JUST LIKE OLD TIMES

"Hey, look!" a girl in dark robes pointed. "Do you see what I see, Lotus?"

Beside, a man donned in a similar set of clothing frowned. "Hmm, we've found what we came for, sis," he said as both of them continued to peek at a man in fanciful clothing. He did not look quite as gentlemanly as his clothes. Rather, he was speeding along the walkway rather recklessly, bumping into passers-by without even a word of apology.

"Keep yourself concealed, Orchid. We best not let ourselves known and get into trouble later."

As he said, the man with fanciful clothing ran past their table, as if running away from something. Soon after, two other men in blue uniforms ran past them toward his direction.

"What do we do, brother?" asked Orchid.

"Hehe, I've got an idea! This is going to be fun, I promise," said Lotus, smirking.

"Oh, something up your sleeves, Lotus?" Orchid asked, interested.

Lotus turned towards Phantom, who was still in his sight. He stood up and told Orchid, "Come on, follow me! I know what exactly both of us can do."

The two of them stood up from the table and left the cafe they were at and started to track down Phantom. Not long after, they noticed that the two men in blue uniforms had lost sight of Phantom, still the two of them knew where Phantom was.

"This is perfect! Come on, sis!" Lotus called to Orchid.

Orchid hurried herself following Lotus, who then started to cast a spell, emanating a bright purple aura from his arm.

"There. Remember this? That way we can do anything we want but people around won't notice," said Lotus.

"Oh, right! I totally forgot how exciting this is!" Orchid squealed in excitement. She then ran toward a random passer-by and started making faces at him, but he kept on walking as if nothing had happened around him.

"This is awesome!" Orchid yelled and started to play around. In less than a minute, a passer-by tripped and fell, another tasted something strange in his ice cream, and another thought someone was calling him.

"Orchid, I know you like to play around, but this is not the time for fun and games yet! Come with me!" Lotus called out seeing all the trouble Orchid had caused.

Orchid pouted and followed Lotus again. They came to the place where the two uniformed men were still frantically searching for Phantom.

Lotus grabbed one of them and immediately caught on to his neck. The man screamed and thrashed wildly of pain, but nobody around them took notice. A curious glow formed around them. Soon, the man stopped thrashing and fell unconscious, and Lotus was no longer donned in his robes, but instead the uniform the man was wearing. Lotus slowly laid the body down, and waved his hand over him. Soon after, the body vanished completely.

"Do what I did with the other one," Lotus said, pointing to Orchid toward the other uniformed man, unaware of his missing companion and still busy searching for Phantom.

Orchid took heed and did the same toward him, soon donning the same uniform as her brother.

"That's that. So what now?"

"We pretend we are doing our duties and wait until the next day. Tomorrow, we're gonna pay someone a visit," said Lotus as he dispelled the oblivious spell around them.

"Ehehe, alright, let's do it!" said Orchid anticipating the fun she will get in torturing her would-be victims.

Phantom's dream still echoed in his mind. He caught Aria's message, but what was she trying to say to him?

He got up and checked the clock that was hanging right on top of him. The room was dark, but he could barely see with enough lights shining from the outside through the window. 2:47, it read. He had no clue as to when the sun will rise again, and so he decided to stay awake, trying to decipher what Aria was trying to convey to him.

His throat felt dry, prompting him to search for water. Nami had said they could get water from the pitcher at the small kitchen. He looked around and saw Luminous sleeping at another corner of the room. Checky was nowhere to be found, though.

He exited the room trying to take some water. As he opened the door, his attention was caught by the sound of a soft conversation. Faint lights were coming from the living room. Instinct immediately told him to make his presence unknown.

He slipped to a corner of the corridor where he would not be easily seen from the living room, as he tried to listen more closely. It was Checky's and Nami's voices. How long had they been in their conversation?

"So how did you even learn to make all these? I never knew how they could even, you know, without magic?" came Checky's voice.

"Aww, I thought I told you about that last time, I went to a tailoring school because I was so into cosplay and stuff. That basic bowman costume wasn't too hard for me," Nami's reply followed. "How about you? I haven't heard from you in, like, ages. How did it go before coming here?"

"Pretty well, but we've gotta listen to that stupid Claudine, though. I told her that my mechs are all pretty much still in upgrading process and my mechanics are all unready for the battle! She still made me do it..." Checky gave a sigh.

"That's okay, Checky. Hey, on the bright side, you're still all right now, and I get to see you again! How good is that?"

"Yeah, that is one thing but..."

"Oh hey, what about that thing you have? That bear head? Still works as usual?"

"I dunno, I haven't been using it for other purposes other than that. Not sure if it still works now..."

Phantom got even more curious and decided to peek. As he did, he saw Nami sitting on one sofa, and Checky on another. The bear head was with Checky. Both were unaware of Phantom's presence as Checky took the mascot head.

"Hmm, what do you want it to be?" Checky asked.

"Uhhhhh...oh, oh, one of those Cash cards! With actual redemption code on them!"

