Animal Crossing In Action: Duo Of Justice
Chapter 4: When The Clock Strikes Midnight
"Oh come on, sis!" Nick whined. "You've got to tell us of what's going on between you and your knight in shining armor!"
"Yeah, just tell us, Vicki!" said Serenity excitedly.
"Guys, I thought I told you everything," Vicki explained, as she was starting to get irritated. "After I entered the different dimension, I landed on Ivy and saw Masked Swordmaster tied up to the pole. While I froze her and her henchmen, I quickly got him out of the quick sand and saved his life, just like he saved mine."
"Yeah, go on..." said Nick and Serenity in unison.
"Well...After I rescued him, I summoned the portal so we could finally return to StarLily."
"And?"
"And we finally made it back here in one piece!"
"And?!"
Vicki rolled her eyes and said, "Oh god, that's it for now, folks! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to grab something to eat from the hotel!"
After Vicki explained everything and headed to the hotel, Nick and Serenity were standing there like statues. None of them said a word to each other yet. Nick blinked his eyes and made a big sigh while Serenity began to open and close her mouth at the same time as if she was trying to say something.
"T-That can't be it," said Nick. "There has to be more, I'm sure of it!"
"If there is, then I don't think she wants us to know," said Serenity.
"Well, I guess you're right about that, Serenity...Whatever that is, I'm pretty sure Vicki doesn't want us to involve the topic between the both of them."
Meanwhile at the hotel room, Robert was lying on the couch and covered his ears with the cushions. It's because Lorelei wouldn't stop asking questions and gave him a quite of headache. Darren tried to tell her to calm down, but she was very impatient.
"Come on, big brother, just tell us what happened!" said Lorelei excitedly. "You know, the time when you disappeared from StarLily and ended up into a different place?"
Robert sighed heavily. "Lorelei, I thought I already explained it to you! I didn't disappeared, Ivy took me away to another dimension."
"Keep going..." said Lorelei and Darren in unison.
Robert gave them an odd look as he put the cushions away and began to explain. "Ivy's henchmen tied me up and put me into the quick sand. I thought I died for a split second when I was sinking very slowly. Until I saw a bright light from above, Phantom Angel appeared somehow and ended up landing on Ivy and her henchmen."
"Yeah?"
"So, she stopped them by using her ice magic attack, which it also stopped the quick sand as well. Then, she got me out of there right away with all her might. After that, we both returned back to StarLily and left the enemies behind."
"And?!"
"And...that's all there is to it! If you'll excuse me, I'm going to the dining room to grab something to eat."
When Robert left the hotel room, Lorelei and Darren stared at each other dumbfounded. Lorelei bit her lip while Darren rubbed his eyes. He tried to tell her something, but he had no idea of what to say.
"That doesn't make sense at all..." said Lorelei unexcitedly. "I mean, that's it? Nothing else, besides entering and exiting the dimension part?"
"Beats me, Lorelei..." said Darren. "Even if he doesn't want to tell us about something that was going on in his mind, you've got to give your brother a break. No offense..."
Vicki went to the hotel and headed to the dining room. She suddenly spotted Robert who was going downstairs. He quickly saw her waving at him before she went to the dining room.
"Hey Vicki, you're heading to the dining room right now?" Robert asked.
"Hey Robert, I certainly am!" Vicki answered, as she began to smile at him.
Robert smiled back at her. "So, is it okay if I can join you?"
"Of course! Hanging out with you is a big change for me!"
"Really? I would've said the same thing!"
Vicki and Robert were heading to the empty table and sat down side by side. They only ordered some nachos and water for themselves. While they were waiting for their order, they spotted Sammy and Jimmy who were heading to the empty table right next to them.
"Hello, Vicki, Robert..." said Sammy unsurprisingly. "What brings both of you here?"
"Yeah, what brings both of you here?" Jimmy repeated.
"We're here to get something to eat right now, that's all," Vicki answered.
"And what are you two doing here exactly?" Robert asked.
"Grabbing a cookie and hanging out, that's what!" Sammy answered, as he was showing the cookie in front of Vicki and Robert. "Anyways, no time for a chit-chat with you geeks. We're heading to our table right next to you. Come on, Jimmy, let's go!"
"Yeah!" Jimmy agreed, as he and Sammy went to their table and sat down.
Vicki and Robert looked away from the twins and glanced at each other. The waiter served them a glass of water to each of them first before serving their nachos. He didn't noticed that the water was dripping from the tray while he was walking to the kitchen. When he came back with the nachos, he suddenly slipped on the spilled water and almost fell. But the nachos, Vicki and Robert ordered, were thrown at Sammy and Jimmy. Everyone, in the dining room, began to laugh, including Vicki and Robert. The Slapjack twins cleaned out their faces with their own hands and glared at the yellow duck.
