It had been a nice day for the Physics Club. All their experiments had actually gone to plan, and none of them had exploded, which was actually rare. Risukuma had said goodbye to his friends, Ringo and Maguro, before the three of them went their separate ways. Tomorrow was a Saturday, so they had the day off. Risukuma was going to spend the day relaxing and-
"Gaah!" Risukuma yelled, as he was grabbed by the leg and into the bushes. The one who had done this was one of Ringo's friends, was it Arle? She was accompanied by that yellow rabbit creature, as well as a shadowy creature.
"May I ask why you shoved me into the bushes?" Risukuma asked.
"We need your help," Arle asked. "Ecolo and I are thinking about pranking Ringo a bit."
"Can we borrow your body for a few minutes tomorrow~?" Ecolo asked.
"My... what?!" Risukuma said, in shock.
"Ecolo! We were supposed to say that after we buttered him up!" Arle reprimanded him.
"Ms Nadja, please elaborate on what this request means..." Risukuma asked her.
"It's really nothing, I swear," Arle said. "All we want is for Ecolo to puppet your body for a couple minutes, then you're free to go. How does that sound?"
"I..." Risukuma had been asked many weird things since the day the light shone down on Ringo, but never anything THIS weird. He had no idea how to respond to this kind of request. "... does it hurt?"
"Noooooo, definitely not!" Ecolo said. "You won't feel a thing!"
"I mean, if you resist his control, it'll hurt," Arle added. "But all you have to do is nothing for a couple of minutes, so that won't be a problem."
"H-How would you know this?" Risukuma asked.
"Experience," Arle said. "Soooooo are you in or not?"
"I... guess?" Risukuma said.
"Alright, thanks!" Arle said, before getting up and leaving. "See you tomorrow!"
Risukuma was just confused by the whole interaction. They didn't even tell him where to go...
Risukuma had forgotten about what happened yesterday, and was at Suzuran Shopping District, seeing if there was anything that could work for his potions.
"Hey! Ris!" a familiar voice called out. So THEY hadn't forgotten.
"Alright, just let Ecolo puppet your body for a couple minutes and then we can let you go back to shopping!" Arle said. Risukuma noticed Arle was wearing a weird cloak, with black and grey on it, and not the blue and white she wore yesterday.
Ecolo suddenly pressed his face up to Risukuma's and said, "dOn'T wOrRy... i WoN't bE tOo hArD... hEhEhEhE..."
"Ecolo!" Arle yelled. "Don't scare him!"
"Sorry~" Ecolo said.
"We're doing this for you, after all!" Arle said, before turning to Risukuma again. "So are you still in?"
What Risukuma wanted was to run back home and get away from both these nutcases. But Risukuma knew they'd probably bother him until he let them borrow his body, so he reluctantly agreed. "Uh... sure."
"Yay~!" Ecolo cheered, before taking control of Risukuma's body again.
"Oh yeah, I heard from Ringo you've possessed Risukuma before too," Arle said. "Or used his body like a puppet. Why is that?"
"He has a chaotic energy," Ecolo said. "He's kinda fun~"
Arle could tell Ecolo really meant Risukuma was just in the wrong place at the wrong time occasionally, but didn't say anything.
The two eventually spotted Ringo Ando, shopping while singing.
"Shopping Shopping Shopping in Suzuran " Ringo sang.
"I wonder if Ringo would hate Harpy's singing," Arle whispered to Ecolo. "Anyway, we should go talk to her."
The two walked over to Ringo. "Heyyyyy, Riiiiingo~" Arle said.
"Oh, uh... hey, Ringo~!" 'Risukuma' said.
Ringo immediately realised what had happened. "Ecolo! I told you not to possess people!"
"Nooooo, we're not possessed~" 'Risukuma' unconvincingly said.
"Yeaaaaaah, Ringo~" the Undark Arle said. "There's no way we're possessed! Pinky promise!"
"Wait, Arle," Ringo asked. "Are you... pretending to be possessed again?"
Arle groaned. "Well, that didn't work. Ecolo, go!"
Ecolo suddenly leapt out of Risukuma's body and lunged for Ringo.
"ECO-" Ringo didn't even get to finish her sentence before she was thrown to the ground from the force of Ecolo. As she stood up, something definitely seemed different about her.
"Hey~" Ringo said.
"Look at that! It worked!" Arle said. "But like I said, please don't be too hard on her..."
"It feels even better inside the real thing~!" Dark Ringo said. "Even better than you!"
Arle had no idea if she should take that as an insult or not. That kinda sounded like something Schezo would say. "Didn't you say you wanted to see Maguro?" She turned to Risukuma, who was only now regaining his bearings. "Ris, where's Maguro?"
"I'm not being associated with this anymore," Risukuma said, before running off.
"Oh, and by the way, Arle," Dark Ringo said, "You were trying too hard~"
"I was just doing what you did in my body," Arle said. "You know, when you were acting like a supervillain."
