"Akko, are you a COMPLETE bonehead?" Sucy asked as she watched her friend filled a massive traveling bag with contract bottles.
"What do you mean? I'm saving our skins here."
"But the bet you made, and I'll be honest with you, it's kinda dumb."
"That's the problem Sucy, you only look at the negatives. I see this as an opportunity to sell some smiles to the good hearted public."
"But Akko, a hundred contracts? It-It cant be done." Lotte said rubbing her hands with worry.
"It can, and will. Trust me. Besides, if what Sinclair said is true then the magic inside these contracts should sell themselves!"
With that Akko filled the bag to max capacity before slinging it over her back.
"Lotte, your coming with me. Sucy, you can stay here."
"Huh? Why do I have to stay?"
"Well, we have to work all day so wouldn't it be best to have one of us stay and help Sinclair with anything he needs? Besides, your..ahem...face..."
"Yeah?"
"It's not really the most enthusiastic...all the time. And we're gonna need a ton of moral if we're gonna reach a hundred."
"...I hate to admit it but, you got a point."
"Great! We'll be back before you know it!"
With a wave of Sinclair's hand a golden light pierced through the ceiling as the two witches started floating upwards and out of the underworld, as he watched them leave Sinclair couldn't help but laugh to himself.
"What's so funny?" Sucy asked.
"Oh nothing, just your friend. She really thinks she can win this bet?"
Sucy just sighed.
"Yeah, she's a knucklehead."
Meanwhile Akko and Lotte were flying wildly through the tunnel of light before spat out from the earth landing in the filthy mud which sealed back up almost instantly, Akko immediately coughed up a mouthful of mud and worms.
"Akko are you alright?"
"Im fine, now, let's go sell some contracts!"
"...Ok, but can we at least take a shower first?"
"Yeah I think that's a good idea."
One quick shower later:
"Come one, come all! Step right up and have your dreams come true with one of our magical contracts!" Akko announced through a large megaphone standing on a soap box as she and Lotte were in the middle of townsquare as crowds of people were walking past them not paying them no mind.
"Akko, I dont think we're gonna their attention." Lotte whispered.
"Come on, don't be shy! We will happily demonstrate the fantastic magic inside these wonders! All we need is one volunteer!"
Akko looked around to see a sad looking boy sitting alone on a bench, she dropped down and quickly sat down next to him catching him guard.
"Hey little boy, what's the matter?"
"... (sniff) My...dog...Buster...ran away...and I can't...find him."
The boy covered his face with his hands and started crying all over again.
"Hey now, shhh, it's ok. What if I told you there was a way to find your dog, through magic?"
The boy gasped.
"Magic? Really!?!"
"Sure! Um, I think...give me one sec."
Akko quickly ran back to the bag of bottles before tossing several to the side.
"Be a frog for a day, no. Turn a horse into a pegasus, no. Make vegetables taste like ice cream for a day?...maybe later. Uh, Aha!"
She returned with a brown bottle removing the cork releasing brown smoke clouds shaped like dog biscuits before pulling out a contract labeled "Lost Dog Retriever" before showing it to the boy.
"Just sign here." Akko said handing the boy a feather pen.
"Um, ok."
The boy did so writing his full name on the dotted line, upon doing so the piece of paper started to glow with a bright blue light catching the surrounding crowd's attention as Akko held onto the paper tightly as it shook violently before a figure slowly started to emerge from it. A small fluffy puppy dog jumped free from the paper.
"Buster!?! It's you! It's really really you!" the boy cried as he recognized the dog instantly and hugged it tightly.
"See that ladies and gentlemen!?! This no mere hoax, these contracts are the real deal! Would anyone else like to try?" Akko announced to the spectating crowd.
"They...work." Lotte gasped as she pulled out hers and quickly put it away blushing madly.
Soon a sickly pale looking man walked up to Akko.
"Hey, do you think you can h-h-help me with my-AH-CHOO!...cold?"
"Sure thing sir!"
Akko quickly recovered a green bottle which upon removing the cork released green clouds shaped like plus signs. The contract inside was labeled "Insta-Cure!" which the sickly man excitedly wrote his name down below. Instantly his body glowed a mystic blue aura before his ailments ceased to exist.
"I...I feel...GREAT! (inhales deeply) I can breathe clearly again! Oh thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the man said shaking Akko's hand.
"Don't thank me sir, just thank...um, uh...Sinclair Solutions! The magical solutions to all your problems in this life and the next!"
With that said the crowd roared with applause before forming a line asking for magical contracts. Meanwhile back in Limbo Sinclair was in his private office room on the top floor of a massive spire overlooking the entire underworld as he sat behind a large desk doing one of his painstaking yet oddly entertaining pastimes, maintaining a small ship inside a large bottle. Sucy sat in a chair on the other side of the desk watching the all powerful ruler of the underworld struggle to fix a flag on the tiny ship, she would yawn from intense boredom every few minutes.
