Ishekat's Castle

[Sam]

Serine City was not Serine... in fact, one could say it was quite the opposite! It was actually a rather crazy place! A place that was full of casinos, theaters, clubs and all sorts of entertainment. It was a city that never slept! A city where one's most carnal desires could be achieved. Or so that's what they said! None of that was really important for Charley. No, he didn't care for such trivial things.

He was in pursuit of other subjects. Ishakat's Castle! A game show televised to the people of the island. It was recorded using the latest Den Den Mushi technology and then displayed live across the island's various monitors for the viewing pleasure of the public and public entertainment was something that drew in good old Charley!

The man was interested in the blunder! So he would join this showing... he was most certainly guaranteed a spot in the show. As a celebrity and all. There was a prize to be had for winning the show. A prize that Charley cared not for... his satisfaction played in participation. That was the true prize!

However, gaining the prize wasn't half bad either, it was an added bonus to it all. What the prize was? He was unsure but he heard it was a special musical piece. Something related to it having some sort of mystical powers. All a boatload of baloney if you asked Charley not that it mattered to him anyway. If he won it he would probably case it in his mansion and have it as an object of admiration something to brag about as you would do.

"Sonja! Jack! Follow me champs! We have a place to go to! I do believe it this way."

The man said to his crew, the makeup/special effects woman and his cameraman who would record much of what he did. Mostly when it came to fighting criminals! But this time around they would record him in the game show. Sure it would be recorded by the local crew but he wanted something more personal? Something of a souvenir to remind himself of this grandiose event. The group of three made their way across the lit-up mean streets of Serine City finally arriving at a theater in the shape of a castle.

Ishekat's Castle

Read a big glowing sign on the front as two guardsmen in knightly outfits guarded it. They looked down at Charley and his crew with a menacing glare. Not that Charley minded or rather cared. To him, this was all fun and games.

"State your business!"

One of the guards grunted. Charley reached into his coat pulling out a piece of paper stamped with a goofy smile. The guards looked it overseeing he was one of the participants and allowed him in leading him into his personal room. One with a yellow star marked with the number three on it. Charley walked inside with his crewmates and before he shut the door the guardsman told him.

"Wait here until you're called to stage."

Charley waved goodbye and slammed the door in the large man's face. A stupid smile plastered on his face as he turned to view his crewmen. He moved toward a table with a mirror surrounded by yellow lightbulbs. Sonja his special effects artist approached him and pampered his face with TV-Makeup. He had to look his best indeed when on the big screen!

"Now we wait for the show to begin!"

[RK]

"Royal Straight Flush."

Morishi Shotaro had been cleaning house, these low-IQ pirate bums didn't know the first thing about playing poker, let alone having a poker face. Shotaro reeled in his winnings, a large pile of chips, as well as something unique. A small piece of paper with a dumb looking smile printed on it. He pocketed the paper and lorded over his potential earnings when an imposing looking man approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. Shotaro turned around and saw what looked like another pirate standing over him.

"Good job! You managed to get all my chips back for me! Now you're gonna return them to me, aren't you?"

The pirate was obviously extorting the young scientist. Shotaro could see several of these men around him had dirty looks on their face. Doesn't matter how big his brain was, Shotaro had been played. He began to chuckle a little bit, and looked down at the pistol that the pirate in front of him had sticking out of his pants.

"Riiiight, of course man! They're all right there for you, every last one. Do with them what you like. I think I'm gonna head out now and just...forget what I did today."

Shotaro gagged on his own words. There isn't much he could really do here other than comply. He was completely surrounded and no matter what he could try, the only situation that doesn't involve broken bones and black eyes is to just let the men have what they want. Shotaro slid off of the stool he was sitting on and walked past the pirates, trying to hide his shame. As he made his way to the front door of the casino he was in, he could hear the cheers of pirates and their disgusting laughter. That was his cash, he earned it with his superior intellect.

Shotaro was standing outside now, a light wind was blowing through Serine City. While normally this would be calming and pleasant, Serine City smelled like garbage and alcohol. The stench invaded Shotaro's nostrils, causing him to pull his shirt up over his nose. He had been inside that casino so long, he had forgotten that he initially went inside to escape this smell in the first place. He looked up at the large neon sign sprawling above the doorway.

New Blue Moon Casino

Apparently they were having a grand reopening under new management. Something big had gone down here a couple years ago, and the whole place had to go through a bunch of renovations. Definitely smelled better inside there than it did out here at the very least.

Shotaro began walking down the street, and realized that he still had that piece of paper in his pocket. The pirate bastards who stole his chips away didn't seem to notice that he'd stashed it away in his pocket. One side still had that weird smile on it, the other side had a name printed on it.

Ishekat's Castle. Are you a winner?

Shotaro definitely thought that seemed odd, he didn't notice any castles when he was sailing towards the island, even in the broad of daylight. He'd been here on Amino for about a day and a half. He doesn't even really remember why he was so determined to come here, but he did anyway. He's been having a good enough time at least. At the very least, he could try looking for this castle and see if there's maybe some treasure inside. Maybe even a princess who needs a dashing and ferociously brilliant scientist to go on a date with. There's definitely plenty to do around here as is, even by oneself.

"Excuse me sir, would you happen to know where I can find this place called Ishekat's Castle?"

Shotaro approached an elderly man sitting at a table. The man was eating a sandwich and drinking a soda, both of which looked pretty darn good. The man seemed to be a bit slow, as he turned to Shotaro immediately once he heard him speak, but waited a strong 2 minutes before saying anything, chewing the entire time. He then started talking, but hadn't actually swallowed, which genuinely confused Shotaro.

"Yeah, I heard o' that castle. They show it on the den den mushi's. My grandkids like to watch, but I'm content with my crosswords."

The old man sputtered in a raspy tone, and without taking a bite of his sandwich, started chewing again. Shotaro took another look at the piece of paper. The man didn't say where it was, but considering this seemed to be a broadcasted show, he surmised that it couldn't be too hard to find. He was interested in seeing how people on this island got their entertainment, and it'd been a while since Shotaro got to watch some good, clean fun. Shotaro began walking down the street again, looking down different pathways and roads. After only about ten minutes of walking, he saw what had to be the castle, it even looked like a castle, albeit a very shabby one. He walked around to the front and sure enough, a large glowing sign read as Ishekat's Castle is what he saw. There were two men dressed like old fashioned knights guarding the entry way, Shotaro walked up to them and they spoke with a gruff, fake accent.

"State your business."

One of the knights uttered loudly, without much grace as Shotaro could feel a bit of spit waft past his cheek. The young scientist pulled out the piece of paper and showed it to the guards. Hoping they'd understand that he was here to watch the show. The guards grunted to each other, and one of them led Shotaro to a room. The door had a large yellow star on it with the number 2 over it. Shotaro realized that there had likely been some sort of misunderstanding.

"Excuse me but, this seems more like a room you'd have for contestants to wait in..."

Shotaro muttered, hoping the guard would take the hint. However, he seemed to not be paying attention to the lad, and simply told him to wait to be called, and then slammed the door. Shotaro's face started turning red as he sat down in front of a large mirror. He tried not to look at the scarring around his face, and looked up at the ceiling, letting out a big sigh.

"What the hell am I doing?"

[Shinku]

Today's Lucky horoscope: VIRGO
A lot of new encounters are waiting for you! But with both Saturn and Mars in a powerful position, you can expect that some of them are going to be intense or even difficult. Don't give up, your stars shall align and see you through. The jackpot shall be yours!


