All the cartoons and animes were seated in the cafeteria to have their dinner. All the cartoons and animes were pretty much the same old hostile attitude towards each other. They were either exchanging venomous looks at each other or glare at each other in the face before someone else that was more calm and collected or rational comes and drags them away. They ate their meals in silence so that no one would suddenly come up some wise-guy catch to start a fight.
This wasn’t the time to fight. Not now. Their fight is on stage, where the public will see their abilities and be the judge.
Our Asian agents Misbun Sidek, Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din were pretty amazed when they came into the cafeteria. They expected a hot fight as soon as the West and the East meet but judging by the glares and silent treatment, they were impressed.
“Looks like we don’t need to be their peace maker for tonight, do we, guys?” Mat Gempak said as he took his seat after getting his food.
“Nope, not necessary,” Pak Cik Din replied. Misbun only smiled and shook his head. He was still being mysterious and all even though every staff was beginning to doubt that the West and the East would ever make peace after this orchestra.
“Are you really, really sure that this duel is going to settle their score between themselves?” Mat Gempak asked, still worried about the whole thing.
“We’ll just wait and see,” Misbun smiled and popped a spoonful of mash potatoes into his mouth.
All the people from the reality world came ushering into the Great Music Hall. The humans range from the creators of the East and West characters to the members of the West and East animation staff to the other important people of the animation organization and finally to the public, which is the viewers. Anime and cartoon characters both young and old came to see the big feud between the East and the West. When the public heard wind about the feud, the tickets were sold out almost immediately within 24 hours of its sale! Now that’s what I call a great sale!
Everyone chattered excitedly as they tried to find their seats in the Great Music Hall. They were all excited to see their favourite characters go into action. It was a new thing for them to see their characters playing instruments and indulge themselves in serious art for a change and they wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Backstage, everyone was pretty much nervous about the whole duel thing. Some of them were beginning to have second thoughts about the whole issue.
*In the West*
“I don’t think I wanna go out there, guys,” Ron said as he peeked from the closed curtains at the hundreds upon hundreds of people out there taking their seats. “I’m suddenly experiencing a serious case of stage fright!”
“Me too, me too!” Rufus agreed as he burrowed deeper into Ron’s pocket.
“There’s no turning back now, guys!” Kim Possible exclaimed in horror at her boyfriend’s sudden change of attitude. “We’ve already agreed into this and we have gotta go out there and show the East who’s boss!”
“But…are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Daphne asked. “I mean, there has got to be other ways to settle this fight. We don’t have to take such drastic measures.”
“What do you mean drastic measures?” Cat (CatDog from ‘Nickelodeon’) asked, surprised. “Competing in this type of feud is perfectly civilized and non-violent. What’s so drastic about it?”
“Yeah,” Dog, his conjoined brother agreed. “It’s just an orchestra competition. It’s just a simple matter of win or lose. What’s wrong with that?”
“Well…I didn’t want to tell you this because I didn’t want your spirits to be down and be pressurized by the whole thing but…” Mickey hesitated, scratched his ear and finally said, “Well…if we lose, our ratings go down. And when our ratings go down, it’ll be the end of us.”
“WHAT?!” Everyone exclaimed, their eyes as big as saucers.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘the end of us’?” Eduardo demanded, his face looking as if he would take the ecto-gun and blow Mickey up into smithereens.
“You know how our lives and our existence depend on the ratings. If no one likes us anymore and no one is interested to watch our shows anymore, we’ll cease to exist. We’ll disappear into thin air, disintegrate, and fade away…well…in a crueler way…die…”
“DIE?!” Johnny Bravo exclaimed as he almost fell onto his knees. “I’m too handsome to die! I haven’t got enough chicks yet, man! Oh Mama, why does this have to happen?!”
“Now you tell us!!” Donald Duck squawked. “Do you mean to tell us that if we don’t win this contest, we’ll die?!”
Mickey didn’t dare to reply.
“Even if we raise the white flag now, the humans will think of us as cowards and will hate us for it. We’ll die all the same,” Sam said as she and her girlfriends Clover and Alex looked at each other uneasily.
“But if we win, we’ll end up killing the East,” Bubbles whined. “We’ll be murderers!”
“I don’t usually say this but…” Mickey hesitated again before saying, “we’ll have to risk it. It is a necessary evil. We cannot just die.”
The silence that hung over them later was way unbearably thick.
*In the East*
“The day for us to beat those worthless West baka-s have arrived!!” Goku exclaimed with much excitement, resulting to a loud thwack by Sanzo’s holy fan.
“Don’t be so enthusiastic, you bakasaru! Your confidence is just gonna wear you down! I don’t want to see you falling asleep in the middle of the competition!”
“Sanzo, just let him be,” Gojyo said as he gulped down his last can of beer. “He practically never runs out of batteries.”
“Is everyone all set and ready to play for our lives?” Hakkai asked cheerfully as usual.
“HAIT!!!” Everyone exclaimed with their instruments held up high in the air.