As she spoke, the bear head suddenly shapeshifted, turning into a piece of card almost instantly and landing on Checky's hands after it did. Phantom was taken by surprise.

"I think we know the answer," said Checky as Nami snatched the card from him. She turned it over and took a look.

"Aww, I can't even read the code! It's not even alphanumeric!"

"Too bad for you. But well, good to know it still works." Concealed around the corner, Phantom was bewildered. Something impossible, even almost so in the Maple World, just happened right in front of their eyes yet Checky and Nami didn't even seem surprised. What was going on?

"Never mind then...by the way, I have so many things to ask you about!" Nami sounded excited as she said so, "Last you came here you went so suddenly that so many questions went unanswered. I hope I could get them from you now that you're here."

"Go ahead. I'm not running away."

"Where did you even find this thing? And how did you even end up here?"

"Well, I actually found it while I was digging near the Verne Mines with my friends, you know being small kids we were, very innocent and stuff. And then, just when I dug deep enough, I got this thing stuck in the ground I found so interesting, I just had to dig it out. Took it in my hands, and was just thinking about what it looked like, and well, it simply...transformed into that thing."

"What did you think of?"

"Some kind of gem or jewel, the one common in the Mines, what's it called...the rue ore, yes. So yeah I was thinking that thing looked like a rue ore and well, it turned into one. I thought that it was too incredible and I decided to keep this a secret, so I turned it into something small enough and kept it in my pocket.

"The only person who knew about this was me, and I'd always play with it whenever I get my quality time alone at night, but things happened after this. I had strange dreams."

"Strange dreams?"

"Yeah, kept dreaming about a certain place, seemed like a temple of some sort. There's some girl I don't know just floating there and holding an hourglass..."

"Rhinne, you mean?" Nami interrupted.

"Is that what she's called? Well anyway that girl was beckoning me to come to the temple. Went on for some 10 years, every night the same dream. So I went there because that dream's kinda annoying me. And then, things happened, some kind of portal formed, walked through it, and I ended up here..."

"In front of me?"

"In front of you. You looked so surprised back then."

"I was! You came crashing down in the middle of the night out of nowhere in front of my apartment!"

Phantom listened intently, finally understanding how they had met before.

"So about your career last time, how'd it go?" Nami asked again.

"I'll be honest with you, I was surprised when they told me to perform at a certain circus coming to town, think they saw that nice bear suit you got for me. I got invited by a lot of circuses to perform with that suit. And I did pretty well, I actually got famous in this field, TV and stuff, but I was so friggin' busy. I love my job, though."

"That happens when you get famous, good thing you're happy with your job. I saw you a lot in newspapers and on TV too. And dayum you sure know how to entertain. To think that bear head went too good with that bear suit, it's just perfect entertainment material!"

"Well, if you think so, I really couldn't thank you enough. That bear suit was neato, and I probably have to give credit to my own imagination of the ideal bear head as well. So as I was saying, I was doing well, done entertaining people that day and well, I forgot when it was, but sometime later I got those dreams again. The same dream that got me crossing into this world, except the girl was asking me to go back."

Phantom lit up hearing Checky's words. This could very well be the cue for them to go back.

"What place is that?"

"I forgot. But at that time I didn't quite remember what place I flew to before that dream got me."

Phantom sighed. He was this close to finding out the way to go back.

"The only thing I remembered was that that was my last flight in this world before the dream. All that and I followed the orders, went to some place I don't even know. Place wasn't heavily guarded, luckily. I sneaked in easily into a strange room, the portal formed again, and back I go."

"No wonder I haven't heard from you since. You actually went back."

"Mmhm. Sorry I couldn't inform you sooner."

"It's alright. I was just thinking how funny it was, your formal career made you end up giving balloons while stuffed in that bear suit, and you taking up electrical engineering here only to end up building mechs there, and they're not even that strong? My my, sucks to be you!"

"Hey, not my fault they don't appreciate technology and performing arts! Those kids are really painful to deal with. Especially that Ulrika girl."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to tell me. I've played enough to know what happened," Nami chuckled.

Phantom couldn't believe how close Checky and Nami were as friends as he slipped back to the room, deciding against taking a drink. Aria's words still lingered in his head, forming a poem of some sort, but the conversation between the two of them should not be taken lightly, too.

Phantom borrowed Nami's note and pen and hurriedly scribbled down what he heard from Aria's mouth just as the others were having their breakfast. Strangely, his mind could remember it rather clearly, if not perfectly.

When he was quite sure he jotted down all of it, he brought it to the table, where he studied the poem as he chugged down some toast, ignoring any ongoing conversations at the table.

"What are you reading there?" asked Luminous, feeling curious. He scooted over to Phantom who was sitting beside him, peering toward his note.

Phantom did not react, but merely continued staring at his note while chugging another piece of toast down his mouth. He did not even flinch as Luminous got behind him to read whatever was on that note as well.

