Episode 9
Horse Race
(class)
Mrs. Suisho: Good-morning
class! (everyone
groans; Mrs. Suisho is annoyed) Well…I
thought you might be interested in this horse race my husband is
sponsoring. It is next Saturday and I have
the sign up sheets right here on my desk for anyone who would like to
participate. (bangs
hand on desk) Now I think it’s time for
a pop quiz…. (more groaning)
Tsuta: (whispering to Noelle) Are you going sign
up?
Noelle:
You bet! Why wouldn’t I?
Tsuta: (puts
hands behind head) I’m signing up, too.
Of course, you know we are going to beat you.
Noelle:
Says who!
Mrs. Suisho:
(surprising them) Would you two both like an
“F” on the quiz?
Noelle and Tsuta: Sorry, ma’am!
***********************************************************
(Noelle’s house)
Noelle:
I’m home! Is mother back yet?
Grandmother:
(sipping tea) Noelle, it is not polite to yell like that. No, your mother is still working.
Noelle: (scrounging around) Oh, well maybe you can help me. (rushes up stairs)
Grandmother:
And you were going to ask your mother instead of me? (sips tea) What do you need help with?
Noelle:
I need someone to sign my permission slip so I can enter this horse race
next Saturday.
Grandmother:
Horse race?
Noelle:
Yeah. (slight
moment of silence)
Grandmother:
(calmly sips tea) Noelle, how can you enter a horse race if you do not
even own a horse? (loud
bang is heard from upstairs) Noelle?
Noelle:
Horse??? I meant….um….cows!
Grandmother:
Cows?
Noelle:
We get to ride…cows. (stares at grandmother assuming she won’t buy it)
Grandmother:
If that is what you say….
Noelle:
Good! (quickly
runs out the door)
Grandmother:
Kids these days. Racing on cows. (shakes head)
*********************************************************
(inside
cabin)
Noelle:
(pets Stardust’s muzzle) Stardust, this contest will be great. It would be good practice for both of
us. I just don’t think that Grandmother
will sign the permission slip. (sighs)
Tsuta: (pops head in) Fudge it.
Noelle:
Fudge it?
Tsuta:
Yeah. Fake your parents signature.
It’s not a big deal, and no one will ever know.
Noelle:
Tsuta, I’m suppose to be the one to come up
with the crazy ideas! (laughs; lies down on straw)
But you’re right. That would
work. (sits
up) But wait….
Tsuta:
What?
Noelle:
I already told my grandmother about it.
She thinks I’m going in a cow racing contest.
Tsuta:
Cow racing? She believed that?
Noelle:
I doubt it. I just hope she won’t
tell my mother about this.
Tsuta:
(nods head) Yeah. Well, I better
go do some practice with Glory. We
wouldn’t want to lose to you guys, right?
(leaves laughing)
Noelle:
Stardust and I will win. Just you
wait, Tsuta!
*******************************************
(school)
Noelle:
Here you go, Mrs. Suisho! (hands permission slip over; Mrs. Suisho looks it over. Noelle watches nervously)
Mrs. Suisho:
Hmmm…..(pauses, Noelle gets nervous
teardrop) You’ll be number 23 (hands a
ticket to her)
Noelle:
(smiling) Number 23! Thanks! (heads back to seat)
Tsuta:
You got in?
Noelle:
Yeah. It’s like my grandmother
forgot all about it. She didn’t say a
word!
Tsuta:
(smiling)
That’s good. I’m number
7. What number did you get.
Noelle:
I got 23. 7? You must have gotten here early.
Tsuta:
Yup! I wanted to get 7 because 7
is my lucky number. There are 7 days in
a week and 7 colors in a rainbow. Lucky
7!
Noelle:
Seven colors in a rainbow….
Tsuta:
What did you say?
Noelle:
(nervously) Oh,
nothing! (thoughts)
Seven should have been my number. Seven
colors in a rainbow….seven Butterjewels on the seventh day of every
month….maybe this is a sign of bad luck that Dark Star’s going to attack
again….
