#mr ten

Ant glances around the stage, wondering what the boss is going to be, but his gaze is quickly drawn back to Tim, who tosses him his cane, followed by his hat that lands perfectly on Ant’s head. 

“𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭.”

“Need it?”

“𝐘𝐞𝐬.” 

“...Alright.” Ant decides to play along and brandish the cane like a sword. “I’m ready for.. whatever the boss is.” 

Tim smiles. His form seems to darken by the second, somehow making his previous void of light look like a light gray. His feet break contact with the ground as he slowly rises in the air, now floating a few feet above the stage. He grabs the knot of his tie, loosening it until he can entirely take it off. Extending his arm in front of him, the tie stands straight, before morphing into the shape of a sword.

Ant’s expression shifts as he shows an uncomfortable smile, hoping that this is some kind of tasteless joke.

Tim grabs his weapon, and, with a clean slice, cuts reality in half. Both sides of the image fall down, exploding on impact – impact with what? Your guess is as good as mine – revealing the oh-so familiar battleground behind them as the boss music kicks in.

Ant feels an uncomfortable pinch in his chest, before the soul jumps out, immediately encased into the soul arena. It is also holding a little cane, how dapper!

“𝙷𝚒 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎!”

Ant stays silent, not really down to chat.

“𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝, 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚜 ‘𝟹 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕…’ ”

“..until?”

“𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚘 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊.”

“𝐄𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭!” Tim turns his back to the audience and snaps his fingers. Three items dash past the heart arena, trying to hit the soul, but it’s much faster than them, parrying the attacks it can’t dodge.

“𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎, 𝙸’𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎. 𝙰𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜, 𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚝, 𝚜𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎. 𝙸’𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚠𝚎’𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎.”

Ant takes a deep breath. Focus… Focus… He moves his cane into a parry stance.

Mirroring the attack used on the soul, the three PR team employees surround Ant, before dashing at him, brandishing office supplies. Ant manages to dodge the shadowgal and the pippins, but the zapper nearly lands a blow on him which would have no doubt hit if Ant wasn’t able to counter it with the cane. 

3…

Tim holds his forehead. Seems whatever the soul is doing is distracting him from the fight. He doesn’t seem too pleased about it, as his smile is entirely gone once he looks back at Ant. The manager lifts his sword, and brings it down with a strength greater than what started the fight. The soul arena is split in half and shards fly in all directions.

Almost skipping the beat, Ant ducks just in time not to be hit by the follow-up slice messing with the fabric of reality. With each new slice, Ant and the soul dodge being the ones split down the middle, but with the interval getting smaller and smaller… Soul is hit by the last attack. 

Ant feels his body freeze outside of his control, and pain overwhelms him as Tim cuts him in half… but not really. It only feels like it. Not pleasant either way. He catches a glimpse of the damage numbers, seeing a 1, surprised that an attack this painful could do so poorly, even with a defensive stance. Is Tim holding back? 

2…

Tim puts his swords behind him, pointing the finger of his other hand at the soul and Ant. A beam of purple light shines from it, and suddenly, what looks like paper contracts shoot out, flying right at the two in the spotlight.

Seeing that the projectiles are paper, Ant feels confident in just swatting them away with his cane, but one of the papers just slices its end clean off, making Ant squeak in surprise. Okay plan B, we keep dodging. 

The flying papers eventually slow down, then scatter along with the light.

1…

Ant sighs and falls on one knee, out of breath. The adrenaline is slowly wearing off, and he’s feeling exhaustion hit all at once.

Tim lifts his sword, and Ant, despite his state, gets ready to dodge. However, the slice is not directed at him, but at the battleground itself, and apparently at the music too, as it stops playing. Just as it did when they were brought here, the image falls off screen, ending its trajectory with an explosion and revealing… the TV Time stage?

Ant dares to hope. “Did I… win?”

“𝗠𝗨𝗛𝗔𝗛𝗘𝗛𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗛𝗘𝗛𝗔𝗛𝗘𝗛𝗔.”

A laugh shakes the stage. Ant looks at Tim, but he isn’t the one that’s coming from. He does, however, bow, before fading out of view.

Ant and the soul are confused. But not for long.

𝗧𝗛𝗨𝗗

The stage is shaken even harder. In place of the PR manager stands… Ant?

“𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄.” Hunched over, Ant’s body seems to find the situation hilarious. TV Time kicks in, and while Ant doesn’t register it due to… everything going on at the moment, the rendition seems to be slightly… different?

The CRT’s grin is wide and filled with a dangerous aura, which makes Ant shiver. Is this what he looks like to others???

“𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝒻𝑜𝓁𝓀𝓈!” The TV chuckles. “𝔸 𝕋𝕎𝕀𝕊𝕋! A 🆂🅴🅲🆁🅴🆃 🅱🅾🆂🆂. Isn’t that so much 𝖋𝖚𝖓?” The audience cheers at the reveal. The boss notices Ant’s dumbfounded expression. “Surprised? Wasn’t it you who said that an old CRT can learn new tricks?” He laughs. “Well, how do you like this one?” 

Ant gets back on both feet, a whole new dose of adrenaline rushing through his veins. The stage falls apart, and Ant finds himself standing on the cooking minigame set. “...Again..?”

“𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 and you 𝕎𝕀ℕ! Simple, yes?”

With no warning, fire blasts from every direction, nearly frying Ant alive. His dodging isn’t very controlled, it’s led by instincts he didn’t even know he had. Fire touches his skin in a few places, which makes it sting, it even chars his cape, but apparently that doesn’t count as a hit. 

It’s easy to tell when the attack is about to end, as the amount and size of flames winds down, and Ant allows himself to fall to his knees to catch his breath. 

+ 𝟮𝟰 ​🇵​​🇴​​🇮​​🇳​​🇹​​🇸​

The different parts of the set slide away, revealing the stage underneath.

But then, he has a realization. One of his skills is

“Another go!” His own mocking voice announces.

“That’s cheating!” The words escape his mouth before he can even think about them properly.

The stage makes room for… another stage. The darkners live one specifically. A set of drums falls and lands in front of Ant.

“Yes.” The CRT chuckles. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

Ant’s hands are shaking from both exhaustion and stress, adrenaline isn’t enough… There's no way he can play like this.

“𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”

The soul takes over just in time to not miss the first falling note. It plays every note with rehearsed precision, unimpeded by how tired the body is, since it can’t feel it from where it is.

However, as soon as the notes stop and the stage reverts to the other one, it’s ripped out of Ant’s body once more.

+ 𝟯𝟳 ​🇵​​🇴​​🇮​​🇳​​🇹​​🇸​

Ant looks at the ground. He’s gaining so little points with each attempt… Something’s not right. That fight would take way too long if it was meant to be played fair. Which means… He’s not meant to win. He’s meant to fail for entertainment. This realization is frustrating… no, enraging. 

Forcing himself up and looks at the laughing CRT towering over him, he finds it in himself to ignore the intimidation factor. After all, he knows the guy, and that guy ain’t shit.

An idea pops into his mind, and he grins, which seems to unnerve the CRT no matter how well he hides it. Ant lifts his cane in a parrying stance, ready to deflect the gunfire. 

And deflect the gunfire he goes! Once the set is turned into the wild west, Ant masterfully stops every single bullet meant for him, only breaking a sweat when the assault stops. Before everything slides away, he sneaks one of the rubber bullets into his pocket. 

Ant mumbles. “I’m gonna need your help.”

“𝙰𝚜 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍, 𝙰𝚗𝚝. 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”

“Well, dear contestant.” The CRT leans forwards. “How does it feel to be part of an 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗 𝖈𝖆𝖘𝖙?” 

The stage darkens, and soon after, a shower of stars comes down on the battlefield. Ant and the soul both do their best to dodge everything, and while not everything is avoided, his health is not yet down to zero. And that’s all that matters.

As the stars fade, Ant grabs his hat, spins to grab momentum, and sends it flying at the TV way above him. That is… jarringly easily dodged.

The CRT looks at the hat fly past him, turning around to see it hit the wall behind him, then laughs. “Was that supposed to do anythin—

His voice cuts out and his face turns to static. The reflex of reaching for his head doesn’t even get the time to fully start, and the robot falls back and flat on the ground.

Despite the boss music still playing, the silence both on stage and in the audience is deafening. And then, allowing the tension to be released, the music stops.

The audience roars with applause and spotlights focus on Ant, who… uhm. Who’s passed out on the floor due to exhaustion.

Tim steps in front of the camera. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?”

