Audition Solo

Audition Solo is the second episode of the first season of Toby and Rochelle: 9th Grade Ninja Twins. It first aired on September 4, 2021.

Synopsis
Karen Boonchuy thinks she's a shoe-in for the Glee Club solo, until Rochelle Brooks accidentally auditions and lands the part.

Plot
Following the event of the first episode, the Glee Club, consisting of Rochelle, Karen, Rusty, Petunia and Brandon, is practicing vocal warmups. As they practice, their teacher, Mr. Budden, arrives and tells his students that they need to practice a number for an upcoming district championship, where if they should succeed, they move onto regionals, and states that he's currently holding auditions for the solo. As Mr. Budden excuses himself to deal with a brain freeze after drinking his Flippee too fast, Karen expresses her excitement to audition for the solo, as she has taken on numerous exercises to get her voice right and wants to impress her aunts, Hap and Hoda, who are flying in from the Canary Islands to see her sing. She sings a bit of the solo, but when she asks if she got the tone right or she comes down worrying about Stage fright, Rochelle provides her input by singing the same verse and tells her she is sometimes gets a little stage fright once since she was 7 when she had that same problem. 7-year-old Rochelle was competing in the Little Miss Cheese Curds musical pageant, and had an erratic heartbeat. She managed to slow her heartbeat with a breathing technique called 4-7-8 (breathe in for four seconds, hold it for seven seconds, and breathe out for eight seconds). Her vocals cause Rusty and Petunia to be driven to tears at how graceful she sounded, and Mr. Budden, having overheard her, declares to Rochelle that she'll be given the solo number. Rochelle tries to tells Mr. Budden that auditioning for the solo wasn't his intention and suggests to listen to Karen, but Mr. Budden has already made his mind. Rochelle apologizes to Karen for stealing her goal, and Karen takes it lightly.

At the Boonchuy apartment, Karen is revealed to be incredibly bitter at having lost her chance to play the solo, saying she went through countless amounts of training to perfect her voice. As she bakes her sadness away, she theorizes that if Rochelle were to lose her voice, then she could step in and take over the role.

The next day, Karen spends his whole day at school trying to get Rochelle to lose her voice, such having Rochelle sing the opening greeting to the news program, singing all the lyrics to an incredibly long song, and using a floor buffer to force Rochelle to talk about her day at the top of his lungs. At the Glee Club, Rochelle enters with a chalkboard and tells her fellow club members that she can't do the solo because she lost her voice. When Mr. Budden asks what to do now, Karen says that he can step in, and Rochelle gives the thumbs up. With no other choice, Mr. Budden gives Karen the solo, much to her glee.

On the theater stage, as the home ec club (consisting of Lincoln, Zach and Cinnamon) takes measurements of the singers so they can make their costumes, Mr. Budden tells his students that it's time to practice. The song starts off with Rusty and Brandon singing the opening, and Karen, being hoisted by a rope being held by Petunia, attempts to sing her part, but Petunia accidentally flings her onto the walls. After being let down, attempts to sing her part, but it becomes apparent that she can't do it, as she either forgets her lines, sings the wrong tempo, or sings the wrong key. As Mr. Budden decides to call it a day, Karen realizes that her inability to sing the solo, as well as her selfishness of taking Rochelle out, cost the club their chances of winning the championship. Although shocked at first, Rochelle understand what Karen means and decides to forgive her. After doing so, Rochelle reveals that she was faked it by losing her voice the whole time and turns out she says Karen accidentally loses Rachel's voice by not doing the solo.

Rachel, who is losing her voice for real, now very upset after overheard, runs out of the theater stage and cries because she loses her voice, causing Karen's jealousy of not getting the solo.

The Samurai hears the crying Rachel and sees it as a perfect opportunity to create a Stank-mutant monster, the first one we see of the season. He stanks Rachel, who becomes a purple giant bird-like creature and called herself as "Vocalist Switcher". Vocalist Switcher takes this opportunity in her monster form to crash into the bandroom and revenge on Karen who loses her own voice by not doing the solo. Rochelle attempts to fight Vocalist Switcher, the Red ninja comes in and partially saves the day by protecting the girls and the glee club on theater stage. However, Vocalist Switcher escapes the premises, still a monster.

Toby searches for Vocalist Switcher for a while before finally consulting the NinjaNomicon for an answer to Vocalist Switcher's predicament, all the while trying to entertain Rochelle and Karen's constant pestering about "getting in the Bird Cage."

Once the Nomicon falls by her while she reads, it shows her how to destank monsters (destroy what they hold most dear), Rochelle tells Mr. Budden that she got her voice back. At the same time, the home ec class arrives with their costumes, which are army themed.

Toby turned into the ninja and fought Vocalist Switcher again, finally taking what Vocalist Switcher held most dear (in this case the song note necklace) and cutting it in half with his Ninja Sword. This turns Rachel back into a human again.

At night, the championship is being held. As the entire Brooks and Boonchuy families sit down, Karen arrives with Rachel and tells Mr. Budden that she got her voice back. At the same time and just before they start singing, Rochelle reveals that her voice isn't entirely back, and says that she needs a backup singer for help. Realizing she's referring to her, Karen eagerly accepts the role. At that moment, the show starts and after Rusty and Brandon sing their part, Rochelle and Karen, being hoisted by ropes, sing as a duet, much to everyone's entertainment. However, their performance is cut short after they collapse to the ground, as Petunia was controlling the ropes (which she claims isn't her mistake).

Songs Featured

 * Herky-Jerky World

Major characters

 * Heather Arney as Rochelle Brooks
 * Kimberly Brooks as Karen Boonchuy
 * Lea Michele as Rachel Michele / Vocalist Switcher
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Robin Kang
 * Sombra (debut)

Supporting characters

 * Ben Schwartz as Toby Brooks / Red Ninja
 * William Salyers as Howard Cunningham
 * Sam Marin as Rusty Gurdle (debut)
 * Andrew Caldwell as Lincoln Weinerman (debut; unspoken)
 * J.G. Quintel as Zach Hunnicutt (debut; unspoken)
 * Brenda Song as Cinnamon McBride (debut; unspoken)
 * April Winchell as Mrs. Bolhofner (debut)
 * Cree Summer as Petunia Summer (debut)
 * Trevor Devall as Mr. Budden (debut)
 * Chris Colfer as Brandon (debut)

Trivia

 * Coming up.

Quotes
Main article: Audition Solo/Transcript