s***@yahoo.com
2008-01-03 03:01:25 UTC
Well, this is about the best shot I can give it with the people I
have... So, even though I haven't done the Medium one yet (and that
might take consulting a few tomes), I decided to get the Hard
Challenge out of the way and throw my mercy on the court. Some
knowledge of the end of the "Kaleido Star: New Wings" season will
probably be required to understand my approach.
And what is it with these "spores that will kill the world as we know
it" challenges? That's about the third or fourth year in the seven
years of the challenges that this has been thrown up, usually as the
Hard Challenge.
So, with that, *GULP!!*:
------
New Year's Challenge 2008
Hard Challenge: Team "Wing and a Prayer": Michael Falkner (writer)
and Sora Naegino, Ken Robbins, and Yuri Killian from "Kaleido Star"
I was looking forward to this one the most.
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Sora, and I was so happy
to be able to do this again to see her.
Of course, her friends were a lot of fun too, so I decided to summon
them in Los Angeles this year to up the "fun quotient", because I was
getting a real bad feeling about what we were going to have to do.
I truly believed that this was going to be something so dire, it could
only be done "on a wing and a prayer".
So I said goodbye to my friend in Riverside, and proceeded on the
Metrolink to Los Angeles, where I walked over to the Amtrak claim
check and picked up the good ol' Zap-I-Tron 3000, disguised as a
regular piece of luggage.
Ah, the wonders of interdimensional travel...
So, I found a quiet spot in the New Year's morning, and set off to
summon my friends.
Presetting the device to "Notify" gave them the opportunity to, in
some manner I never quite understood, find out they were coming, so,
when I hit The Big Red Button, out popped three people who were packed
and ready to have some fun.
Of course, I couldn't wait:
Michael: "Sorry, Ken, one thing to do first..."
Sora saw me coming and returned my glomp.
Sora: "Michael!! It's so good to see you!! I can't wait for us to
have so much fun! Fun!! FUN!!!"
Michael: "It is my pleasure to see you again, Sora."
Then Ken and Yuri caught up.
Yuri: "I see it didn't take you two too long to get re-acquainted."
I immediately came over and shook Yuri's hand.
Michael: "Sorry, but it's been a tough year. Seeing Sora makes it a
little better, though."
Sora looked at me with _that look_. Awwwwwwwwwww...
Going over to Ken...
Michael: "And how goes it at Kaleido Stage?"
Ken: "Very well, thank you. We just got done with a very tough
production and, with a lot of us seeing you, or so it seemed, Kalos
granted us a nice vacation for winter maintenance."
Sora: "So thank you, Michael... All of Kaleido Stage is grateful for
the break!"
Michael: "It is my pleasure."
Yuri: "And Kaleido Stage is doing better than ever. Our crowds are
at record levels, not only for Sora, but it appears they've taken a
liking to Rosetta as well..."
Michael: "I wonder why..."
Of course, I knew it was that the Fool had taken Rosetta under his
wing too, but couldn't really just up and tell Yuri that.
Sora: "So what's our challenge??"
Michael: "I'm not sure. But I don't have a good feeling at all about
this one..."
Just then, my cell phone rang. Didn't usually carry one, but my
friend in the Bay Area got me one for Christmas for some odd reason.
He seemed sick of having me route all my calls from the Elections
Department through him, but he was too nice (and too even-keeled) to
tell me outright.
Which is why his tone surprised me... And everyone saw the look on my
face...
Sora: "Oh my..."
Michael: "Yuri, we need to rent a car. You drive. We have to get
back to San Francisco, NOW!!"
Ken: "What's wrong?"
Ken would turn white as a ghost as I explained it to him.
Sora and Yuri weren't too pleased either.
---------
It's almost as if we couldn't afford to stay the night at a hotel in
San Jose, though not as a financial matter but due to the urgency of
the situation. But, I figured we needed to get the news reports to
assess the situation and then rest up.
The first thing we literally heard on the news was the mayor of San
Francisco pleading that anyone who would have the resources or the
ability to actually find a solution to this would have the unlimited
resources of anything he could have available to him or her.
That was a relief. We knew immediately that, if we felt we could find
a solution, we'd have the full cooperation of, basically, anyone in
San Francisco.
Of course, with an absolute "Shelter in Place" in effect, we weren't
sure exactly who we were going to get involved with, but we knew that
we would have cooperation.
So, it was time to break out the computer and see what we were up
against.
--------
Ken was now white as a sheet as he watched the television, seeing a
bunch of red entities wreak havoc all over San Francisco.
