Orience's Supermarket Sweep
"ARE YOU READY TO GO SHOPPING? STEP INSIDE OUR VERY SPECIAL SUPERMARKET, THE ONLY SUPERMARKET IN THE WORLD THAT GIVES YOU MONEY!" A loud voice boomed across the set, and Eight could do nothing to try and stop his body from shaking. This was the first time anyone had approached Academia for a mission quite like this, and Class Zero had been chosen to carry it out, so Eight knew it had to be important. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned and saw his partner Ace with a friendly smile on his face.
"Let's do our best today, alright?" He smiled even wider and tilted his head a little , and Eight couldn't help but laugh. Suddenly he wasn't as nervous anymore, with Ace by his side he could do anything.
"SO LET'S WELCOME TODAY'S SHOPPERS, WHO ARE..." That was their cue. Eight ran onto the set with Ace right in front of him, as Ace was the leader of their group.
"KING AND NINE FROM CLASS ZERO!" The sound of applause was loud, although Eight thought he could hear Nine complaining, something like "Why do I have to do this, yo?"
"DEUCE AND CINQUE FROM CLASS ZERO!" The applause was louder this time, although Eight definitely heard someone falling over and a loud "Owwwwweeeeeee..., most likely Cinque, followed by a soft voice saying "Oh dear, are you all right?"
"AND ACE AND EIGHT FROM CLASS ZERO!" At last, Ace and Eight ran around the corner of the aisle, waving furiously at the crowd cheering for them. They ran behind their podium with giant smiles on their faces, Eight felt a rush of adrenaline, he could get used to this.
"YOU'RE ALL ON SUPERMARKET SWEEP! AND HERE'S YOUR HOST, DAAAAAAALE WINTON!" Suddenly, a strange man with awful fashion sense walks in and looks at the three teams with a very judgmental but also sassy look in his eyes.
Eight leaned towards Ace and whispered "Who is this guy?"
Ace replied, "I'm not sure, maybe he's some sort of Militesi governor or something." Eight thought that sounded logical enough so he put those thoughts aside for now. Dale turned towards the cameras that Eight had only just noticed and started to speak.
"Hello and welcome to a special Orience edition of Supermarket Sweep! Today one of our teams could be walking away with 20,000gil!" At this the sound of the crowd was almost deafening with applause, but Eight could see the looks of shock on the other teams faces. There had been no mention of money in their mission brief, so this new detail was shocking but also exciting, if the higher ups hadn't mentioned it then maybe they could keep it!
Dale continued, "What they have to do is prove their shopping skills and knowledge by building up valuable minutes and seconds on their clocks, which are then taken with them up into the market to go wild through the aisles. The more time they have, the more shopping they can do."
"To get you started, I'll give you all a minute on your clocks." The podiums made a dinging sound, and the screens on the front of them changed to read 1:00.
"And as a little taster of what you'll be doing later on, we'll run a mini sweep, this is a chance to add an instant 10 seconds to your clocks, and a possible 250 gil to your sweep total." Eight suddenly felt tense again. This is where the real mission started. He felt strange, he had been on many missions where there was a very high chance he wouldn't survive, but somehow this made him feel much more tense. Maybe it was because he was working closely with... Nah it couldn't be. Eight shook his head to clear his nerves and started to listen again.
"Are you ready? Good, here we go..." Ace would be answering the questions for now, so Eight was confident he would be running.
"What product am I looking for? It comes in a container, and contains lots of vitamins and nutrients, and is essential to any military expedition-" Dale was cut of by the sound of Ace's podium.
"Fortified rations," Ace answered.
"Why yes that's correct, here's 10 seconds." The crowd cheered, and Eight let out a deep breath. This is where he comes in.
"Aaaaawwwwwww, no fair Acey, I was gonna get that ooooonnnne." Cinque slumped across her podium with a pout on her face, while Deuce smiled while holding her hands in front of her chest. King simply let out a tsk, while Nine looked his he was going to explode with rage at any second.
Dale continued, "Alright, so as Ace answered the question, Eight, you will run the mini sweep. Somewhere out there is a jar or a bottle of fortified rations with this sticker on it." He held up a small sticker of the vermillion bird.
"If you bring it to me within 30 seconds I'll add 250 gil to your sweep total. Are you ready? Off you go!" Eight turned and sprinted away in a flash. He was the faster of him and Ace so he would be much more efficient at finding items. Although soon Eight realised he had never been in this supermarket in his life, so he had absolutely no idea where anything was kept. He had no time to stop and think, he was running out of time as it was.