Rince crumpled the paper and tossed it aside. Horoscopes were stupid. They were never right when they predicted something good to happen, but alway on spot when they warned of something bad. Also, who the hell had this crazy idea that stars could tell you what would happen in the future? That only worked if the future was predetermined since the stars and planets all had a set route that could be mathematically calculated, which was a rather unsettling thought. His life wasn't a machine. He wasn't a clock that was winded up and set to run till it was out of power or broken. Life was much more colorful and nuanced to be predicted by celestial bodies with no minds of their own.
Besides, if he needed prove that the stars didn't work, he himself was a living example of their uselessness. He and his twin sister had been born like hardly a minute appart and yet their lifes were so different, even though they had been born under the same stars. So much for that.
Not to mention that the last sentence in the horoscope gave him pause. The jackpot would be his? First, something so lucky would never happen to him. Besides, that horoscope was one for all Virgos, so everyone who was born a virgo should win the jackpot? That did not add up at all.
Rince assumed that the men running the casinos were paying the astrologer to put in stuff like that in order to draw in more clientele. Good thing he wasn't stupid enough to fall for that.
When it came to gambling, Rince had a strict abstinence policy. The only ones who were winning were the owners of the gambling dens and the teenage boy had better to do than to waste his hard earned money.

Looking out through his dirty pink bangs that covered his cold green eyes, Rince took in the turmoil around him. The streets were busy, groups were chatting together, lovers were walking hand in hand enjoying each others company while others prefered to stay by themselves as they went about their business. Barkers were trying to appeal to the passerby trying to get more customers into their theaters, casinos and other less noble establishments.
All in all, Rince was feeling rather comfy in the anonymity of the crowd.
The people that came here to gamble and enjoy themselves were a diverse mix and he wasn't sticking out at all, even though he was still wearing that horribly hawaiian shirt with its shrill pink color and the palm trees. He also wasn't the only one with an animal on his shoulders. The teenager had already spottet four people with birds on their shoulders, three the usual parots but one was a bird of prey he didn't know, and a woman with a little monkey on her back, though most women seemed to prefer their animals in form of a fur coat. It was a funny mixture of elegance and depravity that stood in stark contrast to the poorer portion of the population.

Bruce the haggis, an animal from Pikt island with white fur and small triangular ears and slightly larger than a hamster, was really excited. He was sniffing the air, full of unknown scents no doubt, and his little head turned back and forth as he watched this or that person with genuine interest. From time to time the haggis nuzzled on Rince's ear, probably to remind the boy that he was still here and that everything was all right. The haggis, although small, was seeing itself as a protector, while the boy was considered both his food-provider and his charge.

Rince was admiring one of the buildings, a casion which was bathed in light and sparkled like a bit diamond, when someone bumped into him.
„Ouch! My shoulder! It's broken. How will you compensate me for this?!“
„ ... “
What? What had happened? Rince was flabbergasted and gave the man and his two companions a puzzled look. Which in his case meant that he glared at them, his usual frown deepened by surprise.
„What are you looking at like that!“ One of the man's friend gave him a shove and Rince staggered backwards.
„Don't you know you have to pay when you hurt someone!“
As if that light bump would have been enough to break someone's shoulder! They were obviously trying to extort money from him.
Unfortunately they had also taken his moment of surprise to surround him and block his way. The guy who had bumped into him was still holding his „hurt“ arm, but the grin on his face was definitelly not one of pain.
Rince help up his hands in a defensive gesture and took a step backwards. He didn't get far as he was already with his back against the wall. As he retreated, his foot accidentally hit one of the placards that announced, well... something. There was no chance for anyone to read it, as the badly attached sign felt over, and hit one of the men on the head. The man stumbled backwards on to the street, probably disoriented from the blow to his brain. There was a loud screeching noise and a carriage that was drawn by something that looked like two purple and blue zebras, steered out of the way to avoid the man, hitting his two friends instead.

Rince stared. That was not how things usually went. On a normal day, he'd be the one who'd be hit by both the placard and the carriage, but now he was saved by this unexpected lucky accident. Something was wrong with the world! This just simply didn't happen!
The two men next to him groaned, now seriously injured rather than pretending.
Serves them right, the boy thought and turned around to go.
He was stopped however by a beautiful woman in a low-cut red dress with velvety hair in a dark violet shade that cascaded over her shoulders and down to her big hips.
„Well well well. That was interesting. You are one very lucky fellow.“ She was hiding her smile behind a black fan, but not enough to completely conceal it.
Rince tried to walk around her, but the woman grabbed his arm and began walking next to him.
„You are just what I need. My carriage seemed to have gotten into an accident. Would you be so nice and walk me home?“ It wasn't really a question. The way the woman asked it, she seemed to take a yes for guaranteed.
A whiff of faint perfume streamed from her and Bruce raised his little nose to examine it.
„Oh, what a cute little fellow! Can I hold him?“ She asked, not letting go of his arm but instead pulling him even closer. She was only a few inches bigger than him and yet the woman seemed somewhat intimidating. Mostly because Rince had no clue what she wanted.
„You've got to ask him, not me.“ he mumbled, though Bruce had already jumped over and was now sitting on her shoulder instead and nibbled tentatively on her hair. Maybe her floral shampoo was attracting him? Rince wasn't sure.
The woman with her graceful figure, attracted stares from the people arround them and Rince was too well aware of them to feel comfortable. Not like he could ever be comfortable in the presence of a woman such as this. It wasn't that she was attractive. She certainly was a beauty, but it meant nothing to him, he simply wasn't interested in that. What bothered him though was her predatory nature, Rince knew her kind and was trying to think of a way to get away from her. Usually the more their prey struggled, the more they would sink in their claws. Maybe he could just accompany her home and then be on his way?
Not having any better ideas, he just walked along with her silently, while trying to ignore the people around them. Two men dressed in black were following them from a steady distance and Rince assumed they were her bodyguards, she was certainly looking rich enough to have them.
When she tried to pull him into a less crowded alleyway however, he stopped and pulled his arm away from her.
„I've got to go. Stuff to do.“ He told her.
„Hmm.. I don't think so.“
She was still smiling her mischievous smile as she raised her hands and clapped them twice. Rince turned around to face her bodyguards, but they kept away, so he looked back at her, just in time to see a big black bird swoop down and pick Bruce from her shoulder.
„Bruce!“
He jumped forward and tried to catch the bird, but it was too late. The raven flew higher and when Rince tried to follow, two strong hands grabbed him and pulled him back. As he had been distracted by the thiefing bird, the two bodyguards had approached him and grabbed him from behind.
„It's all right. Your friend is quite safe. That is, as long as you do what I want.“
„You...!“ Rince bit down the words that were on his lips and instead gave her his most angry and meanest glare. The boy was really tempted to punch her, but her bodyguards were holding him back, also he was not going to make someone angry when they held the life of his companion in their hands.
„What do you want?“

A little while later, Rince entered Ishekat's Castle with the letter the woman had given him. He was led to a room with the number eleven on it and slumped down on a chair in front of a mirror.
He was angry at her for forcing him into paticipating into this ridiculous game but mostly angry at himself. Angry that he had let her steal Bruce so easily and that he hadn't managed to convince her that he wasn't lucky at all and that the thing she had vitnessed was out of the ordinary for him and she couldn't hope for his luck to help him win that prize she wanted. Mostly he was angry at his powerlessness. And yet, no matter how powerless he was, he couldn't lose! Too much was hinging on him winning this game!
„Don't worry Bruce, I'll get you back.“

[Sam]

"Laaaaaaaadyssss and Geeeeeeeeentlemen! Welcome!!! Welcome, all to Ishekat's Castle! I am your host Yu 'Livewire' Shimawaru! Here broadcasting live to all of Amino Island!"

A man shifted on stage disco dancing, as he said. He was the show host! He was a tall thin man with a big red poofy afro wearing star-shaped sunglasses, a red suit, bellbottoms, and heeled boots. He looked like someone who'd just came out of a 70's disco! Poping and ready to hit the dance floor. Shimawaru turned around on stage to face the wall behind extending his arm forward.

"Let's meet our contestants! Music maestro!"

The Ishekat's Castle theme song began to be played... an annoying yet catchy jingle! The contestant's rooms began to shift and open up their doors now facing the outside world as they slammed open! Six doors! Six contestants! All at the ready! Charley was one the first to exist. He jumped out doing a roll on the ground as Sonja his artist blew confetti out of a cannon... it was quite the entrance frankly. After the stunt, he paced placed rhythmically to stand at his podium. The crowd began to cheer at the sight of Charely exit.

"That's right folk! Today's guest star is none other than Charlemagne Quinn Hatter! The famous actor from Micqueot!!!"