Cameras cut and we get a better view of the last moments of the fight.

As the stars fade, Ant grabs his hat, spins to grab momentum, and sends it flying at the TV way above him. That is… jarringly easily dodged.

The CRT looks at the hat fly past him, turning around to see it hit the wall behind him, then laughs. 

Ant puts his hand in his pocket, taking the rubber bullet out and throwing it up. The soul takes over control of the body, and with every ounce of energy this vessel has left, the cane hits the rubber bullet, sending it right at the CRT, and more specifically, at his full power off switch.

“Was that supposed to do anythin—

The image cuts back to Tim, who leans in closer to the camera. “𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧.” He steps back, then turns around halfway to look at Ant. “𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐩. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐑𝐓 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧.”

A few employees hop on stage, making their way to Ant, while one of them stays near the CRT, messing with its channel dial. Ant is woken up with a bucket of ice water, a very classy solution, and he’s clearly pissed off by that, but doesn’t have any energy left to even yell at the perpetrators.

The pippins turning the dial finally gets it in position, and as the screen of the CRT flickers back to life, its body starts slowly moving along, getting up with some difficulty. When up, it turns its head towards Ant, then leans forwards, as its screen flashes interferences. And then, his face appears.

“𝓐𝓷𝓽𝔂!” He giggles. “You did such a ᧁ᥅ꫀꪖꪻ ꠹ꪮ᥇, I really didn’t expect that trick!”

Ant is, to say the least, dumbfounded. He begins furrowing his eyebrows, but can’t muster anything past a slightly annoyed expression. “𝚂𝚘, 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”

“It was 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓮𝓮~!”

“𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢?”

“Oh, 𝓐𝓷𝓽𝔂, this isn’t your body, I would never do that without your permission. I had this custom made for today!”

“.....................................................................𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎.” He lets out something halfway between a sigh and a chuckle.

We would like to thank all our dear viewers for participating in Mister Ant's birthday event with as much enthusiasm as you did! We sincerely hope that you all had as much fun as we did, and we hope to see you again for future events!

We would also take a second to apologize for the multiple technical difficulties that caused the different parts of the event to be delayed several times, while nearly all of that was beyond our control, we also should have been better prepared. This has been a valuable learning experience, and we will do better next time!

Happy Birthday Mister Ant!

​🇼​​🇴​​🇺​​🇱​​🇩​ ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇱​​🇮​​🇰​​🇪​ ​🇹​​🇴​ ​🇧​​🇪​​🇨​​🇴​​🇲​​🇪​ ​🇦​ ​🇸​​🇵​​🇴​​🇳​​🇸​​🇴​​🇷​ ​🇴​​🇫​ ​🇴​​🇺​​🇷​ ​🇸​​🇭​​🇴​​🇼​? ​🇼​​🇪​​🇱​​🇱​, ​🇮​​🇫​ ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​'​🇷​​🇪​ ​🇴​​🇻🇪🇷​ 𝟭𝟴, ​🇫​​🇴​​🇷​ ​🇹​​🇭​​🇪​ ​🇱​​🇴​​🇼​ ​🇱​​🇴​​🇼​ ​🇵​​🇷​​🇮​​🇨​​🇪​ ​🇴​​🇫​ ​𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇨​​🇦​​🇳​ ​🇯​​🇴​​🇮​​🇳​ ​🇴​​🇺​​🇷​ ​🇴​​🇫​​🇫​​🇮​​🇨​​🇮​​🇦​​🇱​ ​🇩​​🇮​​🇸​​🇨​​🇴​​🇷​​🇩​ ​🇸​​🇪​​🇷​​🇻​​🇪​​🇷​​, ​🇼​​🇭​​🇪​​🇷​​🇪​ ​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇨​​🇦​​🇳​ ​🇦​​🇨​​🇨​​🇪​​🇸​​🇸​ 🇪​​🇦​​🇷​​🇱​​🇾​ ​🇳​​🇪​​🇼​​🇸​ ​🇦​​🇧​​🇴​​🇺​​🇹​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇪​​🇳​​🇹​​🇸​, ​🇪​​🇽​​🇹​​🇷​​🇦​ ​🇨​​🇴​​🇳​​🇹​​🇪​​🇳​​🇹​, ​🇦​​🇳​​🇩​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇪​​🇳​ ​🇭​​🇪​​🇱​​🇵​ ​🇮​​🇳​ ​🇹​​🇭​​🇪​ ​🇴​​🇷​​🇬​​🇦​​🇳​​🇮​​🇿🇦​​🇹​​🇮​​🇴​​🇳​ ​🇴​​🇫​ ​🇫​​🇺​​🇹​​🇺​​🇷​​🇪​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇪​​🇳​​🇹​​🇸​!

