Chapter Text
It was the twilight of summer within Norrisville and it was the first one in what felt like a millenium that saw anything resembling peace. After a grueling year of fighting monsters and beings of pure evil, the Ninja of Norrisville was able to put an end to a curse and save the town for good. After that, with peace achieved, the Ninja went away as its job was seemingly complete. Despite this, however, he was still regarded as a hero and many people awaited his return. Some people, however, had different reasons for wanting him to return.
Up within the towering pyramid within the center of town, Hannibal McFist drew his hand back before slamming it against a wall. That wall happened to have a board that was squalled with plans all for one thing: Destroy the Ninja. “Think that clown in spandex can just take my wish and get away with it!? Well, mark my words. I’m far from done with him! He’ll pay for what he’s done!” As he stepped back, he looked at what he had put on the board, which was a tarantula mecha. However, he saw that the board was now crooked. In spite of being so simple, this bothered the CEO who looked around. “Oh, shuck. ROBOAPES!” Coming in fast, a pair of Roboapes ran up to McFist, ready for any orders that he would throw their way. “Fix the board for plans to destroy the Ninja! It looks weird when it’s all crooked.” The Roboapes did just that, orienting the board back into its correct position.
Just as that was done, though, the door was slammed open. It was Viceroy, McFist’s somewhat faithful assistant, who seemed to be in a hurry. “Roboapes, I’m calling for an immediate cleanup of the office!” With his hurried words, the Roboapes immediately went to work vacuuming and picking up anything dirty around the room. “Also, hide anything confidential, including that board!” As Viceroy demanded that, McFist looked around in confusion. “What the juice!?” McFist then saw the apes take his precious board off the wall and throwing it in the closet.
“HEY!” The CEO yelled in frustration before looking to Viceroy. “Viceroy, what on earth do you think you’re doing!?”
Viceroy sighed, “Well, I’m trying to get ourselves ready for today’s guests, sir.”
McFist stammered for a moment, still quite vindictive towards his colleague. “GUESTS!? You know that it’s Brainstorming Hour for the destruction of the Ninja!”
Viceroy passed by McFist to set some papers down. “I moved that to an hour from now.”
“YOU MOVED IT!?” The shorter man was even more enraged. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?”
Viceroy gave McFist a glare. “Sir, don’t you remember last week? We booked a meeting that we both agreed was very important to this company.”
McFist took a moment to think. A vague memory came up where Viceroy was speaking to him, but all he could hear was the noise of a movie he was watching at the time. “Viceroy, you know I’d be able to remember something like that if you actually said it.” McFist leaned in, now calmed down, but still fuming.
“I posted it on today’s memo, sir.” Viceroy retorted as he gave McFist a copy of said memo.
Taking it in his hand, McFist read it. “Meet-up with...Gabriel?”
Viceroy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me you haven’t already forgotten who he is.”
“Well, there's like a hundred Gabriels out there! How am I supposed to-!?” Just as McFist started to yell once more, the door was slammed open again. This time, it was two Roboapes welcoming two new people to their Master’s office. A bright light shined onto them as the guests stood there…
Only for the light to go out as it was merely a Roboape trying to move a flickering spotlight from Whoopie World. McFist and Viceroy were able to see who the guests were. Clad in white and black, respectively, the two were recognized as Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur. While McFist glared at them with a bemused look, Viceroy went ahead and gave them a formal greeting. “Monsieur Agreste. Mademoiselle Sancœur. Je vous souhaite la bienvenue à McFist's Industry.” As the scientist gave this greetings, he kissed both Gabriel and Nathalie’s hand, all while McFist continued to be confused.
“What are you even saying, Viceroy?” was the first thing that came out of his mouth in the presence of these two visitors.
“Sir, these are important people working in a very vital market for us. The least you could do is to speak their tongue.” Viceroy gestured him to get up. The least McFist could do was be more formal. When Viceroy stated this, McFist groaned at this, walking up to the two. “Bonjour. Jet am Hannibal McFist and le…” Just when Viceroy was starting to cover his face from McFist’s incredibly shoddy attempt at French, Gabriel decided to speak up. “You’re Hannibal McFist, correct?” McFist’s eyes widened at the man’s blunt but soft greeting before grinning.
“Yep, that’s me! The man behind all of McFist Industries! Didn’t know you knew English, uh…Gabriel?”
“Correct. I’ve been around the world a couple times now, so learning English wasn’t so difficult. With that said, while coming here has been...rather peculiar, it’s still a pleasure to meet you again.” Gabriel then brought his hand out to McFist, who raised an eyebrow at what he said. “We’ve met before?”
“It was at an expo in 2006.” Nathalie stated. “You were starting to enter the fashion industry with your McFashion line.”
McFist thought about it. “Hmm...oh yeah! Weren’t you guys running some suits that looked like aliens?”
