That's right!" replied Naru.
"Well then let's get to it already!" Usagi said gleefully.
But Luna thought it wasn't a good time to do things like that.
"We'll become an overnight sensation," said Naru.
"You mean, just like Cinderella?" asked Usagi.
"Yeah, let's go," replied Naru.
Once Naru turned on the radio that was on Usagi's shelf, they began to sing together, when Shingo burst into the room.
"Hey, quit screeching!" he said to them.
"Come on, Shingo. Usagi and Naru are both practicing for a talent show tomorrow,' replied Sora, making the two girls turn and smile at him.
"Oh, right, sorry," said Shingo as he left.
"Once more, second verse this time," said Naru.
But as they started singing again, they began bumping and stepping on each other, which made Sora shake his head in a disapproving manner.
"OW! You're so clumsy, Usagi!" cried Naru.
"I am!? You're one to talk!" snapped Usagi.
"Hey, what's gotten into you?" asked Sora.
"Always blaming others!" said Naru, ignoring him.
"No, that's you!" replied Usagi, who was also ignoring Sora.
"Well, if that's the way it's gonna be, then I'm gonna become Cinderella on my own!" hissed Naru.
"Then you can consider us rivals! Because I'm gonna be your biggest competition!" retorted Usagi.
Both Sora and Luna could see the sparks erupting between them, which made them worried.
"That's not fair, girls! You can't take it out on each other! It's not like you should sever your connection with each other!" Sora said as he stood between them.
"YEAH!? WELL WHO NEEDS HER ANYWAY!?" shouted Usagi and Naru, sending Sora flying back and landing hard on the floor.
But they quickly rushed to his side and apologized to him.
"You know what!? If you can't sort out your differences, then there's really no point in our friendship!" shouted Sora.
Usagi, Naru, and Luna were shocked by what they heard as Sora stood back up, and walked out of the bedroom.
"Sora?" they asked.
"Forget it, you guys. Even though you want to become stars; today you just proved that you're nothing but a bunch of bumbling baboons," Sora said in a dark tone, as he continued walking away from them.
This made Luna both surprised and disturbed by what she had heard. In the living room, Usagi, Shingo, their parents, Luna, and Sora were all watching a television program about how a Monkey was trained. But deep down, Usagi and Sora were feeling remorseful about what they had said, until the animal trainer told the monkey to act sorry.
"What a smart monkey," said Keiko.
"He sure is," added Kenji.
He glanced at Luna.
"Hey Luna, I bet you could do tricks like that," Usagi's father said to the cat.
But Sora shook his head, and walked off still feeling upset about what he said.
"That's it, dad. You're a genius! Don't be surprised if you see a bunch of Paparazzi here soon!" Usagi said excitedly, as she grabbed Luna and ran to her room.
"Do you think that she's running a fever?" asked her father.
"She seems okay to me," replied Keiko.
"Yeah, she's just as weird as she's ever been," added Shingo.
Once inside her bedroom, Usagi began training Luna how to act sorry like the monkey from the television program.
"I don't understand this. Why are we doing this, Usagi?" asked the cat.
"Just stop complaining, now let's try it again! Act sorry!" snapped Usagi.
At Naru's house, Umino rang the doorbell.
"Hello, this is Gurio Umino. You're daughter Naru invited me to come over. May I come in?" Umino said in his best formal tone.
"Just come in here, quick," hissed Naru.
When they got inside, Naru set to work by placing makeup all over Umino's face.
"Well, that's about all I can do. You actually look pretty good in salmon," she said.
"I don't get it, why do you want me to dress like this again?" asked Umino.
He turned away from Naru.
"I've gotta go study, so…" he was about to say.
"Now, now, what you really should be studying is socializing," Naru assured him.
"What's socializing," asked the nerd.
"Usagi told me that she'd find you even more attractive, if you only showed more interest in learning more about how people interact," explained Naru.
"Usagi really said that!? Okay, I'll do anything!" he said excitedly.
Naru was nervous, but she believed that a Beauty and the Beast group would most likely get the talent scout's attention.
"I think my whole life's about to change! Thank you," Umino said with a funny accent.
"Oh really?" Naru said, laughing nervously.
