Chapter #5Screw the Timeline! We've Got a Game to Play! by: JackInTheirBox   (This is your On the Mark disclaimer once again! I really hoped you've seen to the end of the adventures for the Phantom Thieves, because we'll taking them fresh off a visit to their sixth palace! You better record this for later if you're not far yet, okay?)
"...Shujin Academy! That's right! From a different time and a different place, you'll never see 'em coming... It's the Phantom Thieves!"
The poofing returned many times over as Teddie raised up his arms like a stage magician, summoning four new participants to the stand. To the Investigation Team, they were strangers - a boy with moppy black hair and a catlike gaze, another boy with spiky blonde hair and scraped knuckles, a girl with long blonde ponytails and a shapely figure, and another girl with shorter brown hair and sharp red eyes. All of them were clad in their thieving gear (much to the bewilderment of the other contestants - only Yu seemed nonplussed to see a girl clad entirely in red spandex standing several feet away from them.)
Akira, Ryuji, Ann and Makoto were, understandably, very confused as to what was going on.
"Woah, what the-?" Ryuji spun his head around, glancing around the stage and its pedestals. "What the hell!? Am I on a game show!?"
"What's going on?" Ann asked, just as curious as to her whereabouts.
"We'd just entered the Metaverse..." Makoto said, trying to stay composed and recollect her thoughts to explain this sudden change in scenery. "Is this still the casino...?"
"Why, for you, Mako-chan, I'd make a palace just for you!" Teddie said, giving a twirl on one foot for good measure. The baffled teenager just joined her companions in staring at the garishly-dressed mascot.
Akira stared at Teddie. "First of all, we're wearing our outfits, so this must be the Metaverse. Second of all, he knew your name, Queen. And third..." He turned back to his friends. He turned back to Teddie. And finally, back to his friends. "That's a bear."
"WELL, NO SHIT!" Ryuji exclaimed, still too freaked out by all that had transpired. "Hey, bear! What gives!? Is this a dream!?"
"Please, please, no cursing for our audience!" Teddie gestured to the stands, where a whole new group of people had suddenly appeared next to the Investigation Team. There was, of course, a slight amount of panic.
"What happened!?" Morgana exclaimed, his feline instincts on overload.
"I- I don't know where we are!" Futaba yelled.
"What is this place...?" Haru muttered, bewildered and confused.
"I- I can't explain this..." Akechi said, casting a paranoid glance around his new environment.
Only Yusuke seemed unphazed. "The Metaverse finds new ways to astound me every time we visit."
Rise flinched upon seeing the costumed form of Akechi (and not the talking cat thing - after so many hours with Teddie, the Investigation Team were barely more than just curious about that thing.) "AH! A BIRDMAN!"
"I'm not-" Akechi began.
"DUDE, YOU GOTTA TELL ME YOU MADE THAT FOR YOU!" Kanji half-asked and half-demanded in a shout.
"P-Please, allow me to explain..." Naoto said, doing her best to intervene. The detective set about the difficult task to explaining how they were now participating in a game show created by their friend who was a Shadow who took the form of a cartoon bear because they were inside a television right now.
Meanwhile, Ryuji looked ready to throw down against the aforementioned bear when he locked eyes with the other 'contestants.' "Hey, what's the deal? Did this thing kidnap you too?"
"Well, not exactly..." Chie muttered, before casting a vicious glare at Teddie. "Hey, what's the deal? Did you kidnap them?"
"Deja vu," Akira muttered. He was still trying to figure out exactly what was transpiring around them, but he would never be too busy to offer a cheeky comment or two.
"My, what a ruckus!" Teddie frowned. "You know, the folks at home probably just want us to get to the show already! We're spending way too long on all this dialogue, you know!" The bear growled under his breath. "I shouldn't have invited so many guests, they're all just talking over one another..."
Ann was already reaching for her whip. "You better tell us what's going on or else!"
