10th Aniversary Mind Control!

[[NPC] North Korea]

You need any help down there?

THE BLOODY HELL D'YA DO TO MY SHAFT?! S'LIKE SOMEONE DROPPED A NUKE DOWN 'ERE!

Hey man, I didn't even know this place existed until a few hours ago, so it wasn't me.

North! There you are! Have you seen Mizuki-san? I came down like she asked but I couldn't find her anywhere.

She used an escape rope to leave a while ago, so you probably missed her.

Is there someone new up there? Have we met yet?

Oh yeah, and the Prime Minister of Pantheria is here too.

O-Oh... That must be why Mizuki-san left.

Well I'm sure we'll get along at least.

Mr. Wyatt climbs out of the elevator, showing considerable difficulty pushing the elevator doors out of the way.

Hoooo~! That shaft is a piece of work, let me tell you. Gonna need a team of fifty men just to fix it...

Are you fixing this elevator? Would you like my help?

WHOOOOAAA HELLO! Didn't see you there miss...?

Drossel Starwood. Architect major. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Prime Minister.

Yeah yeah! Likewise!

Drossel accepts a handshake from Mr. Wyatt.

So would you like my help? I'll have you know I'm much more than raw muscle. I'm deeply in tune with the metric system and I've even developed a custom "Scan" ability so I can make measurements just from looking. Not to mention my passive ability that-

...On second thought, I think I got this!

Wyatt puts a hand on the elevator door and effortlessly pushes it open. Cracking both his knuckles, he climbs back into the safety ladder and slides down to the bottom.

IF YOU CAN FIND ANY SPARE PARTS LYING AROUND I'D GREATLY APPRECIATE IT! NEED TO REBUILD THAT PULLEY SYSTEM! THAT WE DO!

[[NPC] Cornelius]

After Michi used the escape rope, she was transported to the mansion foyer. Immediately she bumps into a tall man in a dark suit and large, gray bird wings. With him is a future version of Bugsy II who's dressed in some kind of superhero outfit. The man with bird wings is carrying a case file with him. Michi isn't very happy to see him.

UUUUGH WHY ME?! What do you want?!

I've been looking for the earliest iteration of you all morning. I've had to go through three other Chihiros until one of them told me where to find you.

Please PLEASE tell me you're not a guest too.

Relax. I have no interest in such juvenile activities. However, I will require this event's temporal benefits to aid in my future cases... but for your benefit I will remain in the most secluded room of this building, on the third floor, for the foreseeable future. I've only come to deliver this, after which I will be out of your hair to the best of my ability.

Okay, let's rip the bandage off and get this over with.

The winged man passes a file to Michi.

Case File

A beefy case file filled with legal documents addressed to Chihiro Mizuki.

Paperwork

A stack of paperwork stapled together. It requires the recipient's signatures and needs to be dated.

Certificate

A colorful certificate. It's made of high-end quality paper, and sealed with an official stamp by the Vitalian government. It too needs to be signed by the recipients.

......Oh... you were talking about this.

It took us two years, but you've officially been approved. All that's left are your signatures and I can have the paperwork processed. Coincidentally we're from the same time period, so you should probably date the papers accordingly. Congratulations.

......

I *ahem* hope this is enough for us to put our rocky past behind us.

I... I need a moment. Can I get back to you on this?

Of course. Take your time. Mr. Travis, can you show me to my room?

Sure thing brah.

Thanks.

The man stops for a second. He doesn't bother to turn around, but answers back.

301. That's the room I'll be staying in. Make sure Miss Landers knows.

...Miss Landers? That's... awfully formal of you.

Is there a problem with that?

No, no.

...If you must know, I don't think I deserve to call her by her first name just yet.

Travis leads the winged man upstairs.

Haha... Yeah, we'll see... We'll see...

Priscilla runs out of the basement and past Michi.

Hey Cilla! You find that alchemy lab?

YEP!

Priscilla leaves though the Bend Gate in the foyer.

Bird Feather

A colorful feather you found on the ground.

[[NPC] Ai]

Ai knows EXACTLY who that is.

That is Cornelius Finch. He's held the office of Little City's District attorney for the last ten years, and worked as prosecutor for the last eighty years, working closely with the Justice Core in the 90s to hunt down the criminal underground of Little City. Depending on what time period he comes from, he might be working on the case of Bugsy's murder since the two are supposedly long-time friends.

He's also kind of a dick sometimes.

But aside from that, he could be a very useful outside influence to keep the event running smoothly, and help calm city panic over the barrier trapping people inside the park. What could he have been talking with Chihiro about?