That night, in her apartment, Mikan was taking a shower so that she could prepare for her next big gig. But she had no idea that someone had entered her apartment, and was blissfully unaware of any intruders that had come in. Suddenly the shower curtain opened revealing a creature made entirely of glass. Mikan screamed in shock, but the creature quickly encased her in ice, as she cried for help. Then the creature touched her hand, and took on Mikan's form. She grinned wickedly at the now unconscious Mikan, just as Sephiroth appeared behind her.
"You have done well," he said to the false Mikan.
"Thank you, Sephiroth," replied the false Mikan, who was really known as Derella.
The next day, Jadeite stood in front of a large crowd of people, but this time he was wearing a talent scout outfit in place of his main uniform.
"You there, and you too! Be like Mikan Shiratori! Transform your life like Cinderella!" he announced to the crowd.
"Hello everyone, how are you? I'm Mikan Shiratori! Tell me girls, have any of you ever dreamed of being a star?" said the false Mikan.
Most of the girls from other schools were surprised to hear her, but they had no idea that Derella had taken her place. Then, a burst of ultrasonic sound waves floated towards them and produced a hypnotizing sound, as Derella spoke.
"Okay, all of you go sign up for the Cinderella Caravan," she said to them.
In an instant, all of the girls began chanting about how they wanted to become like Cinderella, as Jadeite chuckled malevolently. But he didn't even notice Sora's friends watching from a safe distance, while also staying far away from the caravan.
"Hey, have you heard about the Cinderella Caravan contest?" asked one of Usagi and Naru's friends.
"No, what's that?" asked Usagi.
"Boy aren't you behind the times," snickered Naru, which made Usagi start fuming.
"I've been busy with some other things, thank you," she grumbled.
"Anyway, it's a talent search to help find the next Mikan Shiratori," said the second girl.
"Yeah, and you know that Mikan's already giving it her full support, so it's the real deal," said the girl with long hair, just as Umino slowly walked up the stairs to his friends.
Then Usagi remembered that she was training Luna to do tricks, even though Sora was aware that cats were not like dogs.
"This is my chance," she said.
Then she turned to face Naru.
"What are you talking about, I'm the one who's gonna win this contest," her former friend said.
She then saw Umino walking past them.
"Isn't that right Umino?" Naru asked the nerd.
"You got that right, girlfriend," replied Umino as he spoke in a strange accent.
Everyone gasped, but Sora glared at him.
"Don't do it now, you'll give the act away," hissed Naru.
"Practice makes perfect," Umino said, as he walked away.
"Whatever you say, Umino," Sora said as he walked off.
He then noticed the Cinderella Caravan. But he was protected by the sound waves thanks to his keyblade magic.
"Everyone, what do you want to become?" asked Derella.
"A star," replied the girls.
A police man showed up, wondering why none of the girls were at school. Then, Mikan's manager showed up and wanted to know why she had canceled all of her appearances.
"Starting today, all of you are going to be big stars!" announced the false Mikan.
The two men soon fell victim to the hypnotism ray, and began performing different tricks, which made Mikan applaud them.
"They're not gonna be stars, they're gonna become heartless, in a couple of minutes," murmured Sora as he walked away from the caravan.
"Today's the day we get to show off all the progress we made," said Usagi as she marched boldly forward.
But poor Luna was lagging behind her.
"But I really don't want to," she said, as she lay down on the ground.
"What? You can't back out now," replied Usagi.
"Look I only went along with this because I thought you needed a change of pace," said Luna.
"So you understand," smiled Usagi.
"But it has nothing to do with that. You're obsessed with becoming a big star," said the cat, as she turned away from her.
"No that's not true at all," argued Usagi.
"Unfortunately, it is. Someone has taken the real Mikan hostage and disguised herself as her," said a voice from behind them, which instantly broke up the argument.
It was Namine, and she had a look of suspicion on her face.
"Usagi, it's high time for you to give up on that contest, and start focusing on the task at hand. Your duty as a Sailor Guardian must always come first. Make no mistake of that," said Riku, who also joined her.
Usagi glanced at her friends, as tears slowly welled up in her eyes.
"Don't you understand how important your mission is? Will you stop this nonsense?" asked Luna.
"But Luna-" Ven tried to say.