Yuri: "The 'Hate Plague'??? Right out of that Transformers movie??"
Michael: "Yep."
Ken: "I saw that movie. There's no cure to that, is there?"
Sora: "I'm reading from Michael's computer that they say they can find
a cure for it, but without containing those infected, it's
impossible."
Yuri: "And even if it is possible, it needs skills far beyond normal
doctors to find it with any degree of speed. They'll destroy San
Francisco and begin to infect the entire world by spreading out from
there."
Ken: "So how did this happen?"
Michael: "A meteor strike. Some spores came down with the meteor and
began infecting about 12 hours ago. Of course, the panic is evident.
However, it doesn't sound like there's quite enough density to spread
it through the air, so, as long as we don't get attacked by one of
them..."
Ken: "And it sounds like they actually wait for the 'right
opportunity'..."
And then Ken stopped...
Sora (with concern): "What's wrong, Ken?"
Ken: "I think I just came up with an idea..."
=======
After taking Sora and Yuri into the other room of the hotel suite and
having a few words with them, I could hear Sora give a joyful "THAT'S
GREAT!! THANK YOU KEN!!!!" and throwing her arms around him.
Yuri came out and apprised me of Ken's plan...
Yuri: "Have you ever heard of 'The Angel's Maneuver'?"
I can't say that, at that moment, I didn't think of Sora in that leggy
Angel's Maneuver outfit...
Michael: "Heck yes, I've heard of it..."
That puzzled Yuri a bit, knowing he wasn't in "his dimension", but
continued anyway...
Yuri: "Sora always told me that the maneuver opens up the 'Angel
Hearts' of the audience. Ken has surmised that, since your
information tells us that the spores do not compromise neither the
communication nor the reasoning of the infected, nor that the infected
blindly rage..."
Michael: "He was talking about that they also wait for the 'right
opportunity', as well..."
Yuri: "So if we advertise Sora doing the Angel's Maneuver at the
ballpark for all the sick... 'A Performance for Hope'... Maybe we can
catch them off guard and give them something to look forward to..."
Sora: "And then I can open their 'Angel Hearts' to quiet and soothe
all the rage that is within them, just like we did at Kaleido Stage."
Yuri: "I still remember the opening night, when Sora even reduced
Alain to tears -- it even got Alain to get off the bottle and turn his
life around!"
Michael: "That's a wondrous idea! But the problem is where..."
Then I stopped...
Yuri: "What is it, Michael?"
Michael: "Cirque du Soleil is still in the Bay Area... They might be
able to help. First, we have to call the mayor..."
Ken: "I wrote the phone number of the emergency center they're using
here... They gave it on the news."
Michael: "Got it. Yuri, I need you to make the call. They've seen
me as a bit crazy up there and may think I'm infected if I call up
this idea. Ask for the number of the Managing Director of 'Kooza',
the current Cirque du Soleil production, and for use of the ballpark..."
Yuri: "You got it, Michael. And if this works, we owe you one, Ken..."
Michael: "I think Sora will take care of all that..."
Sora: "You bet I will! I CAN'T WAIT!!"
"This is going to be the best performance ever..."
==========
It took Yuri a little convincing over the next hour, but it was
quickly done. Yuri had Ken draw up a quick schematic of the Angel's
Maneuver trapeze setup and fax it over to the technicians at Cirque du
Soleil -- with one special request:
Ken: "Since your computer said that the spores can be shielded
through composite metals, we needed to have the apparatus made of such
metals. Also, we need radiation-style suits for all of us, in the
event the infected don't take..."
Yuri: "It's the only plan we've really got. I asked the mayor to
have all infected parties quarantined at the ballpark, and you said
you actually had performances by Sora to show there??"
Michael: "Don't ask me how, but I do... So we're using that as
advertisement to get the people to hold off on attacking anyone for as
long as it takes for the technicians to build the maneuver's apparatus
and get it secured."
Yuri: "Check. I guess it's up to me and Sora to quickly stretch and
prepare for our Angel's Maneuver."
Ken then hugged Sora as she and Yuri went off to an acrobatics school
in the Haight to practice and train, as we repositioned ourselves in a
hotel room out near Ocean Beach.
==========
As the hours went on, though, even Ken had a bit of self-doubt.
Ken: "But what if this doesn't work??"
Michael: "Then we're going to have to high-tail it out of there and
hope we didn't get infected. At the best, I'll have to leave San
Francisco behind for good, as the city will probably be effectively
destroyed before they can find a cure."
"At the worst..."
Ken then hugged me. I couldn't understand why, but then he told me...