Charley bowed, being followed up by Sonja and Jack who stayed on a far corner avoiding the cameras. Jack pulled out an odd-looking Den Den Mushi, he knelt down, put a dial into a small box next to it and began to record the scene. As he did this three other contestants began to come out from their doors and introduced themselves to the crowd who cheered their names. Afterward, Shimawaru walked to a corner where a big spinning wheel was found. There were many different parts to it each labeled with a different event that ranged from what essentially could be considered torture to something that could be considered quite pleasant! Spinning it would surely be a gamble.

"SHIMA! Let's do as usual and spin the Wheel of Fortune! Shihahahaha!"

The people of the crowd chanted alongside Shimawaru when he exclaimed Wheel of Fortune. It was hard to tell whether they wherein for the job or if they actually enjoyed this who spectacle. Not that it mattered really this show was obviously popular enough to be around and even have advertisements across the city. The groovy show host approached the wheel and gave it a rapid spin! What would it land on? Nobody knew! One could have to wait...

Charley's heartbeat in anticipation! This was exciting! Although something told him as a showman that he was the only excited one around here. The other contestants had looks in their faces that made it clear they had either been forced in or were completely lost as to where they had been thrust into. Especially two peculiar figures. One a young man with messy black hair and another that had a pink Hawaiian shirt. Something that was odd... Hawaiian shirts had gone out of style in the North Blue ages ago! What was this buffoon wearing!? Bah, maybe he was from the East Blue.

---

Charley #c165d8
Shimawaru #752434

[RK]

After a short while, Shotaro heard a knock on the door of his waiting room. A young woman with large glasses poked her head in, and motioned for the young man to get up and follow her. Shotaro was reluctant but decided to oblige, he had already been shaken down once today, he'd like to not have anything else of poor taste happen to him. He stood up and straightened his lab coat, as well as checking what shirt he had even put on today. He liked to wear shirts that had words on them, as he felt that those were good as conversational icebreakers. Today, he wore a shirt that said "Crimes", an obvious knock-off of the well known brand "Criminal." It didn't bother him much, just another way to break the ice. Shotaro adjusted his glasses, scratched his nose, and walked towards the door with his hands in his pockets. The young lady smiled and walked to the right of the door, down a long hallway, looking back to make sure that Shotaro was following, which he was.

The hallway they were walking in was actually deceptively large, as the high ceilings were shrouded in darkness, making it hard to see just how high they were. The longer the two walked however, the louder a certain noise became. It sounded like the commotion of a crowd, almost as if they were outside during peak hours of the day. Shotaro surmised that it was most likely the crowd of this game show that was going to take place, and if he wasn't in that crowd right now, it was safe to assume he was part of tonight's "entertainment." Though even he couldn't begin to assume what that entailed.

"So, how much farther until I get to be publicly humiliated?"

The scientist asked, staring intently at the girl leading him. She didn't say anything, just turned her head, raised up two fingers, and nodded. This strange response perplexed Shotaro, who began to assume this girl might be mute. He wanted to ask, but wasn't one to be so blunt about someone else's personal affairs like that. He wouldn't want someone asking how he got his scars after all, not that he'd be able to respond. Shotaro was about to open his mouth to speak again, but the cheering and chanting from the other side of the wall was starting to become overwhelming. He could barely hear his own thoughts.

The young lady pointed to a set of stairs, and motioned for Shotaro to ascend them. He was skeptical, but was also so out of sync from the entire situation that he found himself in, that he just decided to go for it. Shotaro thanked the young lady, who returned the kindness with a smile, and the scientist climbed the steps. After climbing about 25 steps, Shotaro found himself face to face with more rooms. He was confused as to why they even made him stay in the previous room at all. What kind of show was this that had waiting rooms for the waiting rooms. This time there were only 6 doors, all but one of them had little red flags on top of them, which Shotaro assumed meant they were occupied. The only one without a flag above it was door number 99. Looking around, none of the other doors had numbers even remotely this high. He saw 3, 8, 11, 15, 16, and for some reason 99. He felt like it almost a bad omen of things to come. He opened the door and slid inside, resting up against the door for a moment to catch his breath.

The time for rest would have to wait however, as immediately in this new room, Shotaro felt a sort of turning sensation. He looked behind him at the door he had just entered through, and a little glowing sign that read "NO!" suddenly changed to "GO!" Shotaro didn't understand, go where? Right now? Shotaro took a deep breath and placed his hand on the doorknob, slowly turning. He could already hear intense cheering coming from in front of him. As the door swung open, an intense light hit his face, with continued cheering and screaming. AS he walked out, he noticed someone that looked like he knew exactly what he was doing beside him. He was very well dressed, tall, and looked to even have some people following him, a posse perhaps? This gentleman obviously had Shotaro outclassed in the department of showmanship. The seemed to be four other people there too, but Shotaro was more interested in the man standing in front of all of them.

Shotaro looked around for a moment, he saw the crowd of people who had gathered to watch, as well as an especially unique looking individual. His large afro, star-shaped shades, and frankly dated leg-wear gave Shotaro the impression that this man either wandered in from a circus, or was the host of the show.

"Laaaaaaaadyssss and Geeeeeeeeentlemen! Welcome!!! Welcome, all to Ishekat's Castle! I am your host Yu 'Livewire' Shimawaru! Here broadcasting live to all of Amino Island!"

Looks like it was the latter, Shotaro thought to himself as he heard Mr. Livewire belt out his opening line. It seemed like a certain level of showmanship was to be expected here, something that Shotaro was severely lacking in. He held his head up high and waved, trying his best to look even remotely interesting.

"That's right folk! Today's guest star is none other than Charlemagne Quinn Hatter! The famous actor from Micqueot!!!"

Mr. Livewire announced. Shotaro wasn't really familiar with most people from the North Blue, he had only arrived here a few weeks ago, the means of which he didn't remember. All that was on his mind was to visit Amino Island, which he ended up doing but, he still wasn't sure why he was here. Shotaro adjusted his glasses again, as Mr. Livewire suddenly approached him, microphone in hand.

"Hey hey hey, who is this man? You look like you came straight out of a government laboratory on casual Friday in that getup."

Mr. Livewire jeered at Shotaro's choice of wardrobe, and though he had to agree that he was certainly under dressed for the occasion, he would have worn something nicer had he been made aware of the expected standards. Nevertheless, Shotaro let out a fake chuckle, trying to play up the mockery for laughs, as he could tell a notable amount of the crowd found that remark to be "funny."

"Lookin' like that, I think we're gonna have to call you the MAD SCIENTIST, am I right folks or am I so right?"

Shimawaru yet again made a remark at the expense of Shotaro's image. It was starting to annoy him, especially the "mad" part. Shotaro used his knowledge to help people, not undertake dangerous experiments or create monsters. The "Mad Scientist" crossed his arms over his chest and gave the host a disproving look, who simply ignored the look of contempt and pretended to act like Frankenstein's monster. Shotaro let out a big sigh, the host had already left his immediate presence, so he couldn't even get a word of his own in.

After some of the other contestants made themselves known to the crowd, or as best they could with this terrible host at the helm Mr. Livewire approached a large, colorful wheel in the corner of the room. In his shock from the situation, Shotaro hadn't even noticed such a garish looking set piece. The wheel was divided into uneven sections, similar to a pie chart. Some of the options were favorable, some of them were...to put it bluntly, two thumbs down. While some like "Trivia" or "Puzzle" seemed more up Shotaro's alley, others seemed to be designed for a Colosseum rather than a game show. "Battle" seemed pretty self explanatory, but there were three that stood out as especially horrifying to him. "Audience Choice" was a definitive hell no, one of the sections just had a question mark on it, which definitely wasn't good, but that paled in comparison to the skull section. What could that even be, instant death? Shotaro shuddered at the thought of getting anything other than trivia or puzzle.

"SHIMA! Let's do as usual and spin the Wheel of Fortune! Shihahahaha!"

Livewire screamed as he spun the wheel at breakneck speed, such of which would have definitely broke the charts. Shotaro crossed his fingers and closed his eyes, the tension was building as the wheel began to slow down, and he couldn't even bear to open his eyes.