Mr. Agreste simply closed his eyes. “While that wasn’t the intention, that is likely what you saw.”
With that statement, McFist began to wonder something. “So, do you want me to apologize or…?”
Gabriel interjected with his own statement. “Not necessary. Rather, we have something we want from you. Viceroy, if you please?” Viceroy then picked up some of the papers on the table before handing them to his superior. McFist saw that the papers consisted of drawings of hats, jackets, and shoes all made with some sort of futuristic tech. After a bit of looking, McFist’s eyes widened.
“Wait, these are my McTechWear schematics!” McFist looked on at the papers in shock and while Viceroy wanted to correct him since much of the schematics were actually his, at least McFist realized what was at hand.
“Of course and these two happened to have a deal for a collaboration on this.” Viceroy stated to his boss, who raised an eyebrow to what was being proposed. “Collaboration? Why would I need a collaboration for this!?” McFist was then given a packet by Nathalie.
“I’ve heard that in recent times, you’ve been attempting to extend yourself to other parts of the world. However, you’ve been having difficulties with that since according to these articles, very few companies want to work with you.” As Nathalie went over these factoids, McFist looked over these articles talking about falling outs he had with business partners beyond the states before putting them down with a huff.
McFist started to wave his hand. “Well, they’re just a bunch of clowns who don’t know a good deal if it kicked them in the-”
“Don’t wear yourself out, Mr. McFist.” Nathalie’s interruption confused McFist.
“Huh?” McFist blinked.
Gabriel then stepped up. “What she’s inferring is that we’re one of the few she’s talking about. We wish to work with you on this high-tech fashion intiative.”
McFist’s eyes widened. “For real? Alright, what’s in it for me?”
“Simple." Gabriel paced around McFist's desk as he continued his proposal. "My company has a massive stake within the fashion industry of not only its base in France, but to most of Western Europe. Should we work together, your name will be able to reach a new audience that could easily go into the millions. Isn’t that what you wish to have, Mr. McFist? To boost your company’s strength in the world at large?”
With Gabriel’s proposed benefits, McFist was certainly tempted with the prospect of more power across the world. Yes, to get a bigger grasp of the world within his fist is something that he couldn’t pass up. However, he realized something. “OK, what do you want from me, Gabby?”
Despite the rather juvenile nickname, Gabriel smiled at the question. “I simply wish for two things. Namely, I wish to be able to utilize the tech that you’ve shown in your other products in any way that I could think of. I feel with the help of my experience, you’ll have a much easier time marketing this to the masses, especially in Europe.”
McFist then rolled his hand out. “Alright, what else?”
A small pause followed that question before Gabriel continued speaking. “I wish to find something within this town myself.”
That statement got both McFist and Viceroy perplexed. “You want what?”
Gabriel then glared at the two as he sat down, the stare actually making them stand still for a moment. “There have been rumors about this town that I’ve heard through certain circles. You see, it may seem like I’m simply all business, but I have interests in more...fantastical subjects.”
With this statement, the two slowly began to realize what was going on, with Viceroy being the first to speak. “Well, if you’re talking about a chance to find magic, then I hate to break it to you, but that magic has been long gone.”
Despite this statement, Gabriel didn’t seem deterred by it. “Are you sure?”
That was when McFist started to speak, clearly getting angry at being reminded of what happened. “Yeah, thanks to that Ninja, that power’s been thrown into who knows where! It’s lost, so you can’t find it for whatever you need it for!”
Still not deterred by it, Gabriel asked one thing. “Have you considered where it went?”
With this question, the two began to ponder it. “How should we know!? We were tied up in a bunch of weird vines! We couldn’t see squat!”
With that outburst from McFist, Nathalie came in with her own inquiry. “Isn’t there any footage of the incident?”
The two were hesitant to answer, but Viceroy gave his answer. "There is, but it’s jumbled due to the damage caused by the battle.”
“And besides, why would we want to watch ultimate power being lost forever!?” When McFist asked that question in his frustration, Gabriel planted his hand on the desk.
“We need to see the footage. If you haven’t seen it, then you’re missing something. Are you really afraid of watching it, McFist?” This actually set McFist off as he looked to Viceroy.
“Turn on the tape, Viceroy.”
“But it’s too jumbled. What could you possibly gain by showing it-” Viceroy's words were cut off as McFist's robotic hand slammed on the desk.
“JUST PLAY THE TAPE!” After that outburst from his superior, Viceroy just went ahead and played the tape, which was archived within McFist’s desk. Putting it on the office projector, it was...just as the both of them expected. It was jumbled footage of the Ninja fighting against the Sorcerer. A lot of it was static and it was difficult knowing what was going on. As it happened, Nathalie was at the controls of the projector while it played.