Ken: "I really hope this works."
Michael: "It's your idea, Ken..."
Ken: "You don't understand... I do l... lo...."
Michael: "I'll say it for you. You love her. You always have. It
has nothing to do with her performances or her outfits or her body or
anything else but _her_."
Ken's eyes told the whole story. He knew I was right -- and he didn't
want to lose her.
Michael: "Ken, it's time to go. You need to check on the situation
and tell us when they're ready for Sora and Yuri."
Ken nodded and said nothing more. He got on the transit bus and got
to the ballpark.
He was so scared that he would lose Sora, the woman he loved from the
day she stepped on Kaleido Stage, but could never ever tell her for
some maddening reason.
He didn't want to lose her to this looming madness that the meteor
brought down, but he knew that we had no choice but to go through with
this. There was really no other way. We had no healing superpowers...
... except for the power of the Angel's Maneuver to open up the "Angel
Hearts" of the sick and of the infected -- and hope for the best.
I was right all along -- this truly _was_ on a wing and a prayer.
========
"Michael, it's time. Get Sora and Yuri and let's do this... I don't
know how much longer we can hold them down."
That was Ken on the phone the next morning. The situation at the
ballpark was getting more and more tense, as the news reports now
showed thousands of infected holed up at the ballpark, just waiting
for an opportunity to literally tear the world apart. Ken and the
entire stage crew were also outfitted with radiation-style suits with
the necessary alloys, and we were given the same as we showed up.
Basically, we were told that, if this doesn't work, to get out and not
worry about looking back...
We knew the stakes. Sora nodded with that determination which was
hers alone.
It was time to show the "real world" the "Angel's Maneuver".
========
The crowd was just about ready to burst. They'd been held at the park
for a couple of days -- fed as they needed to be to keep them from
rioting -- the whole point was to settle them down and keep them quiet
until Sora could do the Angel's Maneuver...
And then, just hope for the best.
But the murmuring was about to reach a fever pitch, almost literally,
as fans were pumping and circulating the air to keep the spores from
getting too concentrated to be passed through the air.
Sora: "Ken, you thought of everything!!"
Ken: "Yeah. So are you ready??"
Yuri: "We sure are. They won't recognize that I'm not Leon..."
Michael: "What did you do??"
Ken: "Well, I told them we were going to premiere the Angel's
Maneuver right here."
To which I thought to myself that they were effectively going to stage
that part of "Swan Lake", the last part of the anime, right here in
the ballpark!!! Ken was thinking on his feet!!
(Though he probably only knew about the anime which was being played
in the Kaleido Star dimension, and didn't know that Kaleido Star
_was_, in fact, an anime -- would have to ask Sora about what types of
anime exist in her world when this was all over...)
Michael: "So I guess all that is left is to put the last half of the
final episode on the screen, and when Mia calls for the 'Angel's
Flight', it's time..."
They all looked at me funny when I said that, but they all agreed that
to be their cue...
So I popped in the last DVD of the series that they came from into the
audio-visual system of the ballpark, and Sora and Yuri awaited their
cue...
=======
"Scene 32... 'The Angel's Flight'..."
"We have to believe in Sora's angel..."
Even though it was from the anime, truer words were never spoken.
I looked up to the special apparatus they had built into the roof of a
large circus tent over the stadium -- it was a wonder what the crew
could do in such a short time when everything depended on it.
They had done perfectly -- of course, Ken saw to every meticulous
detail, even the very meticulous washing and sanitizing of the entire
mechanism before Sora came into contact with it.
Although she would be wearing gloves and ballet slippers, even that
was under the precaution of anything which would come into contact
with the mechanism would be alloyed -- Sora was given two sets -- one
to work out with, the second to perform in.
And so, it was time... The lights were put up in the early morning, as
a sunny day was about to dawn on chaotic San Francisco.
And Sora began to bounce on the trampoline...
It was left to me to deliver the final line as she was about to vault
skyward...
Michael: "Go forth, Fool, and believe in what awaits you is
applause!!!"
And with that, the final leap of faith...
The crowd murmured, and appeared to leap into applause (but not the
respectful kind, more the one you would hear at a strip joint!!) when
the outer covering of her costume came off to reveal Sora in her
angelic glory... (I guess you could say in many more ways than one,
but, for this one time, her body was the least of my concerns...)
As she effortlessly flowed from trapeze to trapeze, and Yuri flew with
her to act as support, the crowd was plotting it's next move...
And then, Ken yelled: "LOOK!!"
He had noticed how bright the hues of red were on the assembled
infected while he had been helping with the set-up, and he noticed
that, move by move, flight by flight, smile by glorious smile... the
redness, the anger, the hate, the sickness...
All -- going -- away...
I began to smile broadly. BULLS-EYE!!
The mayor gasped next to me... "But HOW? The sickness would not be
able to be cured for years without technology far beyond our current
capabilities. How is this -- performance!! -- doing it???"
I then stopped Ken, and decided to explain, at least in a way which
wouldn't freak out the mayor...
Michael: "This performance troupe is on a level with the Cirque du
Soleil troupe you had in town over the holiday season. But they have
something even more special... The ability to change hearts..."
As I explained, all eyes were on the woman flying through the air, as
if an angel herself, opening the hearts of all, and soothing the anger
so the body could eliminate the foreign contaminants.
Michael: "You see, when Sora is flying through the air like that,
every person in this audience is taking in the performance, and
remembering, perhaps for the first time in ages, what gave them
_their_ 'Angel Heart'."
Mayor: "I don't understand..."
Michael: "Everyone, even a person like myself, has been given a gift,
even if we never realize it, which is the 'Angel Heart' that helps us
become the person that we want to be..."
"Whether it be the thanks for a story book that we knew wasn't our
best, but the thought counted..."
"Whether it be telling one's mother bad jokes, just to see her smile..."
"Whether it was the loving memory of one's departed mother finding joy
in the simple play of a young girl who is her daughter..."
"Whether it is one's first public performance -- that even though the
performance was not up to the performer's expectations, someone in the
crowd saw the potential for greatness, and that meant so much to her."
"Or whether it's simply remembering the family that helped bring you
there, that you could not be with as you went to seek your dreams --
even if you were choking them out on the playground..."
(I chuckled -- for two reasons... May's remembrance, and that I was
literally pulling the entire mess from the anime...)
Michael: "So you see -- this maneuver gives these people hope. Since
they still have reason, that hope will allow them to fight the
sickness. And thank God it's working...
Then, I stopped. There was only one complication -- how the body
would eliminate the neutralized contaminants.
Michael: "You'd better bring in some medical teams and a lot of
hydration..."
The mayor, at this point, was really puzzled: "Why???"
========
The performance was a smash success. Sora had done it. Without so
much as a medical superpower, the power of hope -- the power of love
which touched all the infected -- defeated the hate.
Of course, the body still had to eliminate the sickness, and that
meant a whole truckload of diarrhea... So Port-a-Potties had to be
brought in, as well as medical teams to deal with the now physically
sick, to ensure that they didn't become dehydrated and vulnerable, and
to make sure that the sickness didn't repopulate.
Thankfully, even though the sickness was far too advanced, they still
found the way, through love and support, to get it done. As long as
the infected had reason, Sora gave them the love and support they
needed to start the ball rolling.
After a thorough once-over to make sure we hadn't been infected, and a
massive disinfecting of most of the buildings in San Francisco, just
to be sure...
After the clean-up was already well in progress:
It was time for a very sad moment -- to, once again, say goodbye.
The three of them came to Fisherman's Wharf, where I had set up the
rendezvous for them to go back.
Sora and Ken were now inseparable, arm in arm. _Something_ had
happened...
Michael: "Is this what I hope it is? It sucks to say goodbye, but it
would hurt less if this is what I think it is."
Yuri (grinning): "What do you want it to be?"
Michael: "Well, I don't know if I should say it..."
Ken: "Well, you don't have to, because I did the night she did the
maneuver..."
I couldn't resist throwing my arm around Ken...
Sora: "It's not like I didn't already know, guys..."
Michael: "Maybe not, but you don't know how much it means to both Ken
and myself for you two to finally fall in love... But why did it take
this time? It's not like Ken didn't see you do the Angel's Maneuver
over 200 times!!!"
Sora: "Yeah, but this time was his idea and execution that directly
helped pull this off. Without him, without his love... None of this
happens. And I was able to open their 'Angel Hearts', because of
him."
"And for that, my dear friend (and I speak both to my new boyfriend
and to you, Michael), I will forever be thankful."
"Ken... Yuri... May I talk to Michael alone for a moment?"
Both men nodded.
Sora then took me aside and embraced me warmly.
She then whispered: "Thank you once again, Michael. Thank you for
giving me the chance to open a light in your heart. I know things are
difficult for you, but I want you to remember one thing that this has
shown us all, and that we will take back to make an even better
Kaleido Stage:"
I accepted some small gifts from Sora as she then took my head in both
hands, kissed me, and left me with this parting thought:
"With love, Michael, _all things are possible_..."
have... So, even though I haven't done the Medium one yet (and that
might take consulting a few tomes), I decided to get the Hard
Challenge out of the way and throw my mercy on the court. Some
knowledge of the end of the "Kaleido Star: New Wings" season will
probably be required to understand my approach.
And what is it with these "spores that will kill the world as we know
it" challenges? That's about the third or fourth year in the seven
years of the challenges that this has been thrown up, usually as the
Hard Challenge.
So, with that, *GULP!!*:
------
New Year's Challenge 2008
Hard Challenge: Team "Wing and a Prayer": Michael Falkner (writer)
and Sora Naegino, Ken Robbins, and Yuri Killian from "Kaleido Star"
I was looking forward to this one the most.
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Sora, and I was so happy
to be able to do this again to see her.
Of course, her friends were a lot of fun too, so I decided to summon
them in Los Angeles this year to up the "fun quotient", because I was
getting a real bad feeling about what we were going to have to do.
I truly believed that this was going to be something so dire, it could
only be done "on a wing and a prayer".
So I said goodbye to my friend in Riverside, and proceeded on the
Metrolink to Los Angeles, where I walked over to the Amtrak claim
check and picked up the good ol' Zap-I-Tron 3000, disguised as a
regular piece of luggage.
Ah, the wonders of interdimensional travel...
So, I found a quiet spot in the New Year's morning, and set off to
summon my friends.
Presetting the device to "Notify" gave them the opportunity to, in
some manner I never quite understood, find out they were coming, so,
when I hit The Big Red Button, out popped three people who were packed
and ready to have some fun.
Of course, I couldn't wait:
Michael: "Sorry, Ken, one thing to do first..."
Sora saw me coming and returned my glomp.
Sora: "Michael!! It's so good to see you!! I can't wait for us to
have so much fun! Fun!! FUN!!!"
Michael: "It is my pleasure to see you again, Sora."
Then Ken and Yuri caught up.
Yuri: "I see it didn't take you two too long to get re-acquainted."
I immediately came over and shook Yuri's hand.
Michael: "Sorry, but it's been a tough year. Seeing Sora makes it a
little better, though."
Sora looked at me with _that look_. Awwwwwwwwwww...
Going over to Ken...
Michael: "And how goes it at Kaleido Stage?"
Ken: "Very well, thank you. We just got done with a very tough
production and, with a lot of us seeing you, or so it seemed, Kalos
granted us a nice vacation for winter maintenance."
Sora: "So thank you, Michael... All of Kaleido Stage is grateful for
the break!"
Michael: "It is my pleasure."
Yuri: "And Kaleido Stage is doing better than ever. Our crowds are
at record levels, not only for Sora, but it appears they've taken a
liking to Rosetta as well..."
Michael: "I wonder why..."
Of course, I knew it was that the Fool had taken Rosetta under his
wing too, but couldn't really just up and tell Yuri that.
Sora: "So what's our challenge??"
Michael: "I'm not sure. But I don't have a good feeling at all about
this one..."
Just then, my cell phone rang. Didn't usually carry one, but my
friend in the Bay Area got me one for Christmas for some odd reason.
He seemed sick of having me route all my calls from the Elections
Department through him, but he was too nice (and too even-keeled) to
tell me outright.
Which is why his tone surprised me... And everyone saw the look on my
face...
Sora: "Oh my..."
Michael: "Yuri, we need to rent a car. You drive. We have to get
back to San Francisco, NOW!!"
Ken: "What's wrong?"
Ken would turn white as a ghost as I explained it to him.
Sora and Yuri weren't too pleased either.
---------
It's almost as if we couldn't afford to stay the night at a hotel in
San Jose, though not as a financial matter but due to the urgency of
the situation. But, I figured we needed to get the news reports to
assess the situation and then rest up.
The first thing we literally heard on the news was the mayor of San
Francisco pleading that anyone who would have the resources or the
ability to actually find a solution to this would have the unlimited
resources of anything he could have available to him or her.
That was a relief. We knew immediately that, if we felt we could find
a solution, we'd have the full cooperation of, basically, anyone in
San Francisco.
Of course, with an absolute "Shelter in Place" in effect, we weren't
sure exactly who we were going to get involved with, but we knew that
we would have cooperation.
So, it was time to break out the computer and see what we were up
against.
--------
Ken was now white as a sheet as he watched the television, seeing a
bunch of red entities wreak havoc all over San Francisco.
Yuri: "The 'Hate Plague'??? Right out of that Transformers movie??"
Michael: "Yep."
Ken: "I saw that movie. There's no cure to that, is there?"
Sora: "I'm reading from Michael's computer that they say they can find
a cure for it, but without containing those infected, it's
impossible."
Yuri: "And even if it is possible, it needs skills far beyond normal
doctors to find it with any degree of speed. They'll destroy San
Francisco and begin to infect the entire world by spreading out from
there."
Ken: "So how did this happen?"
Michael: "A meteor strike. Some spores came down with the meteor and
began infecting about 12 hours ago. Of course, the panic is evident.
However, it doesn't sound like there's quite enough density to spread
it through the air, so, as long as we don't get attacked by one of
them..."
Ken: "And it sounds like they actually wait for the 'right
opportunity'..."
And then Ken stopped...
Sora (with concern): "What's wrong, Ken?"
Ken: "I think I just came up with an idea..."
=======
After taking Sora and Yuri into the other room of the hotel suite and
having a few words with them, I could hear Sora give a joyful "THAT'S
GREAT!! THANK YOU KEN!!!!" and throwing her arms around him.
Yuri came out and apprised me of Ken's plan...
Yuri: "Have you ever heard of 'The Angel's Maneuver'?"
I can't say that, at that moment, I didn't think of Sora in that leggy
Angel's Maneuver outfit...
Michael: "Heck yes, I've heard of it..."
That puzzled Yuri a bit, knowing he wasn't in "his dimension", but
continued anyway...
Yuri: "Sora always told me that the maneuver opens up the 'Angel
Hearts' of the audience. Ken has surmised that, since your
information tells us that the spores do not compromise neither the
communication nor the reasoning of the infected, nor that the infected
blindly rage..."
Michael: "He was talking about that they also wait for the 'right
opportunity', as well..."
Yuri: "So if we advertise Sora doing the Angel's Maneuver at the
ballpark for all the sick... 'A Performance for Hope'... Maybe we can
catch them off guard and give them something to look forward to..."
Sora: "And then I can open their 'Angel Hearts' to quiet and soothe
all the rage that is within them, just like we did at Kaleido Stage."
Yuri: "I still remember the opening night, when Sora even reduced
Alain to tears -- it even got Alain to get off the bottle and turn his
life around!"
Michael: "That's a wondrous idea! But the problem is where..."
Then I stopped...
Yuri: "What is it, Michael?"
Michael: "Cirque du Soleil is still in the Bay Area... They might be
able to help. First, we have to call the mayor..."
Ken: "I wrote the phone number of the emergency center they're using
here... They gave it on the news."
Michael: "Got it. Yuri, I need you to make the call. They've seen
me as a bit crazy up there and may think I'm infected if I call up
this idea. Ask for the number of the Managing Director of 'Kooza',
the current Cirque du Soleil production, and for use of the ballpark..."
Yuri: "You got it, Michael. And if this works, we owe you one, Ken..."
Michael: "I think Sora will take care of all that..."
Sora: "You bet I will! I CAN'T WAIT!!"
"This is going to be the best performance ever..."
==========
It took Yuri a little convincing over the next hour, but it was
quickly done. Yuri had Ken draw up a quick schematic of the Angel's
Maneuver trapeze setup and fax it over to the technicians at Cirque du
Soleil -- with one special request:
Ken: "Since your computer said that the spores can be shielded
through composite metals, we needed to have the apparatus made of such
metals. Also, we need radiation-style suits for all of us, in the
event the infected don't take..."
Yuri: "It's the only plan we've really got. I asked the mayor to
have all infected parties quarantined at the ballpark, and you said
you actually had performances by Sora to show there??"
Michael: "Don't ask me how, but I do... So we're using that as
advertisement to get the people to hold off on attacking anyone for as
long as it takes for the technicians to build the maneuver's apparatus
and get it secured."
Yuri: "Check. I guess it's up to me and Sora to quickly stretch and
prepare for our Angel's Maneuver."
Ken then hugged Sora as she and Yuri went off to an acrobatics school
in the Haight to practice and train, as we repositioned ourselves in a
hotel room out near Ocean Beach.
==========
As the hours went on, though, even Ken had a bit of self-doubt.
Ken: "But what if this doesn't work??"
Michael: "Then we're going to have to high-tail it out of there and
hope we didn't get infected. At the best, I'll have to leave San
Francisco behind for good, as the city will probably be effectively
destroyed before they can find a cure."
"At the worst..."
Ken then hugged me. I couldn't understand why, but then he told me...
Ken: "I really hope this works."
Michael: "It's your idea, Ken..."
Ken: "You don't understand... I do l... lo...."
Michael: "I'll say it for you. You love her. You always have. It
has nothing to do with her performances or her outfits or her body or
anything else but _her_."
Ken's eyes told the whole story. He knew I was right -- and he didn't
want to lose her.
Michael: "Ken, it's time to go. You need to check on the situation
and tell us when they're ready for Sora and Yuri."
Ken nodded and said nothing more. He got on the transit bus and got
to the ballpark.
He was so scared that he would lose Sora, the woman he loved from the
day she stepped on Kaleido Stage, but could never ever tell her for
some maddening reason.
He didn't want to lose her to this looming madness that the meteor
brought down, but he knew that we had no choice but to go through with
this. There was really no other way. We had no healing superpowers...
... except for the power of the Angel's Maneuver to open up the "Angel
Hearts" of the sick and of the infected -- and hope for the best.
I was right all along -- this truly _was_ on a wing and a prayer.
========
"Michael, it's time. Get Sora and Yuri and let's do this... I don't
know how much longer we can hold them down."
That was Ken on the phone the next morning. The situation at the
ballpark was getting more and more tense, as the news reports now
showed thousands of infected holed up at the ballpark, just waiting
for an opportunity to literally tear the world apart. Ken and the
entire stage crew were also outfitted with radiation-style suits with
the necessary alloys, and we were given the same as we showed up.
Basically, we were told that, if this doesn't work, to get out and not
worry about looking back...
We knew the stakes. Sora nodded with that determination which was
hers alone.
It was time to show the "real world" the "Angel's Maneuver".
========
The crowd was just about ready to burst. They'd been held at the park
for a couple of days -- fed as they needed to be to keep them from
rioting -- the whole point was to settle them down and keep them quiet
until Sora could do the Angel's Maneuver...
And then, just hope for the best.
But the murmuring was about to reach a fever pitch, almost literally,
as fans were pumping and circulating the air to keep the spores from
getting too concentrated to be passed through the air.
Sora: "Ken, you thought of everything!!"
Ken: "Yeah. So are you ready??"
Yuri: "We sure are. They won't recognize that I'm not Leon..."
Michael: "What did you do??"
Ken: "Well, I told them we were going to premiere the Angel's
Maneuver right here."
To which I thought to myself that they were effectively going to stage
that part of "Swan Lake", the last part of the anime, right here in
the ballpark!!! Ken was thinking on his feet!!
(Though he probably only knew about the anime which was being played
in the Kaleido Star dimension, and didn't know that Kaleido Star
_was_, in fact, an anime -- would have to ask Sora about what types of
anime exist in her world when this was all over...)
Michael: "So I guess all that is left is to put the last half of the
final episode on the screen, and when Mia calls for the 'Angel's
Flight', it's time..."
They all looked at me funny when I said that, but they all agreed that
to be their cue...
So I popped in the last DVD of the series that they came from into the
audio-visual system of the ballpark, and Sora and Yuri awaited their
cue...
=======
"Scene 32... 'The Angel's Flight'..."
"We have to believe in Sora's angel..."
Even though it was from the anime, truer words were never spoken.
I looked up to the special apparatus they had built into the roof of a
large circus tent over the stadium -- it was a wonder what the crew
could do in such a short time when everything depended on it.
They had done perfectly -- of course, Ken saw to every meticulous
detail, even the very meticulous washing and sanitizing of the entire
mechanism before Sora came into contact with it.
Although she would be wearing gloves and ballet slippers, even that
was under the precaution of anything which would come into contact
with the mechanism would be alloyed -- Sora was given two sets -- one
to work out with, the second to perform in.
And so, it was time... The lights were put up in the early morning, as
a sunny day was about to dawn on chaotic San Francisco.
And Sora began to bounce on the trampoline...
It was left to me to deliver the final line as she was about to vault
skyward...
Michael: "Go forth, Fool, and believe in what awaits you is
applause!!!"
And with that, the final leap of faith...
The crowd murmured, and appeared to leap into applause (but not the
respectful kind, more the one you would hear at a strip joint!!) when
the outer covering of her costume came off to reveal Sora in her
angelic glory... (I guess you could say in many more ways than one,
but, for this one time, her body was the least of my concerns...)
As she effortlessly flowed from trapeze to trapeze, and Yuri flew with
her to act as support, the crowd was plotting it's next move...
And then, Ken yelled: "LOOK!!"
He had noticed how bright the hues of red were on the assembled
infected while he had been helping with the set-up, and he noticed
that, move by move, flight by flight, smile by glorious smile... the
redness, the anger, the hate, the sickness...
All -- going -- away...
I began to smile broadly. BULLS-EYE!!
The mayor gasped next to me... "But HOW? The sickness would not be
able to be cured for years without technology far beyond our current
capabilities. How is this -- performance!! -- doing it???"
I then stopped Ken, and decided to explain, at least in a way which
wouldn't freak out the mayor...
Michael: "This performance troupe is on a level with the Cirque du
Soleil troupe you had in town over the holiday season. But they have
something even more special... The ability to change hearts..."
As I explained, all eyes were on the woman flying through the air, as
if an angel herself, opening the hearts of all, and soothing the anger
so the body could eliminate the foreign contaminants.
Michael: "You see, when Sora is flying through the air like that,
every person in this audience is taking in the performance, and
remembering, perhaps for the first time in ages, what gave them
_their_ 'Angel Heart'."
Mayor: "I don't understand..."
Michael: "Everyone, even a person like myself, has been given a gift,
even if we never realize it, which is the 'Angel Heart' that helps us
become the person that we want to be..."
"Whether it be the thanks for a story book that we knew wasn't our
best, but the thought counted..."
"Whether it be telling one's mother bad jokes, just to see her smile..."
"Whether it was the loving memory of one's departed mother finding joy
in the simple play of a young girl who is her daughter..."
"Whether it is one's first public performance -- that even though the
performance was not up to the performer's expectations, someone in the
crowd saw the potential for greatness, and that meant so much to her."
"Or whether it's simply remembering the family that helped bring you
there, that you could not be with as you went to seek your dreams --
even if you were choking them out on the playground..."
(I chuckled -- for two reasons... May's remembrance, and that I was
literally pulling the entire mess from the anime...)
Michael: "So you see -- this maneuver gives these people hope. Since
they still have reason, that hope will allow them to fight the
sickness. And thank God it's working...
Then, I stopped. There was only one complication -- how the body
would eliminate the neutralized contaminants.
Michael: "You'd better bring in some medical teams and a lot of
hydration..."
The mayor, at this point, was really puzzled: "Why???"
========
The performance was a smash success. Sora had done it. Without so
much as a medical superpower, the power of hope -- the power of love
which touched all the infected -- defeated the hate.
Of course, the body still had to eliminate the sickness, and that
meant a whole truckload of diarrhea... So Port-a-Potties had to be
brought in, as well as medical teams to deal with the now physically
sick, to ensure that they didn't become dehydrated and vulnerable, and
to make sure that the sickness didn't repopulate.
Thankfully, even though the sickness was far too advanced, they still
found the way, through love and support, to get it done. As long as
the infected had reason, Sora gave them the love and support they
needed to start the ball rolling.
After a thorough once-over to make sure we hadn't been infected, and a
massive disinfecting of most of the buildings in San Francisco, just
to be sure...
After the clean-up was already well in progress:
It was time for a very sad moment -- to, once again, say goodbye.
The three of them came to Fisherman's Wharf, where I had set up the
rendezvous for them to go back.
Sora and Ken were now inseparable, arm in arm. _Something_ had
happened...
Michael: "Is this what I hope it is? It sucks to say goodbye, but it
would hurt less if this is what I think it is."
Yuri (grinning): "What do you want it to be?"
Michael: "Well, I don't know if I should say it..."
Ken: "Well, you don't have to, because I did the night she did the
maneuver..."
I couldn't resist throwing my arm around Ken...
Sora: "It's not like I didn't already know, guys..."
Michael: "Maybe not, but you don't know how much it means to both Ken
and myself for you two to finally fall in love... But why did it take
this time? It's not like Ken didn't see you do the Angel's Maneuver
over 200 times!!!"
Sora: "Yeah, but this time was his idea and execution that directly
helped pull this off. Without him, without his love... None of this
happens. And I was able to open their 'Angel Hearts', because of
him."
"And for that, my dear friend (and I speak both to my new boyfriend
and to you, Michael), I will forever be thankful."
"Ken... Yuri... May I talk to Michael alone for a moment?"
Both men nodded.
Sora then took me aside and embraced me warmly.
She then whispered: "Thank you once again, Michael. Thank you for
giving me the chance to open a light in your heart. I know things are
difficult for you, but I want you to remember one thing that this has
shown us all, and that we will take back to make an even better
Kaleido Stage:"
I accepted some small gifts from Sora as she then took my head in both
hands, kissed me, and left me with this parting thought:
"With love, Michael, _all things are possible_..."