"Trivia or Puzzle, Trivia or Puzzle, Trivia or Puzzle."

[Shinku]

Rince was feeling like a horse before the race. The little waiting boxes certainly reminded him of the start boxes they used in horse-racing, only these were completely closed off and he couldn't see the other contestants.
Would the audience place bets on them too as they did on the horse track? And if, would anyone be stupid enough to put their money on him? Probably not. But then again, the crowd didn't know him so they had no way to assess his skills properly. All they could do was take a good look at him, which was probably enough to convince most people that he wasn't worth the money. But then again there were always the sort of gamblers who liked to place their bet on the least likely candidate. It could be said that the Lady in red had done just that when she chose him to be her contestant. What a poor choice and if it weren't for Bruce, Rince would have hardly cared less if the witch lost all her money on whatever she wished to gamble on. Unfortunately she wasn't placing any money, but played instead with the lives and well being of two strangers she probably couldn't care less about.
The pinkhaired teenager didn't believe in Karma, but he sure hoped that it would hit the woman hard. She'd certainly deserved it, which made it all the more likely that she'll never get a taste of it.

As he waited inside his box for something to happen, the audience on the other side of the door got louder and louder. Something was about to start, that much was for sure.
Finally.
Although he dreaded what was to come, the little waiting box was rather oppressive. It was dark and gloomy and the narrow conditions made him feel slightly claustrophobic. It was the ideal place for thinking and thinking was something the teenager hated the most. His thought were never occupied with something nice. They were instead rather proficient in thinking up the worst possible scenario which in turn gave him a stomach ache.


Unexpectedly sudden the door went open and Rince found himself blinded by the bright spotlight. He tried to cover his eyes with one hand, but even so it was impossible to make out what waited for him on the other side of the doorway. Although vision was denied to him, the noise was overwhelming. The sound of many people screaming and clapping their hands furiously was hitting him lick a brick wall. It had something animalistic to it, as if the sound wasn't made by multiple individual people, but by one giant beast.
First he hesitated. Getting out into that hell of a place was really daunting. But then he suddendly worried if his first idea had been the right one and they were really inside race boxes, only for humans. Was this a race? Was he already late because he had hesitated?!
Panic-fueled he ran out of his box, only to run into someone – or something.

The collision had knocked him off his feet and back to the ground where he landed ass first on the hard floor. Frowning and with a hurting backside, Rince looked up to see what he had run into. The thing he had ran into was casting a large shadow, making it easier to see.
It was – a donkey.
„ ... !? ... “
The animal was looking back at him with a questioning look, then turned to face the audience again.

„AH! Could it possibly be?! Is this participant the dark horse of the competition?!“

The guy standing next to them was obnoxiously loud. Not just because he was shouting his words rather than speaking normaly, but because his dress was crazy shrill as well. Even if the man had been silent, he would have given the impression of noise simply by his presence alone.

„I'm not a horse, I'm a human.“ Rince told him as he got to his feet, pretending to be unembarrassed about his tumble, his ears red hot but hopefully well hidden beneath his pink hair.
„Oh pardon me. You thought I was talking to you, didn't you? And here I was speaking with the contestant next to you! “ The red afro pointed at the donkey.
„Isn't that funny ladies and gentlemen, the guy who came out last thinks he might be the dark horse. But who knows, maybe you can weasel your way in yet, eh Mr. Weasel?“

Rince chose not to answer. Not like he would have been given the chance. The guy who seemed to be the moderator of the show was already walking off to the next contestant.
Apparently Rince had missed the introductions of the first two participants so he now turned to give them a closer look.
The man next to him was tall, really tall. His slender figure made him look even taller than he actually was and somehow his body's proportions seemed a little off as well. It took Rince a second to notice what was bothering him about the guy. The man was sporting a neat crew cut and was wearing a prim and proper black suit, but the man's shins were exposed. Someone had sold him trousers that were too short, or rather it seemed to be regular pants, but the guy's legs were longer than usual so the trousers couldn't cover them fully.
The man must have noticed Rince's stare and he turned around to look at the teenager with his big black eyes. The black pupil covered almost the whole eye and the eyes were overly large and seemed to stick out a little. His mouth was even bigger than his eyes, going almost from one side of the face to the other. It didn't look at him disapprovingly, but neither was it smiling. It was the sort of mouth that looked bored.
Rince hastly looked away. Although the man had simply returned his gaze without showing any emotion on his face, Rince found that he could not keep his eyes locked with the strange man.
So instead he focused on the game master who was now spinning a wheel.
He could still feel the gaze of the frog-eyed man on him and he hoped that there would be something to do soon. Whatever it took to distract the guy from looking at him. It was getting creepy.

[Sam]

Charley looked at the other contestants a bit more. Now that the charade had ended and everyone was settled it was easier to view the lot of them. First, an odd man seems like he came out of a laboratory... Mr. Mad Scientist... that's what Shimawaru had referred to him as but the prodigious actor doubted someone would have such a preposterous surname. Moving on there was a... Donkey!? What was such an equine doing here? What was this? Some kind of sick joke? Charley furrowed his brows a bit. Being here was an honor bestowed only on people! Not on minibeast of burden!

"Fah!"

The lavender haired man stomped the grown in anger. However, it wasn't loud enough of a tantrum to be immediately picked up on. Moving on he looked forward at the rest of the crowd, untamed pink hair and average looks. That's what he gathered from the fourth participant... the one that had been called weasel by Shimwaru. Charley shook his head, it seemed like they just let anyone in these days! But perhaps that was perfect... there was a certain genius to this madness. The wackier the crowd the more views they could garner across the island. Charley narrowed his eyes looking onward at the final two contestants... a frog? No a man? A frogman!? The actor was at a loss between what the man was! On one hand, he seemed humanoid but on the other, he had a pair of absurdly long legs and round black eyes with large pupils like a frog.

"Weird..."

He muttered quietly to himself, but perhaps not as weird as the random equine taking part as a contestant. The final contestant was also a large man... one that was very big and muscular. He had a huge mustache and wore a white shirt with red stripes. He seemed to be extremely strong! Inhumanly so with those muscles. But Charley had learned in his thirty two years of life that one was not to judge a man by his appearance. No. That wasn't the saying. A book by its cover. Yes. That's it! That was the saying.

"We got a GAME!"

Shimawaru yelled the people of the crowd echoed with him following up with a cheer as per usual. Charley's thoughts had been interrupted by the most recent decision in the game... well one done by the spinning wheel. Much to his dismay, it had landed on 'crowd's choice'. That wasn't too bad? Or could it be? He honestly didn't know what to expect from the crowd but he was most certainly confident that he could endure almost any physical task! It was a byproduct of that weird fruit he ate a while back.

"Invader Spin! Invader Spin!"

The crowd yelled, Shimawaru's reaction was maniacal laugh as he pointed toward the left side of the stage. A huge spinning disk was brought it in decorated like the moon... six rocket-shaped objects where lined in the moon disk.

"This is the Invader spin! You all will hop in a rocket blindfolded! The first to touch the gong on the other side of the stage wins!"

He pointed to a small gong on the right side of the stage. Charley gulped, this seemed sort of fun! Off to do it then! He walked toward a rocket and hopped onto it. Meanwhile, Shimawaru tried to get the rest of the contestants to take a seat on one of the rockets.

"They aren't real! SHIMA! Come on just hop in them! It's just a spin! Like a merry go around! Shihaha!

[RK]

Audience Choice.

Of all the options, of course it would be Audience freaking choice.

The young scientist placed his hands on his head as his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. A scream would be what one would assume to escape from Shotaro's gaping maw, but a shrill squeak was deafened by the roar of the live crowd. His face began to turn white, and his eyes were popping out of his skull. He was literally in the palms of these people, they could make him do whatever they pleased. At this point he was regretting calling the skull option bad, that one seemed pretty good right now.