"Joey, you clumsy duck!" Sammy growled, as he was clutching the collar of the duck's shirt.
Robert quickly stepped in and said, "Whoa there, Sammy! Just chill out, man! It's only an accident!"
"Y-Yeah, what he says, bleeeeeck!" said Joey anxiously.
"Very well then..." Sammy let go of Joey's shirt and turned to Jimmy. "Come on, Jimmy, let's go home right now! All we need now are a bath and some clean clothes!"
"Yeah!" Jimmy agreed, as he and Sammy left the dining room and headed straight to their home.
After the situation of the Slapjacks was out of the way, Joey told Vicki and Robert that he would serve another nachos without any charges. They both agreed, and he went straight to the kitchen once again. Beyond the table, which it was farther away from them, there was a short, black-haired girl with sunglasses. Right next to her, there was a gyroid rabbit. They both looked at each other and began to smile while their eyes were flashing red.
Both the mysterious girl and the rabbit left the hotel right away and went inside of the clock tower. There were four henchmen waiting for them to show up. Suddenly, the mysterious girl revealed her true self with her own magic; and it appeared to be none other than Charlene. Finally, she used her magic mirror to contact Allen.
"Oh, Allen dear, you wouldn't believe who I found!" Charlene exclaimed. "It's that Goldstein guy who's still alive! It's all because Phantom Angel must've saved him somehow!"
"Ugh, it feels like last year all over again..." Allen sighed. "But let us hope that this year won't happen again! I hope you have a better strategy than those three had, my darling."
"Oh, I do have one exactly!" Charlene looked up the bell very high above her and began to smile in a darker way. "And I am very sure that it will never fail!"
After Vicki and Robert were having a good time together at the dining room, Robert went back to his hotel room to get some sleep. Vicki left the hotel and went straight to her house. Before she could go there, she left the cookie to the fountain where Serena was. So that way, Serena could eat the cookie at anytime whenever she's hungry. Vicki never realized that guardians like her could eat anything at anytime. That's what Serena said to her back then. All of the sudden, Vicki heard the shouts somewhere in the town. She began looking around, and then she heard them again. She began to follow of where the shouting was coming from.
In front of the town hall, people were crowding the log bench while Charlene was standing there. Vicki was standing behind the building and wanted to find out of what's going on. Before her very own eyes, she saw Charlene's henchmen tied the gyroid rabbit named Coco to the bench and gagged her. Without any hesitation, Vicki looked around to see if no one's around her before she could transform into Phantom Angel.
"Angelic power action!" Vicki called out her transformation microphone.
Charlene and her henchmen gathered around Coco who was sitting on the log bench. Few moments later, Phantom Angel appeared right in front of them.
"Hey you, how dare you harm the animal like this?!" Phantom Angel shouted. "The only way to treat animals are love and friendly in a gentle way! Otherwise, you're going to pay the high price, missy!"
"Girl, that's easy for you to say!" said Charlene. "By the way, the name's Charlene; and let me guess...You're Phantom Angel, right? Steel Man, Arrowhead, and Ivy told me a bit about you. Well, enough talk! Gentlemen, get rid of her right now!"
Phantom Angel started to fight Charlene's henchmen while Charlene was guarding Coco. The angel started to throw punches and kick bad guys to the ground. She lured one or two henchmen to the tree and knocked them silly. She even lured them to the river by pushing them. After the henchmen were out of the way, Phantom Angel turned to Charlene and was pointing at her with her guardian staff.
"Now, it's your turn, Charlene!" Phantom Angel exclaimed. "Surrender now or are you willing to fight against me?"
"Hmmph, I'll let you off the hook this time," said Charlene calmly. "Until then, farewell."
When Charlene and her henchmen were gone, Phantom Angel rushed to Coco and removed the handkerchief from her mouth. Before she untied her, she began to sense something sinister within the rabbit. But instead, she began to talk to her for a bit.
"Um, Coco, are you alright?" Phantom Angel asked. "They didn't try to harm you, did they?"
"Oh no, I'm okay, doyoing!" Coco replied. "Say, why don't you untie me and take me to the Roost for a cup of coffee? What do you say?"
"Err, I don't think I should...I mean, I thought you might be injured or something. Maybe, I can take you to the hospital instead?"
Coco started to look down and found something on the ground. "Oh my! My favorite book! Can you help me pick it up? Why not read it instead?"
When Phantom Angel saw a book on the ground, she picked it up for Coco and sat next to her. She had a sinking feeling that it could be a trap or not, but she has to be careful if the trap was inside of that book. Before she read the book to Coco, she looked at the title of the front cover.