"I guess that's fair~" Dark Ringo said.
"But, uhhh..." Arle asked, "where IS Maguro?"
"He's probably at the arcade~" Dark Ringo said.
"Lead the way!" Arle said. "I have no idea what an arcade is!"
The trio eventually made their way to the arcade. "Aaaah, I see Maguro~" Dark Ringo said.
"Ecolo, don't ruin their friendship," Arle said. "Take it easy on her."
Dark Ringo just grinned, and entered the arcade. Arle stood outside, peeking in, hoping she wouldn't have to intervene.
"Heyyyyyy, Maguro!" Dark Ringo called out.
"Hey, Ringo " Maguro said. "Wait, you look different..."
"WHAT?" Dark Ringo suddenly yelled out. "W-no! I'm normal! Sooooo normal! The saaaaame Ringo as always~"
"Uhhh, sure " Maguro said. "Do you wanna play anything with me?"
"Ooooh, ooooh, Mario Kart~" Dark Ringo said excitedly.
"Sure, let's go " Maguro said, while thinking to himself, "what happened to you, Ringo?"
Ringo suddenly played the best Mario Kart of her entire life. She did almost every turn flawlessly, and almost even outlapped him, despite him doing pretty well.
"What was that?" Maguro asked Ringo. "You did pretty well "
"I'm supposed to be playing with Maguro, but this is just normal," Ecolo thought to himself. "Maybe I should find somewhere more fun~"
"Hey Maguro, we should go see the physics' club~" Dark Ringo asked.
"Uh, why?" Maguro asked.
"No particular reason!" Dark Ringo said, before grabbing his hand and running back to Suzuran Junior High.
"Ecolo!" Arle yelled out, seeing him run off. "Weren't we supposed to be doing this here?"
Neither Ecolo nor Maguro heard this, as they had left by now. Arle groaned and gave chase with Carbuncle.
Dark Ringo slammed open the doors to the physics club, taking Maguro in, as Arle watched from the window in the hall. As it turns out, Risukuma was also there.
"R-Ringo and Maguro!" he said, still shocked about what happened. "Are you both alright?"
"Sure " Maguro said, shrugging. "Not sure about Ringo, though "
"N-No! I'm totally fine~" Dark Ringo said.
"He's hopeless at acting," Arle lamented to Carbuncle.
"At the physics club, don't we do experiments?" Dark Ringo said, randomly grabbing two potions.
"Uh, Ringo?" Maguro warned her. "That's Ris's job "
"Ms. Ringo, it's dangerous to grab random bottles," Risukuma said.
"We'll be fine~" Dark Ringo replied. "We just mix these together aaaaaaaaaaand-"
"Ringo, wait!" Maguro yelled, as he realised what was on the labels.
"Those are my explosive vial and my soul separation vial!" Risukuma said.
"Your what now?" Dark Ringo asked, having already poured both in the same cup. The result was an explosion that completely enveloped Ringo.
When the smoke started to clear out, Maguro and Risukuma realised their souls were fine. The same couldn't be said for Ringo, who now had a black creature next to her.
"Ugh..." Ringo said in pain and dizziness.
"Ecolo, what was that?" Arle said, coming into the room. "I told you not to hurt Ri-" Arle then noticed Ecolo was outside again, and realised what had happened.
"Uhhhh, oh! I think I have some laundry to do over at home! I'll catch you all l-" Arle then suddenly had her arm held by Ringo, and held tight.
"YOU TWO." Ringo suddenly yelled to Arle and Ecolo. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
"I was just hanging out with Risukuma, then Ecolo did that, and I've been following him since!" Arle said.
"This was your idea, Arle!" Ecolo retorted.
"What do you mean it was Arle's idea?!" Ringo said.
"Look, Ringo, it wasn't fair that you hadn't been possessed by Ecolo yet! And when we were adventuring, I heard that Ecolo wanted to, so I wanted to give him what he wanted, and prank you guys a bit. I'm sorry..." Arle apologised.
"Sorry, Ringo~" Ecolo said. "I just wanted to see what it felt like."
"I..." Ringo suddenly felt bad for both of them, and realised she wasn't nearly as angry as she should've been. Damnit, they did way too good a job at making her anger go away.
Arle also now felt bad for the fact that she just enabled Ecolo to possess Ringo, and decided to make it up to them. "Look, how about we get lunch together?" Arle then grabbed her wallet, and remembered she still had enough Yen for lunch. "I'll get it for all of us!"
"Really?" Ringo said, still trying to process what had just happened to her.
"Of course! Oh, and you two as well!" Arle said to Maguro and Risukuma.
"You'd pay for all of us? " Maguro asked.
"Of course!" Arle said. "We'll make it for all 6 of us!"
"Even me?" Ecolo asked.
"Well duh!" Arle said. "I said all of us! Wait, can you eat?"
"Probably not~" Ecolo admitted.
"Maybe you'd taste something in my body," Arle said.