Originally Cornelius would have been a single-appearance background character, but because Ai rolled a 20, Cornelius' role in the story has been upgraded. He will now make a reappearance in a later episode, and play an important roll with the Justice Core later on. We ask that you stop reading right now and give a round of applause to Harvey Birdman. We finally got our monster boy in the story.

Ai finds Michi so she can complain discuss what North made up told her earlier.

Mizuki-san, did you want to see me about something?

Did I?

Um... yeah? If you know about certain guests that could become troublemakers you need to see me first. Don't put your entourage in charge of policing my event. It's disrespectful.

Michi notices North gesturing to her.

Oh. Oh! Oh yeah I forgot. Sorry about that.

Lemme seeeee... Ummm...

Here we go.

Michi's Shit List

A record kept by Michi of people who have either earned her scorn or caused insurmountable or irreparable damage to her or her guild.

Here's a list of people that have caused my guild trouble in the past. If you don't want your awesome time travel event going to hell, make sure these people don't step foot in here. Every last one of them is a Big Threat, capital B, capital T, sometimes all caps.

I'll be the judge of that.

Ai reads off a dozen names. Each one has a photo assigned to it with a description of whatever crime they're guilty of. Ai doesn't recognize any of them.

"Matty the Wild"...
"Zebra Stripes"...
"Magenta Cyan"...
"Jack Frost"...
"Avila Passerine"...

Wait, why is Mr. Wyatt on here?!... And why is his description "I hate his guts"?!
And why is there a note at the bottom mentioning "Mr. Anetic and his butt-naked android"?!

Sorry, that's actually my shit list. If I knew ahead of time I would have prepared something specifically for this event.

Actually, let me see that. Some of those are suppose to be crossed off.

Ai hands the list back to Michi. She crosses a grand total of two names off it and hands the list back.

Okay, but I'm not banning Mr. Wyatt because you hate him.

That's fair. At the very least, don't let a majority of those people in, especially not Matty.

Boss, come on, Matty's not that bad.

Okay fine, Matty can stay.

Is this just a list of your enemies?! Michi, I'm not banning people just because you hate them.

Whatever. I'll ask Naru about it later. She can separate the actual dangerous people. I gotta get back to work. If you need me and can't find one of my alts talk to Risky or another staff member. And PLEASE don't cause any trouble while you're here, okay?!

*sigh* Okay...

After spending all morning trying to pull Naru from the event, Ai has finally gotten Naru to Soup-Con. Naru and Zarath have been enjoying themselves, but as for Ai she feels just like a kid again. Heck, the kid version of her even showed up to hang out and Ai was okay with it. And best of all, Naru never tried to weasel her way out of the convention to interfere back at Central Park.

It is now a quarter til five. Naru, Ai, and Zarath are attending a Voice Actor panel for one of Naru's favorite franchises.

We've only got about fifteen minutes, so now's a good time to move into some Q&A!

We'll also be doing line reading requests.

But only a few!

Only a few. We'll try and limit questions and requests to one per person, so think about what you want to say before you ask. If we don't get to read yours... Well... sorry, nothing we can do. Better luck next time.

Yes! You with the ponytail!

My friend here has a request!

Can you say "Riku, please return my feelings for you!" in Sora's voice?

The crowd cheers wildly.

We won't get in trouble for that, will we?

D-Don't mind her! If it's too much trouble you don't ha-

RIKU! PLEASE RETURN MY FEELINGS FOR YOU!

The crowd screams in excitement and applause.

Sora, I'm sorry. I'm incapable of love. My heart is too full of darkness.

Don't say that Riku! I know in my heart of hearts that in your heart is light!

The crowd screams in excitement again!

Hey Sora, I have boobs now.

Yeah yeah that's nice.

The crowd erupts with laughter. Someone in the crowd shouts "abandon ship!" The laughter grows louder. The pannelists can't hold themselves together.

After the panel is over, the three of them are back on the convention floor.

Everyone having fun? How you feeling so far?

[[NPC] Naru]

Feelin' pretty good, actually.

Nooo you gotta finish the joke! "Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feeeeeellll-"

Oh shut up you.

Ah! I almost forgot! They're bringing back the fire show this year! Naru, you have to check it out! I went back to the year where they first started having the fire show, and it's a lot cooler than it sounds!

Okay, okay, lead the way!

Naru gets a message on her PDA.

Oh, hold on a sec. Someone's calling me.

Hello?

Hey there. Having fun?

Been having fun. Zarath and I were gonna go see a fire show with Ai. How goes the event?

Great. It's great. You go have fun. I'll just grab Travis I guess.

Grab Travis? What for?

It's nothing.

No, Sensei, what's wrong? Did something happen?

Naru, they can handle the event on their own. Come on, we're gonna miss the fire show.

Hey, do what you want, but Travis just dropped a bomb on me just now. Apparently he told Cilla to hide in the zoo if anyone was antagonizing her, and now I think she's trapped in there.