********************************************
(fair)
Noelle:
(on Stardust) Good thing I left early, or my
mother might have gotten suspicious.
Hopefully she won’t come…
Tsuta:
Noelle! Over here!
Noelle:
Tsuta! (Tsuta is wearing a number
7 around her neck)
Tsuta: You
pick up your number over there, Noelle.
Noelle:
Thanks (hands ticket stub to lady who hands her two numbers, one for
Stardust and one for Noelle)
There we go. All ready!
Tsuta:
Great!
Zaisan:
Noelle?
Noelle:
Zaisan? What are you doing here?
Zaisan: I
was about to ask you the same question.
Mother said I could go see the horse races. Hey, isn’t that the horse that was in the
backyard the other day?
Tsuta:
Let’s go, Noelle. You can give me
back Stardust after the race. Let’s go!
Noelle:
Right. (two
girls quickly take off; N pauses for a sec. as she sees Daraku one of the
corner of her eye. He seems to be in a
hurry)
Tsuta:
Noelle!
Noelle:
Coming!
*********************************************
(on
race field)
Announcer:
Welcome, one and all, to the first horse race of the season! And what a crowd we have today! Contesters, are you ready? (big cheers from the
crowd) All right! Everyone get ready! Get set………go!
(everyone starts running)
Noelle:
Come on, Stardust! We can do
this!
Tsuta:
Go, Glory! You’re doing great!
Announcer:
And it looks like contestant 7 is having a good start, but contestant 12
is in the lead by a nose!
Tsuta:
All right!
Announcer:
What a close race this is! (pauses) Wait…..there
seems to be someone else getting close to the lead. It looks like….contestant 23. But weren’t there only 22 contestants? Well, it seems like this guy really knows how
to race as contestant 23 pulls in the lead!
Tsuta:
Hey, where did you come from?
Noelle:
(catches up to Tsuta)
I don’t think that guy is suppose to be in the race. Stardust, let’s try to catch up to him. (starts pulling
ahead of Tsuta)
Tsuta:
Hey, nice try, Noelle, but that’s not going to slow us down! (starts pulling
ahead as well)
Announcer:
Well, it seems like contestant 23 appeared out of nowhere and is now
leaving everyone behind in the dust!
Contestant 12: (contestant 23 shoves in front of him) Hey!
Noelle:
Stardust, get ready. (pulls out locket and ring from pocket) I’ve got everything all ready.
Daraku:
(contestant 23)
We’re ahead, Moete. Just like we’ve planned. Let’s go!
Announcer:
Why, it looks like contestant 23 is burning up the
tracks…literally! (Moete
is now a Firewidow and Daraku is Dark Star) What’s going on????
(people
start passing out)
Dark Star:
Perfect.
Noelle:
Down, Stardust! (the two both slide down as if they passed out with the
others. Noelle waits until all is
quiet. Then she puts on her locket and
ring and she and Stardust transform)
Nova:
Dark Star! What do you think
you’re doing?
Dark Star:
Trying to take over these people’s minds as usual. Except…this won’t be a usual battle. I have a little surprise prepared for you,
Nova.
Nova: I
don’t like surprises, especially if they’re from you! (two Firewidows come
down in front of her) Huh? What is this?
Dark Star:
These are specially trained Firewidows.
They are my Kicking Duet. They
will keep you busy so I can do my work.
(Tsuki pops up)
Tsuki:
Nova. We need to be careful. There may only be two Firewidows, but they
are going to be more dangerous.
Nova:
(angrily/sarcastically) No!
I couldn’t figure that out!
Dark Star: Kicking
Duet, go!
Tsuki:
Unijewel…(doesn’t finish. One of the Firewidows quickly kicks her
Unijewel and the two fall)
Aaaaaaaaah!
Nova:
Tsuki! (Nova looks up to see
another attack) Run! (Stardust quickly runs and misses the
attack. The annoyed Firewidow
charges after her; the second following close behind the first) If only they could
slow down a little bit, and then we could use our powers! (they run around the
track many times while Dark Star tries getting the fainted people to obey
him) Butterjewel, we’re slowing
down! Keep going…..(they
get hit) Aaaaaaaaaaah!
