ATTENTION! PLEASE READ BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THE CHAPTER BELOW!
So yeah, in order to celebrate the Thanksgiving (and break that comes along with it) I decided to orchestra a play for this story as a sort of special! Obviously, there's gonna be drama and humor and whatever, but you'll find it hilarious!
I got this idea from remembering a certain story I read in a Highlights magazine when I was little. Still remember it because it was still funny. It was something called "The Year the Pilgrims stepped on..." whatever it was. Anyways, it was really funny to me as a kid.
That said, time for the special!
Oh, and for this chapter only, let's just assume that Atticus is fully recovered, okay?
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh series, only the OCs!
"Ooh! Ooh! What part did I get?!"
"I bet I got the main role! Eek! I can't wait to see who my Prince Charming is!"
"I hope I didn't get the evil queen!"
"I better not be one of those stupid dwarfs!"
"Hmm? What's going on?" Jaden wondered as a crowd of people were pressing up against some sort of bulletin board which mainly consisted of a long list everyone was eagered to learn about.
"Jaden, don't you remember the auditions we had to do last week?" questioned Syrus.
"Huh? Oh yeah! Atticus wanted me to do some really neat things!"
"...What do you mean?"
"WHAAAT?!" exclaimed Chazz once he read the list. "How?! Why?!"
"What's the matter, Chazz?" Jaden wondered, walking up to him before spotting the list everyone was so intrigued about. Apparently, it contained the roles everyone auditioned for the play "Snow White," which was strangely popular for some reason this year.
"I got the stupid role of being the Magic Mirror! How?! I was aiming to be the Huntsman!"
"Huh, what a coincidence," said Bastion, walking up to the group with his arms crossed. "I also wished to be the Magic Mirror, but instead, I got the Huntsman role instead."
Whirling towards Bastion, Chazz demanded, "Hey, you and me gotta switch roles then!"
"Agreed. I say we go confront Atticus and force him to switch our roles."
"Huh? Why Atticus?" wondered Jaden, curious.
"Apparently, he's the director of the play...along with Prince Charming," added in Alexis, having just arrived and overhearing the conversation.
"Wait...so, if he's Prince Char-OH NO!" Syrus suddenly screamed before pushing his way past the horde of girls crowding up the Snow White list. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"
"What's wrong?" asked Chazz as Chumley took a pair of mini binoculars from his pocket and peered at the list, seeing as he didn't want to deal with the crowd.
"Ohhhh...Apparently, Jaden's supposed to be Snow White."
"WHAT?!" Chazz snatched the binoculars from Chumley, ignoring his complaints, before examining the list from afar to check for sure. "I don't believe it! That sneaky motherfucker!"
"Aww...I'm supposed to be stupid Snow White? That's stupid!" complained Jaden. "I wanted the part of that cute dwarf!"
"Which one? There's seven in total," reminded Alexis.
"I...kinda forgot his name, but he was supposed to be the youngest!"
Syrus then returned to the ground, looking pale and horrified. "This...this can't be happening...noo..."
"Oh, come on! Just because Jaden's the princess doesn't mean it's the end of the world," said Chazz despite the fact that he was pretty pissed off too. If he knew Jaden was going to be Snow White, he'd audition for the prince! ...Wait, what is he thinking?!
"Wait, Snow White's a princess?!" gasped Jaden. "I thought she was just some servant girl ordered around by the evil queen!"
"No...She was a princess that was forced to work in rags by her evil stepmother," recalled Alexis.
"Ah man! I don't wanna wear a dress! Being a princess sucks!"
'That's your reason why?' everyone thought, sweatdropping.
"Anyways, let's hurry up and find Atticus!" said Chazz.
"We're coming along, too!" spoke Mindy and Jasmine, running up to them.
"Why you two?"
"Because we're part of the seven dwarfs!" complained Jasmine before gesturing to her body. "I mean, what part of this is short? We do not approve, even if this was from Atticus!"
Alexis sighed. "Alright, alright! Everyone who has a complaint can come. I mean, I'm part of the dwarfs too."
"Really? I think you'd make a cute dwarf, Alexis," complimented Jaden.
The Obelisk Blue girl smiled. "Thanks, Jaden."
"But if we can switch roles, I totally want to!"
'...Snow White isn't such a bad thing, but I don't want to kiss just anybody. But, if Atticus is going to be Prince Charming, there's no way he'll kiss me. I mean, he'll flirt and charm any girl, but I'm pretty sure incest is way past the line,' thought Alexis before nodding in agreement.
