Sorry it took so long. I find myself apologizing for late chapters a lot, I should probably remedy that. That said, next one will probably take even longer, as I've got the science fair going on at my school. That, and I just got a great idea for a Yu Yu Hakusho fic. Look forward to that. Then again, it might just come sooner- I wrote myself into a corner with this chapter. It seemed like a good enough idea on the figurative paper, but in practice, it turned out well, just not very good. If I had to pick a metaphor, it'd be Oliver Hirschbegel's Der Untergang, a very good movie about a very boring concept that only sounds cool at first. Speaking of German, I won't be using any more sprinkled in. My friend Tristan, who lends his last name to a character here, would probably laugh his ass off at me if I were to show him that I was using Google Translate. What's it, thirty percent accurate? Anyway, here it finally is after a month or so. Enjoy!

Turnabout City, Part Two

The doorbell gave off a clear, cheerful ring, announcing the group's arrival. On the other hand, it gave a dull contrast to my quickly rising anxiety levels, fueled by Franziska's constant warnings, of which I weren't sure were due to sibling-induced worry or purposely feeding the flames of my fear. Elena, being herself, attempted to fix what she started by more-or-less consoling me- "Sorry if you're that scared, Miles... I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. But you still gotta do it." That, of course, didn't serve to calm me in any way, up to the point where a waiter came up and greeted us.

The man had dark skin and a thick moustache, which in turn was accompanied with an even thicker accent. "Welcome. Table for three?" We nodded, and he led us to the closest booth, of which we took the liberty of sliding into. Well, Franziska and myself, at least. Elena waited and took the man aside, whispering in hushed tones- I caught "reservation" and "special course". Evil, maniacal grins slowly crept across their faces, and they exchanged a high-five, the waiter running off to the kitchens excitedly, yelling something gleefully in some foreign language at twenty words a second, and Elena finally joining us, also gleeful.

"I strongly hesitate to ask..." I muttered, scooting as far away from her as the small space would allow. "But what exactly are you planning...?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out in... Twenty to thirty minutes assuming a twenty-four hour prior call-in," she replied, winking as she grabbed a paper menu off of a nearby shelf.

"Don't worry about a thing, we've got it all taken care of. "

"Yes, because the last time you took care of my business ended so well."

She smiled innocently.

Franziska looked around, miming a whipping motion with her bare hands. "What a funny restaurant. Where are the forks and spoons and knives and such?" she asked crossly. "Do not tell me we are expected to eat with our bare hands."

"As a matter of fact, we are," I replied in a mocking tone, flicking her lightly on the forehead. "If you are truly keeping up at thrice the level of your class, you should be completely aware of major, widespread habits in various world cultures." Accordingly enough, she responded with, lacking her trusty riding crop, a slap to the face with no open-palm punches pulled.

"So..."

"Yeah?"

"How's that boyfriend thing working out?

"Hm?"

"That Sommers fellow."

"Oh, that. Nah, I'm just dating him since he's rich. He got me this gold necklace for my birthday."

"...What about the entire pack of candy necklaces I got you?"

"I ate those on the spot, remember?"

"Who couldn't? It never fails to amaze me how skinny you stay with your diet."

"On the contrary. The word 'diet' is nonexistent in my dictionary."

"Oh, I can certainly believe that."

"If you two are finished bantering as if you were my age, here comes the waiter again." Indeed, the man whisked gleefully back out of the kitchens, balancing a positively gigantic green platter, glinting silver in the air as it flew to our table. With a bow and a flourish, he set down a plate that was laden thrice its height in bowls of-

Curry. Lots and lots and lots of curry. Red curry, yellow curry, yellow curry with red spots, a suspicious green curry with plaid spots, and an orange one that was hissing and bubbling and pretty much looked like it was already on fire. I could practically feel my taste buds dying off as my tongue shriveled to ashes in the burning rages of an Indian blaze. As any rational being would understand, I quickly got as far away from the mountain of lava and turned on Elena, trying my best to contain my anger. "Tell me this isn't my order. For your own safety."

She turned the other way and whistled. "I believe it was George Washington Carver who said 'I cannot tell a lie."

"That's just George Washington, fool," I growled, attempting to sound as menacing as possible without bursting into full-blown shouting, not even caring that I was visibly losing my calm image. "Now explain this very instant what's going on here."

"Calm down, Edgey," she said, waving me off as Franziska poked the orange bowl curiously and sucked on her finger. She instantly keeled over unconscious, smog billowing in tons out of her ears. "It's just a small challenge, nothing to it. Just finish the platter completely, no time limit as long as you finish in a reasonable time. Do it right, and all three of our meals are free, ja? Hop to it!" she grinned, giving me two thumbs up.

I replied wordlessly by giving her one certain finger up.

On the other hand, the one that was currently not flashing a severe obscenity, all eyes in the room were currently centered on me and the literal hell that was sitting in front of me. I figured I might as well get it over with before I murdered the smiling girl on my right, so I tore off a piece of the bread provided and submerged it in the liquid. It started smoking, and I could smell something burning. Shakily, I raised the dripping bread to my mouth, closing my eyes and pinching my nose, and took a bite.

Suffice to say the sun had nothing on the raging inferno ripping apart the inside of my mouth.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you, Miles," Elena piped up, oblivious to the fact that the cacophony raised by the pain I was feeling rendered it virtually impossible to hear anything. "You only get that one glass of water right there-"

She was silenced as I threw her aside, desperate to get the glass she was blocking. Water splashed about everywhere as I madly drained my, Franziska's, and Elena's cups at once. The fire was still yet to be quenched, so I literally leaped onto the next table over and chugged the glasses an appalled-looking couple were about to reach for. Still desperate for relief, my antics proceeded this way until the floor was completely drenched and every table had been sucked dry of moisture. My mouth was still doing calisthenics, but the flame had been at least temporarily satiated, so I plodded back to our booth and sat down with a thud, resting my near-unconscious head on the table with a satisfied sigh.

Elena, on the other hand, was not so happy. "Failed the challenged with the first bite. You fail, you pay- in other words, you owe me sixty euros."

That did it- I fainted for real.