Ant looks into the mirror of the dressing room, taking his tie off. While he no longer feels the exhaustion and pain of exertion of a human body, his mind is feeling quite tired. He decides to pause and sit still for a second, trying to recoup at least a little energy.

𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸!

“Come in.”

“What’s up BIЯƬΉDΛY BӨY?” Info laughs. “ㄒ丨尺乇ᗪ?”

“Like hell. What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I check how my friend is doing?” Info walks up to the mirror. “That was one gяєαт ѕнσω! I’m glad I got the angels to stay silent long enough to not spoil the surprise for myself.”

“𝕷𝖚𝖈𝓴𝖞 𝖞𝖔𝖚. While you’re here, are you free later?”

“I am, why?”

“Come over to my place, I have a gingerbread house I want to build and I don’t want to do it on my own.”

“Oh? Can’t you ask 几ㄖ乇ㄥㄥ乇?”

“It’s a surprise for her, so no, not really.”

“Then consider me already there!”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, last thing.” Info reaches into his jacket, rummaging around, and eventually pulling out a birthday card. “This isn’t for you!”

“..Then why are you giving it to me?”

“This is for Ten!”

“𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎?!”

“You’re gonna give it to 卄丨爪 when he appears to congratulate you about the show.”

“Can’t you give it to him directly?”

Info puts his free hand on Ant’s shoulder as he hands him the card. “Ant, I’m ωιηgмαηηιηg for you.” He almost immediately steps back, perfectly dodging Ant’s attempt at grabbing him by the shirt, before blipping out of existence.

Ant looks at the card in his hand, and crushes it as he tightens his grip on it in anger.

𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸!

The CRT looks up at the door as he lowers the hand holding the card. “Who is it?” He already knows.

The door opens slightly, and Ten peeks into the room with a big goofy smile. Seems he’s back in his own body. “𝓗𝓲 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮!”

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚐𝚘.”

“Oh, come on, I just got here!” Ten slides into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙.”

“You know, I was 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖉 with the strategy you used back there!” He hands Ant a bouquet.

Ant’s gaze lands on the flower bouquet. Cherry blossom.

“I didn’t even notice you pocketing that rubber bullet, I only saw it later when watching back the footage. Though, I didn’t expect 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼 from you! When you’re putting people through this kind of 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞, you’ve got to have the skills to 𝖔𝖚𝖙𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖊 them in a similar situation, right?”

Ant glances in his direction, then looks back at his own reflection in the mirror.

Ten leans forwards, getting closer to Ant to make sure his whispering is heard. “𝕴 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝓴 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊 𝖆 𝓑𝓲𝓰 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝔃𝓮 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖛𝖎𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞~”

“𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎.”

Ten steps back, his smile widening. “𝓞𝓴𝓪𝔂!”

The unwanted guest turns around to leave, but Ant remembers something. “...Hold on.”

“Hm?”

Ant extends his fist, still crushing the birthday card, towards Ten. “This is yours.”

“Ohh! A…” He takes a good look at the crumpled paper in Ant’s hand. “...birthday card(???)!”

“Yeah.”

“From you?” He grabs it, and after a few tugs, Ant lets go, letting Ten see the card in all its destroyed glory.

“...𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚞𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙.”

“Thank you for giving it to me! Knowing you, you probably wanted to tear it apart real bad!”

“𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚐𝚘.”

“𝓗𝓮𝓱𝓮! See you around!” As he goes to leave, Ten tries to save the poor birthday card enough to read it. 

Ant looks at the mirror again. Back on stage, Ten mentioned having that fake body custom built for today. He also was in the audience during the whole show… What's that guy’s deal? Doesn’t he have his own birthday to worry about? Why is he wasting so much time taking part in Ant’s birthday activities? Not to mention that he sent a birthday card too, no matter how well staff tried to cover it up with other ones. 

Whatever. Validation is validation. It doesn’t matter if this specific one feels warm or fuzzy...