"Yeah! Let's go!"
Later...
"Sorry!~ No can do!~"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T?!" Everyone demanded, getting all up on Atticus' face as the poor male student sweatdropped. Currently, they were all gathered inside the auditorium, on top of the stage as Atticus had been busy putting the play together.
"Well, I'm the director, and I say so!"
"Well, if you're not going to be reasonable, then I quit!" proclaimed Chazz, crossing his arms with a confident smirk. Ha! Let Atticus get out of this pitch!
"Not so fast, Chazz! I activate my secret weapon!" declared Atticus, taking out the Snow White list along with a magnifying glass. He placed the lens of the magnifying glass near the end of the grand words "Snow White Roles" for everyone to see.
Right there, in minature words, listed a rule. "Everyone in their first years must participate if they have a role in the play, otherwise, their grade will decrease by 50%."
Immediantly, everyone started complaining about the rule until Atticus held a hand up for them to remain silent. "This was authorized by the Chancellor himself. See?"
Below the rule, in actual big writing was Chancellor Sheppard's signature. And nobody could actually forge a signature as elegant and big as Sheppard's, so they had to believe it.
"How did you get his signature in here?" questioned Alexis suspiciously.
"Oh, I have my methods..." chuckled Atticus a bit too darkly. "But, if you want to take it up to the Chancellor, I'm sure he'd be more than obliged to confirm that he did sign this."
"Okay, but can you at least allow us to switch roles?" questioned Bastion.
"Yeah! Why'd you give me the role of the Magic Mirror, anyways?" argued Chazz. "I want to be the Huntsman so I can kill Snow White!"
"What?! Bring it on, emo!" shouted Jaden, raising her fists for a fight. If she was going to get 'killed' in the play, might as well put up a fair fight.
"I'm not emo, damnit!"
"Sorry, no can do!~" sang Atticus as he shifted the magnifying glass below the previous rule, revealing another rule.
"The roles assigned to everyone is permanent and cannot be switched whatsoever."
"ATTICUS!" cursed Alexis, Chazz, and Syrus altogether angrily.
"And...there's so more bad news," added in Atticus. "We're kinda in a rush, and due to some difficulties, Chancellor Sheppard said that the play would start...tommorow."
"Tommorow?! We can't memorize all the lines!" cried out Syrus as the others began to panic.
"Don't worry! It's not going to be that long of a play, anyways!"
"Atticus! Why did you make us dwarfs?!" whined Jasmine and Mindy.
"Ladies, ladies! I assure you, you won't regret it!" assured Atticus, petting both girls on top of their heads. "What if I spoiled something and said that your outfits will be...cute? And sexy? And stuff like that?"
Both girls gasped before squealing in delight. "Really?! Okay! Then, we won't mind!"
'They sure gave in pretty easily,' thought everyone, sweatdropping.
"Hey! Why'd you make Jaden Snow White?!" demanded Syrus, stomping up with Atticus.
"Because her audition was so adorable, I couldn't help myself!~" giggled Atticus.
"But I don't wanna wear a dress!" Jaden complained, stomping her foot.
"Jaden, I will feed you as much fried shrimp as you want after this."
Chazz scoffed. "As if she'll actually-"
"DEAL!"
The black-haired duelist' jaw dropped. "The hell?! Why, Jaden?! Why?!"
"It's fried shrimp! I can't help myself!"
"Well, my role is somewhat minor," sighed Bastion. "I guess I'm okay with being the Huntsman."
"I'm not!" yelled Chazz. "Why do I gotta be the stupid mirror guy? I'm bad with riddles!"
Atticus shrugged. "Just make a random one up."
"That's horrible! And give me one good reason why the mirror guy role is such a good thing?!"
"Oh, you'll find out...Nah, I'll just tell ya! That's because the queen is-"
"ATTICUS RHODES!" screamed Crowler, fuming with anger as he threw opened the entrance doors and marched onstage, causing everyone to move out of his way. He was so enraged...that...that he stomped on a kitty along the way.
"Kitty, no!" cried out Jaden dramatically.
"Jaden, you do realize that was just a prop kitty, right? As in, it's not real," spoke Bastion.
"Oh...Kitty, no!"
"WHY?!" Crowler demanded right in front of Atticus' face.
"Why what, professor?" asked Atticus, tilting his head as he gave off his innocent charming grin.
"THAT'S DOCTOR TO YOU! AND I'M ASKING WHY MY ROLE IS EVIL QUEEN! I NEVER EVEN AUDITIONED FOR THIS STUPID PLAY!"