The "Mad Scientist" looked around again at the other contestants who were present. He had already gotten visually familiar with the gentlemanly figure, but there were four others. One of them, a pink haired individual in a flowery shirt, seemed to have been having an even worse time on stage than Shotaro was. He had fallen to the ground, and had even been called Mr. Weasel by Shimawaru. That was pretty insulting, Shotaro wasn't exactly a fan of Mad Scientist but at least that sounded pretty imposing. Weasel sounded dirty and awkward. Which looking at the state of The Weasel's entrance, maybe he was deserving of such a title for the time being.

The other contestants seemed to be of the less...normal variety. Shotaro was well aware of the colorful collection of people that could be found when venturing the seas, but this was still a blue sea. From the books and articles he read, he had assumed that all the freaks and weirdos often made their way to the Grand Line before lunch time. Maybe these were the rejects? Maybe they had no intentions of testing themselves on that sea. Shotaro couldn't blame them, the Grand Line was for crazy people. Of the three remaining contestants there was an abnormally tall, frog-looking man. He was wearing a suit, but it was pretty hard to take him seriously with those pants. They looked more like shorts than pants. His shins were completely exposed. Shotaro thought to himself a bit hypocritically, as he was currently wearing shorts himself. He himself, had exposed shins. Another of the contestants was a real piece of meat. If this guy was standing in a big bowl of pasta, Shotaro would have likely mistaken him for a big meatball. This guy was intimidatingly buff. His herculean muscles were exploding out of his skin, barely contained by his pathetically tight shirt. Shotaro would have assumed that this was a bad man, but his mustache was so well trimmed and neat, he couldn't help but feel like this guy was someone he could stand behind in a fight. Finally, he couldn't seem to see the last contestant, only their pet donkey. Shotaro found this a bit odd. Surely they wouldn't allow an animal to compete in this game, would they? Shotaro thought to himself as he glanced back over at frogman and meatball. His confusion suddenly started to wane.

Shotaro snuck over to the donkey in the midst of the commotion. It was a smallish donkey, with brown fur and a wooden plank tied by rope around its neck. The plank had something written on it, and using his huge brain, the scientist deciphered that this was a name. Apparently one was to refer to this particular donkey as "Tito." Pretty good name for a donkey, Shotaro wanted to pet the equine creature, but his focus was shifted away when he noticed that Mr. Livewire began talking again. His bellowing voice screeching and echoing through his skull.

"This is the Invader spin! You all will hop in a rocket blindfolded! The first to touch the gong on the other side of the stage wins!"

Shimawaru erupted as the crowd kept screaming and cheering "Invader Spin." This seemed to be what the audience had chosen for them to do as their first game. Shimawaru pointed to the left side of the stage, revealing a large spinning disc like contraption. It was lined with tiny vessels resembling rocket ships. Opposite the merry-go-round of motion sickness was a large metal gong, with two pretty ladies beside it to draw attention to it. The gentleman actor seemed to already be taking charge as Shotaro noticed how effortlessly he made his way towards the first challenge and took a seat. Shimawaru began to nudge everyone along. Shotaro wasn't convinced that he could do this even if someone with incredible charisma asked him nicely...and wrote him a blank check.

"Let's go Mad Scientist, it'll be like a little experiment, spinning plus hilarity equals gong! Solve for X am I right folks or am I so right?"

This seemed to be Shimawaru's thing...bad joke and then enticing the crowd to agree with him. It wasn't very cute, but certainly very memorable in an annoying, "please let me punch you in the throat" kind of way. Shotaro looked over at Tito, concerned with how the Donkey was even going to figure this out, but it seemed like some of the stage hands were bribing it with apples as a sweet treat. The "Mad Scientist" decided to let them worry about the donkey, and made his way over to the first game, albeit very reluctantly.

As he hopped up into the crudely crafted space vessel, Shotaro began realizing the immediate consequences of his choices today. Who the hell built these things. Shotaro had never seen something so structurally suspect. It was like someone got the blueprints for this thing through a game of telephone. Played in four different languages. Across a period of a year. The metal was rusted, the wood had been partially rotted or eaten by termites. Worst of all the floor of the little ship was sticky. Why would this be sticky? There was a black blindfold on the dashboard, where a little glass pane was sticking out to give it a sort of front window. Shotaro placed his hand inside of his lab coat to pick it up, but after observing it carefully, he could tell that, at the very least, these seemed to have been washed. Thank goodness, he was already running the risk of puking in front of thousands of live viewers, he didn't wanna walk away from this with some strange disease as well. Shotaro took a deep breath and put the blindfold over his eyes. In that moment, something seemed to overtake him. Despite his previous issues with the whole situation, the calming darkness of the blindfold gave rise to a side of him he wasn't well aware of. Shotaro decided to try and play the audience a bit. Maybe his time here would go a little smoother if he could garner favor. Taking a deep breath, Shotaro burst out with his first play for popularity.

"Let's go you WUSSES, THE MAD SCIENTIST WANTS TO GO TO SPACE!"

[Shinku]

Nevously he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as the wheel of fate was spinning. It landed on 'Audience Choice' which was probably one of the worst things that could happen.
Rince knew audiences. They were usually nasty people who liked nothing more than to see the participants suffer and although this didn't seem to be the arena style of place where one would fight to the death with each other, the pinkhead had no doubt that what they had in store for them could still be nasty.
Indeed there seemed to be a mutal agreement from the crowd on what game they were to play.
„Invader Spin! Invader Spin!“ they chanted, almost as if they had practised it.
Could the game be rigged? Was that wheel supposed to land on audience choice and had the audience been adviced on what choice to make? It was possible. But then again, he could simply be paranoid. In the end, the result was the same. He would have to participate in games he had no interest in, all so he could get his annoying furball back so that his companion could nag him more about how they should go sightseeing on different islands.
It would be fun, Bruce had said. And he had promised him to stick to simple tourism... no adventures the haggis had said. So much for that.
„I should never have listened to Bruce. Why the hell do I even trust what a little hamster-like creature is telling me?“
At least the crowd seemed to have fun. Rince wished he could be there with them and simply watch and have fun as well.

The game certainly seemed funnier to watch than to participate in. Rince was not sure exactly how the whole thing was supposed to work when the game master introduced it.
Was that rocket going to move? Were they supposed to stear it to the gong or was there another reason to it?
The only thing that seemed clear to him was that he was supposed to sit into one of the rockets and that one of the assistants would blindfold him, which was probably supposed to be the challenge of the game.
Rince sat down into a yellow rocket he had chosen because of the nice warm color – and also because the donkey was already sitting in the red one, which was his usual lucky color.
The inside of the rocket was shabby, probably because the audience couldn't see it so the producer of the show didn't spend much money on it, but Rince didn't care. He had been in much more run-down places as well as in places that were very well off and had found that the decorum said little about the character of the people who ran the place. Besides, mold might be disgusting, but at least it wasn't attacking him outright.

„Ouch!“

The guy putting on his blindfold wasn't gentle at all. Maybe the assistant thought that he had to tie it extra hard to he wouldn't remove it, or he was so fed up with his job that he simply didn't care. Before he blindfolded Rince, the boy could see his grumpy face looking down at him, then everything went dark.
Then Rince could feel the guy bending down to him, his unseen but felt existence looming and threatening.
„You know what you have to do. Don't let our lady down.“ the man whispered into his ear.
Great... so they were watching him. Stands to reason that they would do so, but it still felt unpleasant. Even more so when the threat was delived while he was blindfolded.

He couldn't see but he could still hear. The crowd was loud as usual, but so were the other participants. He could hear the donkey in the rocket next to his own and then there was this one participant who decided to speak to the audience.

"Let's go you WUSSES, THE MAD SCIENTIST WANTS TO GO TO SPACE!"

Well... whatever the guy was happy with. Rince had no inclination to say anything himself. If the crowd forgot his existance he would be quite happy with it.