"Are you gonna be done anytime soon?" she asked growing increasingly impatient.
"Almost done...just one more flag needs adjusting." he said now focusing on the very last flag when suddenly the bottle exploded sending small bits of glass flying in every direction as something small, blue, floating was now occupying his desk.
Sinclair slowly reached up and removed a glass shard from his eye before recognizing the floating flame.
"...Is this?"
Sucy looked at it with awe.
"What is it?"
Sinclair peered into the light of the flame to see it was a small boy and his dog playing in a grassy field.
"...A topworld soul. I've haven't seen one in...forever."
He reached out to touch it when another one suddenly appeared next to it, then another one, and another one, and another one.
"Where all they all coming from?" he asked standing up from his chair.
Sucy looked at the floating orbs and knew what was going on.
"...Akko."
"Your friend? No way. That's...not possible."
"She may be a knucklehead at times, but she is nothing short of brilliant other times."
"...Hmmm."
Back on the topworld Akko was giving away contracts left and right.
"Lotte, how we doing?"
Lotte, who has somehow managed to keep up with the frantic crowd, has been keeping tracks of the amount of contracts used.
"We're only at 85 Akko!"
Akko looked up to see the afternoon sun slowly lowering over the horizon, she started throwing the bottles into the crowd as the many civilians grabbed onto them and signed their names not even concerned about what each contract even did. Giant swan wings sprouted from a kid's back as he soon took flight, a bald man grew a luscious new crop of hair, a short midget man suddenly grew much taller looking over everyone's heads, and many more.
"Lotte! How about now?"
"99!"
"Just one more!"
Akko looked over her shoulder to see that the sun was inches away from disappearing.
"WAAAH!" she screamed as she ran through the crowd frantically looking for one person she hadn't sold a contract to yet.
She soon squealed to a stop behind an elderly looking man waiting to cross the street.
"Sir! Sir, I just need a moment of your time please."
"Huh? What? Mmm..I don't want any cookies right now little girl scout."
"Huh? Girl scout? No! I not selling cookies! I need to know if there was anything you could want in the world right now what would it be?"
"Huh? Anything you say? Mmmm..."
Akko started shaking as she waited patiently looking at the lowering sun in the distance.
"Mmm...If I had to say, I guess it would be this aching pain in my back that's been bothering me for quite some time now."
"Yes! Perfect! Here, sign this!"
"Mmm...sign? Um, one second little lady, let me get my reading glasses."
"Sir, I assure you it will simply fix your back. No tricks."
"That may be, but I always look at the fine print before I sign anything."
"OH COME ON!"
Akko was starting to become really impatient as the man tried to read the text but his eyes were just too feeble to make out any of the words.
"...Hmm..."
"Sir, please, just sign it. Do that, and you will be helping me alot."
"Mmm...well, when you put it that way...Ol' Filbert has no choice but to help a lady in need."
Akko glowed with thankfulness.
"...For 20 bucks."
Akko's smile was replaced with a glare as he reached into her sock and handed the man the bill.
"Here, ya greedy old man."
"Thank you kindly. And here you are."
The old man signed his name and handed it back to Akko.
"Yes! A hundred contracts! We did it!"
Akko blazed right passed the old man.
"Hey! What about my back! I thought you said it would be fixed-"
A blue light suddenly covered the old man's body.
"Oh, nevermind. I feel pretty great actually."
Meanwhile back in Limbo while Sinclair was playing golf with one of the many souls aimlessly floating around his office swinging his club and watching it bounce from the walls Sucy quietly sneaked through the double doors before running down the hall hoping she could somehow figure out a way to get her hands on the orb so they can leave this place. This however was short lived as she skidded to a stop running into Sinclair, he had a very upset look on his face.
"And where do you think you were going?" he said crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"I...I was just...on my way to...the bathroom."
"...Are you sure you weren't just trying to steal...this?"
He pulled out from his vest the actual sacred orb, Sucy's one visible eye grew wide.
"...Well?"
"Well...what?"
"Aren't you going to take it?"
"Take it? But I thought you didn't like people taking your junk."
Sinclair laughed at this.
"I believe me, I don't. But in this situation it won't even matter if I let you keep it."
"...Situation?"
He nodded.
"Indeed, you remember that bet your friend made?"
"Yeah, give away one hundred contracts and we get to leave."
He suddenly burst into laughter showing his sharp bear trap like teeth as he held onto his sides he was laughing so hard.
"What's so funny?"
"You really thought it would be that simple, that I would just let you and your friends just leave Limbo?"
"Yeah, I mean that was the deal."
"Mmm, no."
"No?"
"No. As in, that's where you are wrong. You see, the detail you all overlooked in our verbal agreement was that you would work for me until the sun rises..."
"Yeah, and?"
Sinclair showed his devilish grin.
"...There is no sun in Limbo. Only darkness."