"Oh...that was all Chancellor Sheppard's idea...He said something of this will help relieve your stress from your work," spoke Atticus with a twisted grin on his face. 'Well, I was the one who suggested it to him first...Ha! Take that, Dr. Crowler! That's what you get for all those times you treated me these past few years!'
"Yup. He even has his signature on the list," pointing out Jaden, vouching for Atticus' word.
Crowler was chewing and tugging onto his handkerchief with a furious expression on his face. He couldn't believe that the brat before him had cornered him to a wall so easily! He supposed that even if he complained, he'd have no choice but to comply due to Sheppard's orders.
Amused with Crowler's reaction, Chazz smirked. "Alright, you win. I suppose I'll cooperate as well."
"Great! Everyone, into position!" called Atticus as he sat down in the director's chair while taking out a megaphone. "We've got lots of work to do! Chop chop!"
The next day...
With a large amount of Duel Academy students waiting in their seats for the play to begin, there's bound to be some sort of chaos behind the curtains as everyone was preparing themselves. Everyone was mostly here to see what sort of hilarious things would occur, like Crowler being the Evil Queen.
"Wow, Atticus! You were right! Our outfits do look cute and sexy!" exclaimed Mindy as she and Jasmine were checking themselves out near a mirror. Their dwarf clothing differ in color, with Mindy's being green and Jasmine's being red, but they had miniskirts, were short-sleeved, and to add it off, they even had cute elf-like hats on. Their appearances were so somewhat revealing, some of the boys stopped working just to oogle at their appearances.
"..." Glaring at her big brother while covering her chest by crossing her arms, Alexis wore the same attire as Mindy and Jasmine, but her color was blue. Since she was more popular, she received lots of looks from the boys as they were practically drooling over her.
"Oh, don't look at me with such a sour look, sis!" said Atticus happily. "This way, you'll get a boyfriend faster!"
"No thanks! This costume is too revealing! Why do you have to make the dwarfs' costumes so revealing?!"
"Aw, come on! Everyone else is happy with it! I mean, look at Jaden's!"
"Why do dresses have to be so long?!" complained Jaden, frailing her arms around before grabbing at the bottom half of her dress and walking around, trying to walk around in the heels she was forced to wear. Her dress truly looked elegant in a red velvet color, almost appearing like she was the bride in a wedding.
"Okay, bad example," said Atticus before pointing to Bastion. "But what about him? He seems to enjoy his costume!"
Bastion wore a green Robin Hood costume meant for the Huntsman role he was playing with the hat and fake bow and arrow. He was flexing a bit of his muscles, trying to examine his looks as he smiled, satisfied with his costume.
"Wait a minute! Where's Zane in all this?" questioned Chazz as he had a bit difficulty moving around in his costume. His costume was obviously just the full bodied costume of the Magic Mirror, meaning he had no arms.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? First years only!" replied Atticus.
"Wait, you're not a first year! What's your excuse?"
"...I am the director, and I can choose what role I have!"
"That's not fair!"
"Oh, Chazz, Chazz, Chazzy, Chazz, Chazz," sighed Atticus, walking over and patting him on the shoulder. "You should know by now that life just isn't fair. Like, for example...say that you wanted to give your Pot of Greed to your girlfriend, but then your best friend stoled it from you. Don't you think that's fair?"
"W-What?" sputtered Chazz. "I-I don't-"
"Chazz. Yes or no."
"That's...that's not fair..."
"And I'm so glad we had this talk," Atticus said, patting him one more time before turning around. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get changed. Good luck in the play!~"
"I...Alexis, your brother...is so weird!" said Chazz.
Alexis sighed, nodding. "I know. But that is like him to try and troll people. I've had to deal with him my whole life, so this is nothing compared to the amount of trouble he's been through."
"Seriously?!"
"I...I don't know about this, Atticus!" stuttered Syrus as he was handed a bunch of note cards since his role was to be the narrator. "I've never been introduced to such a large crowd before!"
"You'll do fine, little buddy!" assured Atticus. "All you have to do is read the cards and that's it! Oh, and make sure to do it loud and clear, and the rest will be up to the cast!"
"Ok..."
"Now, let's get this show on the road, people!"
A few minutes later, Sheppard walked on stage and approached the microphone, where people applauded for their respected Chancellor. Smiling to the crowd, Sheppard announced, "Good day, students of Duel Academy! This special play was brought to you by the first years of our beloved students! We hope you enjoy the show and please show politeness and treat it well and maturely. Thank you and we hope you enjoy the play of Snow White."