McFist still seemed to fume and looked to Gabriel. “You see, it’s just as I told you! The Ninja beat the Sorcerer and took away the powers! There’s nothing to see!” As he stated this, Nathalie let out a gasp at what she saw before she paused. “Huh?” McFist looked to Nathalie. “What’s so shocking? That the footage is this bad?”
Nathalie then looked to McFist. “While a lot of it may be gone, there’s one crucial shot here.” She then played it frame by frame as through all the jumbled pixels and static, one clear image went up. It was a shot of the Chaos Pearls falling into the abyss of the school. No portal was there. It was pure darkness, but there was a bottom. All four of them looked at this image in shock.
All except for Gabriel, who just grinned. “Is it still lost, then?”
McFist looked on, his jaw dropped at the sight of it. He recognized those orbs as something the Sorcerer once held. Could they still be there? It was baffling that this was never brought to his attention, but now that it was… “...So, you said you wanted to work with us?”
“Of course, and since we were able to point you in the right direction, I feel we could aid each other in figuring out how to access this part of the school. Of course, we’d have to do it in a way that wouldn’t disrupt class, but I feel like you have some ideas.” When Gabriel said that, McFist looked to him.
“What do you want these things for, anyways? Are you some archaeologist or something besides being a designer?” When asked these questions, Gabriel kept his lips tight, pondering his answer.
“I’m simply someone with a wish himself and with what I can gather, there may be enough power for the both of us to fulfill our dreams. So, I suppose you could say we’re even. We’re offering you the opportunity to go international and we’ve helped you rediscover a lost artifact that could be of use to you. So...what do you say? Shall we go forward with the partnership?” McFist seemed to be really hesitant to answer Gabriel's question. Viceroy then whispered into his ear.
“We do need to get our brand into Europe. Plus, he did show us that hope isn’t lost for your dream.”
“Hm…” After a pause, McFist planted his hands on the table in excitement, somewhat breaking a part of it due to his robot hand. “Alright, Gabby! You got yourself a deal! We just need some help with designs, modelling-”
“My son can help.” McFist was somewhat taken aback by Gabriel's response. “Your son?”
“Adrien is one of our company’s top models. He may aid us in showing the potential of our line to the market at large. If you need proof, here.” McFist was then shown glamour shots of Adrien, showing him in adverts for perfume, hats, and other things.
He and Viceroy looked at it for a bit. “Well, a celebrity like him would definitely catch the eyes of the people in Norrisville.” As Viceroy said that, McFist simply laughed.
“Alright, sure! We’ll bring your kid over here! Heck, we’ll even enroll him in Norrisville High if you really want him to come here! Slimovitz is apparently looking for some exchange students anyways.”
Gabriel nodded. “That would be helpful. However, I do wish to choose the other transfer students.”
“Why’s that?” McFist queried.
“Let’s just say that I don’t wish for my son to feel like he’s being...ripped away from everyone. It’ll be a detriment to his work.”
McFist simply shrugged. “Alright, sure! Have him bring his friends along! Might as well make it a full-on trip for them! Only five extra people, though. We aren’t gonna babysit every person he knows. With all that said...deal?” McFist gave Gabriel his hand.
After a pause, the designer gave it a firm shake. “It’s a deal. We’ll be looking forward to working with you through this year.” “Great!” With all that said, the two duos parted ways as Gabriel and Nathalie exited the door. Once they were gone...
The two started to jump around in joy, whooping in excitement. “THE WISH ISN’T GONE YET, BABY! ULTIMATE POWER’S GONNA BE OURS!” As they jumped around, Viceroy realized something.
“Wait, what about Gabriel and Nathalie? Shouldn’t we be worried about what they’d do since they know about the Sorcerer’s Orbs?”
McFist chuckled as he brought up his mech arm. “Oh, Viceroy? Wanna know the best part about shaking with your robot arm?”
“What?” When Viceroy asked that, McFist then brought up his other hand, which had its fingers very much crossed.
“The idiots shaking it would be too distracted by it to see the other hand! Gahahahaha!”
Viceroy smirked at this. “Hoohoohoo, you certainly have your head in the game, don’t you, sir?”
McFist then laughed. “I always have my head in the game!” The two of them then started to have a hearty and evil laugh as Nathalie and Gabriel had exited the building.
With them far away from the two, Nathalie looked to Agreste’s side. “You are aware that these two may eventually turn on us, right? There's no way they'd be willing to share such power with us."
“Oh, Nathalie, you shouldn’t doubt me for even a moment. I wouldn’t even think about making this known if I wasn’t prepared and if they even think about turning on me, well…” Gabriel set his tie aside and placed a hand on his brooch, a purple gemstone shining with a faint glow surrounding it.
“He may have to bear witness to a new sort of power in this town.”
To be continued...