"You keep out of this! Usagi and I are going home, and that's final! There's no time for this!" she snapped at him.
"Luna you're so mean!" wailed Usagi, and she ran off into the distance.
But then Luna looked back and began to feel ashamed of what she said to Usagi.
"You're awful, Luna. Even though you want Usagi to beat the darkness, you've let it get to your head. I'm going after Usagi to cheer her up," Ven said to her.
And he raced after her.
"But Ven, I wasn't-" Luna tried to say, but it was too late.
"She doesn't understand anything about me, or how important my dreams are," sobbed Usagi.
But then she ran into the guy, and quickly hid in an alleyway. At that moment, Ventus immediately caught up to her, just as he saw the guy too.
"Listen Usagi, I know Luna didn't mean to say those things. But she's let her duty cloud her judgement just as it did with Aqua. If you wanna be part of the Cinderella Caravan, then we'll help you win that contest no matter what," said Ventus.
"You know this guy makes a pretty valid point. If you want to join it, then join it. No one's forcing you to quit on it," added the dark haired man.
"And if you do win, then you'll be on the rise to stardom around the world," finished Ventus.
"Maybe guys. But to be honest, I wouldn't even think of doing that, especially with Sora," replied Usagi, as she smiled at Ven, but averted her gaze.
"Also, would you mind leaving Usagi alone for a while?" Ven asked the other male.
"Of course, I don't mind," replied the guy.
This made Usagi rather surprised, as she walked off with a contented smile on her face once again. Back at the caravan, many people were all gathering around to meet with Mikan about the talent show. Two of Usagi's classmates were reciting for the contest, when Mikan rang the bells signifying that their time was up.
"You stars are on to the next round," she said, and stamped their hands.
Next, it was Naru and Umino's turn on the stage and they began to sing a duet. Then the two received stamps for singing which made them happy.
"Those of you who will be moving on will be performing at the Shan Shan Plaza next Sunday. And that's when you'll become famous," Mikan said to them.
As everyone chatted amongst themselves about becoming famous, Derella smirked with pride at how things were coming along. Then, when Usagi arrived for class, she was surprised to see all of her fellow classmates talking about the contest as well as practicing for the competition that was to be held next Sunday. Usagi gave Naru a warm greeting, but her best friend was far too busy signing autographs.
"Okay everyone, did you all get your streamers?" asked Umino.
But he noticed Usagi and passed a streamer to her, just as Sora walked in.
"All right guys, we're going to have an autograph session now," said Naru.
"But isn't it time for class?" asked Usagi.
Then Usagi's classmates abruptly snapped at her about how stars refused to take classes, making her worried about her friends, while Sora looked suspiciously at them.
"Hey, let's throw the streamers," suggested Umino.
As they did so, one of the rolls of streamers that was thrown struck Umino on the chin.
"Careful, don't injure a star's face or he won't be a star anymore," he said to the other students.
Usagi thought it was bizarre, but Sora knew that all of her classmates had been taken over by the darkness. Outside on the school grounds, Umino and Naru were singing the duet that she had once tried to perform with Usagi.
"Don't you find this a bit strange?" asked Luna.
"Yep," replied Usagi and Sora.
"And it's like this all over town. People are suddenly neglecting their daily responsibilities, because they think they're famous stars," said the cat.
"You think a monster's behind this?" Usagi asked Sora.
"I'm afraid so, Usagi. I'll let the others know what's going on," replied the brunette Keyblade Master.
"You might be right, seeing as they all went to that Cinderella Contest," said Luna.
"That means we could have been in danger as well," replied Usagi.
"And Kairi, Namine, Xion, and Aqua would also get ensnared in the trap," added Sora.
"Essentially, yes," said Luna.
"Of course, you also blocked my path to stardom," replied Usagi, but Sora placed his hand upon his shoulder.
"Let it go, Usagi. If you got mixed up in this mess, you'd end up being a puppet of darkness as well," he said to her.
When Naru and Umino finished their duet, they announced that everyone would all go to the concert at Shan Shan Plaza, making everyone around them angry. Instead of excitement, all the students at Juban Middle School began bickering at each other making Usagi surprised.
"They actually believe they're famous," she said to her friends.
At Shan Shan Plaza, Sora, Usagi, Luna, and the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts stood at the front entrance.
"That's odd, there's no audience here to watch the show," Usagi said observantly.
Thankfully, Jiminy Cricket was able to sneak in, and listened carefully to what was going on.
"Listen up! Soon all of your shows are about to begin. Can't you hear the audience out their cheering for you?" asked the disguised Derella.
Jiminy watched as the Disco ball began to spin, and produce sound waves as the curtain rose to reveal everyone on the stage. To his shock and dismay, he saw Naru, Umino, and several other people feeling nervous, but determined to do their best. He heard the sound of applause coming from the audience, but saw that it was nothing more than an illusion, as he kept himself hidden. Then he noticed the stamps on everyone's hands starting to glow, as everyone began to perform.
"So that's how the false Mikan lured them here. I should alert Sora and the others," he said as he stealthily made his way back to them.
Just as Jiminy left to meet up with Sora and his friends, Jadeite looked at the glowing spheroid that materialized in his hand.
Soon I'll have a great batch of energy for our great ruler, thought the wicked warlord.
While everyone was performing their acts, Usagi and her friends stood watching in shock and dismay at what was going on.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Very strange," said Luna.
Listen, I think it's time we find a safe place to hide so we can plan out a course of action to stop whoever's hurting your friends, Usagi," Jiminy said to her.
Then suddenly, the false Mikan stood up, and turned her head around to reveal what she truly looked like.
"So, you've seen the truth," Derella said with a wicked grin.
Crying out in shock, Usagi stumbled backward, then stood back up and ran for her life. Luna, Jiminy, and the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts also followed her as well.
"Usagi, come out. You have to transform into Sailor Moon," Luna said, as she knocked on the stall door.
"That's right, if anyone can put a stop to this, it's Sailor Moon," added Xion.
"Do I really have to?" whimpered Usagi.
"I know you're scared Usagi. Even we are as well. But if we don't do something, Naru and the others will be transformed into Heartless," replied Kairi.
"But it's the same fear that drives us all to keep fighting," added Namine.
"Okay, let's go," Usagi said, as she walked out of the stall.
Then her expression changed from scared to determined.
"Moon Prism Power: Make Up!" she cried out.
In a brilliant flash of light, Usagi had now become Sailor Moon. Then together with Sora and his friends, they hurried off to rescue Naru and the other people from being turned into Heartless. At the same time, everyone collapsed to the ground as their life force was now being absorbed by Derella who was still under the guise of Mikan Shiratori. Suddenly, the disco ball stopped and the illusory audience faded away.
"Huh, what's happening?" she asked in shock and dismay.
The curtains soon closed in front of her.
"You evil fiend! How dare you place fake glass slippers on the hearts of young girls that are becoming Cinderella!" A voice called out from behind them.
"Who's there!?" demanded the fake Mikan.
There standing before them, was Sailor Moon, and the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts.
"I am the pretty guardian, who fights for love and for justice! I am Sailor Moon! And these are my allies, the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts! And now, in the name of the moon, We're putting an end to your madness!" Sailor Moon said to her.
"Got it memorized?" asked Axel.
Enraged at what she heard, Derella soon transformed into her true form, and summoned the Heartless to deal with them.
"I sensed that of a demon when we first came here, and it looks like I was right on the money!" said Sora as he and his friends readied their weapons to fight the glass creature.
But Derella began shooting glass beams at them, forcing them to dodge out of the way. The Heartless had managed to bar each exit, successfully trapping them inside the theater, but the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts quickly fought furiously against them, as Derella began searching for her prey.
"Luna, where are you? Ohh, where does that talking cat go when I need her the most?" hissed Usagi, as she crawled through the row of chairs she was hiding between.
But then she made the mistake of revealing her location to Derella, and was encased in glass by her attack. Then Sora turned around to see his friend trapped in her glass prison.
"NO!" he screamed in anguish at seeing Sailor Moon defeated so easily.
"It's all over you fools, there's nothing you can do now!" Derella said with evil triumph in her voice.
But then Sora soon felt a powerful burst of anger erupting within him like never before.
"You're gonna pay for this!" he shouted.