"Hmm, 'Three Bunnies And A Gyroid,'" Phantom Angel read, as she looked at Coco. "Well, how do I say this? This book...I think only the type of villagers, like you would be interested in that story. But I'll just read one chapter of this story and that's it, okay?"
Coco nodded as Phantom Angel began reading the story to her. As soon as she opened the book, the magic dust suddenly appeared. It sprayed in front of her face while Coco looked away from it. Phantom Angel began to cough and quickly moved her face away from the dust, but she suddenly collapsed to the ground and fell asleep. After she passed out, Coco quickly took out the small mirror and contacted Charlene while her eyes were glowing red.
"Earth to witch princess, do you read me, doyoing?" Coco called.
"Yes, my fair bunny slave, I read you!" Charlene replied.
"Guess what? Phantom Angel fell into your trap, doyoing!"
"Splendid! Now, what about Masked Swordmaster?"
"There's no sign of him, Charlene. Probably, he's not showing up for some reason."
Charlene sighed. "Oh well, I guess we'll have to kill off one of those two heroes, which it is fair enough for me. Anyways, I am on my way, over and out!"
After the conversation ended, Coco put the mirror away into her pocket. She was looking at Phantom Angel, who was passed out, and began to snicker while waiting for Charlene and her henchmen to arrive.
Meanwhile at the hotel, Robert was ready to go to bed. He turned off the lights and fell asleep. Suddenly, he began to sense something that was troubling. He got out of the bed right away and looked through the window. He saw Charlene and one of her henchmen carried Phantom Angel to the clock tower, even Coco was following them as well.
At the clock tower, Charlene's henchmen tied Phantom Angel to the bell clapper. As soon as she woke up, she found herself tied up upside-down to the bell clapper. While she was looking around the bell with the shock expression on her face, Charlene began to snicker.
"Ah, time...what a fateful timing this turns out to be, eh?" Charlene chuckled, as she was looking at her henchmen. "Anyways, does anyone know what time it is right now?"
"Oh, five minutes until midnight, Charlene!" one of her henchmen replied, after he was looking at his watch.
Charlene smiled and laughed. "This reminds me of an old, boring fairytale! Wouldn't you say, huh, Phantom Angel? You know, when the clock strikes midnight...Eh, you get the whole idea of the story if you know what I mean! But for you, on the other hand, you'll be hearing nothing but bell rings in your head! More than that, you'll be crush after midnight! And you know the old saying, 'When the bell tolls, it tolls for thee!'"
Charlene and her henchmen left Phantom Angel hanging on the bell clapper. As soon as they were gone, she was struggling to get herself out of the bell before the clock would strike midnight.
While Robert was alone and left the hotel, he heard footsteps coming to his direction. He quickly hid between the buildings and started to hear the conversation. He just heard Charlene talking to Coco that they should be heading on top of the town hall. He also heard her saying when the clock struck midnight, Phantom Angel would be killed off by the bell. As soon as the conversation faded, Robert began to transform into Masked Swordmaster. He looked at the clock tower to see what time it was right now. It was less than four minutes till midnight. He rushed to the clock tower and find a way to stop it in order to save Phantom Angel. Suddenly, he nearly bumped into someone unexpectingly.
"Hey big brother, what are you doing out at night?" Lorelei asked, as she made Masked Swordmaster startled.
Masked Swordmaster turned around and saw Lorelei and Darren dressed as security guards. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, but he suddenly changed his subject. "But that's not important! More importantly, we need to find a way to stop that clock or the bell somehow!"
"Why?" Darren asked.
"Because Charlene is already here, and she strapped Phantom Angel to the bell clapper inside of the clock tower! Plus, we have three minutes to spare before the clock strikes midnight!"
"Then, how do we going to do that in order to save her?" Lorelei asked.
Masked Swordmaster had a brilliant idea. "I got it! I'll use my guardian cannon to tie one of those clock hands and to the lamp post!"
"Good idea, dude!" said Darren.
With three minutes to spare, Masked Swordmaster used his guardian cannon to target one of the clock hands. "Guardian cannon grappling hook!" he shouted, as the cannon blasted off with the hook and bind one of the clock's hands.
"Wow, what a perfect shot!" Lorelei exclaimed, as she recorded the video with her smartphone.
"Alright, Darren, help me tie the rope to the lamp post," said Masked Swordmaster, as he and Darren pulled out the rope and quickly tied to the lamp post very tightly.
Only two minutes left, Masked Swordmaster and Darren tightened the rope to make sure that it's already too tight. He let him and Lorelei pulled the rope as hard as they could so he would save Phantom Angel before it's too late.