As soon as he got off the stage, the red curtains began to shift and sway a bit, but they were moved out of the way by the backstage cast. The light shined on Syrus, who was standing at the edge of the stage as everyone turned to him.
A little nervous, Syrus tried his best to not look frightened as he glanced at his note cards. "Okay Syrus...you can do this...Yup...Nothing to fear but fear itself...Yup...I can do this...Just read the-"
"Psst! Sy!" whispered Atticus. "You do realize that the audience just heard what you were mumbling about, right?"
Syrus glanced up and his face flustered when the crowd was just...staring absently at him. Deciding to try and ignore what he previously said, Syrus started to begin the play. "O-Once upon a time...there lived a young princess named Snow White who, despite her harsh life, was very kind and gentle."
That was Jaden's cue to move as she had a bit of trouble walking while trying to get on stage. Now the background just showed the castle walls along with some garden as she had to twirl around.
"Lalala!~" she hummed, trying to act the role of princess. "...This dress is stupid."
"Jaden! Fried shrimp!~" reminded Atticus quietly.
Jaden's face lit up as she remembered why she was doing this. She started getting more into the play as she began twirling and spinning around as elegantly as she could despite the fact that she nearly tripped a few times. While she was doing this, the backstage cast summoned some of their cute, harmless Winged Beast-Type Monsters to act as birds as Jaden was dancing.
"But her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, was jealous of Snow White's beauty, and always forced her to become her slave," said Syrus.
Emerging from the window of the fake stone tower, Crowler appeared in what seemed to be the most hideous evil witch appearance ever. His own appearance looked more of a flamboyant queen than the beautiful Evil Queen portrayed in the stories.
The audience, including Jaden, burst out into laughter when they saw Crowler, causing the Obelisk Blue teacher to start yelling and throwing his fists into the air. But unfortunately, his yells were overcome by the laughter of everyone else until they finally settled down.
"Young lady! You will continue to sweep the floor!" yelled Crowler, smirking a little.
"You can't order me what to do!" argued back Jaden.
"Psst! Jaden! You actually have to listen to him!" whispered Atticus. "And, you have to say it nicely!"
As much as Jaden hated it, she had no choice as she forced a smile and bowed her head. "Yes...Mother. I'll obey your happy commands!" In reality, if Jaden was Snow White, she'd want to strangle her evil stepmother.
"Here, take this bucket!" shouted Crowler, throwing an empty bucket at Jaden, which whacked her on the head.
"Ow! FUCK!"
"Jaden! Snow White never swears!" reminded Atticus.
"Oh! I mean...F-Fudge Nuggets! Yeah! I love...Fudge Nuggets!"
'...Ew,' thought Crowler, not wanting to ever taste anything like...like what Jaden just said.
Although a bit disgusted himself, Syrus continued reading, "While Snow White obeyed her stepmother's commands, the Evil Queen decided to approach her trusty Magic Mirror for answers."
The curtains closed before the backstage crew started rearranging the scene into the very room where the Evil Queen would confront the Magic Mirror. During that time, Jaden left the stage and Crowler and Chazz got into their roles as quickly as possible before the curtains rose.
Once again, the audience laughed when they saw Crowler and Chazz's costumes, causing the two to be very ticked off at the audience. Still, they kept their cool as they began their scene.
"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall! Who's the fairest of them all?" announced Crowler loudly.
"Ow! You know, I'm standing right in front of you! You don't have to speak that loud!" hissed Chazz, wishing he could have covered his ears, except his costume doesn't have any holes for arms.
"As if I want to be here! Just hurry up and say your line!"
"Fine, fine! You're not the fairest of them all!" shouted Chazz. "...Prick."
Again, the audience laughed when they heard Chazz saying that, forgetting about the fact that the Magic Mirror was supposed to speak in rhymes. Crowler looked as if he wanted to strangle Chazz, but decided to calm down while he gasped, as it was part of the script.
"What? Then, who, dare I say is the fairest of them all?"
Before Chazz could say anything, Atticus held up a sign for Chazz only, stating, "Speak in rhymes, you idiot!"
After giving it much thought, Chazz spoke, "The...the fairest of them all is not you, dare I...say...However, one that is fairest of them all is one of grace and...power, must I...pray..."
It wasn't a bad rhyme, but Chazz was doing his best, so this was acceptable.
Crowler understood what he was saying and dramatically gasped. "Snow White, you say?! How dare she?! Now that I know...I have no more need of you, Magic Mirror! Begone from my sight! I shall DESTROY YOU!"