Sucy looked down going over every word in that deal in her mind before realizing the rather obvious con.
"...You tricked us."
"Not tricked. Outsmarted. Simple as that. Can't outwit me kid, I've been doing this since I was born." He said placing the orb in her hands before walking past her.
"Wait, so what does mean for us?" she asked chasing after him.
"Easy. As soon as your friends come back you all will stay here, for all of eternity...until you die. Isn't that great?"
Sucy glared at him.
"I got to tell Akko and Lotte." she said pulling out her wand as a small hint light appeared from it.
Sinclair snapped his fingers and the wand suddenly went limp like a wet noodle, Sucy gasped looking back at him.
"Sorry, can't have you spoiling the big surprise."
Later:
With a flash of red light Akko and Lotte were brought back to Limbo, only to land on top of a zombie farmer's farmer's market in the middle of town. Akko and Lotte gagged as they were covered in slime covered orc eyeballs, goblin tongues, and surprisingly spinach. After apologizing to the angry yet mindless drooling farmer Akko pulled her friend out of the mess before they soon headed towards the tall spire building where they were told to meet after completing their end of the deal. The two ran past a small british pub like hangout spot when Akko suddenly squealed to a stop before running back to see Sucy through the window.
"SUCY!" Akko called out as she entered the pub to see her other friend sitting at the front counter as the mummy bartender handed her another glass of an unknown bubbling liquid which she guzzled it down in mere moments, there were several other already finished glasses beside her.
"Sucy? Are ok?" Lotte asked noticing their mushroom loving friend was looking much paler than usual like she had just endured a week's worth of depression.
She shook her head no.
"Well...what's wrong? Please, tell us."
Sucy sighed aloud before speaking.
"We got...got."
"We got got? What does that mean?" Akko asked placing her hands on her hips not in the mood for any of Sucy's nonsense jokes.
"I mean we got served... owned...conned." Sucy said swaying her head side to side as she was too drunk off whatever they had served her for the past few minutes.
"Are you saying Sinclair...deceived us?" Lotte asked sounding worried.
Sucy nodded.
"Yep, turns out he had his twisted fingers crossed. And we fell for it...well, really Akko did."
"Hey! I tried to solve our problems! What did you do!?!"
Sucy said nothing, she just held her glass forward as the bartender refilled it before downing some more of the bizarre liquid. Akko knocked the glass out of her hand before grabbing her arm.
"Come on, we're gonna go speak to him. Right now."
Finally arriving at the spire tower Sinclair was back in his office having a quick bowling session using the topworld souls as pins as he rolled one other soul as a bowling ball towards them making a loud clashing sound as he bowled a perfect strike, the spectating crowd of red skinned humanoid demons dressed in business suits applauded soon after. Just then the office doors were kicked open as Akko and company walked in, Sinclair turned around happy to see them.
"Ah! There you are, just the lovely ladies I was looking for. Everyone, this are our angels that made this company one hundred completed contracts greater!"
The demon employees roared with applause again, Akko however was far from a celebrating mood.
"Don't give me that! You tricked us you good for nothing liar!"
There was a moment of awkward silence in the room, Sinclair sighed aloud fixing his tie before speaking.
"Yes, I admit that. And I know you're mad-"
"Mad? Mad!?! I am pissed! If I could turn you into a freaking ugly toad I so would! In fact, I so can!"
Akko waved her wand before shouting the spell.
"Metamorphie Faciesse!"
With that said Sinclair burst into a cloud of pink before turning into a toad.
"Ha! In your slimy foggy face!" the young witch said with a cocky grin.
Toad Sinclair rolled his eyes before quickly morphing back to normal, Akko's jaw dropped before she performed the spell again changing him into a snail. Again Sinclair looked flat out annoyed as he morphed back again. Akko performed the spell several more times changing him into a dog, a cat, a donkey, a turtle, a rabbit, a skunk, etc. Each time Sinclair reverted back to his original self and looked more and more annoyed before finally getting so agitated he grabbed her wand and snapped it in two with ease dropping the pieces on the floor.
"Hey! What the hell!?! You broke my wand you stupid jerk!" Akko said getting up in his face, literally.
"Where did you get such vulgar vocabulary from?" he asked pushing her face out of his.
"From...home..Luna...Nova." she answered struggling to throw a punch at him as his hand was against her forehead keeping her in place.
The whole time Sinclair looked deep in thought.
"...Luna...Nova...is that right?"
"Yeah, what's it to you!?!"
Sinclair looked over as his demon employees, they shared the same evil glance he had.
"Ok, this was a good talk. Definitely one I will be remembering. Goodbye, and don't let the door hit ya on the way out. Ok? Ok." Sinclair suddenly said pushing the trio out his office before quickly slamming the door shut hitting their butts as they winced in pain.
Sinclair walked towards the massive window placing his hands behind his back overlooking the vast underworld before him.
"...Boys, I think it's finally time we branch out and expand the company."