Aria wakes up the next morning. It was the day of her and Jackson's ANH victory celebration.
Chalice made a special breakfast for the guests of honor. Aria saw this when she came downstairs.
"Remember that this party won't just be for you, Aria." Chalice reminded her.
Jackson came down, looking amazing.
"Look at you!" Mugman says to his son. Jackson yawned.
"So how does this go?" He asked.
"Breakfast first." Mugman says. "Then you two have post-ANH interviews on Good Morning San Antonio and Great Day Inkwell Isles."
Aria goes to eat. And so does Jackson. Soon, they finish eating and go off to get ready for their interviews. They get in the limo and head off.
Randy and the others are spying on the preparations for the celebration.
"Okay, good, but we really need to spy on Aria. Last night was scary." He says.
"But where is she this morning?" Savannah asked.
"Don't know. I missed her. She can't keep butting in on our missions." Bill says.
They turned on the TV to see her and Jackson on Good Morning San Antonio.
"Okay, let's go!" Delta says, rushing off.
"Yeah, she'll live, maybe." Emila says.
"Oh, yesterday, I made the announcement that I'd be on the show and fans lost their minds. They think I retired. Oh, and Oliver is going to be my partner. We kinda bonded over t-shirt lessons." Alem tuber says.
"Have you seen his schedule, though? He's gonna have a hard time clearing it with all the deadlines he now has." Savannah says. "Especially because he'll be part of one fashion week after the other…he'll be at New York Fashion Week in a few weeks' time and I don't think he wants you touching his designs."
"And Leni's going with him." Bill says.
"Next season is in December, maybe we can work it out." Alem tuber says.
"And if he can't work it out in time?" Brandy asked.
"Then Oliver will never enter a TV show again." Randy says.
(Crumbelina's Sweet Admirer: Okay, that's a bit too harsh. Quit punishing Oliver here! He's been through enough!)
"He's like The Rock when it comes to WWE." Alex says.
"Never has the time." Delta says.
On the set of Good Morning San Antonio, the interview had started.
"So, Aria, how does it feel to win America's Next Hitmaker?" Myra asked.
"It feels amazing!" Aria says. "Honestly, I'm still shocked that me and Jackson won…"
"I can imagine! You two were pretty surprised by the fact you both won it." Myra says. "What do you plan to do with your prize money?"
"Most of it is going toward college, per our parents' request. Then we might spend some of it on things we want or need or both. But we won't spend it all at once." Jackson says.
"Now, what performance of yours did you have to say was your favorite out of all the ones you did on the show?" Myra asked Aria and Jackson.
Aria thinks. And so does Jackson. They soon have an answer.
"Our favorite performances had to be the Gotham City Guys performance and the Holding Out For A Hero performance as well." Aria says as Jackson nods in agreement.
"I understand you're performing that second one for us today. Are you two ready to show us?" Myra asked.
The duo nods. They then begin performing "Holding Out For A Hero" once they get in their costumes.
People that are watching get excited as they see it all.
Luke watched, proud of his little girl. He was so happy for her. Mugman smiled as he watched Jackson.
Chalice smiled as she was also proud of Aria.
Later, after the second interview, Aria and Jackson came home to get ready for the party.
Aria wore her prettiest dress while Jackson was having a fashion crisis.
Leni made Jackson a suit for the occasion. Jackson looks at it.
"I love it!" Jackson says.
Lucy had planned the party. Edwin coughed 4 times.
"What's wrong, Edwin?" Lucy asked.
He coughed again as Lucy realized he was sick.
"Oh, no…" Lucy says as she carries Edwin to his room.
"I'll watch over you." Lucy says to Edwin, who was fast asleep. Lucy smiled.
Aria and Jackson sat upstairs in Aria's room an hour later. They just look sad. Practically no one was coming to their victory celebration, claiming to be "busy".
They look down at the floor. Aria's friends find them.
"What do you guys want?" Aria and Jackson asked.
"We have a surprise for you!" Tori says.
"Sure you do…" Aria says. Jackson felt skeptical.
They soon arrived at their favorite place.
"Ooooh…Adventure Zone!" Jackson says.
"This place is amazing!" Aria says.
"Surprise!" Everyone says as confetti fell. Aria and Jackson are stunned as they see everyone they know and love standing in the center of Adventure Zone under a banner reading "Congratulations to our champions, Aria and Jackson! We love you!"
Aria smiled at this as Jackson was speechless.
The party began with the activities located around the facility. Aria tried the rock climbing wall and Jackson tried his hand at gymnastics on the trampolines.
Luke smiled at his daughter as he knew she was having fun.
Aria nearly fell. Luke caught her as Aria smiled and hugged him.
Soon, it was gift time. Jackson didn't understand why he was getting gifts for winning. Aria opened every gift that was hers.
Leni made her a new dress. Aria smiled and thanked Leni.
She made Jackson a nice suit. Jackson smiled at this. "Thank you." He says.
Luke gave Aria a karaoke machine. She squealed.
"Thanks, Daddy!" Aria says and hugs Luke.
Jackson sighed. He knew his parents didn't care that much about him. Jackson looked away as this party felt like it was more about Aria than it was about them both. He walked off.
"Jackson, you haven't opened my gift yet." Mugman said.
"I don't care about the gifts right now!" Jackson wailed.
"Sweetie, why are you upset?" Margo asked Jackson, sitting next to him.
"This is her party…" he sobbed.
"No, it isn't, it's for both of you. Why don't you talk to Aria about how you feel?" Margo asked.
Jackson stormed up to Aria, eyes still wet with his steamed milk tears. He looks at her.
"Aria, I think they're lavishing more attention on you. I thought this was our party!" Jackson sobbed.
Aria feels bad and puts Jackson in the spotlight. Jackson sniffed.
Soon, Jackson was opening gifts, but wasn't really smiling.
"This party was a failure…" Luke sobbed, knowing Jackson hated it.
"Honey, I think Jackson is just mad because you did more of this party for Aria than you did for him. He's feeling a little left out." Charity says.
Aria gives Jackson a gift. Jackson opened it and looked at it. "What is this?" Jackson asked.
It was a new Dirk Dangerous toy that Jackson wanted.
"Aria, this is a great gift. Thank you." Jackson says with a small smile as he holds the toy.
Later, Aria was alone as she ate. So was Jackson. Jackson eventually went off to be on his own, holding the toy Aria gave him.
After that, their highlight reel was shown. But Jackson just walked out after Aria started talking.
Mugman came out to see his son sitting outside.
"Are you okay, champ?" He asked Jackson.
Jackson looked at his dad, sniffling.
"I guess." Jackson says. "Aria is just taking the credit for the win that we both earned. I saw her in there, just talking about how she came up with a lot of the routines and how she was so great when we both worked hard on our routines! It was clear that I wasn't good enough to reach up to her standards!"
Mugman just shakes his head and holds his son. He knows his son is good enough and very talented.
Chalice took Aria's trophy away and took Aria home, dragging her by the arm. This was just Jackson's celebration now.
After some time, Lynn got the pinata for Jackson. Jackson managed a smile.
"Guys, I wanna enter next season." Oliver says.
"Wait, what?" Alem tuber asked.
"Come on, one last time?" Oliver begged.
"Oh, all right…" Alem tuber says.
"Oh, great, ego trip all over again." Angry Luigi and Luke say. But Oliver surprises everyone by saying he will partner with Jackson after hearing about what happened with Aria. Jackson gasped and smiled.
Clover walked away. She wanted to be partners with Jackson. Jackson looked at her, then felt sad all over again.
"Clover, you're ruining his day." Luke says. Charity grabs Luke and takes him outside.
"You will stop scolding other people's kids right now!" Charity says.
"But she made him upset…" Luke says.
"Jackson and Clover would be good partners. In fact, Gemma gave me the scoop that season 17 will be a triple format show. So it works out." Charity says.
"Okay, Cuphead, Mugman, we're going to enter as a trio." Chalice says.
"Sweet, wait, how have we never tried that?" Mugman asked.
"Logic." Cuphead says.
Luke gets frustrated and tears up.
"I'll be your partner." Brandy says.
"Shut up, Brandy!" Luke says as Brandy leaves upset. Luke leaves the party.
"So uncalled for…" Luan says.
"Great, of course Oliver doesn't want to be on my team." Alem tuber says
Brandy heads home. He just wanted to be accepted by Luke.
Jackson soon sees his cake and looks grateful for it. He even got the best design award, an award he got because of Leni.
Jackson was all smiles. But he gave the award to Leni.
"Jackson, it's yours." Leni says.
"Mine?" Jackson asked.
"You're the one who won. I just made you a costume." Leni says as Jackson gladly accepts it.
Chalice came back to the castle, very disappointed in Aria's behavior.
"I can't believe you did that, young lady!" Chalice screamed. "You should be ashamed of yourself! After all the work Jackson put in as well, you took all the credit for every performance you did!"
"Sorry, I just wanted Daddy to think I was good enough. But I never will be. It was basically all Jackson." She says, admitting she felt like she was nowhere near Jackson or Luke's level and felt pressured to live up to Luke's legacy.
"I get it now. Your father had that issue in the past. His siblings didn't help much, considering he and Luna had a music rivalry. Just show more appreciation." Chalice says. "You really hurt Jackson's feelings."
Later, Aria returned, looking guilty. "Jackson, I'm sorry I took your credit. It's just I knew I was the useless one on the team and just wanted to feel useful." Aria says. Jackson sniffed.
She made him a gift, which was a drawing of Jackson that said "Jackson is the best!"
"I'm going home now." Aria says. Jackson looks at her.
"After all, I'm not good at anything." she sobbed and left with Chalice.
"Okay, who wants cake?" Lynn asked.
"Me! Me!" Jackson says. Luan brings out the cake as it was Jackson's favorite, blue velvet and vanilla marble cake. Jackson smiled and watched everyone sing to him. Mugman was really happy for his son.
Jackson thinks of a wish as everyone smiles at him. He wished to win next season and blew out the candles that spelled his name. He smiled as everyone cheered.
Later, Aria finds Emma and Melody.
"You wanna team up?" Aria asked.
"Really?" Melody asked.
"Yeah, I need to prove myself. I can't be in Jackson's shadow. I'll be your leader." Aria says.