Trapped?!

Yeah, as in she can't leave. Well, I mean, she CAN, but she doesn't know that. I was gonna go in and look for her, but that could take the rest of the afternoon, so I'm trying to get as many of her confidants as I can round up to help me.

...What?

Oh that's right! Never mind, North told me future you is here. I'll just ask her for help.
False alarm! Have fun at the convention!

Michi hangs up.

See? Don't worry about it. There's a future version of you that can help with the event in your place. Now if I'm not mistaken they're holding the fire show outside by the-

Zarath hold my bags I'll be right back.

Wh- back from where?! If you're thinking what I think you're-

Ai don't worry I'll be right back real quick!

Naru spirits back to the park.

DAMNIT NARU! DID YOU LISTEN TO ANYTHING I JUST SAID?!

I'll see if I can talk her into coming back. Can you watch our stuff for us?

Wh- Zarath don't-

Thanks!

Zarath spirits back to the park.

GFDSDGHJGFDSDFGHGFDSDFG!!!!!!!

[[NPC] Naru]

Naru spirits herself right outside the Central Park Zoo. Michi isn't there.

Travis, however, is there along North, Drossel, and Milan.

Can anyone tell me what happened? Where's Sensei?

Your guildmaster already ran in. She wanted me to stay and guard the entrance. Not sure why though.

Err... Trust me, it's better if you don't know.

Yeah, so stop asking questions.

Well, okay, but I know the layout of the zoo. You all sure you won't get lost?

I think we can handle this.

Oooookay.
Raise of hands, who here knows about this zoo, and I mean this particular zoo?

No one? Yeah I thought so.

Zarath spirits to the entrance of the zoo.

Ai said your future self is coming to help, so we should get back to the convention.

If future me wanted to help so badly she should have gotten here sooner!
Whatever, I'm going in. The less I have to justify myself the sooner I can get this over with.

Miss Naru, we have the situation under control. There's more than enough people here to form a search party.

Then some of you can stand guard. Zarath and I can spirit around the zoo and cover more ground.

Ai is not gonna like this.

We can get this done super quick it won't take more than five minutes. You're a confidant too Zarath you should come help. If Ai wants us to see the fire show that badly we can always time travel.

......damn I can't argue with that.

Then it's settled. I'm going in.

Naru spirits directly into the zoo.

YOU'E SUPPOSE TO USE THE ENTRANCE!

Ai is still not gonna like this!!!

Zarath spirits into the zoo after Naru.

WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!

Ugh for crying out loud... Guess they wanna learn the hard way.

Sensei!!! Where are you?!



Sensei!!!?



Sensei!

[[NPC] Naru]

Naru has been transformed into a rabbit. Specifically a European Rabbit.

Another rabbit, this time a Brabander, hops up to Naru from the shrub behind her.

At least wait until I can explain how this place works first.

Travis!! What- How- Why?!?!

Wanna know why this zoo has no animals in it? It's because the guests are the animals. As long as you're inside the zoo you're polymorphed into an animal based on your personality... and other factors like history, psychology, blood type, zodiac sign, report card, and so on. Kids love it.

Is this even safe?! What if this is permanent?!

Nonononono! It's fine. Perfectly safe. Just leave the park and you'll turn back to normal. Also, your level and all your stats are set to the average level of everyone in the zoo. Hit points and armor also get increased because, obviously, it would be bad if one guest suddenly ate another. "People may get turned into toads, but—hot d***—those toads will be made of iron."

Oh, but your clothes don't change with you, so maybe don't leave until you get them back.

Another animal comes out of the shrub from behind them.

wh-

Milan has become a Troll. He takes a few seconds to look at his new, fluffy body.

Yeah see? His clothes are gone too. Next time use the designated changing rooms instead of hopping the fence. Little City is not responsible for anything that happens if you don't follow the rules listed on the unmissable billboard at the entrance.

WHERE THE **** IS MY DICK!?

Pfft!

Pwhahahahahaha!!!

SHUT YOUR ****ING FACE THIS ISN'T FUNNY!

You really don't know anything about this zoo do you? I tried to tell you. The polymorph effect hides your junk in addition to turning you into animals. You'd think that wouldn't be a problem because we don't see animals the same way as people, but there was a complaint a few years ago that some couple came in here and went at it like literal dogs in heat behind a shrub. People got worried about that kind of thing being exposed to children.

Actually, now that I think about it, it happened somewhere over where you're standing right now.

AH! EW! EW! EW!

Don't worry, you'll get your anatomy back when you leave the park.

YOU BETTER HOPE I DO!