Dark Star:
(looks up) Well,
this is working out better than I thought!
(arrow from nowhere shoots at Dark Star which
breaks his force shield) Huh? What? )
A strange figure on a horse gallops off in the distance)
Nova:
(groaning; looks up and sees the guy running) It’s him. It’s that guy again. (slowly gets
up) Butterjewel, Attack Power! (Butterjewel quickly lets out a release of
red light that hits both Firewidows.)
Dark Star:
Rrrrrr!
(disappears)
Nova:
(runs over to Tsuki)
Tsuki! Are you okay? (quickly leans
forward and puts her hand over her shoulder.
When she lifts her hand, she notices it is red)
Tsuki: I
am fine. But you have a really bad
wound. (gets
up) Unijewel, healing power! (Unijewel puts unicorn on wound) Once you’re ok, then we can go revive
everyone else up.
Nova:
(smiles) Thanks.
Tsuki: You’re
Butterjewel’s attack was awesome. You
have really done a good job training.
Nova:
(smiling)
Thanks. I think we finally
got the hang of it. (both
girls grin)
**********************************************
(Noelle is leaning
against the school wall and looking up at the sky. Daraku comes in)
Daraku: Noelle,
you haven’t talked to me all day.
Noelle:
Hmph!
Daraku:
Come on. You’re not still mad at
me about the race, are you?
Noelle:
Oh, no. Why should I be mad? You just tried to kill me. Again!
Daraku:
Well, that is my purpose on Earth, unfortunately. But we’re humans now, right?
Noelle:
You can make your next plans as Daraku, right? Human or not, I can never trust you! (takes off)
*****************************************
(Noelle’s house)
Noelle:
Please??? I really want to talk
to Tsuta!
Mother:
You lied to me. You borrowed
Tsuta’s horse without my permission. I
want this entire house to be swept. When
you’re done with that, there’s dusting and vacuuming. (Noelle turns to glare at Zaisan who sticks
his tongue out at her)
Noelle:
(grumbles) fine. (goes upstairs to
her room where she transforms into Nova.
She quickly sneaks out the window and makes her way to the cabin where
Tsuki and her Unijewel are practicing)
Tsuki:
Nova, you ready for some more training?
(sees Nova’s in a bad mood) What’s wrong?
Nova:
I’m not in the mood for training tonight. I got in big trouble with my mother. For lying.
Tsuki:
Lying?
Nova: I
hate this. I have being a princess! I just want to live a normal life, no
responsibilities, no worries. (looks up at the
stars) Why did I have to be from there.
Tsuki:
Nova.
Nova:
What I got in trouble for was my own fault. It’s just that the more I think about it, the
more I cannot stand living too lives. My
whole life is a lie. A
secret. I can’t live like that
anymore. We’ve been lucky twice, but
next time, maybe that guy won’t show. Or
maybe Dark Star will have plans for him.
Tsuki, I don’t want to fight anymore.
Tsuki:
(pauses) You
don’t want to fight? (closes
eyes and looks at ground for moment, then looks up at Nova) (angrily) Hey, at least you know who you are! I have no idea who I am when I’m not
human! And don’t forget, you are a
princess! You are a princess of a star,
a star with everyone counting on you!
It’s your job to get rid of Dark Star, not mine. Not that guy that’s been helping us. We’ve been helping you because we know you
can’t do it alone. If you give up, we
will have to give up as well. All of
Twilight might as well give up! Is that
what you want, Nova? You want Dark Star
to win?
Nova:
(looks up at Tsuki)
You’re right. I’m being
selfish (looks down at ground)
Tsuki:
Look, I know it’s hard, but we’ll get through this. Don’t forget, your Butterjewel hasn’t done an
attack like that in a battle before. She
has obviously has become much stronger.
And it’s all because of your practice.
Nova:
(smiles) You’re
a great friend, Tsuki. I promise to
never give up, I’ll fight ‘til the end.
Tsuki:
That’s the Nova I know. (both girls smile as they look up at the stars glittering in
the sky)