„Looks like our participant are all ready to fly! That's the spirit!“ the game master spoke in his booming voice. „Let's see, we have our Star from Micqueot Charlemange Quinn Hatter in the blue rocket, ready to launch.“
The audience gave an enthusiastic applause, clapping their hands and stomping their feet on the ground. They even managed to drown out the game master, which was no small feat as the guy was one of the loudest people Rince had ever heard.
He must have missed out on part of the man's chatter for he was half a sentence in when Rince could make out his words again.
„... will he get off on the right foot or the wrong one? With legs that long it would certainly make a difference and win or lose him that game...“
Rince tried to turn out the blabbering and focused on his task. It would not be easy, but neither should it be too hard. Even if he couldn't see the target, he still knew where it was, how difficult could it be to walk over and hit the gong? That was, as long as none of the other participants ran him over...
He was fainlty aware that the gamemaster mentioned a weasel, but did his best not to listen to what the man had to say about him. It was probably nothing nice and it wouldn't matter anyway.

Suddenly he noticed that the crowd had gone silent and so had the gamemaster. Or at least the man had let the silence drop to enhance his next word.

„Start the Spin!“

That was the part Rince had kind of missed during the explanations, but he realized his mistake easily enough when the rocket started to move sidewards. First slowly, but then building up momentum until the speed pressed him against the rocket.
Was there someone crying out? And was it a cry of joy or of terror? Rince couldn't tell. The pink-haired boy was unable to say anything as he sat in his seat in utter terror and waited for the spinning to be over.
In a way the blindfold made it easier, he thought. Not being able to see the world spin by was a blessing. It wasn't enough to keep his head from spinning though.

Appruptly the spinning stopped and Rince was forced forward by his inert momentum, hitting his forehead on what he thought was the little front window.
The one who had the most problem with the sudden halt was his stomach. It revolted against the physical abuse and send his dinner back up with a letter of complaint.
Rince bent forwards, his spinning head between his legs and pucked.

It took the teenager a moment to adjust after his stomach had emptied out.
What now? Right, the gong...
The rocket wasn't moving anymore, so Rince figured that he had to walk the rest of the way.
Good thing too, he didn't wish to stay a moment longer in the rocket, out of fear that it might start to spin again and also because of the stench.
He used a hand to wipe his mouth then stumbled out of the rocket prop. Dizzy as he was the boy managed to stumble over his own two feet.
„Idiot.“ he scolded himself and got up again.
But even though he tried, it was hard to keep his balance. His stomach might have quited down but his head was still unsure about all directions... including where up and where down was.
How the hell was he supposed to find anything when he wasn't even sure which way he was facing? No time for doubts though. Having no way of knowing, Rince simply sprinted forward – and ran into something hard and rigid.
This time he managed to stay on his feet, though his body kind of hurt from the impact.
That was not good. He would not be able to win if he just stumbled aroudn blindly and because Bruce was a captive of that evil woman he couldn't afford to lose.
„Think! There must be something you can do... something to give you a hint...“
The audience! He could hear them loud and clearly. The moon with the rockets had been on the left side of the stage, which meant if the audience was in his back, all he had to do was turn ninty degrees and he would be facing the gong!
Turning sidewards, Rince stumbled along, slower this time. He didn't dare to run again.
His only hope was that the other contestants were equally struggling. 

[Sam]

Charley narrowed his eyes at Shimawaru, he didn't mind bombastic people but maybe just maybe the host was taking things a bit too far especially with the Mad Scientist fellow. His jokes were... if anything subpar! Perhaps his own hubris or out of sheer annoyance Charley considered giving Shimawaru some comedy classes. Sure, the subject was if anything subjective... however there was some ground rules in what constituted a formally constructed joke and utter nonsense sputtered.

The tea obsessed actor scratched his chin pondering before abruptly being interrupted by one of the show workers who placed a blindfold on him. The worker was less than appropriate ruffling his hair and pulling on it! Clearly, they knew little about work etiquette! Bah! Amino was full of barbarians anyway... what did they know about acting proper? Nothing that's what. Charley let out a sigh, he'd just have to forgive them for their brutish actions.


The blindfolded Charley was left to assume everyone else was already taking their seats especially by the way his rocket moved side by side. It was a rickety old thing. Then, when he least expected it the machine started to spin and whirl around at high speeds... the prodigious actor felt his head spin and spin. He had never been particularly fond of merry go rounds, especially as a child.

Especially since he'd always been prone to motion sickness. After a couple of minutes of spinning something that seemed like an eternity to Charley he was let loose and able to walk. His legs swerved left and right getting tangled on themselves as he tried to find his way in the complete and utter sickening stupor he'd been left in. Something that was only made worse by the blindfolds still on him. This was one of the only games he was most certainly sure he couldn't win. In the current state of things Charley was having second thoughts about guest-starring here... this could potentially ruin his reputation more than improve it. Despite often acting like a fool the prodigious actor cared very much about his reputation and dignity!

BOOF

Charley hit something soft! Feeling around with his arms it was horse-shaped. No! It was donkey shaped! He'd ran into the donkey face first... good thing his face hadn't rammed into his or else he'd given the equine a kiss. Bleh! He would much rather not be a thing. In that instant, he heard the equine squeal in its signature sound. Surely, nothing good could come from this...

"Yeeeeeyaawww!"

PHOO

The sound of something or someone being slammed by hooves was heard! Had someone just gotten slammed by the Donkey? This was uncalled for! Charley removed his blindfold to witness something he could not believe.

"Goodness!"

---

Charley #c165d8
Shimawaru #752434
Donkey #918f8d

[RK]

Shotaro took a few deep breaths after shouting his "wusses" line. He heard cheering, but it was likely for the guest star, the actor. Shotaro slid into his rocket's chair. He had chosen the green one, since green was the smartest of the colors. The blindfold that covered his eyes was a bit musty, despite being cleaned, it was likely sitting out for a while in this room, with lots of dust floating around. The chair, while probably pretty gross, was comfy at the very least, likely to keep contestants calm once this thing starts moving, which in that moment it did.

As the rockets began to accelerate in a circular fashion. Shotaro could feel himself retching a bit. He was in no mood or position to lose his lunch. The scientist had to find a way to take his mind off the spinning, and use it towards something productive. How exactly was he going to win this game? He knew he could do it, despite there being a good handful of more popular or more qualified individuals, he knew he could obtain victory. Shotaro's mind entered a state of clarity, and in his head he saw the stage, he remembered how big it was, the distance from the rockets to the gong. How many steps he would need to take once getting off.

The stage was a large rectangular shape, about 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, it was wooden, with one side leading off the stage to a drop, the other having a curtain that covered the doors they emerged from. This was going to end up being too easy, it was all simple math. The gong was positioned at the center of the opposite end of the stage, so all he would need to do is position himself in such a way to walk directly towards the gong, piece of cake.

As the rockets began to slow down, and his stomach began to calm, Shotaro stumbled out of the rocket, trying to keep his focus amid the roaring audience and the constant spinning sensation. He felt his head was going to fall off, but pressed on. One, two, three, four, five. Shotaro counted as he walked, being careful to not deviate from what he could only hope was a straight path towards the curtain. After a brief journey however, he made it. He could feel the curtain in front of him, it was soft and warm, almost like it was alive. He could hear Tito nearby, and hoped he was doing alright. Shotaro pressed on, having the knowledge he needed to calculate the exact distance to the gong.

Another few steps and Shotaro was at what he believed to be the geometric center of the stage. His head was still spinning but he knew his judgement was correct. He could hear the audience to his left, so he knew that he was on the right track. He took a few more steps towards the gong, trying his best to keep moving in a straight line. The dizziness was wearing off but he was still blindfolded.

According to Shotaro's calculations, this position should be right in front of the gong. The mad scientist was ready to claim his first point in this game. He clenched his hand into a fist and reeled backwards, ready to strike the gong, signalling the end of the game. As he brought his hand forward however, he fell directly off the stage, some five feet to the ground below. He still couldn't hear anything, but the sneering and laughter was all he needed to know. He had colossally failed.

"WOAH WOAH WOAAAAAAH MAD SCIENTIST, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HIT THE GONG, NOT THE FLOOR. AM I RIGHT FOLKS OR AM. I. SO. RIGHT?"