Naru has entered the first minigame of the event: Little City Zoo Rescue

For every post Naru will roll to look for Michi and Priscilla. If she rolls an 18, 19, or 20, Naru will find them, and be rewarded with some loot and zenny. If Naru rolls any other number she will instead encounter another character that has entered the zoo. After ten rolls Naru will find Michi and Priscilla regardless of rolling an 18, 19, or 20, but she won't be rewarded any loot or zenny.

[[NPC] Naru]

While searching the suburb area, Naru encounters a red fox.

Naru! Naru! Homg this place is amazing!!!!!!!

Mom?! Wh-Why are you in here?!

Because it's amazing!!!!!!

Having fun Mrs. Matsuri? We're looking for Ms. Mizuki. Wanna help?

Mi-chan's in here too?!?!?

Oh! Oh! Naru help me find Mi-chan! I wanna know what animal she turned into!!!

I'm kinda curious what animal sensei is as well.

Maybe she turned into a wolf?! Oh! No! She must be a lion! Oh! Or maybe she's a giant snake?!?!

NO WAIT!

...She's a SHARK!!!

So long as she doesn't complain to the city I don't care what she is.

Are you even one of Cilla's confidants? I can't remember if you are or not.

What's a confidant?

Never mind. Do you want to help me look for sensei?

Yeah yeah yeah! Let's go find Mi-chan!

Asami has joined the party.

[[NPC] Naru]

Naru enters the desert region of the zoo. There she finds a desert cat that appears to be an odd mix of various panthera. Despite wearing the coats of such dangerous beast, he is neither big nor intimidating as any of them.

Heeeeeey~!
How are we going to explain all this to Ai? She must be pretty pissed right about now.

Well I'm sorry for caring about one of my friends over another, but Cilla's been stuck in here all afternoon while we were selfishly enjoying ourselves at some stupid con.

How is that selfish? We didn't know Cilla was in here until Sensei called you. Heck, Sensei probably didn't know either. Cilla must have lost her PDA when she came in and couldn't call anybody.

Sorry, that was my fault. I told her about the zoo and she ran off without knowing how this place worked. Four hours later Mizuki asked me where she went and it suddenly clicked that she might be trapped in here. Can't imagine you can use a PDA too well if all you have are paws.

Zarah's PDA is sitting next to him vibrating from an incoming call he is unable to answer.

Exhibit A: My PDA has been blaring nonstop and I have no way of answering it. Ai probably thinks we blew her off.
And Soup-con is not stupid. You loved it there!

Yeah and I still feel bad about it.

Naru please don't feel bad about enjoying yourself. Come on, we can still make the fire show if we leave now.

We can still catch it if we use time travel.

We can come back and help Cilla if we use time travel! We both know we re-visit this event years in the future, let's just worry about finding Cilla and Sensei then!

Zarath if I don't do this I'll just do nothing but worry during the fire show and I won't be able to enjoy myself. Let's just get this done and ask Ai to take us back in time so we don't have to disappoint her. Deal?

......

*sigh* There's really no convincing you, is there? If we do this will you promise to enjoy the rest of the con with no distractions?

I promise. And thank you.

Hey Naru. How you feeling?

*sigh*

"Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feeeeeellll toniiiight"...

"It's haaaaaaarrrrrd to let it gooooo~"

See? I knew you enjoyed it there.

[[NPC] Naru]

There's a large gate keeping Naru from searching the rest of the park. Before Naru can turn around and look somewhere else, she's spotted by a ferocious lion wandering the park.

AH!!!

I thought I closed the zoo down for maintenance.

Hi Mr. Lion!

Oh... Right... You must be one of the zoo staff. Sorry, my friend got lost in here. We'll leave as soon as we find each other.

You don't have to. We haven't had anyone visit the zoo in the last two days. We haven't had anyone visit the park now that I think about it.

This is Mr. Lion. He's in charge of running the zoo. You know the control tower outside? That whole building controls the polymorph status effect for the zoo, and Mr. Lion can alter it in the event of an emergency.

There rarely are emergencies, but you can never be too careful.

Wait, if you're in here... who's running the tower?

Pretty sure I left Deago in charge. I closed the area up ahead for maintenance, but if Bugsy is with you I suppose I could grant you clearance. Just promise you won't break anything. Especially the pipes. Try not to break the pipes. Do you need to pass?

Thanks, that would be great. And we'll be on our best behavior.

Mr. Lion speaks into a microphone protruding from his collar.

Deago?

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Could you open the jungle area gate? We have some visitors that need to get through.

Uuuuuuuuugh fiiiiiiiiiiinnnneeee...

HNNG!

NNNGH! HHHHHNGHHH!

*click*

theeeeeereeee!

The gate to the next area opens.

Thanks man!

Anytime, mate. Come back and let me know when you're done, okay?