“Are you sure we should do this?” Ayashi suddenly asked. “I’m beginning to have second thoughts.”
Everyone glared at her like she just announced something horrible and unforgivable. Toru stood protectively in front of her in case they want to pounce on her and turned to her, asking, “Why do you have to say that? We’ve already gotten this far. Why the hesitation all of a sudden?”
“I just…don’t think that this is necessary. It’s too cruel…”
“Well, it’s too cruel to let the West win and get us killed in the process!” Usopp exclaimed.
“She’s right,” the sudden agreement from Luffy immediately turned heads towards him.
“Why do you say that?” Sanji asked with Nami in his arms.
“If we do this duel and we win, we’ll kill the West in the process because they will lose their ratings and cease to exist.”
“Yeah, so?” Tasuki folded his arms, unconcerned.
“Then what’s the difference between us and the West? I bet they want to do the same thing and get us killed. But if we do this, what difference does this make us compared to them?”
Everyone was at lost of words.
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!” Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din, who were the MCs, stepped out to the stage and were fighting for the mike. As they fought for it, they finished each other’s sentences, sending the humans into peels of laughter.
MG: Thank you one and all…
PCD: To come to this glorious hall to…
MG: Witness this glorious performance!
PCD: Do enjoy the orchestra performed by…
MG: Our most talented characters from both…
PCD: The East and the West!
MG: We’ll let you be the judge to see…
PCD: Who’s the best among the two!
MG: So without further ado…
PCD: Let us give a warm welcome…
MG: To the East anime and the West cartoons!
As soon as they finished, the humans clapped and cheered as the curtains unfold. The West was sitting at the right side of the stage while the East sat at the left. They were amazed to see which of their favourite characters was handling which piece of instrument. Half of the Disney characters were handling the wind instruments like the trombones, trumpets, flutes, saxophones, clarinets and tubas, while the other half were handling the cellos, violins, guitars, banjos, electric guitars and a huge harp together with some of the Cartoon Network crew. Half of the Nickelodeon was in charge of the drums and the other half were in a mixture with the Cartoon Network handling miscellaneous instruments like the piano, xylophone and chimes. The East, on the other hand, were about much of a mixture of everyone handling instruments like the qin, the wind chimes, flutes, the cello, the Chinese xylophones and the drums. They were all glaring at their opponents as if they were about to eat them alive.
Soon, the orchestra began. The West started first with some theme songs from their show like ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’, ‘Totally Spies’, ‘Kim Possible’ and ‘CatDog’. The East fought back by a few theme songs from their show like ‘Samurai X’, ‘Cooking Master Boy’, ‘Slam Dunk’, ‘Ranma ½’ and ‘Ayashi No Ceres’. Then the West rebutted back with songs from ‘The Weekenders’, ‘The Powerpuff Girls’, ‘The Flintstones’ and ‘Tom & Jerry Kids Show’. The East again threw them back with songs from ‘Strange Dawn’, ‘One Piece’, ‘Vandread’ and ‘Here & There, Now & Then’. The West shot back again with their theme songs from their animation movies like ‘Beauty & the Beast’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Pocahontas’, ‘The Lion King’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’. The East wouldn’t give up and had their songs from their OVA like ‘You’re Under Arrest’, ‘Fushigi Yuugi’, ‘Jigoku Sensei Nube’ and ‘Oh! My Goddess’.
The fight was hectic. Everyone watched in awe and excitement as the West and the East fought to defeat each other with their songs. They were going back and forth with each other, from ‘Archie’s Weird Mysteries’ to ‘Dragon Ball’ to ‘Road to El Dorado’ to ‘Doraemon’ to ‘Hercules’ to ‘Gensomaden Saiyuki’ to ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’ to ‘Shaman King’ to ‘Mulan’ to ‘Rave’…the list goes on. They both were playing for their lives, playing for their existence and playing for their place in the animation world. Neither of them wanted to die and become forgotten by their humans they have given their service to for so long. None of them want to disappear and cease to exist for the rest of their lives. None of them want to have the feeling of fading away into nothingness and become lost in the world of emptiness where there is no life and no death and no one to care for you. None of them wanted to be parted from this world and stop serving their beloved humans. And certainly none of them want to be out of the children’s—those lovely children—eyes forever, never to be remembered and never there to brighten their days.
But then, none of them wanted to kill their opponents…
They suddenly stopped, much to the amazement of the humans watching. The silence was so thick, but no one attempted to make a sound lest missing out what would happen next. Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din stared in astonishment at their sudden reaction. Misbun smiled mysteriously, as if expecting this to happen. The West and the East stared at each other in complete silence. It had dawned to them that none of them wanted their opponent to be killed. All they wanted was to have a fair duel to see who wins or lose. None of them expected that this duel will cost them their lives. None of them expected that whoever wins, either side will die. They didn’t want to kill. They didn’t want this tragedy to happen at all.
Suddenly Miaka, who was playing the qin, struck a note. Tamahome stared at her before playing a note on his flute. Chichiri followed suite by playing the wind chimes. Then it was Sakuragi playing the Chinese trumpet, followed by Rukawa playing his flute. Slowly the West also joined in, from Ron playing his trombone, Kim with her flute, Johnny Bravo with his electric guitar, Velma with her violin and Goofy with his banjo. One by one, the crew from the East and West played their instrument, slowly and spontaneously making a song that no one had ever heard before. The song was neither from the East’s theme songs nor the West’s. it was a whole new song which just came from a combination of them. Even Hakkai and Mickey, after staring at each other, finally raised their conducting sticks and began to conduct the song that was out of the ordinary.
Everyone was really moved by the song, including the children who came to listen and also our Asian agents. They played of their lives in their field of entertainment. They played of how they felt when they were first created. They played of how they felt when they were given life by the humans who watched and loved them. They played of their happiness and sadness, of the wonders they could do to brighten up and excite their fellow viewers through their stories and adventures. They played of romances that bloomed within them as their show carried on to entertain their viewers and played of gratitude that if it weren’t for the support of the viewers, they wouldn’t have discovered love between themselves and wouldn’t have lived till today. They played of the good times and the bad times and most importantly, they played of their love and thanks to those innocent kids who never tire and never failed on them.
When they ended, there was another silence. The East and the West suddenly felt exhilaration and a satisfaction that their score was finally over. They realized that ratings were not something they can just simply hold as a contest, not when it concerned their lives. They realized that they were pretty equal after all. They finally smiled at each other and gave their compliments to each other through eye-contact.
Almost abruptly, everyone present in the hall stood up and cheered, almost clapping their hands raw. They hollered and shouted with excitement and even whistled. Happiness and tears were all over their faces as they yelled their congrats and compliments out loud.
“They are just so cool!”
“Yeah! Sugoi!”
“They were so great, so cool! I…I can’t decide! They both are so good at this!! I can’t express how cool they are!!”
“The East and the West rocks, dude!”
“I’m amazed! They actually did it without our help! We didn’t have to draw them any special talents to play!”
“I’m so glad this is over!” Mat Gempak shouted in the midst of all this commotion. “I didn’t think they’ll pull through anyway!”
“You knew it all along, didn’t you, Misbun?!” Pak Cik Din asked. “You knew all along that this was going to happen, didn’t you?!”
Misbun only smiled as he went up stage and took the mike. He waited until the commotion died a little before asking, “Well, friends. Did you enjoy the show?”
“YES!!!” Everyone exclaimed, forcing those on stage to wince and cover their ears.
“So, what do you think? Who is the best among the two?”
Everyone quieted down and muttered among themselves. It was written on their faces that none of them was able to decide. Finally one of the staff from Disney said, “I don’t know, Misbun. We really can’t decide. They were all really good.”
“Yeah,” someone from the anime company agreed. “They started out to be fighting among themselves but to think that at the end of the show, they had a combined song. We…we really can’t decide.”
Everyone nodded and muttered their agreement. They really couldn’t figure out whether the East was better or the West. Misbun smiled and said, “Then we’ll have to consider this a tie, shall we?”
“YEAH!!!” everyone replied before cheering again.
“Well, guys,” Misbun said as he turned to the cartoons and the animes. “Are you satisfied now?”
They all nodded sheepishly. Goku suddenly laughed out loud and pounced on Sanzo, demanding a congratulation kiss. Sanzo wanted to shoot him with gun at first, but finally turned his back on everyone and kissed Goku. Soon, all the couples of both East and West grabbed each other and kissed. Johnny Bravo was the most enthusiastic and show-off of all. He held Velma way near to the ground (like in those dances) and kissed her, sending her swooning. Dexter looked at him in distaste but was consoled by his sister Dee Dee and Mandark.
“Chill out, Dexter,” Dee Dee said. “There are still other girls in the world right for you.”
“Yes, Dexter. I can introduce to you a lovely female specimen later,” Mandark agreed.
The whole feud ended gracefully.
“Our ratings are better!”
“Our ratings are better!”
“Here we go again.”
The characters of the East and West were bickering again about their ratings in the conference room. Some people just never learn. Mat Gempak, Misbun Sidek and Pak Cik Din groaned in exasperation.
“What is it this time?” Mat Gempak asked. “Wasn’t the orchestra duel a lesson enough for you?”
“No! Come to think of it, a tie isn’t so good after all!” Timon replied.
“We want another duel!” Giant exclaimed. “Something that wouldn’t affect our lives and force us to give in to each other and will not have another tie!”
“Any ideas? We have to stop them fighting like this!” Pak Cik Din asked. For once, Misbun shook his head and shrugged, obviously no ideas at the moment.
“OK, guys!” Mat Gempak sounded really tired of all this nonsense. “You want a fight? I’ll give you another fight! One that won’t concern your lives, if that’s what you want!”
Everyone looked at him eagerly.
“Cooking.”