"Think Eight, think. Where would they keep the rations? I know, the canned foods aisle!" Eight ran as fast as his legs would take him to where he could see lots of little cans lined up neatly on a shelf. Even before he got there Eight saw the vermillion bird sticker on the side of some rations. Maybe making it such a bright red colour wasn't the best idea. As he rushed back to Dale, Eight glanced towards Ace. He had such a wide smile, his white teeth seemed to brighten up the room. Eight had never taken the time to notice it before, but Ace had this way of smiling that just seemed to light up the room and make everybody watching get this warm feeling inside. However now was hardly the time, and Eight ran over and handed the can to Dale.
"Well done Eight, now that's 250 gil added to your sweep total, why don't you go back over to your team so we can get to know you all." Eight jogged back over to Ace, who greeted him with a hug. They had never hugged before, so Eight wasn't expecting this, but he certainly enjoyed it. Ace's body was pressed up against his, with no room between them. This was the closest they had ever been, Eight swore he could feel Ace's heartbeat. But then it was over, and far too soon for Eight's liking.
"King and Nine, good morning, how are you both? Now how do you know each other?" Dale asked.
King answered, "Well, we're, umm... classmates." His voice sounded unsure as he answered, and Nine had a confused, yet angry look on his face.
"Yo, whadda you mean we're just classmates? Aren't w—Uuuuff!" Nine stopped suddenly as King proceeded to elbow him in the ribs.
"As I said, we're just classmates. Nothing more" King said sternly.
"...Alright, anyway I wish you both the best of luck today. Deuce and Cinque!" Dale turned away from the now quarrelling couple to face the two girls behind podium number 2.
"I know you two are very good friends, am I right?" "Yep, that's right Mr. Winsty! Me and and Deucey are best friends forever!" Cinque laughed and hugged Deuce tight. Deuce laughed and tried to push Cinque away.
"Cinque stop, there are lots of people watching! Not right now, ahaha!" Dale blushed slightly and turned to the last group.
"Ace and Eight, good morning, now I hear that both of you are Agito cadets, what do you do exactly?" Ace was the first to answer.
"Well, we do missions that the consortium of Rubrum asks of us, and we work to protect the dominion from danger." Eight stared at Ace while he spoke, he had a way of speaking that mesmerised him, plus the light in his eyes when he spoke about something important to him was so beautiful, Eight just couldn't take his eyes off of them.
"Well thank you for coming his evening, I wish you both luck." Eight had ben so transfixed on Ace he hadn't noticed he'd stopped talking.
"What we'll do is, we'll play a game. King, Cinque and Ace, if you'd like to take a break, and welcome Nine, Deuce and Eight to the front for our first game." As Dale spoke, Ace turned to walk away and leant towards Eight and quietly whispered into his ear.
"Good luck out there."
Eight felt a pat on his back as Ace ran away with the others. He felt slightly less confident about Ace not being by his side, but the fact that Ace was counting on him gave him a boost. He was ready for what was to come.
"We're gonna go all around the world now, I want you to imagine this is a supermarket in many parts of Orience, it might even be in a different part of Rubrum, and I'm sending you a postcard. You have to tell me where I am and where the cards come from. A possible 20 seconds can be made on this one, and the first one I can tell you, is from a city."
Eight was tense. He wasn't very confident with his Orience geography, his knowledge of Rubrum was great, but the other 4 states… He looked to his right. Deuce and Nine. Nine wasn't the sharpest spear in the armoury, so beating him would be fine. It was Deuce he was worried about. That calm smile hid a treasure trove of knowledge.
"Alright, in which city am I? Behemoth shanks are my speciality, and they're kept in cold storage unti-"
Eight could barely think before he heard the sound of a buzzer going off to his right.
"Bazz?" Answered Deuce. Of course she would know this.
"Let's see if you're right." A ding sounded from the ceiling. "Yes, 10 seconds." Deuce brought her hands to her chest and giggled. This would be tough.
"Which city am I in? If you like chocobos, you might not like the way they are served with mayonnaise. So little time, and yet so many bridges to cross. This city in Concordia-" Eight was just about to hit his buzzer when he heard a slam that was slightly louder than was necessary.
"Yo, I got this! Cetme!" There was a pause after Nine answered, in which everyone listening processed what exactly he had just answered.
"Let's see if that answer is right." A buzz sounded from the heavens. "Oh it's not right sorry about that. You know how it is, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't"
Nine shouted "What does that even MEAN, yo?" before slumping backwards. This was Eight's chance. He slammed the buzzer in front of him.