"That's true~" Ecolo said. "Thanks!"
Did... Arle just offer Ecolo to possess her? What the hell did they do in their adventure a month ago? The two of them were suddenly acting like they were best friends their whole life!
The restaurant attendant was, to say the least, surprised to see a group of 3 people, one of whom was wearing a weird cloak, a bear (squirrel?) who might've just been someone in a costume, and 2... creatures.
"Table for 6, please!" Arle said. "Do you need a seat, Ecolo?"
"I'm not exactly solid," Ecolo replied.
"Eh, we'll get you one anyway," Arle said.
Once they had all placed their orders, they waited for the meal to come.
"Arle," Ringo said, "you can't just help Ecolo do something like that to me. If he did that to you, I would've been helping you out!"
"I know, I'm really sorry," Arle said. "I didn't want anything bad to happen, I swear. It's just that I guess it didn't feel fair for you to avoid it forever."
"Arle does make a fair point there " Maguro said.
"This may be the first time all day she's made sense," Risukuma said.
"Well, you could've asked first," Ringo said.
"You would've said no~" Ecolo replied.
"Of course I would've!" Ringo said. "You almost separated our souls from our bodies!"
"Sorry~" Ecolo said.
"Ecolo, why did you go barging into labs and mixing vials together?" Arle said. "I told you to go easy on her!"
"You didn't tell me not to do science experiments," Ecolo said.
"THAT'S NOT A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!" Ringo yelled. Though putting her life in danger wasn't exactly new for Ecolo.
Everyone sat at the table in silence for a few seconds. Arle suddenly said, "Why do you guys even have a soul separation vial anyway?"
The entire Physics Club went blank. "I thought... it would be an interesting experiment..." Risukuma said.
"... did you ever use it?" Arle asked.
"I didn't..." Ringo said.
"Nope " Maguro said.
"I... can't remember..." Risukuma said. "Maybe I used it on a rat?"
"So..." Arle said, "... you killed the rat-"
"Haha! Look at us!" Ecolo cut her off. "We're all talking like great friends~!"
"We sure are " Maguro said.
"Wasn't talking about you," Ecolo whispered.
Once all the 5 orders had come in, Arle offered her plate of chicken curry to Ecolo. Sure enough, he couldn't interact with it. Ecolo then immediately went into Arle's body.
"Ecolo!" Ringo said, having forgotten about what the two had said earlier. "You can't j-"
"Ringo, we said this earlier," Arle said.
"Yeah, I have permission!" Arle said, with Ecolo's voice.
"WHAT THE FACTOR?!" Ringo said in shock.
"Don't worry," Arle laughed. "We're just sharing for a bit."
"Sharing your body!?" Ringo yelled.
"Yeah~" Ecolo said. "Hey, curry is nice!"
"It is, isn't it?" Arle said.
"How do you... feel?" Ringo questioned.
"Uh, normal?" Arle said. "Just that my mouth and body move sometimes when I didn't move them. Actually, this is kinda cool! You should try it!"
Arle was speaking like a completely different person to before this weird adventure she had with Ecolo! What did they do on that adventure that made Arle happy to share a body with Ecolo?! Arle, of all people, should be the one MOST against that!
"Ahhh, that was a good meal, right, guys?" Arle said once they all had finished.
"Food actually tastes good, thanks, Arle~!" Ecolo said in her body. "Maybe we should try this more often!"
"This isn't gonna be permanent, Ecolo," Arle said.
"I know, I know~" Ecolo replied.
"You're... really trying to make it up to me..." Ringo asked Arle.
"Yeah," Arle said. "I didn't wanna take it that far. I really did just want you to see what it was like for once, I'm really sorry."
"You don't need to apologise anymore, I forgive you guys," Ringo finally said. "Just, please... don't do that ever again."
"I won't," Arle said. "Promise."
"I won't ever need to again, Arle, if we share bodies forever~" Ecolo said.
"I already said this isn't permanent," Arle said. "And we're finished the meal, can you get out?"
"Or I could take control~" Ecolo said, until Arle started charging a spell, and he left immediately. "I was just joking~"
"Look, it's just hard to tell sometimes," Arle said.
Once everyone had finished their meals, everyone went their separate ways, in surprisingly good spirits, considering what had happened earlier.
"Ecolo, you really shouldn't mix random potions together," Arle said.
"How was I supposed to know he kept a soul separation vial?" Ecolo replied. "Who does that?"
"Risukuma, apparently," Arle said. "Even if everyone doesn't make vials like that, they can probably get dangerous. Especially if it's Risukuma."
"That's a fair point~" Ecolo said. "So, ready to go home now?"
"I think you can take me back to the Madou world this time," Arle said. "Maybe I should show you around the place."
"Gu gu!" Carbuncle replied.
"Sounds fun this time!" Ecolo replied. "Sure thing~!"
Ecolo set his course to the Madou World and opened a portal as he, Arle and Carbuncle went through it, just like they had many times on their adventure.