With one minute left, the bell clapper began to swing very slowly before it rang. Phantom Angel wasn't expecting that way too soon before the time has come. When Masked Swordmaster entered the clock tower, he rushed to the top and found her tied up to the bell clapper. He quickly set her free by using his sword and caught her just in time.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Phantom Angel replied. "You're just in time to save me, thanks!"
"No problem! But right now, let's get out of here before the bell rings!"
When the clock struck midnight, the bell began to ring. Charlene, Coco, and the henchmen were on top of the town hall. They finally heard the bell chimed that they started to celebrate. Their celebration didn't last long until Coco saw the dynamic duo standing right in front of them.
"Uh, Charlene..." Coco trembled, as she was pointing at the two heroes.
Charlene looked down and wasn't very impressed. "Phantom Angel, I thought that the bell would've killed you by now!" she exclaimed.
Phantom Angel shook her head and grinned at Charlene. "Nope, still in one piece! Thanks to this handsome guy standing right next to me!"
Masked Swordmaster was speechless as he began to blush and gulped at the same time. Charlene frowned as she stuck her tongue out and made a ridiculous sound.
"Oh whatever, I can't imagine that you two have a lot of common these days!" Charlene exclaimed. "But enough talk! Henchmen, attack!"
The heroes sprang into action and fought against Charlene's henchmen. Phantom Angel kicked them to the river while Masked Swordmaster punched them to the trees and knocked them silly. Charlene leapt down from the town hall and made a getaway with Coco following her. But all of the sudden, the rabbit was stopped by Lorelei and Darren. They immediately dragged Coco to Booker and Copper while she was struggling to lose their grips.
After Phantom Angel and Masked Swordmaster dealt with Charlene's henchemen, they started to go after her. When they saw her standing at the pier, he told Phantom Angel to wait so he could stop the witch princess. He immediately jumped down to the beach and grabbed Charlene's arm right away.
"Charlene, it looks like we meet again!" Masked Swordmaster exclaimed, clenching his teeth and glared at her in daggers. "But I'm not expecting you to be here after what you and Allen did to me back in Emblem!"
"Oh, do you mean the time when we killed you while your house was on fire?" Charlene pointed out.
"Yes, that's one! But there's another time that you betrayed me and set me up before I realized that you've been working with him all this time!"
"Oh yeah! That's right! How can I ever forget that? But now that you already know, you can let go of me, tough guy! I am so through with you! Shadow aurora pulse!"
As soon as the dark aurora was surrounding Charlene, it suddenly blasted Masked Swordmaster to the rocky hill. While he was knocked down, Phantom Angel stepped in and took out her guardian staff to summon her attack.
"Guardian light orb blaster!" she shouted, as the light orbs blasted Charlene to the ocean, and she got all wet.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that next time, both of you!" Charlene cried, as she suddenly disappeared.
After Charlene was gone, Phantom Angel helped Masked Swordmaster to get up while he regained his consciousness. They didn't noticed that Lorelei quickly took a picture of them before Darren dragged her back to their hotel room. Phantom Angel and Masked Swordmaster walked up to the town, but they suddenly stopped their tracks as they looked at each other for a moment.
"I don't know if I already asked you this, but where did you come from?" Phantom Angel asked. "I mean, what town are you from?"
"I came from the town called Emblem," Masked Swordmaster answered. "But sadly, that town was destroyed by evil forces..."
Phantom Angel gasped after hearing those words from Masked Swordmaster. "Destroyed? Do you mean the same evil forces, like Charlene, we're facing right now in StarLily?"
Masked Swordmaster nodded. "Yes...Sounds terrifying, I know."
Phantom Angel sighed. "It sure is...I wish there's some way I can help."
"Well, if you mean to restore Emblem, then I don't know about that and it's not going to be easy, I'm sure of it. But enough of that, we should part ways right now until we'll meet again. Goodnight..."
"Yeah, goodnight..."
The next morning, Vicki was sitting at the town tree thinking of what Masked Swordmaster said about his town. She bit her thumb and sighed at the same time. She really wished that she could go there, but it was now destroyed according to him. Suddenly, someone sat next to her as she looked to see of who it was.
"Hi Vicki!" Robert smiled.
"Oh, hi Robert!" said Vicki, smiling at him. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much. What's up with you?"
"Oh, I was just thinking..."
"Thinking about what?"
"Oh well...um...thinking about something that you don't really want to know."
"Is that personal or...what?"
"Err, well, it's something unusual..."
"Ah, I see. So, do you want to watch the ocean waves for a while with me?"
"Of course, I'd love to!"
Vicki and Robert were watching the ocean waves while sitting at the town tree. They began to smile with each other as they would always remember their time together.