Makoto cracked her knuckles to punctuate the demand.
"I-It's just a fun little game show, I bear it! I mean, I swear it! B-Besides..." Teddie fumbled for a reason to stay the wrath of his mystery guests. He hadn't factored in that they might not be immediately happy to play a game show if he plucked them from across time and space without warning.
Something to fix for the next episode...
"I-If you win, you'll get a treasure!"
The Phantom Thieves, both those on the stage and those in the audience, stopped in their tracks at the mention of their most sacred word. Morgana leapt over to Teddie in a single bound, eyes gleaming. "Wait, you mean you have a treasure? This is a palace and you've got the treasure?"
Teddie wiped away the beads of sweat on his rotund brow. "Uuuuh, yes! Of course! I'm a clever bear, aren't I?"
"Then hand it over already!" Morgana demanded.
"H-Hey, calm down! You just gotta play one game of..." Teddie pirouetted once again.
"Midnight Macro Miracle Mayhem!"
(Patent pending.)
"Where is that floating title coming from...?" Yu muttered aloud.
"So, in other words..." Akira pushed up the mask against the bridge of his nose. "Play a game with you and we get a treasure."
"Well, sure!" Teddie exclaimed. "But, uh, we'll need teams of boys versus girls for this. That's what the folks at home would want, after all. They can be so picky, y'know!"
"Who does he keep referring to!?" Rise exclaimed from the audience, starting to lose her patience with whatever answer was eluding her.
"Sorry, you were all talking about the part where he's a Shadow?" Yosuke said quietly, cradling an increasingly confused Futaba and Haru in his arms.
"R-Right," Rise mumbled. "Sorry."
Naoto continued her explanation as Teddie addressed the contestants. "So, that's Senpai- I mean, Yu- Yosuke, Akira, and Ryuji on Team One!"
"How'd you get our names!?" Ryuji said, his bat-swinging arm itchy all of a sudden.
"Ah-ah-aaaah! A magician never tells!" Teddie winked.
Ryuji leaned over to Akira. "We can beat him up after this, right?"
"No," Akira said. He then gave the idea more thought. "...Maybe."
"And as for Team Two, we have Yuki-chan, Chie-chan, Ann-chan, and Mako-chan!"
Yukiko waved to the other girls, welcoming the 'Phantom Thieves' to the impromptu team. Chie brushed her head, embarrassed on Teddie's behalf. "Uuuuh, real sorry about all this. Teddie's... eccentric. I think we just gotta play a game or something, he'll be happy, you can get your treasure, and we can forget this ever happened."
"Riiiight," Ann muttered, casting a fiery gaze at the mascot. "Well, we've done worst things to get treasures..." She grimaced, remembering the events that led up to Madarame's palace.
Yukiko snickered under her breath. "I like your cosplays."
"Oh. Wh-why, thank you..." Makoto said. The two teenagers fumbled with their thieving uniforms, suddenly more self-conscious than usual.
From the stands, a blue-haired boy rose to his feet. "You! The girl with black hair! I must draw you!"
Yukiko cast an oblivious look at the enraptured Yusuke before Haru gently tugged him back down. Teddie, meanwhile, seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Aaaaargh, can't I get a word in? I just want to start the first round already!"
"Yeah, but these guys have got a lot of questions, Teddie," Yosuke said, gesturing to the Phantom Thieves. "You gotta fill them in, right?"
"They'll be time for that later!" Teddie whined.
"The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish," Yu said with a sage-like voice.
Akira nodded in agreement. "Fine. Let's just play already."
"Fiiiinally! Now then..." Teddie cleared his throat. "Time for the first round of the 2012 Edition of Teddie's Midnight Macro Miracle Mayhem!"
Haru raised her hand from the crowd. "Don't you mean 2017?"
Before the rest of the Investigation Team in the audience could do some investigation into that strange comment, the bear leapt in the air with a cheer. "IT'S TIME FOR ROUND ONE!"   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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