"What exactly is this?" Luminous asked again, but still Phantom was too concentrated. In his mind was the mind-boggling tangle between words that he himself had volunteered to take the responsibility to untangle them. It didn't really seem to make sense, even if he tried hard to read between the lines.

"What could she be trying to tell me?" thought Phantom over and over again. As romantic and poetic a person he was, this poem seemed too complicated and sophisticated for him. Nevertheless, he continued trying to decipher its meaning. Luminous went back to his breakfast as he couldn't quite stand literature.

Phantom was startled as he heard someone knocking on the front door. He raised his head to the direction of the door as Nami stood and got to the door.

When Nami opened the door, she seemed surprised. It was a policeman and a policewoman.

"Hello, we're currently looking for this guy," said the policeman as he produced a picture. It showed a portrait of someone rather familiar. But it wasn't a typical photo that had been taken from crime scenes or a passport-sized photo. Rather, it seemed to be painted on, like a work of art. "Do you happen to know him?"

Nami studied it as the first thought hit her mind. It was Phantom's face.

She turned her head as she glanced towards Phantom, hesitant whether to give him away or not. Did Phantom went out to stir some trouble?

"Ah, I see him from here. Very nice, please tell him to come over, we would like to see him to...interrogate him," said the male police without waiting for Nami's reply, as he peered in and saw Phantom sitting at the dining table.

Phantom was hesistant. Partly because he did not want to be interrogated. He already had enough of that in the Maple World, even though he got away with it every single time. And partly because the two cops at the door were not the ones after him.

"I'm not coming over," said Phantom as he went back to study the poem.

"This is an order. You are required to be here immediately now," the male police officer raised his voice.

Phantom, feeling annoyed, stood up and said, "I'm going back to the room."

However, just as Phantom was about to head back to the bedroom, he felt himself unconsciously walking to both cops instead, as if his mind and body are not one. He came to the door and noticed the female police officer had one of her hands slightly up, and it seemed to bear a strange aura.

The policeman pulled out a folded piece of document from his pocket, opened it up and started to read.

"Case Number 1337, 8th of February 20xx, Name of suspect: Phantom; Crimes involved: Grand Larceny; on the 7th of February, Phantom was suspected to have stolen money and credit of up to 3000 dollars from pickpocketing last afternoon, approximately 1.30pm. Afterwards, he went into a toilet in Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, disposed of wallets and purses and important documents, keeping only cash to himself."

Phantom began to wonder how the details could be so intricate even though he was sure his moves went unnoticed. He tried to walk away, sit down in defiance, and even attacking the cops, but something was keeping him in place, and he could do nothing else other than staring at the two police officers.

"Permission has been granted by the High Court of the Master to deliver a swift verdict without trial, and the right to execute punishment on the suspect on the spot."

The four of them became more and more confused as the content of what seemed to be a police report became more and more absurd. For as long as Nami knew, this is not how it works in Singapore. Who the hell are these two 'police officers' then?

"Your verdict shall be delivered here as mentioned in this report, and for the crime of larceny, I hereby sentence you to death. And we shall now carry the execution ourselves on the spot," said the male police.

He walked towards Phantom, who tried stepping back but somehow couldn't move a muscle. He raised a hand and wrapped it onto his forehead. Phantom tried to budge and break contact with him, but to no avail. A few moments later, the police's hand glowed slightly, a curiously purple-coloured smoke was seen rising from above Phantom's head, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Luminous and Checky were still terrified by what they saw when the male police continued, "The two of you, who have been accomplices to the accused, shall be sentenced to death as well."

"W-wait! We absolutely don't have anything to..." Checky yelled out.

"Your turn, Orchid," the male police turned to his partner without even listening to Checky.

"Gladly!" said the female cop as she raised both her hands. Both her hands slowly glowed.

"You! You're..." Luminous suddenly came to realisation when he was cut off. He could no longer speak as he and Checky felt a constriction around their necks.

Nami stared blankly as she saw what both cops did to her three guests. Within a short period of time, Checky and Luminous held on to their throats, gasping and wheezing for air. A few moments later, they both collapsed.

"And you, unfortunately we cannot spare any accomplices to the criminal, which you proved yourself to be one for accommodating him. My apologies, lady," said the male police as he raised a hand towards Nami, his hand slowly glowing as their hands formed a choking position yet again.

Nami was already horrified as she saw what was coming for her. Just a few seconds later was her own impending doom, and she stood stunned, blankness clouding up her mind. She began to feel pressure around her neck sinking in.

At that slight moment, the clock in the living room started turning backwards.

A/N: When the first version of this chapter came out, Orchid was made permanently traumatised after the incident of the Evolving System, behaving like a child whenever she was accompanied by her brother Lotus. Unfortunately, it was also before the Black Heaven content update, which revealed those two as formerly twin spirits and also revealed the aftermath of the incident. I decided that I am not going to stray too much off course and so Orchid is made normal again. However, in contrast to the story line at Black Heaven, Lotus's loyalty (and hence Orchid's too) in this story remained with the Black Mage. As such, they will be part of the antagonists that appear in this story.