Shimawaru's incessant, ridiculous voice erupted through the whole room, as he danced around. It was clear that he was feeling himself. Tied with the mocking laughter from the entire audience, and no doubt the people at home. Shotaro was lying with his face on the cold, unwashed floor. This was beyond humiliating, not just because so many people were laughing at him, but because he had messed up. He was absolutely certain that his calculations were correct. The scientist removed his blindfold and took another deep breath. He hung his head down in shame as he turned around and looked up onto the stage. As he got a good look at the current situation, he realized what had happened.

What he thought was the curtain was actually Tito. This completely through him off course, and he was nowhere near the gong like he thought he'd be. Looking back at Tito, he could see that the Donkey was rearing its legs in preparation to buck back and hit someone. Shotaro didn't have his glasses on as he had to take them off to put the blindfold on, so he couldn't tell who was about to be hit, but the scientist still cried out in the hopes of saving someone from being kicked.

"HEY WATCH OUT FOR THE DONKEY!!!"

[Shinku]

The idea of positioning himself according to the crowd was a good one.
If he had paid more attention to which side was which, his plan might have even worked out.
Rince had remembered correctly that the spinning module was on the left. What he failed to remember was if it was left from the audience's point of view or from his own left when looking at the audience. Small mistake, big difference in outcome.
As he turned himself around, listening for the sound of the audience – honestly that was the easiest part because the noise they were making was ear-deafening – he got himself positioned at the wrong direction, pointing at the starting point rather than his goal, the gong.

He started moving forward again, not knowing that he was actually moving back, hands outstreched, feeling around carefully for any sort of obstacle. After running into a donkey at the very start of the show and now running into something hard, he still had no clue what it was and didn't care, Rince was no intending to go forward with care.
Yes, that might be cowardly of him as he hadn't been hurt much by the earlier collisions, but there was something scary about walking around blindly without seeing the floor in front of him. Each step was a challenge of overcoming his fear of stepping into a hole. It was stupid. There wouldn't suddenly be a chasm in front of him, unless he was stupid enough to fall of the stage, the ground in front would be solid – and yet!
Rince really hated the feeling of being without control.
Surely he wasn't the only one like this, right? Wasn't that something like a primal fear? Bet the others were struggling just as much?

Or not...

Voices in front of him made him pick up his steps. He didn't like running around without vision, but he couldn't aford to lose. Bruce was relying on him!
The stage wasn't that big and with his short fast sprint in the beginning and his hesistant but continuous steps now, he must be almost at the goal! If someone was in front of him then they must be reaching the gong soon. He had to pass them, no matter what.

Someone was shouting something about the donkey, but Rince had not time to listen. He was too focused on not losing his balance as he ran through the darkness.
He didn't get far however.

Rince was blind to what was happening next, but the audience had a very good view on how the donkey raised his back legs, bucking and kicking the poor sod behind him.
As far as his flight performance went, the audience would have given the teenager a nine out of ten. The donkey kicked him right at shoulder high and sent the boy flying almost horizontally.
It wasn't a long flight.
With a big GONNNNNNGONNGON the game came to an end and the pink-haired misadventurer hit the gong right in the middle.

„AND WITH THIS THE GAME IS OVER!“ Shimawaru shouted in his usual booming voice.
„Wasn't that unexpected? To think that Mr. Weasle would manage to weasel himself to victory!“
Two assistants were picking up the boy from the ground, removed the blindfold so he could see but found him unconscious. Since the teenager was knocked out but the show had to go on, they started to slap him to wake him up.
„Huh? What?“
Rince startled awake. If the spinning had made him dizzy, it was nothing compared to what he experienced now. His shoulders were hurting, his head felt as if someone was using it as a drum and his ears were ringing. The crowd strangley enough had stopped making noise, or maybe he just wasn't able to hear it over the ringing in his ears, becuase the way the audience was clapping their hands and moved their mouths, they were clearly making noise.
The game master gave him a big smile and shouted something Rince couldn't hear.
„A victory is a victory and Mr. Weasel deserves his points... But wouldn't you say that our Dark Horse deserves some points for his brilliant assist?“
The crowd clearly got excited by it though as they were now stamping their feets as well.
„There we have it people, there we have it! As this game was supposed to give 100 points to the winner, I'm going to give half to Mr. Weasel and half to our audience's favourite!“
Rince of course could hear nothing of this and had no clue why they placed him next to the donkey, though just seeing the animal let him regain enough of his strenght and balance to stand on his own legs – and use them to take some big steps away from the donkey.
While some of what happened remained in darkness, the teenager was at least aware enough of what had likely hit him this time.
The animal gave him a long look but otherwise ignored him.
„But don't worry everyone! That was just the first game. We have a lot more of them to come, so everyone has a chance of catching up to our leaders!“

[Sam]

GON

"Hey watch out!"

It was too late... Charley's warning was too late. It was madness! Utter madness what Charley bestowed  next. As the donkey kicked Rince straight into the gong. Charley's eyes widened, he put his hand to his mouth covering it as he flinched back. 'Goodness! I hope that man is ok... I'll be suprised if he doesn't need to be hospitalized.' He thought to himself, not everyone was like him! Charley's body had gained some strange properties after baking a mysterious fruit into a pie. He had lost his ability to run but in term gained the abilities of a Tea Kettle! Metal body and all.

"Wasn't that unexpected? To think that Mr. Weasle would manage to weasel himself to victory!"

Shimawaru, came on stage blabbering some more he walked up to the young man alongside some of the staff which tended to the pink-haired boy's needs. Charley tried to get closer to get a better look at the beat-up man. The prodigious actor let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Rince speaking... he was ok. Maybe in pain and a little disoriented but not dead or knocked out. That was good. Shimawaru however, was not going to let this unexpected injury stop his show it seemed instead he went ahead awarding Rince and the Donkey points. The latter was something that bothered Charley... if anything the beast of burden was undeserving of points! The disqualification was what was required in fact! However, what happened next suprised Charley and it was something he found to be more preposterous than the donkey getting points.

"Mr. Hatter! It seems you and the Mad Scientist are going into a penalty round! You both removed your blindfold when it was stated not to do so! Right everyone!?"


The showman turned to the crowd for back upon his statement. As if it was even needed... it was obvious the crowd would agree with everything he said. Charley crossed his arms, he felt like complaining but he knew better. Fighting would only make him look more foolish... there were no fighting people like Shimawaru. Especially when it was in their turf. After that statement, everyone took their places in their respective podiums. Sonja, Charley's special effects artists came up and fixed the man up reapplying some of the camera makeup as well as dusting him off. Her face was neutral, while she cared for Charley she was sure her boss would handle this appropriately.

"SHIMA! In lieu of this special round, we will not be spinning the dial instead I'll pick from this bull filled with tickets! Each labeled with a number on the crowd's seat! Whoever is picked gets to pick the next competition! SHIMA!"

'Great, another audience choice... just what I needed.' Charley thought to himself, the disappointment was palpable on his face. The fact another foolish fool would get to choose what happened to him next. It just left a foul taste in his mouth... the longer he spent in the show the more he regretted his participation. This was not what he expected... but his actor's honor kept him in the game! He could not forfeit! Win or lose he wouldn't leave the stage until the end. Charley stood up straight with his chest sticking out. A powerful and proud pose! No matter what they threw at him and the Mad Scientist he was sure they'd come out on top. Shimawaru finally reached into the bowl and pulled out a small piece of paper with a number written on it.

"Number twenty-two!"

He exclaimed, immediately a short man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a fanny pack stood up. He seemed to be a tourist... it wasn't really hard to tell by the looks and especially the horrible suntan he had as white circles were around his eyeballs... the marks of his sunglasses.

"That's me!"

The tourist man exclaimed, he pointed at a big white button with the number twenty-two written on it. He seemed very excited to participate. Charley grimaced hiding the expression with his white-gloved hands. Of all people, some whacky tourist guy was going to choose what happened next.

"What do you-"

Shimawaru began, but before he could finish the man rapidly interrupted. A somewhat comedic event considering no one had done that to the obnoxious showman as of yet. To Charley a bad sign...

"Pie Gold Rush!"

The tourist exclaimed only to be followed up by the crowd.

"Pie Gold Rush! Pie Gold Rush!"