"Eibon"
"Let's see if that's correct." The friendly ding noise returned, and Dale smiled and said "Excellent, you've gotten it right!" Eight was ecstatic. He knew they hadn't won yet, but he was happy he could increase their chances.
"Well done, let's bring back your partners!" Ace ran up behind Eight and turned towards him, with a big smile on his face.
"Well done, you did it!"
Eight couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride well up within him. He had pleased Ace. Ace had given him a compliment. This was the best day of Eight's life.
"Okay, Nine, Deuce and Eight, we will see you later for the trolley dash, but would the returning players step forward, we're going to play a game now!" explained Dale. As Eight ran off, he turned and whispered to Ace the same way he had done earlier. As Eight left he swore he could see Ace start to blush, but he payed it no mind. Probably his imagination.
Eight ran off the set to the side, where Cater was waiting for him with a bottle of water. "Good work out there Eight!" Cater said, enthusiastically but also quietly. They were still filming mere feet away. "You two are doing great!"
Eight took the water from Cater's hand and drank it all in one gulp. "Thanks Cater, but it's Ace that's doing most of the work here," he replied.
"Hey, don't say that." Cater sat beside Eight. "You're doing just as much as he is, just because he's the smart one doesn't mean you running around means any less." She smiled at him, but just then Dale called the other contestants back up to the stage. "Good luck out there Eight!" Eight didn't look back but gave a wave as he ran back up to Ace.
Ace greeted Eight with the same smile he had left him with, and put his arm around Eight's shoulders as he ran up.
"We're doing great so far, I'm counting on you now."
Eight felt a new fire light in his heart, he wasn't about to let Ace down now, not when they'd all done so well.
"Now's the time when we see how the teams will do with the time they've been given. Now, King and Nine, you have 2:00, Deuce and Cinque, you have 2:00 also, while Ace and Eight have 2:10!"
That meant Eight had 10 seconds more than the others to get as big an advantage as he could. That should be more than enough time.
"The team that shops the best, in other words brings back the highest shopping total, will get to play for the 20,000 gil. Everything in the supermarket is yours for the taking, grab what you will. Well worth mentioning my shopping list, if you pick up all the items on the list I'll add a further 1000 gil to your subtotal. Here's what's on today's list; chocobo legs, a pint of yeti milk, and fried Garuda wings. That last one is very rare, as Garudas have been hunted to extinction in Orience. Also keep an eye out for the inflatable bonuses, they're worth between 250 and 1000 gil. Only one to each customer, but if you see it just grab it and throw it in your trolley. Are you ready to go shopping?"
After Dale's rather long-winded explanation, the three groups shouted in reply, "YES!"
Eight would be running against King and Cinque. He was faster than King, he was confident he could outrun him if he needed to, but Cinque was unpredictable. She could be a problem.
"Alright, Eight and Ace, you'll be going first, I'll count you in, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
Eight sprinted away from the other groups, with his trolley in front of him. He had 10 seconds, what would he do first? Of course, the Garuda wings! Eight was running towards them before he even realized where he was going. As soon as he picked up the honestly offensive packaging, he heard two more sets of feet and two more trolleys running towards him. Crap, his 10 seconds were over, only 2 minutes left.
"Outta my way Kingaling!" Eight heard Cinque shout as she rushed past King and straight into the meat section. Eight had to get to somewhere else before things got a bit too crowded for his liking. What was the next thing he needed…. Yeti milk! Eight ran towards the chilled goods section, and he could hear someone following him. Judging by the sound, and the lack of squealing, Eight guessed it was King. This could be bad.
Just as Eight reached for the milk, a hand reached for the same carton and wrenched it from his grasp. Eight looked towards King, the culprit, with a look of anger, while King just laughed and quickly turned away. "Great, guess I've lost some time then," though Eight as he grabbed another carton. He turned away just quickly enough to see Cinque pick up what looked like a giant inflatable lacrosse stick.
Next were the chocobo legs, now where on earth would they be? As Eight was wandering around looking for them while picking up any random items he thought looked vaguely expensive, he heard a familiar voice shouting. "Yo, what do you think you're doing, yo?"
"Sorry Nine, but all is fair in love and war!" The sound of a flute filled the room. Great, Cinque was going to be even more unpredictable than usual now. Eight spotted an inflatable airship and threw that into his trolley. It was full, he needed to bring it back to Ace.
As Eight ran towards Ace, he saw Nine basically screaming at Dale, who could only try and calm him down, as technically magical instruments weren't against the rules. Ace already had an empty trolley for Eight to take, and as he took it he shouted,
"Come on, you can do this! I believe in you!"
That was the encouragement Eight needed right now. The shouts of the people in the crowd meant nothing to him, not when Ace was right there next to him. Eight ran faster than he had ever ran before towards wherever they kept the meat in this place and picked up the chocobo legs he suspected were actually plastic props.
At this point there was only around 30 seconds left, but Eight had already gotten everything he needed. All he could do now was pick up random things that looked like they were worth a lot of gil, so Eight took one of everything in every aisle he ran through in a desperate attempt to gather together some cash, although he picked up basically every elixir in the building.
After another short while a voice shouted "Alright shoppers, your time is up, time to return to the checkouts." Eight had done all he could. Now all he could do it wait.
"Now we're going to let Aria, Moglin and this random Tonberry put these items through the till so we can decide who will be playing for the 20,000 gil. Let's add up these items now."
Ace ran over to Eight, who was so out of breath he honestly thought he was going to lose a lung, and grabbed him by both shoulders and stared into his eyes. "You did it Eight! You did it!" Ace laughed and smiled wider than he had all day. Eight couldn't help but smile back at him. It didn't matter if they won the money or not, Ace was happy and that was all Eight cared about.
After a while, the teams had grouped up again in front of the trolleys, ready for Dale to tell them the results.
"Right, all of the sums have been done, let's find out just who is going to go forward for the super-sweep. I can now reveal that King and Nine, taking your subtotal of 1500 gil from the shopping list and your inflatable, you have a total of… 3543 gil!" Nine let out a roar of delight, while King looked happy but also embarrassed at his partner's behavior.
"Now, Deuce and Cinque, even though you had a slightly controversial advantage, you failed to complete my shopping list, so adding to your subtotal of 250 gil, you have a total of…. 2368 gil!" Deuce looked happy with their result, although Cinque couldn't hold back her emotions and started to cry, although Deuce quickly managed to calm her down again.
"And now our final team, Ace and Eight. To play in the super-sweep for 20000 gil, you will need to have a total of more than 3543 gil. Now adding to your subtotal of 2000 gil, you have a total of….. 4005 gil! Congratulations, you'll be playing in today's super-sweep!" The crowd around them was cheering, although Eight could barely believe what he was hearing. They'd won. Him and Ace had won! Ace turned to Eight and hugged him close. Eight felt his face light up, and he was suddenly hotter than the entire Lorica region. This was not what he expected at all. He wasn't going to complain though. He quickly squeezed back before they released each other and ran over to Dale.
"Right, well this is it, somewhere in this supermarket is 20,000 gil hidden in cash. I feel that it's yours, I want you to go home with it. To find the money you have to solve the three clues that will lead you to the three specially marked products. Your minute doesn't start until I finish giving you the first clue."
Oh god, clues. Eight wasn't the smartest person in Class Zero, although Ace did pick him for his team, so he couldn't let him down.
"Right, here's your first clue. When you're working in Milites, a nice glass of _ _ is sure to keep you feeling patriotic." Read Dale.
Suddenly Ace shouted "White Tiger! White Tiger!" and pulled Eight along as he started running towards the alcohol aisle. Honestly Eight didn't think they'd be allowed in this aisle, but if whatever they were looking for was in there, then even if they were underage it was okay. After they jumped over the barrier, Ace pulled out a bottle that had the vermillion bird on its side and started to read.
"If you're feeling peckish at lunch, then some butter and 2 slices of _ _ should fill a hole- MCTIGHE BREAD MCTIGHE BREAD!" Ace ran out of the aisle faster than Eight could react. As they were running Ace started dodging and teleporting, as that made him move faster, although Eight wasn't sure if it actually made him go faster if it just seemed like he was faster. Anyway, eventually they made it to the bread aisle. This time Eight found the clue first, and read it aloud.
"This sounds like a city in Milites, but this fruit is actually an _ _" Eight turned to Ace for an answer, but Ace just looked confused. Oh no, Ace had no idea. Eight didn't know what to do, if Ace didn't know then- Wait. Eight knew this! "Azure pleasure…. AZURE PLEASURE! THAT'S IT!" Ace looked shocked for a second, but quickly turned and ran towards the fruit. They saw the vermillion bird from a mile away, and beside it, a bag containing 20,000 gil. Ace grabbed it and ran back to Eight and threw his arms around him.
"You did it Eight! You did it!" Eight grabbed Ace and span him around, his arms still wrapped around his neck.
"No Ace, we did it..." Their eye's met, and slowly Ace leaned in towards Eight's, their lips met and Eight's dreams had all come true.
…Or had they?