A/N: I don't own Skulduggery or Valkyrie. Val's an adult, I guess. I was bitted by an evil plot bunny, so this is so not my fault. Sorry to take so long to update!

Valkyrie stepped into the video game arcade and stopped. It was after hours and there were no customers, but the machines had been left on and all the competing songs and flashing lights would easily have hid the subtle sounds of a a bad guy sneaking up behind her. Valkyrie tried really hard not to keep glancing behind her as she crept forward.

A machine blared to life beside her and she jumped, muffling her startled yelp with one hand. She sighed and tried to read the air then started forward slowly. Skulduggery had last been seen here right after closing time, so more than likely he was being held in a secret room, most likely being tortured even as she searched.

Valkyrie didn't like to think about that, so she made her way through the twisting labyrinth of machines slowly until she came to an opening on her left. There was just a few claw machines and she was going to pass them by until she saw the figure sitting perfectly still in one. She did a double take and saw Skulduggery Pleasant seated cross legged on top of the stuffed animal prizes, looking perfectly content. He waved a cheery hello to her and she waved back.

Valkyrie tried talking through the glass to him. "How did you get in there?" She said loudly and slowly. He shrugged as if he couldn't hear her and she had no choice but to stoop down and push the prize door open. "Skulduggery are you all right? How did you get in there?"

"Hello, Valkyrie!" He responded cheerily. "I'm quite all right, except for the machine trapping me inside. As to how I got in, it cheated. I was in here, just to look around you know, and saw the machine. And I decided to play it to try to work out something for our case."

Valkyrie popped her head up to see if he was joking but Skulduggery just looked back at her, his skull looking rather too innocent for her liking. She hunkered down again and spoke through the door she held open. "That still doesn't tell me how you got in there. Did our suspect do it?" She asked and he laughed.

"Heavens no. I climbed in."

"You- You climbed in?" She asked, sure she'd heard him wrong.

"Yes, I climbed in. I was playing the machine and almost had a teddy bear. He was right on the edge when the claw thing went loose and dropped him. It cheated, Valkyrie. So I climbed right in after it. It was for you, after all." He added sweetly and she smiled.

She didn't ask how he'd managed to wriggle through. Kids did it all the time and she supposed when he collapsed the frame he wore he could make it. She stood up and smiled at him then stood back to consider the bright red machine. How on earth could she get him out? Didn't mortals need someone to come dismantle it?

She tapped at the plexiglass, trying to figure out how it went together. She knew some older models opened fairly easily so the owner of the arcade could load them as needed. But there seemed to be no locks, not even any seams she could find, the panels disappearing behind corners that boasted strips of flashing lights. She was stumped until she wandered to the back of the machine and found a small recess. There was a lock inside and when she picked it the plexiglass panel behind Skulduggery swung open and he hopped out.

Skulduggery dusted himself off, neatly arranged the stuffed animals then locked up the machine. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and titled his head in a smile. "That was fun, actually. You ought to try it sometime." He said, then reached inside his shirt and handed Valkyrie the teddy bear.

She accepted the bear with a smile, not even thinking of telling him to put it back. "Aw. That's sweet of you Skulduggery, thank you."

"Any time." He said brightly then they left the arcade in search of the bad guy.

Yup, too fluffy for words. But claw machines are great fun.