They all yelled, Charley was no visibly worried. He wondered what this pie gold rush was... what it ever it was... it certainly could not be good. Shimawaru nodded at the excitement and turned to view the contestants.

"Pie Gold Rush! SHIMA! You heard them, folks! We'll bring in many pies and one of them has a gold nugget in it! You have to eat as many pies as possible and find the hidden gold nugget! SHIMA! Since it's a penalty round we'll get into two teams and whoever wins gets double points!"

Charley shook his head and put his hand to his forehead. It was a race to find the golden nugget hidden in the pies. Numbers would dictate him and the mad scientist was at a disadvantage as they had fewer mouths to eat with. This did not bode well...

[RK]

GONG

Shotaro could feel the sound of the metal gong echo through his ears, it was very loud, but couldn't help but realize that his situation paled in comparison to that of the pink-haired guy. An impact like that could possibly leave him deaf, or even cause some brain damage. Shotaro was keen to go over and make sure he was ok, but it seemed like the actor had that covered. He seemed to be alright, but definitely disoriented.

After the scene had regained as much normalcy as it could, Shimawaru awarded points to both the weasel and the donkey, 50 each. Shotaro had no metric for how large an amount of points that was, but considering the initial prize was 100, it seemed to be quite good. However, the next piece of information that would leave Shimawaru's mouth was definitely not good. However, that seemed to be a recurring theme with him.

"Mr. Hatter! It seems you and the Mad Scientist are going into a penalty round! You both removed your blindfold when it was stated not to do so! Right everyone!?"

Shimawaru's cacophonous voice made it apparent that both the actor and Shotaro had broken the rules. Shotaro considered bringing up the validity of this claim, as Shotaro had already knocked himself off the stage before he had taken his blindfold off. However, he was well aware that when it came to fighting Shimawaru with words, he was cleanly outmatched, and decided to accept his fate.

Shimawaru explained that the next round was a penalty round, and after speaking with the crowd, it was determined that the game would be something called "Pie Gold Rush."

The objective was to find a gold nugget hidden inside a pie...

Ok

Shotaro looked on as a couple of cute girls wheeled in an enormous table filled to the brim with pies.

They didn't look very good, just some typical stage show cream pies. The issue however was the sheer amount. There had to be at least 400 pies on this gigantic table. Shotaro was told that he had to eat the pies but, he had no intention of actually consuming a vast number of pies just to gain a measly few points in this ridiculous game.

Shotaro began to rub his chin, and adjusted his glasses. He moved closer to his teammate, the local north blue actor, and thought for a moment.

"We're going to be working together on this, lets hope you've got a big appetite for pies."

Shotaro jokingly remarked, tapping his feet and placing his hands inside his pockets. He felt like there was something he was missing here, a certain factor that he hadn't accounted for that could make this a lot easier for him.

The Mad Scientist was doubting himself a bit, he had messed up on the first game, he couldn't let the same thing happen with this one. He was a genius after all. He needed to prove it right here, right now. He didn't care about impressing anyone, he just needed to reassure himself of his own intelligence. That's all that mattered to him.

Shotaro scratched his head and looked over at the actor. He hadn't actually formally introduced himself. While one may shy away from talking to famous people, Shotaro had no issues with such things, he wanted to be famous one day himself.

"I guess we're gonna be working together on this one. My name is Morishi Shotaro. Hopefully we can whether this challenge with the odds weighted against us!"

Shotaro extended a hand to shake, but pulled it back just as quickly as he had a stroke of intense genius. That was it! That was the factor he was overlooking. The weight! Whichever pie had the golden nugget inside it would have to be heavier than the others! Shotaro cracked his knuckles, hearing a strange metal clanking noise. He looked around for a moment, accompanied by a strange sound in his head.

At...Ho...loc...CE...pin...Ami...fall.

Shotaro's head was ringing for a moment, before the sound faded. There was a lot of static but he felt almost like someone was speaking to him. He couldn't see anyone talking to him specifically. What was that just now?

[Shinku]

The game was going on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The show master was still getting the captive audience excited, or at least that was Rince's best guess on what was happening. His ears still refused to give him proper auditory imput. People were moving around the stage and some assistant was guiding him to sit next to Mr. Frog-man. The look he got from Mr. Too-short-Suit was a funny one, funny as in strange not the ha-ha sort of funny, but Rince couldn't quite place the look. It was a mixture of inquisitive puzzlement or maybe disapproval, but at least it wasn't outrigth hatred. Though... Rince wasn't sure if he wouldn't prefer the to be hated, as that was a feeling that was usually easy to spot in people... and then at the very least you knew what you had to expect.
But surely the man would not openly attack him? Not with all those people watching.
There was still a chance that he or one of the other contestants would try something funny in order to win the prize. When there were people who kidnapped someone's animal companion in order to get their hands on it, then there were likely others who'd try to cheat their way into winning.

Maybe I'll have to resort to cheating too, he thought gloomly.
While he had no moral calms about using dirty tactics to get through life, he still prefered to play it straight.
Mainly because playing dirty could get you into even more – often painful – trouble than playing fairly did. But if he played fair and lost, then the lose would be too painful to pay. Who knew what that Lady in Red would do with Bruce if he couldn't win the prize for her?
Was it too early to think about a strategy to steal the prize instead? Or one on how to save Bruce without the prize... but that would be difficult as he had no clue where to search for his friend and to take the woman captive in order to exchange hostages also seemed to be difficult as she had multiple guards around her.
No... right now, winning the competition was his best bet, so he better try his hardest!

Which was easier said than done...
How did one win a competition when one had no clue what the game was about?
The ringing in his ears had thankfully softened a bit and his dizziness was almost gone, but he still couldn't hear a thing!
Instead he tried to focus on his suroundings to find hints on what he had to do.
The first thing he noticed was that they were all placed in a circle, each getting their own chair, save for the donkey who had to stand.
The placement of those chairs wasn't symmetric however. One side had more chairs than the other – three against two. Also, the donkey was – and Rince was not amused at all by that part - lead to stand right next to him!
Lucky for the animal as a donkey sitting on one of those chairs would likely look hilarious for the audience but it would be rather unpractical for the donkey.
As he examined the donkey, he also noticed the sign with its name on it.
Tito, huh... I'll remember that, he thought sullenly.

Then a couple of nicely dressed woman pushed in a big table on wheels with a pile of cream pies on top of it.
His cold green eyes went wide as he saw the food.
Considering how horrible the first game had been, he had expected another painful experience, and yet! Could it really be? This definitelly looked like one of those eating competitions!
If so, Rince would even be happy to participate.
Getting free food was worth the little pain of getting hit – kicked? - around the room.
Maybe there was a catch there though? Maybe those pies would be half rotten?
Still, that could be an advantage for him as he was used to eat food that had passed its expiration date. Sometimes bad food was just better than no food at all when you were starving and his stomach had learned to adapt to his usually precarious situation.

He sat there with the pile of pies in front of him, feeling his mouth water at the thought of eating them. They had also placed a plate in front of each contestant, though no one had yet taken a pie yet.
Rince was still considering if his guess was the right one, when the Frog-man next to him reached out, took a pie and began to eat as if there was no tomorrow!
Was it a false start? Or had he missed the signal to start?
Probably the later as Tito had joined in and munched on two pies at once.

Not wanting to lose any more ground, Rince started to attack the cream pies with fervor and had soon caught up and with the early starters before passing them with ease.
The pies were delishious!
Rince had always liked sweet stuff. But due to his money being constantly low, he only bought sweets in moderation. And in the wild there was no way to get sweets as he couldn't just hunt for cakes and chocolate as he could hunt for meat. (Not like he did that very often either as he prefered food that couldn't fight back, like berries and plants.)
Anyway, to be able to eat to his hearts content was a blessing and the best thing that had happened to him in months!
Maybe others would have scoffed at the pies as their quality was low, but Rince really enjoyed them.
Happily he grabbed his fifth slice and dug into it.Not to mentioned that the meager boy was always slightly malnurished and the fat and sugar would do wonders for his body, it was also likely to give him the much needed energy for the other games that were yet to come! If he could eat enough now, it could last him for days!