"Calm down, Sora! You can't defeat someone if you're consumed by anger," called Riku.
Taking a deep breath, Sora let all the anger inside of him subside. Then he unleashed all the power he had with a powerful burst of light.
(Now play something that sounds epic for this part)
"DOUBLE FORM!" he shouted.
Derella shielded her eyes from the burst of light, as it engulfed the entire room, just as Luna arrived to see that all the Heartless had disappeared. She saw Sora standing with two keyblades in his hands. Derella attempted to attack him by firing a burst of liquid glass at him, but he jumped back, and cut his way through the obstacles in front of him.
"Is this Sora?" she asked his friends.
"It is Luna, and that's one of his form change abilities," replied Roxas.
"And it's called Double Form," added Xion.
Derella and Sora both charged at each other, but Sora began hammering her with his two keyblades without giving the dark creature a chance to retaliate. He then jumped back onto the stage Reverted to his normal state, and pointed his keyblade at her. Suddenly a powerful beam of light burst from the tip of his weapon and slammed right into Derella, causing her to scream in unrelenting agony.
"My friends are my power!" he declared in a loud voice, as the monster faded away.
At the same time, Tuxedo Mask threw a rose at Sailor Moon's still form, breaking her free.
"Well done, Sora. You were able to defeat that monster thanks to the strong bond you forged with Sailor Moon," he said.
"It's no big deal," replied Sora.
"Until then, may your heart be your guiding key," said the caped crusader as he left.
"Yes Sora! Well done! I can tell that your bond is something that should never be underestimated!" Luna said proudly to him.
Then the disco ball shattered, releasing everyone's life force as Sailor Moon ran up to Sora and hugged him.
"I'm really sorry I got you all mixed up in this mess. But at the same time, I'm also happy to call you and the Guardians of Kingdom Hearts, my friends. So, on behalf of the moon, I thank you, Sora," she said softly.
As Sora returned the embrace, he sensed Naru and the rest of her friend had awakened from unconsciousness.
"Where am I, and how did I get here?" she asked in confusion.
Everyone else asked themselves the same question. Even the real Mikan had also awakened from unconsciousness, with a look of confusion on her face.
"Ohh, boy, I'm exhausted," Usagi said as she lay on her bed.
"Nothing good happens when you get too obsessed," replied Luna.
"Yeah, yeah," Usagi said sheepishly, as Aqua sat beside her.
"Take it from me, Usagi. I've also been in the same position as you have. I let my duty as a Keyblade Master overrule my judgement once, and that in turn put my work before my friends," she assured her friend.
"You did?" gasped Usagi.
"Yeah, Aqua was pretty awful back then because of that. But that doesn't mean you should let your duty as Sailor Moon get to your head Usagi," said Ventus.
"Yeah, maybe you're right, Ven. I have been letting the whole becoming a star thing go to my head. But from now on, I'm gonna place all of my trust in you, Sora, and the rest of your friends," replied Usagi.
"That's the spirit, Now come on, let's sing it," said Jiminy.
Then he jumped onto Usagi's desk and began to sing.
"When you get in trouble and
You don't know right from wrong,
Give a little whistle!
Give a little whistle!
When you meet temptations and
The urge is very strong
Give a little whistle!
Give a little whistle!
Not Just a little squeak,
pucker up and blow
And when your whistle's weak yell."
"Jiminy Cricket!" called Usagi.
"Right!" replied Jiminy.
"Take the straight and
narrow path and if you start to slide
Give a little whistle!
Give a little whistle!
And always let your conscience be your guide"
Then Jiminy jumped up to a shelf and began treating his umbrella like a trombone, until he smelled something that made him fall off the shelf. Then he jumped down towards Luna, and landed safely on her as she began to trot across the room humming along, as he ran towards her tail, allowing her to send him up to the head of Usagi's bed, as Sora began to sing.
"Not just a little squeak,
pucker up and blow
And if your whistle's weak
Just yell, 'Jiminy Cricket!'"
Then Jiminy sang the final verse.
"Take the straight and narrow path
And if your start to slide
Give a little whistle!
Give a little whistle!
And always let your conscience be your guide."
"And always let your conscience be your guide," sang Usagi.
Then everyone laughed as they finished their song.