"Wait, wha-"
Before Chazz could finish, Crowler eagerly pushed him off the stage, causing Chazz to scream before crashing to the ground on his back. Luckily, the distance from the stage and the ground wasn't far and wasn't enough to cause too much damage, but it still hurt.
"Ow! Fuck! You goddamn cheap son of a bitch!" cursed Chazz, frailing his legs as he struggled to get up. One of the backstage crew members rushed out to help him as the curtains closed quickly.
A little stunned by the scene, Syrus said, "A-and now the Evil Queen started making arrangements for the assassination of Snow White, deciding that-Oops!"
Fumbling around with the cards, Syrus had gotten so nervous, he accidentally dropped the note cards as they scattered to the floor. Quickly gathering them up, Syrus had unknowingly mixed them up.
"Ahem! Anyways, the Evil Queen started making arrangements for the assassination of...Prince Charming?"
Just as the curtains rose, there stood Crowler and Bastion, who was supposed to be the Huntsman. Both of them looked confused as that wasn't part of the script, but decided to go along with it.
"Huntsman! You shall go and...and kill Prince Charming?" wondered Crowler.
"O-Okay then..." said Bastion.
"NOO! NOT ATTICUS!" cried out a majority of his fangirls among the audience.
"And...and bring his heart in a box," said Crowler. "...Ew."
"NOO! NOT HIS HEART!"
"Moving on! Uh..." Okay, Syrus knew that he screwed things up when he just noticed that the cards were mixed up, but knew the show must go on! "The trees started pelting apples at...the woodland animals."
The people posing as the woodland animals and the evil tree characters glanced at each other before shrugging and making their way to the stage as Crowler and Bastion left. The woodland animals started running around the stage as the tree people began throwing apples at them while chasing them down.
"Then, the Huntsman drew his bow and readied an arrow at...Grumpy, one of the Seven Dwarfs!"
"Wait, what?" questioned Jasmine before being pushed onstage.
Bastion walked onto the stage and readied his fake bow and arrow at her. "Uh...I...I'm just following the script?"
"Prince Charming...entered the house, and seeing how it was dirty, started to clean it up out of the good nature of her heart. Oh, god."
Before Atticus could protest, Alexis pushed him onto the stage, tossing him a broom while everyone else participating on the stage left to see his act. All of his fangirls squealed when they saw him, so, in order to keep up his reputation, Atticus pretended to sweep the floor with the broom.
"And then, the Seven Dwarfs started chasing...the Magic Mirror, who started speaking in rhymes, all the way up to a cliff."
Confused as ever, Alexis, Mindy, Jasmine, along with the four other people acting as the other dwarfs, began chasing after Chazz, who tried to think up of some rhymes.
"Hat in the cat! Make a good snack!" said Chazz, running around in circles as the backstage crew tried to get the fake cliff up and running. "Whack a hat! Mat a lack?"
"And then Snow White...pushed the Huntsman off the cliff!"
Jaden and Bastion stared at each other before climbing up the fake cliff. Then, Jaden pushed Bastion off the cliff right before he landed on top of Chazz, causing the two males to groan in pain.
While Syrus tried to get the correct cards back in order while quickly speaking what was on the cards, it was a complete disaster onstage as everyone tried to get into their roles and do as Syrus said. In the meantime, the audience was howling with laughter.
"And then...the Seven dwarfs...and Snow White...stepped foot on...the Evil Queen."
Before Crowler could do anything, he was shoved to the ground by the seven dwarfs and Jaden as they proceeded to plant their foot onto his fallen body. At first, they were a little cautious since they didn't want to hurt him. But, recalling all the bad times they've had with him...let's just say they had a bit too much fun kicking on repeatedly stomping on him.
"Then, scooping up the princess in his arms, Snow White proceeded to carry...the Magic Mirror away to his kingdom. The end!"
While the seven dwarfs continued to stomp on Crowler, Jaden left and approached Chazz before trying to carry him. However, seeing how she was more lightweighted than him and less stronger than him physically, both collapsed. Instead, Jaden had to resort to dragging him.
"Ow! Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry, but I can't carry you!"
As soon as the curtains closed for the final time, the audience was still laughing while applauding for such an amazing play, even if it did get mixed up halfway throughout the play.
The next day, the Snow White play received hundreds of positive reviews, making it the most popular and memorable play in Duel Academy history thanks to Syrus. Although, Sheppard, even though he enjoyed the play, promised to give the cast more time to practice next time there would be a play.
Kinda updated this a day before Thanksgiving, but whatever! Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving!